How Little Simz Created This Decade’s Greatest Rap Album

‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ is a 65 minute epic that instantly joins the leagues of ‘Miseducation’, ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ and co. to become an instant classic

Little Simz’ (real name: Simbiatu Ajikawo) fourth studio album begins with a grand orchestral swell that wouldn’t sound out of place on a epic action movie’s soundtrack. After nearly a minute, the grandiosity is scaled down to little more than a piano and the occasional snare beat; creating a brooding and quietly sinister atmosphere, as Simz, and collaborator Cleo Sol tell of “wars”, “Kingdoms on fire” and “sinners in a church” — and that’s all in the first 3 lines. The otherworldly hellscape painted by Simz on ‘Introvert’ in these first few lines is then revealed not to be otherworldly at all, but instead a stark reflection of our current world; as she tells of “mothers burying sons”, “young boys playing with guns” and “parts of the world still living in apartheid”. Then, just as Simz’s political reflections reach their bleakest, she flips the switch; opting this time for the staggeringly personal (“I see the illness eat my aunt laying in her bed / I see her soul rising as her body gets closer to death”). ‘Introvert’ continues to blend the personal and the political with breath-taking ease before closing with a received pronunciation spoken word segment from Emma Corin (who plays Diana on Netflix’s ‘The Crown’).

Starting an album with as grand a statement as ‘Introvert’ is a staggering declaration of bravado; few artists would have the talent to meet the expectations set by it — and most, I suspect, would be fully aware of such. Little Simz however, is capable of such, and she knows it; ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ (whose initials spell out her nickname ‘Simbi’) is inexplicably cohesive yet completely unpredictable and varied; fleeting between tasteful R&B-infused hip-hop reminiscent of Lauryn Hill’s ‘Miseducation’ (‘Miss Understood’, ‘Woman’), braggadocious grime-trap infusions (‘Rollin Stone’), lively afrobeat bangers (‘Point and Kill’, ‘Fear No Man’) and, even the odd, off-kilter 80s-synth-pop inspired addition (‘Protect My Energy’). Not since Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Good Kid, m.A.A.d City’ has a rap album successfully pulled from…