UK rapper Little Simz has just released the video clip to her single Gratitude (ft. The Hics). This is the second video to come from her killer 2015 album A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons, following on from the ominous clip for lead single Dead Body. Not one to slow down, the video also follows on from her recent post-album collaborative singles, Don’t Forget with Hit-Boy, and N.M.D.B with DiamondDahi.
Directed by Jeremy Cole, the clip was filmed at the #FeesMustFall protests which took place in October this year, in Cape Town, South Africa. The protests began in the wake of an announcement that a local university was raising its fees by more than 10 per cent in 2016.
The video features scenes of massive street protests, classrooms, scenery and more, interspersed with footage of Simz herself. The clip is not only visually engaging, but it documents and celebrates the “spirit of change”, with the event reflecting the lyrics in a particularly relevant, thought-provoking manner.
A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons is out now.
Little Simz is touring Australia next year, dates below and grab tickets here:
23 Feb Sydney, Australia – GoodGod Small Club
24 Feb Melbourne, Australia – Howler
25 Feb Brisbane, Australia – TBC Club
26 Feb Perth, Australia – Perth Festival
It’s a double whammy news day for Little Simz fans – not only has the exciting hip hop up-and-comer announced her very first Australian tour dates, but she’s dropped a fiesty-as-hell new track, Don’t Forget, in collaboration with producer Hit-Boy.
Though her debut album A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons only just came out (but let’s not forget the eight mixtapes she dropped since 2013), Little Simz has well and truly established a uniquely powerful and recognisable identity for herself. Along with artists like Leikeli47, she’s heralding in a brand new wave of nonchalantly confident, unbelievably talented female MCs, and of course, we could not be more excited about that.
Don’t Forget features her steely under-the-radar flow, rhythmically spot on and lyrically gripping. The sparse and jarring backing rhythm breaks up the verses with dramatic, varied percussive sounds, and the occasional instrumental flicker here and there. But for all the noises and effects that the rhythm section throws at her, I simply cannot move my attention away from her unrelenting flow. What. A. Track.
In other news, Little Simz has also announced her maiden tour of our Australian shores. She’s set to perform four dates at the end of February 2016, with support acts to be announced. Considering her reputation for intense, heaving, powerful live performances (check her out here, performing at CMJ), we are undoubtedly in for a serious treat. Details below, tickets available here.
CMJ Music Marathon is currently on in New York City, and we wish we were there – but we’ve settled for the online coverage, live streams and anything else we can get our hands on. The Fader Fort, run by website The Fader and shoe brand Converse, is happening right now – and they’ve featured some of our favourite rising R&B female stars. We’ve been keeping a close eye on all coverage, but this is hands down our favourite collection so far.
Kehlani is only a fairly recent addition to my musical repertoire, but I’ve fallen fast, and I’ve fallen hard. The rising R&B star has grabbed my attention with her seductive melodies, understated rhythms and unique, independent style. Check out this video of her writhing around stage, performing a spine-tingling version of The Way, with the help of two dancers.
Also performing on the day was Leikeli47, another artist I’ve only been really recently introduced to. She performed as a featured guest with our boi Skrillex, on the track Fuck the Summer (it’s actually her track originally, as opposed to featuring on one of Skrillex’s). Clad in a full balaclava, as has become her signature look, the rapper absolutely SLAYS in front of a heaving crowd.
Little Simz, who dropped her album A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons, was also in tow – check out this incredible footage of her performing Dead Body. It’s heavy-hitting and so powerful, once again proving her to be one of the most exciting artists around right now – not just in UK hip hop, but the whole damn scene. For more on Little Simz, read our recent interview here.
There’s such a wonderful array of female R&B and hip hop artists around right now – genuine talents, too, not mass-produced crap. What a fucking time to be alive.
Being 21 is already a pretty crazy time, but for UK rapper Little Simz, it’s a little bit more intense. Not only has her record label celebrated it’s first first birthday in the past few months, she has also released one of the best albums of this year in the form of A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons. This album (read our review here) marks her latest release, following on from four mixtapes and five EPs already out. Like I said, intense.
A Curious Tale was released September 18 and sees the rapper not only step up to high expectations, but totally destroy any precedent she had already set for herself. Spanning a multitude of genres and styles, Simz effortlessly discusses issues that not only hit close to home for her but for her fans all over the world. Opening with a powerful monologue including the explosive line, “Women can be kings,” she doesn’t hold back one bit, and the album sounds all the better for it.
I had the absolute privilege to chat to Little Simz recently, who was chilling in bed. “Cool, calm and collected” doesn’t even begin to sum her up, but perhaps that’s what I love about her most. You can’t really sum her up; she is so many different things. But one thing is for certain, she is a superstar in the making, and with cosigns already from the likes of Kendrick Lamar and collaborations with Stormzy, it’s only a matter of time before everyone else realises too.
H&E: I have to be honest, I’ve been nervous about this all week, it’s so cool to speak to you!
Little Simz: Really? Why?
I just really love your album!
Oh, thank you, I’m glad! Don’t be nervous.
How has it been, post-release for you?
It’s been sick seeing people’s reactions and hearing their feedback. Not that that concerns me though, because I’m really not. It’s always nice when you do the hard yards and you hear praises about it. It’s makes you feel good.
Totally, it would be so rewarding. Whilst I’m a fan of your previous stuff, there is just something different about this album. It’s so honest and real. Was that a conscious decision to be so real this time around or did it just naturally happen?
It was just a natural progression but I am aware that I’m going on my journey. I just wanted to keep it as honest and as open and as true as possible. It’s just in my nature.
Was there a particular experience that inspired any of these songs?
Not necessarily. All lot of my songs are just based off life experience, and I’ve always been that person to write about what’s currently happening in my life – whether it’s good or bad. It’s for my own sake because it’s therapeutic for me, and it kind of helps me. Even though I know that I’m going to share this with the world, I just feel like I need to get it off my chest.
Even in the opening part in Persons where you say, “Women can be kings,” it was just like a lightning bolt for me. How does it feel to know that your music is having an effect on people like that?
I can’t even tell you how it good it feels. I didn’t expect the reaction from Persons to be as big as it is because not many people have thought of women in that way. It was like, yeah like that lightbulb going off like, “Oh yeah!” I’ve always thought from this perspective, it’s just been something that’s been on my mind so I thought, “Why not open my album with such a statement?” It says a lot. People might have thought I would open my album with Wings or something really airy, but I thought that was predictable and easy. Persons just felt like fire.
That’s exactly what I thought too, especially as it goes into Wings, and so many different styles and genres. Different messages and perspectives as well, was it kind of therapeutic to be talking about SO MUCH stuff in the one record?
Yeah, definitely. There is definitely a lot going on, but I like that. You go from Persons into Wings into The Lights, where I’m narrating a story about people that have been affected by fame and celebrity life; into Tainted which is about a character that has benefited from that; into Gratitude which is about the appreciation that not everyone gets to live out their dreams; into God Bless Mary which is appreciation for my neighbour for putting up with so much shit. It just all intertwines.
Then today, releasing the final chapter I suppose in the form of Dead Body Part 2+3 with Stormzy and Kano. It really sounds like you’re wrapping it all up but you’re still venting and getting more off your chest?
I have a lot. Because I recorded this album in February and we’re in September now, I’ve had a lot of time to think about things and I’ve been through a lot in that time. I have a LOT to talk about. Even though it seems like I just released an album, this was months ago that I wrote it. So in between the space of then and now, I have a lot to talk about.
Does it feel liberating in a way to have it finally out, considering you’ve had it done since February?
Yeah, definitely. This is my first album and I released it off my own label. I was in talks about doing an album this time last year, recorded it in February and now it’s out.
It’s been a long time coming then?
Definitely.
Speaking of your label, it just celebrated it’s first birthday! How does it feel one year on?
It feels sick. Just to say I’ve owned the label for a year now is crazy. I just want to continue to grow with it and make it the best that it can possibly be and bring the right people on board. People that I actually believe in. Talented and good people.
Do you draw motivation from your achievements? You’re 21 and you’ve done so much, is that what helps you keep going?
I’m always striving for better and striving for more. I’m always trying to be the best version of myself and that comes from just being it without even thinking about anything. And because I love it a lot. If I didn’t love what I was doing it would kind of feel like a chore, but because I’m passionate about what I do I think I improve without even noticing. By the time I do, I’m like 5 EPs deep. It just all happened so quick.
You’ve said in the past that your music is so precious. How does it go performing such precious and personal material when, the reason you started your label was because you didn’t feel any of the existing ones would treat it properly? Is performing to an audience cathartic or are you a little self-conscious?
I’m not self-conscious at all. I just do what I feel. I try not to overthink it because that’s when I think the problem occurs. I literally just go off the basis of how I feel. I don’t have a strategy or a plan, I feel like the best things happen unplanned sometimes. I just try to go off that… and it’s worked!
Exactly! I’ve been a fan of yours for at least a year now, so I’m curious – do you have any major personal triumphs?
I was anonymous to people and I struggled with people not giving me the time of day to listen to my story. It was a frustration for me. But I guess it just comes with it and you have to keep pushing until people are like “forced” to hear you. I guess that’s what happened with the record now. People feel they need to listen to it to hear what it’s about. Even if it’s just because they’ve heard reviews or they heard people talk about it, they’re listening now.
That’s so awesome. Where to from here, then? Have you been back in the studio?
Well, my studio is in my bedroom so I never get away from it. For now, I’m just going to let the album do it’s thing. I don’t want to oversaturate people with too much of me. I don’t know what I want to do next. I’m just playing it by ear. If I feel like I want to start recording my next album in December, or whenever, then I’ll do that. If I feel like I just want to chill and let the album do it’s thing, which is what I feel like now, then I’ll do that. Hopefully I’ll tour and come to Australia.
A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons is out now via AGE 101.
I love me an album that not only kicks down the door, but burns the whole house to the ground and dances on the ashes. Thankfully, 21 year old UK rapper Little Simz has delivered just that, and more, with her debut. Titled A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons, if there was any question of just who Little Simz is or what she’s about, it’s safe to say they are well and truly answered now.
“They took her wings and told her flying was impossible / They told her women could not call themselves kings / They told her fame is not made for everyone / Trials and persons will be explained / Women can be kings”
This is the opening spoken word piece delivered by a no-bullshit Simz, before launching into the heavy bass track Persons. “Everybody should know that I’m king now,” she declares, her metaphorical middle finger raised high in the air. There’s straight to the point, and then there’s this. Her flow rests easy over the erratic sea of beats, all glitchy and futuristic. She speaks to herself, as if reciting what someone had once said to her before saying, “You have to do more than rapping, Simmy / What else can you show me?” Reliving and repeating the criticism and doubt she’s received in her life, putting it on the record, then turning around and showing what she’s made of, from just the first track the feeling that a real star is being born here is too strong to fight.
Simz isn’t taking no for an answer and is certainly not taking it lying down. From the formidable opening track, she catches you for a six with the beautiful piano melody and vocal harmonies of Wings. She opens up a little bit, taking it down more than a few notches. She touches on her religious side, rapping about being thankful, as well as opening up how “nobody handed me a dream, I had to chase it.” Following this is The Lights, and yet another side of Little Simz. Showing off her knack for a catchy hook as well as her singing chops, the militarised drums and spitfire rhymes once again show her versatility as an artist, as well as peeling back another layer to the front she put up in Persons.
Marrying a multitude of genres with her rapidly changing rhymes and flow, Little Simz proves not only to listeners but to herself that she is capable of more than anyone really realised. Quickly changing from RnB to grime, incorporating elements of industrial, rock and even dramatic classical music, Simz and her razor sharp tongue know no bounds when it comes to limitations of genres or styles. In fact, her ability to seamlessly and effortlessly flow with the production is enough to create a style of her own. From the swaggering Tainted to the grimy as fuck Dead Body, the gentle aforementioned Wings to the instrumental second last track This Is Not An Outro, Simz flexes her wealth of talent like it just isn’t a thing.
My favourite thing about this album is the progression from opener Person to closer Fallen. The brash, badass fighter we heard in the first few minutes of this album – by the time it reaches it’s end – is worn down and vulnerable. With each track, she becomes a little more human, a little more relatable. Full of bravado and youthful optimism, it’s as if the issues she discusses in the interim wear her down not just in life but on this record too. From destroying the patriarchy in one track, as well as the sexualistion and plight of women in the music industry (Persons) to discussing exchanging her humanity for greatness (Dead Body), it’s all in a day’s work for Little Simz, but this would take it’s toll on anyone. Clearly having a wealth of real life experience beyond her years, she’s carrying the burden for women everywhere, and although she’s not letting go any time soon, it’s almost as if A Curious Tale should act as a call to arms: we all need to help Little Simz make this change.
Hellbent on proving everyone wrong, Simz pours her body and soul into every single song on this album. She’s worked incredibly hard and you can hear it, but she’s also pulled it off in a tremendous fashion. Being a feminist is hard at the best of times, let alone in the music industry – and especially in hip hop. However, this 21 year old is the ray of hope we need and want, and she isn’t going anywhere but up from here. Masterful in her delivery; considered in her rhymes and lyrics; progressive in her production and arrangements; A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons is about as good as it gets when it comes to debut albums. Little Simz is here to stay, destroying preconceived notions on just about everything you “shouldn’t talk about”, especially on a debut. Gender norms, ego, external pressures and male supremacy all get their fair share of destruction, and something tells me she isn’t stopping here. All hail King Simz.
21 year old UK rapper Little Simz has been hard at work lately, and has begun to well and truly blow up over the past few months. From her relentless touring schedule to having one of the most captivating voices to emerge in some time, she is absolutely one to keep an eye on and you only need less than one listen to her new track, Dead Body, to know why.
Foreboding, intimidating and – to be honest – a little scary, Little Simz brings it with this new track and the Jeremy Cole directed accompanying visuals. She delivers cutthroat rhymes over a bouncing bed of warped bass courtesy of Prezident Jeff and Deezy, effortlessly moving between grime, trap, elements of rave and the best of hip hop. The stark black and white visuals amp up the menacing vibes as Simz stares down the camera asking if you want to see a dead body, all the while getting up to some pretty shady business in a desert amongst other slightly terrifying acts.
Clearly sitting on one hell of a project ahead of her forthcoming album out next month, she kicks things off with an eerie opener in which she says, “We all have our demons / our thoughts / our imperfections and our insecurities / none of which make us inhumane / this is our tale / the proton, the neutron, the electron / the positive, the negative and the ground / the trial, the person and the stories of” before asking that ominous question and launching into the track. Frustrated with elements of her personality, and elements of society as a whole, her lyrics are deep and introspective as well as acting as a social commentary. Hard hitting and perfectly executed, Dead Body also as acts as a warning to her contemporaries – Little Simz is coming, and she’s ready.
Little Simz’ debut album A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons drops next month on September 18, and it’s pretty safe to say we can’t wait for that to reach our ears.
This week’s playlist is a big mix indeed. We’ve got some good ol’ fashioned rock’n’roll to start off with from the guys in Them Bruins, before getting a bit electronic and off-centre with Jack Grace, Yeo and delicately beautiful with Lanks. We’ve also got a fantastic Martin King remix of Oscar Key Sung, spitfire rhymes courtesy of Little Simz, a straight up jam from Tuxedo and some future R&B sounds from Donatachi and Blair De Milo. We’ve also got a special treat to wrap things up with, from UK artist Obenewa. Hold onto your hats!
Them Bruins – Heading For The Harrows
How about some hard hitting and breakneck rock to get things started? Fresh off an East Coast tour and residency at Melbourne’s Cherry Bar, Them Bruins are back with an absolute ripper in Heading For The Harrows. The falsetto alone is enough for me, not to mention the hard hitting drums, the roaring guitar and the raucous vibe! This would be a frenzy live!
Jack Grace – Hills
This is an interesting one. Sydney songwriter/producer Jack Grace works his magic on Hills, an eclectic mix of downtempo pop, eclectic and unusual production and a vocal hook that got stuck in my head from the first listen. Although I’m not crazy and the random “bouncing laser” samples (that’s what I’m calling it anyway), as I find it takes away from a rather deep and pensive track, it’s still deep and pensive enough to count.
Yeo – Quiet Achiever
Melbournian Yeo may have called his new song Quiet Achiever, but the track makes his return seem anything but. Well and truly back with a bang, Yeo really ups the ante with this latest release, showing he really is a force to be reckoned with. It starts off as what you think would be an R&B jam, before the tropical steel drums come into play and the trap breakdown hits. Catching you by surprise more than a few times, this is a really, really great song. Welcome back, Yeo!
Lanks – Aurelia
Lanks is just about to hit the road on a national tour AND drop a new EP, but he’s squeezed one more single in before doing so – and boy, are we glad he did. Aurelia is taken from his Banquet EP, and is without a doubt the most beautiful track I’ve heard from this artist in the admittedly short time I’ve known of him (there has been extensive listening though). Delicate, intimate and totally sublime, Lanks’ falsetto soars over thick, droning synth chords and crisp, piercing drum beats before things swirl into something that seriously stunning. I love this song.
Oscar Key Sung – Brush (Martin King Remix)
Nu-soul extraordinaire Oscar Key Sung released a bunch of remixes from his recently released Altruism EP, but the stand out for us is Martin King’s take on his track Brush. The duo are hardly strangers, and are the two members of other pop project Oscar + Martin, so it stands to reason that King jumping on this track is a match made in heaven. The rework moves Oscar’s vocals away from his comfort zone and into a higher range, complemented by jungle styled drum work and serious good vibes, but it’s the breakdown that really sets this one apart.
Little Simz – Lane Switch
Little Simz builds on her reputation as having one of the quickest tongues in the game with this latest track. Fiery and pretty damn bad ass, Simz spits back some pretty devastating rhymes over the huge beats laid down by UK producer RASCAL. She said of the track “Lane Switch again is an update on where I am in my life right now and what space I’m in, I’ve been on the road for the longest time and want to update my listeners on how I finding everything,” before citing giving new music to her supporters as her main way of staying creative, as well as “growing and evolving”. Little Simz is definitely one to keep an eye on!
Tuxedo – Without Your Love
Tuxedo are one of my favourite duos of recent times. Jake One and Mayer Hawthorne continue to deliver the goods with their collaborative, jazz-meets-soul-meets-funk-meets-whatever the hell else they can add to their sound, with each track continually outdoing it’s predecessors. Without Your Love was actually a Japan-only release on their debut album which dropped in March, but the guys decided to let the rest of the world in on it as well – and thank God they did! Try get this one out of your head!
Tiger Choir – All Time
Hobart band Tiger Choir delivered one of the happiest tracks of the year a few months ago with their lead single Shani, and now the boys are back with All Time. Mixed by b (who has worked with I’lls and Klo) and mastered by Andrei Eremin (who has an almighty list of collaborations like Chet Faker, Oscar Key Sung and Hiatus Kaiyote), the band are onto something really, really good here! This track has us more than excited for their forthcoming LP.
Donatachi – Neo Ft. Blair De MIlo
Sydney producer Donatachi previously worked under the name Loudun, but has changed his name and his sound with this new project. The future R&B infusion that is Neo is a total dream, only bettered by the presence of Blair De Milo on vocal duties. The smoky, chilled out but emotive and groovy collaboration is one of my favourite recent discoveries, and has put both artists firmly on my radar.
Obenewa – Solid Gold
Saving the best for last, we here at H&E were stunned at this latest song from Obenewa. Taking influence from Mary J Blige or even Whitney Houston, this song is so stunningly lush, gentle but still quite powerful it took a few listens to really grasp the magic going on here with Solid Gold. Flawless.