Little Simz, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, review: an album that deserves a standing ovation – Telegraph.co.uk

Little Simz has previously objected to being described as the best female rapper in Britain. And quite rightly too. Her magnificent fourth album demonstrates that she is one of the best rappers in the world, period.

Its title, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, is a phrase formed from the letters in Simbi, the family nickname of Simbiata Ajikawo. A British woman of Nigerian heritage, Simz has established herself over 10 years as both an actress (with roles in BBC series Spirit Warriors and Netflix drama Top Boy) and hip-hop artist, whose 2019 album Grey Area was nominated for a Mercury Prize.

Her new albums opening track, Introvert, sees the bravura lyricist come riding in on a six-minute cinematic orchestral funk epic that sounds like Wagner doing battle with Isaac Hayes. A massed choir towers above strings and horns amid percussive timpani booms, while the 27-year-old Londoner wrestles with her inner demons and sharply articulates her personal, social and political imperatives, the track reaching a pitch of excitement as she declares Im a black woman and Im a proud one. It is a position she reasserts from a different angle as the groove shifts seamlessly into the sweet soul of the sisterhood anthem Woman, on which she mischievously declares When you have beauty and brains, they find it astounding.

To be fair, this album is kind of astounding. Regular collaborator Inflo (Dean Josiah Cover) is the producer behind elusive collective SAULT, who have won praise for a powerful series of albums addressing black British identity (to which Little Simz contributed). Many of the same pliant funk, soul, jazz and gospel elements manifest here (the dazzling use of choral voices evoking such greats as Sly Stone and Curtis Mayfield), fused with atmospheric trip hop, grime-flecked electro and a joyously percussive twist of Afrobeat, all set to monumental orchestrations and given dramatic focus by the fierce intent of Simz herself.

Although she puts herself across with armour-plated confidence, Introvert wrestles with private feelings of insecurity: I bottle it up and spill it in verses / One day Im wordless next day Im a wordsmith. Admired by such leading rap exponents as Stormzy and Kendrick Lamar, her skills are fantastic, essaying a rat-a-tat-tat delivery that enables her to fire off lines of different lengths and locate the rhythm in anything (All we see is broken homes here and poverty / Corrupt government officials, lies and atrocities you try saying that quickly).

She rarely resorts to profanity or obscures her meaning with inscrutable slang, enunciating every phrase with clarity and purpose whilst conjuring up constantly interesting rhymes (one sequence in the soulful Two Worlds rhymes drama / marijuana / Bahamas / karma / calmer / charters / koalas and, stretching it a little, gives a little nod back to Kendrick Lamar).

An overarching narrative entangles her family background and artistic struggles with issues of political and personal empowerment. Lending a touch of fantasy, actress Emma Corrin (who played Diana in The Crown) appears amid rippling harps to offer encouragement like an aristocratic fairy godmother. Its a gift and a curse to be this pretty and blessed, Little Simz mischievously declares on the storming black pride anthem Standing Ovation. This is an album that deserves one.

Out now on AWAL

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Little Simz, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, review: an album that deserves a standing ovation - Telegraph.co.uk