British-Nigerian rapper, Little Simz’s calculating and captivating flow falls midway between a striking personality with a knack for riotous stories and your atypical laidback rapper who just wants to emotes over stringy and bassy instrumentals. Since the 2015 release, A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons, the multiple award winner has been making innovative, introspective music that makes capitalizes on the exclusivity of her music, and with each project, she has revealed more of her enigmatic character that’s always on blast, directly and otherwise. This year, on Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, she follows the same route, albeit with strong leanings on new sounds that define her roots and current preferences but all the same, an album that posits her as an ambitious rapper always exploring realism but in aesthetically and sonically pleasing ways.
The nineteen-track album is punctuated only by Cleo Sol on the earlier released girl power anthem, Woman, and fellow Nigerian-born, Obonjayar, who recently waltzed into the local spotlight off his collaborative EP with producer, Sarz.
A highlight off a project that appraises a vast range of stories in Little Simz’s methodic and award-winning progression, the Obongjayar-assisted Point And Kill is one of the singles off Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, and the Inflo-produced song is filled with sing-song melodies just as the likes of Jazz-powered I Love You, I Hate You with its booming bass, Standing Ovation with its clinky percussions, the tuneful How Did You Get Here, among others. Characterized by challenging rap bars that channel retro feels and echoes sentiments of the legendary Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat, songs like Point And Kill are among many that draw on Little Simz’s heritage.
Accompanied by a video, the third one from the album, Point and Kill is an earworm that mirrors the resolute and defiant nature of the youth, something Little Simz has hampered on since Drop 6 and a trait at the core of the Nigerian youth which she seamlessly blends into the laidback persona that shines on the album.
On Sometimes I Might Be An Introvert, Little Simz effortlessly melds cross-cultural influences with retro funk, jazz, hip-hop, and afrobeat among others to create soul-searing ditties that soundtrack the core elements of her personality.