Little Simz

Little Simz performing, 2016

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Gray area   UK 87 March 14, 2019 (1 week)

Little Simz , actually Simbiatu Ajikawo (born February 23, 1994 in Islington , London ; full name Simbiatu Abisola Abiola Ajikawo ) is a British rapper, singer, producer and actress.

Surname

The name Little Simz is derived from Ajikawo's first name. Until 2013 she operated under the name Lil Simz . As a producer she sometimes calls herself She , also in the social networks, where she also appears as a Simztheperson . She also uses the pseudonym Bars Simzson . In the media, her name is usually given as Simbi Ajikawo . She is also called Simbi in everyday life and that's how she calls herself in her publications.

Career

play

Ajikawo first became famous as an actress when she played Vicky in the BBC series Spirit Warriors in 2010 . In 2013, she starred in five episodes of the Youngers series on British TV channel E4 . After this production, she stopped working as an actress in order to devote herself entirely to her music career.

music

Little Simz describes her music as Rap Experimental . Her music is firmly rooted in the hip-hop subgenre Grime , but is characterized by an openness to influences from a wide variety of musical styles and genres. Elements from rock, jazz and even classical give their productions a genre-untypical, musical complexity.

Together with Josh Arcé , Chuck 20 and Tilla , Simz forms the music collective Space Age. The artists appear regularly as guest musicians on the publications of the others, but they also publish as a group.

Little Simz performs live with both DJs and live bands. On some songs she plays guitar herself live.

Ajikawo began rapping and making music as a child. At the age of 11, she performed live for the first time in a youth center. She names Missy Elliott and Lauryn Hill as her early formative influences .

In 2010 she released her first mixtape Stratosphere. The radio host DJ Semtex played the theme song repeated on BBC 1Xtra , which was known in the hip-hop scene. Their popularity got a further boost in 2013 when Jay-Z published their mixtape Blank Canvas on his website Jay-Z's Live and Times .

In order to preserve her full artistic integrity and freedom, Simz founded her own label Age 101 Music.Limited in 2014 . The publications have been distributed via Red Bull Music since 2015 .

2015 Little Simz denied the Age 101: Drop the World Tour , her first world tour (Europe, North America, Australia) as headliners . In 2015 Little Simz released their debut album A Curious Tale Of Trials + Persons. The video portal Vevo published a video documentation of almost 15 minutes about the creation of the album. Parallel to the release of the album, an exhibition was held in London under the title Visualized: 10 Emerging Artists Respond To Music by Little Simz , at which the works of 10 artists were presented, who interpreted and visually interpreted the pieces by A Curious Tale Of Trials + Persons implemented. As a result, Little Simz completed another world tour as a headliner.

At the end of 2016 Simz published her multimedia project Stillness in Wonderland . In addition to an album of the same name, Stillness in Wonderland - The Film , a short film directed by Jeremy Cole , and the four-part comic mini-series Welcome to Wonderland (author: Eddie Smith , illustrator Mckay Felt ) were released. A live event called The Stillness in Wonderland Experience was held in London for publication . In addition to an exhibition with works by the artist Mckay Felt , Little Simz with a band and numerous guest musicians such as Mick Jenkins , Tiffany Gouché and the jazz ensemble Nérija performed on two stages .

As part of the Welcome to Wonderland Tour , Simz again played numerous concerts in Europe, North America and Australia in early 2017. In February of that year, she recorded a session with musicians from the band Phony Ppl for the popular series NPR Tiny Desk Concerts .

Little Simz 'album Gray Area reached # 87 in the UK charts in 2019 and was nominated for the Mercury Prize . The EP Drop 6 followed in May 2020, dealing with her "personal experiences and self-doubts in the social isolation as a result of the coronavirus pandemic " ( ByteFM ).

Biographical and personal life

Ajikawo was born to Nigerian immigrants. She grew up in Islington, the town she was born in, and the family lived in a house that welcomed refugees from the welfare office. She attended Highbury Fields School in Highbury and was a regular at St. Mary's Youth Club in Islington, where her creative talent was encouraged. She then studied Music Technology at Westminster Kingsway College in London.

Publications

Albums

• 2015: A Curious Tale Of Trials + Persons (Age 101 Music)
• 2016: Stillness In Wonderland (Age 101 Music)
• 2017: Stillness In Wonderland Deluxe Edition (Age 101 Music); contains 8 previously unreleased bonus tracks.
• 2019: Gray Area

Mix tapes

• 2010: Stratosphere (as Lil Simz) (self-published)
• 2011: Stratosphere 2 (as Lil Simz) (self-published)
• 2013: Blank Canvas (self-published)
• 2013: XY.Zed (self-published)
• 2014: EDGE (Age 101 Music)

EPs

• 2014: Age 101: Drop 1 (Age 101 Music)
• 2014: Age 101: Drop 2 (Age 101 Music)
• 2014: Age 101: Drop 3 | 000 (Age 101 Music)
• 2014: Time Capsule (Little Simz & Jakwob) (Boom Ting Recordings)
• 2015: Age 101: Drop 4 (Age 101 Music)
• 2015: The Theory Of ... (with Space Age) (Age 101 Music)
• 2015: Age 101: Drop X (Age 101 Music)
• 2020: Drop 6 (Age 101 Music)

Singles / Released Unique Pieces

• 2015: Dead Body Part 2 & 3 ( feat.Kano and Stormzy ) (Age 101 Music)
• 2015: Don´t Forget (Age 101 Music)
• 2016: Poison Ivy (Age 101 Music)
• 2017: Backseat (self-published)
• 2017: Customz (feat. Bibi Bourelly ) (self-published)
• 2017: Good for What (Age 101 Music)
• 2017: Boss (Age 101 Music)
• 2018: Morning (Age 101 Music)
• 2018: Offence (Age 101 Music)
• 2018: 101 FM (Age 101 Music)

Compilation albums

• 2015: Age 101: Drop Everything (Age 101 Music)

Sampler contributions

• 2018: Project Unfollow (Vinyl Me Please)

Published pieces as a guest musician

• 2014: Cuckoo ( Raleigh Ritchie feat. Little Simz) (Sony Music)
• 2014: The Drop (Nick Brewer feat. Little Simz) (Nick Brewer self-published)
• 2015: Bad Dreams (Joywave feat. Little Simz and Mick Jenkins ) (Universal Music)
• 2015: Catapult ( Lena feat. Little Simz and Kat Vinter ) (We Love Music)
• 2015: FFFS (MeLo-X feat. Little Simz) (Galax Recordings)
• 2015: The Nest (Faze Miyake feat. Little Simz) (Rinse)
• 2015: The Rhythm Remix ( MNEK feat. Little Simz) (Universal Music)
• 2015: Sleep Paralysis (Junia T. feat. Little Simz and Emerson Brooks) (Junia T. self-published)
• 2016: Back To My Love ( Becky Hill feat. Little Simz) (Eko Records)
• 2016: Far Cry ( Jack Garratt feat. Little Simz) (Island Records)
• 2016: Indie Girls (Jesse Boykins III feat. Little Simz and Kilo Kish) (Jesse Boykins III self-published)
• 2016: So Human (Rosie Lowe feat. Little Simz) (Wolf Tone)
• 2016: Table ( Kehlani feat. Little Simz) (Kehlani self-published)
• 2017: Garage Palace ( Gorillaz feat. Little Simz) (Parlophone / Warner)
• 2017: Location ( Khalid feat. Little Simz) (Sony / RCA)
• 2017: The Book (OTG feat. Little Simz) (OTG self-published)
• 2018: Proud of Me (Mahalia feat. Little Simz) (Atlantic Records)

Filmography

• 2010: Spirit Warriors (TV series, 10 episodes)
• 2012: Ill Manors (Director: Ben Drew )
• 2013: Youngers (TV series, 5 episodes)
• 2017: Stillness in Wonderland - The Film (Director: Jeremy Cole )

Awards

The 405 Alternative Mercury Prize

• 2015 Best Album ( A Curious Tale Of Trials + Persons )

AIM Independent Music Awards

• 2016 Independent Album of the Year ( A Curious Tale Of Trials + Persons )

Dice Live Award

• 2015 Best Emerging Live Act

Worldwide Awards

• 2015 Breakthrough Act of the Year

Web links

• Welcome to Wonderland Official Little Simz Webpage (English)
• Little Simz on Soundcloud (English)
• Little Simz Mixtapes Authorized Free Downloads on Mixtape Monkey
• Little Simz at Discogs (English)
• Little Simz at Allmusic (English)
• Little Simz on MusicBrainz (English) (English)
• Little Simz in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Remarks

1. ↑ Both Discogs and MusicBrainz list EDGE as an album. In the media, the release is often categorized as an EP. Since EDGE was released as a free download right from the start, and the number of songs with 13 tracks clearly exceeds the size of an EP, classification as a mixtape seems appropriate. This is also supported by the fact that Little Simz himself describes A Curious Tale Of Trials + Persons from 2015 as their debut album .
2. ↑ Limited CD, only available at concerts.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Little Simz in the UK charts
2. ↑ BMI Repertoire: AJIKAWO SIMBIATU ABISOLA ABIOLA Website of Broadcast Music Incorporated , accessed on May 1, 2018
3. ↑ Little Simz. in the Internet Movie Database, accessed June 6, 2017 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Manu Ekanayake: Who is ... Little Simz. Red Bull Music, August 25, 2015, accessed June 6, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Richard Dicks: Little Simz Is At The Top Of Her Class With Stillness In Wonderland. Medium, December 28, 2016, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Emma Jones: Little Simz kicks in the door with debut album. Howl & Echoes, September 17, 2015, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
7. ↑ Eleonora Premoli: Little Simz - Stillness in Wonderland Album Review. (No longer available online.) Soul Feeder, January 30, 2017, archived from the original on July 19, 2017 ; accessed on June 14, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ^ Space Age. on Discogs, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
9. ↑ Alexi Duggins: Little Simz: 'I'm not a UK female MC, I'm an artist'. The Guardian, September 7, 2015, accessed June 6, 2017 . 
10. ↑ Ural Garrett: Profile: Little Simz. Soul Train, January 7, 2014, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
11. ↑ ^{a b} Paul Harper: Islington rapper Lil Simz destined for big things. Islington Gazette, June 20, 2012, accessed June 6, 2017 . 
12. ↑ Life + Times Premiere: Little Simz "Black Canvas" Mixtape. on Jay-Z's Life and Times, September 26, 2013, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
13. ↑ Simbiatu Ajikawo. Entry in the UK Trade Register, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
14. ↑ New Signing - Little Simz. Red Bull Music Publishing, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
15. ↑ Little Simz - 'Is This Freedom? (No longer available online.) Musick LA, March 30, 2015, archived from the original on February 9, 2018 ; accessed on June 7, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
16. ^ A Curious Tale Of Trials And Persons - The True Story. on Vevo, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
17. ↑ Louis Pattison: Visit Red Bull Studios' Little Simz exhibition. Red Bull Music, August 18, 2015, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
18. ^ Grant Brydon: Through The Rabbit Hole: Clash Meets Little Simz. Clash, February 9, 2017, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
19. ↑ Cameron Robert: Tiny Desk Little Simz. NPR Music, February 21, 2017, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
20. ↑ Everything you need to know ahead of the Mercury Prize 2019. September 19, 2019, accessed on May 10, 2020 . 
21. ↑ Little Simz releases new EP "Drop 6" - ByteFM. In: ByteFM Blog - News and reviews from our editorial team. May 6, 2020, accessed on May 10, 2020 (German). 
22. ↑ Stéphanie Binet: Little Simz, the future rap queen. (No longer available online.) Arte Tracks, June 25, 2016, archived from the original on January 14, 2018 ; accessed on June 7, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
23. ↑ Double MOBO nominations. Message from Westminster Kingsway College home page, October 1, 2014, accessed June 6, 2017 . 
24. ↑ Samantha O'Connor: The 405's Alternative Mercury Prize awarded to Little Simz. The 405, November 19, 2015, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
25. ↑ Little Simz and Stormzy win big at AIM Awards. (No longer available online.) SBTV News, formerly in the original ; accessed on June 7, 2017 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
26. ↑ Chris Cooke: Little Simz wins Dice Live Award. Complete Music Update, November 20, 2015, accessed June 7, 2017 . 
27. ^ Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards - Winners. (No longer available online.) Gilles Peterson Worldwide, January 18, 2015, archived from the original on February 4, 2017 ; accessed on June 7, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.