LITTLE SIMZ — ‘DROP 7’

Writer’s Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The 2020’s has already been a phenomenal decade for Little Simz. The London native has already graced us with the incredible ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’, followed just one year later by the equally as impressive ‘No Thank You’, near the back end of 2022.

Both albums display an artist when a great level of maturity about them, an amazing knack for experimenting and adapting with different sounds and has used those talents to garner a fanbase that adores her, as well as the well renowned respect of the larger rap community, stretching way further than just the UK.

‘Drop 7’ is the 7th installment of this long lasting series of EPs that Simz has been adding to over her many years in the game, spanning nearly over 10 years. This has made for an extremely robust and well executed drop schedule between her albums, with many being a chance for Simbi to dip her toes into different sounds and styles.

This EP sees her dive into the world of dance, trance and EDM to great effect, with the opener ‘Mood Swings’ giving the listener an instant taste of what she’s been cooking, with some rapid electronic hi-hats and some African inspired drums sprinkled into the mix as well. All this combines into a wonderful flurry of sounds, which is sure to get the gun fingers going for anyone hearing it.

The sound on the following track ‘Fever’ further takes from her African heritage, as well as some slight Latin and South American influence across this 87 second long bop. This is then followed by ‘Torch’, where Simz lets her vocals take a bit more focus compared to the previous two tracks, where the instrumentation and production have been at the forefront, as we see her swapping rapidly from her signature devilish flows and a smooth, higher pitched hook.

‘SOS’ is another track heavily influenced by the afro beats genre, with some killer sounding drums across a subtle house instrumental. ‘Point and Kill’ from ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ was a great example of how Simz draws from her heritage and pays homage to those who came before her, that crafted such a distinguishable sound, with a lot of these songs being no different. The rhythm behind this is such a treat for the ears, enough to get anyone off their feet for a jive.

‘I Ain’t Feelin It’ then switches up the sound we’ve came accustom too over this EP, with a smooth beat that gives off massive M.I.A vibes and even gives us a nod to her Top Boy character, Shelley, with the line “Shelley’s Nail Bar only exists on the TV, big money I don’t do no freebies”, a reference to Simz’ character asking the main protagonist of the show, Dushane Hill, for money to expand her business.

‘Power’ is the shortest of the songs on the EP, clocking in at only 54 seconds, but really leaves room to be expanded on with the early 2000s jungle and house beat sounding great with her vocals, before closing out with ‘Far Away’, a glossy and smooth cut with some soothing vocals from Simbi and some nice horns embedded in the mix to make for a super chilled out closer.

Only clocking in at 14 minutes, Little Simz still found ways to make her presence known across this short EP. The production is phenomenal across the board and whilst the lyrics and bars take a back seat this time round, it plays massively into the hands of the beats allowing them to reign supreme across the majority of the tracks, to leave a great baseline for what may come in the future.