At this point in proceedings, you could hardly blame Little Simz for deciding she’s earned herself a quick sit-down, on a comfy bean bag made out of all the laurels she’s earned to date. But does that feel likely? No chance.
From a Mercury Prize victory for 2021’s Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, and its exceptional follow-up NO THANK YOU just a year later, to a starring role in Top Boy – not to mention the rapper unmasking herself as a collaborator of the enigmatic collective Sault during their mind bogglingly brilliant London show late last year – the Islington rapper just keeps offering up new claims to the crown as UK music’s finest.
We already know she loves a surprise EP – since 2014’s Drop 1 she’s released six of them – and now she’s celebrating the series’ tenth anniversary by adding a seventh release to the stack. Heavily influenced by dance, it’s by far her clubbiest release yet: across its 7 tracks it pulls from the distinctive percussive pulse of amapiano, cavernously woozy trap beats, and hints of slowed down, viscous drum’n’bass. “If I said that I’m the greatest, then I mean it,” she raps on the 55 second snippet Power.
Deviating from her ongoing collaborations with Sault mastermind Inflo, who has collaborated on all of Simz’ albums since 2019’s Grey Area, Drop 7 is produced by Jakwob – best known for his collaborations with rising names Nia Archives and P-rallel, as well as his score for Molly Manning Walker’s debut film How To Have Sex.
Though there’s certainly a clubbier flavour to Drop 7, these aren’t unforgiving, four-to-the-floor beats by any means: on melodic closer Far Away, Simz swaps rapping for singing as soft peals of brass nudge up against pulses of piano. Though Fever starts out with some entertaining bursts of Spanglish, it quickly morphs into rapid-fire, fluent verses. And on SOS, deep percussive thumps steadily build into something harder and heavier â “got the keys from the east to the west, got the keys from the north to the south” Simz chants.
It’s fascinating to hear Simz heading out on a big night to South London’s MOT, typically assured one-liners in tow. “Back when I was coming up, didn’t wanna know then; now I bet they’re loving us,” she boasts on Torch, “no more umming or ahhing us, the bar is raised, if you know me, know I can bar for days. Nothing left to prove ‘cos I’ve done enough, done enough.”
Will this pave the way to a dancier new era, or is it merely a hugely entertaining detour? Either way, we’ll take it.
