Little Simz

Little Simz, the Islington rapper born Simbiatu Ajikawo in 1994, built her name the hard way, putting out her first three albums independently. The third of them, Grey Area, landed in 2019 as a lean, jabbing record that made the Mercury Prize shortlist and took Best Album at both the Ivor Novello Awards and the NME Awards.

Then came Sometimes I Might Be Introvert in 2021, a sprawling, widescreen self-portrait that plenty of critics called the best album of its year. It won her the Mercury Prize in 2022, along with the Brit for Best New Artist and a Libera Award for Best Hip-Hop/Rap Record. NO THANK YOU followed in 2022 to more raves, and in 2024 she turned up on Coldplay's "We Pray" alongside Burna Boy, Elyanna and Tini.

Lotus, her sixth album, arrived in June 2025, and it's the record that carried her flow onto alternative countdowns, with "Flood", "Young" and "Free" all getting their turn. Away from the mic she has acted too, in the Netflix revival of Top Boy and as herself in Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.