Let’s start out with a little explanation. Welcome to the beginning of a series combining both new music and design where I’ll recommend some of the best new albums whilst creating an alternate piece of artwork and talking about how the music has influenced my approach. now, lets get going.
From the first track, Little Simz delivers honesty with confidence and skill in this year’s best hip-hop LP so far.
Generally underrated for quite sometime now, Little Simz has come out with her most enjoyable record yet and is showing the world that her co-sign from Kendrick really is no joke. After all, if you’re backed by the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Lauryn Hill and Gorillaz then surely you’re doing something right. On songs such as ‘Backseat’ from her 2016 album ‘Stillness in Wonderland’ Simbi dwells on the idea that she has lived life in the backseat and that in reality, this is the life she has chosen, as a woman in rap it is that much harder to reach mainstream success, and hip-hop as a genre has always catered to men over women in regards to popularity. This leaves Little Simz in the grey area where she has to show that extra level quality in order to get into the driver’s seat. Where her 2016 album had the showings of her capability it sometimes struggled from being quite difficult to digest in its entirety as a layered concept album. Grey Area however, is full of sharp flows and nice hooks whilst maintaining that same level of lyrical prowess.
Despite moving away from being a complete ‘concept’ album ‘Grey Area’ delves deeper into the more personal side of her life and her songwriting shines in turn. Songs like ‘Sherbet Sunset’ deliver sincere insights into a failed relationship and her thought process following it. The song is introspective throughout and the instrumental is a perfect backdrop for Simz to ride with an assortment of flows, before circling back to the almost angelic chorus directly addressing her ex-lover. On the flipside, tracks such as ‘Venom’ sees Little Simz in her most lethal skin. Rising, disjointed strings build to a drop that sees her attack people’s preconceptions of her whilst questioning the problems she faces with her own psyche. Along the way she tackles her problem with being categorised as a female MC, the bar “Never givin' credit where it's due 'cause you don't like pussy in power” showing her issue with being looked over by many purely based on gender alone.
The album as a whole fails to hit a flat note as it progresses with cuts such as ‘101 FM’, a trip down memory lane for Simz, and ‘Selfish’, the lead single for the project being among other tracks which stood out to me. Changes in tone and production help maintain a high level of variety throughout whilst Little Simz herself delivers a consistently high level of clever and quick flows. Features from Chronixx, Little Dragon and Michael Kiwanuka all do well in elevating their respective tracks, Chronixx standing out the most throughout ‘Wounds’ with strong vocals very much suited to the emotional tone and sound of the song.
‘Grey Area’ has firmly laid its mark as what could very well be the year’s best hip-hop LP so far. Little Simz delivers a great album that fails to put the brakes on and continues to push Simz talents a step further than previously achieved. Some of her best flows and most personal, introspective lyricism is on show here alongside a great variation of production that compliments Simz wonderfully. With hard hitting tracks such as ‘Venom’ and softer cuts like the album’s closing song ‘Flowers’ a great presentation is provided of someone who can now safely be considered one of the UK’s best rappers.
Design Overview:
Much of the lyricism on show here very much inspires a visual representation of the album alone. In fact, Little Simz has ventured out into experimentations with photography with this album too, with an exhibition of photography inspired by her album recently being shown in Los Angeles. With my album cover design I chose to try and explore the more introspective nature of the album whilst tackling the name of the LP, ‘Grey Area’ itself. With this I started by experimenting with ways monotone printers marks could be incorporated into the design and was very soon inspired to follow suit with the way in which it is included on the cover of Frank Ocean’s ‘Endless’ album. However, differently here, I chose feature a much clear inclusion of type, with the name and title cutting from the edges of the cover. I found the selected photograph to be a great visual of the artist that worked well and suited a lot of the themes found on the LP, the covering of her face alluding to the personal struggles that come to light. The curved line elements act as a contrast to the harsh corners and shapes on the cover and help tie the composition together, resulting in a tighter, more complete final product.
Alternate Artwork Design - Little Simz, GREY AREA
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