FEATURE:
Spotlight
ShaSimone
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A titanic talent…
PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Alexander for The Line of Best Fit
that everyone should have in their sights, the Ghanian-British Hip-Hop/Grime star ShaSimone is rising and striking hard. One of our very finest and most impressive artists, I wanted to link a few interviews so that you get to know more about ShaSimone. Someone I am fairly new to, recent singles like LOCK OFF signal that she is going to be a legend. I am lookming ahead to seeing just how far her career can go. Earlier this year, CRACK spotlighted the brilliant and stunningly memorable ShaSimone:
“The British-Ghanaian rapper, as with many in the UK scene, never fails to let you know where she comes from. “I know I act crazy/ I’m from East, not South,” she proclaims on her latest track Hushpuppi. Yet for all the artist’s pride in her hometown, it’s the work of the US greats who have shaped her style. “I would say my flow is very 90s inspired,” she explains. “I grew up listening to a lot of Biggie and Tupac.” It’s easy to see how these iconic influences have seeped into Yeboah’s attitude, too; she carries herself with a casual confidence that belies the fact that her first official single, Belly, was only released in 2020.
Her beginnings were typical of most fledgling teenage rappers. “Me and my friends used to send voice notes back and forth, back and forth,” Yeboah remembers. When she was in secondary school, she used Blackberry Messenger to share her raps with friends. Their words of affirmation emboldened Yeboah, who then began to experiment with real intent. Her first song was a freestyle over an instrumental of LL Cool J’s Doin’ It. “It was really hard… I was just thinking, ‘Rah, I can actually do this, this is jokes!’ From there it just kind of took off.”
Yeboah’s career began in earnest at the start of the first lockdown. Since then, she’s delivered a collection of intoxicating singles, from the laidback grooves of No Chaser to the Afrobeats-indebted rhythm of Back to Sender, where she rhymes with disarming conviction: “Anything they wish me back to sender/ Tryna keep it real ain’t no pretender.” It wasn’t long before the Mercury Prize-winning rapper Dave tapped her to feature on his latest album, We’re All Alone in This Together. “There’s a mutual producer that we work with and [Dave] was looking for a female artist,” Yeboah says of how the opportunity came together. “He loved the tone of my voice – he was just really with it. Then we got the call to come over.” The session lasted from the evening they linked up until the early morning the following day, leaving Yeboah in awe of what she’d just experienced. “He dropped a lot of gems on me that day!” she smiles.
While she enjoys collaboration, Yeboah recognises the importance of holding your own. “I think it’s good to collab, but you should also be able to make a great song by yourself,” she asserts. “That’s something I don’t depend on ‘cause I know I can make a banger.” This self-belief is integral to her artistry; it’s an energy that informs her writing as much as it invigorates it. But there’s also a more meditative side to her creative practice that isn’t often seen. “Sometimes I just go on a bus ride, stare out the window and just look at things. I might even go by London Bridge, sit by the water and just, like, zone out…” she trails off. “I don’t like when there’s too much going on,” she admits, adjusting her tone. “I need to be in the zone so I can write my best.”
It’s a focused approach that has proved fruitful so far – her prolific release schedule in 2021 is evidence alone – but there’s an unshakeable feeling that her best is yet to come. Almost on cue, Yeboah reveals that there’s an EP in the works but keeps the details close to her chest – though she does make a point to divulge that there will be no guest features: “This one is just me, on some real rap shit!”.
One of London’s shining jewels, she is adding something exciting and fresh to Grime, Hip-Hop and Rap. Gifted with an amazing energy, flow and incredibly strong lyrical voice, she will command big stages very soon. 10 Magazine asked ten questions of ShaSimone this year:
“1. Who is ShaSimone?
“ShaSimone is an innovative artist hailing from Hackney, taking the scene by storm. Doing amazing things, she’s creative, she’s versatile, she is one of a kind, she is her!”
2. What’s the best thing about growing up in East London?
“I got to meet so many people from different cultures and different backgrounds, so I feel like I know how to communicate, understand and get on with people from all walks of life.”
3. What’s essential for a great studio session?
“Silence. Not total silence but the least amount of people in the studio the better for me. Ideally just me, my producer, water and a Magnum bar so I can just vibe out.”
4. If your sound had a flavour, what would it taste like?
“It would taste like Magnum. Coz you be drinking it, drinking it, drinking it, drinking it, not knowing you’re getting drunk as fuck.”
5. Who is your dream collaborator?
“J. Cole, Russ or J Hus.”
6. Who are your style icons?
“I love Teyana Taylor, Bree Runway. I love people who dress unusual and not the norm. I love that weird, eccentric type of dressing.”
7. What can we expect from your new EP Simma Down?
“You can expect to hear something different from a woman from the UK. You can expect to hear an EP that consists of songs that fit every single mood. You can expect to hear me just really rapping and showing my skills and just showing what type of artist I am.”
8. What’s your favourite moment from creating the EP?
“My favourite moment has been recording a song and it being so good we were like ‘Ahh damn, shall we just slap it on there’. Everything I’ve been making has been incredible, so we’ve had to make some tough decisions about what I’m going to keep and get rid of.”
9. If you could play anywhere in the world tonight, where would it be?
“I would play in Ghana because it’s my home country. I would love to be received by all the people over there and for them to take me in and support me even more.”
10. What’s next for you?
“Bigger and better things. More music, more incredible music, more shows, more everything, more being great. More of following wherever God wants me to go and wants to lead me. That’s what’s next”.
Before rounding things off, I want to bring in an interview from The Line of Best Fit. Perhaps the most thorough and impressive spotlight feature so far, they named ShaSimone as an artist that we need to watch out for:
“Simone's flow is playful yet in control — you know you are in safe hands in her company. “I’d say being true to myself is what makes my music. Me being me and translating that into my songs.” She began writing poetry long before she was a rapper, with Tupac’s book, A Rose That Grew from Concrete, encouraging her to spin her own web. “I read this book whilst in secondary school and was very inspired by it. I grew up listening to Tupac and I loved seeing a poetic side to him that I could also relate to.”
But what motivates the rapper? “My environment, how I’m feeling and just life, in general, is what motivates me to rap. Rap is very similar to poetry and that’s what I started out doing. It’s very familiar to me. I love the ability to rhyme and express myself over a good beat.” Simone agrees that her confessional lines are therapeutic, like diary entries with rhythm — “It’s an outlet for expression.”
“SCHWEET”, the rapper’s first single of 2022 with collaborator Suspect OTB, carries through her carefree ethos of living in the present, as well as being ridiculously catchy. “When people listen to my music, I want them to feel empowered and confident. I also want them to tap into some of the things I say so they realise they’re not alone in this whether it be life is lifting or just being positive in general no matter the obstacles life presents.”
Simone’s freestyling sessions are where her personality comes to the fore and her flow takes on a whole new role. There is an effort in being effortless but her freestyles are never over the top — they are snippets of truth and vulnerability. “I enjoy freestyling because it’s free speaking. I can say whatever I want whereas my music is a bit more calculated. I get to be as wild and flamboyant as I want.” We talk about her recent spate of live performances and the firey freestyles she's dropped on 1XTRA and Capital. Does she ever get tongue-tied?
"Each show is different. Sometimes I get a little nervous or I’m buzzing ready to rock out. Funny enough, when I’m performing to a room full of strangers I feel way less pressure. When it’s people I know I feel like the expectations are so much higher so it's harder." She laughs. "But you’d never tell 'cause I’m great at faking it!"
PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Alexander
As an up and coming artist, it seems that the norm these days is to project yourself onto social media 24 hr a day, but that is exactly what Simone tells me she is trying to distance herself from. She’s skeptical about TikTok and wants to ensure her music reaches a genuinely global audience. “You know, there are so many places in the world that don’t have social media, so yeah, I just want to be able to reach all of these places.” Creating a positive space around her and within her sound is what keeps the raps flowing. “I am someone who can sense negative energy. It’s important for everyone around me to have positive energy. I meditate and I’m always reading into things. “
Simone's spirituality is key to her focus and her genuine character gives depth to every word spun. I wonder whether she has any solid advice for young women looking up to her. “To unapologetically be yourself because that’s all you can be, yourself. Also, don’t be drawn out by the noise, you’re in your own lane. I don’t think I ever had a role model… I think I am my own role model — I’ve created my own path.” I picture Sha Simone in the video for “No Chaser”, standing on the back of some kind of three-wheel motorbike, “I do it for myself, I ain't looking for likes” — a gal I’d like to hang out with. Simone is building her own steps to success; if you don’t see her on socials, you’ll hear her laughter from a mile away”.
If you are new to ShaSimone, then go and check her out. Follow her on social media and follow her career. An artist who is very much primed for big things, it is going to thrilling to see if she will drop an album or mixtape later in the year. A great artist who has been championed by some of the biggest radio stations and music websites in the U.K., it is not long until the London-based artist…
GOES global.
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