Little Sims did everything he had to do. He’s worked hard, done his own thing, built a fan base on a number of popular releases. When the time came, he lasered in and created a bold, themed album with a clear arc that won him the coveted Mercury Prize, which he picked up in October. There were also other rewards. He smiled and said “Thank you” when he was presented with the Best New Artist award at February’s BRIT Awards, despite 12 years and four studio albums into a well-documented career. She appeared on the cover shoot, wore designers on the red carpet, participated in the afterparty. He clung to independence and promoted its values, even when its distributor, AWAL, an offshoot of Artists Without Label, sold to Sony Music for $430 million. He suffered the pain of canceling US shows after the numbers didn’t add up. But now he’s had enough. On NO THANKS he hides the fanfare and goes back to rap basics, blasting the industry that claims to have created him but actually drained him. In doing so, she adds her voice to the chorus of black British artists whose calls for redress are only growing louder.
When Saul Williams delivered his “demand list” in 2004, the anger was contained in the hug and his angry delivery. Sims conveys the same rage, but his ingenuity is different. You’d be forgiven for expecting lullabies or love songs from the flurry of drums and rolling drums that open Angel’s album; but with his aim trained on suits, Sims relentlessly. ,” he raps with a strong volley, before asking: “Did I stutter?” Having seen how far glory and its attendant aspects can divert art from its purpose, he seems to have found the answer to the question which prevailed in the Mercury-crowned. I can be an introvert sometimes“Sims the Artist or Sims the Man?” Turns out there was never any need to split the difference and he lets rip. “You don’t even know who you’re becoming/They don’t give a damn while the gravy train’s rolling,” he coldly spits on “Heart of Fire,” his frustration distilled into the image. At industrial parties where the music is not heard over the noise of people talking in the shop.
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