Little Simz holds a unique place in the hip-hop scene. Her music videos are consistently innovative while her music follows that same path. Conscious lyricism paired with soulful and funky production allow me to provide my nastiest stank faces while listening. Although she is incredibly talented, her status in the hip-hop community isn’t as cemented as it should be.
Women in hip-hop are unfortunately not taken as seriously as their male counterparts, and that couldn’t be more evident than with Little Simz. Something I take pride in as a consumer of music is always trying to discover and support artists who don’t get as much recognition. And while Little Simz is still fairly well-known, I believe that she deserves to be on the same platform as someone like Kendrick Lamar, as he is someone who cemented his status as one of the greats through several groundbreaking and innovative albums. Little Simz is someone whose discography is on par with Lamar’s in my eyes, making it impossible for me to not buy a ticket to her show in Portland.
Little Simz has proved for years now that she deeply values her home and the community she has built around it. On her 2021 Mercury Prize winning album “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert,” she created a two part song devoted to her cousin about uplifting his voice and sharing his story.
That might seem irrelevant to her concert last week in Portland, but it’s not. As soon as I stepped foot in the Roseland Theater, I heard a British rapper I’ve never heard before spitting absolute heat, boasting bold confidence and captivating the sold out crowd with ease. He goes by the stage name OTG and at the end of his set, he thanked the city of Portland for lending their ears to his music and proceeded to crown Little Simz as “one of the best to ever touch the microphone.” He made it clear that he owes a lot of his success to her.
At this point, the anticipation for Simz’ arrival was eating me alive. You could feel the restlessness in the crowd. All of a sudden, the lights turn off. What was really only a few seconds felt like hours waiting for something to happen. Then Little Simz appeared center stage, dressed in a black coat, white button-up, black tie and sunglasses, displaying a cold-blooded stare into the void. It was as epic of an entrance as I would expect from someone as grand as she is.
She kicked off her set with “Silhouette,” and the first 15 seconds showed three gospel singers slowly raising their arms in a CGI backscreen chanting the lyrics: “Find your way / Find your faith / God’s with you always.” Simz began to rap the song with a confident and undeniable swagger, and the crowd immediately began to get into it with the same conviction. For the next few songs, Simz performed in a similar black and white setting with slightly changing CGI backscreens. On the song “I Love You, I Hate You,” which is written about her familial struggles growing up, you could see two faces, one male and one female, facing each other and spewing the chorus while Simz was hyping up the crowd independently. It was a beautifully executed dichotomy.
“Heart on Fire” is where the energy switched for the first time. The CGI changed from black and white to an abrasive red with flames shooting up. Simz rapped her lyrics with ferocity, but this time the crowd was quieter, paying closer attention to her words and movements. At the end of the song, Simz took a second to acknowledge the crowd for coming out and supporting her tour, telling a story about how she had to cancel her Portland show last time she came to the United States. Unlike most artists who say these things, there was something about the way she delivered that line that felt far more sincere than other artists. From this point on, the relationship between Simz and the crowd was completely symbiotic.
Simz proceeded to bring out a guitar and bass player, and man, it sure did enhance her performances. “Introvert,” which is a horn-laden anthem, became even more epic and anthemic upon the arrival of her guitar and bass players. Before she began her song “Gorilla,” her guitar and bass players played a slow churning interlude with repetitive and catchy melodies. “Gorilla” benefited from the same elements as “Introvert,” while the fiery one-two punch of “Point and Kill” and “Fear No Man” were carried to new heights.
The final and most impactful energy shift came before she performed “Broken.” Simz gave us a mini monologue after an extended round of applause from the audience about following your dreams and being grateful for what you have and what people give you. She followed that up with a speech regarding the difficulties in writing “Broken,” a song she wrote during a particularly rough time for her emotionally and mentally. She extended her empathy to anybody in the audience who was going through something, and urged us to find what makes us happy in order to help us get through those tough times. Simz then bared the microphone, pleaded for the audience to turn their flashlights on, and emoted the eight minute long song with raw, powerful emotion. It nearly brought me to tears.
She concluded the show with her hit “Woman” featuring Cleo Sol and departed with another extended, heartfelt round of applause by a speechless, emotionally spent crowd. Since Little Simz is an artist who I admire greatly, I had especially high expectations for her show. She delivered in ways in which I didn’t think were possible. From the beginning of opener OTG’s set all the way to the last second of hers, the environment that was fostered in the venue was centered around home, emotion and authenticity. A Little Simz concert is a must-see for anyone and everyone.
