The Mercury nominee returned home for Top Boy’s ‘Made In The UK’ series
To mark her stellar role in the latest season of Top Boy, the Mercury-nominated Little Simz returned to her North London roots as part of Netflix‘s Made In The UK. Watch it first on NME below.
Simz, real name Simbi Ajikawo, stars as Shelley in the Drake-produced season three of the acclaimed show. As with her music, the rapper and multi-instrumentalist is always keen to celebrate the life and culture of London.
“Being British to me, it’s just embedded in me,” said Simz. “From the way I talk and the way I carry myself to me. It just represents my identity and the way I am. I grey up in North London, Essex Road to be exact. North is somewhere that I don’t ever see myself moving from. It’s just home. I wouldn’t change growing up here for the world.”
The very first season of the original Top Boy series starred Letitia Wright (as Chantelle), who has gone on to earn praise for her role in Marvel‘s Black Panther.
Asked if that spurred the rest of the cast on, Simz told NME: “It’s given us more fire in our belly to wanna do better and be a part of more projects.”
“But also, I wanna enjoy this and be in the moment cos’ a lot of the time I think that doing what we do it’s very much: do the job and then on to the next. But I think I’m just learning to be present in this and enjoy it and be here.”
In NME’s five-star review of ‘Grey Area’, we concluded: “Across these 10 tracks, Simz utilises her most valuable commodity: honesty. Having stripped away the narrative cloak that shrouded the highlights of ‘Stillness In Wonderland’, she’s crafted a knockout record – and finally come true on her early promise.
“This is the best rap record of the year so far.”
