With roots in the increasingly celebrated (on an international level) grime scene, British rapper Little Simz has been releasing albums since 2015, and 2025's Lotus is her sixth. It's also one of her best -- certainly one of the more experimental.
At the Hollywood Palladium in November, a healthy crowd of what seemed like a mix of super-hip L.A. music lovers and British expats gathered to hear Little Simz (no Lil' Simz thank you very much) perform a quality set of old faves and awesome Lotus material.
She was on form too.
From the opening "Thief and "Flood" from the new album, through a stunning "Two Worlds Apart" from 2021's Sometimes I Might Be an Introvert, Simz laid down a marker. Her live band sounded incredible, and it felt like she was getting particularly personal.
"Heart on Fire" from 2022's No Thank You and "Venom" from 2019's Grey Area were further highlights, before the band disappeared and Simz got behind the decks for the second part of the set.
"Mood Swings" is beautiful, "Miss Understood" and "Woman" thought-provoking, and all are marvelously executed.
There's a healthy British rap scene that might be different in tone to what we get on this side of the Atlantic, but it deserves a full exploration.
Top photo, from a previous show, by George Michael Baker and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
