A description of LAMBETHNOTLA.

Official LAMBETHNOTLA cover, taken by my good friend Aisha.

For the past 3 weeks or so I’ve been writing and rewriting words on many different topics. The words float around my head but rarely do they seem to land on the page. And if they do, I’m rarely able to get out my thoughts at my usual level of articulation. Run on sentences and trains of thoughts that don’t run on tracks but pure whim seem to be the word of month, which is why I haven’t posted anything. But lucky for me, I know exactly why. Eight days ago now at the time of writing, I released my 2nd project in music, entitled LAMBETHNOTLA. Because I’m from Lambeth, and not LA. But that doesn’t really mean anything to those who aren’t familiar with me or my music so I guess this is a (short) attempt at contextualising what the project means. To do that though, I guess I have to talk about my impulses as it pertains to how they are informed by my sociological (obviously) perception of my art.

Lambeth, by all measurable categories and statistics, isn’t exactly the most optimal place to rear children. Deprivation is rife, drug abuse is nearing epidemic levels, and gang violence looks to be a permanent legacy of the borough due to changes in criminological analysis as it pertains to the causes of crime and the ensuing governmental response of a focus on punitive measures dating back as far as the mid 70s. Naturally, I imagine that the next line of questioning after reading all that would be ‘why dedicate a project to this place out of pride?’ Well, if you’ve ever spent an extended period at or lived anywhere like this, you know that there is a shared undeniable truth that exists at the cores of these neighbourhoods. And for me? That truth is at the heart of who I currently am as a person. 

Over 11 tracks, I ruminate on the nuances that I’ve come to learn exist within inner city life. The paranoia of an early demise, grief, an indifference for others stemming from a deep-seated insecurity that mean that many people who resemble I see themselves as worthless, anger, addiction, desolation, judgement, and finding purpose in a world where from the moment you are born in the conditions we are born into, your story is written on your behalf at every turn. But in the mix with that amount of heavy subject matter is also the truth that I mentioned before. In spite of all the things that plague our day to day life, there is a thriving and beautiful community that holds a love for each other and an acceptance of reality as the two pillars that keep us upright. Not that this is a community without fault, mind you. But this is not a community I, or any of the people I grew up with would have been able to function with. And as far as the music I make, I’d be remiss if I didn’t shed light on reality in my home, especially because I make music of a genre that encourages sensationalisation and exaggeration as opposed to real, vulnerable looks at life. 

Projecting a larger than life image to try and win over fans isn’t really my MO, nor will it ever be. I feel like that’s almost taking the listener for granted and insulting their intelligence, as if people aren’t crying out for earnest art that comes from genuine passion and not products pushed out that are a result of pencil pushers studying algorithms, consumer trends and commercially viable examples. From fashion to music to journalism to television and film, there has always existed common denominator art. Inoffensive, made to pacify the masses and dedicated to never interrogating the reality the common person faces.

And as of right now, you could argue that due to the advent of the internet and social media specifically we’ve never been inundated with more of it than right now. That’s really another article in and of itself. But in light of the proverbially downturn our creative industries seem to be in due to corporate interest (or disinterest), I suppose this project stands as my contribution to a growing rallying cry to represent reality, regardless of what may or may not be in it for the artist. LAMBETHNOTLA is more than just a collection of songs or random thoughts collated together in an attempt to garner streams, but a real mission statement. If you were ever confused on why I write, why I rap and why I even exist, as well as many others just like me, this stands as the first word to that answer which I hope over the course of my career I will be able to extend to a complete novel.