The 9th Best Album of 2025
Chugging along into February, we're getting close now. And at #9 a triumphant return after a 3 year hiatus, Little Simz slots in with Lotus.
Little Simz burst onto the scene in 2019 with her third album GREY area, and followed it up with one of my favorite albums of the decade so far Sometimes I Might Be Introvert in 2021. No Thank You came out in 2022 and was still acclaimed but it's tough to follow SIMBI. She's put out an EP or two in the meantime but the three year break between albums is the longest she's went since that release in 2019.
The instrumentals are as rich as ever here, with soul, jazz, and some post-punk influences that provide a wonderful canvas for Simz to do her thing over. She's just so damn smooth, it's incredible, one of the best MC's doing it right now, regardless of gender imo.
The album starts with a bang, a diss track against her former producer Inspo with Thief. There are two more collabs from Obongjayar who I only know from featuring on Simz tracks I think lol. Also a Sampha feature on the closer, Blue, which is incredible. Also special shoutout to Young. I think a lot of people hate on this track, and to be fair it's a bit of a tonal shift compared to the rest of the album. But idk man it just works for me, it's laid back and fun and the more spoken word style works for Simz. The album has it all and is delivered in trademark style, one of the best hip hop releases of the last few years imo.