Throughout ‘Lotus,’ Little Simz has a blast, enters fits of rage, and cries a little, but never fails to dazzle as a hip-hop tour de force.

Stream: “Young” – Little Simz

Once, Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin was featured on a surprising number of hip-hop tracks (“Homecoming” with Kanye West and “Beach Chair” with Jay-Z among them).

Then, ol’ Chris decided it was time to reverse the trend and bring a rising rapper onboard Coldplay’s 2024 song, “We Pray.” The lucky beneficiary of that decision was Little Simz, Martin’s fellow Londoner and one of four international guest artists on the single, which wound up becoming her first Billboard Hot 100 hit.

It really shouldn’t have taken so long for Little Simz to be introduced to American audiences. She’s been around for a solid 10 years and has been the subject of consistent critical acclaim throughout that period, perhaps most of all for 2021’s Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. But hey, now that she’s finally got one foot in the American door, she’s got a chance to prove she can hold her own overseas without any Coldplay crutch around. An excellent opportunity to demonstrate that much comes in the form of her sixth and latest album, Lotus, which winds up being a captivating listen throughout all 13 of its tracks.

Lotus - Little Simz — Lotus – Little Simz

Little Simz goes hard on the album’s first song – always a smart move in the rap game – with “Thief,” a scintillating takedown of her former go-to producer, Inflo, who has yet to repay a £1.7 million loan she granted him for creative purposes two years ago. Simz clearly isn’t letting this one slide: “[You] got no shame, no pride, why do you lie, why do you lie?” she asks him with all the vitriol imaginable. “Why do you steal? Why do you spill blood and then go hide?” And then, just to make it truly personal: “I really feel sorry for your wife.“

“Thief” demonstrates how Little Simz will respond when she’s got a single target in her sights. “Flood,” the follow-up track and lead single, shows what’ll happen when she’s got a whole bunch of them. With this song, Little Simz broadly goes after all of the people who have ever doubted her or given her a hard time throughout her music career. “They want you to stop, then they leave you to rot,” she says of them. “But that’s just not my frequency, man.” Later in the song, she describes the various steps she takes to keep her sanity in the face of all these naysayers (A sample: “Don’t take it personal. This place is infested with snakes“).

While attacking her foes, she does make room for some friends: Frequent collaborators Obongjayar and Moonchild Sanelly contribute some vocals here, the former chanting some in Zulu (“Andnantanga mna mfanaka” – “No one is on my level, dawg”), which provides some distinct African flavoring that feels very welcome on the work of the lady MC of Nigerian heritage born Simbiatu Ajikawo. All of this laid on top of a thunderous beat by Miles Clinton James make “Flood” an intense and engaging single; coupled with “Thief,” and you’ve got an excellent one-two punch of an album starter on Lotus.

Simz keeps things far more playful on “Young,” which feels like something of the comic relief foil to the two songs that preceded it. “I’m 20 something young with my priorities straight – I need to buy a booze and I need to buy a draw,” she raps sarcastically. Then, some especially goofy lines emerge on the order of “I speak a lot of French: ‘Oui! Oui! Oui!’” and “I taught myself to make a proper English breakfast, ’cause I’m a little teapot, short and stout” (“I wish I didn’t have to rhyme every time I sang,“ indeed….). It’s encouraging to see one of Britain’s leading MC’s make room for her excellent sense of humor after she’s gotten some of her more troubling thoughts off her chest.

Following that come a number of calmer and chill songs that largely set the mood for the remainder of the album. “Peace,” for instance, features the central lyric, “I’ve got to find some peace of mind,” and it’s fair to say that the listeners, at least, have achieved that much by the time the track is through, thanks in large part to the incredibly harmonious guest vocals of Moses Sumney and Miraa May.

“Blood” also functions as a gentle piano ballad, even though the subject matter is pretty tough: A brother and sister who’ve grown increasingly distant over the years commiserate over the phone. “Lonely” is another example of sad subject matter paved atop a gentle beat, as Little Simz address two of the major pitfalls recording artists have to deal with – solitude and writers’ block – by giving us a glimpse of the darker moments she’s faced in the studio. “It’s causing pains in my chest,” she says of the whole ordeal. “Sitting in the studio with my head in my hands, thinking: ‘What am I to do with this music I can’t write?’“

Little Simz goes through a number of mood swings throughout the course of Lotus – proud and boastful on the title track, vulnerable and concerned on album closer “Blue,” and many more – but her spectacular command as an MC and wonderful selections of producers and guest vocalists shine the whole time.

At roughly the midpoint of the year, it’s entirely fair to crown Lotus as one of the best rap albums of 2025 – and it seems there’s an excellent chance it will maintain that status as the rest of the year runs its course. “Bet you’ve never seen a young black woman so fly,” Little Simz raps. Don’t sell yourself short. There aren’t too many rappers of any age, race or gender who are looking as fly as you right now in the wake of your latest creative triumph, Lotus.

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