FEATURE: Spotlight: Shaybo — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight:

Shaybo

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IN today’s Spotlight…

I get to focus on one of the strongest and brightest Rap artists in the U.K. Even though she is so young and embarking on her first steps, Shaybo has so much confidence and quality. She has not reached her peak yet - although, the music she has released to date suggests an artist who has found her feet and is wasting no time in establishing herself! I am eager to bring some interviews together so that we can learn more about Shaybo and what she is about. She is an artist who has come into my life recently and has made a big impression! The Primary Talent website tells us more about a rising powerhouse:

“Born and raised in south east London, Shaybo the hard-hitting truth-telling female rapper is not here to play games. With a passion for rapping running through her veins, Shaybo's fervent lyrics, and catchy melodies expose a highly versatile artist whose sound has the power to provoke a profound response across all genres.

Being no newcomer to the rap scene, Shaybo has always been a creator at heart, dabbling in rap since her early teens where she became a household name with the already bubbling UK rap scene, growing up in southeast London inevitably shaped her to become the honest, driven and highly spirited individual that she is today. A firm believer in the strength of community amongst women, the sounds of Shaybo lyrics are charged by the electricity that connects people. Her lyrical delivery and content is what people resonate with males and females.

Shaybo has the accolades and momentum in her favor with her most recent releases 'Bonjour cava' and 'Ya Dun Know' gaining huge attention from her 'Real One Fans' with the upcoming release of her EP 'Queen Of The South' featuring top tier artist there will be no limit on what she will be able to accomplish in the near future”.

Having featured on a string of singles this year (including a collaboration with Jorja Smith, Bussdown), one feels that an album or mixtape is imminent. Such fertile and consistently brilliant output is consistent with an artist who adored and fell for music very early. I think there were plans for an E.P. or something bigger last year. With the pandemic raging, things have been put back. We shall see what the rest of this year holds. In this interview with CRACK, we learn more about Shaybo’s career, early life and fanbase:

“Born Shayon Brown, she was just 13 when she began releasing YouTube freestyles and building a following, before suddenly going quiet. Then, in 2013, she edged her way back into the spotlight with Guess Who’s Back – a single which announced her statement of intent over an ominous road rap beat. But then, again, silence.

That second silence lasted seven years, a lifetime in the music industry. Her first wave of buzz, built from frequent freestyles on the then-popular street rap YouTube channel Rap City, belongs to a time when road rap was still deep underground. But that was the past – and she’s not looking back. “I was locked in the studio for about five months just crafting,” she says, of her new EP Queen of the South. “My voice is an instrument and it’s part of the song, I’m not just rapping over a beat, so no matter what I put out there, what they’re getting from my music is all of me,” she says, softly.

Born in Nigeria, Shaybo grew up in south London, first Lewisham and later, Woolwich – areas that are home to two of the largest Nigerian communities in the UK. Due to waves of immigration from West Africa in the past couple of decades, she finds herself caught between two cultures, blurring the notion of Black Britishness with her cadence and what she describes as ‘cultural language’. The Yoruba wit and humour oozes from her on record, where she often rhymes in Pidgin before going back to road slang or vice versa. On her Link Up TV HB Freestyle, she raps: “Mummy I’m famous now/ How you tryna send me shop to go and get Lyca/ I don’t care which aunty’s in Naija/ Oya take back your fiver”. While she jokes about those moments, which are often a rite of passage for people with family ‘back home’, it also speaks to her duality as a Nigerian-British woman.

Shaybo doesn’t delve deep when asked about her past. She nods fleetingly towards the challenges she faced as a young person, coming of age in south London and affiliated with the streets – stories and themes she frequently tackles in her writing. But her new music reveals an emotional depth to Shaybo that longtime fans may not expect: “I want people to see the good and the bad. I want to show them anger, love, heartbreak and all the things girls where I’m from can relate to.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Michelle Helena Janssen for CRACK

Before the Covid-19 lockdown, she even wanted to invite her fans to eat jollof rice, stew and chicken with her at an EP launch party. “I just want to do things in a much more grounded way. Before I’m a rapper and I’m this and that, I’m a person who has to live life as well.”

Shaybo is confident in her belief that her fanbase will buy into Queen of the South and the story she’s telling, not just because of any notions of ‘realness’ or the fact she’s a woman in a male-crowded drill scene, but because she’s a storyteller. “People have given me the title of ‘queen of drill’ but I’m not really interested in that, I’m not just drill. I guess because it’s popular at the moment…” As an MC, her ability to move with ease from poignancy to humour is one of the qualities that makes Shaybo so infectious – she is so clearly having fun. On her recent Tiffany Calver Freestyle for BBC 1Xtra’s Rap Show, Shaybo was smiling the whole way as she reeled off bar after bar, punchline after punchline, in her piercing and boisterous flow (“Anger is my issue, aside from that I’m cool,” she beams). The road rap productions may have become drill beats in the intervening years, but her presence and skill is as sharp as it ever was – or better”.

I think that the next year or two will see Shaybo hook up with other artists and producers. I feel like she is at her most powerful and honest when performing solo. That is when one feels Shaybo at her very best. I am interested in how Shaybo’s career has taken off and the interest courted from labels. Her delivery and flow is different to other rappers. She is shaping up to be one of the U.K.’s greatest rappers. I think it is worth bringing in a feature/interview from DIY. They went into more detail regarding the themes I have just mentioned:

“Shaybo’s MCing style, though, is unique, articulating her alpha female energy by peppering her English bars with insults and slang in Yoruba, the language of her native Nigeria. “There’s a huge Nigerian community in London, so I felt like I wanted to embrace my culture while rapping,” she says.

She almost left music behind in her teens. “When I used to do music, I used to be, in a way, a delinquent,” she says. “I used to get in trouble a lot, into fights a lot, but I just felt like I was misunderstood. I felt like I couldn’t articulate myself. I went into music because it’s a way of expressing how I feel.”

After her parents encouraged her to explore other avenues, she decided to study social work at university. “I wanted to be in my community and be able to help people. It’s very important to have somebody to help you, somebody who relates to what you’ve been through.”

She used that experience to help survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire, setting up programmes to help traumatised children. “When I was young, I experienced certain things. I have bad PTSD. I know how to relate to [the kids], but through training I could articulate myself in a formal way. I did one-to-one sessions and a fitness programme, partnering with a gym. It was a good feeling.”

Black Butter, the label that broke UK artists like J Hus and Octavian, also noticed Shaybo’s talent. She inked a deal with them last year. Ever since watching a Netflix show based on an Arturo Pérez-Reverte novel, Queen of the South, where she identified with the main character, she’s called herself that. Her EP of the same name is due to come out later this year; a record that points to varying sides to Shaybo’s artistry. She locked herself in the studio, recorded between 60 and 70 tracks, then picked out “the best ones that just show different things that women can relate to”.

Switching between no-nonsense barring and deeper explorations of real life issues, ‘Queen of the South’ represents a cross-pollination of different strands of UK music — drill, rap, Afrobeats. On it she’s worked with Ghanaian producer Guiltybeatz, who’s worked with Beyonce — “He’s an artist himself, so he understands both sides of the spectrum and we just create really well together” — Kenny Allstar producer’s Nostalgia, and the MOBO-winning Victizzle, who produced ‘Ya Dun Know’.

Where Shaybo’s baby face was known only in pockets of South London before, now she’s getting props from all over. Lily Allen, Katy B and So Solid Crew have all reached out. Cara Delevigne followed her on Instagram today (“I almost fainted!”), but she’s also backed by rap tastemakers DJ Semtex, Julie Adenuga, Joey Clipstar (whose Hardest Bars freestyle series she appeared on), and has supported the likes of MoStack and JAY1.

Shaybo describes her return to music like “watching a little sister grow up.” Rapping as a 13-year-old, and a self-described tomboy, she didn’t feel like women could identify with her. “I’m more than happy that females can relate to me now, and they look at me as somebody who’s just raw,” she says, “[someone] who just says what they’re thinking. So I’m very happy about that part.” Things are different now, and Shaybo’s having her moment”.

I am going to wrap up soon enough. There are a couple more interviews that I wanted to introduce. If you have not discovered Shaybo already, follow her on social media. I think that we are going to get more music from her in 2021. In spite of the pandemic, Shaybo has made big impression this year.

Shaybo talked about female representation in Rap when she spoke with Wonderland. last year. She looked at the situation in the U.S. and compared it to how things are in this country:

“Still learning a decade into her career, it’s this experimental approach to her craft that has helped Shaybo develop as an artist. “I’ve failed so many times that I know what not to do,” she admits. “I want girls looking up to me to see that, when I was that age, I was doing music and just developing myself. Evolving. I want them to feel empowered, like strong independent women that don’t tolerate nonsense from anybody,” she adds, delivering a presidential-style mission statement. “I want them to feel like no matter what situations they go through — whether it be heartbreak, work pressure, relationship pressure, or just dealing with friendship groups — that they don’t have to tolerate things and feel confident in what they do and how they speak.”

While Shaybo believes female representation in UK rap music is definitely improving, she doesn’t think it’s on the same level as in the US. “In America there are so many female rappers and different styles that people can listen too, and I feel that the UK should have that as well. We’re getting there,” she considers optimistically. “It’s about encouraging the next generation to see that it’s possible.” It’s unsurprising, then, that Shaybo — whose 2021 aims include a vast tour (“hopefully I can sell out the O2 Arena”) — has her sights set on going global. “I want to show the next generation of women that I can cross over to the African market, or the American market, and that I can be a worldwide success,” she manifests. “I want future female rappers to see that even somebody from the UK can be as international, or as big, as their American counterparts.”

It’s this versatility that really shines on her long-awaited debut EP, “Queen of the South”, the release of which was delayed to give space to the Black Lives Matter movement. “I felt like it was a time for the whole of society to reflect, and see what’s wrong in the world,” she insists. As someone who’s always on the go, the effects of lockdown have given Shaybo space to reflect personally, too. “It was hard for me to stand still,” she recalls, “but sometimes you have to be able to live in the moment and observe what’s going on in the world. It just let me chill out”. Now though, she’s ready to show everyone what she’s been working on, promising that the best is yet to come. “Musically, I’ve evolved to another level,” she asserts. “But, because I’ve got so many songs in my archive, people have only heard the beginning stages. They’ve not heard what I’ve been making recently, so I’m happy for people to hear my story.” After all those years developing herself, evolving her sound and mastering her craft, Shaybo’s time is now”.

As you can see, there was anticipation regarding a debut E.P. At the time of writing this (6th June), there has been no announcement on her social media pages regarding a release date. I am sure that we will hear in good time. There is a great deal of excitement as to what Shaybo will deliver.

The final interview I want to source from us from THE FACE. They fired some questions at her. Whilst they are not in-depth questions, there were some interesting answers:

“20%: At what point did you realise you’d be able to do what you love for a living?

I’ve been rapping on-and-off for about ten years – so since I was 13. I always wanted to do music, however I was encouraged by my family to go to uni and get an education first. So after I managed to get all of that done, I decided that music was the perfect calling for me and I just went for it.

40%: What kind of emotions and experiences influence your work?

It’s a lot to do with my life. When I went into uni it made me reflect on my life and why I am the way I am. I was very hood-affiliated so I used to be very angry. I used to get in trouble a lot, so I just pull from experiences and the things I’ve been through. Whether that be my anger or my love situations, I just articulate myself through music.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Bridgland for Wonderland.

70% What can artists do to help save the world?

When you get to a position of influence and you have people looking up to you, I think it’s very important to give back to your community. I feel like there are so many ways the world can be saved but you have to start within your community first. You need to encourage people to do stuff for the community or bring awareness to certain situations that are happening in the world”.

I shall leave things there. Go and fololow Shaybo, as I think that she will rise and rule this year. Whilst we have great female rappers like Shaybo, Little Simz and Bree Runway, there is still not the equality that we need to see. I think that the likes of Shaybo will encourage other women. Hopefully, barriers and doors will be broken down, as Rap is so much richer with gender diversity and equal opportunity! With the incredible Shaybo in our midst, the U.K. and world of Rap has a talent…