FEATURE:
Spotlight
Lavida Loca
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I won’t lead…
PHOTO CREDIT: Vicky Grout
with any Ricky Martin joke or reference. Instead, I wanted to spend some time with the magnificent Lavida Loca. One of the strongest, most talented and extraordinary artists on the scene, she is a Rap and Drill queen in the making. A wonderful artist with a fascinating story, she has gone through hard times and challenges and come out the other end. I think Rap and especially Drill are genres where women are still pitted against one another and are not presented with enough opportunities and equality. Powerhouses and voices like Lavida Loca will change things are show what remarkable talent is coming from women in the genres. There are a few interview with Lavida Loca that I want to bring in. Even though she has had a much quieter 2022 than 2020 and 2021, I think she will come through strong in 2023. First, here is some background to this immense talent:
“Lavida Loca is a unique force in the UK rap scene. Armed with a potent blend of street rap, the 22 year old newcomer twists true tales from life on the roads into compelling narratives. With just a few singles to her name, her passionate, raw storytelling has already caught the ear of the likes of Virgil Abloh, Fraser T. Smith and Kenny Allstar, with plenty more soon to come.
Following the two singles that have served as our introduction to Lavida’s world, ‘No ID’ firing shots at fakes and ‘The King’s Back’, a celebration of post incarceration freedom, 'I Been’ scores a hat trick. Produced by longtime Giggs collaborator Bayoz Muzik, it centres around a Latin piano riff, with Peckham rapper C.S offering a response to Lavida’s call.
Upping her work rate at lightning pace, Lavida has been in the studio with producers with the most recognisable tags in the game, including Diztortion, 169, The FaNaTiX and Gotcha.
With serious plans in the pipeline for the coming year, Lavida Loca is just getting started. “I know my bars, I know how to formulate them, I know how I'm delivering it. I know my craft”.
Last year, DJ Booth spoke with an artist challenging the rules of Drill and Rap. There is no doubt Lavida Loca is someone to watch very closely through 2023. She discussed her turbulent beginnings and genre inequalities in the genres:
“Having dropped out of high school in the eighth grade, South London rapper Lavida Loca says she joined a gang to feel security and gain a sense of belonging that was missing from her life. “I was kicked out by my mum and dad when I was 14. The school system wasn’t set up for me at all,” the 21-year-old says over a phone call where no subject is off limits. “I had to find a different path.”
Lavida Loca’s perseverance and blunt honesty are just two of the reasons why she feels like such a breath of fresh air. Having first turned heads with a raw take on drill, where Lavi barked out orders to the drug dealers on her block (“I tell them have the money right / not even short on the pound!”) with the assurance of a military commander, the rapper’s claim of being “the king of UK Drill” served as a statement of intent that a woman was ready to lead the scene and fully embody the role of the alpha male.
Her sound has since evolved and pushed into exciting new directions. She’s proved capable of taking on dancehall, pop, R&B, and trap sounds, and is more than ready to be a pop star. Her new single “Lil Booties Matter” is a brave takedown of a culture that places impossible beauty standards on young black women and a continuation of the artist (who previously rapped: “Real slim bitch, I don’t need no enhancing” on “One Mic”) being unafraid to talk up on issues other artists seem to avoid like the plague.
The fact she’s happy to talk about stealing both girlfriends and boyfriends on wax also feels important, with Lavi’s ownership of her sexuality flipping a UK rap scene still far too weighted on heterosexual values right on its head. Lavi possesses towering confidence, while her unique storytelling ability, which humanizes the addict just as much as the dealer (“2 Sides”), displays the kind of empathy you might hear on a 2Pac or King Von fable.
“It’s important I show you both sides of the drug transaction,” Lavi says, “because the roles could so easily be reversed. Look, I am whatever the class below working class is. I literally came from nothing! So, my focus [as a rapper] is to inspire the other girls who have nothing and try to push them out of that poverty mindset of feeling hopeless. It isn’t a fairy tale that I’m doing this; it’s just hard work! I live in the studio.”
There seems to be this impossible beauty standard right now within the music industry. I love how “Little Booties Matter” offers an alternative message.
Female rappers and singers are expected to uphold these impossible beauty standards and look curvy and thick like Kim Kardashian or Blac Chyna, and if you don’t look like that, then you’re asked to go get surgery. It started out in the US, but now it’s big in the UK too, and I think it’s sad that as soon as girls turn 18, they’re looking to get the surgery done.
I’m one of the few public figures they can look at and see something different. I want to inspire thin girls to love their bodies and not feel this pressure to get a BBL [Brazillian butt lift]. People have tried to force the narrative down my throat and make me change my image, but I don’t take it to heart. I don’t care what men want to look at; I care more about giving you something you’re unable to stop listening to!
I love how you refer to yourself as the “king.” Why is it important to be seen as the king rather than the queen?
Because the UK scene is so dominated by men, it means I have to go even harder. But there’s so many great women coming up—whether it’s me, Miss Lafamilia, Shaybo, or TeeZandos—and I hope this means we can open up more space for female rappers.
I consider myself a king cos’ my whole life, from being on the roads to rapping, I’ve always been in worlds that are male-dominated. I’ve always had to follow a male blueprint. Women are supposed to be raised as princesses and queens, but I didn’t have a normal upbringing like that, so I guess I identify more with being the king. By being the king, I’m never in a man’s shadow.
You project so much superhero confidence that it’s easy to forget what you escaped from to make it to this point. How have those experiences shaped the successful woman you are today?
Most people who go through the care system and living in children’s homes understandably end up being bitter. The care system can knock you down, as it isn’t easy being a young child and feeling like no one wants to love you or take care of you. You become lonely, isolated, have trust issues with people, and struggle to build relationships. I now have healthy relationships, so I’m lucky it didn’t have those long-lasting effects [on me] like it does for so many others. We are all labeled damaged children, so I want to use my platform as a rapper to show the people who are damaged how to heal and pick up the pieces.
I’d say prison saved me. I always wrote raps; when I was 12, I’d put my mind on a piece of paper. But I’d say when I was in prison in 2017, it became clear that rapping could actually be a career path. It made me realize how short life is. I celebrated my 18th birthday in prison, so it means I appreciate the little things a lot more now. I appreciate a McDonald’s and a Coca-Cola because I know what jail food is like. They serve you hard potatoes and raw chicken. These experiences all come out in my music. You’re going to hear me rap in Spanish because the South American ladies on my wing taught me the lingo, and you’ll hear a verse in Chichewa because that’s my Malawi mother’s native language. I want to give you every side of me”.
I want to take us back to March 2021. Then, PRS for Music chatted with Lavida Loca. From Malawi to Nottingham and now in South London, this incredible artist has delivered the most phenomenal music. A name that fans of any genre of music should investigate straight away:
“Laura Bronsan: When did you first fall in love with music?
Lavida Loca: From when I was a child, growing up in quite an unstable house, I found peace in music. I used to use music to block things out and turned into a real love for music in general. The first CD I used to do that with was my mum's Whitney Houston CD. Every time I was upset or just being that child, I would blast music out. Then I discovered Nicki Minaj when I was about nine or ten and I absolutely loved her, but I didn't really know there was a whole world of women in rap.
From then I just continued to dig into this new world. Then I came across the UK women who were rapping at the time, which was like Lady Leshurr, Lioness, Baby Blue, Mz Bratt and more. There was quite a few of them doing their thing at that point. In my head, at that time, it was like ‘these are UK Nickis, they’re trying to do what Nicki’s doing’ because I didn't know. As ignorant as it sounds, I didn't know there was other women rapping. I was too young to know Ms Dynamite and people before. So, those were the first females I'd heard of in the UK and then they influenced me to start writing. That’s the moment I first picked up a pen and I wrote to the Game Over instrumental and I haven’t looked back since.
Laura: How would you compare the music you’re making now to the lyrics you wrote then?
Lavida: Now I can write about anything that’s close to me. I let it all out through the pen. I think back then I didn't know how to do that. I was just rhyming. Now, I’m so indulged in the whole creative process.
Laura: UK rap is really breaking new boundaries in the landscape of British music and beyond. How are you carving out your own lane, especially in a male dominated arena?
Lavida: My music is real, gritty but at the same time quite girly. It’s a pure ‘bossy’ type of vibe. I’m a rapper, I feel like I'm very lyrical. It’s important to me to empower women and I want to send out the message in my work, that ‘regardless of where you come from, you can definitely boss up!’ I feel like my story shows that in a sense. I want to make them feel uplifted and bounce back from any setbacks.
Laura: Do you feel there’s certain expectations, topics and stereotypes projected on to women in the music industry to sing or rap?
Lavida: I think initially when I first started rapping, I was told a lot that I should become sexier and rap more like what's hot right now in the U.S, with women in rap. I was like ‘So, you want me to be the same as everybody else?’ I feel like that was because people weren’t used to hearing a woman talk about the life that I've lived. As time has gone on and I’ve continued to be myself, people are just taking me in and just made me very happy that I haven't had to change myself or fit into some sort of box for people to actually start listening to my music and for me to generally gain support. I feel like that's happened organically and it's going to continue to grow over time.
Laura: I do see though, time after time, parts of the music industry, media and fans pitting women against each other. Rarely are women celebrated for what their work without putting other women down.
Lavida: Yes, It's the female rivalry thing. I definitely feel like that is what people are entertained by and I'm not sure why, every time maybe you have two females on a song, they'll be compared rather than, you know, ‘they both went hard’. We get a lot of that projected on to us. I feel like that does kind of add tension to what’s going on. I feel like that's why it can be a lot harder for women to support each other behind the scenes. Maybe it does get into, maybe a few people's heads. The comments and the audience have made it a thing of who's better than who, I feel like, then that obviously plants seeds in people's heads of wanting to be better than the other rather than supporting each other. It goes hands in hand, but I would say it’s both.
Laura: I can imagine that being frustrating, but I suppose if you're working in a corporate job in a male-dominated industry and there's only one or two women, similar things would eventually happen too.
Lavida: I am feeling a lot of love right now. So, hopefully we’re changing that. The group of us that are coming up. I’m not feeling any tension right now, everyone’s supporting each other and just loving the fact that it is the time of the female rapper”.
I am going to round it off with an interview from The-Streets. They interviewed Lavida Loca a while back (though it says in November this year on their site) and asked her about her successful and amazing new singles. In interviews, she always comes across as so humble and warm. This is a woman who will really shake things up through 2023:
“You have a great name! What is the inspiration behind this?
Well people have always called me Lav or little Lavi, so it’s a spin on my name as in Lavi (me) Da (the) Loca (CRAZY) and I do also live the crazy life so that too!
You have recently gathered a lot of attention off of the back of your singles, ‘No ID’ and ‘The King’s Back’. How does it feel being thrust into the spotlight?
It’s definitely been an amazing journey so far. I’m appreciating all the love and support, I’m getting a lot of it so yeah it’s started off well!
Tell us about your new single ‘I Been’.
It was produced by Bayoz Muzik, long time Giggs collaborator and he already has his own individual type of sound, which is sick! I heard the beat and started writing straight away. CS and I got in the studio together and it was made.
How would you describe your music?
Boss bitch kinda music. Gritty, raw, real, different.
Tell us about your journey to becoming a rapper. What makes you unique as an artist?
Well my journey to becoming a rapper has been crazy! I came out of jail, I was on tag so I had a lot of time on my hands, so I was recording a few videos of me rapping and then I decided to post ‘The King’s Back’ onto my snapchat two months after my release.
Someone screen recorded it, I went viral, got posted on all the blogs, then I released the video onto my channel and from there I just got given a whole bunch of opportunities. Been working so hard and a lot of things have happened for me so quickly! So yes, it’s been amazing.
I’m different from other artists because I have my own individual story to tell and my life’s been like a movie! I then have my own way of putting this into music, delivering my craft and it just means that nobody can rap my bars even if they wanted to.
Who are your musical inspirations?
Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Mulatto, even old school Lil Kim, definitely.
What is your process when writing lyrics?
I just put headphones on, loop the beat and write. There’s not much to it. I’m a perfectionist though, so I delete and re-write a lot when I’m working on something.
You had a short spell in prison. How much impact has this had on the rapper you are today?
It was a few years so yeah definitely not short, I wish! But it’s definitely had an impact on me, not only as a rapper but as a woman. I turned 18 in jail. In fact I spent my prime years there, so a lot of the women around me taught me a lot, which may sound scary or weird but no, they were good to me. I learnt a lot of values and what I wanted for myself, which is why I’m so passionate about this. I definitely have had enough time to know what I want!
Are there any assumptions made of Lavida Loca that you wish would disappear?
People have a bunch of assumptions about me before they meet me! I think people expect me to be very hard faced and hard to approach, but I’m so friendly!
In what ways do you hope to use your platform for?
There’s not much help supporting single women in poverty. I realised that a lot of women in prison were actually homeless or came from poverty stricken backgrounds. Women are soft, gracious, majority of them don’t actually want to commit crime, they want help, help that doesn’t come in the form of a man that may have more intentions for you. There’s a lot of things I wanna use my platform for. I’m going to be a voice for a lot of women who don’t have one… but they need to hear me louder first!
Who would be your dream collaboration?
Doja Cat, that’ll happen. TRUST ME!
You recently appeared in the GRM Daily film about Drill. What are your thoughts on females doing Drill in the UK?
It’s amazing more and more females are jumping on Drill! Showing us women can do it too! I love it!
What’s next for Lavida Loca?
Two new songs out this month. My EP comes out in April and I’ve got a few performances coming up. I’m going to be at the Love Saves the Day festival!
What legacy do you want to leave in the industry?
The girl who was told she would be in and out of jail her whole life, not only changed her life, CHANGED OTHERS!”.
Maybe you are hesitant to check out an artist who may be out of your comfort zone or in a genre you are fairly unfamiliar with. I would encourage people to give Lavida Loca some time and love, as her music is so essential and nuanced. Not confining herself to a single sound or nuance, it is eclectic but focused at the same time. This wonderful artist will spend a lot of 2023…
BLAZING her own path.
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