Even the title feels a touch pretentious: the lotus flower, with its ties to Buddhism and Hinduism, representing purity and spiritual awakening, and so on. Self-discovery is the theme here, along with other esoteric concerns. The song »Free« offers up a definition of love in its first verse (»Love is forgiving yourself, I think that love is offering your immediate help«) and does the same for fear later on. And, of course, the UK’s soul-stirrers Moses Sumney, Michael Kiwanuka and Sampha all make appearances on the album. Naturally.
This all sounds rather negative. But the question remains: is this kind of meticulously crafted prestige hip-hop still modern? Even Kendrick Lamar, the god of high-minded rap (and a fan of Little Simz), has moved on; these days, his lyrics sound more like: »Bing-bop-boom-boom-boom-bop-bam / The type of shit I’m on, you wouldn’t understand.«
It may sound paradoxical, but thankfully Lotus, the British rapper’s sixth album, is an imperfect work. Perhaps that’s down to the circumstances: Little Simz has struggled with a lack of self-confidence, scrapping four unfinished albums along the way, and she also lost her closest collaborator and childhood friend, producer Inflo, whom she took to court over unpaid debts. On Lotus, this break becomes a source of inspiration; it’s a break-up album of a different kind.
The diss-track opener »Thief« makes that clear from the outset, with Little Simz calling out her former collaborator Inflo as a liar, a »devil in disguise«, and expressing pity for his wife, the British singer Cleo Sol. Musically, »Thief« is in many ways representative of the album: working with her new producer Miles Clinton James, Little Simz has created an organic, live-in-the-room feel, driven by acoustic drums, Thundercat-like basslines and smooth guitar chords. It’s like a Tiny Desk session turned into a studio album. At the same time, Lotus feels modest yet confident, aware that its songs are all different and don’t need to be grand gestures. The album keeps shifting its direction, like, well, a lotus flower turning towards the sun. Sorry about that.
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