It was approximately 8 p.m. on a Thursday evening in August, when I opened a direct message from a newly established connection on Twitter. He politely asked me to share, not his own personal work, but the work of his close friend, Nippa, as he had just released his smooth R&B joint, “Ride Or Die”.
This was my first time hearing about the North London artist and before even hearing his music, my first impression was that he has very supportive people around him. For instance, his manager is in fact one of his day one friends. He’s part of the group that is often featured in his music videos, making up the main aesthetic of the visuals for “Ride Or Die,” “Pay The Price” or “Situation.” “That group has all been together from the jump. You’ll see them in the same throwbacks. It’s coming like mandem are my team but you know when you’ve got genuine friends that want you to just do well.”
I clicked on the link to the video for “Ride Or Die,” which at the time had around a few hundred views, now increasing to over 25,000 on his own YouTube channel. While watching the visuals, directed by FACES x JRX, it took me back to the early 2000’s R&B era during the height of MTV BASE. From the house party settings and the red cups to the color grading and the VHS filter all reminiscent of an early 2000s video but with a modern feel.
Fast forward to now, Nippa has released two more singles entitled “Situation” and “Pay The Price,” opened up the stage for BLXST at his London show, all leading up to the release of his self-titled EP. “The reception [of the EP] is definitely better than what I was expecting. I’m seeing my name on Twitter a lot. I’m seeing people fucking with the “Intro” and with “Back To You.” In fact, I’ve kinda just finished my second EP!” Nippa reveals as he’s reflecting on the success of his recent EP.
“Like if you told me [I would be doing this] four years ago, I would’ve been like nah, low me man, let’s just stick to freestyling. You see all these stars, but you never see them when they’re at their lowest so you always think that they got picked to do this.”
As my conversation with Nippa unfolds, I learn about his indefatigable work rate, balancing the completion of his university degree and working towards his dream of being an artist. Transitioning away from the pragmatism of the university route and taking a leap of faith to explore music can be nerve-wracking for some. For Nippa, it’s a decision that makes the most sense since music has always been in his heart from a young age.
“Man’s always been a freestyler. Man’s been freestyling on the strip since young.” Nippa admits that until very recently, he perceived a music career as a distant dream rather than a realistic possibility. “Like if you told me [I would be doing this] four years ago, I would’ve been like nah, low me man, let’s just stick to freestyling. You see all these stars, but you never see them when they’re at their lowest so you always think that they got picked to do this.”
While I’m watching Nippa’s career develop in real-time, it can seem as if he got hand-picked to do this, as if he sprung out of nowhere straight into the recording booth and into a music video. But a quick visit to his Spotify discography page shows that his musical story potentially began when he dropped his first two tracks in 2020 before taking a mysterious break until “Ride or Die” in 2021. “I had to really take a [year long] break and study music. I had to take my time with everything and understand who I am and what I can convey,” Nippa explains.
It was during that year-long break where Nippa built a relationship with producer duo Antiwave to cultivate his sound, learning how to make music with a deeper purpose, Channeling the emotions circulating in his head and transferring that onto a track. “You hear bare rappers make a track and it stays for a week or it stays for a month but then we forget about it,” Nippa says, as he reflects on his decision to stray away from the fast-food music of today. “All the tracks off the EP are all a year old. So, this EP has been in the works. That’s what the whole point was. ”
Concepts of time, patience and growth intercept the more we unravel the stories behind the making of the EP. Nippa takes me back to two years ago when he was in his university bedroom and he randomly made the first two lines of the hook on “Situation” before parking it somewhere in the archives. “The hook started out as a love ting,” he briefly recalls as he gives me a verbal timeline of how it eventually developed into a full track. A year of growing pains and life experiences passes before his manager reminds him to finish what he started. “I went on to make Ride Or Die but my manager was like you need to record [Situation],” Nippa tells me. “The original hook of Situation was similar to Ride Or Die like “Are you a ride or die girl” kinda tune. So I said alright, let me not say ride or die to a girl but to the mandem! Like is the mandem ride or die?” A double entendre, indeed.
After months of working with Antiwave and his manager, Nippa cites the outro, entitled “Confidence”, as the long-awaited breakthrough, a mark of progress and personal growth. “That was just a real emotional session because me and the Antiwave mandem were talking. Like, “How you been feeling in this music ting? What’s going on with you? What do you want to gain from it?” These are questions which many upcoming artists have probably asked themselves at some point, or even been on the receiving end of. “As an upcoming rapper everyone talks about money and jewelry but when you’re upcoming it’s like, bro are you gonna get anywhere? You’re doing everything you can and you’re only seeing small steps. That’s what “Confidence” is about.
Knowing who you are can be challenging to get to grips with especially when entering a world where the foundations and customs are already established before you arrived. For instance, when entering the R&B sphere as a new artist, how do you connect to the genre, embodying the sound and aesthetic of its legendary predecessors while still showing your unique identity? “See this R&B community, more time. A lot of them feel like you’ve got to be out of this world with your dress sense, be different and I hear it. I tried to do that but it’s not me. I’m from the streets. I do what I do.”
Nippa grew up in Tottenham, an area in North London described as a cultural hub and melting pot of influences from various cultural groups. This includes the Windrush generation who settled in the area after migrating from Caribbean countries in the 1940s and 50s. Tottenham, or more specifically Meridian in Tottenham, is also home to grime heavyweights and UK legends such as Skepta or JME. “I grew up with grime. Before I did the singing ting, I would be trying to do the grime ting. Man went to see Skepta all the time. At one point, I was like I wanna be this guy,” Nippa tells me.
As well as Tottenham being characterized by a rich culture, resourcefulness and creativity, it’s also an area faced with adversity and deprivation. “[Growing up in Tottenham] was rough but it’s no different to any other black boy’s upbringing and I feel like that needs to have some light shed on it,” Nippa affirms. “Not only are you fighting the system or fighting the schools but you’re fighting your brothers. Cause every man’s tryna stop each other, like crabs in the bucket.” Tottenham falls within the top 20% most deprived areas in the country with 41% of young people living in poverty according to statistics from 2017. “But at the same time, it’s a tight-knit community. As much as there are downsides, there’s an upside because everyone’s your family even if they ain’t blood. It really defines you as a person. It makes you appreciate what you have.”
In the lead up to his EP, particularly after the release of his R&B and Trap-infused single “Situation”, Nippa has garnered attention from overseas when Canadian-based platform RnB Radar shared a clip of the track on social media. “Tomi from RnB Radar, that’s the guy. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think my ting would have gone as global as it did.” This is what led to the connection between him and Canadian producer Boi 1Da which Nippa describes as a surreal moment for him, considering Boi 1Da is someone he used to study when conceptualizing which kind of music he wanted to make. “As an artist, you’re understanding what kind of beats you’re searching for. Because when you’re going to sessions you need to have an idea of what your style is,” Nippa explains. “The fact that I’m even speaking to him now [is weird]. Like I used to really study this type of production. [Now] I’ve got like 18 beats from him!”
Another surreal moment is when Nippa opened up for BLXST at his London show in October, which I had the pleasure of attending. I asked him to reflect on his thought process before, during and after the performance. “I was at the side of the stage. I didn’t see how many people there were. Man just jumped on stage and I started shaking,” Nippa confessed. “My legs started shaking. My voice started shaking. I was like, “F*ck, F*CK I wanna go home!” At this moment, he had a choice to make: either succumb to those feelings arising from the pressure of the moment or use his nervousness to his advantage and channel it into his performance. “Then I said, “Nah, f*ck that! N*iggas are gonna know my ting today!” So, I just took a deep breath and I started spitting the second verse. I didn’t take any breaths.”
I noticed the energy of the crowd shift from being fairly nonchalant, a common reaction to an opening act which they might not have heard of, to being drawn into his vibe and cheering along. “The crowd went wild!! I closed my eyes and pretended everyone wasn’t there. When I heard [the cheering from the crowd], I just started dancing on the stage,” Nippa tells me, while enthusiastically recounting the moment. “[Afterwards] I went straight to the mandem and we did a prayer and we hugged. That was a feeling like, I left here today being something!”
From the outside looking in, observers see a young artist from Tottenham thriving in the infancy of his career, generating conversation on social media, and connecting with music lovers outside his local parameter. All of which is true. On the flip side of success are moments of vulnerability and hard graft which Nippa was determined to show in the narrow selection of songs on his self-titled EP.
I asked Nippa what was one thing he knows now that he didn’t know last year, which is a sort of play on the name of the intro track to his EP, entitled “I Know”. He tells me, “You could do anything in this world and nothing is impossible”, which makes sense in the context of his journey, coming from a place of not knowing what he’s capable of, to a feeling of limitless possibilities and a hopeful future.
