The London rapper Little Simz received the Soundcheck Award for the best album of 2022 for “No Thank You”. That was decided by a four-person jury from Radio Eins and Tagesspiegel on Monday. The 28-year-old prevailed against Rosalía (“Motomami”), Kendrick Lamar (“Mr. Morales & The Big Steppers”) and Weyes Blood (“And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow”), who were also nominated.
To justify the decision, moderator Torsten Groß said for the jury: “Little Simz is the most exciting and profound European rapper of the present. Between mental health, criticism of the music industry and inter-family analysis, the London native moves from the personal to the universal, from rap to gospel to R’n’B on her fifth album ‘No Thank You’, recorded with producer Inflo and the collective Sault and finds an overall rigor that has not been heard in this form in 2022.”
Little Simz, real name Simbiatu Ajikawo, only released “No Thank You” in December and almost without notice. It marks another highlight of her career, following her Mercury Prize-winning masterpiece Sometimes I Might Be An Introvert.
The Soundcheck Award has been presented since 2009. All albums that receive the highest rating four times in the “Soundcheck” program broadcast on Radio eins on Fridays qualify. This year there were 38 works from which a jury of more than 60 first selected the shortlist with four titles.
The prize is a poster graphic specially created for the respective winner by the New York artist Otto Steininger. Last year, the band Notwist was honored with “Vertigo Days”. Other award winners are Neil Young, Anna Calvi and James Blake.
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Source: Tagesspiegel
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