London-born Nigerian rapper Simbiatu “Simbi” Abisola Abiola Ajikawo, better known as Little Simz, emerged into the British rap scene years ago, and since became very popular. In 2022, she won the Brit Award for Best New Artist and the Libera Award for Best Hip-Hop/Rap Record. In her song, Point and Kill, she is “tapping into her roots” for the first time, as she noted in a recent Apple Music interview.
In Nigerian Pidgin, to “point and kill” means to pick out fish at the market, or a store —you point, they kill. In the context of the song, however, Little Simz is using this common phrase metaphorically to indicate that whatever she wants she can get. That is the essential key theme of the song and is demonstrated extremely effectively in her music video. With the music video set in Nigeria, Little Simz appears as a juxtaposition to the norms, presenting herself as fierce, headstrong and driven.
From how she is dressed, to how she carries herself, she stands out in what is presented as a simplistic and rural Nigerian setting. The video contrasts Little Simz British identity & aesthetic in a Nigerian setting. And this is contrasted by most, if not all, of the lyrics of the song being in Nigerian pidgin, further highlighting the assimilation of her cultures. Essentially both the lyrics and the music video represent the ways in which both British and Nigerian cultures have shaped her as a woman today and how her identity is better understood as a product of both cultures rather than one more than the other.
Razanne Ahmed
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