Wretch 32 on working with Little Simz: "She's just so talented, so gifted"

The track dropped last week, timed within Black History Month. At once deeply personal, yet universal, the lyrics are introspective, speaking to both individual and collective experiences of marginalisation, heritage, and pride.

Detailing their collaboration, Wretch 32 shared his admiration for Little Simz: "Even like within being in the studio and just working on music with Simz, just creating, just creating. I'm just like, ‘She's just so talented, so gifted.’" Elaborating on the iconic shot of their hair intwined, he said: "When I'm in the studio, and I look at her, I always think we would make a sick picture back-to-back if our hair was interlocked. And I just never used to say it, but then when the opportunity came around, I was like, ‘Yo, I got an idea. I don't know how you're going to feel about it, but if you trust me…’ You know what I’m saying? Because you have to trust someone to do that, not anyone's just going allow you to... Like, people touching your hair, let alone being intertwined."

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Wretch 32 said that because of their mutual trust and understanding, Little Simz was down from the get go. "I was like, ‘If this looks how I can see in my head, this is going to be such an iconic shot.’ What made me more happy was when I was looking for a reference to show people, I couldn't find one. So I was like, we have to do it.”

He likened this to working with frequent collaborator Ghetts. "When you’re working with an artist and it’s their vision, you’re just like, ‘I trust you.’ Like, provided it's nothing too crazy. Do you get I'm saying? Like, if I'm working with Ghetts, Ghetts can call me to be on his album and do one line, but I understand that in the film of what he's creating, I've just got a cameo, and it's just that, and it needs to be said like this, I understand that I trust him wholeheartedly. And luckily, she trusted me.”