Lady Leshurr talks anxiety, grime and making it against the odds

[J]eremy Kyle memes, Fetty Wap’s eye, Rachel Dolezal, Netflix, Simon Cowell… Lady Leshurr’s Queen’s Speech lyrics are like a list of what’s trending spat over a grime beat – the low-brow, high-impact humour of Eminem, delivered via YouTube to an audience of millions signed in at the source. With its first instalment arriving in early 2015 and the most recent last Halloween, the project has elevated Leshurr into UK rap elite and crowned her as online royalty.

Two years before Queen’s Speech – with several mixtapes and a reputation as one of the UK’s finest emerging MCs behind her – Leshurr turned down a six-figure record deal because boring US label execs wanted her to “take down” Nicki Minaj. “I’ve got my own talent. I wouldn’t put another female down just to get above them,” she explains, choosing instead to cultivate her own dedicated online following, releasing music on her own schedule and not engaging with the industry’s wild misconception that female rappers should 
be in fierce competition over men, money and record sales.

Rejecting diss tracks, avoiding themes of drugs and violence and refusing to swear in the studio, Leshurr has consistently opted out of the tropes that critics claim keep grime on the fringes of the UK mainstream. And after opening up about mental health on her latest release, “#UNLESHED2”, and via a personal Instagram video late last year, the MC is creating a new space in UK music. “I definitely think I’ve done things that not many have done yet and not many will do and that alone is priceless,” she points out. “I’m not from London. I’m a female at that. And I’m a black female. It’s all three of the hardest things to succeed with, and I’ve shown that it’s possible.”

Hunger: For your “UNLESHED” project you release
a new video whenever “the beast needs to be unleashed”. So what prompted your latest video, “#UNLESHED 2”?

Lady Leshurr: The whole concept of UNLESHED is showing the darker side, the more expressive, aggressive side to me. I used to rap like that, before Queen’s Speech, and a lot of my old supporters were telling me to bring that back a little bit. 
I just wanted to do hard spitting again because I do miss it. Slowing down my lyrics is okay, but I really do miss attacking a beat like a lyricist, instead of like an artist. The supporters brought it on really; they always help me when it comes to thinking of different concepts.

It’s interesting that you talk about going hard on that track because it then changes pace so much at the end – it follows on from your video addressing anxiety on Instagram late last year. Could you break down that part of the track?

The track gets fierce and then it hits you with a surprising twist at the end. You just don’t expect it. It’s two sides of me that I never thought I’d be able to merge together. I posted that video [on Instagram] about anxiety a few months ago and I was so surprised with the response, with how many of my supporters are going through it. It really hit home, because I’ve always kept that inside. I’ve told people close to me, but I’ve never really expressed it online or done what I think an artist should be doing – showing the supporters that they’re not going through this alone. At first the video was just to express how I felt, and I felt so much better after that. I was on top of the world. Some people work better expressing themselves to strangers, and that’s how my brain works. I see my supporters as family anyway, and I wanted to get their advice, their response. So yeah, I did want to touch on anxiety and depression. I have been through it many times in my life, but I’d never, ever expressed it personally. I know that it can take people by surprise, but I’m real. If I want to say something on a track I’ll say it, and if I want to release it I will release it.

It will come in and out of your life, anxiety. In unexpected situations, that’s when it arises. I just wanted to put it out there, see how the supporters would take it and help them as well. A lot of them message me now and ask me how I got through it or say, “Wow, I feel so much better now that I know you have gone through it.” It’s a really good thing, because still so few people have touched on it in the music industry, especially in the genre of music I do.

Did you worry about how talking about anxiety would fit with the established image of hip-hop artists?

Well, you know, everyone is a human being before anything else, and before music, we had feelings regardless. We cut, we cry, we smile the same, so of course we’re going to go through things like depression and anxiety. A prime example of this is how people treat Kanye West. It can be all fun and games, “Haha Kanye West is crazy”, but actually: no. Before he’s Kanye West the artist, he has a life and he goes through things. On top of that, music is really, really stressful at times: the industry will eat you up and spit you out. It depends on the people he surrounds himself with. His lifestyle. His family. And a lot of people really diss him and put him down on the internet. I just think it’s such a shame that because he’s a rapper, people don’t take his health seriously.

What advice do you give your fans about dealing with anxiety and depression?

I’d just say, never bottle it up inside. That’s what I was doing and you eventually burst. It’s like a can of Coke, innit? When you shake it, when you’re finally ready to open it it’s going to burst. That’s when you’re going to have a breakdown. You have to express yourself to the people around you. A lot of the people who were commenting on the video, I saw them speaking to each other, like, “I’m going to DM you,” so it was good to see that I’ve brought some people together who can relate to a situation and talk about it amongst themselves. Just talk to other people who are going through it – help each other.

Something else that sets you apart is that you steer clear of some of the common and criticised themes in hip-hop. Is that a conscientious objection on your behalf?

No. I just don’t talk about things I don’t do. That would make me fake. I’m not saying that people are fake in the industry, but a lot of artists that do talk about violence and drugs, they’ve never seen it in their lives. An example is Rick Ross. I’m not saying he’s fake. But he’s a really good rapper and in the sense of strategy he knows what to say, he knows what sells and he talks about drinking and smoking – but he doesn’t do either behind the scenes. You can sell the gas but don’t buy into the gas. I sell the gas, but my gas is pure organic and real. That’s my slogan. Some people sell the gas, the hype, but really they don’t live that life. When you listen to your favourite rapper and you find out they’re not really living that life it really does dishearten you a bit because you grew up on them; you thought you understood their lifestyle. But in reality it’s just a big fat lie. My whole strategy is to keep being real, freeing the realness and talking about things that only I know about. Everyone is doing violence and drugs, so why not try something else?

Do you consider yourself an outlier in the industry?

I definitely think I’ve done things that not many have done yet and not many will do, and that alone is priceless. Absolutely priceless. I’m not from London. I’m from Birmingham. I’m a female at that. And I’m a black female. It’s all three of the hardest things to succeed with, and I’ve shown that it’s possible. I’ve shown everyone from Birmingham it’s possible, too. That’s what really matters to me – making a change and showing that grime can go international. Some people didn’t believe in it and they went away and started doing hip-hop, but people like Skepta, the people that were always there, they’ve shown that it can get to where it needs to be.

What do you think of grime’s explosion into the mainstream here in the UK and its growing popularity in the US?

Grime is a British thing. It’s raw. It’s unique. A few of the American artists are definitely watching what the UK is doing, and they are using certain sounds and things that we use in our genre in their music. I don’t know if that is lifting up the scene, but in some cases it’s stealing, it’s a culture vulture thing. They are manoeuvring around the people that we’re affiliated with in grime, and they are using it to make themselves seem better. But, putting that aside, grime is doing really well because of the newer artists refreshing it a little bit, shaking it up. There’s a younger generation in grime now; it’s cool again. One of the main people to make a complete change was Stormzy. The way he came in, everyone was like, “Oh, grime’s cool again”. And I know a lot of the media, a lot of the labels are looking at the views and are thinking, “Wow”. Everyone jumps on something that is hot. Once it’s not, they just look for the next best thing. So I do think there’s amazing music happening in the UK as far as grime or hip-hop goes, but some people are taking it and using it for their advantage to give themselves credibility.

Could we talk about some of the experiences that led to you becoming an artist?

It was my family, really. I’m from a musical background, listening to different types of music. Reggae was the main one – Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam” was the track that started everything off for me. I was six years old when I wrote my first little poem/rap. When I was 12 I discovered Eminem and he was my saviour. I knew I’d discovered what I wanted to do in life when I discovered Eminem. I knew I wanted to become a rapper. I knew I wanted to be like him.

I knew I had to come to London, but my family was overprotective. I couldn’t go anywhere further than the front garden. But I took a little suitcase and went anyway. I told my mum I was on a trip to Disneyland. It became this thing where I had to keep lying just to succeed. I was going down to London every weekend and going on 1Xtra, going into the studio with these big MCs at the time and then going back home because I wasn’t even allowed to be there!

How’s your relationship with your family now? You’ve got a line about buying your mum a house.

Yeah, my mum’s proud of me. She has never had any social network, but she’s got her own Facebook now just to check up on what I’m doing. That’s so crazy – for my mum to even have an iPhone is crazy. But it’s those things that keep us together now. We do keep in touch, but we’re not as tight as I’d like us to be. She’s got her own life. She’s still working and stuff – that’s something
I want to get her out of. She’s still busy and stressed with work. I never told my mum I loved her, we never had that connection before, and in general our whole family was like that. It was only around five years ago that I actually said I love you to my mum. It felt so weird, but it felt great to do. It helps, it really helps. Call your mum!

Interview extract taken from Hunger issue 12, Stand for Something, out now. Buy yours here

Lady Leshurr is currently working on her debut album, out later this year on RCA.