Living in New York means I can’t have my mum’s cooking on tap, but I can tune into public radio to hear the BBC at least once a day. And I’ve found that the easiest way to alleviate my homesickness is music, which is where London singer Ray BLK comes in. Her voice is the sound of my youth, my city and my heart.
Rita Ekwere, aka Ray BLK, 23, is having a stellar time of it at the moment: born and raised in south London, last month she topped the BBC’s Music Sound of 2017 list. I first heard of her only last autumn, when she released her fantastic EP, DURT, but she has been at this for much longer: in 2015, she released her debut, Havisham, which she apparently wrote while studying English literature at university (the cover art is of a white dress, inspired by Dickens’ Miss Havisham).
Her voice is classically soulful, but it is also full of a singularly London slyness that breeds an intimacy between her and the listener. On the track My Hood, which features Stormzy, she sings “Meet me at Morley’s, best fried chicken is in south”, and it makes you want to get on the 75 bus ASAP.
The title track is my favourite, though: in it, she’s talking to a partner who she thinks might be cheating on her, but trying to appear unbothered; instead, she is all sneer. The line “Yeah, you smile all the time/jokes ain’t mine/she must be funny” is delivered so dismissively, as if it doesn’t even concern her. It kind of thrills me.
Ray BLK is by turns vulnerable and tough, a complex portrait of modern black British womanhood. I hope she’s playing a gig in New York soon. I need more London in my life.
