The Windmill, Brixton
“Polaris prize, now I gotta maintain.”
In her best efforts to maintain the lofty heights of achieving Canada's grandest prize, rapper Haviah Mighty surreptitiously stumbles at her debut U.K. show.
Almost 3 years have passed since the relative newcomer, Haviah Mighty, claimed one of the apexes of Canadian music, the Polaris Music Prize. A year thereafter during the pandemic, I sat down with the rapper over Zoom, keen to hear her thoughts on the music scene’s transformation and the intricacies of her songwriting process under lockdown.
For tonight, the Toronto-based rapper found herself initiating her debut U.K. show - a far cry from the, perhaps, more familiar territory of her hometown with a dozen or so Brixton-dwellers spaciously situated tonight inside the Windmill’s notoriously cramped confinements. Needless to say, this venue has seen many an act spiral to grandiose recognition from humble beginnings - most notably Black Midi and Black Country, New Road.
The rapper’s initial call-to-arms undoubtedly rang out like a sporadic explosion of materialistic shots: “Who likes Tesla?”, “Who likes money?”, falling upon hushed murmurings. Leading into one of her latest tracks ‘Tesla’, the epitome of Haviah’s more recent material was founded - one which doesn’t quite live to the standards which brought home the coveted Canadian award. Oscillating between straightforward-rapping and pseudo-singing, listing off the rankings of desired automobiles, failed to elevate many sentiments beyond the realm of money-hungry desire in spite of the faint resemblance to that of Lauryn Hill.
Her Colors-famed track ‘Imagine That’ was met with a similar construction, saddling between these two vocal deliveries baked within a trapsphere, never quite hitting the convincing strides taken on her debut LP, 13th Floor. Her standout track from 2020, ‘Atlantic’, came and went in a flash yet offered an enticing respite, marking a better hook, chorus, and lyrical reflection surrounding Haviah’s ancestral history.
‘Protest’ carried this improving lyrical trajectory further, albeit backed by a handful of trite beats and generic sampling, followed shortly by one of the closing tracks for tonight, ‘Squad’, chastising the crowd in its best efforts to galvanise and eke out every ounce of energy in this swirl of modern trap hysteria.
The maintenance of this former Polaris Prize winner is ultimately yet to be seen. Particularly compared to such acclaimed alumni as Feist, Backxwash, Kaytranada, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, much of Haviah Mighty’s work, including tonight’s performance, often plays into the hands of an undeniably saturated scene. Rather than performing for the more accessible radio-friendly trap and afrobeat sounds known today, the need for a more challenging versatility in her work would reach farther - to take a leaf from her fellow compatriots whose work comparatively outshines in their respective experimentalism.
5/10
Haviah Mighty's latest single, 'Room Service', is out now via Mighty Gang and can be found below.
Photo is courtesy of Paul Marais Hayer whose work can be found here.
Comments