Nadirah X

It’s quite ironic that I’m first hearing Nadirah X’s new single “Here it comes” on a cold autumn morning in South Wales where the rain is hammering it down as per usual in this country at this time of year.

“Here is comes” heavily samples the Eurythmics classic, “Here comes the rain” with permission from the creators Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart I hasten to add (she has close working links with both), but this is more than just a reimagining, it’s a brand new song in itself with the lyrics giving everyone a lot to think about. It’s an outstanding start for the young (I don’t know how young, she won’t tell me the year she was born) rap artist from Jamaica and I’m hoping that this single will finally lift her into the limelight.

To be fair, she should be up with the greats already. Her song, “I Hate This” was included on the soundtrack of the film Tomb Raider - Cradle of Life while she co-sung the theme to the re-make of “Alfie” in 2004. And if you want even more credentials, she opened for Pink on her 2006 tour of Europe. It was at this time that I first met her when we were staying at the same hotel. She was watching Rugby League on TV in the bar and I was helping her to understand it! I wonder if she knows that her two countries, USA and Jamaica, faced each other on the Rugby League field last night in Jacksonville with the US winning 36-26.

But I digress – Nadirah (or Nadz to her friends) invited me to watch her when she came to Cardiff on her club tour later that year. I gladly accepted and I think she was pleasantly surprised when I turned up! We chatted and had a drink afterwards and she gave me a copy of her promotional EP CD containing some well written and great sounding tracks like “Bomb Dat” and “Ordinary Girl” (love the remix with hubby Swisha by the way). We’ve kept in touch ever since and I’m reviewing her music here as I feel that it deserves a much larger audience. We have shows like X Factor these days that create a lot of manufactured pop stars and while some of them aren’t that bad, it’s people like Nadz who are working hard to give their music to the world.

On mentioning the X Factor, one could say that there are obvious minor comparisons between Nadz and Cher Lloyd. However Lloyd’s style is more on the side of pop, Nadz’s singing is more in line with of hip-hop, reggae, soul and spoken word. More than your traditional rap artist, she is very much a revolutionary and her songs need listening to carefully for their depth and meaning. While her style is nothing like another of my favourites, Midnight Oil, her ideals and the general meanings of her songs certainly are – both know their ideals and know the causes that they are standing up for… through the medium of music.

If you haven’t sampled her work yet, please do so, and if you like it, go out and buy the single “Here it comes” or the album “Ink” which has this on there as well as the aforementioned “Ordinary Girl” (but no “Bomb Dat” which is a pity – you can tell which is my favourite here!).

A good place to check out some of her work is on YouTube, she’s done a lot over the last few years, including playing a part in official Greenpeace songs alongside other greats like Dave Stewart, Mudbone, Natalie Imbruglia, Annie Lennox and Imogen Heap. But it’s her individual work that really excels for me. “Here comes the rain” is superb but not necessarily her best song in my opinion. However it is music that will greatly appeal to the mainstream hip-hop and general music lovers a bit more and I can see why it was chosen as a first single. Hopefully this will do well enough to justify a second mainstream release, which is normally the one to watch. If taken from the album I’m hoping for “Ordinary Girl”, which is a contradiction in terms – Nadirah X is no ordinary girl, she has the skills and potential to be a music legend. Please support her. - IAN GOLDEN

Nadirah has to be one of the most exciting and informing up and coming hip hop artist. That goes for females and males alike. Her unique voice and lyrics makes me believe in my soul hip hop is still alive. Here I Come was the song that first captivated me and I kept it on repeat and it is constantly in my deck. Plain and Simple she is an undeniable MC and her music needs to be heard by the world. Nadirah please keep inspiring us with what you do and how you do it. Peace! (ORIGINAL MAN)
- YOUR MTV (FAN REVIEWS)

Erin Hansen, Gleaner Writer

Surrounded by the buzz of booking agents, managers and the general clatter of the Wyndham hotel bar, the unassumingly vivacious lyricist/rapper, Nadirah X, sat in a modest black T-shirt and jeans, gently bouncing her daughter on her lap and sipping coffee from a paper cup.

In the present slump that is called Jamaica's music industry, when it appears near impossible for a new artiste to break ground overseas, Jamaica-born Nadirah X gives a story of extraordinary success.

Nadirah's artistic interests are somewhat a melting pot of ideas. While studying computer graphics at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in the early 2000s, through a series of casual linkages and an interest in lyricism, Nadirah landed at the door of reggae producer Homer Harris.

Insecure with her vocal ability but confident in her lyrical prowess, Nadirah developed a socially conscious rhyming style that landed her the winning spot at the 2002 Caribbean Music Expo.

Unique rhyming

During the expo, a chance meeting with Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, who was drawn to Nadirah's unique rhyming over a live band and DJ set, instantly materialised into a European tour
where she met the likes of Mudbone from Parliament Funkadelic, Annie Lennox and later opened for Pink's 'I'm Not Dead' tour.

On Monday, Nadirah X released her debut album, Ink, eight years after her breakout on to the international scene. "It wasn't a plan," Nadirah told The Gleaner as she looked onwards at her husband, producer/rapper Swish, who nodded in agreement.

"It was about collaborating a lot and meeting some really great producers."

While Nadirah's style of spoken word lyricism may not be that unordinary in the large musical sphere, her approach to music is. Her almost stumbling path to success has landed her in the studios of various internationally known producers. Even her approach to studio time seems holistic and unplanned, explaining, "I never go into the studio targeting anything. I just let it come about organically."

The album, which was two years in the making and features a range of reggae, soul and hip-hop tracks, was released with a book mutually titled Ink. The book contains a collection of her lyrics and poetry and the photographs of long-time mentor, Stewart.

The key to unveiling Nadirah's unconventional, slow-roasting success abroad lies in her patient determination to be more than just a musical artiste. It was "never about bussing," she said. "It's never been that your just doing music." Nothing exemplifies this more dramatically then Nadirah's work with Conspiracy for Good, a non-profit project to build libraries throughout Africa.

Charity work

In her campaign for the Conspiracy for Good, Nadirah, in collaboration with wegivebooks.org, guarantees for every book read online another is donated to the programme's libraries in Africa.

To promote the campaign, Nadirah became part of a multimedia interaction orchestrated by Heroes creator, Tim Kring, in which she became part of the storyline for an online gamers' plot.

Shot in real time, Nadirah is filmed as she tries to escape from the fictitious Blackwell Briggs organisation, a metaphor for 'big business', seemingly trying to destroy her community-built library in Zambia. For four months Nadirah stayed in character, travelling through Africa and making her way back to London as interactive game players led the path. When asked why she took part in such an elaborate game, she said, "Most of my lyrics are about evolving and effecting change." She stated it was about "literally doing it, physically doing it, living the Conspiracy of Good".

Nadirah X is currently working on an album with her husband, producer/rapper Swish, and looking to expand on a film career in Los Angeles where she lives.

On Tuesday at the Knutsford Court Hotel, Nadira X will give Jamaicans a rare view of what the artiste, formerly called Nadz, has to offer at the International Food Festival.
- JAMAICA GLEANER

“Her words and intent are not only pure and spot on social political commentary , but she has the most beautiful and graceful presence” "
- - Dave Stewart, Eurythmics - Anitaroddic.com

“Her performance was well delivered and energetic. Her lyrics are distinct to the Jamaican experience…Energetic revolutionary bravado…” " - Jamaica Gleaner

“…Expresses emotions not only with lyrics, but through vocal inflections and she does it so well” "
- - The Jamaica Gleaner - Jamaica Gleaner

I,can feel her in my veins"
- Anna Vissi - Jim Henson Sessions