By Cammy Thomas
Fresh off her final stint on the last ever series of ‘Top Boy’, with the welcome reprisal of her much loved character ‘Mandy’, featured in series 2 and 3 on Netflix, or series 2, 4, and 5 if you’ve been riding with ‘Top Boy’ since Channel 4 days, Nolay drops single ‘Nothing to Something’ complete with slick visuals directed by Kye Taliana.
From ‘Nothing to Something’ could be a sentiment applied to Nolay and her ‘Top Boy’ character in equal measure, as Mandy seemed to have nothing going for her as she suffered the pitfalls of prison, only to emerge as a loving mother and a local hero within the fictional summerhouse community. The woman behind the character, South London rapper Nolay, has gone from dealing with abuse, recovering from a near fatal car accident, to triumphing over these challenges and releasing hit albums, singles, and EP’s, cementing her longevity as one of the hardest MC’s in the game and shows no signs of giving up her ‘god mother of grime’ title to any would be competitors.
‘Nothing to Something’s’ opening bars hark back to her 2016 ‘Pressure‘ lyrics “I was in the rave when Dizzee Rascal came down like snow with freezing cold flows like Moscow” as the track begins with Nolay asserting – “So cold that I don’t feel summer, my trainers are throwback. I think they dropped the same year as Blade runner”, as Nolay then makes a call to arms to assemble her gunners from all over the world to join her for the takeover. Throughout the track Nolay brazenly breaks down how she trounces her enemies to remain on top and undefeated, her flow is no nonsense and hard hitting, as she is well aware of her place of prominence amongst her peers, and after the last 15 years of blessing us with ice cold bars, she has earned the right to celebrate her position as top girl of the UK rap and Grime scenes, as a look through her music catalogue will prove.
As usual Nolay does not disappoint with the video accompanying the track, and delivers highly stylised crisp visuals, as we see Nolay serving an array of ‘fits with nails on fleek, as she flexes in a furry grey bucket hat, full army fatigues complete with a vest adorned with bullets, and my favourite look. pale pink ear muffs teamed with a pale pink hoodie, which I’m seriously considering stealing the aesthetic for my works Christmas party turn up outfit!
** WATCH ** ‘Nothing To Something’ **VIDEO** below!
Photo credits: Main Image @OfficialNolay / X , Ali Painter/Netflix Inc
Dine On Grime / Munch on music 