Name: Br3nya

Where She’s From: West London

When She Started: 2018

Genre: Afro-influenced UK rap

File Next To: Ms. Banks, Belly Squad, Nadia Rose

Sounds Like: “Vibey, jiggy, feel-good music.”

First Track That Inspired Her: “‘Itty Bitty Piggy’ by Nicki Minaj.”

There’s no denying that with Br3nya’s first two singles—“Good Food” and “Like Me”—she made a big splash in the underground rap scene, but it’s seemingly her appearance on Reeko Squeeze’s “Tracksuit Maf” that’s bringing the West London rapper the most attention. Her bold flow, brimming with confidence, bursts out of the track with playful bars and shout-outs to London spots like Morley’s. She may only be three singles into her career (if we’re to include “Tracksuit Maf”), but the quick rollout of these releases suggests that she has some big plans in place for 2019.

“Good Food”, Br3nya’s debut single, only dropped in August but her release schedule has been moving at quite a pace. She tells TRENCH that the song “came from a freestyle I made for Nicki Minaj’s Chun Li Challenge. After the reception it got, we just thought it made sense to make it into an a full song.” Unsurprisingly, she caught the ears (and eyes) of a lot of people—not least DJ P Montana. The Afrobeats selector brought to the table production for both her solo singles, as well as support from Rah Boy Music. Just a couple of months after that and we were gifted her second offering: a standout verse on “Tracksuit Maf” with Reeko Squeeze. That was followed just a week later by her third and most recent release, “Like Me”.

Those two solo singles backed up Br3nya’s flow with a rap production imbued with deep Afro grooves. That swing gives her the perfect bounce for her to ride on the verses and already sets her apart from the often cold minimalism of UK drill, and UK rap generally. “Tracksuit Maf”, however, put her into a slightly different setting, with MikesPro trimming away a lot of those elements to give her and Reeko a bit more room to play with. The result is less melodic than her other two tracks, but ended up giving us one of her finest to date and a real look at what she could do. Br3nya describes her music as “vibey, jiggy, feel-good music, influenced by various genres including hip-hop, Afrobeats, bashment and UK rap.” Whatever you call her sound, what little we’ve had may only be a small taste of her versatility and impressive workrate, but it bodes very well for the future.