Meet Nippa, the Tottenham singer delivering soul-baring R&B

On his latest mixtape Hope She Hears This, Tottenham singer Nippa allows his honeyed vocals to elevate a collection of silky smooth R&B songs framed around one break-up and eternal regrets over things that were left unsaid.

“Look me in the eye, say you miss it (I know you do) / Girl, I came onto you, I wanna rendezvous,” he croons on the silky-smooth ‘Insecure’, a song that immediately brings to mind the unique brand of sultry 2000s R&B that allowed Usher and Craig David to become global stars.

Nippa has already worked with the latter, in fact, and credits him with adding an emotional edge to his music – as shown on this mixtape.

But his sound, he says, also reflects the fact that he is finally in the musical lane that he was always destined for. After starting out as a rapper in his native Tottenham, the singer born Jordan Adebiyi realised it was time to “not just to do things for the pleasure of other people”. The result is a unique blend of soul-baring R&B and romance that could well see Adebiyi reaching the lofty heights of those aforementioned artists…

You can read our whole Q&A with Nippa below and listen to him on our Play Next playlist.

What did you want to achieve with Hope She Hears This and what’s the overall message behind it?

I think the aim was to display vulnerability in men and destroy that idea of toxic masculinity to show that we’re all human. You’re able and allowed to feel insecure or worthless at times and I think that’s not really expressed a lot in men, especially today. But I also wanted to give people an insight into me too. Look, I go through human emotions and I’ll go through a breakup. So I wanted to give my supporters and the people who are on this journey with me a different insight into who I am.

What was your first introduction into music and how did that shape you?

Well it’s always been part of my life because my mum and grandma play reggae all the time, but where I’m from you don’t really look at music as a career possibility, especially singing. It was only when I was in the studio about five years ago where I took it seriously and realised I could grow with this. I’m able to create music because I love creating music and not just doing it for someone to hear it and for it to blow up.

You were a rapper before you became a singer and moved over to more R&B and soulful moments in your music. How did that move happen and what was the impact of it?

You have to understand that I’m from Tottenham and among the crowd I was in, it was a thing where, let’s just say, singing isn’t as accepted as rapping or drill rapping.

But I knew I loved music and I knew I loved to flow and freestyle even if I wasn’t really the best. But I was able to change when I found a bit of confidence in myself not just to do things for the pleasure of other people. Even in my early music I think there’s a lot of rap influences there, but it’s with this EP that I have been able to embrace my singing and using my voice. It’s only this year that I’m diving into that bag.

You’ve worked with Craig David on 2022’s ‘G Love’. What’s it like to have someone like that in your corner?

That was amazing. I think he’s the first person that showed me how to be a true artist. When I first came into the game I was making a lot of music for people and it was Craig who taught me to understand that Nippa is a brand. Nippa is lit but it’s Jordan who actually makes the music so put some Jordan into the music and actually gain inspiration from yourself. That’s really helped me when it came to creating this tape because I didn’t look for external inspiration, whether it’s going out partying or girls, I was able to look at myself and understand my personal growth.

It means I’m able to treat my songs like therapy, put my real raw emotion into it and if it connects with people, it connects, but at the end of the day, that’s all you really can do.

And do you see a difference in personality between Nippa and Jordan?

I definitely do, man. Recently I’ve just been doing some Jordan shit like, you know, connecting with cousins again, talking to some old friends. Doing some personal growth, I even started yoga. I know that sounds silly but it’s helped me. This is something I thought I’d never do, but it’s helped massively. Nippa is confident and boisterous, but Jordan is more in touch with emotions. You know, sometimes I doubt myself, sometimes I believe in myself, sometimes I’m selfish. But once you accept who you are, you don’t need to change at all.

Black men and Black boys in low income areas can sometimes feel like they have to put on an act to survive and that’s definitely been me, but you get to an age where you’re thinking OK, who am I and what do I want really want to do? As opposed to doing something because a certain person likes it. I’m starting to understand that that’s who Jordan is, so I try to bit a bit of that into the music.

And what’s the next step for you?

I wanna tour it man. America and certain countries in Europe. I want it to reach all the hearts that I intended for it to do…