Introducing the Nigerian-born, Manchester by way of Leeds artist, poet, rapper, singer Dámì Sule ahead of the release of his latest project Rough Canvas, which follows 2017’s Crayons EP. Building on past success, it promises to be a flagship record you won’t forget in a hurry. Our first taste of Rough Canvas is “Prayer”, a seemingly laidback track of tapping beats, jazz melodies and birdsong, and yet, you won’t catch this African-British musician lying down, his poignant lyrics are proof of that.

Speaking about first track “Prayer”, Dámì Sule tells us:

“The song Prayer is about a cry for more faith. Often I feel like we forget that evil exist and
innocent people die everyday. I feel it is important that I highlight this area.”

Throughout Rough Canvas, there is almost no subject matter untouched by Dámì’s softly accented voice: love, social imbalance, racial prejudice, faith, ambition, false representations of the self, connection, disconnection, and the tireless search for freedom. His emotions are oftentimes raw and off-the-cuff, elsewhere he’s objective to the world, but everything is genuine. Dámì Sule is an honest voice in an era of post-truth and deception. In this project, this artist breaks the glass and speaks to the listener directly.

“The whole idea of Rough Canvas is about portraying everything perfect yet imperfect. It is
about finding your flaws and making it a canvas for everything beautiful to be made. As an
artist i want to be able to create a piece of work that shows man and woman alike that you
can become whoever you want to be even in the worst circumstances. Rough Canvas is all
in the name ‘rough’ to show the unfiltered, raw and often unappreciated struggles, thoughts
and emotions of a young black boy.”

Born and raised in Nigeria for the first ten years of his life, those childhood memories and experiences made a permanent imprint on the character of this young creative, continuing to influence his daily life and, crucially, his writing and music. It wasn’t until Dámì Sule was in college that he began writing poems, something he humbly states that, “I never thought anything of it than just another way to be creative and manipulate words.” However, this initial foray in poetry has been instrumental in Dámì’s music, as he goes on to say, “the power in being able to manipulate words and change the perspective led to where i am today, constantly finding ways to make sure when the message in the music stops, no one forgets.”

One thing that’s already embedded in the minds of Dámì’s listeners is his Crayons EP, released just last year, but already garnering support from the likes of BBC Introducing, Radar Radio, Legacy FM and Shock Radio. The EP is also accompanied by visuals for stand out singles “Crayons” and “Self Love”.

Having already taken his music to the stages of iLuvLive Manchester (November 2017) and Inner City Waves (February 2017), you can catch him live next at Manchester’s Zombie Shack on June 21st and London’s Camden Assembly on June 24th.

Rough Canvas to be released in full on May 11th.