- Tkay Maidza is pretty hot property just at the minute. A couple of really big singles in the last year or so (Handle My Ego, Brontosaurus), have put her in the enviable position of picking and choosing between high-profile labels to release her debut EP. That would be Dew Process, just FYI. Even back in 2013 the then seventeen-year-old rapper had already caught someone’s attention, obviously, snagging an appearance at Bigsound. I’d only heard Brontosaurus and that was enough to make me pretty keen to catch her. The sound guy made her almost inaudible, the lighting rig actually caught fire, snipping off about half her set, and of those songs she did get through half of them were very obviously borrowed beats from the likes of TNGHT and Hermitude, but none of this could obscure her obvious, overriding skill as an MC.

Indeed it’s been that, along with a pretty pleasant singing voice which has kept me firmly focused on her the whole way along. The unashamed bro-step of Ego should be cringeworthy, but it fits the ballsy braggadocio of the track perfectly and the gobsmacking gaul is matched pound-for-pound by her flow. It’s more of an equal partnership in the -really- fairly naff party rap of Brontosaurus, bringing a shuddering, MIA style tribal-electro beat for everybody to leap about to like, yep, a dinosaur, honestly Hi-5 could do a cover of this, but Tkay’s solid rapping and that beat make a fine pair.

MIA and Santigold too are clear influences throughout Tkay’s still fairly small catalogue and you’ll hear it again on her latest single Uhuh, which is also the big focal point for her debut EP, Switch Tape. It’s in the slicing electro beats, the drawl of her delivery and far from least, the assertive **** you ‘tude.

Since Tkay is an artist who channels her influences and certain styles fairly obviously, I was a little taken aback when she said “I want to make something that no-one’s heard of and isn’t following a trend.” It seemed initially like self-serving clap-trap, but as you delve into her EP, you’ll find there’s something to what she says: maybe not trailblazing, but certainly mixing it up pretty hard. Second cut, Finish Them features the machine gun vocal samples and speedy beats of footwork and drops in the obligatory, booming sub-bass. Switch Lanes throws in an initial stab of FKA-Twigs style r’n’b over what, intriguingly, might be an African thumb-piano, then mixes it up with a highly syncopated and dancey fusion of UK Garage, trap and I dunno, maybe dancehall, or something African? Kuduro? Some of the credit must go to producer Paces for the fantastic beats, but he and Tkay come together like nobody’s business here.

The EP is rounded out by two remixes of Uhuh, including a happy-house version by KLP which is grinningly silly fun, while Luke Million contributes a pleasant contrast with a downtempo but still extremely inspirational ‘80’s electro-funk.

It’s been interesting to notice the rise of an increasing number of African-Australian hip hoppers, the likes of Remi, Citizen Kay, Miracle and more. It’s difficult territory to negotiate as a journalist without falling into traps of racial essentialism, but many of the folks I’m talking about bring quite a different set of styles to the generally anglo hip hop set in Australia. It’s even worse that I generally find their work to be a real breath of fresh air when compared to the stultifying bro-hop stereotypes of Australian MCing. Is it cultural cringe? Exoticism? Whatever accusations you might level at me, Tkay Maidza (originally from Zimbabwe and now firmly holding up Adelaide’s proud hip hop tradition) is a listen that’s very easy to justify. Under an umbrella of party rap -which is already quite unusual on the Australian scene- she brings, in what is still a very small catalogue, a wide variety of infectious beats and, without exception, raps on them like a fiend. Switch Tape makes a serious down payment on the big promises of her hype so far and is just enough to satiate my ravenous appetite for a whole lot more from her, in the near future.

- Chris Cobcroft.