Defining Integrity: Enny Interviewed

Enny found that life was closing in on her, but she learned to cut her ties and move forwards. This UK rap force has bulldozed the competition, a spirit moving to the force of her own ambitions.

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Enny is taking the UK rap scene on the ride it hasn’t seen in a long time. Coupling a blueprint of flows similar to Missy Elliot while carrying the legacy of Black British rap legends such as Estelle, Enny is the latest torchbearer to walk the aisle of truth-talking rap. In a world spoiled with the filter of insecurity, misogynoir, and culture vultures, some stay true to themselves and make music for those similar; in brief, Enny is a breath of fresh air. Displaying unfiltered truths, coupled with Nigerian pride and Black British lingo, Enny feels like the childhood friend whose words conjure the nostalgia of innocence.

2020 needed a happy ending, and it found one in Enny. Manoeuvring her way through the awkward and complicated stages of her 20s, Enny – only just turned 26-years old – feels like she has finally caught her life by the reins. When Clash sits down to chat with Enny, she laughs at how she struggles to come to terms with her actual age and jokes that she identifies as 25. “Before, I felt like identifying as 22, but right now, I’m 25. I think they’re both kinds of synonymous. I think the biggest struggle is accepting myself; at the same time, the biggest win is accepting myself,” she admits during our intimate conversation. “Like, the weighing out of the present. So everything’s external, but the most important thing in my view is getting your own internal shit together. I think that is the most important thing in life.”

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Enny is still on the high of her 2020 success, following the storm that was her ‘Peng Black Girls’ track, including its global charting COLORS set, Jorja Smith remix, and her emphatic, no-holds-barred Daily Duppy. The song’s sentiment felt like the refreshing punch the UK music scene needed and solidified Enny’s lyrical talent as our vital female rap champion. “There was a lot going on at that time,” she reflects. “I was feeling a lot of internalised stuff, and it all just came out. Sometimes you try to force it in the studio, but I don’t like that at all. I’d rather write down a lot of ideas, and see what matches to the beat.”

Her latest EP, ‘Under Twenty Five’, bares sentiment as a personal pillar of growth for Enny but came from a “day in the life” rant on the struggles of a Black woman. Perhaps that’s Enny’s niche; her trauma serves the purpose of healing for herself and others.

‘Under Twenty Five’ nods at the working-class Black man growing up in London, sexual abuse survivors, Black women caught in the frustration of misogynoir – and almost everything in-between. “I think the beauty of this is that there were no expectations,” she says. “I think that’s what special: there was no intention. It’s like: I’m growing up, I’m confused… so just let me make music!”

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Growing up in Thamesmead, South East London, Enny’s first musical memories are listening to gospel music in her mum’s car as she drove her to school. Yet Enny also salutes the influence of her older siblings, who moulded her love for hip-hop. Like most British-based fans of the genre, and the-UK-centric sounds of grime, who grow up in the noughties, she regarded MTV, Channel U, and pirate radio as the leading streaming platforms. “I blame it on my siblings!” she laughs. “I would say that they were the ones that impacted everything because they were definitely. I listened to a whole plethora of stuff – grime, hip-hop, indie… it’s a cultural thing!”

“My sister used to share a room, and she used to put pirate radio on… and you’d go to the toilet in the middle of the night… so you hear the bass of the radio, and I’m standing there: like, what the heck is this?!”

From these midnight pirate sessions grew a seed for music in the South-East London kid, who formally went by the name of Artist Integrity, before switching up her name to Enny Integrity, and then finally Enny. “It’s not that deep!” she laughs. From 15, she had begun to write for herself, accompanying her solo endeavours with a cheap keyboard. “Well, I always wanted to be a rapper, it’s just that you can’t study rap at uni.” In what she describes as the bucket of water “reality check”, Enny opted for a degree in film studies – and admits she still dabbles in scriptwriting as a part-time hobby. “I’m still into it, y’know!” she says. “I want to explore all areas of creativity.”

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It’s a memory that prompts parallels of her audience’s own struggles, moving through the grim realities that little the transition to adolescence. “From primary school to secondary school, then college is up next. People say, oh you should try this. Uni might follow, but after that, you’re on your own. And that was the first time I felt responsibility to take care of my own happiness. I knew that I wanted to make music, so I focussed on that.”

With just a few weeks left of 2021, a year where she found herself on most must-watch lists and at the top of UK rap conversations, Enny clarifies that any new music fans will get from her has to come naturally. “I hate studio sessions – the best thing about making the EP was that there was no expectation… I’ve been trying to force it – but I don’t like it at all. I don’t like to create on the spot and I don’t want to feel pressured to write. I don’t think it works like that,” she continues. “I’d instead write a lot of stuff, then I’d go to a session, and if what I’ve written matches with the beat – perfect. You don’t want to sit in a session with a producer and he starts to play a beat and you have to tell him it’s dead. But I like talking at studio sessions, having a conversation with people.”

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Currently spinning everything from Tems’ burners to the reflective soul of Amy Winehouse, the runway to her trajectory has been set alight, and Enny has already begun manoeuvres that will take her on the road to an album. But, as she humbly admits, she still has a long way to go; and right now she simply wants to conquer her twenties. “I’m grateful,” she comments. “This feels like a reflective moment. For the last few months of the year, I’ll be manifesting sanity, and world peace, and more growth, and trajectory.”

“I’m going through a period of acceptance and growth,” Enny explains. “It’s been a lot. I know where I was 12 months ago, and I know where I am now. Mercury’s in retrograde, and everything feels transitional right now. And I feel like I’m embracing that.”

In her own words, her current mental health yells out, “rah, a lot of shit just happened?!”

A match has been set alight within Enny, the same spark that navigated her to jump when she was a teen. While Artist Integrity is still alive somewhere inside of her adult self, Enny the 25-year-old rapper embodies a skill and a tool of vulnerability that can shatter the roughest demeanour.

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Words: Thandie Sibanda
Photography: Lewis Vorn
Fashion: Felicia Brown

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