The African Australian experience isn’t hugely well-documented in pop. But thanks to emerging artists such as Genesis Owusu and Zimbabwean-born Tkay Maidza, that’s changing. Maidza’s righteous campaign to supplant Iggy Azalea as the Australian female rapper with international name recognition has recently gained considerable traction. Three EPs released between 2018 and 2021 laid out this indie self-starter’s versatility of subject matter, genre and flow – a trajectory that faintly recalls Lizzo’s, only with tougher talk.
Sweet Justice levels Maidza up further with hotter producers (Flume, Kaytranada), another Duckwrth collaboration (on Gone to the West) and a slew of tracks that repurpose her inspirations – Nicki Minaj – into Tkay-patented bops worthy of mainstream attention. Party music looms large, thanks to tunes like Out of Luck, Ghost! and What Ya Know; range and depth comes in the form of Wasp’s husky R&B.
But the feelgood moments, though nagging, can’t help but feel slightly anodyne compared with Maidza’s more lethal modes. The title of a menacing bop, WUACV, is short for “woke up and chose violence”; Free Throws is musically and lyrically pugnacious. “Don’t sleep on me, I’m the silent assassin,” she purrs on Silent Assassin – and it’s hard not to concur that not adding Maidza to your playlist would be remiss.