INTERVIEW - B-ahwe '26% MIXTAPE'

Crammed into a small south-east London record store B-ahwe speaks – thanking names to an eager crowd ready to get dancing.

Emotion is pouring in her voice, this is an album of young adulthood, a project devoted to self enlightenment in her era of take your time, breathe relax – a comment on quarter-life adolescence and the ivory tower every person should take a bathe in. In a world of bombardments of others’ achievements, the now 28-year-old spoke of confronting the societal stigma around achieving things by a certain age. Age is a percentage, not a number.

26% MIXTAPE waters the spirit and nourishes the soul. Free oneself in the language of Jazz, a rich poetic narrative of sitting out and finding solace. Opening the album to a soft drum palate she speaks her first words ‘Take time – time a little to reload’ [Track 1: Reload]. This album is a love letter to young adulthood, ambitions dream-captured in the ever-changing world of fast cityscapes and motorway pavements. B-ahwe is no stranger to poring soul into jazz-inflected new directions, but this album takes the cake. Acting as a blank canvas for her to incorporate influences spanning drum n’ bass, broken beat and alternative hip-hop – the 8-track project spans a story of modern renaissance.