IN CONVERSATION – L Dot ‘Hoodie SZN’
13 December 2023
Oblongata is Meduulla’s 8 track EP released late in 2023. First and foremost, and to put it simply, it’s an amazing listen. Meduulla combines her smooth Mancunian voice with a versatile, unpredictable flow that toys with words whilst simultaneously controlling the beat. Although it seems like a contradiction, Meduulla’s sound is both chilled and intense, somehow relaxed but with moments of defiant observation. The tracks blend nostalgia with modernity, taking you back to the Hip Hop golden era, evoking the vibes of Arrested Development and the Pharcyde, before catapulting you back to contemporary Manchester.
Oblongata is Meduulla’s debut EP, “I wanted to allow people to get to know me deeper and give them different flavours of myself through my music and my style,” she says. The release is the culmination of a long running process, “Some of the tracks have been around since 2021, so I feel like I’ve been sitting with it for quite a while. It’s very easy to become detached from your project once you’ve made it, but I’m glad I gave it my attention because it’s still very new to everyone else.”
“How do I know where my limbs reside?
Living two lives tryna synchronise,
Don’t get me wrong I’m a simple guy.
Tryna find peace in a simple life.”
Meduulla – Limbo
Part of what makes Meduulla such a special artist is her ability to interweave insightful observations into her music. Often, such as in her track Limbo, these are reflections on identity, “I was born in Zimbabwe and moved to Manchester when I was three years old. So I feel like I grew up with two very different cultures, however they do have a strong historic connection due to colonialism,” she explains. “So growing up that was quite conflicting because basically, my family has seen this like the land of opportunity, the land of dreams, but now I’m here. I’ve grown up with not much context of where I’ve come from, and I feel kind of alienated sometimes.”
Despite emotions of isolation, Meduulla has actually found belonging via these feelings, “I make music that’s for people that are a bit off the curve, people that might see themselves as outside. But then I embrace that and connect with other people.” For Meduulla, viewing difference as a form of connection makes perfect sense, “Embracing the fact that I’m not the same as other people has been my superpower and informed a lot of the music that I make.”
“Yeah, times like this,
Got me thinking how a concept like time exists,
Its our planet so we got the power,
Every minute of the day we spend, its all (h)ours”
Meduulla – Night Trip
Meduulla prides herself on following in Hip Hop’s rich tradition of manipulating language for maximum impact, “I love wordplay. I think it’s sick. I think it’s dope how words are the way we understand what people are thinking in their heads.” It’s such an inherent aspect of her craft that its shaped not only her work, but even her name, “I called myself ‘Meduulla’ because I want to be able to give people different perspectives in their minds, that’s how I write. I might think, okay the way I’m saying this means this, but what else could it mean? You can find multiple meanings in absolutely everything.” This is fundamental when it comes to her word play and the choice and power of words she uses. But Meduulla being Meduulla, she goes a step further, “I’m blessed that I speak three languages, French, Shona and English, so if I can’t find an alternative meaning in English, I’m able to find it in a different language.” And that combination of linguistic capability, musicality and a background in poetry, means that Meduulla’s writing can hit you in many different ways on many different levels, “That’s the beauty of language, because everything is connected or you can make it connected which gives me different ways of thinking, literally just a spiral of talking to myself on paper. I’m trying to find a way to say the things that I feel about the world.”
Although Meduulla’s art is distinctive, it evokes reminiscence for some of Hip Hop’s greats and her work is influenced by an eclectic selection of music, “Growing up, my older cousins used to listen to a lot of DMX, I loved his unique voice, and that peaked my interest into Hip Hop. As I got older, I found my own vibes, I was drawn to Kendrick Lamar, then J Cole and Chance the Rapper.” When you listen to Oblongata, this affection for clever lyricists who can also make popular bangers makes a lot of sense. And much like many Hip Hop fans of her age, she discovered a lot her musical tastes in reverse chronology, “Later I went back and started listening to stuff that was before my time, like A Tribe Called Quest, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu. I just love innovative minds.”
“What’s that thing about the horse?
You can take it to the river but to drink you can’t force.
I’m tryna do me, that’s the message I endorse,
And the fit is looking clean, you know I got the sauce.”
Meduulla – Mish Muulla
Its well documented that the music business can be a challenging space for female artists, and perhaps that is even more prevalent within the sphere of Hip Hop. A few years ago, Meduulla experienced barriers when she participated in the BBC’s Rap Game UK, “It was quite clear that to be praised, or do well, you had to have either a hyper-feminine persona or be hyper-masculine. I feel like there wasn’t room for an artist like me that is neither of those things,” despite performing well on the show, receiving praise from industry legends like Chip, this meant Meduulla sometimes found herself in a state of limbo, “I could feel myself trying to emulate people around me. I knew it didn’t feel right. That was the first feeling of having to take on a persona that already exists, because we are not well represented in the industry.”
And there have been further challenges as Meduulla has made her way into the industry, “Its like paranoia, the feeling that maybe I’ve only got a slot on a lineup because they need a female rapper, or the opposite, there are no slots because they haven’t considered female rappers.” But despite these constant pressures, Meduulla remains focused and defiant, “I’ll never let it stop me,” she says.
Several of the tracks for Oblongata were produced by long-time collaborator Ethan Hill, “That’s been special because, he’s seen from the beginning to the end, and I love to collaborate with people and build,” says Meduulla. One of the first songs they created together was ‘Mish Mulla’, where the emphatic, triumphant energy of the beat compliments Meduulla’s voice exquisitely, as if specifically hand crafted for her, “It was just so organic. That was one of the first songs that I made where the producer was making the beat while I’m writing to it all in the studio. So it was just sick!”
Whilst reflecting on Oblongata, Meduulla is also looking ahead to the future, “I’m really enjoying developing as an artist, but I’m not here to be the finished product. I want my supporters who have been with me through and through to go with me and to see the mistakes and the different versions of myself.” And going forward, she’s even looking to explore new areas of her creativity, “I’d also absolutely love to tap into some producing, there’s not enough of us female producers in the UK, so I definitely love to do that, too!”