Meet Lord Apex, Underground UK Hip-Hop’s New Golden Child

Image via Publicist

West London rapper Lord Apex coolly announces himself as ‘The Underground General’ on “SsV3”—the opening track off of his latest project, Smoke Sessions 3—and he’s absolutely in his right to say so. At 24 years old, the White City-raised artist is spearheading a Wu-Tang-inspired, ‘golden era’ wave of wordsmiths approaching the culture in a holistic way, from bars to beats to directing, merch, and an inherent need to own their masters. This approach is best captured by his Elevation Meditation collective, which features the likes of Finn Foxell, Louis Culture and p-rallel. Sensei Apex floats at the forefront, a Yardie Miyagi sitting cross-legged on a thick white cloud of the finest loud smoke.

Shaeem Santino Wright grew up on a nourishing diet of US hip-hop—legends like Method Man and the incomparable Dilla, DOOM and Madlib left their mark on a young Apex, and his effortless cool on the mic and abstract vibe is a legacy of that schooling. This early hip-hop education was coupled with blasts of the very best overproof Jamaican sounds; listening to him rap, you get the sense you’re in a vast musical library and can pick up everything in his dexterous delivery from Isaiah Rashad and Busta Rhymes to Beenie Man. Apex is a product of DatPiff’s mixtape generation too, influenced by the likes of Gucci Mane and Mac Miller. This means he doesn’t hold the music hostage, steadily flooding the block with fresh product since he officially began releasing music on SoundCloud in 2014.

Apex projects range from the experimental—à la the psychedelic space-odyssey Interplanetary Funk and the G-Funk homage S.O.I.L—to cohesive, smooth listens like the Smoke Sessions trilogy. Last year’s immersive V Don-produced Supply & Demand was a legit 2020 standout, pairing the rapper’s laid-back storytelling with Griselda-like, soulful soundscapes. He makes outsider music at its core, and there will always be folk who connect with his hazy message of celebrating difference and transcending shit circumstances and feelings. He’s mastering the art of balance too, blending dark and light, humour and pain.

As he’s grown as a man, Shaeem has also grown as an artist, and Smoke Sessions 3 sees him pair his usual introspection with bold, outward-looking assessments of the world he’s calmy travelling through—back-rolled spliff in hand. We caught up with Lord Apex to discuss his come-up, West London sauce, love, his new music and more.

There’s a very hazy, smoke-filled aura to the Smoke Sessions trilogy, and your work in general. How does weed help your creative process and wellbeing as a whole?

It’s taken for me to get to the age of 24 to understand it myself. In the beginning, I just knew it was something I was really into. For example, as a kid, my favourite movie was Friday. And I couldn’t tell you why because I wasn’t smoking [laughs]. I just knew that was gonna be my energy when I grew up. When I was a teenager, my favourite song was “I Get High” by Styles P. Why? I wasn’t smoking yet, but it just resonated with me. I just liked the whole appeal of it. So then I got into it myself. It was cool. It was kind of natural. I was in college at the time, and that was the whole experience. I just dived into it, like: “Let’s see where life takes me!” And I ended up loving it. I grew up around a lot of Rastafarians, so even though it’s more of a daily intake now, it’s more spiritual for me. I realised the higher benefits and the way it keeps me in-tune with myself, and once I’m in-tune with myself, I’m in-tune with the universe. If I’m in-tune with myself, then I can see who’s out of tune. I know in my sober state, I was a lot more angry. I was a lot more paranoid, a lot more anxious. I didn’t speak to anyone and that’s why I have so many words in my mind. So by the time I started writing and had this blank canvas of audio, it was a chance to address all this old stuff. Weed is a spiritual connection for me.

“EM3” is one of my favourite tracks from the second Smoke Sessions tape. Some bars really rang out for me, especially the ones about your dad. What inspired you to put that in?

My step-dad was a big father figure for me growing up—a straight yard man from Jamaica. He instilled a lot of that energy into me. A situation happened through no fault of his own, and I suddenly got thrown into the position of being the oldest male in the house. I had to be man of the house now, and all I know is rap, so I put my all into it because I gotta make sure mummy’s good. A lot of people don’t feel those pressures at the age I felt them. So when people talk about the work-rate, I’m like: “Bro! This is the situation the government has put me in. Not just me, but millions of people like me in the streets that never get their stories spoken about because they’re just in the system.” I speak for everyone who’s in that.

The presence of both dark and light has been a big theme in your music as it’s developed, and you can really feel it on Smoke Sessions 3.

I’ve got a heavy love for comedy. Once you kind of sit back and clock the blurred lines in comedy, it’s about dark realities, it’s people speaking on the most dramatic things and making peace with it through humour. You have to have a balance between dark and light. My mum put me on to Katt Williams, Bernie Mac and The Kings of Comedy, Dave Chappelle, Mo’nique... I’d seen people turn darkness into light through jokes. When I started doing music, I was able to translate that and realise if you’re never able to speak on the dark parts of your life, and also make light of those parts, you’re never gonna be able to reach that tranquillity that you want to reach.

“High Forever” is another standout on the album. How has the transformative love you rap about on the track impacted your artistry?

It’s beautiful. I’ve always had a mature outlook but now, I feel like I’ve gone from boy to man. I was still living at the crib with my mum and now I’m paying rent and having responsibilities and living with my partner, going through ups and downs—with stuff going on in both of our lives—and just figuring out how to navigate being an adult. I’ve just been doing a lot of growing, man, and whatever happens is always gonna translate back into the music. The music has grown into this more mature place, addressing real-life situations, things that happened in childhood. It’s all just bleeding into the music.

And that connection with your girl was the first step.

If you listen back to a lot of my older songs, love has always been there. But now, even those songs are becoming more mature, speaking on deeper stuff in love, because I’ve experienced more sides to it and not just referencing what I’ve seen. I’ve actually lived it now.

I think that’s why your music speaks to so many people, man.

You gotta wear all your differences on your sleeve. If you’ve got a unibrow, go get a hoop in the middle of it and go crazy, bro! Wear it on your sleeve, with confidence, and it’s gonna pay off. I live for the people that own their differences, and I’m glad that I can put music out that makes people think about these things in a more positive light. That’s where it’s lit: understanding the power of music.