Kemi Alemoru 

Flohio: No Panic No Pain review – rapper leaves no mould unbroken

The south London rapper broadens and deepens her emotional range, while continuing to select unexpected production partners
  
  

Flohio.
Rapid-fire … Flohio. Photograph: Stefy Pocket

Flohio escapes labels. In fact, she actively contests them, asserting she’s not a grime artist as so many observers assume London rappers are. Since 2016 the Bermondsey rapper, who goes by a portmanteau of her real name Funmi Ohiosumah, has become known for unabashed stage presence and rapid-fire flows, spitting over the beats of electronic artists such as God Colony and Modeselektor rather than only rap producers. These daring, genre-resistant tracks earned her a place in the BBC’s Sound of 2019 poll.

She breaks even more new ground on her new mixtape No Panic No Pain (previously titled Unveiled), an ambitious body of work bookended by two completely different sides of her artistry. On the drill-adjacent opener FLOFLO! she flaunts the riotous “energy, energy, energy” that earned her one-to-watch status. However, it’s tracks like Medicine where she showcases a steadier, slower Flo, reflecting on the pacifying nature of relationships, and the introspective Stuck in a Dance, where the rapper really comes into her own.

No Panic No Pain also stacks up an impressive list of collaborators: eccentric dance music duo JETS, aka Jimmy Edgar and Machinedrum, and Fred, who has recently worked with Stormzy and Headie One. A standout moment is bouncy, catchy bop With Ease produced by Cadenza and featuring fellow south Londoner Kasien, where the pair boast about how they “finesse the world”. Flohio continues to establish herself as a rapper willing to traverse soundscapes, still as playful as ever but with new depths unlocked in her psyche.

 

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