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After a recent press trip to New York, London upstart Nippa is already toying with the idea of relocating. He trekked through Queensbridge — once the stomping ground of Nas and Mobb Deep — before soaking up the city’s energy, meeting fans at random, and enjoying backroom bites at Sei Less, New York’s famed hip-hop haunt.

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“Since I’ve been here, mans been in Queensbridge,” he says, his thick U.K. accent cutting through the air. “Some of the mans came up to me like, ‘Yo Nippa.’ That’s love. Now that I’m here, I understand where the love is in New York for me — or stateside — because you’re unable to compare the love without being there.”

He adds: “It’s different because you’ll always get more love from somewhere that’s not your home, and that’s how the game goes. That’s not to say I don’t get love in London, because I do feel the love in London. I just know New York is quite big for me because I’m not always out here.”

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Nippa, the twenty-something singer/songwriter, is experiencing a volcanic rise in the R&B scene, powered by his slick swagger and radio-ready voice. From the Larry June-assisted “Sugar,” to the breezy Odeal collab “Take Me,” and the vulnerable slow-burner “Pride,” Nippa has quietly built a formidable discography that rivals many of his peers. Still, it’s his debut project, Hope She Hears This, that stands out as his crown jewel. The nine-track offering strips Nippa down to his core, showcasing raw truths. From the emotional wreckage of “Unfair” to the searching tenderness of “Kiki’s Brown Eyes,” Nippa’s searing lyrics pierce through harder than before.

“I had to understand the love of making music again, rather than just catching a hit or something viral or trendy,” he says of the project. “I wanted to say things coming from me and my heart, and put a piece of Jordan into the music. That’s what I’ve been doing. That’s why this tape is personal. Whoever feels it, feels it. I’m just talking about real-life situations I’ve gone through. Do things on my terms. It’s who I am. Treat it like therapy and let the emotions out.”

Nippa sat down with Billboard to chat about his debut project, Hope She Hears This, working with Craig David and Larry June, and how he found closure from a failed relationship.

You’re from North London. How did the music scene inspire you? I feel like Tottenham didn’t really inspire me to go into R&B ’cause the scene out there, there’s a lot of rap, drill, [and] grime. You got the Skeptas, the Headie Ones, so it never kinda positioned me to go into R&B. That came from my family. My mom is an old school R&B head. My grandma was a Motown head, blues and reggae. That’s where the singing came from, but even still, I didn’t wanna be a singer — I wanted to be a rapper. In “The Endz”, you’re not really respected for singing. I wanted to be a rapper, but I’m not a good rapper.Was it a thing where you wrote a rap verse and you realized you weren’t good enough?Not really, I was just freestyling with my friends, freestyling on the strip and it was only really when my manager took me to a studio. That’s because sometimes in the freestyles, I’d be singing in-between, but it’s not like the singing was the main focus — that was just the bonus. My manager took me to the studio and we made our first song. The mandem liked them and everyone was like, “This is hard,” and we just kinda started pushing forward. We started making a little bit of noise and from then, I was kind of like, “F–k it. Let’s see where it goes.” And the situation took off. What was your mom and grandmother’s take on your decision to pursue music full-time?I don’t think they really wanted that at first — but that was out of fear, man. When your parents don’t want you to do something, it’s the fear of the unknown. My mom and grandma know the straight and narrow road: education into a well-respected job. That’s what they know. I feel like when you’re doing something daring like music, you’re taking a gamble on yourself. If you f–k up, that’s on you. There’s no kind of safety net and I think that’s what my mom and grandma kind of feared with me going into that. It was only really this year too when they saw my headlining show that people will come out for Nip. From there, that’s when they were like, “OK. What can we do to help you be able to facilitate yourself into the next part of your journey in music?”You tapped in with a U.K. great and legend in the R&B world Craig David when you did “G Love.” What it was like teaming up with him in the studio?I still feel like to this day that I haven’t really accepted that. Craig David is a legend, man, especially in the U.K. If he’s a legend here, you can only imagine in the U.K. With Craig, there was no industry s–t with that. No label set that up. I just saw him at Blxst’s concert. He rocked with my music, and he said, “Link me. Let’s get in the studio.” From there, that’s how it went. Craig has just been a good mentor. He put me on when I was in Uni. He put me on his support tour, paid me for that, as well. As a young n—a coming up who’s independent, that goes a long away. That exposure goes a long way. So Craig, I have nothing but good things to say about that guy. He’s a legend from the music aspect, but as a person, he’s a legend, as well. 

You mentioned Blxst and how he brought you out doing his U.K. show. What did you gain from that experience?Boy, that was my first performance. I had to battled stage freight, but what it gave me? It gave me awareness, man. It gave me a good co-sign from early. When people heard I came out for Blxst’s show out here in my hometown in London, it was like, ‘Oh, they f–k with him.’ It’s not like a U.K. rapper brought me out to show some local love, it was someone coming from overseas showing me love. So shout-out to Blxst for that. We’ve been tapped in ever since. That was two years ago. Big up Blxst for that. Speaking of co-signs, you earned another stateside when you linked with Larry June on “Sugar.” I’m sure the energy from back home went crazy after that. You know what it was, man? The Larry June s–t was just on some real n—a s–t, man. Mandem listen to Larry June. A lot of them f–k with him. Knowing that Larry June jumped on a song with man and it’s not even like man is the biggest R&B artist, but he just respected the art and it was all straight organic, that had the mandem happy. That’s why I had to do a video with the mandem on the block as well to just show where we’re from. Larry June is a real one. We’re working on some s–t. Then you take it back home working with a rising star in the space like Odeal on “Take Me.” Talk about the intentionality behind working with someone back home with a more expansive sound. Yeah, Odeal is from London. That’s the family. Our group and his group are all tapped in. I wouldn’t say it was moreso intentional. That was more like, “I respect your art. You’re my brother. I really think you would sound good on this song. There’s a community there.” I think what Odeal is doing is amazing. He was able to grow his audience internationally, but that was the intention when I was doing the song.

I thought it was interesting because that’s not even his normal bag. That sound was brighter than usual for him.I just like making music. Me and my brother Benji Flow made that song and I thought Odeal would sound amazing on it. Let’s make the greatest art possible and I felt like his work I respect. Him adding his touch on “Take Me” made it an amazing song.Let’s talk about the project. I love “Unfair” and the realism that came from you being hurt. How were you able to channel that pain and flip it sonically? I was just going through a bad place in my relationship. As men, you tend to mask the insecurities with toxic masculinity and bravado. Being the Mandem from The Endz, we have so much of that. So much pride, so much bravado. I just had to drop that when I was doing the song. I had to really drop that and say what’s really irking my spirit. I needed to get it off. 

Sometimes, n—as do feel like they’re getting take a piss out of. Sometimes, I do feel like I’m giving everything I can to a woman and she’s just giving me nothing but stress and she’s not seeing stuff that I’ve done for her. She’d rather just look at the bad things. I don’t know, man. It just gets like that and I just wanted to put that out in the music because I know someone out there is probably in their car on their way to their girl’s thinking ‘F–k sake, man.’ Mans just has to be real. That’s what I was going through. 

Did she hear the record?I don’t know, man. I’m blocked. [Laughs.]When you go back and listen to songs like “Unfair” and “Pride,” do they hit differently for you now?Nah. If anything, I don’t like to listen to them because they take me back and I’m trying to move forward. I’m always onto what’s next. I think “Unfair” was one of the songs where I was like, ‘Oh. This is hard.’ So I streamed “Unfair,” but most of the songs, I don’t like to go back because they take me back to that time. Once I release a song, that’s not even me anymore. You have to understand, as an artist, when you’re singing these things, you’re kind of letting go of something. Whether it was closure with your ex, you’re letting go of that. Whether I hate my ex on “Unfair,” I’m letting go of that hate. I don’t really listen all the time unless I’m going through it again. I think if I get another heartbreak, “Unfair” might get ran [again]. For now, I’ll go back to the happy songs ’cause that’s where I am.

For Hope She Hears This, was it a more therapeutic for you and was there room to have some happy songs on the project? Every song is therapeutic, but the vibe def changes for certain songs. For example, “Regular Girl” and “Kiki’s Brown Eyes,” are two songs that I think have the same topic, but are explained in different ways and give a different vibe. “Regular Girl” is showing this girl is beautiful, she’s the sexiest girl in the world and she got a fat bum. “Kiki’s Brown Eyes” is the same thing. This girl is not regular but it’s ’cause of her soul and her brown eyes. It’s ’cause of the way that she thinks, she speaks, and her process.

All of the things that aren’t lustful that you’re noticing about someone that you genuinely love. I feel like those two songs were very therapeutic for me because when you initially find someone attractive, you go through “Regular Girl.” When you’re a fool for her, you go through “Kiki’s Brown Eyes.” I think the song that probably gives off the most joyous [energy] is “One More.” That’s the bonus track. Even that song, it’s not even the happiest, but I feel like the feeling and the sonics matters when it comes to determining the vibe. When someone reads the pen of the song, that’s when you get to know the artist and think, “Damn. What was the artist going through?”