TOP GIRL

Known predominantly for her Mercury Prize-winning and commercially successful music, Little Simz is a force of nature. In a world of content and noise, the semi-mysterious Simbiatu Ajikawo lets her talent speak for her. In this interview, our TV Award-winner talks about how she came to act in British cultural export Top Boy and her experience filming the show

- TSHEPO MOKOENA

IT SEEMS THERE'S been a miscommunication. Simbiatu Ajikawo and I are not sitting in a booth at one of her favourite restaurants in London, as I'd been told. The 28-year-old actor and rapper, who you may know better as Little Simz, picks up the menu. She squints at it a little. Has she got a regular? "From here?" She looks up to meet my eye, slightly confused. "Err," and after a long pause: "No, not a regular." Once we order - fish with a prawn starter, and a passionfruit mocktail for her - I ask if lines were crossed, to place us in this fairly nondescript, "Caribbean-inspired" establishment co-founded by two white men. Yes, there may have been a mix-up. "It's a cool spot, though," she offers, diplomatically. "But favourites? I don't know," accompanied by a slight frown. To be clear, Ajikawo's preferred place to eat is Enish, in Finchley, north London. Their Nigerian fare is, to Ajikawo, "just really authentic; it feels like home, so I like going there." Now, she smiles. We're meeting right after the photoshoot, so she sits across from me in full, stunning makeup and a relaxed fleece zipped right up to the neck.

The sound of horns on a chirpy, reggae instrumental blare out from speakers above our heads. Besides her publicist, her security and the staff, we're the only people in here. It's late afternoon, in the lull between lunch and dinner services. Before Ajikawo arrived, I'd tried to find us the quietest table, and asked staff to turn the music down. "This is as low as it goes," a young waiter had said, after double-checking. Fair enough.

But Ajikawo notices it, too. She's powering down after the intensity of the shoot. And, as will become a theme when thinking about how she behaves professionally, she's hyperaware of our surroundings. We're just about to start talking about the Mercury Prize awards that nearly didn't happen.