Little Simz sues longtime producer Inflo over unpaid debts of £1.7m
London-born rapper Little Simz, the recipient of the 2022 Mercury Prize as well as star of hit Netflix show Top Boy, is taking legal action against her former producer Inflo, AKA Dean Cover.
She alleges that Inflo has failed to repay a £1.7m (approx. €2m) loan from 2023, including £1m used to fund the first and only live performance by Sault - the enigmatic UK musical collective he founded. The ambitious and highly elaborate show, was held at London's Drumsheds in December 2023, and was met with initial backlash for its expensive tickets prices, which started at £99 (€117).
As a result of the unreturned loan, Simz claims she was left unable to fully cover her tax liability in January 2024, racking up interest and charges.
Inflo has been a hugely important collaborator with Simz, born Simbiatu Ajikawo, since her third album, 2019's 'Grey Area', followed by 2021's highly-acclaimed 'Sometimes I Might Be Introvert' and 2022's 'NO THANK YOU'. The 36-year-old producer has also worked with the likes of Adele, Michael Kiwanuka, his wife, Cleo Sol and Tyler, the Creator.
According to Law360, the rapper filed her claim in January, accusing Inflo of retaining loans for over a year and alleging that his company mishandled accounting for funds provided by Sony to cover recording costs.
In November 2022, Simz signed a three-album deal with the independent label Artists Without A Label (AWAL) - a move Inflo himself encouraged so she could self-produce her music. The deal came with a £2m advance and £625,000 earmarked for recording her third album.
Before receiving the official recording funds, Simz personally loaned Inflo £350,000 and £275,000 for the album's production under AWAL. In October 2024, Inflo's solicitors stated the total costs were only £524,436. Simz claims she expected any leftover funds to be returned upon the album's completion, but Inflo allegedly never returned the money.
She is also suing him for a £1 million loan she sent on 1 December 2023 to finance Sault's Drumsheds show. She specified that the loan should be repaid within three days, but Inflo allegedly failed to do so, responding that he was 'still getting [his] deal over the line' and would 'send [the money] back as soon as it lands.' In that same month, Simz sent him two more loans totalling £700,000.
In October 2024, Inflo's lawyers acknowledged the debt but attributed it to his label, Forever Living Originals, rather than him personally.
The news comes as Simz has begun teasing her upcoming album 'Lotus', which will be produced by Miles Clinton James, known for his previous work with London jazz group Kokoroko. The album, which will be her 6th full length project, is set for a release on 9 May.
The artificial intelligence revolution never ceases to amaze us. Nowadays it seems it's possible to do almost anything with this technology, but there are still fields in which, although developers have been busy for years, are yet to be fully implemented in society.
One of these is music. Electronic songs have been using digitally created sounds for decades. Although there have been numerous tests and all kinds of experiments, the first singer created by artificial intelligence has not yet been verified.
Last month Spotify released songs with two AI-generated voices in a first for the streaming platform. The music was made by Spanish artist Pedro Sandoval, a pioneer in the use of this technique in art, film and now music.**
The singers are called ZKY-18 and Dirty Marilyn and, even though the sound of their song is reminiscent of many in the electronic genre, their voices are so real that they could perfectly match those of any singer currently recording. It's perhaps not surprising, because it's something they've been working on over the past three years.
"Together with Luis Miguel Martinez and Felipe Sandoval, I have created the first two digital voices using artificial intelligence," says Pedro Sandoval, who was one of the first visual artists to apply this technique to his work. "They are the first to be verified by Spotify as the first voices created with artificial intelligence," he adds.
On this platform you can already listen to songs like 'Con mi mate llegó el sabor', 'La chica en la parada', 'El beso de la mujer araña', 'Chulapo de Madrid' or 'Buscando oro en tu corazón'. These are the first songs that the platform has certified and that have been developed in Spain.
Pedro Sandoval organised a big event last Saturday in Madrid where he officially presented the albums to international guests and personalities from the world of music and technology.
Pedro Sandoval is an internationally renowned artist, renowned for his innovation in contemporary art and his pioneering use of artificial intelligence as a creative tool. He was born in Venezuela and his talent was evident from childhood, when at the age of six he won the Young Master of the World award in Japan.
At the age of 13, he won a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship that allowed him to move to New York and study at Parsons School of Design. Throughout his career, he has exhibited his work in prestigious museums and galleries around the world, establishing himself as one of the most influential figures in art today.
Sandoval has been a staunch defender of artificial intelligence in the artistic field, considering it a tool that, when used well, allows for the expansion of creative possibilities without substituting the essence of the artist. Speaking to Euronews, he explains that the value of a work created with AI "depends on the instructions and refinement that the artist applies to the process".
In addition to his contribution to digital art, Pedro Sandoval emphasises the importance of cultural education for new generations. He considers it fundamental to rescue the artistic and historical legacy to prevent society from focusing solely on ephemeral trends.
He learned from figures such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, which has allowed him to fuse tradition with innovation, positioning himself as one of the most relevant voices in the debate on the future of art.
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