By Shaneezah Ally
October 7 2019, 17.45
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A Balham grime artist who spits honest fierce lyrics by channelling her own past struggles released her debut mixtape last month.
Inspired by negative experiences in her formative years, Starts Here represents a fresh start for Cassie Rytz with gusty, powerful and aggressive tracks.
Combining elements of her youth growing up in the ‘grittiness’ of Balham, Miss Rytz is now looking towards a brighter future undefined by her past.
As a female artist in a male-dominated industry, Miss Rytz has worked towards female equality in grime music.
Miss Rytz said: “I feel like being in a male dominated industry can be tough, especially in grime but I do feel like this genre is moving in a great direction especially with how women are being treated.”
The introduction of Girls of Grime is a movement dedicated to raising the voices of women to come together to support and uplift each other in the music industry.
She said: “However, women still have to face the fact that we are always going to be compared to one another by the opposite sex. Unfortunately you don’t really see that happening with men.”
The young talent appeared in the BBC3 documentary series Galdem Sugar, recording the challenges women of grime face.
She said: “I see grime heading in a great direction. I feel like a lot of females are going to end up in a great place doing music and that there is going to be a lot more equality made in this genre.”
Miss Rytz has used grime music to express herself especially growing up in an area where crime and violence is high.
She said: “There is a lot of grittiness and violence happening in the area, this is a direct influence of my music.”
There are a mix of lyrics focusing on self-empowerment and adolescent anxieties stemming from her difficulties that she faced during her time at school.
She said: “It was absolutely awful and I don’t wish it on anyone that is where all my anger and aggression came from.”
Lyrics from tracks like Guard Up are about Miss Rytz not inviting negative energy back into her life and Throwback is about looking back on that years that went by and realising how difficult life is now as a woman.
She said the message she is trying to get across to her listener is that they need to love and respect themselves as no one is going to do it for you.
Continuing her climb, she made her festival debut at The Splash! Festival in Germany performing alongside the likes performing Yxng Bane, Gunna and Skepta.
Miss Rytz is becoming firmly placed as a dominant voice in the new generation of grime MCs and the full mixtape is an opportunity for listeners to hear her experiment with UKG, drill and trap.
