As hip-hop continues to evolve and morph into its ever-growing wealth of styles and formats, it’s nice to just hear someone spit some bars over a cool beat once in a while. In that spirit, Symba’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Ain’t Saying Sh*t” is like a nice refresher on punchline-forward, swaggering battle rap as he goes for broke illuminating all his virtues and pointing out all foes’ many flaws.
Hailing from the Bay Area, Symba traded in hoop dreams for microphone skills in middle school, taking his name from an obvious source (The Lion King) and setting out to establish himself as royalty in his own right. He’s also one of those artists who approach the game with a degree of hard-earned business savvy from prior industry experiences. When a deal with Columbia Records in 2017 soured, he returned to the independent grind, generating enough buzz to attract another deal from Atlantic.
Making a splash earlier this year with a viral LA Leakers freestyle and a standout 2021 BET Hip-Hop Awards Cypher verse, and building on his 2020 mixtape Don’t Run From R.A.P, Symba is a member of a new wave of rap-first hip-hop artists that is about to start flooding the game sooner than you might think.
Watch him perform “Ain’t Saying Sh*t” above.
UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.
Symba is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.