Mercury winner Speech Debelle has been named as the support on Basement Jaxx’s upcoming UK tour.
Speech Debelle emerged from London’s ever buoyant urban scene. Keen to write from an early age the young musician soon found herself drawn to the city’s hip hop scene.
Growing up in a comfortable background, Speech Debelle began to rebel and found that life could get a lot more difficult. Living in an assembly of bed sits and friend’s couches the rapper began crafting tough new material.
Gaining a record deal with Big Dada Speech Debelle began assembling her debut album ‘Speech Therapy’. A craft work mixture of samples the album blended fierce rhymes with acoustic instrumentation.
Basically sounding like an acid jazz record with rapping on top, ‘Speech Therapy’ drew warm praise from all who heard it. Nominated for the Mercury Music Prize the rapper picked up the award in emotional scenes.
ClashMusic caught up with Speech Debelle just before the winner was announced – click HERE to read our interview!
Now the rapper is set to head out on the road with Basement Jaxx, playing some of her largest shows to date. Speech Debelle and her band The Therapists will play to some 30,000 people over seven dates.
Taking place throughout December, the tour will culminate with a spectacular show in London’s O2 Arena.
Speech Debelle is set to play the following dates:
December
6 Swindon Oasis Centre
11 Blackpool Empress Ballroom
12 Glasgow Barrowlands
13 Wolverhampton Civic
14 Plymouth Pavilion
16 Bournemouth BIC
17 London O2 Arena