ENNY says ‘Peng Black Girls’ was a rallying cry for representation
"We never got to see that growing up; young, Black, dark-skinned girls just doing their ting"
By Nick Reilly
ENNY has opened up on how the depiction of Black women in the media directly inspired ‘Peng Black Girls’, her breakout hit.
The 2020 track has scored more than 2.4 million views on YouTube and was also remixed by Jorja Smith shortly after its initial release.
Speaking in Rolling Stone UK‘s second issue, the South London rapper explained how the soulful track acted as a rallying cry for Black women who have felt unrepresented by large swathes of the media.
“It’s so sick to see [rappers] Tems, Simz and Amaarae, all these dark-skinned girls doing their ting. We never got to see that growing up; young, Black, dark-skinned girls just doing their ting. That’s why I’ve gotta take it as far as I can,” she says.
But despite the impassioned viewpoint of the song, ENNY says she is wary of being labelled a “conscious” rapper who actively addresses society’s ills and inequalities.
“I don’t like the ‘conscious’ thing, because it’s deffo just common sense,” she adds.
“I’m not, like, talking about deep, deep, deep stuff, I’m proper just saying, ‘Don’t gentrify the area.’”
Instead, she points to her most recent single ‘Bernie Mac’, a club-ready take on Mr. & Mrs. Smith with Odeal.
“Hip hop is so diverse. You look at people like Kendrick Lamar, who can do songs like ‘Humble’ and then do songs like ‘Alright,’ and then ‘These Walls’ or a freakin’ song with Maroon 5.”
And looking forward at future successes, she says that the key is not to compromise on her own integrity.
“My main concern is not losing the integrity of the music,” Enny says. “And I think that it’s so easy to do, especially when you get to a certain point in your career. I want to do as amazing as I can but I also want to be true to the sound; I’ve been in that space, like, ‘Why is this artist making music like this now?’
“But then you get inside and you realise the challenges and the game, that it’s truly a game. So yeah, all that stuff is maybe weighing a bit,” she admits before reconsidering, “not weighing, but I’m aware of it.”
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