“I’ve been gone for a while but I still made it back to you,” raps Pa Salieu on the opening phrase of “Belly”, dropped just 48 hours after his release from prison. The rapper who spent his early years between Coventry and The Gambia was responsible for BBC 1Xtra’s most played track of 2020, “Frontline”, and became a Dazed cover star that same year, but his rise was cut short when he was sentenced in 2022 for possession of an offensive weapon four years prior. “Ghetto man can leave the bando, and still make money in abundance,” Salieu continues on the track, reflecting on both these past transgressions and his hope for a more stable future.
Known for his trailblazing development of the afro-drill sound, previously pioneered by J Hus and Sneakbo, “Belly” continues Salieu’s fusion of UK rap and afrobeats sonics, this time offering a positive perspective on his role as a leading figure in British music. Amid shots of him serving food for the local community, Salieu sings of “feeding the belly” – both a statement of his own newfound self-sufficiency, as well as a recognition of his responsibility to the deprived areas of Coventry that he grew up in, the proverbial ‘belly’ (of the beast).
Pa Salieu’s 2022 conviction arose from one of the incidents that led him to take a career in music seriously in the first place. In September 2018, Salieu’s close friend Fidel Glasgow, also grandson of The Specials’ Neville Staple, was murdered in an attack outside of Coventry’s Club M nightclub, leading to a mass brawl in which Salieu attacked a rival gang member with a tree branch and smashed a bottle for self-defence. The following year, Salieu suffered a gunshot to the head in an unrelated attack, but managed to make a full recovery.
It was in response to incidents such as these that Salieu lent further into music, subsequently releasing breakout hits “Frontline” and “My Family featuring Backroad Gee” as well as appearing on FKA twigs’ critically acclaimed 2021 album Caprisongs. It is also in view of these incidents that his delayed conviction appeared particularly disruptive, arriving just as his pursuit of more legitimate routes to success was reaching fruition.
Pa Salieu is reported to be working on additional upcoming releases. Read his 2020 cover story here.