LITTLE SIMZ, LADOJA TO BE HONORED

British rapper Little Simz will be crowned Artist of the Year at the Artist and Manager Awards, while Grace Ladoja MBE, co-manager of Skepta, Sarz and co-founder of Metallic Inc., will be given the 2021 Entrepreneur Award. The awards ceremony will take place on 11/18 in London.

Simz is being honored for her fourth album, Sometimes I Might Be an Introvert, released in partnership with AWAL, which hit #4 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart in September. As part of a European tour, she will play three dates in December at London’s 5,000-capacity Brixton Academy.

Ladoja will be recognized for her work in building bridges between Nigeria and the U.K. and developing Metallic, which specializes in music, culture and brands, into a global studio. She has fostered partnerships with Nike and Supreme and founded Lagos' annual Homecoming Festival, among other praiseworthy accomplishments.

Also revealed were shortlists for the Breakthrough Artist and Breakthrough Manager categories (below).

Breakthrough Artist, Sponsored by Spotify

Ashnikko
Becky Hill
Celeste
Central Cee
Easy Life
Griff
Headie One
KSI
Rina Sawayama
Sault

Breakthrough Manager

Bello (Central Cee)
Ben Blackburn, Twenty Ten Management (girl in red, Aquilo, Hugo White)
Charlie Owen (Joy Crookes)
Harry Knyt, Milk & Honey U.K. (iO, Show N Prove, Billented, Jordan Shaw, Maestro, James Newman)
Ian Tunstall, SO Empire, and Rian Zoll-Khan, RNR Management (Wes Nelson, Ayo Beatz)
Jess Monroe, Monroe Management (Morrison, Bandokay, Stardom)
Kayleigh Thorpe, Little Runaway Management (Gerry Cinnamon)
Matt Dodds, Ditto Management (Big Zuu, Nathan Dawe, Niko B)