MAVI

Few artists will take you to the depths of their mind with more clarity than Mavi. The 20-year-old rapper is, by his own admission, naturally inquisitive. So as far as he’s concerned, nothing is off limits. His swirling stream-ofconsciousness flow channels the likes of Ralph Ellison, Virginia Woolf and Earl Sweatshirt, with probing lyrics designed to teach young black people how to insulate themselves with self-love – so that the systemic hate they experience in America doesn’t feel insurmountable.

“I fucking love asking questions,” he says, speaking over the phone while wandering through LA in pursuit of chicken curry.

“I am an interrogator. I don’t think you can be a black man in this society and not be inquisitive, because this shit