Lady Leshurr

Malesha O'Garro, who performs as Lady Leshurr, works as a rapper and producer whose frequently combative verses contrast with an upbeat sense of melody. Born in Birmingham, England, she launched her recording career in the early 2000s while still in her early teens, issuing the opening entry in a long string of mixtapes that remain her chief outlet and has continued to sharpen a clever, occasionally rapid-fire lyrical approach rooted in U.K. garage and grime. Having turned away several record companies whose proposals required excessive creative concessions, O'Garro gained wider exposure independently during 2015 once a single-take clip for the fourth installment of her "Queen's Speech" series achieved viral status through tens of millions of streams. A collection of five "Queen's Speech" selections appeared in 2016, the same year she joined the major label RCA. Both "Where Are You Now," which features Wiley, and "Queen's Speech 6" came out on RCA ahead of her first full-length album, slated for release in 2017.