Two weeks before our meeting, UK rapper Cristale found herself descending a cliffside toward a secluded black pebbled beach in Dover, racing against an incoming tide to film the music video for her track, “I’m Okay With Being Lonely.” Despite never hiking in her life, the 25-year-old took the challenge in stride. “I was wearing head-to-toe Stone Island, no hiking gear, full face of makeup, edges laid and Mum was doing my touch-ups on a rusty ladder,” she recounts with a laugh. T wo weeks before we meet, UK rapper Cristale was scrambling down a cliff face to a secluded black pebbled beach in Dover, racing an incoming tide with fewer than 90 minutes to shoot the video for her single I’m Okay Wit. Music was where her imagination ran freest. “It never feels like a job, even if she hadn’t realised it at the time. Like I’ve got 8,000 different paint brushes going in, i’ve got a big blank canvas in front of me.
Now based in London, the artist balances an energetic, articulate rap style with a career that has spanned football, illustration, and acting in high-profile projects like Netflix’s “The Kitchen” and “Top Boy.” With nearly half a million monthly listeners on Spotify, she has finally completed her debut mixtape, “Clear Intentions.” After two previous attempts at a full-length project, she describes this release as a refined effort, noting, “There’s no fillers, no bridges in between songs. I’m very nitpicky with my art.” According to as we sit in her publicist’s central London office, her hair half-braided and half-flowing past a black puffer coat, she, The rush of adrenaline hasn’t fully faded.
Born in Brixton to a Guyanese father and a mother of Jamaican and Montserratian descent, Cristale shares a remarkably close bond with her mother, who also serves as her manager. Her musical path began early; she wrote her first lyrics in nursery after her uncle introduced her to rapping. By Year 7, she had won a school poetry slam with her piece, “What It’s Like to Be Young,” a mature reflection on adult perceptions of misunderstood youth. This early success later inspired her debut EP title and provided a sample for her single “H2O.” Come year 7, her English teacher organised a school poetry slam, and sitting in a friend’s flat looking across at her own house, Cristale wrote What It’s Like to Be Young, a misunderstood kid’s response to the adults aro. And while she cringes at the thought of anyone looking it up on YouTube, it gave her debut EP its title, and she sampled it on recent single H2O, she was victorious against older students. But it also limits my creativity, routine really helps.
Her upbringing was defined by both creative drive and a fierce competitive spirit. She played football for the Crystal Palace academy, a pursuit fueled by classmates who told her she could not play due to her gender. Although she initially aimed for a professional sports career, she eventually pivoted toward education and the arts, wary of the financial instability in women’s football at the time. Despite encouragement from teachers to pursue studies at Oxbridge, she opted for a creative degree in art and illustration, viewing the university path as potentially too restrictive. But with exams looming she stepped away: “I couldn’t take the risk because you can go into women’s football and not make any money, the plan was to go pro. She says; some teachers didn’t want her on their courses, assuming she’d fail. “The least I could do was block out all of the external noise, and care about myself how my mum has alway, there have been “multiple moments”.
While pursuing her degree and working 40-hour weeks at a boutique in Chelsea, she began uploading freestyle raps to Instagram. What started as a bonding activity with her father evolved into a career when she signed a record deal at 21. She acknowledges the systemic hurdles she faced growing up in Brixton, explaining, “Young, Black and female in Brixton is hard. You look a certain type of way, you’re categorised into a certain type of group of kids.” She credits her mother’s unwavering support for helping her ignore external doubt and focus on her own growth. With plans to become an architectural designer, she juggled university with 40-hour work weeks at a Chelsea boutique, and idly posted freestyle raps to Instagram. “It was just a hobby at first, and a reason for me to spend time with my dad, alongside her art and illustration degree.
Her acting work has similarly influenced her music, providing her with a deeper understanding of herself. While she admits the strict, early-morning filming schedules could be creatively limiting, the experience of stepping into other characters helped her gain confidence in her own skin. “Clear Intentions” serves as a mental audit of these experiences, covering her relationships with family, friends, her partner, and her professional life. Musically, the project moves beyond the drill-heavy sound of her 2022 EP, incorporating grime, melodic guitar elements, and R&B influences. Her 2022 debut EP was almost exclusively drill. “I had so much more poetic music available at the time; I didn’t understand what music projects should be,” she says. “This time round, I thought I’d give them a little bit.
Cristale avoids strict genre labels, noting that such categories are often applied inaccurately to Black artists. For her debut mixtape, she chose not to include any featured guests, feeling that she could best convey her personal story alone. As she moves into the release phase, she intends to avoid the industry standard of celebratory parties, choosing instead to mark the milestone by working quietly alongside her mother and her core team. It’s the most euphoric feeling ever.”. According to still chasing that euphoric feeling, she, She plans to spend the release day quietly alongside her mum and core team, “99.9% working”. Either, there will be no champagne-soaked launch parties.
