In spring of 2022, she experienced her breakout moment, but it wasn’t via the searing drill and rap cuts that were becoming her trademark it was the infectious dancehall riddims of ‘Bong, Bing’ - a collaboration with Laa Lee - that blasted her career upwards after it went viral on TikTok, revealing another layer to her artistry in the process.

“Sorry rude boy, mi neva mean that / But you got popped like a big eediat,” she menaces over blaring synths on the latter, lacing her commanding flow with Jamaican patois. She first made waves as a rapper with a series of freestyles in 2020, conquering instrumentals like Poundz’s ‘Opp Thot’ and Pa Salieu’s ‘Frontline’ and making them her own. To describe Brixton native Cristale as multi-talented is an understatement the young artist was winning poetry slams in secondary school, used to play football for Crystal Palace, and has completed a degree in Fine Art at the University of the Arts, London. One of the UK’s most promising and versatile MCs, Cristale has proven herself across dancehall, drill and jungle, spitting fire one minute before going deep and introspective the next

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