Key Takeaways

• Wohdee’s early songwriting and candid approach to music development offer insight into her creative foundation.
• Her ability to move between drill, dancehall, and Afrowave highlights her genre-blending skill set.
• Strategic collaborations and viral moments have helped her gain traction in the U.K. rap scene.

Wohdee’s rise makes sense once you look at the details. She comes from Birmingham, but her sound and instincts don’t move in a single lane — she can rap, she can carry a hook, and she can slide into drill or dancehall-leaning rhythms without forcing it. What’s most compelling is how direct she is about the process: The influences, the missteps, the “aha” moments, and the practical ways she turns ideas into records.

A lot of emerging artists try to project mystery. Wohdee does the opposite. She’s been unusually open about how specific moments shaped her early run, from writing as a kid, to a first studio session that didn’t go well, to the way lockdown created the space to focus. Even her breakout moments come with clear origin stories, which makes her catalog easier (and more fun) to track.

Here are 11 facts that capture her personality, her work ethic, and the small choices that helped build momentum.

1. Her childhood listening list reads like a blueprint.

One of the clearest windows into her taste leads to the records she grew up on: Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad, Giggs’ “Talkin’ da Hardest,” Jme’s “CD Is Dead,” and Tempa T’s “Next Hype.” That mix says a lot about why her writing can feel both sharp and catchy.

2. She started writing early, and her first studio session didn’t spark joy.

Wohdee’s writing streak goes back to childhood. Se’s been described as starting songwriting at nine years old, with an early track titled “Haters.” That kind of head start tends to show up later in her writing and confidence. She’s also candid about the learning curve: Wohdee has recalled first getting into a studio at 18, recording a song, and walking away feeling like it simply wasn’t good.

3. Lockdown was the window that turned the interest into focus.

She’s been linked to that familiar pivot point for a lot of artists: The 2020 lockdown period gave her the time and space to lock in on recording, setting the stage for the standout single “Vain.”

4. “Vain” started with a sister-to-sister creative assist.

When she had the beat but not the concept, Wohdee asked her sister for direction and got a simple prompt that worked. The idea was to “write about being vain (because I am),” and she ran with it. “Vain” leaned into a brighter, dancehall/Afrowave-adjacent bounce, with production credited to Sammysoso.

5. She treated her first drill record like a writing exercise.

With “Wauww,” she wanted to try drill while flipping the expected energy. She said she’s not living a drill lifestyle, so she focused on wordplay, thinking up double entendres for slang like “splash” and “dip,” then bringing the ideas into the studio after her shift.

6. “My Shayla” was a freestyle first. It also grabbed attention from Tyrese.

One reason “My Shayla” landed is that people already had a relationship with the moment. It began as an unscripted New Year’s Eve freestyle that caught fire online and later got turned into an official single. The track eventually grabbed the attention of none other than Tyrese (who has a daughter named Shayla).

7. The Mind Games series is a must-listen.

Instead of treating an EP as a one-and-done drop, she turned it into a sequence: Mind Games arrived as a joint EP with Ms Banks and others, then Mind Games Pt. 2 (which includes a Duchess collab) followed later as a continuation.

8. She checked two major freestyle platforms in the same year.

Freestyles are still a real currency in rap, and Wohdee leaned into that lane with high-visibility looks. She appeared on Charlie Sloth’s “Fire In The Booth” and followed with an equally impressive “On The Radar” freestyle.

9. She slid into dancehall riddim territory without blinking.

On “No Behavior,” Wohdee stamps DJ Mac and CrashDummy’s “WYFL Riddim” run, a classic dancehall-style format where multiple artists voice the same instrumental. The accompanying video was shot in Jamaica, matching the song’s island-leaning energy.