A self-confessed "spoilt brat" as a child, Speech Debelle was suspended from
school, turned to poetry and was rapping by the time she was 13. A major
fall-out with her mother led her to leave home at 19 and she spent four years
staying with friends and living in homeless hostels. before taking her nickname,
Speech, and her grandmother's surname, Debelle, as a tribute, prior to signing
with the Big Dada label in 2007. With laid-back jazz influences and an
understated flow, debut album Speech Therapy (2009) told the story of her life
in candid detail, discussing her homelessness, h...