Speech Debelle: 'Big Dada fallout had to happen'

Speech Debelle has said that her fallout with record label Big Dada "needed to happen".

The rapper won the Mercury Prize for her debut album Speech Therapy but appeared to split from her label soon after, suggesting that it had not properly promoted the record.

However, they eventually reunited and Debelle's second album Freedom of Speech is released through Big Dada on February 13.

Asked if the split could have been avoided, Debelle told The Quietus: "Oh no, that needed to happen, we needed to fall out.

"It's a relationship: you speak to each other every day, you email each other all the time.

"It's really intense and I think, like with any intense relationship, you sometimes reach a point that you've not been able to communicate beforehand."

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She added: "I realised that everyone essentially wanted the same thing - they just hadn't communicated it in the right way.

"I'm not special, a hell of a lot of artists fall out with their labels, it's just I was asked the wrong question in an interview about them at the wrong time and I'm quite reactive and vocal.

"If I was asked that question another day I would've answered differently probably."

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Watch the Speech Debelle 'Studio Backpack Rap' music video below: