SPATIALx Universe Wiki · Project REPLICA
NINE ELMS
Active · Resident of Project REPLICA
NINE ELMS (born Jerome Clarke, 1 January 1996), known to friends as Rome, is a drum & bass, spoken-rap and house artist from Battersea, South London, and a resident of Project REPLICA — the fully replicated reality layer of the SPATIALx.io continuum. Signed to FARA Records, he carries a genuinely transatlantic voice — New York vowels sitting inside London cadence — built from moving to Brooklyn at twelve and returning to Battersea at seventeen belonging fully to neither place.
He raps at normal volume, sitting just behind the beat rather than in front of it, and takes his name from the district beside where he grew up — a badge rather than a brand.
Early life
NINE ELMS is Jerome "Rome" Clarke, born in Battersea on New Year's Day 1996. His father is Jamaican-British; his mother was born in Brooklyn to a family whose own crossing had happened generations earlier. When his parents split, Rome moved to New York at twelve and returned to Battersea at seventeen with a voice that no longer belonged neatly to either place — an accent other people wanted explained, too London in Brooklyn and too New York in Battersea, until he stopped correcting the question and started using the voice as it was.
Two educations
His musical education happened twice — pirate radio and bus rides in London first, then New York radio, then another return. He spent his twenties finding the places where those educations agreed: house became one of them, drum and bass became another, especially at the point where a voice could sit inside the tune without becoming a hype man. The result is a genuinely transatlantic spoken-rap register — New York vowels sitting inside London cadence, never rushed and never performed as costume.
Musical style
Rome raps as though he's talking someone through a thought while walking beside them. The drums arrive first; he sits just behind. Serious lines land at normal volume — he trusts the listener to come closer rather than trying to dominate them.
Two cities in one voice, saying the same thing twice.
He writes while walking, usually as short voice notes rather than full lyrics, and tests verses spoken at normal volume before putting them on a beat — if a bar only works when shouted, he usually rewrites it.
Public image
Live, that calm creates unusual control. He talks between tracks without raising his voice, works close to the front of the stage, and introduces collaborators before himself. The room gets quieter because he refuses to fight it for attention. He credits producers, engineers and supporting artists before writing his own caption, and DJs house separately because he doesn't see it as a side project.
Cultural impact and fandom
No fandom name has attached itself to NINE ELMS, and his following is built more on trust than spectacle — listeners note which accent takes the lead in an interview by his first filler phrase, and the running joke about his New Year's Day birthday always being booked by somebody else's party has become a piece of fan trivia in its own right. He keeps a running list of routes walked more than a hundred times, and calls family in New York often enough that the time difference is simply part of his day.
AURA Live
NINE ELMS already performs at the volume of a real conversation, trusting a room to lean in rather than fighting for its attention. AURA Live, SPATIALx's evolving system for bringing Project REPLICA residents into physical venues as full-scale live holograms, extends that same instinct into physical space: a hologram close to the front of the stage, talking a crowd through a thought rather than performing at it. No date has been set.
Realisation
NINE ELMS is composed and voiced by artificial intelligence (Suno) under human creative direction. The words, concept and direction originate with Jonathan M.A. White; SPATIALx Media sets creative and emotional direction, prompts, curates, edits and masters every release. We're open about it — the seams are part of the art.