Browsing Tag

UK Hip Hop

Goldson versed a meditation on resilience on ‘Don’t Fold on Me’

Posted on 19 May 2023

The UK rapper, songwriter, screenwriter and videographer, Goldson, poured soul back into the London hip-hop landscape with his seminal single and music video, Don’t Fold on Me.

The meditation on resilience is a compassion-soaked declaration of how hard it is to keep your head above water when life’s pressures try and force you under it. The poetically versed hit is a raw reminder that everyone is living a personal battle of wills, whether you see their scars or not.

Instrumentally, Goldson went back to the old school with cinematic grace to create the atmosphere around the solid rattle of the 808s, which constructs a melodious platform for his hard truths and even harder-hitting demand to live more mindfully when it comes to your sanctity and the struggles of everyone around you. The wit in the wordplay could only be described as immense. Clearly, he’s got a luminous career ahead of him.

Check out the official music video for Don’t Fold on Me, which premiered on May 14, on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Marcello (spooks) kicked up dust in his metaphorically sharp alt-rap double A-side, Endless Drive: A Love Story

Posted on 18 April 2023

After racking up over 1 million streams on his hit single, True Colours, London’s brightest rap luminary, Marcello (spooks) has exhibited his even more sharply honed wordplay skills in his double A-side release, Endless Drive: A Love Story. With the unrelenting desire to show his readers how to let the light in with his optimistic rap bars, he created two assured afro-pop/rap earworms with the two singles, TRAFFIC and ENDLESS DRIVE.

Attitude is everything; Marcello’s will leave you revelling in gritty yet sincerely pure soul. His daring propensity to look on the bright side and flip the pervasive narrative that life is a minefield of personal injustice needs to spill onto the darker corners of the internet. The stellar production in his double A-side with his effortlessly exhilarating air that breathes through his vibrant bars will pull you down to earth while simultaneously leaving you on cloud nine.

“Endless Drive: A Love Story is a metaphor for the nature of a turbulent romantic relationship and the perseverance required to be happy and successful in music and life. The first single, TRAFFIC, is about finding patience while standing behind someone else in the queue for your love, but you don’t mind because it is worth the wait. The same sentiment stands when you are on the road to success.

The second single, ENDLESS DRIVE, is a meta depiction of how it feels to be in a relationship with someone who doesn’t know how to drive, takes the wrong turns, gets you lost, doesn’t focus on the road ahead and always makes a beeline for complications.”

Endless Drive: A Love Story will hit the airwaves on April 18; catch it on Spotify and SoundCloud.

Follow Marcello (spooks) on Twitter and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: London rap artist LKS’ lyricality exposed the tumultuous nature of expression in ‘Say My Peace’

Posted on 11 March 2023

South London-based rap artist, LKS, penned one of the sincerest windows into the artistic process with his latest single, Say My Peace, which officially dropped on February 22nd.

The arrestingly deep introspection pulls you into the intimately expressive core of the melodic indie hip-hop hit that explores how creativity can push you to be the best version of yourself while exposing self-sabotaging tendencies that stem from fear and insecurity.

Every artist has a different set of motivational cogs working behind their tracks; for LKS, it is the sensation of seeing an emotionally constructed concept come to visceral life. Say My Peace is a testament to his ability to resist the allure of a façade and the superficiality of fame as an artistic incentive. Hit play and listen to your perception of success distort around the mellow melodicism.

Here’s what LKS had to say about his latest single:

“I wanted to write about that weird state of mind where you feel you have no limits, but at the same time, you suppress your success and accept the fate that comes with disregarding your talent. It’s also about the inability to grasp an amazing moment tight enough to live it to the fullest.

Ultimately, you end up with nothing and have to go through the process of accepting that too, but in the end, we can’t take our material world or success into the next life; everything we have amassed will be in the hands of others or cast away in the same vein as my disregard for my talents.”

Listen to Say My Peace on Spotify or watch the official music video on YouTube.

To keep up to date with future releases, follow LKS on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Raw candour and cadence collide in South London rapper LKS’ single, Say My Peace

Posted on 9 March 2023

If you thought the titular metaphor in the South London rap artist LKS’ latest single, Say My Peace, is something, wait until you feel how the introspective wisdom grips you through the fluid cadence it is delivered through

The gentle and melodic guitars spill accordance under the luminary artist’s soberingly raw bars that compel you to lean so deeply that you will feel every syllable crawl under your skin. Based on Say My Peace, no one could ever accuse LKS of not keeping it real. The candour in his admissions of creative mental friction sounds so much sweeter when you hear what a luminary he is. He’s undeniable.

The official music video for Say My Peace is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Mr Streetz set the bar for other UK rappers’ bars in the first single from his dynamically soulful LP, Wins & Bosses

Posted on 3 February 2023
Mr Streetz

With the soul of Hozier, the grit of Stormzy, the instrumental flair of Rag’n’Bone man and a charisma that is undeniably his own, Mr Streetz created the ultimate hustler hip-hop track with Rags to Riches, taken from his upcoming album, Wins & Bosses.

For the last few years, motivational rap tracks have peddled some dangerous tropes through the fetishization of working your fingers to the bone in ‘the grind’. Mr Streetz provided a more realistic account of an ascent to greatness, which organically makes his driven demeanour that has left success in his sightline since his debut infectious.

After making his debut during lockdown, the UK rapper has dropped 25 singles, three EPs and one album. To date, he has garnered over one million streams on YouTube and 700,000 on Spotify. With his single, Fish in the Sea, garnering over 200k streams alone. There is no stopping his momentum now.

He may be relatively fresh from his debut, but he has already perfected the art of commanding the mic by pouring an equal measure of soul, conviction and wit into it. His bars set the bar for every other UK rapper looking to make a distinctive mark.

“This album is a dedication to all the youngsters who grew up in the late 1990s early 2000s who wanted to be like the bad guys in gangster films, idolising that lifestyle and the money they made.”

The Wins & Bosses LP will officially release on February 24th.

Until then, get your Mr Streetz fill through Rags to Riches on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Grime icon in the making, Jacob Briggs, has released a dizzying drop with ‘Bothered’.

Posted on 17 December 2022

Amalgamating the fiercest elements of trap, grime and drill, the UK icon in the making, Jacob Briggs, created a juggernaut of a hit with his latest single, Bothered, which officially dropped on December 9th.

Proving that grime hasn’t lost its flavour since Wiley gave us a taste in the early 00s, Bothered exhibits Briggs’ dizzying flow, which doesn’t sacrifice the lyrical content which puts to shame the archetypes built in the industry since it dawned.

The electronic music producer and creative artist started his sonic journey inspired by RnB and hip hop acts before creating his own rhythm-riding sonic signature that packs enough fervour to make your head spin. Watch this space before Briggs tears through it with the force of a lyrical tornado.

Feel the heat simmer from Bothered by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mych reached the pinnacle of UK rap with the intimate candour in ‘Heart of Mine’

Posted on 22 November 2022

After a smooth neoclassic piano prelude, the beats and grimey rap bars in Mych’s latest single, Heart of Mine, kicks in. Finding the middle ground between George the Poet and Stormzy in his high-calibre performance that is locked and loaded with wit-rife deliverances of hard truths and bold introspective honesty, Heart of Mine makes no bones about being delivered from the soul.

It isn’t every day you hear of an up-and-coming rapper that opts for candour over ego and pretence. Slip into Heart of Mine and find comfort in the emotional complexity that absolves the guilt for not having it all figured out. I, for one will be staying tuned for more cutting expositions on identity.

Stream the official music video for Heart of Mine on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

BEKAH heated up the UK rap scene with her wit-deep single, Shots

Posted on 19 October 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6N2Dn6rKno

British-born artist Bekah was perceptibly also born to be a rapper based on the fluidity of her wit-deep bars in her latest single, Shots. As the daughter of a Montserratian father and Pakistani mother, she ensured the flavour of Eastern rhythms packed a punch in this serpentine-ly melodic mellifluous hit that sticks to the synapses like super glue.

Between the beats, her charisma and the intellectual wordplay that would leave any sane artist fearing a rap battle, she’s evidently a triple threat. The way she pulverises ideas of what women should be is nothing short of electrifying. She’s picking up where Lady Sovereign left off with her unapologetic defiance of normative feminine stereotypes.

The official music video for Shots premiered on September 24th. Check it out on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

CK LDN is all-in in his latest hip hop single, She’s for Me

Posted on 10 October 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-IlBnEnNHQ

There are few things sweeter than devout outpours of affection; prepare for the ultimate sugar rush when you delve into the up-and-coming London-based rapper, songwriter, and producer, CK LDN’s latest single, She’s for Me.

Realism and romanticism don’t often go hand in hand, but they have a tight grip on each other between the cheeky rap bars, the bouncy Afrobeat rhythms and the vocal delivery that takes you to CK LDN’s ‘whole other level’.

This sophomore release proves that CK LDN was true to his melodious word in his debut single, Moving On, which has picked up plenty of hype since its 2022 release. With his talent easily matching his charisma, CK LDN is definitely one to watch.

The official music video for She’s for Me Premiered on September 30th. Check it out on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

VANES speaks for the diehard romantics in his indie rock meets hip hop sophomore single, can’t feel your love

Posted on 6 October 2022

Indie rock, pop, and hip hop converge in the latest single, can’t feel your love, from the earworm raconteur, VANES. The Wolverhampton, UK-based British Caribbean poet and singer-songwriter is one of the few artists unafraid to wear their visceral vulnerability on their sleeve to enrich the emotional intelligence of their listeners.

The self-proclaimed unashamed embodiment of tenderness takes influence from everyone from Arctic Monkeys to N.E.R.D, but his guitar-driven indie sound is undeniably his own. The funk that permeates through the choppy licks made a radio-ready anthem out of can’t feel your love, which traverses the frustration of unfulfilling romantic dynamics that leave you reeling every time you extend affection only to feel idiotic for your diehard romanticism.

Can’t feel your love was officially released on September 30th; catch it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast