Hundreds of rap projects were released last year, with big hitters like ASAP Rocky, Nas, Drake (lol yeah like he counts) Pusha T, Travis Scott, Kanye and many more all putting out their latest releases. With all these albums it is easy to miss to gems of the industry, some of which is nothing short of SLAP ANTHEMS.
Below is a list of songs that I feel have gone under the radar that are more than deserving of your attention:
Royce Da 5'9 - Cocaine
Royce has some of the coldest bars I've ever heard and as an artist in general he is massively overlooked and underrated. This may be because of his duo group Bad Meets Evil with Eminem with Marshall overshadowing Royce in terms of popularity and often lyrical ability, not to Royce's discredit. His album The Book of Ryan, it's his most personal project to date, with the standout track Cocaine being a must listen. It is a well told out story, structurally very easy to follow, simplistic but powerful lyricism with a message that highlights a major moment in Royce's life that sets up the remainder of the album. The video for the song even come out last month the add to the story telling.
Vince Staples Ft. Jay Rock - Don't Get Chipped
Vince Staples stays crippin in this track from his album FM! with a smooth feature from Jay Rock who lends a hand on the hook. Vince blends his classic electronic instrumental layers with his West Coast LBC roots to make a banger that is way too underrated. Jay Rock's gritty Watts voice fits perfectly with Vince's effortless flows and West Coast reppin bars, regarding his success and the loneliness he feels without his friends achieving similar success levels. This is Vince's second involvement with a TDE artist's work after appearing on the Black Panther Soundtrack produced by Top Dawg himself, Anthony Tiffith and Kendrick Lamar.
Flatbush Zombies - Headstone
I myself haven't dabbled too much into FBZ but they have very likeable members who bring charismatic songs and colourful wordplay, usually over hard hitting psychedelic instrumentals. One song particular that released last year was the track Headstone - which is a song packed full of references to the very best of the genre that has come before it. Lyrical references to Tupac, album names, DMX, current rap singles and many more showcase the best of FBZ's talent when it comes to songwriting and lyricism. Absolutely worth hearing to catch all the references.
J. Cole - Window Pain
The closing song on last year's KOD (Before the last song, the intro to the next project) is in my opinion one of Cole's very best. Obviously self written and self produced, the song starts with a sampled audio clip of an interview with a young girl who was describing the events of her cousins being gunned down whilst she was present in the car. The instrumental gradually fades in with precise layering, concluding in an eerie trap infused track, stacked with 808's. The story telling becomes quite chilling paired with the beat, and it really showcases the best in Jermaine's writing ability, and it becomes clear a few bars in that he reflecting on the interview he had with the young girl at the beginning, and how the current younger generation have been easily persuaded into a life of crime by the influence of drugs (a focal point of the theme of the album).
Kanye West - Ghost Town
Obviously, Kanye is arguably the biggest name in music. An artist that transcend himself as well as the art he makes, and influences people to the point that any member of any generation would instantly recognise him. He is without doubt one of the biggest and best artist of all time, he has 22 Grammys ffs. Therefore, an album release this year couldn't possibly have any tracks that could be considered underrated or underplayed, due to the size of his status and more importantly, his ego. It is from this however, and the slew of tweets that came prior to release saw people talk more about him and his personal issues rather than his music. From this, the song Ghost Town slipped slightly under the radar in terms of success and appreciation, despite it being one of the perfectly melodic, Kid Cudi humming induced, cleanest products of the year. The shift in the beat towards the end is the highlight of the track, with Kanye's latest protege 070 Shake singing the outro section absolutely BEAUTIFULLY. yaaas queen get ittt.
Anderson Paak Ft. Snoop Dogg - Anywhere
Anderson Paak's slow jam is SO silky and one of the best cuts from Oxnard. Begins with one of the best Snoop Dogg verses in DECADES, paying homage to West Coast legends Warren G and Nate Dogg (RIP). It then fades into the smooth drumming of Anderson and culminates in an absolute low rider JAM. Just hearing it bang through a speaker makes you feel like you're cruising through the streets of LA. Noice.
Denzel Curry Ft. JID & Billie Eilish - SIRENS | Z1RENZ
Denzel Curry had a BIG year in 2018 with the release of his debut studio album TA1300. A handful of songs off this project could've made this list, but for me, SIRENS is the best of the lot. Solid beat, nice vocals on the hook from Billie Eilish, great wordplay in Zel's opening verse before transitioning into a massive 26 bar feature from JID. His flows are machine gun like and as expected, shifts between two or three in a short space of time. Hope to see more collabs between these two.
Mac Miller - So It Goes...
Retrospectively, this is a very sad and poignant song given Mac Miller's passing in September. It's a very sombre cut from the album, with the lyrics based on an old Norwegian(?) poem under the same name. In it, the main character ends every fourth line with the words "So it goes..." which is there to represent the death of a character within the book. Eerie, as Mac adopts the same approach throughout his verses. The music world was shocked and saddened by his untimely death, yet it's almost as if the high pitched synth crescendo at the end of the song perfectly wraps up Mac's musical career, and acts as an indirect goodbye to the industry.
What adds to this, is 12 hours before his death was announced, his final Instagram story was a video recording his vinyl player, which was just playing out the end of this very song. Very very sad.
Meek Mill - Intro
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60201323/Meek_Mill.0.jpg)
Not a big fan of Meek Mill usually, but his latest album Championships was a pleasant surprise. Following his trouble with the law and subsequently aiming to expose the failures within the legal system of America, Meek packed a lot of lyrics regarding his own personal mistreatment. Songs such as What's Free? with Rick Ross and a BIG Jay-Z feature was fuelled by his anger and frustration at the last year or two. But it is the intro song that I found myself going back to time and time again. I never thought hearing a trap beat layered over the top In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins would work, but it does. SO well. Absolute psyched up slap music and the sampling is a must listen.
Tyler, the Creator - OKRA
Following Scum Fuck Flower Boy's release in 2017, Tyler seemed to keep a low profile for the months that proceeded it. This changed during last year, when Tyler would tweet a link almost weekly to video of short song he made, usually taking old beats and just remixing them one long verse over them. OKRA was a single that was released in the midst of these short tracks, unveiled with a video as well, which thematically is very Tyler. A kicking bass line with a shit ton of added reverb makes this track eligible to be called a slap anthem.
ASAP Rocky - Toney Tone
This is a track that goes back to Rocky's Harlem upbringing. Filled with lyrics about selling coke, having people work for him as dealers and is generally a very braggadocious song to reflect where that life has got him to now. A very catchy hook that'll be stuck in your head all day. An overlooked song from a underrated album and TESTING deserves a lot more acclaim imo.
There was almost too many underrated songs from 2018 to write about them all but here is some that I personally feel need a lot more love. Enjoy listening xx
Below is a list of songs that I feel have gone under the radar that are more than deserving of your attention:
Royce Da 5'9 - Cocaine
Royce has some of the coldest bars I've ever heard and as an artist in general he is massively overlooked and underrated. This may be because of his duo group Bad Meets Evil with Eminem with Marshall overshadowing Royce in terms of popularity and often lyrical ability, not to Royce's discredit. His album The Book of Ryan, it's his most personal project to date, with the standout track Cocaine being a must listen. It is a well told out story, structurally very easy to follow, simplistic but powerful lyricism with a message that highlights a major moment in Royce's life that sets up the remainder of the album. The video for the song even come out last month the add to the story telling.
Vince Staples Ft. Jay Rock - Don't Get Chipped
Vince Staples stays crippin in this track from his album FM! with a smooth feature from Jay Rock who lends a hand on the hook. Vince blends his classic electronic instrumental layers with his West Coast LBC roots to make a banger that is way too underrated. Jay Rock's gritty Watts voice fits perfectly with Vince's effortless flows and West Coast reppin bars, regarding his success and the loneliness he feels without his friends achieving similar success levels. This is Vince's second involvement with a TDE artist's work after appearing on the Black Panther Soundtrack produced by Top Dawg himself, Anthony Tiffith and Kendrick Lamar.
Flatbush Zombies - Headstone
I myself haven't dabbled too much into FBZ but they have very likeable members who bring charismatic songs and colourful wordplay, usually over hard hitting psychedelic instrumentals. One song particular that released last year was the track Headstone - which is a song packed full of references to the very best of the genre that has come before it. Lyrical references to Tupac, album names, DMX, current rap singles and many more showcase the best of FBZ's talent when it comes to songwriting and lyricism. Absolutely worth hearing to catch all the references.
J. Cole - Window Pain
The closing song on last year's KOD (Before the last song, the intro to the next project) is in my opinion one of Cole's very best. Obviously self written and self produced, the song starts with a sampled audio clip of an interview with a young girl who was describing the events of her cousins being gunned down whilst she was present in the car. The instrumental gradually fades in with precise layering, concluding in an eerie trap infused track, stacked with 808's. The story telling becomes quite chilling paired with the beat, and it really showcases the best in Jermaine's writing ability, and it becomes clear a few bars in that he reflecting on the interview he had with the young girl at the beginning, and how the current younger generation have been easily persuaded into a life of crime by the influence of drugs (a focal point of the theme of the album).
Kanye West - Ghost Town
Obviously, Kanye is arguably the biggest name in music. An artist that transcend himself as well as the art he makes, and influences people to the point that any member of any generation would instantly recognise him. He is without doubt one of the biggest and best artist of all time, he has 22 Grammys ffs. Therefore, an album release this year couldn't possibly have any tracks that could be considered underrated or underplayed, due to the size of his status and more importantly, his ego. It is from this however, and the slew of tweets that came prior to release saw people talk more about him and his personal issues rather than his music. From this, the song Ghost Town slipped slightly under the radar in terms of success and appreciation, despite it being one of the perfectly melodic, Kid Cudi humming induced, cleanest products of the year. The shift in the beat towards the end is the highlight of the track, with Kanye's latest protege 070 Shake singing the outro section absolutely BEAUTIFULLY. yaaas queen get ittt.
Anderson Paak Ft. Snoop Dogg - Anywhere
Anderson Paak's slow jam is SO silky and one of the best cuts from Oxnard. Begins with one of the best Snoop Dogg verses in DECADES, paying homage to West Coast legends Warren G and Nate Dogg (RIP). It then fades into the smooth drumming of Anderson and culminates in an absolute low rider JAM. Just hearing it bang through a speaker makes you feel like you're cruising through the streets of LA. Noice.
Denzel Curry Ft. JID & Billie Eilish - SIRENS | Z1RENZ
Denzel Curry had a BIG year in 2018 with the release of his debut studio album TA1300. A handful of songs off this project could've made this list, but for me, SIRENS is the best of the lot. Solid beat, nice vocals on the hook from Billie Eilish, great wordplay in Zel's opening verse before transitioning into a massive 26 bar feature from JID. His flows are machine gun like and as expected, shifts between two or three in a short space of time. Hope to see more collabs between these two.
Mac Miller - So It Goes...
Retrospectively, this is a very sad and poignant song given Mac Miller's passing in September. It's a very sombre cut from the album, with the lyrics based on an old Norwegian(?) poem under the same name. In it, the main character ends every fourth line with the words "So it goes..." which is there to represent the death of a character within the book. Eerie, as Mac adopts the same approach throughout his verses. The music world was shocked and saddened by his untimely death, yet it's almost as if the high pitched synth crescendo at the end of the song perfectly wraps up Mac's musical career, and acts as an indirect goodbye to the industry.What adds to this, is 12 hours before his death was announced, his final Instagram story was a video recording his vinyl player, which was just playing out the end of this very song. Very very sad.
Meek Mill - Intro
Not a big fan of Meek Mill usually, but his latest album Championships was a pleasant surprise. Following his trouble with the law and subsequently aiming to expose the failures within the legal system of America, Meek packed a lot of lyrics regarding his own personal mistreatment. Songs such as What's Free? with Rick Ross and a BIG Jay-Z feature was fuelled by his anger and frustration at the last year or two. But it is the intro song that I found myself going back to time and time again. I never thought hearing a trap beat layered over the top In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins would work, but it does. SO well. Absolute psyched up slap music and the sampling is a must listen.
Tyler, the Creator - OKRA
Following Scum Fuck Flower Boy's release in 2017, Tyler seemed to keep a low profile for the months that proceeded it. This changed during last year, when Tyler would tweet a link almost weekly to video of short song he made, usually taking old beats and just remixing them one long verse over them. OKRA was a single that was released in the midst of these short tracks, unveiled with a video as well, which thematically is very Tyler. A kicking bass line with a shit ton of added reverb makes this track eligible to be called a slap anthem. ASAP Rocky - Toney Tone
This is a track that goes back to Rocky's Harlem upbringing. Filled with lyrics about selling coke, having people work for him as dealers and is generally a very braggadocious song to reflect where that life has got him to now. A very catchy hook that'll be stuck in your head all day. An overlooked song from a underrated album and TESTING deserves a lot more acclaim imo.
There was almost too many underrated songs from 2018 to write about them all but here is some that I personally feel need a lot more love. Enjoy listening xx
Comments
Post a Comment