You know when Drake attaches himself to something, it’s having a moment globally. He’s gone from Dancehall to Afrobeats to Grime and now he’s got a fascination with UK drill. In the last year, he’s dropped War produced by London’s Axl and teamed up with drill’s leading man Headie One on Only You freestyle.
Drill isn’t from London. We’ve got Chicago, specifically Chief Keef, to thank for taking it to the mainstream but since 2012, the Brits have run with it. South London’s 67 was an early pioneer but over the years it’s found success through the likes of Unknown T, Loski and SL. It’s success has come in ebbs and flows but it’s having a global moment again.
In the US, the late Pop Smoke re-energised the genre with a New York flair, working with British producer 808MeloBeats on his biggest record Dior. It’s even made its way to Australia where rap crew ONEFOUR are experimenting with the genre and inspiring a burgeoning generation of young rappers.
With the genre spreading globally, we thought we’d dip into the hot spot and take a look at the artists that are owning the genre in the UK right now.
Headie One
Let’s start with the big one right now. Headie One has been rolling out projects since 2014 but he’s having a landmark year. Backing up a top 10 single in 2019 with 18Hunna, he’s clocked two this year. The first is his freestyle with Drake and the second is Ain’t It Different with Stormzy and AJ Tracey. He reps for drill but he’s also pushing the genre forward. His tape GANG with British producer Fred Again.. saw him interpolating his sound with club styles enlisting FKA twigs, Jamie xx, Sampha and more for the project.
Dutchavelli
East London rapper Dutchavelli is the brother of XXL Freshman Stefflon Don. He’s making his own name though, storming the charts with his hard-hitting, relentless drill stylings. His name has been on the tip of drill diehard’s for a while now but a few tracks have launched him into the British mainstream. He cracked the British charts with Only If You Knew before getting his first taste of the top 10 featuring on I Dunno with Tion Wayne and Stormzy. Now he’s coming for success on his lonesome with current single Bando Diaries - two minutes of personal, raw bars.
Pa Salieu
It’s early days for Gambian-raised Coventry MC Pa Salieu but he’s already gaining mass support in the UK. Salieu is not considered to be drill by purists due to his Afro trap influence but collaborations with Backroad Gill and SL suggest that he’s on the periphery of the genre. Salieu’s hype bubbled last year off the back of Dem A Lie which featured in the show Ballers but it’s this year’s Frontline that has taken him to another level. The genre-tripping cut incorporates everything from Afrobeats to drill. There’s plenty more in store from Salieu too. He’s been working with FKA twigs and has a fan in J HUS who reached out to the rapper on Twitter.
Unknown T
Unknown T is only 21 but he’s already been clocking hits for two years now. The London rapper made waves in 2018 with his debut single Homerton B which became the first drill single to be certified Silver in the UK. He’s kept that momentum going, particularly this year, with his debut record Rise Above Hate. The project showed that while drill is his wheelhouse he’s just as confident tripping through other genres from trap to dancehall.
TeeZandos
We’ve already gone through the big guns but there are plenty of names who are on a fast rise this year. One of them is teenage rapper TeeZandos who declared on her opening track Need Focus, “Fuck being normal, I want to be the oddest one.” She’s proving it too. She’s told Vice she’s currently listening to rock bands like Judas Priest and AC/DC while making some of the darkest drill music around. Tracks like Highlander and Need Focus have blown up YouTube while her freestyles show she’s one of the rawest talents around.
Tion Wayne
Tion Wayne has been on the grind for a while now. He’s been releasing tapes since 2014’s Wayne’s World but it seems that six years later he’s finally getting his moment in the spotlight. After serving a 16 month jail sentence, he’s returned with a renewed focus and it’s paid dividends. In the last year, he’s appeared in the charts nine times. His biggest is his Dutchavelli and Stormzy team-up I Dunno which crashed into the top 10. He’s now proving his pop chops with Rudimental and Anne-Marie on new cut Come Over.
Shaybo
Self-declared ‘Queen Of The South’, Shaybo is breaking into the male-dominated scene with a hard-hitting sound. She only has a handful of official releases but it’s her freestyles that have been captivating the internet. Last year’s HB Freestyle was a serve, bursting with cheek and charisma while her Radio 1Xtra freestyle earlier this year was relentless.
M1llionz
Birmingham rapper M1llionz broke through last year with North-West but he’s used 2020 to escalate that success. He blends drill with Jamaican patois, dipping into dancehall thanks to his Mum’s influence while also keeping a firm foot in drill. It’s drill track B1llionz that has plunged him into the British mainstream. The track gave him his first Top 40. We have a feeling that it’s not going to be his last.
808Melo
We couldn’t finish off this article without shouting out the producers who are defining the modern drill sound. We have 808Melo to thank for taking the British sound international. He got his breakthrough producing for Headie One, landing a big hit with Know Better in 2018 but he made a splash internationally with Pop Smoke’s Dior. He then nabbed production credits on Pop’s posthumous album Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon, lending production to tracks that featured Swae Lee, 50 Cent and Roddy Ricch.
AXL Beats
AXL Beats was still a teenager when he was tapped by Drake last year. Drake has heard his production on Fivio Foreign’s tracks and eventually rapped over his beat on War. In the same month, he picked up a production credit on a Travis Scott and Pop Smoke song Gatti. He’s reached status as a go-to producer in the US, helping to define the new wave of drill.
