My 2017 Grime & Rap #UKTop5Top20

It feels like the last instalment of these posts was only a couple of weeks ago but it’s much longer – take a read of those when you’ve got some time (UK & US). This year the UK scene has been absolutely buzzing with a flood of projects and many organic sounding international collabs e.g. (Kojo Funds – My Wish (ft. Kranium) and AJ Tracey – LA4AWEEK (ft. Swoosh & Sloan Evans). This is another debate entirely but, I underlined the word organic as there was most definitely a phase not to long ago where the features sounded forced. A large number of the UK artists sounded like they were doing their best impression of the US, opposed to shining light on their unique selling points.

What is this all about then?

Throughout the year I listen to a humongous amount of music which leads to me shaping overall views
- Sometimes I share these views with you through my reviews 😀
In these posts I challenge myself to sum up my top 5 artists in under 100 words and curate a playlist for you(at the bottom of the post) making it the #Top5Top20

Note:

Each artist has a full length project out(excludes EP’s)
I’ve dropped SoundCloud out the mix this year, moving up in world using Spotify and Apple Music for my curated playlists

1. Stormzy

Stormzy (Gunshot Mike or Mr Skeng) delivered an outstanding debut album in 2017. It stepped way outside the confines which most Grime artists illustrate in. Gang Signs and Prayer was an open offering full of emotion and passion, with some great contrasting storytelling. Scooping up three MOBO award including one for this album and a hell of lot more exposure with his placement on shows like X Factor Stormzy still comes across hugely humble.

2. J Hus

Common Sense, J Hus’s debut epitomized the malleable vibrancy of the UK “Afro-Swing” sound. J Hus also received some acclaimed recognition from this project scooping up GRM rated awards and a MOBO. This album still gets the most circulation opposed some others where its now just a few odd tracks. I’m sure J Hus in 2018 will continue to dominate, maybe some more features would be good.

3. Chip

With a vast improvement on his previous projects and energy from trails and tribulations(Yungen,Bugsy Malone ha) Chip had a powerful 2017. Chip was the only artist on this list which had some firm competition from some others(Krept and Konan). The reason he came out top is because his album gave me both the nostalgic grime feel, technical lyricism and some serious vibes. The timing of this album was just perfect as well so when I bundled it all up there was no way he couldn’t make the list (check out my review of his album here).

4. Giggs

Where do I even start with Giggs?! he absolutely dominated in 2016 with his Landlord album. He built on that in 2017 with a feature killing spree which included outshining “The Boy” Drake on two More Life cuts; KMT and No Long Talk. There was no comprising with his style at all on any of these tracks and that’s what got a bit of flack from the US audience(notably DJ Akademiks). That backlash to this was unwarranted though and he came back with a vengeance with his mixtape WAMP 2 DEM (some of the tracks have now grown on me lol).

5. 67

In 2016 I was just getting in tune with the Drill scene and the artists. Now I listen to it more, with 67 still putting out the best output in my opinion. The key thing which separates them from the rest is the roll out of their music and the quality of production. Their albums(mixtapes) maintain both the raw lyrics but are stacked with memorable phrases and hooks. LD is also one the elites in the scene so having him as the spearhead in the crew ensures most tracks are guaranteed bangers. Hopefully no more drama in 2018.