– blkcory
Well, it’s that time of year people! If you’ve been on social media at all over the past week, you’ve seen everyone’s Spotify wrapped on your timeline. Whether you love it or hate it is now a part of the holidays season. Some people have asked to see mine and I had to ask myself, would it be festive of me to deny their request? No, it wouldn’t be. So without further delay, here’s my breakdown of my top artists and top songs from my 2021 Spotify Wrapped.
Top Artists:
I’m gonna be real, there are absolutely no surprises for me on this list. All I’ve done all year is tell my friends again and again about these 5 artists specifically. I am a civilian…but I love drill, trap and street music man. There’s just something about the energy on these types of records that gets me going.
5. Babyface Ray
The man said “all my lil niggas shoot, feel like Curry father”…and then everyone just let the year go by like that bar wasn’t hard fam. He feels like Dell Curry, father of Steph and Seth Curry. Two NBA 3-point snipers. One is the greatest shooter of all time. If you don’t get it now, just never mind fam. Anyways, if this track with Big Sean and Hit-Boy is him going more commercial, I’ll still enjoy it. His previous stuff’s nice and more raw, but I don’t have any complaints as a fan in terms of the direction his music’s going. Detroit really got themselves a lot of talent going off* right now.
4. Headie One
Yeah, I’m a Headie One fan so this was a give-in. I mentioned his mixtape on Give Them Their Flowers Vol.1 and if you’re a fan of drill at all, you’ll appreciate Headie One. From the perspective of someone from outside the UK, Headie and RV changed the game with their sound. It actually connected the world musically in a way that was refreshing and arguably not seen before. This track is hard. You might have to look up the lyrics to catch all of the content but trust me, it’s hard.
3. Fredo
This guy right here dropped two very solid albums in the same year. I gotta rate it*, people have tried this and failed miserably but not this guy. Fredo is an exception to this rule. This song is off his latest album and I think you can have a debate as to which of these albums is better. It doesn’t come down to the quality of music, just personal preference.
This guy looks nothing like how you expect him to but that’s the beauty of it. He’s real. He’s not some picture-perfect street guy for the movies, he’s just a street rapper talking about content from a real place. Plus his bars and rhyme schemes are just nice man. He’s always got something that I have to do a double-take on to really understand it.
“Grip the Dione chef you out of your Celine
He got opened up like a tin of beans
Leave you stretched like limousines, I get smokey like screech
Don’t make me shoot like I’m Zinedine
I still got the rap game in a guillotine
Them man there are still talking to the gelatine” – Potter Payper
1. EST Gee
Yeah, this guy goes off* for real. There’s nobody in rap that’s rapping with this kind of energy right now. Whether you’re outside-outside* or at the gym or something, this guy’s music bangs fam. It’s heavy street music though, so it can only be played in a setting where you’re absolutely sure that people wanted to hear it. Like, don’t go and change up the music at her R&B party with her girls because you wanted to hear this. Unless you want to start a fight. If that’s the plan, then proceed fam.
Top Songs:
This section right here was a surprise. Aside from one song, I didn’t realize I listened to any of these songs so much. However, when I go back to playing each of them, I can definitely tell why they were in rotation all year.
Listen, I know absolutely nothing about this guy aside from the fact that he’s from the UK. My boy came to visit me in September and played this at the crib. This track is hard fam, what?! I’m not a huge autotune fan but this worked on me yo. I’m gonna keep checking for this guy right here.
This song is one I knew would make the list. Ever since I heard this song back in January, this song has been in rotation. To be real, this is probably my favourite song this year. If I could pick one song and one song only to be the theme song to my year, I’m picking this one. Not because I’m doing the things he’s saying on wax*, just because the energy matches how I went about accomplishing a few things this year.
This song was a complete surprise. This guy makes moody music for when you wanna be sad. There’s been ups and down but overall I’ve felt pretty good this year, to be honest. Sometimes I just like listening to sad music when I’m in a good mood just to remember what sadness is like. That sounds nuts but some of you know what I mean.
2. Isaiah Rashad feat. SZA & 6LACK – Score
I like this song a lot but didn’t expect this to be no.2. This Isaiah Rashad album wasn’t a direct hit for me when I first heard it but I’d be lying if I said that over the span of the year, it didn’t grow on me. To add to that, this song might the most well-balanced effort on the album. Every time Zay and SZA link up, the song is exactly what I wanted to hear. Having 6LACK on this only takes the song to another level.
To me, this song being no.1 was the biggest surprise. I thought I only listened to this song maybe 20-30 times over the span of the year. Try 283…Anyways, this song is beautiful. It makes you feel good inside every time you hear it. It’s one of those songs that almost makes you wanna be a better person for your significant other. Almost…jokes aside this song is genuinely really good and is definitely a ballad for all my ride-or-die people out there.
That’s my latest music breakdown, I hope you guys enjoyed my thoughts and take some time to really listen to these artists. The pandemic slowed up a lot of things but quality music still came out. You just have to look in the right places and be willing to listen. Peace.
Glossary:
To go off – to excel at whatever it is that you are doing
Rate it – to respect or appreciate something
Outside-Outside – to be active in the streets
On Wax – on record/in the song
dayfour.ca 