Browsing Tag

urban

Toks – Braving the Storm featuring FK Osha: Soulfully Inspiring RnB Hip Hop

Posted on 15 August 2020

Breaking Hip Hop artist Toks has recently released their second EP “5 Designs” featuring 5 stylishly sun-kissed hits which wouldn’t be out of place on your summer Hip Hop playlists.

The perfect introduction to their smooth and soulful sound is the standout single “Braving the Storm” featuring FK Osha. The radio-ready hit kicks off with a mesmerizingly teasing start. From out of the lush reverb, Toks high-vibe vocals kick in and project plenty of high-vibe energy into the soundscape.

Braving the Storm improves with every listen to thanks to the intellectual and inspiring lyricism which Toks weaved into the mix. Each time you hit play, you’ll connect to a different part of Toks’ uplifting introspection.

Given that we’ve all just been through a global pandemic together, I can imagine plenty of people will find resonance in Braving the Storm. The track just keeps on giving.

You can check out Toks’ EP 5 Designs for yourselves by heading over to Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jay Wst – taking it to the “Street”

Posted on 15 August 2020
https://music.apple.com/us/album/street/1526399367?i=1526399368

Jay Wst is an eighteen-year-old rapper from Brooklyn, NYC, and ‘Street’ – his second single – is exactly what you might expect; a raw, honest, coming-of-age story of life, and the fear of sudden death, in a city that looks the other way. The lyrics, set to a well-produced background of hip hop beats, are snappy, brutal, telling Wst’s truth with a voice of vulnerability and defiance.

Music from the streets, for the streets.

You can check it out for yourselves by heading over to Apple Music. Keep up to date with their latest releases via Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Henry – You Don’t Need to Know: Smoothly Sentimental RnB Soul

Posted on 29 July 2020
https://soundcloud.com/henrymbata/you-dont-need-to-know

“You Don’t Need to Know” is the smooth new soulful jam from up and coming Dublin RnB artist Henry. Elements of the past and the future accessibly combine in the soothingly sentimental soundscape.

The tempo may be low, but the level of evocative appeal is off the charts in the stylistic and slick mix which perfectly accommodates Henry’s soft and sensuously harmonious RnB Pop vocals.

Ireland may not be known for its massive RnB scene, but that may be set to change now that Henry is dropping his accordantly soul-soothing hits on the airwaves. He’s irrefutably one to watch. Up and coming RnB artists who can truly revive the genre and make it ooze contemporary appeal are worth their weight in aural gold.

You can check out You Don’t Need to Know for yourselves via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

YT HellaKingin has dropped their grooving RnB Hip Hop hit Friday Night featuring Heartbreaka and Dale Keano

Posted on 26 July 2020

Pop, RnB and Hip Hop all euphorically converge in the high-vibe grooving hit Friday Night which is the latest release from breaking US Hip Hop artist YT HellaKingin.

To add even more dynamism and fire to the mix, YT HellaKingin hooked up with two urban legends in their own right, Heartbreaka and Dale Keano. Soul spills in equal measure from the romantically sweet lyrics, the warm beats and vocals as they switch between arrestive Rap versing and smooth crooning. And thanks to the flawless production, tracks don’t come much more radio-ready than Friday Night.

In short, if you’re looking for an entrancingly tropic aural pick me up, look no further.

You can check out the official video to YT HellaKingin’s single Friday Night which premiered on May 29th via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Vibe out with Dirk Diggler’s transfixing Ambient Trap single “VONTAZE BURFICT”

Posted on 26 July 2020
https://soundcloud.com/dirksongs/burfict-mastered-with-cloudbounce-24bit-1

Every now and again, you’ll hit play on a Hip Hop track which utterly consumes you from the first verse. If it’s been a while since you’ve struck aural Rap gold, hit play on Dirk Diggler’s standout single VONTAZE BURFICT.

It’s playful, it’s convictive and it offers a fresh new approach to Party Hip Hop. While the beats will leave you hypnotised, Dirk Diggler’s bars which rest atop of them get you in the mood for hedonism.

VONTAZE BURFICT is just one of the tracks which you’ll find on their 2020 release CODIRK-19, while each track is as indulgent as the last, VONTAZE BURFICT is a mould-breaking feat of Trap which is all too easy to connect with.

You can check out Dirk Diggler’s track VONTAZE BURFICT for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Fiery Lyrical Conviction Meets Ambient Beats in GV’s Standout Hip Hop Single “Lil Min”

Posted on 22 July 2020

Breaking Hip Hop artist & activist GV made their debut in 2018 with the firestorm of a Rap album “Calm Before the Storm”. If you let the release pass you by, there’s no better time to hit play on the collection of adrenalizing convictive tracks which tackle issues which are (unsurprisingly) just as prevalent today.

The perfect introduction to GV’s fiery approach to ambient Hip Hop is Lil Man, a mould-breaking feat of Hip Hop where ambient dreamy beats create the platform for GV’s justifiably aggressive vocals which verse the hard-hitting, raw and real lyrics.

The lyrics may invoke a smorgasbord of emotion, but the smooth and hazy production makes sure that any anger thrown your way in Lil Man hits you accordantly.

You can check out GV’s single Lil Min along with their album by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Marlee has dropped their ambiently trippy soul-soothing exotic feat of Alt Hip Hop “Dope”

Posted on 10 July 2020

Chances are, you won’t hit play on anything trippier than Alt Hip Hop artist Marlee’s recently released single “Dope” this year.

The wavy ambient experimental mix draws you in with the hazy multi-layered beats which Marlee uses to lay down his mellifluously soulful RnB-style Rap bars.

The exotic deftly polished mix allows you to immerse yourself in 3:32-minutes of pure unadulterated escapism. If you’ve paid attention to the outside world recently, you’ll know just how essential aural escapism is. You can either look at the news for your impression of society and humanity, or you can delve into dreamy soul-soothing hits such as Dope.

If any up and coming Hip Hop artist and songwriter deserves to top the charts in 2020, it’s Marlee. Their high vibe is infectious.

You can check out Dope along with the rest of Malee’s tracks by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Arcenio Cayetano has dropped their atmospherically intense Hip Hop debut “Ttab”

Posted on 6 July 2020

If it has been a while since you heard a Hip Hop debut worth getting excited about, hit play on Arcenio Cayetano’s first officially released single Ttab.

Ttab kicks off with an artfully arrestive prelude which will ensure that you’re well and truly transfixed by the time Arcenio Cayetano’s high-vibe unapologetically salacious bars kick in.

The up and coming artist made stylistic comparisons hard to make with the way the mix constantly evolves. Expect to find nuances of RnB, Pop, Trap and Old School Hip Hop weaved into the futuristically fresh, atmospherically intense track which was polished with precision by Mango Tree Productions.

You can check out Arcenio Cayetano’s single on all major streaming platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Travis Tropeano has dropped their latest fiery free-style Trap hit “32oz Pt 1”

Posted on 16 June 2020
https://soundcloud.com/travis-tropeano/32oz-pt-1

Underground Hip Hop artist Travis Tropeano dropped their latest blazing freestyle Rap track 32oz Pt 1 on June 5th. With crisp and clean Trap beats alongside Travis Tropeano’s succinctly metered Rap verses, getting immersed and energised by 32oz Pt 2 is pretty much non-optional.

If there’s any genre which has thrived despite the lockdown, it’s Hip Hop, and Travis Tropeano is just one of the boundlessly creative urban artists compelled to keep us all entertained with their non-relenting talent. Prepare for plenty of sharp hooks when you hit play and a melody which will stick with you long after the short, sweet and snappy hit has faded to a close.

You can check out 32oz Pt 1 for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud. Make sure you give Travis Tropeano a follow, as 32oz Pt 2 is in the pipeline and due to drop.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

From the EP Sooner Than You Think, Omo Aston drops his new single Man On!

Posted on 27 May 2020

Irish singer and songwriter Omo Aston has dropped his new single Man On! from the EP Sooner Than You Think.

Unfolding from Afrobeat sounds rooted in his Nigerian descent and outlining a paramount part of the arrangement, the song is like a gust of fresh air for an R&B-derived hip hop effort to the likes of artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean. Despite being in the scene since only 2018, Omo Aston prides himself on having achieved thousands of streams without any other support but his talent and an ever-evolving sound that gets to explore features of Soul and even Jazz.

While still being an emerging artist, he’s already gained awareness and appraisal by Irish urban magazines, and it’s fair to expect he’s going to deliver on that pledge in his upcoming project in 2021.

But for now, you can head over Spotify and check out Man On! for yourself.

Review by Jim Esposito.