Top Ten Tracks: BXKS, Maeve & Samm Henshaww 14/5/21
Welcome to ‘Top 10 Tracks’, the essential weekly round-up of the best new music.
At the end of each week, we count down the ten essential new tracks you need in your rotation. Ranging from rappers in the Emerald Isle to boundary-pushing, experimental producers and everything in between, it’s all hits, no filler.
This week, put simply sounds optimistic. We have brotherly link ups, new music from Jorja Smith and the return of one of hip hop’s greatest trifectas.
Photo Credit: Jerry Maestas
Şelu Intention Feat. Celaviedmai
Sometimes rather than overanalyse it’s easier to boil down the sum of a track’s part to vibes and ‘Intention’ from Şelu is full of them.
Fixed with a pinch of afro-soul and steady percussion that maintains the momentum it sounds like summer.
7.6
BXKS Menace
BXKS is making a name for herself as an uncompromising MC.
Lacing incendiary bars through cyber-leaning production from Elevation Meditation producer P-rallel ‘Menace’ signposts big things ahead for the Northampton spitter.
7.7
Horsey Seahorse Feat. King Krule
‘Seahorse’ is a family affair.
Jack Marshall makes up part of London band Horsey and for the closing track to their forthcoming album he’s invited his older brother Archy AKA King Krule to lay down trademark vocals.
7.7
Jorja Smith Bussdown Feat. Shaybo
Landing as part of her new project Be Right Back, Jorja Smith teamed up with rising south London rapper Shaybo for a laidback effort.
Featuring strings that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Skinshape or Khruangbin record, it feels the short project is testing new sounds ahead of a full LP.
7.8
Enda Gallery I Want Liberation
Anyone just feel like screaming to the heavens after the year we’ve had?
Enda Gallery gets it and he’s shared the cathartic and irresistible ‘I Want Liberation’, an effort set to soundtrack post-pandemic celebrations.
7.9
Maeve Sick
Cayman Islands singer Maeve is back with a twisted declaration of love in ‘Sick’.
Unconcerned with traditional conventions, Maeve is making pop on her own terms.
8.0
Baird Beluga v2 Feat. Berhana
Hot off the back of features on Brockhampton’s Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine, Baltimore artist Baird has invited Berhana for a cut that sounds like a Neptunes cut got acoustic treatment.
One to watch.
8.0
Nicki Minaj Seeing Green Feat Drake & Lil Wayne
The gang gets back together.
Sampling 2000s RnB classic ‘In My Mind‘ by Heather Headley, Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne join forces on a track that brings us back to Young Money’s heyday.
8.1
Samm Henshaw Still Broke
Samm Henshaw is surrendering himself to the realities of life in ‘Still Broke’.
Reminiscent of the uplifting and horn-driven anthems of Chance The Rapper and with a snappy flow akin to Saba, the rapper and singer is staying optimistic in the face of uncertainty.
8.2
Wallice Off The Rails
Indie upstart Wallice is capturing the essence of adolescence angst with her unique brand of rowdy bedroom pop that is rough around the edges. Her latest cut, ‘Off The Rails’ is pokes at contemplative ideas before ripping into life.
Speaking on the track Wallice said, “Off the Rails’ is about feeling like you don’t have any control over your life and that the world is against you – and that you’re the only one that feels that way. Sometimes there are periods in your life when it’s easy to think your life is falling apart, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it or fix it. I think sometimes it’s okay to sit in that self pity, but also at the same time you have the power to control it and take responsibility for your actions, at least to an extent. Sometimes there are just rough patches, and you have to do your best to get out of them, roll with the punches, and try not to be a shitty person.”
8.3
