I don’t want a man, but I don’t want casual sex, but I don’t wanna be friends, but I wanna be able to have more than one option, I wanna be adored with no commitment and I want someone to want to die for me…as friends.
This song came out in the beginning of the year, with ALOT of controversy surrounding it. Having all started with Headie one (a much smaller artist than what he is now) going to Luton university for a performance, in which after he was caught on camera going to a student’s dorm and being jumped in the morning after. A classic honey trap setup. Now headie a known driller, refrained from retaliating to the incident or so it seemed. Within the next week he dropped “Know Better” where he raps about Him taking an L in L, but getting a W in W and the rest was left to the timeline with a story about a shooting in Enfield taking place the same day. needless to say headie hasn’t had anymore attempted robberies at his shows.
This saga of songs had deep storytelling following the protagonist shiro with his tribulations of betrayal and revenge. Rapman has always been known for his storytelling but shiro’s story became more than a song and became a saga, that had everyone waiting for the next installment. Being compared to UK classics Topboy, and Kidulthood. With star performances from the old “mandem on the wall crew”
Joivan Wade and Percelle Ascott, as well as cameo’s from almost everyone in the scene shiro’s story seemed to come to life being more than just 3 songs. We rarely see rap used in this style anymore but when it is done correctly like Rapman has used it, it is a winning formula.
If we were looking purely at plays, Funky Friday would be number 1, having reached UK number 1 in October giving both Santan and Fredo their first number one hits. You can hear why Funk Friday hit number one, its got all the qualities of a great song, a good line for everyone’s bio’s on insta and twitter “at this age how man still hating”, radio friendly, sing along value, and a pairing of two of the most popular UK rap artists right now. This is the first song to hit uk number one that had a british rapper as the lead since tinie tempah not letting go in 2015. Produced by Dave himself with help from the ever present 169, the beat loop is very memorable sounding arcade-ish, a definite call back to grime but a sound dave seems to favour on his more commercial songs.
My personal song of the summer, Jumpy and the Jumpy remix featuring Chip and Skepta really was played everywhere. Ambush an artist I had never heard of before Jumpy really made a name for himself with this song and it makes sense the star quality is there this is more than a one hit wonder and the scene recognised it. Ambush and buzzworld are now established as names to look out for in the industry, there’s not much else for me to say about this track except if you aint listened to it go play that right now and if you have go back and relive summer 2018.
Honourable Mentions:
D Double E & Skepta - Nang
A cold call back to old school grime
M Huncho - Come Up
M Huncho another name to watch out for has had a great year this song being a highlight of that
EO - German
A rep for the younger gen, a classic sing along type song that got a lot of plays
DigDat - Air Force
Debut single by DigDat and the first drill song to reach uk top 20
Now with this list number 1 was only ever going to be one song. I was happy to let jumpy be my song of the year but Homerton B changed all of that, coming out a week or 2 before carnival i remember seeing this track on GRMDaily not knowing who Unknown T was.Just seeing the title unknown T, homerton B i could already hear the hook and I clicked I was not disappointed at all. Unknown’s unmistakable voice, paired with his flow and lyrics within seconds the yardie in me awoke and I had a burning desire to find a girl and dagger her like 09 sneakbo. This song is a hit, a banger, a masterpiece, fitting in this weird genre of bashment-drill which i feel will be long before anyone is able to recreate. Im patiently waiting Unknown T’s next release and his 2019, i feel he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.
imma be doing a few of these till the end of the year watch out
