With artists releasing songs at a fast and furious pace it’s difficult for the average hip-hop head to keep track of it all—no matter how tapped in they are. That’s why we created The Ones, a daily post to highlight the song you need to hear curated by the Levels team. We sort through all the new songs—across all the platforms and subgenres—so you don’t have to. Thank us later.
Two years ago, Brooklyn drill was nothing more than a retread of Chicago drill. Then an 18-year-old Sheff G gave the scene a life of its own with “No Suburban.” But Brooklyn was skeptical. To the borough, drill was a trend with a ceiling, and many believed that—including Sheff G. The Flatbush rapper spent the two years after “No Suburban” figuring out how to escape being placed in the drill box. He took two different routes: embraced the sound by working his way into the UK’s drill ecosystem, and he took inspiration from the Deep South, adopting a melodic and acoustic guitar-centric style. Eventually, Sheff merged the two and his debut mixtape, The Unluccy Luccy Kid, is a product of that. The blend is best heard on the mixtape’s outro “Emotionless,” in which Sheff combines the drum patterns of drill with a smoky, melodic delivery. And though he’s been inspired by multiple regions, his roots are still in Brooklyn: he reflects about his Flatbush upbringing and he uses the borough’s lingo. Maybe, after all, Brooklyn drill just needed some tweaks.
Check out previous Ones, and listen to new rap from Sheff G and more on our Spotify playlist, Apple Music playlist, and SoundCloud playlist.
