For the past two years, I have been steadily exploring the culture and genre of Chicago rap, infamously known as "drill." While definitions vary, the cleanest one I could cherrypick comes from Urban Dictionary, stating that drill music is characterized by "more violent and aggressive" lyrical content than coastal rap. This, in turn, aptly reflects Chicago's status as "the murder capital of America in 2012." Drill is also defined by heavy uses of horns and snare drums in its instrumentation, in addition to frequent references to acts including, but not limited to, "trapping" (solicitation of drugs, particularly on the street), having sex, "getting top" (a fellatio), "sipping lean" (a famous concoction of codeine cough syrup Sprite), and exhibiting the traits of "a savage" (needs no explanation).
In honor of my fascination with drill music, and, in part, due to the repeated delay of my blog on Chicago rapper Lil Durk (due out in late June or early July), I've decided to compile a list of ten songs that I personally find the quintessential drill anthems. These are songs that not only accentuate the principles of their genre very well, but provide the listener with something unique and different from the general rap, mainstream rap song. Here are ten must-hear drill songs (in no particular order).
DISCLAIMER: I'm in no way claiming that these songs are the quintessential drill anthems, nor saying that they're Chicago's best songs of the genre. I'm saying that these songs are great examples of the genre because they all bring something to the table that represents their genre accordingly.
Album/Mixtape: N/A
Favorite quote: "I told my niggas throw that SUV in reverse; I'm 'bout to put this pussy nigga on a t-shirt. So pray to God when I up it you won't be first; before he judge yo ass, you gotta see me first."
In my opinion, Montana of 300 is the most talented rapper to come out of Chicago within the last decade in terms of versatility, lyrical talent, and flow. His diction is incredible in most of his songs, reciting similes and metaphors that keenly remind a seasoned rap vet of the early days of Lil Wayne, and his flow, no matter what speed, is always easy to understand. He can do slowburn rap quite well (see his remix of OT Genasis's "CoCo") and can rap breathlessly for minutes on end (see this specific example of his remix of Lil Herb's "Chiraq").
With that, his remix of Bobby Shmurda's "Hot Nigga" is the perfect example of his talents. Like many of his remixes, Montana keeps with the flow of the original song for the first couple lines before completely taking it up a notch, ditching the original flow of the song to make the respective song entirely his own. Where Shmurda had a more lax delivery, Montana doesn't waste a single moment of the beat nor a bar, as he hurls lines that are simultaneously frightening, hilarious, and just downright brilliant. He's consistently fun to watch, as he hangs on a block in suburban Chicago, rapping lines like, "You keep on talkin', I'mma kill you, put that on a God. After I find out where you livin', I'mma go inside. It's goin' down, slide on 'em with the .45; click, clack, wet his ass like a wasterslide!" in a manner that effectively echoes Chicago's rap scene.
While a Chicago-based instrumentation is not used here, Montana makes "Hot Nigga" echo the lifestyles of Chicago, making this a drill anthem through and through, and one of the finest of the genre.
Album/Mixtape - Finally Rich
Favorite quote: "Rari's and Rovers, these hoes love Chief Sosa; hit 'em with that cobra, now that boy slumped over."
While being my introduction to Chicago's drill scene, Chief Keef's "Love Sosa" is arguably, by public opinion, one of the founding anthems for the genre as well. Keef's "Love Sosa" shouldn't work as a song as well as it does; it's barely coherent upon the very first listen, is disjointed beyond belief, and rhymes "boy" with "boy" for most of the song. Yet it's everything from notorious Chicago producer Young Chop's production to Keef's slurry, almost dazed vocals that make this track an addicting listen from the start.
The drill elements are always present - rarely do two or three lines go by where Keef isn't expounding upon his drug habits, his love for killing, or how many women cling to him. Yet Keef's personality comes through here better than any song he has yet to record. Just from this sole song, one gets that he is a cold, nihilistic presence, coming from an area just as frigid as its weather in the winter, with little concern for life or well-being, at least at this specific time in his life. The situations he allegedly places himself in, the acts he finds himself partaking in, and the brutality of his everyday life is all present in this song. It's an ugly song in terms of content, but a devilishly addictive listen that brings out the darkest and meanest tendencies of the genre in the most hypnotic and droning way. Where Montana of 300 brings personality and incredible diction to his descriptions of the latter, Keef brings frigidity.
Album/Mixtape: Signed to the Streets 2
Favorite quote: "Wherever I go, they go. Wherever I point, they blow. That bitch wanna play that role; see the gang on the camera roll, she going."
To those heavily into drill music, my inclusion of one of Lil Durk's lesser-known songs - one really not even considered a sleeper hit - may be perplexing at first. The song isn't as evil nor as cold in its sound as the latter two, but packs a notable wallop for many reasons upon its subversive change in sound for its genre.
For starters, "I Go" catches Durk in a more humble, quiet state, with a more relaxed beat, notably different from the previous two's snare-dominated, repetitive instrumentations. Durk provides us with the self-reflective angle he frequently does on this particular effort, but what always stands out to me is the unique sound this song accentuates. Durk's vocals are noticeably autotuned, and placed with the medium-paced beat, the two flow with a kind of poetic, slowburn quality to them this particular genre doesn't see often. The elements, furthermore, begin to fall into place after the second rendition of the chorus, with Durk stating how he has connections with many people who could put a hit on anyone for the right price, in addition to discussing the disconnect between rappers who are "industry" versus those "in the streets."
Despite its hardcore content, this is a thoroughly beautiful song in tone and vibe. It brings a different kind of personality to a relatively narrow genre, and shows that experimentation is taking place within the genre. Add Johnny May Cash on the chorus, bringing short, fragmented statements into the mix, and here is one of the best drill songs you've probably never heard of.
Album/Mixtape: Welcome to Fazoland
Favorite quote: "And if you here, kiss the barrel like a mistletoe. R.I.P. to them niggas that we're missing, though."
Lil Herb's "On the Corner" shows more experimentation being done with the drill genre, mainly because its production manages to evoke a techno side to it than other drill songs have. This is mainly thanks to the horns and the loud synths heard on the chorus, combined with Herb and Durk's autotune. Furthermore, "On the Corner" is probably the most vivid example of the lifestyle drill music evokes without elements of incoherence or ambiguity.
Most of the insight to the lifestyle comes during Lil Durk's verse, which has him stating, "police clear us up, we right back. Send shots, we send them right back," wasting no time in explaining what he is known for in his neighborhood. He continues by saying, "and if you here, kiss the barrel like a mistletoe. R.I.P. to them niggas that we're missing, though," evoking a strong simile, before finally revealing the greatest piece of insight to the drill lifestyle of all - "cleaner money, only reason niggas rapping. Don't rap, then it's right back to the trapping; on the corner, every night, no lacking."
These lines have a massive amount of intensity, and are among some of the best lyrics Durk has ever rapped. We get the sense of the "Chiraq" community through these lines. The only way to obtain money "the real way" is through music deals, album sales, and other things within the music industry, which are very difficult to get in the first place. If you don't rap in the south side of Chicago, then it's right back to trapping, where you'll sit every night on the corner with your guard up. These are precisely the activities Lil Herb echoes in the song's chorus, stating "they sell weed from California on that corner; plus the liquor store is right there on that corner," recalling his mother's warning about the titular location.
Album/Mixtape: Fredo Kruger
Favorite quote: "Fuck niggas frown and stuff, but we don't care, we round 'em up!"
"Round 'Em Up" is a thoroughly cold song, accentuating two pioneering drill personalities at their absolute finest. Fredo Santana, former CEO of Glory Boyz Entertainment alongside his cousin Chief Keef, is one of drill's most daunting presences. He's a frightening, self-proclaimed "savage," always "in the cut" and boasting songs that only continue to affirm his aforementioned state.
"Round 'Em Up" catches both him and Keef in a ribald mood, with Keef chanting on the chorus, "fuck niggas frown and stuff, but we don't care, we round 'em up," with Fredo taking a more relaxed, but still notably ominous in his slurry vocals that delicately tiptoe around being part of the cloud rap genre. This is a fun song because of the way it takes these two personalities that are, essentially, marching to the beat of their own songs here, forming an amalgamation of cloud rap tendencies and hardcore trap tendencies over a traditional trap beat. Then there's the lyrical element of the song being ice cold in its visualizations of killing and watching gunfire fly. Another underrated effort from two talents continuing to still try and find their way around the genre.
SIDENOTE: Check out Fredo Santana's most recent mixtape Ain't No Money Like Trap Money: Volume 1 to continue to hear his consistently evolving sound. My review can be read here, http://stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/4715/fredo-santana-aint-money-volume?page=1&scrollTo=26153
Album/Mixtape: N/A
Favorite quote: "Let a nigga try me, try me, I'mma kill his whole motherfucking family. Put him on TV like the Cosby's, I'll be bustin' through your door like 'here's Johnny'!"
The "Try Me" remix craze captured the hip-hop game in 2014, with nearly every rapper racing to do a freestyle over DeJ Loaf's original song. The likes of Lil Durk, E-40, Lil Wayne, and Boss Top all cranked out remixes, and while some were noteworthy, none came close to replicating the real power and lyrical strength of Montana of 300's very own remix. Once again, much like "Hot Nigga," Montana took a song with little lyrical depth or interest and turned it into an incredibly potent, addicting listen that subversively romanticized murder and robbery with its laidback, melody-rich flow.
Montana's "Try Me" remix is so different because with Montana's slightly autotuned vocals and laidback flow - wildly different from the personality he accentuates in "Chiraq" or "Hot Nigga" - he makes probably the most accessible song about murder I have yet to hear. Drill is a divisive genre; most get turned off or queasy when hearing songs about killing and gunplay, but Montana takes such topics and gives them an infectious melody (similar to how Fetty Wap took drug manufacturing and soliciting and made them a mainstream hit with "Trap Queen"). From the opening line, Montana makes this remix work, again making use of every bar of the instrumentation, never falling behind nor wasting a single breath. By the time it's over, and DeJ Loaf returns with her chorus, all one can do is marvel at what was just heard - the effect I get with nearly every Montana of 300 song.
SIDENOTE: I will also be doing my own remix of "Try Me" this coming summer on my debut EP with my good friend Josh Witt, Keeping it 3Hunna. You read that correctly.
Album/Mixtape: Signed to the Streets 2
Favorite quote: "From LA, MIA, all the way to New York. I be off the druuuuugggggssssss."
"Cloud rap," a genre that more-or-less finds itself crossing over with drill artists, is defined as a subgenre of hip-hop that utilizes "ethereal, dreamlike beats" or lingering notes that, in turn, produce a majestic or hypnotic quality. Chief Keef, an artist that produces one mixtape after another with a gradually different sound, has been toying with the genre, and others like A$AP Rocky and Lil B have been known to partake in it as well. It's not a genre that I particularly love, but it's one I respect for its inherent instrumental beauty and ambiance.
Having said that, while Lil Durk doesn't fully dive into the subgenre on "Gas and Mud," he certainly echoes some of its principles whilst adhering to those of drill. "Gas and Mud" is a love song to two things that are present in the Chicago rap community, which is high-grade, potent marijuana (known as "gas") and the aforementioned promethazine/codeine cough syrup and Sprite concoction (known as lean"). Also represented in the song are Durk's other vices, such as Ecstasy (known as "molly") and "hydrochronic" (even more potent, almost blackout-inducing marijuana).
Durk raps about his love for drugs in a dreamlike state, leading me to personally believe he was off the respective reinforcements while making this song (making it all the more natural and real, if my assumption is true). "Gas and Mud," whilst blending drill and cloud rap, also manages to evoke two objects that are staples in the Chicago rap community.
Album/Mixtape - Finally Rich (Best Buy Deluxe Edition)
Favorite quote: "They shootin' shit on site, guns bangin' like a snare. If you think that you is tough, and you get popped, oh well."
Chief Keef was in his prime in 2012, and to be fair, so was the drill game. Keef and Santana's Glory Boyz Entertainment was a rising label, King Louie and Lil Durk were releasing new songs left and right, and the drill game was gaining a lot of ground. "Savage," one of the bonus tracks on the Best Buy deluxe edition of Keef's debut album Finally Rich, is, in my opinion, his best song. It's the closest song of Keef's that carries a narrative and paints a frightening image of the landscape Keef comes from.
"Savage"'s greatness all starts with Keef's terrifying portrait of Chicago, a city ostensibly run by gangbangers, during the song's chorus. From thereon out, Keef is ruthless in his descriptions of how his peers carry guns, don't care who they kill, and, in general, are the "savages" known and articulated all too well in the drill genre. Nard & B handle production on this tune and capture the essence of the genre with the kind of meticulous attention Young Chop devotes to a song's bass and snare incorporation. This is an uncommonly vicious track, continuing to cement the detached personality and cold charisma of one of Chicago's most dangerous rappers.
Album/Mixtape: Mouse Trap
Favorite quote: "I'm dunkin', I ain't talkin' Tim. I'm shootin', I don't need a rim."
In 2012, twelve-year-old Mouse "Lil Mouse" Myers made headlines for his explicit rap songs and graphic music videos, all of which were being released through his own label Hella Bandz Entertainment. The controversy spawned a whirlwind of excitement and fandom for the young MC, who, in turn, managed to get more buzz from a feature on Lil Wayne's song "Get Smoked" in addition to mixtape releases.
Lil Mouse, as a rapper and a subject, is an interesting soul in the drill genre. He's one of the youngest rappers, who you can also take seriously thanks to the accomplished production in his videos, but he's also, like many of his peers, a byproduct of his tumultuous environment. The only difference is instead of waiting until his mid teen years or early twenties to show off his rapping and his character, he threw his hat in the ring at a young age. "100 Bars," on the basis of being a song, excluding all possible controversies, double standards, and questionable additions you can find in his music video, is a strong freestyle all around.
The inclusion of freestyles (often denoted by the numerical count of "bars" in a rap song) on drill mixtapes are common (Lil Durk has his own ongoing series of freestyles known as "52 Bars," which has spawned four parts as of 2014). Mouse tackles the fast-paced beat on display in "100 Bars" with incredible intensity, starting early and never letting up. His high-pitched voice works wonders with the equally high-pitched, snare-dominated instrumentation, and the song, similar to Montana's "Try Me (Remix)" evokes a happier sound despite showcasing grim content.
10. Lil Durk - "Animal" (2012)
Album/Mixtape: Life Ain't No Joke
Favorite quote: "All my life, I do me. I'm ridin' and I'm totin'. What I'm smokin' is potent; I rub her like a Trojan."
We end things with Lil Durk's "Animal," another breakneck drill anthem that asserts the lifestyle in a basic, relatively freeform style rap song. Durk discusses his rise in the rap game through explicit bragging, but also through the similarly disjointed lyrical style of Chief Keef.
The common attributes of the genre are all alive and well here, right down to the basic production. However, it's Durk as a person that comes out here to make the track lively. He asserts his greatness, while keeping the principles of the genre alive, and works passed the cliches of the drill game to, in turn, provide something that really clicks from the start. There's also a collectively minimized focus on killing, where that focus is shifted onto bragging about personal talent and accomplishments, showing that a broader focus can be achieved in drill if a talented individual is behind it. Whereas other songs on this list arguably affirm the genre's very nature, "Animal" seems to be the one trying to expand it and put an emphasis on the talent behind the content. It's easy to get wrapped up in the alienation and ugliness of your average drill song and "Animal" reminds us that and, as a result, shifts our focus accordingly.
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