Top 100 Songs of 2021 (The Top 20)

20.BROCKHAMPTON-DON’T SHOOT UP THE PARTY

BROCKHAMPTON used to be one of my favourite musical acts up until iridescence. Since that album, i’ve been let down with each release wth only a few songs standing out. Their latest album is an improvement and ‘Don’t shoot up the party’ is a song I would put on the same quality level as the saturation trilogy. There’s a lot of great energy throughout this song which reminded me of the likes of BOOGIE and JUNKY. Matt Champion verse is a personal favourite of mine as he raps using clever wordplay over the addictive instrumental.

19.Drake ft Future- N 2 Deep

A song split into two with the latter part featuring Future. In the first part, Drake is wanting a girl while the second part is more about getting with the girl but not getting “in too deep” with his feelings. The second half of the song is the highlight for me with addictive chorus and a Travis Scott esque sound that drives the song into a more braggadocios vibe. Future really is excellent in this and I don’t really know why, his part is short and sweet.

18.Slowthai ft A$AP Rocky-MAZZA

I’ve never really liked Slowthai’s music or generally his sound, however the introduction of A$AP Rocky changed everything as the two blended well together with Slowthai delivering a solid verse and great chorus while Rocky delivers one of the features of the year as he rides the synthetic vibrating beat.

17-Charli XCX-Good Ones

A pop song about self sabotage as Charli always picks the bad ones instead of the good ones. I get quite the 80s/ early 90s vibe from this song that is quite short in length which is more to its credit as it does not drag on like a lot of songs can be accused of these days.

16.Skepta-Bellator

Skepta brings the usual energy you expect from a Skepta track on Bellator which has exceptional flows and overall catchy song. A perfect song to get you pumped before a workout.

15.Swedish House Mafia & The Weeknd-Moth To A Flame

The weeknd and Swedish House mafia deliver a banger with low key vocals from the Weeknd over a

14.Trippie Redd ft Playboi Carti-Miss The Rage

I see a lot of people saying they prefer the original version to the now released version but I disagree, one of the best insturmentels of the year with a well delivered verse and chorus by Trippie and Carti did what he had to do too, creating a raging hit.

13.Travis Scott-Escape Plan

I have always been a big fan of Travis Scott’s music, there is rarely anything he releases that I don’t like and Escape Plan is your typical post Astroworld track that delivers because its a banger. It its not broken why fix it?

12.Big Sean & Hit-Boy ft Lil Durk & Bryson Tiller-Loyal To A Fault

Big Sean & Hit-Boy latest EP ‘What You Expect’ seems to have been swept under the carper as soon as it was released. Loyal to a fault is a really excellent track with every verse sounding unique with each voice blending well. Bryson Tiller is the highlight delivering the background vocals on the chrous as well as the closing verse. The music video is also great.

11.Khalid ft 6LACK & Lucky Daye-Retrograde

Khalid realy brings the guitars and strings to create a chilled vibe with some help from some friends. A soulful track that will have the chorus stuck in your head for days.

10.Cochise ft $NOT-Tell Em

Production. Chorus. $NOT feature. These 3 things have made this absolute banger of a song. The slow opening building up the hype to the hard hitting instrumental is something that gets you going. Cochise delivers a repetitive chorus that sticks in your head in a good way. However $NOT steals the show with probably my favourite featured verse of the year which is a dark verse that fits so well with the chaotic drums. Although its short, the verse is still the clear highlight.

9.FLETCHER ft Trevor Daniel-Bitter Remix

A guilty pleasure song of mine i have to admit. A song about two people thinking about their ex partner when their with other people. Its quite an emotional song about breakups especially with FLETCHER hard hitting emotional chorus. I prefer the remix as Trevor Daniel for me adds more to the song as we see the male’s perspective from the situation. The song is a bit of a banger I can’t lie.

8.Iann Dior ft Trippie Redd-Shots In The Dark

This love driven track has both artists in their feelings over a beat created by 2021’s MVP Mike Dean. Especially Iann’s chorus, the song is incredibly catchy. Iann Dior continues to show his potential that he could be the next big thing and shots in the dark is a collaboration that is a step in the right direction in my eyes.

7.Kanye West-New Again

Either version could be on this spot as I feel Chris Brown’s vocals did add a lot but Kanye still does a great job replacing him. I really love the start of the song and then it goes up another level when the beat kicks in as Kanye flows across another excellent Mike Dean produced instrumental. The song will get you screaming “Make Me New Again”.

6.Kanye West ft Travis Scott & Baby Keem- Praise God

A dark nightmarish instrumental with 3 of the biggest names in hip-hop in it? Yes please. Travis and Kanye deliver as usual but the standout is Baby Keem who is slow, repetitive, almost mumbling at the start of his verse which builds for his ultimate explosion into an excellent verse.

5.Skrillex, Justin Bieber & Don Toliver-Don’t Go

A song that kinda went under the radar for me. Hearing Skrillex produce non dubstep songs is something I will probably never get over. Justin Bieber and Don Toliver really shine and the highlight is most definitely when their trading bars on the third verse after both delivering wavy verses of their own.

4.Kanye West-Hurricane

Ahhh one of my most anticipated verses of all time, was finally released. I remember watching the first listening party and hearing Lil Baby’s verse for the first time and nearly losing my s**t. He really does float on this song and I have no idea why people wanted him removed. However obviously The Weeknd steals the show with his angelic vocals and really hits those high notes with a big impact. I do prefer the released version over the original Ant Clemons version, but it was a close call.

3.IDK ft Offset-Shoot My Shot

Now into the Top 3. I need more IDK & Offset music immediately. These two worked so well together both delivering exceptionally smooth verses. I particularly love when it sounds like Offset’s verse is about to end and then he just changes gears and carries on, brilliant stuff. Strong bars and production=Absolute banger this that needs more recognition.

2.A$AP Rocky-Sandman

This song was originally previewed on Yams Day in January and its been a long wait until its full official release. I fell in love with this song as soon as I heard it. The production from Clams Casino was perfect, throwing back to the old Rocky days, it especially reminded me of ‘LVL’ one of my favourite Rocky songs. I love Rocky’s lyrics over the ‘cloud rap beat’ which shows that the chemistry between himself and Clams Casino is still strong. I hope for more Clams Casino production on the upcoming A$AP Rocky album ‘All $miles’.

1.Isaiah Rashad-Headshots (4r Da Locals)

And here it is my number one song of the year. Isaiah was right at the start of this song when he says he’s got a jam because this is the biggest of the year. I have been bumping this song nearly every day since its release. The verses delivered by Rashad are solid but the chorus is so damn smooth with its catchy lyrics and beautiful backing vocals, I just find myself singing it throughout the day. Isiah’s vocals make it so soothing to listen too, this song is perfect to just chill to whether it be in your room, with your friends or just driving around. This is a real classic and takes the number 1 spot as my favourite song of the year.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading and feel free to tell me your favourite songs of the year.

Certified Lover Boy Album Review 05/09/2021

Aubrey Graham better known as “Drake” is arguably the biggest star in music right now and he recently dropped his highly anticipated sixth studio album Certified Lover Boy. Boy oh boy I don’t know where to start with this one. I’m a Drake fan especially his old stuff (Take Care,NWTS), I even enjoyed More Life.

However, Drakes more recent catalogue has featured boring, lifeless repetitive projects. I’m talking to you ‘Views’ and ‘Scorpion’ , unfortunately CLB joins that catalogue.

When Laugh Now Cry Later released back in 2020, it generated a lot of hype for me. Then in my opinion Drake took two steps back with Scary Hours II with a hat-trick of mediocre tracks. And then the cover art was released…. In the words of Kanye West this is why Drake is a “Nerd Ass Jock”. I don’t think a cover artwork has made me cringe as much as this has.

Now onto the Album. Ill be honest I really struggled to finish it. The problem with this album is the same as scorpion’s. Most songs involve Drake sounding like he’s putting little to zero effort into it. Also, only Drake could get away with that lesbian line. The features were pretty underwhelming especially Baby, Hov & Durk who just decided to promote his girlfriends business which is hilarious.

I enjoyed the Travis Song a lot, him and Drizzy never fail together. I see a lot of hate for cudi’s feature but I personally enjoyed it, it probably helped that I was so shocked to see him on a Drake project after their beef and the fact this was released during Drake and Kanye’s war, with the latter being close friends with Scott.

Now I move onto the most controversial track…’Way 2 Sexy’ featuring Future and Young Thug. I was hoping for something like ‘D4L’ but with a Thug verse when I saw these three were collaborating again. When I first heard this song I hated it with a passion, the only redeemable quality was thug’s verse. That Right Said Fred sample was horrendous, a song I always hated as a kid. On the other hand, when the music video was released it somehow made the song more tolerable and now I find the hook stuck in my head constantly. This track has gone from the worst to one of the best on the album. Just goes to show that music videos have more power than you think. Don’t get me wrong the song is so bad its tolerable.

Overall this was a very poor album from one of Hip-Hop’s biggest stars. It felt like a chore to listen to and no album by a star of Drake’s magnitude (pop-pop) should be a chore. I can’t see any of the songs being added to my best of all time playlist, the songs I liked were just decent. However, I expect this to sell well though as Drake’s fanbase matched with his radio power is unrivalled at this present time with only Kanye West being able to match it.

Favourite Tracks
Fair Trade ft Travis Scott
N 2 Deep ft Future
IMY2 ft Kid Cudi
Way 2 Sexy ft Future & Young Thug
Overall 3/10

Rating: 1.5 out of 5.

Finally Shout out to reddit user u/rawrustic for creating this awesome days before lover boy artwork and allowing me for using it in his review. His reddit page is linked below.

https://www.reddit.com/user/rawrustic/