What We Listening To: Just Touch Down In London (Drill) Town

London is one of my favorites places and cultures in the world. I love their accents, customs and most recently their music.

As far as I’m concerned, the Brits have been on a downswing as far as exporting fire tunes to the rest of the world like they once did. For 50 years (1950-2000) Britain was home to music’s biggest names. From iconic rock bands like The Beatles and Rolling Stones to pop sensations like the Spice Girls and Gorillaz the U.K. was a worldwide leader in music just like everything else.

Amy Winehouse, Adele and Ed Sheeran kept the Brits afloat during the turn of the century, but it looks like a new sound and style being imported from the land of fish and chips that the world is enjoying, and it is U.K. Drill.

Before we dive into the U.K. drill scene, I must and emphasis on must repeat that drill is not from across the pond but birthed in Chicago.

Who is the originator? These convos always seem to get murky but King Louie is the “God of Drill” to me.

Now we have that settled. let me introduce you to some of my favorite U.K. Drill artist.

First is Ivorian Doll, is she the queen of U.K. Drill? Maybe, maybe not but if her song Rumors is any indication of what’s next, I’m intrigued to hear more.

Headie One from my understanding is a legend in the U.K. drill scene and minus a few run-ins with the law he easily could’ve been in the Skepta & Giggs conversation as far as notoriety. If Headie One names sounds familiar it’s because you may have seen him with Drake this summer when they linked for the song Only You.

His debut studio album EDNA dropped last Friday and he doesn’t disappoint. Heavy hitters on features throughout the project, Headie One has made the wait for many of his fans worth it.

My personal favorite U.K. drill rapper happens to be AmbushBuzzworl and it started with this song back in 2017.

His latest album, Ask My Brother dropped in May and has been getting spins on this side since. What I like most bout Buzzworl is just how unique his sound is, from the cadence to beats, it all sounds distinctly Buzzworl. Here’s one of my favorite tracks off the album.

And as Ambush reminds us, “I said it before and I’ll say it again. This ain’t New York, nah. This ain’t Chicago, nah. This is the Endz.”

Drill may have fallen off in its country of origin but it’s well and alive in the U.K.