Known for his role in Top Boy as Aaron, HOPE shares his single ‘Can’t Box Me’ and accompanied video, both released last Friday (19th May).
Hope says of his new single: “Can’t Box me explores the frustration of being ‘boxed’ into one medium and not taken seriously when branching out. Artistry can be expressed in multiple ways. For me I’m an actor who branched into music who can still be successful in both.”
Hope is a Rap/ R&B artist as well as an actor who is well known for his role in Top Boy as Aaron. His musical influences stem from the likes of Dave, Drake as well as 90’s/ 2000’s Hip Hop and R&B. Hope’s first single ‘Stop the Rain’, amassed an amazing 2,404,069 streams.
Can’t Box Me is the first single from his forthcoming, unannounced self-released EP, Mirror Man, out 8th September. Check out the video for the smooth single below…
Gearing up for the summer months ahead, South London’s very own PO PURPLE comes through with his charged-up single, ‘Control Alt & Delete’.
Housing production from Belgium producer Spxghett, ‘Control Alt & Delete’ is an eerie Drill track that boasts Po Purple’s raspy tone and skilful lyricism throughout. Filled from top to bottom with gimmicky punchlines and head-turning bars, Po Purple bares all in this unapologetic drop, “Get it out your system now / That’s control, alt and delete / But don’t ever get loud / Unless you’re smoking with me”, he raps. Proving his worth as an artist to watch, this wheel-up worthy listen will have everyone moving at the motive!
Paired alongside a set of jumpy visuals, we watch as Po Purple and his friends deliver a performance to remember. Staying true to his signature purple theme, his vibrant outfit and hue-lit effects sit centre stage amidst the streets of London. Speaking on the single Po Purple commented, ”I’ve always been a fan of fast flows on a fast bass and beat. When drill came along, I was immediately captured. This song was inspired by the road life that I grew up in, not to glorify it, but to give insight into the mind of young man who lost his way. Currently I’m on a roll creating dope song’s and continue to be inspired by everything around me!”
Check out the video for ‘Control Alt Delete’ below…
Billy Paul Williams has proven to be one of the most talented and innovative EDM music producers of the modern era. What sets him apart from the rest of the crowd is his innate musical ability and knowledge of multiple genres, effortlessly switching from jazz to hip-hop, deep house to lo-fi – he’s confident and versatile, no matter the medium. Simply put, he’s just so much more musical than most of his contemporaries. Not only a great technician, BPW is a gifted musician who is flawless in his musical choices.
On one of his latest projects, under the guise of Modern Atomists, BPW takes some of the greatest disco hits of all time and reimagines them in the absolute chilliest of ways, bringing his special touch to create ‘Disco Chilled With A Twist.’ Volume 2 of the series features reworks of such deep disco classics as Goldie Alexander’s ‘Knocking Down Love,’ Luther Vandross’ ‘Never Too Much,’ Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes’ ‘The Love I Lost’ and many more vintage tunes from the genre’s golden years. As an added bonus, special remixes of a few tracks that appeared on Volume 1 are added, including an Avant Garde version of ‘Brandy,’ the O’Jays classic, alternative mixes of the Italo Disco hit ‘Love Is Gonna Be On Your Side’ and BPW’s version of Johnny Bristol’s ‘Hang On In There Baby.
Why not take a trip down memory lane with a modern twist below…
Must Listens: Love Won’t Let Me Wait, The Love I Lost
Brasstracks is the Grammy award winning project of New York based musician and producer Ivan Jackson. Over the years, Brasstracks has evolved from a hip-hop-jazz-big-band to an ever-morphing landscape where Jackson sets the framework.
The Brasstracks rap sheet runs for miles. The group scored two GRAMMY wins for their production work on Chance The Rapper’s seminal “No Problems” in 2017 (Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Album). They’ve also since been nominated for their work with Harry Styles during the 2021 GRAMMYs for Best Pop Vocal Album, ultimately taking home the Best Pop Solo Performance award for their work on “Watermelon Sugar.”
Brasstracks has appeared on Saturday Night Live, performing alongside Miley Cyrus and Mark Ronson, the latter of whom is a frequent collaborator. Other collaborations include Anderson .Paak, Khalid, Mac Miller, and BTS. Basstracks has also performed songs from their debut album on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
The new Brasstracks era sees Jackson as an architect for this larger project of incubating artists and allowing them the space to grow.
The latest single ‘Anesthesia’ featuring Mandy Lee of MisterWives, is the second single from Brasstracks’ upcoming album. Lee soars as she sings, “Doppelgänger, I can’t hate you even though I know the grass is greener”, crooning a sneering congratulations to a nemesis who always seems to be one step ahead. The title itself is a nod to the numbness that accompanies this feeling. The vibrant single shimmers with oscillating synths and Lee’s velvet vocals, emitting an overall colorful and contagious aura. The playful track refuses to let listeners stay still, with fast-paced beats and layered instrumentation creating an all-encompassing atmosphere, captivating you from the very first second.
The upcoming album is a unique addition to the Brasstracks catalog: brimming with technical wizardry and maximal, brassy bombast, but intensely personal, rife with self-loathing and heartache. The album’s undeniable joyousness stands in unflinching contrast with its subject matter, and ‘Anesthesia’ is a microcosm of its ethos: a shimmering, groovy, soulful house record about, above all else, jealousy. The album weaves in and out of itself seamlessly, with ‘Anesthesia”’sampling Brasstracks’ previous FATHERDUDE + TOBi flanked single, ‘Nobody’s Fool’. Despite its seething subtext, ‘Anesthesia’ is a quintessential warm weather banger, and was a highlight of Brasstracks’ sold out, 6-show Blue Note run this March.
Sacramento’s SHOWTIME RAMON, is back with a fresh new release for his listeners titled ‘Venom Dripp’.
The 6 track project continues to showcase the artist’s lyrical flow that keeps his fans coming back for more. “I wanted to put on an array of cool bars for my listeners, I look at rap as a sport so the more you can score lyrically the doper you are” says Ramon when speaking on his latest release.
The project opens with the previously released single ‘Spin Cycle’ which the artist also delivered a visual for. Ramon is backed by killer production that makes it even easier for him to deliver his flow that is influenced by the world around him, from sports to pop culture & his love for professional wrestling. Showtime isn’t one to shy away from telling it how it is either, delivering poison-like bars throughout Venom Dripp as he aims to shoot down those who he feels aren’t in his circle. He states “I’m comparing myself to other rappers or competitors, vocalizing the differences between myself and the rapper next to me”.
With over 18,000 listeners on Spotify and a new EP out, Showtime Ramon keeps the pressure on & continues to build his fan base with the talent he provides behind the mic. Inflicting his raps with doses of dopeness that keeps the streams on an upward trend, and the artist doesn’t plan to stop soon…check out Ramon’s project below…
New Lease Music 