Drill artist Unknown T: 'The energy is crazy – man's on top of the world!'

The scene has been much vilified, but also misunderstood. Can the rapper behind the summer’s breakout hit Homerton B change all that in 2019?

• Tunisian techno, Xitsongan rap and Satanic doo-wop: the best new music of 2019

Melodic inspiration hit Unknown T one day in his bedroom, like Newton’s apple. An anthem began to brew. He may not have realised it then, but by the end of 2018 he would have one of the rap tracks of the year. This was Homerton B, the biggest breakout from the embattled UK drill scene: three minutes long, two verses striking in their sketch of street politics, with a chorus cut from a new cloth.

Its lines arrive in a weighty, slick flow: “Baby bend ya back and then dig it, dig it, bend ya back and then dig it”, leading to frenzies at carnivals and clubs. There are no hard-cut beginnings or ends to T’s stanzas in Homerton B. His bass voice rolls on like a night tube splitting through the city, or a drum solo building to a crescendo, until the chorus hits again and your adrenaline spikes.

Continue reading...

from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2AmqLrp