It’s not too late to wish our readers a happy new year, and definitely not too late to introduce our top picks for 2016. With no further introduction we bring to you the artists we think are on course for a great 2016 and a flourishing music career.
Ray BLK
It has been 11 months since Ray BLK released her first EP, Havisham. The EP inspired by Charles Dickens’ popular novel, ‘Great Expectations’, tells the story of a girl, who falls in love, has her heart broken and turns into the cold hearted, wicked Havisham.
Ray’s fanbase and following has been steadily growing since the release of her EP, and has accumulated over 70,000 plays on Soundcloud. We even had to include her TWICE on our first VibesFromTheUK Playlist of last year.
With such a high quality body of work already behind her and thanks to the release of her brand new single and first video ‘50/50‘, the South London songstress is already off to a good start in 2016 and we can bet Ray BLK is on for a dope 2016.
ReekzMB
2015 was definitely the year of ‘Road Rap‘ in the UK with Section Boyz collecting Mobo’s, 67 creating a cult like fan base and everyone else singing “trap trap in the bando, I don’t wanna look like you“. One stand out from the pack was Reekz MB who broke out with the lyrically menacing banger ‘Blueprint‘, which has amassed almost 700,000 views in less than 6 months.
His follow up single, ‘Blockaa‘, a personal favourite, has had similar success and had the young rapper from Stockwell perform at universities all over the country. Collaborations with peers like Reeko Squeeze, 67 and UK rap veteran Youngs Teflon has seen the rapper produce even more bangers and that will surely continue in 2016.
A2
A2, once known as A2daGee, the talented grime mc/producer back in 2006/07, is definitely not a new artist. His sounds back then were usually described as similar to fellow collaborator Young Dot/Dot Rotten but today he is on a whole new wave of his own. One that is honest, smooth and definitely very popping now.
A2 has been sailing high in his lane, with super tight EP releases receiving praises all around. Recently he was hinted as an originator of the ‘Trapsoul‘ sound, made popular by ‘man of the moment’ Bryson Tiller, whom described A2’s songs as ‘very sick’.
Having already featured on the B-side of Krept and Konan’s ‘freak of the week‘ single and doing large numbers on his Soundcloud, A2 is more seasoned than the others on this list but the potential for a massive 2016 is as open as ever!
Nadia Rose
Probably one of the most exciting rappers coming up today is Nadia Rose. She possesses an infectious and versatile flow with a character to match. I said 2015 was the year of Road Rap but it was also the year of female rappers as Lady Leeshur and Little Simz found international success and gained millions of new fans, that same year also saw Lady Lykes battling at ‘Lord Of The Mics’ and holding her own. Nadia Rose gave us three singles and each of them gave us new reasons to have her in this years Top Picks for 2016.
One Acen
It was One Acen’s ‘Beneath EP‘ released earlier this year that sold it for us. Creating a fun sound that was all of his own with witty lyrics to complement. The Beneath EP released totally independently, raced to the higher end of the iTunes Rap/Hip Hop charts upon its release and still remains in the top 200 as well as being featured on its homepage.
Since his feature on Tion Wayne’s Hate on Me, where he provided a stellar performance on the chorus. His name has been on people’s tounges a lot more frequently. We are definitely looking forward to more from One Acen and expect him to build upon this momentum in the new year.