The 7 best UK Drill tracks of all time
UK Drill
South London from 2015, taking Chicago drill's subject matter and rebuilding it on a sliding 808 and a skipping, off-grid hi-hat pattern that owes more to grime than to Atlanta. Heavily policed, and legally suppressed more than any music since.
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Headie One / Next Up?
A freestyle series entry that became the genre's calling card. Headie's timing is behind the beat throughout, and the restraint is what separates him from the field.
Digga D / Mad About Bars
Digga D has recorded under a court order requiring him to submit lyrics to the police before release, which is a fact about British music worth stating plainly.
67 / Kennington Where It Started
Brixton and Kennington, and one of the first UK drill records to travel. The beat is closer to Chicago here than to what the sound became.
Russ Millions and Tion Wayne / Body
The first drill record to top the UK singles chart. Lighter than the scene's core, and it took the sound to an audience that had only read about it.
Unknown T / Homerton B
East London, and the melodic end. A hook rather than a threat, and it demonstrated the form could carry a tune without losing its weight.
Skengdo and AM / Panic Room
The duo later received a suspended prison sentence for performing their own lyrics live. Whatever one concludes about the music, that is an extraordinary thing to record here.
Dave featuring Burna Boy / Location
Not drill exactly, by an artist who came through it, and proof of where the sound's writers could go. Dave won the Mercury the same year.