Jazzy and friends running 2024
Jazzy’s career is continuing to rise.
I’ve written multiple columns on the various stages of this rivalry all through the year, so I’ll keep it brief today, but it certainly helped light a fuse for Lamar, and he has ended the year with tracks such as ‘Squabble Up’ and ‘TV Off’ in heavy rotation all around the world. ‘Not Like Us’ became one of the most widely heard diss tracks of all time, while ‘Like That’, ‘Meet the Grahams’, and ‘Euphoria’ were other incendiary highlights. Apart from the politics, the whole scenario seemed to re-energise the US west-coast rap movement.
Kendrick’s iconic summer pop-up concert and subsequent GNX album were victory laps for the west coast, which has been at the cornerstone of much of the best rap music in the last decade, but often in a more low-key fashion than in the 1990s heyday. Kendrick certainly won this beef, and the west coast is flying high.
One high-profile west-coast release that came at the end of the year failed to deliver on its promise, though, as Dre and Snoop released a largely forgettable album last week. Snoop has still got bars, but the album was fairly gimmicky and, despite a few decent cameos, it’s average at best. The beats and samples weren’t particularly bad, but Dre’s Compton album from 2015 showed that nobody really needs to hear him rapping anymore, and, nearly 10 years on, that point remains. The Dogg Pound album was far superior.
Overall, 2024 showed that many of the veterans can still turn out the jams, with Pete Rock and Common, and also Juicy J, bringing some serious heat, while LL Cool J, Mary J Blige, and many others did their best to bring the heat as well.
Lots of the best hip-hop continues to be made by youngsters, though, and the youthful energy of Doechii was a breath of fresh air. She’s gonna blow up big in 2025. Elsewhere, Tyler the Creator, Little Simz, Vince Staples, and Schoolboy Q were all active, while, closer to home, Kneecap, Jordan Adetunji, Moio, Aby Coulibaly, Shiv, Bricknasty, Rejjie Snow, Femi, Travis and Ellz, and many more, proved that we can go toe to toe with the best.
I’ll continue to claim that much of the best music these days comes from non-traditional markets outside the US. Tems was one of many afrobeats artists who made great music in 2024. Amapiano continued to soundtrack not only many clubs, but my own memorable trip to South Africa back in February, but Brazilian funk came even more into the regular music scene, too, as did some of the Jersey club music that has been bubbling on the periphery of the mainstream for a decade now.
The Weeknd has featured Anitta on his explosive ‘Sao Paulo’, ahead of his new album, and I can see more crossover moments coming shortly.
In Ireland, our club scene often finds it hard to cope with archaic licensing laws and continual closures, but we are certainly producing a lot of well-received club music; and Belters Only, Jazzy, Camrin Watson, Obskur, Kettama and others are seeing their careers continue to rise.
Crucially, lots of these artists are internationally known now, too, and it’s not just an insular situation. Cork’s AbbieLee featured on a well-received single with Kerri Chandler, and she is one of many artists from a more clubby background who has the raw materials available to make an impact, both here and abroad. Bantam, New Jackson, and Boku all brought 2024 heat too.
Lots of my favourite music in 2024 came not from big names, but the margins, and it was probably notable, too, that outside of the Amapiano and house genres, much of the music became shorter.
We live in an era of low attention spans and streaming and quick clicking, so this makes sense, and it’s a trend that will probably continue in 2024.
Merry Christmas to you all. I’ll catch you in 2025!
