Listening Journey
Drill Origins
Chicago 2011 → Brooklyn 2017 → London 2012-ongoing. The drill sound — sliding 808s, hi-hat triplets, monotone aggression — is the most internationally replicated production template of the 2010s.
- 01" I Don't Like " (2012)— Chief Keef ft. Lil Reese
Young Chop produces; Chief Keef (16 at the time of recording) hooks. The single that takes Chicago drill from a regional sound to a national conversation. Kanye West's 'Don't Like' remix (June 2012) certifies the major-label interest.
- 02" Love Sosa " (2012)— Chief Keef
Off *Finally Rich* (Dec 2012). The other anchor of the Chicago drill canon. The 'these bitches love Sosa' chant becomes the era's most-imitated hook. Interscope signs Keef on a $6M deal that he'll spend the next decade legally untangling.
- 03" Computers " (2014)— Rowdy Rebel ft. Bobby Shmurda
GS9's pre-Shmoney precursor. The Brooklyn drill template here is still pulling from the Chicago sound — Jahlil Beats production sounds like a Young Chop adjacent — but the Brooklyn-specific delivery is forming.
- 04" Hot N*** " (2014)— Bobby Shmurda
Jahlil Beats production. The Shmoney Dance becomes a national meme. Bobby Shmurda signs to Epic in 2014; the GS9 federal racketeering indictment hits later that year. The Brooklyn drill moment goes underground for the next three years.
- 05" Take Drugs Eat Junk " (2015)— 67
South London's 67 collective (LD, Dimzy, Liquez, Monkey) over an 808-heavy AXL Beats production. The UK drill sound — built from Chicago drill plus UK road-rap and US trap — establishes itself between 2013 and 2017 around Brixton.
- 06" Welcome to the Party " (2019)— Pop Smoke
Brooklyn drill's commercial breakthrough — 808Melo (UK drill producer) flying out to record with Pop. Within a year Pop is signed to Republic, *Meet the Woo* drops, and the Brooklyn drill wave (Fivio Foreign, Sheff G, Lil Tjay) is on every major label's A&R list. Then Feb 19, 2020.
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