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City to City: The Most Uniquely Popular Rap Songs Across America (Part 2)
Every city has its own unique taste, and we wanted to figure out how that manifested from city to city. So with some help from Spotify, we found the most uniquely popular rap songs in cities across the nation. Here’s how the data was pulled, per Spotify:
First we determine the most distinctly popular songs in each city as compared to the listening habits of the rest of the world (in this case, global superstars would be weeded out of the mix as they’re popular everywhere).
Then, within the 100 most distinctly popular songs we look for the top hip-hop/rap track within each city. The results were totally unpredictable and surprising.
We were expecting to uncover a bunch of regional hits, but what we got was something else. In some cities, it’s a rising local artist getting spins. In others, it’s a random classic from decades ago. Read on to see what your city is listening to, and follow P&P on Spotify to see the list updated each month.
See our December 2015 edition of this feature here.
Honolulu
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 2,705,004
Artist hometown: NYC
Troy Ave’s biggest song has officially landed in America’s farthest reaches—Honolulu loves “She Belongs to the Game.” The Brooklyn rapper released the song back in October.
Denver
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 768,123
Artist hometown: Atlanta & New York
Big Grams is the musical project of Big Boi and Phantogram. They linked up for this self-titled project after a couple fantastic collaborations on Big Boi’s albums.
It’s a testament to the power of teamwork—”Run For Your Life” is one of many strong cuts, and the mile high citizens of Denver approve.
New Orleans
Year released: 2014
Total Spotify streams: 59,753
Artist hometown: New Orleans
“Halfway” is a hometown hit for S-8ighty, whose previous credits include work for New Orleans legend Juvenile. It’s a ballad of epic proportions, a declaration of true love that’s nearly impossible to resist, a rejuvenation of Louisiana bounce.
Atlanta
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 127,373
Artist hometown: Atlanta
21 Savage is buzzing locally, thanks to a gravelly delivery and some ruthless lyrics on “Red Opps.” The fact that the song is produced by Sonny Digital doesn’t hurt, either.
Miami
Year released: 2014
Total Spotify streams: 49,403,406
Artist hometown: North Carolina
Miami loves J. Cole, especially when he’s wrestling with relationship ambiguities—that’s the case on “Apparently.”
“There is no right or wrong,” Cole sings, “only a song.” With more than 49 million streams, “Apparently” is only Cole’s fifth-most popular song on Spotify.
Seattle
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 866,058
Artist hometown: Atlanta
Future lent his watery Auto-Tune flow to the beginning of Columbia BT’s “From The Start” remix, and things only get better from there. This song is the complete package, from DJ Joe’s glittering production to the empowering chorus. Two Atlanta natives are expanding their reach all the way to the Pacific Northwest.
Milwaukee
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 7,296
Artist hometown: Milwaukee
The world is just beginning to discover Munch Lauren, but his hometown of Milwaukee has already thrown their streaming support behind him. The rapper has a braggadocio that seems to seep out of the speakers, a matter-of-fact flow that landed “Big Money” on top of Milwaukee’s unique rap tracks.
Detroit
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 113,900
Artist hometown: Detroit
Dex Osama was killed shortly after the release of “Death On Me.” The song has lived on in his absence, a very real reminder of gun violence’s ongoing toll.
Philadelphia
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 182,849
Artist hometown: Philadelphia
This is the second time PnB Rock has represented his home city on these pages. It’s another track from his RNB3 album, and “Feelin’ Like Diddy” has Philadelphia talking. But the two songs are totally different—”Fall N Luv” is a heartsick R&B ballad that showcases PnB’s vocal flexibility, but “Feelin’ Like Diddy” is a gritty, trap-inspired anthem that finds the rapper firing off vicious bars. The kid has range.
Portland
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 319,018
Artist hometown: San Francisco
Marc E. Bassy’s “Show Me” grabs the listener from its opening notes—a booming, robotic baritone starts things off, but the song really blooms when Bassy’s actual voice joins in. It’s the rare feel-good song that doesn’t stay complacent. “Show Me” goes through a few different phases over its course, and Portland approves.
Dallas
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 82,798
Artist hometown: Dallas
Dorrough put on for Dallas by making a song called “Japanese.” That’s not a reference to the country itself—per the lyrics, “Smoking this weed got me Japanese.” The single dropped in October.
Chicago
Year released: 2014
Total Spotify streams: 836,887
Artist hometown: Chicago
King Louie’s ode to his hometown continues to smolder in Chicago. There’s a lot to love: a hard-hitting beat by Smylez, gangster references ranging from Scarface to 2Pac, and sneering indictment of the media’s coverage of Chicago.
New York City
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 540,581
Artist hometown: Brooklyn
Desiigner is getting ready to have a huge 2016. He’s rumored to be Kanye’s next G.O.O.D. Music signee, and “Panda” is rapidly becoming a viral sensation. With a breathless, excited flow and a confidence you can hear, Desiigner is starting to sound like the future of rap.
San Francisco
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 144,239
Artist hometown: Oakland
Philthy Rich brings the good vibes (and Iamsu!) to San Francisco on “Make A Living,” an ode to “having money you can spend.” The song was only released in late December, but it’s already proving to be one of Philthy’s most popular tracks.
Austin
Year released: 2005
Total Spotify streams: 1,159,286
Artist hometown: Houston
Z-Ro’s “Mo City Don (Freestyle)” isn’t leaving Texas anytime soon. It was featured the last time we did this list as Houston’s favorite rap track, and now the syrupy version of Eric B. and Rakim’s “Paid In Full” beat has migrated over to Austin.
St. Louis
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 41,418
Artist hometown: St. Louis
“Jayson Tatum” is off La4ss’ Hood Hottest Youngin’ album, which dropped this past November. The titular inspiration is a basketball player from St. Louis who recently announced his decision to play college ball at Duke.
Kansas City
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 286,798
Artist hometown: Kansas City
Tech N9ne is a Kansas City legend, and “KCMO Anthem” is a love letter to the city. Yes, Kansas City is in Missouri, not Kansas. America is weird.
Granted, this is Tech N9ne we’re dealing with—so don’t much in the way of warm and fuzzies. “KCMO Anthem” is a call-and-response, stomp-clap classic, and the rapper proves he still doesn’t need much more than percussion and his voice to make a hit.
Baltimore
Year released: 2014
Total Spotify streams: 179,397
Artist hometown: Baltimore
Lor Scoota’s unique delivery has earned him Baltimore’s top spot this month. “Bird Flu” got a huge bump when the Baltimore Orioles made a family-friendly remix of the song during their 2014 playoff run. But the city still prefers the original and all its crack rap glory: “We selling scramble, coke, and smack / Keep them junkies coming back.”
L.A.
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 107,215
Artist hometown: Romania
Drei Ros and his relentless saxophone have taken Los Angeles by storm in 2016, and while “Jazzy Bitch” sounds more like a club dance song than hip-hop, the Romanian is making waves across multiple genres.
Houston
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 28,237
Artist hometown: Houston
Houston supports its own, and X.O. is the latest artist to strike a nerve in his hometown. It’s an ode to fast cars and faster women—good luck getting that hook out of your head. “I just pulled off the loooooooot…”
Memphis
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 44,227
Artist hometown: Memphis
I Swear To God is Blac Youngsta’s full-length follow up to his 2015 single “Heavy.” The 14-track album has its fair share of hits (check out the title track or “CMG”), but “Shoot Me” is Blac Youngsta’s flag in the sand.
Richmond
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 558,730
Artist hometown: Miami
Miami’s DJ YSL struck radio gold with her 2015 tape Get Turnt Vol. 2, and “Pull up on a Kid” is still making waves two months later. There’s little explanation as to why Young Thug’s original isn’t the one grabbing ears in Richmond, but the song bangs regardless.
Boston
Year released: 2015
Total Spotify streams: 160,815
Artist hometown: Boston
One of the standouts off of Suffolk County, “Shoutout” is a drug-and-money anthem that only Stizz could muster—the Boston rapper recounts his time dealing pills in high school in between Mary Poppins references (“my weed’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”) and sizzling production from Obeatz.
Washington D.C.
Year released: 2014
Total Spotify streams: 638,338
Artist hometown: Washington D.C.
Shy Glizzy linked up with Bobby Shmurda just before the latter’s arrest in December 2014. The two rappers made good use of their time together, and “Celebration” has stood the test of time in Glizzy’s D.C. hometown.
The Playlist
Here’s a playlist featuring all the songs. Keep up with Pigeons & Planes on Spotify here. Enjoy!
The post City to City: The Most Uniquely Popular Rap Songs Across America (Part 2) appeared first on Pigeons & Planes.
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