Leading the nominations this year is rapper Dave with six nominations. He is nominated for track of the year twice for his hits ‘Starlight’ and ‘Clash’ featuring Stormzy. Both singles also received nominations for Video of the Year. After recently headlining Reading and Leeds, the 24-year-old is also nominated for Male Artist of the Year alongside Central Cee, Digga D and 2021’s Track of the Year winner, Tion Wayne.

Dave has met widespread critical acclaim since his debut album Psychodrama which debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart back in 2019. It had the biggest first week of streams for a UK rap album and subsequently took home the 2020 Brit Award for Album of the Year and went on to win the Mercury Prize. His latest album, We’re All Alone in This Together is nominated for the GRM Rated Award for Album of the Year and faces competition from Little Simz, Fredo, Tion Wayne, M Huncho, Knucks and Kojey Radical. The Evening Standard described the album as a ‘masterpiece’ saying Dave is ‘the greatest rapper working in Britain today.”

Also leading the nominations is Little Simz who is featured in three categories. She’s up for Album of the Year with her Mercury Prize Nominated Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. AllMusic described the album as a “master class in modern songwriting with heaps of poise and a beating, soulful heart,” and Stereogum said the release was “cinematic and surreal and overwhelming”. Simz is also nominated for Female Artist of the Year alongside Mahalia, Ms Banks, Stefflon Don and FLO. Her single ‘Point and Kill’ features on the list for Track of the Year with fellow contenders Aitch, ArrDee and Central Cee.

You can see a full list of nominations here. Voting is now open and fans can place their votes for each category until the 21st of September. The hosts, performances and date of the ceremony are yet to be announced.

@tionwayne9Re create this ##tionwayne ##russmb original sound – T WAYNE 9

Drill is a style of trap music that originated in Chicago, most easily recognized by its dark and distorted 808 bass patterns. Because the lyrical content and background of many of its rappers is rooted in very realistic experiences with violence and anger, it has often been criticized for inciting criminal behaviour. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick attempted to take down drill videos on social media back in 2018, claiming they encourage violence. People involved in the UK drill scene, however, see it very differently.

Austin Deboh, executive Vice President of Atlantic Records explains, “Drill music gives a voice to the youth, and it’s an outlet for them to express themselves.” And now that ‘Body‘ is at the top of the charts, the landscape of drill in the UK is forever changed. The appreciation for the genre is more evident, and it doesn’t appear to be dwindling any time soon. Martin Talbot, chief executive of Official Charts Company, sees the importance of this shift as “a brand new high point for drill and perhaps the beginning of a new era for the official singles chart.”

You can watch the full video of ‘Body’ below.

NSG is made up of six members – Kruddz, ODG, Papii Abz, Dope, Mxjib, and Mojo – and their collective name has many meanings, including ‘New Sound Group’ and ‘Never Stop Growing’, both of which are very apt given the group’s work. They wrote a message to their followers upon the release, which reads, “Our debut mixtape ‘Roots’ is out now! Thank you for having faith in us and our journey so far!”

View this post on Instagram

Our debut mixtape ‘Roots’ is out now! Thank you for having faith in us and our journey so far! [Link in Bio]

A post shared by NSG Entertainment (@nsg_music) on Jun 18, 2020 at 4:02pm PDT

With themes from political rebellion to influential women, the rappers offer insightful lyrics set to strong beats, making it clear why their music is so popular. But, for listeners who are just hoping for a good time, track 6 ‘Why Stress’ is a chilled out embodiment of summer.

Lead single ‘Options’, a collaboration with Tion Wayne, came out all the way back in 2018, and is their biggest song to date, reaching number 7 on the UK Singles Charts and 79 million streams on Spotify. This was followed by ‘Ot Bop’, ‘Trust Issues’, ‘Ourself’, ‘Porshe’, and ‘Grandad’, released throughout 2019 and 2020. The last has only been out since yesterday, already gaining over 80,000 views on YouTube.

Each single came with a music video, as the group was lucky enough to film before the lock-down was put into place. ‘Options’ has 28 million views and shows the group members in various London scenes – some are with fans or at gigs, while some are in front of city landscapes.

While ‘Roots‘ is NSG’s first mixtape, they have an album entitled ‘Grown Up‘ which came out in 2017 after the release of first singles, all of which were taken from the album. As said by member Kruddz, NSG is “a lifestyle, it’s a movement” which symbolises their journey.