Five For Friday ft [@isaiahrashad], [@RayBLK_], [@KeeyaKeys] + more

Five For Friday is back again with 5 releases from the past week you should pay attention to.

Five For Friday is back again giving you 5 great tracks/projects for your Friday. Friday is essentially the most important day of the week musically, and typically a lot of music drops on Friday’s. Friday is the day that the official charts are announced letting us know who holds the coveted number one position. To make life a little easier this Friday we are giving you 5 of our top picks that have recently dropped to start off your weekend listening.

Isaiah Rashad Ft. Duke Deuce – Lay Wit Ya

Isaiah Rashad makes a triumphant return with ‘Lay Wit Ya’ featuring Duke Deuce as well as the announcement of a new project. Isaiah Rashad is the dark horse of TDE but having achieved critical and commercial success with his debut album things took a darker turn for his personal life but he’s bouncing back. Part of that came with him adapting his style and taking on some new influences musically and ‘Lay Wit Ya’ is the perfect showcase of that. It is probably the first record from Rashad that feels more commercially inclined, yet it’s undercut with his Southern drawl in a way that feels familiar. If this is anything to go by the album will definitely be interesting.

Little Simz Ft. Cleo Sol – Woman

Little Simz is in album mode and keeping the content constant ahead of her forthcoming album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. ‘Woman’ follows up her recent release ‘Introvert’ and the title sets out what the focus of the content is about plainly. It is a track all about boosting and uplifting her fellow women and calls upon a number of great women to make this happen, most importantly Cleo Sol. The last time Simz and Cleo linked up was for the 2019 track ‘Selfish’ which is to date Simz‘ most streamed song on Spotify. The pair have incredible chemistry and a penchant for creating laid back bops with a message that you can’t help but replay.

Keeya Keys – Accraholic Freestyle

Keeya Keys hits the mark again with latest drop ‘Accraholic Freestyle’. We get cheeky but slick wordplay, football references and delivery with clarity but also emphasis in the right places to make an impact. The fact he largely stays away from the bad boy persona is what initially made him refreshing but his ability to lean into his personality, particularly his humour, is what keeps you tuning in. He of course is a talented rapper but no one makes it alone and his tried and tested linking up with 4PLAY pays off again here. The Baile Funk infused production perfectly compliments the nature of the track and is a sound he should experiment with more based on this release.

Ray Blk – Dark Skinned

Ray Blk one of the realest, most challenging and important voices in music, drops her brand new single ‘Dark Skinned’. It is the latest taken from her debut studio album and in her own words, “This song to me is a celebration of being Dark Skinned. The conversation around race often feels heavy and negative, but I love my blackness and it is a privilege to be black”. Ray has spent lockdown writing and recording her long-awaited debut album which promises to be one of the cultural highlights of the year, reminding everyone what a truly special and unique artist 

Benzalli – Figures

This is the first time I’m hearing Benzalli and I was definitely surprised but in a good way. His style is unlike anyone else in the UK’s and his influences both musically and in style clearly lean towards the US. Or at least they do based on ‘Figures’. The relaxed production suits his melodic cadence and Atlanta inspired flow, you could very easily see Gunna or Lil Baby featuring on this and it would make perfect sense musically. It is honestly a breath of fresh air seeing someone experiment outside of the norms and for it to pay off in delivering quality music. We need this diversity in the scene and I’ll be looking out for what Benzalli delivers next.

You can check out the previous Five For Friday here.