Rollout Roundup: The Best Drill Rollouts, UK vs Us Edition
I teamed up with UK writer Cee Valentina to discuss the best recent marketing rollouts in the drill space from the US to the UK.
Collaborations make the world go round.
Let’s Start with the UK.
98s - ‘We Da 1s’
(Prod by LucasDante)
Kicking off with the East London drill collective, 98’s and their single ‘We Da 1s’:
Firstly, the colourful visuals directed and filmed by Groundworks and Rich Power Films cleverly showcased their individualism which was visually depicted by each member standing in separate coloured boxes, as if they were on individual TV screens. But at the same time, the colour-coordinated Adidas tracksuits brings them all together and lets us viewers know that they are still a collective.
Just as I thought the video was over, they each previewed their upcoming tracks. But instead of simply editing in a clip of their unreleased music, they each rapped a couple of bars making it feel sort of cypher-esque. Although previewing upcoming releases at the end of videos isn’t new, they added a little twist by making it feel like something similar to the Groundworks Cypher 2020. To top it all off, UK Music and Entertainment Platform, CORD Socials released BTS footage of the ‘We Da 1s’ video shoot featuring interviews and more.
Russ Millions x Tion Wayne - “Body”
(Prod by Gotcha)
Let’s move on to Russ Millions and Tion Wayne for their latest hit, ‘Body’:
The main standout point is the infamous transitions in the music video directed by Wowa. In fact, Wowa’s transitions and Russ’s dance moves have become a TikTok challenge with over 1.5M creations, helping Body to consistently trend on the TikTok sounds chart.
The hype of the song continued with the release of a remix, entitled ‘Body 2’, featuring a lengthy line-up including Fivio Foreign and Bugzy Malone. Releasing a remix with other popular artists has had many success stories, including DigDat’s ‘AirForce’ remix with Krept & Konan and K-Trap or Russ & Tion’s ‘Keisha & Becky’ remix. Both of those remixes helped to push the charting position of the original song. ‘Body’ is now the first drill song to reach #1 on the UK charts and has remained at the top for three weeks! But, has the release of a remix lost its ability to excite listeners or is it still as effective?
Central Cee - ‘Commitment Issues’
(Prod by Mokuba Lives)
Last but not least, let’s talk about West London’s very own, Central Cee and his single “Commitment Issues”:
“Commitment Issues” was released as a single as part of Central Cee’s roll out for “Wild West”. The “Commitment Issues” visuals, directed by Teeeezy C, portrayed an interesting storyline involving love and heartbreak showing a different side to Cench. It was strategically dropped just before Valentine’s Day. Popular model and lifestyle influencer Kenza also featured in the video as his love interest.
A Relationship Tease
Central Cee utilised his influence on TikTok by announcing “Commitment Issues” with a 15-second TikTok of himself and Kenza while playing the track in the background. Numbers-wise, the TikTok clip fulfilled its purpose and now has 6M views. Also, “Commitment Issues” was a Top 10 trending sound on TikTok for weeks and is now his most used song on the app, overtaking “Day in the Life” and “Loading”.
A Classic Giveaway
He also launched an Instagram giveaway to give fans a chance to win Rolexes. A giveaway is a classic social media marketing tactic. In this case, it was a success with over 200K likes and 28K comments under the giveaway post promoting the visuals to “Commitment Issues”.
“Commitment Issues” is now his highest-charting single and peaked at #9 on the UK charts. He really checked all the boxes and evidently, it paid off!
US
by Olivia Shalhoup
Pop Smoke - “AP”
Done in conjunction with his posthumous movie release, Boogie, Pop’s team continues his streak as the rollout king.
The best thing about this release was the physical aspect of the rollout. Pop’s team put graffitied signs in his favorite spots in NYC where fans could find a QR code leading them to the exclusive track.
Sleepy Hallow - “2 Sauce”
Sleepy is on a mission to differentiate himself, and he’s well on his way.
With some virtual performances and even a live concert with Audiomack, all of Winner’s Circle has been delivering during the pandemic. 2 Sauce went viral on tiktok, like many of Sleepy’s other tracks, and this time his willingness to experiment with sound give fans another reason to tune in. Sleepy has also leaned into periodically tweeting viral-worthy content, the more he can do that the further his personal brand will take him on the platform as well.
Bizzy Banks - “City Hot”/”Bandemic”
One of NYC’s most exciting new rappers shows us not only is the musical talent there, but the killer marketing is behind it.
Bizzy is the instagram story king. He is constantly posting funny or relatable antidotes on his IG stories, and while just being himself, is doing a great job of balancing fan interactions and his allure. Following accusation at rapper CJ for jacking Bizzy’s sound, Bizzy’s recent response on IG triggered commentary around the rapper’s influence and potential to dominate the future New York drill scene. Bizzy also did a great job with his use