As the seasons slowly begin to change, and the snow melts into dirty puddles throughout the town, many rappers — aspiring or otherwise — begin their plans for a summer rollout. Having a “song of the summer” is something most rappers aspire to attain, but almost all miss the mark entirely. When ya try hard, that’s when ya die hard. But most songs that actually pick up steam during the sunny months ended up there by chance, not by a calculated effort or putting an R&B singer on the hook.
Most of the time it just kind of happens, as after all, fans and random listeners are the people who anoint the hits. Sure, record labels and radio can brainwash you into liking something thanks to repeated plays and singles with actual budgets behind them, but with local hits that’s not the case. With local hits, there’s almost no radio play other than in the mix-show. Seriously, almost no local rap will make a station’s official playlist — no matter how big the song gets. That just doesn’t happen here. It’s unfortunate, but such is life.
Over the past few years, tracks like “Wife Er,” “Love Sosa,” “Hang Wit Me,” “Us,” “L’s Anthem” and anything from Chance The Rapper have dominated YouTube, Soundcloud and any other platform young listeners use to consume music. All the aforementioned tracks have been big locally (and sometimes regionally and nationally) in their own right, but one artist continues to pop up year after year with a song that dominates the city every summer. And that artist is King Louie. The proof you ask? Well, let’s take a look back:
2012: “Val Venis”
2013: “Pop Out” with Katie Got Bandz
2014: “B.O.N.”
Sure, “Pop Out” was technically a Katie record, but with Louie featured on it, it helped push it to a larger audience. “Val Venis” was a glowing standout in 2012, which was a year crowded with summer hits such as Lil Reese’s “Us,” Keef’s “I Don’t Like” and Lil Durk’s “L’s Anthem.” And last summer, “B.O.N.” was a local track that could be heard blasting out of every third car you passed, and could possibly be Louie’s biggest solo hit to date. To put it like Jigga, Louie held it damn three summers, damn. Where’s the love?
So with Spring/Summer creepin’ on ah come up, and Louie’s Drilluminati 3 right around the corner, could Lou be on track to shake up the city for a fourth year in a row? We hate to put pressure on the MUBU don dada, but all eyes are definitely on him. Magic rarely strikes twice, but Louie had a 3-peat. Will we see a fourth title? We’ll have to wait and watch.
2011 was Too Cool