drill Archives - Chicago Reader

DCG Brothers brought summer joy to a locked-down season with “Mmhmm”

by Leor Galil March 17, 2021August 18, 2021

The west-side rap duo have tons of fun sharing the mike on “Mmhmm,” and the video is even more contagious.

Chicago drill star in the making King Von dropped his third album a week before his untimely death

by Leor Galil November 13, 2020August 18, 2021

In the early hours of Friday, November 6, 26-year-old Chicago rapper Dayvon Bennett, better known as King Von, was shot and killed outside an Atlanta nightclub. Von emerged a couple years ago as part of a newer generation of locals refashioning drill’s austere, hard-edged aesthetic in their own image. He imbued his tough-as-nails verses with […]

Music

Chicago rapper Lil Romo makes melodic drill as plush as velour

by Leor Galil August 19, 2020August 18, 2021

In a recent Illanoize Radio interview, south-side rapper Lil Romo said he started to approach his music more professionally in October 2018, after he dropped “Realla (Scrilla Remix),” where he raps like he’s trying to outrun the anxious, zippy instrumental. Since then, his career has seemed to draw on the energy of that track. He’s […]

Music

Chicago rappers SD and Brian Fresco combine their distinctive styles for the whimsically joyful Muddbruddas

by Leor Galil July 31, 2020August 18, 2021

I’m thankful for the first full-length collaboration between Chicago rappers SD and Brian Fresco, the new Muddbruddas (Empire). Its mere existence takes a wrecking ball to the tired cliche that the local scene is split into two camps, “drill” and “alternative hip-hop,” that are isolated from each other’s sound and influence. When Chief Keef kicked […]

Music

Thirty-five moments that brought Chicago music to the world

by the Arts & Business Council of Chicago July 23, 2020August 18, 2021

The Year of Chicago Music has had less music in it than anybody anticipated, but we still have plenty to celebrate.

Music

Chicago drill icon Lil Durk leans into his melancholy on Just Cause Y’all Waited 2

by Leor Galil May 15, 2020February 2, 2023

Chicago rapper Lil Durk dropped his debut mixtape nearly nine years ago, and he’s since matured into one of drill’s most consistent, influential, and successful artists. His four previous major-label full-lengths have all peaked in the top 50 of the Billboard 200, including August’s Love Songs 4 the Streets 2, which debuted at number four. […]

Music

Rising drill star King Von refines his storytelling and stunting on Levon James

by Jack Riedy April 10, 2020August 18, 2021

Sharp songwriting and bombastic delivery have made King Von one of fastest-rising stars in drill, the pummeling hip-hop subgenre born in Chicago. Born Dayvon Bennett, the 25-year-old rapper grew up in Englewood, and he’s been filling his verses with crime-fiction narratives at least since his breakout single, 2018’s “Crazy Story.” As he told Genius in […]

Music

Chicago rapper G Herbo gives his reflective raps new shapes on PTSD

by Leor Galil April 3, 2020August 18, 2021

I wish the right-wing miscreants in the federal government were as dependable as Chicago rapper G Herbo. For close to a decade, he’s released albums and mixtapes of rapid-fire drill with reassuring frequency, and even his most run-of-the-mill offerings benefit from his pragmatic empathy and lucid descriptions—he brings a distinctive emotional gravity to his detailed […]

Music

Gifts to teach hip-hop heads their history

by Leor Galil November 27, 2019August 18, 2021

Each of these reissues helps unfold a different chapter in the rich narrative of the Chicago hip-hop scene.

Best of Chicago

Staff Pick: Best hip-hop artist

by Leor Galil November 6, 2019August 18, 2021

Polo G

Music

The return of Katie Got Bandz

by The TRiiBE July 31, 2019August 18, 2021

Four long years after her last mixtape, drill queen Katie Got Bandz drops Rebirth—and revisits the site of the Bronzeville projects that taught her to persevere.