Why Cardi B’s New Drill Track With Kay Flock Isn’t Only a Shameless Development-Hop

Pitchfork author Alphonse Pierre’s rap column covers songs, mixtapes, albums, Instagram freestyles, memes, bizarre tweets, trend traits—and the rest that catches his consideration.

Cardi B’s drill flip was a very long time coming

New York’s rap scene has undergone seismic adjustments within the 4 years since Cardi B dropped her debut album, Invasion of Privateness. Again then, within the spring of 2018, the Brooklyn drill scene was fledgling, months away from being reenergized by Pop Smoke’s era-defining run of singles. 6ix9ine was nonetheless a factor. The dominant sound of Cardi’s dwelling borough of the Bronx was gut-wrenched crooning within the type of A Boogie. Now, drill has formally develop into town’s most important rap sound, and its middle has relocated from Brooklyn to the Bronx behind a latest wave of sample-based songs that includes gruff-voiced rappers like Kay Flock, B Lovee, and Sha Ek.

So “Shake It,” Cardi’s new sample-driven drill posse lower with Kay, Dougie B, and Bory300, might have skeptics able to name her a trend-hopper. However that’s probably not true. Her historical past with drill really dates again to earlier than she turned a nationwide cultural phenomenon.

Particularly, the 2017 singles “Pull Up” and “Purple Barz” come to thoughts. “Pull Up,” a standout from her mixtape Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 2, has drill roots. On the manufacturing finish, the percussion options sputtering drums and cymbal smashes, foundational parts of Chicago drill producers like Younger Chop and DJ L. And her move on the music is usually paying homage to the one G Herbo and Bibby used on their drill basic “Kill Shit.”