Listen Up
Reggae, hip-hop and R&B collide for our favorite music from this week
Skip Marley feat. H.E.R.: Slow Down
Sultry and smooth, Skip Marley and H.E.R.’s collaborative single, “Slow Down,” combines reggae and R&B influences to underscore a true duet, with each artist shining. H.E.R. (aka Gabriella Wilson) lends her award-winning vocals, while Marley (the grandson of Bob Marley) offers charisma and flirtatiousness—with the latter emphasized by the accompanying video.
Pk Delay: Page 365
“This whole year been a real test / It didn’t go great, I don’t know why,” Pittsburgh artist Pk Delay (aka William Hawkins IV) raps on his final track of 2019, “Page 365.” Part of the artist’s 365 Project, a self-prescribed regiment of releasing a song every day for the entire calendar year, the track bids farewell to 2019 and welcomes what’s to come. Within, Hawkins details the loss of his grandfather and his older sister, getting fired from a job, the rigors of promoting tracks 24/7 and the trials of committing to a schedule that required extensive time in the studio and late nights toiling over Soundcloud and social media. He also sheds light on the consequences of pursuing music as a career. Rather than celebrating the mere creation, or the successes, of his tracks, Hawkins invites listeners in, letting them reflect on the conclusion of another year.
Listen Up is published every Sunday and rounds up the new music we found throughout the week. Hear the year so far on our Spotify channel.
