Bout to Blow: 11 Dope Songs You Should Be Hearing Everywhere Soon

Welcome to September's edition of Bout to Blow. As you know, we've become pretty agile at predicting hits. Occasionally, we've whiffed. Other times, we've called it before most of your favorite publications. But the point isn't just to get it "right"—anyone can look at stats and see what's going to pop.

This column has two goals:

1. To use the many tools available to us today to get some idea of what songs were really bubbling with "the people"—in other words, to insert some science into the process.

2. To contextualize that information, because raw numbers in a vacuum would have you thinking an anonymous rapper dropped onto a stellar track was hip-hop's next big rap star when he was more like an empty vehicle for a dope beat, hook, and some tattoos. Shots?

The post is obviously intended to be somewhat predictive. There's also an element, though, that is cheerleading. Many of these songs might be flourishing in certain markets, but could use wider exposure. They're tracks where the metrics suggest some forward momentum, even if the clubs and radio play don't reflect that.

Last month, we killed it with predictions for big European house records from Kiesza and Mr. Probz, and also pretty much called "Lifestyle"'s rise to one of the country's biggest hip-hop records. (Could have grabbed that one a month earlier, even, but hey.) "0-100" was a bit of an easier call, but since we first mentioned it, it's risen to No. 53 on the charts—and is still climbing. Admittedly, Elle Varner's "Don't Wanna Dance" hasn't quite delivered, and our regional rap predictions (RJ's "Ride Wit Me," Foxx's "Smokin Loud," and Tigo B's "69") haven't really been given the national support they deserve. (Maybe they just need a vine dance a la Bobby Shmurda.) That said, after one week, August Alsina's "No Love" has entered the Heatseeker's chart and looks to be gaining some momentum.

What's in store for September? Check out this edition of Bout to Blow: 10 Dope Songs You Should Be Hearing Everywhere Soon.

Listen to Complex's 11 Songs Bout to Blow playlists here: YouTube/Spotify/Rdio

Written by David Drake (@somanyshrimp)

Sure, Khaled's persona in the video is meme city, but as usual, it's obscured his unparalleled ear for hit records. "Hold You Down" is destined to surpass "Take It To the Head," which dominated radio nationally in late summer 2012, as Khaled's best twilight anthem for summer's dog days. The cushioned keyboards that open the record are reminiscent of—no, seriously—a slept on Nas record: "One on One," from the Street Fighter soundrack, which sampled Ahmad Jamal's "Awakening." This song was later transformed into Teedra Moses' icily intimate "Be Your Girl," and now comes full circle into the R&B pantheon with "Hold You Down," its similar sound blown out to epic proportions.

It's also nice to hear Future again on something so unapologetically pop, his emotions transcending lyrical cliche (because aren't all words cliche, when you really think about it?) The record is being added to radio playlists across the country, ensuring that it'll soundtrack pristine slow-motion memories of driving at dusk for years to come. And with a lineup that is the closest we'll come to a 2014 "Secret Garden." Could have used more El Debarge, though.

In the late '00s, the Augusta, Georgia-based TK N Cash were a teen duo signed to DTP for records like "Fruity Colors," one of a few similarly-themed pop-rap records from the "Swag Surfin'" era. "Mind Right," which is gaining some traction in the gulf states and in Georgia, is like a blend of "No Flex Zone" and "Cut Her Off," coming across as a more G-rated version of K-Camp's signature hit record. Or, if you prefer, the "It's not you; it's me," version. It's got a sticky chorus that one imagines would virtually guarantee hit status with the right exposure.

It's tough to figure out exactly why this is a Que record, because it was literally by a completely different artist who has been reduced to feature status on his own song. Presumably, a big bag of money changed hands. Thraxxx is a five-member group based out of the DMV (DC/Maryland/Virgina) whose rapper Lizzle had a locally-successful hit called "Too," released on the group's Thraxxx: The Movie in late 2013. (Another thing about Thraxxx that makes no sense: they have a member named Mac Dre. Who releases solo music. Seriously.)

An interview earlier this year with Thraxxx member Big Flock implied the group had no interest in signing to a label. But by the time Lizzle's solo tape hosted by Whoo Kid dropped in April, "Too" had become "Too Much," and was under Que's name. Que, in a battle to knock out another hit after OG Bobby Johnson, apparently decided to buy one, and in exchange, Lizzle, an unknown, presumably benefits from articles like this one pointing out that the actual hit is his. While putting Trey Songz on the record amps up its hit potential, some of the quirky charm of the original "Too" is ironed out in the upstreaming. 

DJ Mustard's 10 Summers isn't a homerun; its highlights feel more like sidesteps than bangers. This is especially true of 2 Chainz and Ty Dolla $ign feature "Down On Me," with echoing chimes that sound like church wedding bells, and the conceptually clever "4 Digits," a minimal R&B feature for songwriter and rising artist Eric Bellinger. The four digits, of course, are the passcode to get into Bellinger's phone—"but she won't ever get them four digits." Fabolous shows up for a funny verse where he tells his girl that the person calling his phone is just Jake from State Farm. This record seems to just be getting a push in California at the moment, but as a refreshing minor variation on Mustard's core sound, it'd be welcome on the pop charts as well.

As "remember the 90s" shifts into "remember the 00s," Baby Bash is due for a comeback. The time has never been better; just as hyphy felt like the production style E-40's voice had been waiting for, Baby Bash's silky, R&B-friendly singing voice feels like a perfect conceptual match for Mustard-wave music. Complex went out on a limb with our early prediction for Baby Bash's "Low Key" and whiffed, but the numbers suggest the C Ballin-produced "Certified Freak" has had some traction in the Bay Area, and could portend a bigger future for this louche sex jam. Keeping my biased fingers crossed.​

The shameless biting—this is the second song called "Or Nah" to drop this year, absurdly, and the beat is just an old Too $hort record—made this initially offputting. But at a certain point, you throw up your hands: "Don't Fight the Feeling" is basically in regular rotation in 2014! Where Ty Dolla $ign's "Or Nah" felt like the singer was going through some sort of existential crisis—was he talking to her...or to himself?—Game's posse cut has old school Rabelaisian menace. The only down side is when Eric Bellinger interpolates "Cruisin," it sounds like he's talking about herpes: "So once you get it you got it foreverrrr...."

There's a war going on outside no butt is safe from—JLo has returned for the crown. "Anaconda"—a solid, but not exceptional cut that works better as a DJ tool, linking two better songs, than as an anthem in its own right—is only the most visually extreme in a major ramping up (rumping up?) of booty pride, 2014. White musicians have hinted at throwing their hats in the ring for some time, as with Miley's twerk records, but it was Meghan Trainor's Wonder Bread hit "All About That Bass" that really mainstreamed this conversation to Caucasian America. But before any of these artists were a glimmer in a suburban teen's computer monitor, Jennifer Lopez's ass was the talk of the town.

"Booty" originally appeared with Pitbull on Lopez's poor-selling A.K.A., but he's been bumped for Iggy Azalea on the song's remix, the video for which is imminent. (If you want an idea of how much of a superstar Iggy Azalea has become, think about how rarely Pitbull gets bumped for another rapper—if anything, he's the one liable to do the replacing.) The song isn't transcendent, but with a faintly "exotic" belly dancing melody, it's got the cutthroat immediacy and structure Minaj's record lacks. It will eclipse it, like it or not.

After time spent being "the other guy on 'I Hit It First,'" Bobby Brackins made big moves this year with writing credits on two massive singles: Tinashe's "2 On" and Chris Brown's "Loyal." Now he's knocked out a single of his own, featuring two other rookies: rising white rapper G-Eazy, whose mild These Things Happen somehow sold lots of copies despite having no real hits, and Mila J, who is Jhene Aiko's sister and made some noise with the minor fauxliyah record "Smoke, Drink, Break-Up" earlier this year. Because these are all emerging talents rather than true stars, "Hot Box" might have an uphill climb. But even if it never crosses over completely, it's a light, sugary summer jam that breezes by easily and leaves a faint skunky smell behind.

While other producers flip their own variations on the Mustard sound, Dijon takes a rare step outside his typical slumping grooves for Keyshia Cole's lesbian erotica record "She." The song should almost be too messy, with its layered Transformers sound effects, but it's really a well-composed record, full of stop-starts and space and sudden bursts of noise that creates a realistic sensual experience—one that perfectly compliments Cole's committed vocal performance. The songwriting is strong, too. This is a gem in both Mustard and Keyshia Cole's extensive catalogs: "Them boys loves some you/But I ain't mad 'cause you look good on me too."

Trigga is a solid record that does a lot of shameless swiping and reordering of other people's melodies and ideas, but wipes them clean with a sleek, consistent sheen. He's effective at dusting off disparate ideas and making them seem of a whole. Trey Songz's "Touchin, Lovin" combines two different primary sounds. Producers The Featherstones combine the echoing textures Nic Nac utilized for Chris Brown's "Loyal," and wed them to a big EDM-style synth riff. In this instance, it's the melodic riff of Calvin Harris' 2009 hit "I'm Not Alone," a song that pre-dates that producer's American crossover and so remains unknown to U.S. audiences.

Meanwhile, Trey's chorus is a remake of R. Kelly's hook for Biggie's "Fuck You Tonight," which, if you haven't heard before, why are you reading this website? It also features a verse from Nicki Minaj, because as the prophet Mindy Kaling once said, "Songs should be three minutes long and Nicki Minaj raps in the middle." This is the album's next single and is liable to be every bit as big as "Na Na."

Teyana Taylor's had a rough go trying to get her recording career in motion since 2009's "Google Me," but "Maybe" maybe just what she needed. It's showing some upward motion in certain cities. Writing a chilling R&B record with doubt as its central subject doesn't seem liable to set the charts on fire in 2014—at least, unless you're a guy cosigned by Drake—but everything about "Maybe" works: the cold, creeping production, the bookend guest verses by Yo Gotti and Pusha T, and most of all, Taylor's dark, reverb-laden performance of ambivalence, her voice rising and falling in the empty space like so many particles of dust.