Bout to Blow: 10 Dope Songs You Should Be Hearing Everywhere Soon

It's Janury 2015, and you're now reading Complex's Bout to Blow.

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, tattooed vehicle for a dope beat and a hook.

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.

What trends have we spotted going into 2015? The Mustard/Nic Nac/Bay Area axis of uptempo R&B hits is, if anything, just hitting its stride. Even Atlanta artists are apt to start rapping over the thick drums and taught grooves out of Cali, a la the Migos' "Fight Night." We're also kicking off the year with a wavy one, a Typical Southern Club Record, and the return of an an artist many had written off—actually, several such artists. There's also a bit of chunky chillout beach music to keep you warm, at least until Valentine's Day.

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

David Drake is a writer living in New York City. Follow him on Twitter at @somanyshrimp.

Producer: DJ Spinz and Southside

Future had a tough year. Honest felt like a half-measure, unable to quite reconcile roots and crossover as ably as he'd managed to build his buzz in the first place. It may not be his fault; this is a notoriously difficult time for rappers to "make it" as album artists. But Monster, which dropped back in the fall, has steadily rebuilt Future's rep with a consistent selection of club-oriented records. One of the most immediate and an early favorite among his fans is “Fuck Up Some Commas,” which features a sudden laser sound effect slicing through the air every few bars—although it always feels like a few bars longer than you expect. This has been gaining buzz over the past few months, and got a video in late November; here's hoping it continues to rise, although a song called “Fuck Up Some Commas” might struggle on terrestrial radio.

Producer: OZ and The MeKanics

Over a sparse Harry Fraud-style beat with table-knock percussion and a two-note saxophone crying in the background, French and Fab bring the right balance of melancholic nostalgia and laconic confidence to motivate you to fix your situation. Ring in 2015 with the waviest record this side of Max B's conviction.

Producer: Izze the Producer

Rich Homie Quan's “Blah Blah Blah” has been out for a million and one years (OK, it came out at the end of 2013), but it's finally beginning to get some traction nationally. (To see the bumpy fate of the song as a single, check the strange V-shaped Google trends graph.) But as of December, it has a lyric video up on RichHomieQuanVEVO, and a recent remix that finds Ty Dolla rhyming “Ball out on these hoes” with “Balls out on these hoes.” With the success of Rich Gang, everyone's begun to recognize the real dimension Quan has as an artist, so there's never been a better time for him to hit with a surefire record.

Producer: Galimatias

A friend compared this record to a Tampax commercial, which is fair if you don't think of it as a criticism. It starts out like a Chillout Lounge 2015 CD—you know the ones, with an airbrushed Barbie cartoon on the front cover surrounded by puffy clouds—but then the rhythm kicks in and you realize you're underneath the palm trees too, which isn't a bad way to be. Something about the record's quirky, glitchy cod-reggae feel is reminiscent of songs like D.R.A.M.'s “Cha Cha” or some of the more experimental work from Chance the Rapper. It's a gauzily dreamy kind of escapism, ideal music for envisioning a sunny vacation on a frigid January day.

Producer: Big Fruit and A.P.

K Camp has thus far had an odd career, with one undeniable but somewhat aggravating smash (“Cut Her Off”) and an unparalleled ability to end up on every and anybody else's hit record or remix, despite not really having landed a personality on anyone's radar. His latest single, “Lil Bit,” is his best to date; over a gentlemanly buzzsaw synth, K Camp raps with dense precision and throws together a catchy, insistent hook about drinking a little bit, smoking a little bit, adopting everyday sayings into a catchy chorus format.

Producer: Remo the Hitmaker

Jeremih is busy: Not only did he run the summer with “Don't Tell Em,” but he had the single best track off Nicki Minaj's Pinkprint in this writer's always-correct opinion. He's also got an incoming smash with newcomer Natalie La Rose, a Mustard-type record that interpolates Whitney Houston's melody from “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” But perhaps his best record—and it really is his by a ratio of like 70/30—is French Montana's “Bad Bitch.” Perhaps I'm projecting in part from the newsroom's portentous mood, but the production here feels like a dark turn from the sunny L.A. party vibes of My Krazy Life-era Mustard to a slightly more paranoiac, anxious atmosphere. The melody, if not written by Ty Dolla $ign, certainly sounds indebted to him, and the beat, by Reemo the Hitmaker, is an odd little synth-symphony, in which keyboard lines descend in threatening little circles.

Producer: Nic Nac

After Tyga got bumped from the original “Truffle Butter” (“Whatcha Say”), he probably went hunting for a similar vibe. “Loyal” producer Nic Nac delivered, his production replete with an echoing “I neeeed you” helium vocal (sample undetermined). Meanwhile, Tyga and Chris Brown act all kinds of arrogant (“I'm trynna fuck Coco, this don't concern Ice” —Chris Brown) over this guaranteed future hit off the duo's upcoming Fan of a Fan 2. For a serious argument over whether Chris Brown should have recorded this record with Kid Ink instead, check the YouTube comments section. Luckily the song is a crisp, warm-weather pop soundtrack that, if it lasts long enough, will soundtrack 2,000 spring break celebrations.

Producer: Dav and Don

You'd be forgiven for thinking Roscoe Dash was finished. His biggest hit, “All the Way Turnt Up,” dropped in 2010, and though he nailed a few guest spots since that time—there's no question he was the real reason Waka Flocka's “No Hands” became a major charting record—he's surfaced only rarely over the past few years, remembered fondly but with an even lower profile than former affiliates​ Travis Porter. “Shittin”—presumably the radio version will be called “Hittin”—displays the same undeniable melodic gift of Dash's best records, and drapes his sing-song vocals in synthesized arpeggios while riding a thumping après-Mustard uptempo groove. This just hit the Internet days ago, but the gooey harmonies at the chorus suggest it's not done yet, no it ain't done yet, no it ain't done. The most outright catchy record on this entire list.

Producer: Chief Keef

While a not-insubstantial portion of Complex's readership has been convinced Keef is “washed” for some time, in retrospect it looks more like a strategic retreat: twisting away from his 2012 sound, which artists like OT Genasis, Bobby Shmurda, and Fetty Wap (see the “Hallelujah” flow on “679”) have built upon, Keef continued to flourish on a smaller platform outside the mainstream spotlight. His style over the past two years has evolved into something not unlike Gucci's or Max B's at earlier points in their careers, as streams of music pours out on mixtapes and—in Keef's case—YouTube, crafting their own universes and forcing the fans to come to them. But surely this is still part of a grand decline from his 2012 emergence? Time will tell, but “Faneto,” from last year's underrated Back From the Dead 2, has become an unexpected—and very atypical-sounding—minor hit, one with serious momentum.

It became more apparent to those who'd written him off over the weekend, when a Vine of Chicago's College Craze 3 party showed a crowd jumping and rapping along to the record even though Keef wasn't in the building. “Faneto” is an odd little record, not the least because he threatens to blow up the state of New Jersey in response to an attempted chain snatching. Keef's self-produced beat feels like a '70s flick set in a stereotypical Chinatown, and at certain points, the drums drop out entirely for long periods before slamming back in with stabbing force, his ad-libs echoing in the background as the drums beat out a hypnotic pattern. It's definitely a turn-up record, but with an unconventional structure and style.

Producer: Maya Jane Coles and Nineteen85

Back in September, when putting together October's edition of “Bout to Blow,” I came across a record by the K.I.D. Heat, Mally Mall, Drake, and Tyga called “Watcha Say,” which had a couple hundred thousand views on YouTube. To separate itself from the pack of similar uptempo radio rap records, producer Nineteen85—also responsible for Drake's “0-100”—flipped U.K. house producer Mary Jane Coles' “What They Say.” It definitely had a novel sound, but September was a busy month for hip-hop, with records from Kendrick, Jeezy, et al, and I passed on it.

Since that time, a concerted effort has been made to erase it from the Internet, as the entire song has apparently been purchased by Young Money for Nicki's The Pinkprint as an iTunes bonus track. With the added star power boost—this one is clearly intended for radio, with guest spots from Wayne and Drake—“Truffle Butter” is set to take over for the foreseeable​ future. The ghosted vocal sample adds a new texture to the post-Mustard club record, and suggests there's still a lot of variation left to squeeze from this simple template.