Two hip hop tracks that say a lot about who these artists are. A Texas video universe built around cinematic Southern rap, and a London UK-rap track born from a year sober and choosing ambition over the bar.
Ajoshd – Ballin’ Outta Control
Ajoshd built a full fake sports broadcast universe around Ballin’ Outta Control, the kind of swing only a fully self-produced Texas hip-hop artist with this much vision attempts.
Ballin’ Outta Control is taken from Ajoshd’s album TEJAS, but the video is the centerpiece. The visual constructs a fully produced fictional sports media universe around his THC (The Hodge Council) brand, complete with fake broadcast network segments, post-game press conferences, locker room scrums, courtside arena interviews, and a visual language soaked in Texas cultural identity from start to finish. The production value is high, the concept is sharp, and the storytelling is cinematic in a way that’s rare for an independent artist at this level.
Ajoshd is a Texas-born, fully self-produced hip-hop artist whose work sits at the intersection of Southern rap, cinematic storytelling, and deep cultural identity. With his TEJAS album he fuses raw Southern grit with haunting, Native American-inspired instrumentation. He’s collaborated with Big Tuck, OG Ron C, Mike G, Left Brain, TrackBangas, Rakeem Miles, and OTR Sinco, opened for Maxo Kream, Glasses Malone, and Chris Patrick, and shared headliner billing with the legendary Z-RO. Carving out a lane entirely his own.
Naviyah – Sippin On Dat
Naviyah’s Sippin On Dat is UK rap born from a year sober: gritty, infectious, and the strongest case yet for the female-version-of-Giggs comparison she keeps getting.
Sippin On Dat showcases Naviyah’s gritty UK rap authenticity wrapped in infectious energy. The track came out of a transformative period when she gave up smoking and drinking, finding strength through Christian faith after baptism, sober for an entire year, and captures the pivotal moment of choosing ambition in her music career over indulgence and drunken nights with the home boys and home girls. Producer 1995’s (Anthony Cruz) instrumental was the right canvas for her style. Marcel Somerville called it ‘an absolute banger.’
Naviyah is a London-based British Jamaican Nigerian rapper, singer, songwriter with a sound that pulls from hip-hop, rap, pop, R&B, reggae, dancehall and Afrobeats, embracing her Caribbean and African roots while pushing a positive message rooted in faith and lived experience. Her father was a top UK producer and engineer who worked with Liberty X, Blue, Mis-Teeq, S Club 7 and Leona Lewis, and Naviyah’s been in motion since her 2018 debut EP Change. It’s basically a banger, and you should check it out below.