In the UK, grime and rap have been ever growing and increasingly popular genres of music amongst much of the adolescent and young adult scene and there does not appear to be any signs of it slowing down any time soon.
Football has always been a cultural reference for many people when taking to discussion as it is a topic a vast majority of the male population know about, with the female section continuing to increase year-on-year. Those discussions could be about to restart as well as punters will start to be able to search for the best bets available on online-betting.org with the sport returning to our screens gradually.
However, it appears the sport is hugely popular amongst those that are talented enough to produce hit grime and rap records in the UK, with many taking inspiration from some of the game’s greats and name-dropping them in their lyrics. Some even go one step further, and title the song after the individual in question.
Here are just a few artists that have mixed these two different cultures into one…
#1 – Dave and AJ Tracey – ‘Thiago Silva’
At the time, two of the UK’s brightest talents, Dave & AJ Tracey, collaborated together to produce the hit record about Thiago Silva. Donning PSG shirts throughout their music video about the Brazilian superstar, the duo went on to become hugely successful in their own right with a number of smash hits. The song Thiago Silva was also thrust into the spotlight in 2019 after a Glastonbury performance by some lad called Alex went viral and was spotted by the Samba star on Twitter.
#2 – Afro B ft. WizKid – ‘Drogba’
Chelsea legend Didier Drogba inspired Afro B and WizKid to produce this hit track back in 2018, with Afro B paying homage to the Ivorian as he revealed he wanted to promote the Ivory Coast to the UK market and maybe felt the forward was the best reference he could use to do that.
#3 – AJ Tracey – ‘False’
AJ Tracey just loves to use footballers as a topic in his song lyrics, as ‘False’ was jam-packed with a number of the game’s biggest players. Carlos Puyol, Eric Dier, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Luis Figo, Christian Eriksen, Luka Modric, Isco, Didier Drogba, Mario Gotze, ‘Costa’ (which Genius believes to reference both Douglas Costa and Diego Costa), Joshua Onomah, Nathan Oduwa and Hugo Lloris were all given a mention.
#4 – Craig David – ‘Rendezvous’
Yes, even Criag David has got involved but took it to another level by using a player that many might not have thought to have used before, Luis Boa Morte. The ‘Rendezvous Re-Rub‘ featuring Blacksmith includes a rapped verse with the Portugese man’s name: “Tanya, look – I can sauté but foreplay’s my forte, gonna score more ways than Luis Boa Morte”.
#5 – Kurupt FM – ‘It’s a Kuruption Ting’
Back in 2017, Kurupt FM managed to name drop both Eric Cantona and Bruce Grobbelaar at the end of their rap ‘It’s a Kuruption Ting’. They reference the French forward’s kick-out against a Crystal Palace fan, before quickly using the Zimbabwean goalkeeper as a reference about saving them. Ingenious!
#6 – Shaybo – ‘Anger’
2020 hit ‘Anger’ from Shaybo features Cantona as well, however she also manages to find a way to name-check Chelsea legend and current manager, Frank Lampard. The lyric goes: “If he balling like Lampard. Umm, ah, Cantona. Ooh, ah, Cantona”.
