Item: Pitchfork London Festival 2025
Rating: 8
Author: Rap Fan

A few weeks ago, an article from Billboard went viral: NO RAP SONGS ARE IN THE BILLBOARD HOT 100’S TOP 40 FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1990. The title hit the top page of r/hiphopheads and was shared by your usual rap “influencers” on twitter. “It’s so wild how much rap has fell off compared to 10 or so years ago.” read one comment. “It’s stagnant and uninteresting,” said another. “Country took over. Rap has been dead for a while.”

With my favourite genre clearly on its last legs, I made my way to London’s Colour Factory for rapper MIKE’s 10k Global label showcase.

I arrived during RedLee’s DJ set, the instantly recognisable high-pitched voice of 454 setting the mood for the day. Championing the weirder corners of the scene, RedLee blasted through some of the coolest tracks in the underground while the room quickly filled — a great way to open the day’s proceedings.

Live acts Duendita, Jespfur and South London’s Jadasea followed. With each artist getting around 20 minutes, it was hard to fully settle into any single set, but the variety and talent on show were undeniable, going from experimental R&B to shoegaze to UK rap within an hour.

Next up was Anysia Kim, the R&B artist who, alongside producer Tony Seltzer, has been melding breakbeats into her futuristic sound. Her set was sullied by a few technical issues, with her mic occasionally drowned out by the beat, but the crowd still came through, giving the breakout artist a great reception.

Niontay then took the stage, donning a menacing hockey mask and drawing a huge reaction from the crowd. His excellent album Fada<3of$ is one of my favourite rap releases this year, and hearing bangers like “32ummers” and “Triggerman” live was a thrill. Niontay didn’t miss a beat, and the energy levels went up a notch, setting us up perfectly for the headliner.

Not much is known about 10k Global. The label, managed by Naavin Karimbux and Abraham El Makawy, doesn’t function like a typical imprint. As Niontay himself puts it, “I guess we’re a label? Because we drop music and shit? But I don’t know if that makes us a label, necessarily [...] if we all stopped making music tomorrow, [...] we’d all still be best friends.” (source). That ethos — and perhaps MIKE’s own humble nature — meant he was only left with around 20 minutes for his set.

Wasting no time, he launched straight into it, rattling off classics from his back catalogue like “Man in the Mirror,” alongside newer bangers such as “Prezzy.” We were even treated to a couple of unreleased tracks. After a blistering 20 minutes, and seeing MIKE, RedLee, Niontay and Sideshow all on stage, with the crowd throwing up hearts, I stood there and thought to myself: if hip-hop is dying, long may it continue.