Music
25 London Anthems
D Double E, Ray BLK, Craig David, Chase & Status and more choose the track that captures London for them.
What does it mean for a song to define a city – especially one as sprawling and multi-faceted as London? Is it defined by the genres that emerge from its high rises; the lyrics written about the joy and the pitfalls of living on its streets, or simply the memories you make there?
As Red Bull Music Festival came to London for the very first time, Red Bull celebrated by posing that question to some of the the UK's outstanding artists, writers, and DJs . Their answers run the breadth of London's finest – with grime, garage, drum'n'bass and jazz all represented.
Read to the bottom to find out which track readers of RedBull.com voted the ultimate London anthem.
1. Scott Garcia – It’s A London Thing
Picked by: D Double E and Jammer
D Double E: It was out in the garage days. I love that track. When I was vibing and listening to the radio, that tune really used to remind me of where I am, and the scene I’m in.
Jammer: That’s what London sounds like, know what I mean? If you’re driving down the street... it’s not just about genre, it’s about the texture and sound of the music, and where it puts your head. The bassline – that’s London. The London scene only became successful when we became patriotic as everybody else. I follow UK culture in general. I know what it’s like to be in a squat rave, I know what it’s like to be in a concert, I know what it’s like to be in a badman dance with bare showerman in there, I know what it feels like to live life on the edge, but also be comfortable. So all the feelings. When I look at music, I look at it like, where I was and how I felt. London right now is the most influential city in the world in music.
2. Adele – Hometown Glory
Ray BLK: Hometown Glory reminds me of summertime in London, and inspired my south London anthem My Hood. I first heard it when I was using Limewire as a teenager, and it downloaded a whole heap of songs I had never heard, and that one really caught my attention. I ended up performing it as part of a school showcase.
Hamzaa: There’s beauty in how simple the song is. Her voice tells the story. It’s an honest and truthful story of where she’s from.
3. AJ Tracey – Ladbroke Grove
Picked by: Amelia Dimoldenberg, Chicken Shop Date
Amelia Dimoldenberg: The first thing that came to mind was a track by AJ Tracey – mainly because he won't stop texting me, but also because he has an incredibly catchy song about the love of his life... me! Joking, it's Ladbroke Grove. My first ever job was in Ladbroke Grove. I worked at the American Apparel on Portobello Road. Absolutely hated it. Now, whenever I hear the song, it sometimes evokes painful memories of folding disco pants. But usually I'm reminded of all the great times I've spent with west London's finest MC – eg, one day I was walking down Portobello with my parents and literally bumped into him. It was fantastic. My mum still talks about it regularly (as do I).
4. Giggs – Talkin Da Hardest
Picked by: Femi Koleoso, Ezra Collective; Yomi Adegoke, journalist and author; Yizzy
Femi Koleoso: It's our national anthem. Find me a 21 to 30-year-old that went to school in London that can't touch mic and deal with at least one verse, word for word. An iconic song. “Covered in red like a portion of chips”. JHEEEEEZZEEEE!
Yomi Adegoke: If we’re keeping it all the way real, this is more specifically the sound of South London. The song came out before Giggs (or Hollowman, as he was also known back then) was reinvented, from the ‘Narm boogeyman who scared half of my school shitless to the smiley, nice-guy rapper we all know and love now (as one YouTube commenter aptly put it, "Giggs of '09 would rob Giggs of today").
Before iconic lines from the track became well-known in the mainstream, they were immortalised by the SN1 Wear clothing label he sold himself in Peckham’s indoor market; like the 00s ubiquity of the Boy Better Know top in ends, you’d see girls in diamanté ”Talk to me darling" tees and leather-look leggings emblazoned with “Ummmm” across the bum. The song also spawned various remixes and iterations, a personal favourite being the Brixton take on it by Tempman featuring Lox. Giggs has gone on to make several bangers, but his legacy is heavily tied up in this South London tune that can make a rave go mad anywhere.
Yizzy: This song showcases exactly what raw, uncensored London is all about. It’s dark, it’s gritty, it’s catchy – it can come on at any club in the capital and almost everyone will know the lyrics.
5. Sticky feat. Ms Dynamite – Booo!
Picked by: Alicai Harley
Alicai Harley: For me, this captures living in the UK. It gives me a very nostalgic feeling, it’s a track that’s filled with so much vibe and energy, just like London. And obviously, Ms Dynamite gives me the full Caribbean flavours all over it.
6. The Streets – Weak Become Heroes
Picked by: Nimmo
Nimmo: We’ve ended lots of parties with this track. It’s one of those tunes that lyrically sits in parallel to so many of our experiences in London. It’s seminal because of how well it captured the world surrounding pub and club culture in the UK, which is basically how we learnt everything we know about music.
7. Tina Moore – Never Gonna Let You Go
Picked by: Craig David
Craig David: Never Gonna Let You Go – that song was the soundtrack when the whole UK garage thing was starting to happen. I was coming up to London doing songs for pirate radio stations, and early on, garage was only being played on pirate – there was no platform for it on Capital FM or Radio 1. But all of a sudden, people were literally calling up the radio asking for Rewind, or going up to DJs and requesting these songs – and the next thing you know these same tracks were hitting the top of the charts. When garage was just on the cusp of it all blowing up, Never Gonna Let You Go was the song that was pumping in the background. To see the genre force its way to the mainstream so organically – and also to have been a part of that – shit, that was something special!
8. Babyfather – Bubble
Picked by: Shannen SP, Hyperdub
Shannen SP: Me and my friends would bang this in the car driving across London at night, everyone singing along. It's a Babyfather rework of Mary J Blige, Be Without You, with DJ Escrow hosting the track. I have a nice memory of playing this while we drove across London Bridge.
9. Double 99 feat. Top Cat – Ripgroove
Picked by: Nabihah Iqbal
Nabihah Iqbal: I love this track because, as well as having quite a strong nostalgic element for me, I just get blown away by the effect it has on a crowd if I drop it during one of my DJ sets. What's special about this track it that it sparks energy not only in a London/UK crowd that understands the context of the music; it also always injects the same energy into crowds that may not be as familiar. I recently dropped the track in Yekaterinburg, a Russian city in the Ural mountains, close to Kazakhstan, and the crowd reaction was insane. Being a Londoner and being able to share music from my city in such settings feels very special and humbling because it demonstrates the power of music, and holds testament to the city's energy.
10. Dizzee Rascal – Graftin
Picked by: Swindle
Swindle: Because if you live in London, you know about graft! I like how Dizzee speaks from his London perspective – that's the real local London language. Plus, the rumble bass sound reminds me of a very classic jungle sound – a new London tradition, I guess. Stand up LDN!
11. Tempa T – Next Hype
Picked by: Connie Constance
Connie Constance: This song soundtracked my teen house parties. It’s iconic to my generations culture. I remember learning all the lyrics with my older brother when he used to pick me up from school and also the whole crowd from house parties to my youth up to this day going absolutely madderz in the rave.
12. Alex Reece – Pulp Fiction
Picked by: Saul Milton, Chase & Status
Saul Milton: A tune that really encapsulated that spirit of London in the mid to late ‘90s. It came out on Metalheadz, right around the time that Goldie was doing his nights at the Blue Note, and you’d get David Bowie coming down, and standing in the DJ booth, listening to drum’n’bass and jungle. I have memories of going out late at night, driving around in friend’s cars around the west end or going out to some warehouse. Pulp Fiction sounded great in those situations. It had that atmospheric bassline, and that sense of moodiness, that real London moodiness.
13. Heartless Crew – The Heartless Theme
Picked by: Tiffany Calver, BBC Radio 1/1xtra
Tiffany Calver: I moved to London officially when I was 17, so all of the memories attached to the city mostly come from around Carnival time, or the summer, when we would drive down to visit family and friends. This track brings back so many memories for me, whether it’s my mum and her mates blasting it as we drove down the motorway with the windows down, the Rampage stage at Notting Hill Carnival, or just the vibe of summer in London.
14. Little Simz – 101 FM
Picked by: Femme Culture, label/DJ collective
Femme Culture: Not only does she narrate her past and childhood in terms of how the London music scene and its artists evolved throughout the years, which would be captivating enough – on this track, Simz also does it in the most eloquent and soulful way possible, and whilst paying tribute to the London radio culture. All hail Little Simz, bringing together London’s past and present with just one great track.
15. Light Of The World – London Town
Picked by: Emma-Jean Thackray
Emma-Jean Thackray: We played this song at the end of Dreaming The City – a joint show from Total Refreshment Centre and Boiler Room at the Barbican. It was such a magical night, where this new London jazz scene that had developed around its home at Total Refreshment Centre in Stoke Newington collided with these bigger platforms, and we could all see how we weren't just the little TRC family anymore, it had scope and importance beyond what any of us had realised.
Everyone got up on stage for this tune. Lex Blondin was at the front of the stage grinning and dancing, not only cos he picked such a great tune to end the evening, but because of the magnitude of we'd all done that night and what the scene had grown into. I'd actually just come from another gig at the Roundhouse earlier that evening, and ran across town for my bit in the last hour of the Barbican show, and was so gassed off what an amazing place London can be. Always alive, always crazy, home. When things are going well in London, it's the best place in the world.
16. Justice – Genesis
Picked by: Joshua James, resident at XOYO/Phonox
Joshua James: This record came out the year I moved to London, me and my mates were obsessed with it. It was even on my Myspace – cool right? I had yellow hair, a Westwood Suit and we shared a box of £3.50 wine and one shade of foundation between us. We heard it everywhere we went out – Durr, Boombox, Antisocial, Circus, The Ghetto. As soon as we heard it coming on, we’d open up a bottle of poppers on the floor and dance around it – chic, I know. It’s a record that evokes memories of my early nightlife experiences in London. I went to my first Ed Banger party that year, it was my introduction into massive clubs. Those times were so impactful on the way I now play and produce. When I realised it wasn’t just us gays who played electro, the world opened up!
17. J Hus – Did You See
Picked by: Hardy Caprio
Hardy Caprio: There have been so many moments that reflect London. Talkin Da Hardest is London, so is Touch Ah Button by Sneakbo – I feel like we’ve all gotten snapshots of London at a particular time. There’s even Did You See by J Hus, and Shut Up (Freestyle) too. You even have the small, local bangers that meant a lot to a specific area. If you’re going to ask me for one, I’d say Did You See – it just ushered in a whole new style, it was like a ‘we are here’ moment.
18. Treble Clef – Ghetto Kyote
Picked by: Moses Boyd
Moses Boyd: To me, musically, this track is so London: the off-kilter drum patterns, the DIY-ness of the production, the spareness and coldness to the melody/instrumental just feels like London, or at least the London I grew up in. It's incredible how much this song connected to all kids on the playground when I was younger. It truly brought people together from all walks of life; that's London for me.
19. DJ Zinc – 138 Trek
Picked by: Reuben Dangoor, artist
Reuben Dangoor: A mate's older brother was a pirate radio DJ (Function FM RIP), and we would sometimes go and hang out at the station on a moody block in North London and listen to him play a set. I remember clearly thinking I'd never heard anything like it before. I'd just hit my teens, and this track was definitely part of the soundtrack of growing up in London.
20. Bashy – Black Boys
Picked by: Haile, WSTRN
Haile: This song was encouraging, as a black boy coming from London. When he bigs up all the artists in the song, it reminds me of the legacy I come from.
21. Bagga Worries – Ride De Punaany
Picked by: Gabriel, The Heatwave
Gabriel: Every London raver knows and loves this tune, I've never seen it not get a reaction in a club. But Bagga Worries is a complete mystery, which just heightens the intrigue.
As much as I enjoy piecing together the references to places in Jamaica like Matthews Lane and Waterhouse, I grew up in Islington and Hackney, so I love the lyrics about shopping in Finsbury Park and Ridley Road. Of course, there's a jungle remix, and Giggs sampled the hook a few years back, both testament to its enduring status as an anthem.
22. Plastician ft Jammz – London Living
Picked by: Sicaria Sound
Sicaria Sound: When thinking about London anthems, there's really only a handful of tracks or MCs that immediately spring to our mind.
This track was one that did the rounds in a fair few sets back in 2015, and remains present within sets to this day, and you can fully hear why. With Plastician on the buttons and Jammz on mic, they managed to concoct a low-end track to highlight the stereotypes of London that thoroughly resonate with many of the city's natives. Say no more.
23. Soulwax – E Talking (Nite Version)
Picked by: Rachael, DJ and booker at Rye Wax
Rachael: I moved to London in 2007 and I’m honestly so lucky because I caught the tail-end of a special moment in our city’s nightlife history. I want to raise a can of lukewarm beer to it all. From Girlcore to Trailer Trash, to Squallyoaks squat parties, to the days before Instagram when everyone would turn a look but no one cared how sweaty or gross they got. To grimy car park raves and leaving at 8am with black knees where you’ve been cotching in corners with mates. Part of the weekend never dies.
24. Ghetts – London
Picked by: Kenny Allstar, 1XTRA/Mad About Bars
Kenny Allstar: This song encapsulates the cultures from each side of London. Ghetts takes me on a journey of his experiences across the capital. Something the older and younger residents of London can relate to.
25. Wiley x Sean Paul x Stefflon Don ft Idris Elba – Boasty
Picked by: Lisa Maffia, So Solid Crew
Lisa Maffia: A great collaboration of London artists – and Sean Paul, lol. When it's played in a dance you just have to move. The bass, the bars – just insane! It doesn't matter what genre of music you like, this puts a smile on everyone's face.
Red Bull put 16 of the above songs in a knockout poll on Twitter – and you voted Giggs' Talkin Da Hardest the Ultimate London Anthem.
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