Introducing: Blanco
With his latest release ‘Brilliant Mind’ amassing over 20 million streams and peaking at the 66th spot in the UK singles charts, Blanco is breaking grounds as a drill pioneer turned genre bending rap innovator. Now with this commercial success and BBC Radio 1 support, the always-experimenting, never-compromising Blanco is setting his sights higher with his next project, slated for release this year.
Inspired by the nascent drill sounds emanating from US pioneers Lil Jay, Chief Keef, and Rondo Numba Nine, Blanco first came to prominence with his leading role in renowned drill collective Harlem Spartans — featuring on one of the most iconic drill offerings to date “Kennington Where It Started” alongside Bis, Active and MizOrMac. Over the last five years, the single has racked up over 15M Spotify streams and 20M YouTube views on the official video.
With critical attention from countless tastemakers including NME, BILLBOARD, COMPLEX UK, WONDERLAND MAGAZINE, BBC SPORT, CLASH, GRM DAILY and TRENCH, Blanco now finds himself in the very top echelons of the breaking UK rap scene and promises plenty more music over the coming year.
With his debut project City of God proving a landmark moment in UK drill, appropriating Brazilian Baile Funk instrumentals to his unique flow, Blanco has found himself on the very forefront of a cultural shift in the rap scene. A unique body of work boasting features from the likes of Central Cee, K-Trap, Loski and NSG, the project demonstrated Blanco’s global musicality and mindset, as well as an innate ability to stretch his bars across innovative sounds. City of God would go on to amass well over 62M Spotify streams and counting.
A singular artist forging a reputation as the future of UK rap, and with a brand-new project on the way, Blanco’s multi-faceted ability and global vision continues to mark him as one of the most significant and thrilling names in the UK scene right now.
