Bobby, Magic! surprise Billboard
RUDE, the chart-topping reggae song by Canadian band Magic!, and Hot Boy by rapper Bobby Shmurda, have been selected among Billboard Magazine’s ‘The 10 Most Surprising Breakout Hits of 2014’.
Magic!, who some music critics liken to groundbreaking British band The Police, are from Toronto. They had a near two-month stay at number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles chart with Rude, easily their biggest hit to date.
According to Jason Lipshutz of Billboard, Rude is “the coalescing of several unstoppable hooks in a ditty about flipping off your bride-to-be’s grumpy dad. Rude” didn’t sound like anything else this year, and no one saw it coming — but that was half the fun of its takeover.”
The band is scheduled to perform at the January 29-31 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival.
Shmurda (given name Ackquille Jean Pollard) also did well with Hot Boy which entered the Hot 100’s Top 10. Born in Florida to a Jamaican father and Trinidadian mother, he hit with a song that was enhanced by a move named the Shmoney Dance.
“Unknown rappers bubble up with white-hot beats and massive hooks all the time, but few escape urban radio and captivate the mainstream quite like Bobby Shmurda has done in 2014. “Hot Boy” (or “Hot N –a” if you’re all about that unedited life) has no chorus to speak of, but its life as a Vine phenomenon, the viral-ready Shmoney Dance (performed by Beyonce at a stadium concert), countless remixes (Juicy J, T.I. and, Jeezy among the culprits) and (most importantly) Shmurda’s ballistic flow over Jahlil Beats’ production turned the song into a Top 10 hit on the Hot 100 chart. As Bobby’s heroes reworked his hit, they looked up at his chart placement and crossover success, and must have felt a twinge of jealousy,” Lipshutz wrote. Hot Boy has a reggae remix with Junior Reid, Popcaan, Mavado and Jah X.
OTHER SONGS ON THE ‘BREAKOUT’ LIST ARE:
• Let it Go (Ida Menzel)
• Latch (Disclosure with Sam Smith)
• We Might Be Dead by Tomorrow (Soko)
• Boom Clap (Charli XCX)
• Turn Down For What (DJ Snake and Lil Jon)
• Habits (Stay High) Tove Lo
• Am I Wrong (Nico and Vinz)
• Tuesday (iLoveMakonnen featuring Drake)