‘Hold Up’ has a great beat and immediately comes across as a very authentic and classic bit of hip-hop. The vibe set by the sound is crisp and heavy, the rhythm and flow of the vocals fits brilliantly with the whole movement of the music, and all in all it’s a striking track with a lot of attitude. It sounds great at full volume.
The production is creative and classic all at once.
The sound has a flawless polish to it that lets you hear everything at one, the haunting, descending riff, the thick beat, the vocal choruses and the rhythm of these, the synth sounds and the bass. Everything plays its part and nothing seems wasted or out of place.
There’s also an effective break at around two minutes twenty, the music falls away a little, the focus is on the voice and the lyrics, and the flow is on point – energetic and skilful, with the perfect amount of character and confidence for this sort of music.
Some of the lyrics are interesting, there’s no singular line that particularly stands out, but as you listen to the hook’s repeated terms, it does come across as unique and extraordinary in some ways. The riff that repeats throughout is probably the thing that gives the song most of its personality.
The voices do as well, to a great extent, and the way these have been mixed in is massively stylish and appealing, but the riff is what you take away from it after listening. Tracks like this need a riff that haunts you and stays in your mind in order to make their mark.
The rhythm too is something that is extremely addictive and enjoyable, and this will likely keep audiences pressing play time and time again.
By Rebecca Cullen
Rebecca is a Musician and writer from Manchester, UK, with an MA in Song Writing.
