After a slew of collaborations and live sets in the first half of 2021, Western Sydney rapper Phi11a has finally delivered his first track of the year, ‘Riot’.
‘Riot’ is an aptly-titled emo-trap track, where Phi11a delivers empassioned bars over a haunting melody and crunchy guitars, reminiscent of both Juice WRLD and Machine Gun Kelly.
The release of ‘Riot’ follows on from his two tracks released at the end of last year, ‘I Try’ and ‘Dirty Dancer’.
Listen to ‘Riot’ below.
Speaking on the inspiration of the song, Phi11a explained a hypothetical, “You miss your bus, didn’t have time to get a coffee, girlfriend dumped you, someone bumped you and didn’t apologise, someone cut you in line, $7.00 in your account and microwave meals are $9.00, then you realise you’re a week late on rent.
“What are you gonna do?.. RIOT!”
Last week, Phi11a announced his debut nationwide headline tour in support of the single. Kicking off the beginning at the next month, Phi11a will be playing shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Wollongong, with tickets on sale now.
The tour will mark the first major live performance of Phi11a’s since he made his festival debut at Yours & Owls back in March.