Now that we're 51.78% of the way through calendar year 2009, it seemed appropriate to hit you with a post commemorating our arrival at and passage of the halfway point.
Rap's been fragmented for a long time. That's nothing new. Niche audiences have abounded for years, and this large set of disparate audiences has only amplified the success of universal stars like Kanye West. In an era when the hip-hop constituency is no longer monolithic and easier to reach but harder to control, the few transcendent personalities who seem to matter among a majority of rap communities deserve credit for this mass appeal. Which is not to say that their music is beyond criticism, or that they're even especially good. Acknowledging their ubiquity is just that: simple recognition.
I've returned to the fractured hip-hop populace again and again this year because 2009 has yet to see a cohesive musical element emerge. Whatever consensus there is in rap music appears weak at best. The artists who usually sway large groups have momentarily receded. We don't even really have a song of the summer, and it's already the second week of July. At the moment, the prevailing hip-hop sense seems to be whatever you'll make it. Not a bad thing, necessarily, but worth noting, anyway.
As always, a few caveats:
- Things may change between now and December 31st.
- My taste, like yours, is not static.
- Songs may be dapped up for all kinds of reasons.
- All lists are in alphabetical order, by artist.
Let's do it...
45 Best Songs of the First 189
- 50 Cent, "Tia Told Me" - 50 is a complete douche, and his routine gets tedious. The phony beefs, the media spectacles--all of it. But he is a savvy practitioner, and this joint was pretty funny. Now, it even seems timely, given Michael Jackson's passing.
- Al Be Back ft. Naledge and 88-Keys, "Walk on By" - Not really sold on Al Be, but Naledge and 88-Keys work this beat nicely.
- Big Scen ft. Sean Price, "Broke as Fuck" - Sean P, as gutter as it gets, rapping about being from the gutter? Yessir.
- The Black Lips ft. GZA, "Drop I Hold" - I think the Black Lips are some kind of indie-rock sensation (I don't listen to that music), and I am not sure what bloggers are supposed to say about them. But whatever: I love the washed out sound and the melodramatic moaning
- Busta Rhymes ft. Uncle Murda, "Director's Cut" - Some Coming-era Busta, at least in overall feel and aesthetic.
- Cam'ron, "Cookin' Up" - Crime Pays was a letdown. Everything sounded like Cam-lite. "Cookin'" was among the few that approached the sound and quality for which one might have hoped. And it has my favorite diss: "Killa/You Andre Miller/Got a basic game." In the same verse about being the Black Gallagher.
- Cappadonna ft. Lounge Lo and Ghetto Philharmonic, "Somebody's Got to Go" - You didn't even know Cap put out new music this year, did you? The lazy, soulful horn piece is just ill.
- The Cool Kids, "Cinnamon" - Captures what the Cool Kids do, for better and for worse. Laid back, inward focused, almost spacey in its playful rhyming.
- DJ JS-1 ft. Craig G, AG, and Ed O.G., "Original G'z" - This is what it sounds like in my mind when I remember being 12 years old.
- Drake ft. Elzhi and Phonte, "Think Good Thoughts" - Not "Hoe Cakes," but that may be an unfair standard. Phonte and Elzhi remain two of the better rappers. I love hearing not just their rhymes, but how they pick out the images they'll use in similes. Dudes are perspicacious and engaged.
- The Dream, "I'm Not OK" - Wish it were on his album. Smooth joint easy to have on in the background, and yet emotionally engaging in the cheesiest way possible. A guilty-pleasure pick.
- Finale, "Heat" - So many elements go into this record--Finale's focused, intense flow; the cutting in between verses; Sean Price-like grunts; a tinny sound. Feels gritty, and very much of the D.
- Focus ft. Slum Village, Frank Nitty, and Illa J, "Homage to Dilla" - Speaking of Detroit...Focus just nails these homages, recreating signature sounds so well. This is cheating, in a way, but it's nice hearing S Villa over something Dilla-ish.
- Focus ft. Royce da 5'9", Phonte, and Stat Quo, "Homage to DJ Premier" - Not that you would forget, but it's staggering to consider what Premier has done for hip-hop.
- Focus ft. Big Pooh, Sha Stimuli, and Kurupt, "Homage to Pete Rock" - Those echoing horns....
- Freeway, "For the Money" - Whatever part of me still loves chipmunk soul can't get enough of the sample that drives the song's melody.
- The Game ft. Snoop Dogg, "On the Block" - Game does Game, sounding at home over production that is pleasantly generic. And Snoop's sing-song shit works over that Cheers-theme interlude.
- Ghostface Killah, "Forever" - Even when he's not being especially kind, Ghost manages to sound earnest and endearing.
- Jadakiss, "Magic City" - I admire the hardworking style of this track. Lyrical content aside, it's sort of bluecollar--stays at it, masters nothing but does many things well, and ultimately gets the job done.
- Jadakiss ft. Swizz Beatz, Eve, DMX, Styles P, Sheek Louch, and Drag-On, "Who's Real" - Double-R nostalgia!
- Jay Dee, "Coming Back" - Beautiful soundscape. Calls out for Elzhi.
- Jay Dee ft. Blu, "Smoke" - Kind of a dumb song, but immensely listenable, as Blu sounds great.
- Lee Bannon ft. Sha Stimuli, Skyzoo, and Donny Goines, "Volume" (O.G. Version) - I'm on record about why this song works so well. Such a great joint.
- Method Man & Redman ft. Bun B, "City Lights" - As he does for most of the album, Meth sounds a lot like he did back when he was most prominent. He's mellowed some, but he retains this air of cool control.
- MF Doom, "Gazzillion Ear" - Very Doom-ish, no?
- Mos Def ft. Slick Rick, "Auditorium" - Among the more engaging songs. Requires that you pay attention. And Rick's verse is particularly dope.- Mr. Hudson ft. Kanye West, "Supernova" - The musical equivalent of orange juice out of a can--it is weird, and it can almost be bad, yet something about it (Hudson's melodic whining; the metallic aftertaste) oddly calls you back.
- Nas, "Fear of Mandingo" - One of those quasi-intellectual Nas raps. This one is memorable for its blunt treatment of a topic usually skirted around.- Ne-Yo, "To Be Continued" - He might be a closet case, what with the endless scarves and rarely actually appearing in the same frame as the women in his videos, but whatever. Ne-Yo consistently makes great pop songs. This one is a little more mature and muted, which gives it some heft.
- Raekwon, "Resolution" - The rhyming is a little rote, but the words are bathed in a gorgeous soul sound that suits the strained, raspy, aged Rae Rae voice.- Raekwon ft. The Game, "Flashback Memories" - Game and Rae sound great over this woozy track. It's casually impressive.
- Raekwon ft. Method Man and Ghostface Killah, "Wu Ooh" - Best song of the year? Probably. So far. Meth marshals the troops and gets them ready to go in; Rae spits a dense coke-crime fantasy; Ghost gets energetic and cinematic; and Meth goes the extra mile by slaying his verse, controlling his cadence so well. Among the most fun songs.
- The Red Giants ft. Ilyas and Donwil, "Nati Niggaz" - Another track I've discussed. G-Funk isn't a bad look.
- Rick Rowss ft. The Game, Fat Joe, and Ja Rule, "Mafia Music" (Remix) - Yeah, they're all kind of idiotic and a little silly, but they do arm up pretty well using a sinister beat that is only missing Shyne.
- Ron Artest, "Michael, Michael" - Is there a more curious record? No.
- Royce da 5'9", "Count for Nothing" - The most furious rapper alive. He murders damn near everything.
- Serius Jones, "Help (I Been Robbed)" - Dude really rides this beat, and he infuses the tough talk with a knowing amusement that makes me think he was smiling while he rapped.
- Sha Stimuli ft. Ne-Yo, "I Miss You" - A nice, sincere, accessible song. Just wildly pleasant. Plus, Stimuli calls himself "corny," so that's not really much of a criticism to level against it.
- Slaughterhouse ft. M.O.P., "Woodstock" - Hardest rap track alive.
- Steve Porter, "Press Hop" - Hilarious. Can never get enough Dennis Green.
- Tanya Morgan ft. Blu, "Morgan Blu" - My own, personal summer joint. Put this on in the car and instantly feel good.
- U-God ft. Ghostface Killah and Scotty Wotty, "Train Trussle" - "Praise be to Allah!" I like any track that samples Mr. Tyson. And I like the Wu-ish sound that is revived on the track. You rockin' a shit bag!
- Usher, "What's a Guy Gotta Do" - Pharrell commands a certain production aesthetic that instantly evokes the sense that everyone should be wearing white. It's airy and breezy. It's fans blowing. It's natural light. It's twirls in the video. Basically, it's this song.
- Wale, "Penthouse Anthem" - Not sure why, but this kind of tugs at me.
- Wu-Tang Clan ft. Inspectah Deck, Sadat X, and U-God, "Sound the Horns" - Ever since Tribe's "Steve Biko," I've been a sucker for well-deployed horn riffs.
9 Worst Songs of the First 189 (Or, at Least, 9 Songs that Stuck with Me for Being Bad)
- Beyonce, "Diva" - The most annoying song I can remember, so grating, and repetitive, and noisy, and ugly. It would also be nice if Beyonce's voice didn't combine with the music to sound like shrieking.
- Busta Rhymes ft. Demarco and Jelly Roll, "We Miss You" - I felt like someone was raping my ear.
- Cam'ron ft. Vado, "Horror Story" - *shakes his head* What were they thinking? Honestly, what? Who thought this sounded good? To anyone? The only thing they got right was the title. Zing!
- Diddy ft. Ying Joc, "Diddy Bop" - What would happen if a reTARD read a keyword cloud on some hackneyed hip-hop site and then found his dad's synethsizer.
- Jeremih, "Birthday Sex" - If only we could rename this song "Boring as Fuck."
- Lil' Wayne's rock music
- Naledge, "Lovin' Ya Life" - This hurts, because I am a big Naledge fan, but the track was just off. It was shrill and the rhythm was stilted. Really not a good look.
- Peter Bjorn and John, "I'm Losing My Mind" - Sounds like a sad experiment in INXS imitation. Or something.
- Slim Thug ft. UGK, "Leaning" - Incredibly generic, sort of antiquated, and forever cursed by Pimp C's whiny, awful voice.
3 Most Disappointing Songs of the First 189
- The Clipse ft. Kanye West, "Kinda Like a Big Deal" - Once you get past that these dudes are kind of like a big deal, you're left with a lazy, bland song that is amazingly forgettable. And the Clipse, whom their fans consider to be masterful, sound pretty tame and unimaginative. Boring, really. The only unqualified positive is that Kanye doesn't sing into the computer.
- Jay-Z, "DOA" - More ground I've tread. A totally discursive, frivolous song that did little more than mask activity as accomplishment.
- Jay Dee ft. Havoc and Raekwon, "24K Rap" - It could have been cool. But the Dilla minimalism isn't carried by standout verses, or a proper relationship between beat and MCs. Instead, this is lifeless and stale, sounding too stitched together. Havoc kind of sucks these days, which is sad.
4 Artists Who've Won the First 189
- Drake - Dunny is everywhere. No? Dunny just signed with one of America's most beloved tatted-up midgets. No? Dunny's getting lots of radio play from a song he made last year. No? Dunny is linked to a grip of good-looking women. No? Life is good for the Drake.
- Raekwon - Rae is rapping well this year. His ever expanding catalogue of unofficial music has enjoyed a renaissance as he's recaptured an element of MC'ing that makes his verses lively. Set to a range of soulful, calm music, the reinvigorated Chef now seems like a sort of worn veteran who is comfortable in the role and eager to make meaningful music. OB4CL2 is probably the most important remaining rap thing of the year, and it wouldn't be were he in an artistic stupor.
- Rick Rowss - Despite running out of ammo against the relentless Mr. Curtis, an ignominious past that people, not least of all bloggers, won't allow him to forget, and his ever hulking bosom, Rowss has managed to scratch out a place at the big-boy (no pun intended) table. Thanks to a well-made record that compensated for medium-level raps with fantastic music, Ricky, inexplicable, seems credible for the time being. And his beef made him current, sadly.
- Royce da 5'9" - Most exciting rapper in the game. He bodies almost every track he gets on, and he combines that energy and intensity with impressive, intricate verse construction. Royce will never receive the credit he deserves, but he's charting a nice course right now, with Slaughterhouse, his relationship with Black Milk, and his excellent mixtapes.
7 Songs I've Kept on the iPod for Most of the First 189
- 50 Cent, "Play This on the Radio"
- Al Tariq, "Nikki"
- Jack Wilkins, "Red Clay"
- The Kinks, "Living on a Thin Line"
- The Lonely Island, "Who Said We're Wack"
- Love Unlimited Orchestra, "Theme from Together Brothers"
- Q-Tip, "Let's Ride"
4 Most Annoying Things about Rap in the First 189
- Drake - Hate the Drake. Well, not really, but I think he's overrated. His mixtapes are technically impressive but loaded with boring music. That sing-song shit he does is a little played, not only because it grows tedious but because it sounds too much like fad music. And, to be completely unfair, I can't get past his cookie-cutter professional background; it's hard to ride for a Degrassi rapper. Plus, his look is always off, be it his hair or his clothes.
- Internet MCs and the Website That Love Them - No shots are being fired. Let me be clear. I have great respect and admiration for the rap websites that serve as RSS feeds for the community. They are incredibly useful. I read them every day. But the downside of being so diligent in the coverage and so accepting of submissions is that rap music is becoming impossible to manage. Seemingly anyone with an mp3, an email address, and a headshot can wind up being promoted as a next big thing. Or as someone doing something worthwhile. The hype, and really just the unwarranted attention, is almost cumbersome. Sure, a reader can choose against certain posts and need not listen to every song put out by someone with a funny name who thinks it's cool to wear women's pants. However, the culture has changed, and the gates appear to have been flung wide open. It's democratic and incredibly cool in some respects. But it also encourages lax standards and empty product, and it's self-perpetuating.
Don't even get me started on the quasi-credible artists who can't release one effing album but can tweet all day and flood inboxes with new joints.
- Lil' Wayne as a non-rap expert - Not sure when this happened, but I blame Jennifer Lopez. In America, the people who run media companies seem to think that talent is fungible, so that if someone excels in one area, he can rely on this talent to morph into a new form that can be applied in another capacity. J-Lo's career is one of mediocre music, dancing, and acting, all of these disciplines self-reinforcing. Oh my, she sings, too! Feel me? Well, Wayne appears to be benefitting from similarly stupid thinking, what with his burgeoning rock career and his residency at ESPN as a supposed sports expert. It's embarrassing, to be honest.
- Living in St. Louis - Look, people, I don't really know what informs your taste, but it's regrettable, if not pathetic, that you seem happiest when every song on the radio is indistinguishable, with all of them sounding like "Stanky Legg"/"Bust It Wide Open" inbreeding.
5 Worst Albums of the First 189
- Alchemist, Chemical Warfare - The rapping is OK, and there are a few joints, but the production is almost antagonistic in its jagged, hard, dystopian sound. Really expected a cleaner iteration of the style, but this is grimy and noisy, albeit not always loud.
- Asher Roth, Asleep in the Bread Aisle - Whatever. He might be dead at this point, and I doubt it would even register anymore. Thank Jesus.
- DJ Drama, Gangsta Grillz, The Album, Vol. 2 - I listened to this several times and have almost no recollection of it. That can't be good.
- Eminem, Relapse - Sort of a sad album.- Maino, If Tomorrow Comes - I almost thought this was a joke when I first heard it, as though someone had to settle a bet about how unremarkable and forgettable a record could be.
3 Best Mixtapes of the First 189
- Rhymefest, The Manual
- Skyzoo, The Power of Words
- Wyclef Jean, Coming to America
5 Albums I Wanted to Like More Than I Actually Do
- Busta Rhymes, Back on My Bullshit - It's got some bangers for sure--"Conglomerate," "Shoot for the Moon," the second part of the intro. But overall, the production is too inconsistent in style, too messy in execution, and generally unpalatable. It's not really an enjoyable record to listen to. And Busta's whole thug routine has always been a little insincere and now has worn thin.
- Jadakiss, The Last Kiss - Jesus, Jada, why can't you make a cohesive album? Your ear for beats is awful.
- De La Soul, Are You In? - It's a running mix. With that caveat, it's still really bland.
- Jay Dee, Jay Stay Paid - The posthumous Yancey releases should probably stop now. We appear to have reached the end of the quality beats. For that matter, I am tired of namebrand rappers doing inadequate work with his music. This album was just up and down, and probably should have been an 8-track EP. As that shortened product, it would be excellent.
- Peter Bjorn and John, Living Thing - Following up a rich, melodic, poppy album like Writer's Block with an album far more minimal and sharp made Things hard to digest. Once past that stylistic diversion, though, we're still left with a lot of songs that are too threadbare.
13 Best Albums of the First 189
- Amadou & Mariam, Welcome to Mali - The rhythms and melodies are infectious. Great music to throw on for almost any occasion.
- DJ JS-1, Ground Original 2: No Sell Out - Overall, best-produced album of the year. And unlike some formal mixes, nearly every one of the tracks feels right, like a nicely developed snapshot of a certain rap landscape.
- Finale, A Pipe Dream and a Promise - Detroit music, unapologetically so.
- Grand Puba, RetroActive - Puba's still got that soft voice, that funny preference for singing off key, and that newjack persona. You'd think he's sound terrible, but yet, he makes it work. Sort of fun for an old(er) head.
- Kenzo Digital, City of God's Son - Best piece of art that will be made this year, I'd imagine.
- Method Man & Redman, Blackout 2 - Low expectations may have enhanced this album's impact because almost anyone can look spry when the bar is set low. However, Meth and Red find a rhythm, use smart music that complements them, and rap like it were 1996, or at least 2000.
- Mos Def, The Ecstatic - I'm just glad he chose to make an actual hip-hop album again. The Middle East-infused scoundscape is a little tricky, and perhaps not as inviting as lesser music made more traditionally, but this is a smart, provocative record. A rap record.
- Rick Ross, Deeper Than Rap - Great beats. Unintentionally funny man rapping over them.
- Ryan Leslie, Ryan Leslie - Easy-listening R&B. Not as good, but the vibe reminds me of John Legend's debut. Perhaps an obvious, not wholly correct comparison, but I couple them in my mind.
- Tanya Morgan, Brooklynati - Album of the year so far? Really solid rhyming, cohesive sonic and narrative arcs. The tone might be a little soft for some, and it could easily be denigrated as some bastard child of the okayplayer realm, but that carries with it an agenda. Artistically, it's a very good product.
- Torae, Double Barrel - New York boom bap.
- U-God, Dopium - Sleeper album of the year. Who knew U-God could pull off a project that is more than half good, and very much of the Wu-Tang Clan?
- Wu-Tang Clan, Chamber Music - Speaking of--this is not a real Wu record. It doesn't have all the MC's, and Chamber Music was explicitly an experimental project with a live band and guests. But this does recreate some vintage RZA sounds, and the MC'ing is professional, though not exemplary.
Labels: DJ JS-1, Focus, Freeway, Ghostface Killah, Hip-Hop, Method Man, MF Doom, Raekwon, Redman, Tanya Morgan, Torae
