DJ Khaled feat. Drake, Rick Ross, & Lil' Wayne - "I'm On One"
Right off the bat you have to accept that this is inherently stupid. We all know DJ Khaled doesn't actually do anything. We all know that Drake played a kid in a wheelchair on a Canadian tv show. We all know that Rick Ross worked as a prison guard and isn't the international cocaine smuggler he'd like you to think he is. But in the fantasy-land that is mainstream Hip-Hop, none of this matters. Cause this shit goes hard.
Showing posts with label Lil' Wayne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lil' Wayne. Show all posts
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Saturday, March 20, 2010
New Hotness: "Jump In The Air (Stay There)"
Off the upcoming New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh. Judging from this track and the cover art, expect part 2 to get a little freakier than the 4th World War.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The 100 greatest Hip-Hop songs of the 2000's: 1-10
1. "99 Problems" - Jay-Z
How do you defend the statement of claiming one song to be greater than all others? It's not easy. You could approach it from a cultural standpoint; trying to determine what song had the largest impact on our pop culture. You could consider artistic merit and aesthetics, two factors most people don't even consider when they think about Hip-Hop. Really, when you break it down, it has to be great for greatness sake. Great as in powerful. Great as in dominant. Great as in the fiery bellows of the greatest MC of the decade, in vicious top-form from a self-imposed fictional retirement. Great as in Rick Rubin, who here delivers a beat so other-worldly and unique that we have to question where the hell it came from. Great as in hands down the purest slice of Hip-Hop nostalgia in years that at the same time sounds years beyond 2003. When it comes down to it, I guess I had to ask myself, "Would it be right to put any song above this one?" Guess not.
2: "B.O.B." - OutKast
A lot of rock critics are saying now that the fusion of Hip-Hop and electronic dance music into the gelatinous pop-like substance we consume now was inevitable, fueled by the TRL generation. Unfortunately they and a large number of other "hipster-types" (i.e. people that can't dance) deride our modern booty music as unrefined and low-cultured. How wrong they are. If only they weren't total losers they would know that the Akons and J.R. Rotems of the world owe their Bugati's to "Bomb's Over Baghdad", a bombastic techno-rap that's so advanced and beyond comprehension I swear it was sent from the future. A Miami-Bass injected, dancefloor-drenched boogie anthem about a war that wouldn't start for another three years that ends chanting "Power music, electric revival!" To listen to this song is to hear the next ten years of Pop and Hip-Hop in five minutes. How did they do that?
3: "A Milli" - Lil' Wayne
The changes between 2000 and 2010 are pretty huge, and if you hear something in 2010 it's probably gonna sound more like "A Milli" than "B.O.B." Just a screwed up vocal sample, chopped up real quick with a simple yet sinister bass and snare. The staples of Southern Hip-Hop. So why "A Milli"? Because a beat like this puts it all on the rapper, and in 2008 there was no better rapper than Lil' Wayne. "A Milli" was an album stand in for every mixtape track Wayne had done in the years leading up to Tha Carter III; straight freestyle rapping, no hook. Without any of the frills of modern pop production Lil' Wayne made one of the most impactful singles of the decade with no chorus to speak off. Ask any geek off the street and he can probably rap the whole thing back to you.
4: "Paper Planes" - M.I.A.
There's something so intoxicating to American ears about international sounds bent into American genres. When we hear South Africans battle rapping in crazy afro-dutch accents we realize just how far our little hometown hero Hip-Hop has come since 1973 in the Bronx. M.I.A. was hyped up before her 2005 debut as an Indie savior of dance and Hip-Hop. It wasn't until her sophomore album Kala that her real success came, when she transformed her early multi-cultural jam vibe into a gritty, third world envisioning of American pop music. "Paper Planes" is the albums highlight and heart, a towering slab of funked-out rap that's half swagger and half satire. The snaps and thumps of the beat owe themselves to Southern Rap, but the international subject and starlet elevate this song into something bigger than the sum of its parts. By the time little Maya taunts "Some I murder, some I let go", you feel like Tupac in '95: Untouchable.
5: "What You Know" - T.I.
Southern Hip-Hop has been a lot of things, but most of the time its been almost a second tier genre. Throughout the 90s Hip-Hop's focus was on the coasts, and artists from New York and California were the ones bankrolled by major labels. They got the freshest beats and the videos with high production values. Southern MCs relied on soul samples or crude electro beats (think Goodie Mob and Mannie Fresh, respectively), while they formed their own independent labels. Wouldn't you know that this model set the stage for the influx of diversity in rap in the 2000s, and now Southern MCs dominate the landscape. What was (and still is) a challenge is adapting the Southern sound to the ever homogenized dance music of the Billboard charts. Words used to describe the dirty south of old might be "dusty", "funky", or "ghetto". "What You Know" conjures words like "regal", "epic", and "awesome". T.I., Atlanta trap superstar who started out rapping about rims, creates a track that rocks as hard as any Metallica song and is just as precise. Transforming the dirty dirty to the high and mighty.
6: "Hate It Or Love It" - The Game feat. 50 Cent
Nostalgia is huge part of Hip-Hop. The debates about "realness", or what constitutes real Hip-Hop, are tied up in the past. Old schoolers claim that what's on the radio isn't real rap. Guys from the 90s get pissed when you call them old school. The young MCs cite Jay-Z as Hip-Hop history. So when contemporary artists pay tribute, or make concessions, to the earlier days the results almost always take you back to simpler times, even if you weren't around for them. If Game really wants to be Dr. Dre, then this is his "Express Yourself"; a song imbued with positivity despite the reality of the rap interfere. Put this on at your next party and count the smiles.
7: "Drop It Like It's Hot" - Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell
The Neptunes had to work with a lot of people before they found the one voice perfectly suited for their spaced-out electro funk. At a time when rap radio was yelling at you to "Lean Back" and "Get Low", things got real quiet whenever "Drop It Like It's Hot" came on. Over the deepest beat they ever made the Neptunes and Snoop make some strange magic here, with Snoop's threats and street language swallowed whole by the beat's echoing hugeness. As soon as this track was everywhere, imitators came running with quiet storm beats, but it just wasn't the same. If you need an example of perfect chemistry in 21st century rap, look no furthur than Snoop and the Neptunes.
8: "Country Grammar (Hot Shit)" - Nelly
Something I asked myself a lot in writing this list was, "how did this happen?" How did we get to the point of rap being just another aisle in Tower Records to having Hip-Hop pop, Hip-Hop culture? Hell, some would say we have a Hip-Hop president. If I had to pick a turning point for the tide of Hip-Hop in America, it would be this song. At the beginning of this new millenium, a young man was given unto the world, and his name was Nelly. He had a song called "Country Grammar", built around a grade-school jump rope rhyme and sing-song rapped at super speeds. He wasn't from New York or California, he wasn't even from Atlanta. He was from...St. Louis? His music video had all these crazy hood people, and rims, and fried chicken! This was not the same old music we'd always heard. It was new, and most importantly it was distinct. This song blew the roof off regional rap; finally audiences were ready for something new. In the song, Nelly shouts out nearly every city across America, and finishes with "getting paid off this country grammar." Thus the definition of regional rap in the 2000s.
9: "Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)" - UGK feat. OutKast
This song, more than anything else, reminds us of what we don't have in contemporary Hip-Hop. The passing of Pimp C just months after this song was released made it so UGK would never have a single like this again. This was the biggest song they'd released since "Big Pimpin'" came out nearly ten years earlier, and a chance at fame was finally theirs. OutKast makes one of their first real Hip-Hop songs in five years, and their abscense from the Top Ten can be felt. Three 6 Mafia crafts a beat for Southern Soul purists that sounds more like Motown than Cash Money. In so many ways, this is the music we're not getting; souled out slow jams about marraige and fidelity, and also pimpin and poppin tags. This song should have launched UGK into the stratosphere, but there's no UGK left. RIP to the Pimp.
10: "Daylight" - Aesop Rock
Where are the descendants of Aesop? Where are the legions of high-functioning MCs gracing the covers of indie music mags, spitting dense cerebral lyrics to art-crowd white boy fans? In 2000 it seemed that they would be everywhere, saving Hip-Hop from itself. Aesop's label, Definitive Jux, was supposed to be the vessel, delivering a cadre of post-modern rappers. So where is alternative Hip-Hop in 2010? Jurassic 5 broke up, Black Star still only has one album, and just last month El-P stepped down as director of Def Jux, the label he founded in 1999. The idea was that indie rap would coexist alongside mainstream rap, but just look around. The scores of underground MCs still exist, but they no longer strive for a unified aesthetic. Instead they try harder and harder to sound like everybody else. This great rap movement never came, but Aesop Rock's 2001 album Labor Days is its high-water mark. "Daylight" is a song imbued with the raw passion that separated these alternative MCs from the flock. It's a shame this didn't blow up, because its one of the greatest Hip-Hop songs of all time.
How do you defend the statement of claiming one song to be greater than all others? It's not easy. You could approach it from a cultural standpoint; trying to determine what song had the largest impact on our pop culture. You could consider artistic merit and aesthetics, two factors most people don't even consider when they think about Hip-Hop. Really, when you break it down, it has to be great for greatness sake. Great as in powerful. Great as in dominant. Great as in the fiery bellows of the greatest MC of the decade, in vicious top-form from a self-imposed fictional retirement. Great as in Rick Rubin, who here delivers a beat so other-worldly and unique that we have to question where the hell it came from. Great as in hands down the purest slice of Hip-Hop nostalgia in years that at the same time sounds years beyond 2003. When it comes down to it, I guess I had to ask myself, "Would it be right to put any song above this one?" Guess not.
2: "B.O.B." - OutKast
A lot of rock critics are saying now that the fusion of Hip-Hop and electronic dance music into the gelatinous pop-like substance we consume now was inevitable, fueled by the TRL generation. Unfortunately they and a large number of other "hipster-types" (i.e. people that can't dance) deride our modern booty music as unrefined and low-cultured. How wrong they are. If only they weren't total losers they would know that the Akons and J.R. Rotems of the world owe their Bugati's to "Bomb's Over Baghdad", a bombastic techno-rap that's so advanced and beyond comprehension I swear it was sent from the future. A Miami-Bass injected, dancefloor-drenched boogie anthem about a war that wouldn't start for another three years that ends chanting "Power music, electric revival!" To listen to this song is to hear the next ten years of Pop and Hip-Hop in five minutes. How did they do that?
3: "A Milli" - Lil' Wayne
The changes between 2000 and 2010 are pretty huge, and if you hear something in 2010 it's probably gonna sound more like "A Milli" than "B.O.B." Just a screwed up vocal sample, chopped up real quick with a simple yet sinister bass and snare. The staples of Southern Hip-Hop. So why "A Milli"? Because a beat like this puts it all on the rapper, and in 2008 there was no better rapper than Lil' Wayne. "A Milli" was an album stand in for every mixtape track Wayne had done in the years leading up to Tha Carter III; straight freestyle rapping, no hook. Without any of the frills of modern pop production Lil' Wayne made one of the most impactful singles of the decade with no chorus to speak off. Ask any geek off the street and he can probably rap the whole thing back to you.
4: "Paper Planes" - M.I.A.
There's something so intoxicating to American ears about international sounds bent into American genres. When we hear South Africans battle rapping in crazy afro-dutch accents we realize just how far our little hometown hero Hip-Hop has come since 1973 in the Bronx. M.I.A. was hyped up before her 2005 debut as an Indie savior of dance and Hip-Hop. It wasn't until her sophomore album Kala that her real success came, when she transformed her early multi-cultural jam vibe into a gritty, third world envisioning of American pop music. "Paper Planes" is the albums highlight and heart, a towering slab of funked-out rap that's half swagger and half satire. The snaps and thumps of the beat owe themselves to Southern Rap, but the international subject and starlet elevate this song into something bigger than the sum of its parts. By the time little Maya taunts "Some I murder, some I let go", you feel like Tupac in '95: Untouchable.
5: "What You Know" - T.I.
Southern Hip-Hop has been a lot of things, but most of the time its been almost a second tier genre. Throughout the 90s Hip-Hop's focus was on the coasts, and artists from New York and California were the ones bankrolled by major labels. They got the freshest beats and the videos with high production values. Southern MCs relied on soul samples or crude electro beats (think Goodie Mob and Mannie Fresh, respectively), while they formed their own independent labels. Wouldn't you know that this model set the stage for the influx of diversity in rap in the 2000s, and now Southern MCs dominate the landscape. What was (and still is) a challenge is adapting the Southern sound to the ever homogenized dance music of the Billboard charts. Words used to describe the dirty south of old might be "dusty", "funky", or "ghetto". "What You Know" conjures words like "regal", "epic", and "awesome". T.I., Atlanta trap superstar who started out rapping about rims, creates a track that rocks as hard as any Metallica song and is just as precise. Transforming the dirty dirty to the high and mighty.
6: "Hate It Or Love It" - The Game feat. 50 Cent
Nostalgia is huge part of Hip-Hop. The debates about "realness", or what constitutes real Hip-Hop, are tied up in the past. Old schoolers claim that what's on the radio isn't real rap. Guys from the 90s get pissed when you call them old school. The young MCs cite Jay-Z as Hip-Hop history. So when contemporary artists pay tribute, or make concessions, to the earlier days the results almost always take you back to simpler times, even if you weren't around for them. If Game really wants to be Dr. Dre, then this is his "Express Yourself"; a song imbued with positivity despite the reality of the rap interfere. Put this on at your next party and count the smiles.
7: "Drop It Like It's Hot" - Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell
The Neptunes had to work with a lot of people before they found the one voice perfectly suited for their spaced-out electro funk. At a time when rap radio was yelling at you to "Lean Back" and "Get Low", things got real quiet whenever "Drop It Like It's Hot" came on. Over the deepest beat they ever made the Neptunes and Snoop make some strange magic here, with Snoop's threats and street language swallowed whole by the beat's echoing hugeness. As soon as this track was everywhere, imitators came running with quiet storm beats, but it just wasn't the same. If you need an example of perfect chemistry in 21st century rap, look no furthur than Snoop and the Neptunes.
8: "Country Grammar (Hot Shit)" - Nelly
Something I asked myself a lot in writing this list was, "how did this happen?" How did we get to the point of rap being just another aisle in Tower Records to having Hip-Hop pop, Hip-Hop culture? Hell, some would say we have a Hip-Hop president. If I had to pick a turning point for the tide of Hip-Hop in America, it would be this song. At the beginning of this new millenium, a young man was given unto the world, and his name was Nelly. He had a song called "Country Grammar", built around a grade-school jump rope rhyme and sing-song rapped at super speeds. He wasn't from New York or California, he wasn't even from Atlanta. He was from...St. Louis? His music video had all these crazy hood people, and rims, and fried chicken! This was not the same old music we'd always heard. It was new, and most importantly it was distinct. This song blew the roof off regional rap; finally audiences were ready for something new. In the song, Nelly shouts out nearly every city across America, and finishes with "getting paid off this country grammar." Thus the definition of regional rap in the 2000s.
9: "Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)" - UGK feat. OutKast
This song, more than anything else, reminds us of what we don't have in contemporary Hip-Hop. The passing of Pimp C just months after this song was released made it so UGK would never have a single like this again. This was the biggest song they'd released since "Big Pimpin'" came out nearly ten years earlier, and a chance at fame was finally theirs. OutKast makes one of their first real Hip-Hop songs in five years, and their abscense from the Top Ten can be felt. Three 6 Mafia crafts a beat for Southern Soul purists that sounds more like Motown than Cash Money. In so many ways, this is the music we're not getting; souled out slow jams about marraige and fidelity, and also pimpin and poppin tags. This song should have launched UGK into the stratosphere, but there's no UGK left. RIP to the Pimp.
10: "Daylight" - Aesop Rock
Where are the descendants of Aesop? Where are the legions of high-functioning MCs gracing the covers of indie music mags, spitting dense cerebral lyrics to art-crowd white boy fans? In 2000 it seemed that they would be everywhere, saving Hip-Hop from itself. Aesop's label, Definitive Jux, was supposed to be the vessel, delivering a cadre of post-modern rappers. So where is alternative Hip-Hop in 2010? Jurassic 5 broke up, Black Star still only has one album, and just last month El-P stepped down as director of Def Jux, the label he founded in 1999. The idea was that indie rap would coexist alongside mainstream rap, but just look around. The scores of underground MCs still exist, but they no longer strive for a unified aesthetic. Instead they try harder and harder to sound like everybody else. This great rap movement never came, but Aesop Rock's 2001 album Labor Days is its high-water mark. "Daylight" is a song imbued with the raw passion that separated these alternative MCs from the flock. It's a shame this didn't blow up, because its one of the greatest Hip-Hop songs of all time.
Friday, January 22, 2010
The 100 greatest Hip-Hop songs of the 2000's: 41-50
41: "We Takin' Over" - DJ Khaled feat. Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Birdman, & Lil' Wayne
I don't really know what DJ Khaled does exactly, besides screaming at the beginning of every song. He doesn't produce any of his hits and packs them to the brim with thug rap's finest. As far as a great posse cut goes though, you can't really compete with this one, with Akon belting to the heavens over a Timbaland-meets-Miami beat.
42: "All Caps" - Madvillain
MF DOOM's creative output during the 2000's was copious, varied, and often brilliant, and Madvillainy might be his highpoint. With venerable producer Madlib channeling a superhero and mid-century obsessed RZA, DOOM spits his usual brand of monotonic mutterings with a sneering swagger.
43: "Get Low" - Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz feat. Ying Yang Twins
Perhaps the most ubiquitous Hip-Hop song of the decade, few people would argue that "Get Low" is high culture worthy of much respect, but those people are idiots. The song that made "Crunk" a household name is not just culture but art; perfectly crafted and masterfully honed to instill booty-shaking and junk-grinding in its audience. Is the mark of art not that of conveying a feeling? Does Lil Jon not hold his pimp cup the way Raphael grasped his brush?
44: "Encore" - Danger Mouse feat. Jay-Z & The Beatles
I'm not sure, but I think when Jay-Z decided to release an a capella version of The Black Album, he must have known that it would fuel the fire that was the internet remix and mashup community of the early 2000's. Some mashup releases spawned from the internet had gotten mainstream press, but when Danger Mouse created The Grey Album he became the first mashup superstar. He also deepened the sense of what a mashup album could be, paving the way for more elaborate experimentations with sampled pop music.
45: "Throw Some D's" - Rich Boy feat. Polow da Don
This song exemplifies the reasons for the South's dominance in Hip-Hop during this decade. It blends soul samples, a southern staple, and the electronic-based bubblegum chirps and thoomps that drive the hits of everyone from Nelly to T.I.. The fact that its coming from Drumma Boy and Polow, two of the best contemporary hip-hop producers, and features the energetic barking of Rich Boy lauding another dirty south stable, his cars, makes it classic.
46: "Takeover" - Jay-Z / "Ether" - Nas (Tie)
Bad blood in Hip-Hop is generally good for a couple of good dis songs, but the feud between New York legends Jay-Z and Nas was good for the two most epic battle raps ever. Jay made the first move, with the first track off The Blueprint being a swaggerific attack aimed at Mobb Deep and Nas fired off over a haunting and powerful Doors sample. The irreverence with which the song was delivered begged response, so Jay couldn't have been surprised when "Ether" was released a few months later, beginning with gunshots and the words "Fuck Jay-Z". Where "Takeover" was taunting and even puerile, "Ether" was angry and venomous and pulled no punches. Despite the two titans having reconciled, most fans agree that Nas won this round.
47: "Gold Digger" - Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx
Coming off the hipster/backpack rap that was The College Dropout, Kanye West had all the critics loving him, and could have recreated that album over and over for similar success. Being a critic's darling was never in Kanye's plan though, and "Gold Digger" was the first sign that West was much more interested in pop perfectionism. The song thumps and bumps and stays with you for days, a skill that Kanye has only improved upon.
48: "So Fresh, So Clean" - OutKast feat. Sleepy Brown
It seems that as we stand in 2010, smoothness has been delegated to our R&B superstars, while a rapper's most important job is to be "hard". For someone to get this smooth now, they'd have to call in a favor from Trey Songz. OutKast didn't have to try to be smooth, they just were, and this song is the silkiest thing to get on the radio of the whole decade.
49: "Deception" - Blackalicious
If rap could have had a motto for the 2000's, "don't let money change you" might be apt. As Hip-Hop became more mainstream and more commercial it became increasingly difficult to find any of the social commentary or cerebral thinking that made so much of 90's rap so interesting. As mainstream rap became more prevalent, alternatives to that mainstream became scarce. This song got some national attention when it was released in 2000; if it had been 2009 it probably would have been a different story.
50: "Georgia...Bush" - Lil' Wayne
No cause gathered as much attention from the rap community in the last decade as much as helping victims of Hurricane Katrina, not just because of New Orleans's vibrant Hip-Hop scene but also because of the underlying feelings of racism that surrounded the issue. When Kanye West famously declared "George Bush doesn't care about black people", it was fueled by emotion and the weight of the moment. When Lil' Wayne decided to make his comment on Bush, it was collected, coherent, and almost free from emotion. It plainly stated the facts of the failure of Katrina, all while presenting a feeling that New Orleans was already recovering. It's hate and hope all in one song.
I don't really know what DJ Khaled does exactly, besides screaming at the beginning of every song. He doesn't produce any of his hits and packs them to the brim with thug rap's finest. As far as a great posse cut goes though, you can't really compete with this one, with Akon belting to the heavens over a Timbaland-meets-Miami beat.
42: "All Caps" - Madvillain
MF DOOM's creative output during the 2000's was copious, varied, and often brilliant, and Madvillainy might be his highpoint. With venerable producer Madlib channeling a superhero and mid-century obsessed RZA, DOOM spits his usual brand of monotonic mutterings with a sneering swagger.
43: "Get Low" - Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz feat. Ying Yang Twins
Perhaps the most ubiquitous Hip-Hop song of the decade, few people would argue that "Get Low" is high culture worthy of much respect, but those people are idiots. The song that made "Crunk" a household name is not just culture but art; perfectly crafted and masterfully honed to instill booty-shaking and junk-grinding in its audience. Is the mark of art not that of conveying a feeling? Does Lil Jon not hold his pimp cup the way Raphael grasped his brush?
44: "Encore" - Danger Mouse feat. Jay-Z & The Beatles
I'm not sure, but I think when Jay-Z decided to release an a capella version of The Black Album, he must have known that it would fuel the fire that was the internet remix and mashup community of the early 2000's. Some mashup releases spawned from the internet had gotten mainstream press, but when Danger Mouse created The Grey Album he became the first mashup superstar. He also deepened the sense of what a mashup album could be, paving the way for more elaborate experimentations with sampled pop music.
45: "Throw Some D's" - Rich Boy feat. Polow da Don
This song exemplifies the reasons for the South's dominance in Hip-Hop during this decade. It blends soul samples, a southern staple, and the electronic-based bubblegum chirps and thoomps that drive the hits of everyone from Nelly to T.I.. The fact that its coming from Drumma Boy and Polow, two of the best contemporary hip-hop producers, and features the energetic barking of Rich Boy lauding another dirty south stable, his cars, makes it classic.
46: "Takeover" - Jay-Z / "Ether" - Nas (Tie)
Bad blood in Hip-Hop is generally good for a couple of good dis songs, but the feud between New York legends Jay-Z and Nas was good for the two most epic battle raps ever. Jay made the first move, with the first track off The Blueprint being a swaggerific attack aimed at Mobb Deep and Nas fired off over a haunting and powerful Doors sample. The irreverence with which the song was delivered begged response, so Jay couldn't have been surprised when "Ether" was released a few months later, beginning with gunshots and the words "Fuck Jay-Z". Where "Takeover" was taunting and even puerile, "Ether" was angry and venomous and pulled no punches. Despite the two titans having reconciled, most fans agree that Nas won this round.
47: "Gold Digger" - Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx
Coming off the hipster/backpack rap that was The College Dropout, Kanye West had all the critics loving him, and could have recreated that album over and over for similar success. Being a critic's darling was never in Kanye's plan though, and "Gold Digger" was the first sign that West was much more interested in pop perfectionism. The song thumps and bumps and stays with you for days, a skill that Kanye has only improved upon.
48: "So Fresh, So Clean" - OutKast feat. Sleepy Brown
It seems that as we stand in 2010, smoothness has been delegated to our R&B superstars, while a rapper's most important job is to be "hard". For someone to get this smooth now, they'd have to call in a favor from Trey Songz. OutKast didn't have to try to be smooth, they just were, and this song is the silkiest thing to get on the radio of the whole decade.
49: "Deception" - Blackalicious
If rap could have had a motto for the 2000's, "don't let money change you" might be apt. As Hip-Hop became more mainstream and more commercial it became increasingly difficult to find any of the social commentary or cerebral thinking that made so much of 90's rap so interesting. As mainstream rap became more prevalent, alternatives to that mainstream became scarce. This song got some national attention when it was released in 2000; if it had been 2009 it probably would have been a different story.
50: "Georgia...Bush" - Lil' Wayne
No cause gathered as much attention from the rap community in the last decade as much as helping victims of Hurricane Katrina, not just because of New Orleans's vibrant Hip-Hop scene but also because of the underlying feelings of racism that surrounded the issue. When Kanye West famously declared "George Bush doesn't care about black people", it was fueled by emotion and the weight of the moment. When Lil' Wayne decided to make his comment on Bush, it was collected, coherent, and almost free from emotion. It plainly stated the facts of the failure of Katrina, all while presenting a feeling that New Orleans was already recovering. It's hate and hope all in one song.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
The 100 greatest Hip-Hop songs of the 2000's: 61-70
61: "From The Chuuuch To Da Palace" - Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell
What can I say, the Neptunes are all over this list. They were THE production team of the decade, and their strength laid in the huge number of people they worked. Snoop might have been the best decision they ever made. The man with the longest career in Hip-Hop delivers over this beat and makes it feel like an electronic feedback assault. His other Neptunes classic would sound more like a murmur over whispers, and we'll see it later in this list.
62: "Gravel Pit" - Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang stayed productive and important in the 2000's, that is if you ask anybody who isn't in the group. It seems the Clan looks at the current state of Hip-Hop and doesn't see a place for itself. It's a far cry from the gritty urban early 90's that spawned them, and its true that most modern rap doesn't come close to the atmosphere or lyrical dexterity of the Wu. But when RZA's on the beat and you get verses from some of the greatest voices in the game, perfection is impossible to avoid.
63: "Stronger" - Kanye West
The blending of electronic and Hip-Hop music is not an idea new to the last decade. Everyone from Afrika Bambaataa to Mantronix to Timbaland has blended electro, dance and rap before. Electrified Hip-Hop did find a new existence in the Rap/Pop world of the late 2000's, and "Stronger" led the charge. Its hard not to create dancefloor dynamite when you supe up one of the greatest Daft Punk songs, but add Kanye's goofy meets gangsta mentality and you've got a sure thing.
64: "Day 'N' Nite" - Kid Cudi
Here we have a direct response to the Electro/Rap movement. Artists like Kid Cudi and Drake could be labeled "Post-Kanyean", with their relance on dance-inspired sounds forced to slow to Hip-Hop speeds and lyrics that probably wouldn't impress Rakim or Nas. Say hello to the trend of the next decade.
65: "Dumb It Down" - Lupe Fiasco
The importance of lyrical expertise seems to have left the building around the time we lost Pac & Big, with beats and producers growing increasingly important. The Hip-Hop community has responded with the "Real Hip-Hop" argument, basically claiming that older music like Wu-Tang or Biggie is what rap should be, and almost all new rap (whether its Lil' Wayne or Soulja Boy) is garbage. Lupe doesn't make this argument at all. He is a modern day MC, but he sees many of his contemporaries as folding to pressure, either from black urban listeners or white owners and distributors. The problem is not old vs. new, but that there are too many interests involved in the rap process now. It seems the only interests Lupe cares about are his own.
66: "Stuntin' Like My Daddy" - Birdman & Lil' Wayne
Sometimes a song is just imbued with a kind of power, and every time you hear it you go superhuman. This is one of those songs. Over horns that sound like they were sampled from the Imperial March Birdman & Wayne massacre the track with lines like "Bitch i'm paid, that's all I gotta say" and "Show me my opponent". Take into consideration that Wayne's verse was used as the climax of Girl Talk's Feed the Animals and you've got a classic on your hands.
67: "Live Your Life" - T.I. feat. Rihanna
T.I.'s 2008 album Paper Trail was markedly different from his previous efforts. Where his earlier albums focused on his hood mentality bred in the Atlanta Trap, Paper Trail is focused, polished, and most importantly, redemptive and positive. Maybe it was facing a year in prison that de-thugged T.I., but the results seem worth it. A score of hits came from the album, but "Life Your Life" made the biggest impact. Its also the best thing Rihanna's ever done.
68: "Project Bitch" - Cash Money Millionaires
"Cash Money Records, where dreams come true." The Cash Money story is ready for the Hollywood treatment; a little indie label in New Orleans blows up to the national scene, implants itself in the nation's psyche, surpasses its crosstown rivals No Limit, and spawns one of the biggest names in 21st century rap. When I first heard this song I was 12 and living in the suburbs, and it blew my mind. Thus the power of regional rap; a song with the style of the community that birthed it gets piped across the country, giving everyone a chance to hear what they want to hear: something new.
69: "Black Mags" - The Cool Kids
Things change. Rap goes Pop. East vs. West becomes obsolete. Indie rap goes from intellectual and lush to sparse and to the point. The Cool Kids represent this change, with two MCs and an 808 they make a style of rap with a foot firmly in both the new and the old school. All it takes to be a gangster now is black and white film and a shitty bicycle. Yeah, things change.
70: "Wait (The Whisper Song)" - Ying Yang Twins
Chris Rock was right, I'm tired of defending this shit. Is it so wrong to have a song with the original skeet-skeeters whispering amorously about how good they are at sexing? It is? Well, we don't really care. Wait til you see my dick.
What can I say, the Neptunes are all over this list. They were THE production team of the decade, and their strength laid in the huge number of people they worked. Snoop might have been the best decision they ever made. The man with the longest career in Hip-Hop delivers over this beat and makes it feel like an electronic feedback assault. His other Neptunes classic would sound more like a murmur over whispers, and we'll see it later in this list.
62: "Gravel Pit" - Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang stayed productive and important in the 2000's, that is if you ask anybody who isn't in the group. It seems the Clan looks at the current state of Hip-Hop and doesn't see a place for itself. It's a far cry from the gritty urban early 90's that spawned them, and its true that most modern rap doesn't come close to the atmosphere or lyrical dexterity of the Wu. But when RZA's on the beat and you get verses from some of the greatest voices in the game, perfection is impossible to avoid.
63: "Stronger" - Kanye West
The blending of electronic and Hip-Hop music is not an idea new to the last decade. Everyone from Afrika Bambaataa to Mantronix to Timbaland has blended electro, dance and rap before. Electrified Hip-Hop did find a new existence in the Rap/Pop world of the late 2000's, and "Stronger" led the charge. Its hard not to create dancefloor dynamite when you supe up one of the greatest Daft Punk songs, but add Kanye's goofy meets gangsta mentality and you've got a sure thing.
64: "Day 'N' Nite" - Kid Cudi
Here we have a direct response to the Electro/Rap movement. Artists like Kid Cudi and Drake could be labeled "Post-Kanyean", with their relance on dance-inspired sounds forced to slow to Hip-Hop speeds and lyrics that probably wouldn't impress Rakim or Nas. Say hello to the trend of the next decade.
65: "Dumb It Down" - Lupe Fiasco
The importance of lyrical expertise seems to have left the building around the time we lost Pac & Big, with beats and producers growing increasingly important. The Hip-Hop community has responded with the "Real Hip-Hop" argument, basically claiming that older music like Wu-Tang or Biggie is what rap should be, and almost all new rap (whether its Lil' Wayne or Soulja Boy) is garbage. Lupe doesn't make this argument at all. He is a modern day MC, but he sees many of his contemporaries as folding to pressure, either from black urban listeners or white owners and distributors. The problem is not old vs. new, but that there are too many interests involved in the rap process now. It seems the only interests Lupe cares about are his own.
66: "Stuntin' Like My Daddy" - Birdman & Lil' Wayne
Sometimes a song is just imbued with a kind of power, and every time you hear it you go superhuman. This is one of those songs. Over horns that sound like they were sampled from the Imperial March Birdman & Wayne massacre the track with lines like "Bitch i'm paid, that's all I gotta say" and "Show me my opponent". Take into consideration that Wayne's verse was used as the climax of Girl Talk's Feed the Animals and you've got a classic on your hands.
67: "Live Your Life" - T.I. feat. Rihanna
T.I.'s 2008 album Paper Trail was markedly different from his previous efforts. Where his earlier albums focused on his hood mentality bred in the Atlanta Trap, Paper Trail is focused, polished, and most importantly, redemptive and positive. Maybe it was facing a year in prison that de-thugged T.I., but the results seem worth it. A score of hits came from the album, but "Life Your Life" made the biggest impact. Its also the best thing Rihanna's ever done.
68: "Project Bitch" - Cash Money Millionaires
"Cash Money Records, where dreams come true." The Cash Money story is ready for the Hollywood treatment; a little indie label in New Orleans blows up to the national scene, implants itself in the nation's psyche, surpasses its crosstown rivals No Limit, and spawns one of the biggest names in 21st century rap. When I first heard this song I was 12 and living in the suburbs, and it blew my mind. Thus the power of regional rap; a song with the style of the community that birthed it gets piped across the country, giving everyone a chance to hear what they want to hear: something new.
69: "Black Mags" - The Cool Kids
Things change. Rap goes Pop. East vs. West becomes obsolete. Indie rap goes from intellectual and lush to sparse and to the point. The Cool Kids represent this change, with two MCs and an 808 they make a style of rap with a foot firmly in both the new and the old school. All it takes to be a gangster now is black and white film and a shitty bicycle. Yeah, things change.
70: "Wait (The Whisper Song)" - Ying Yang Twins
Chris Rock was right, I'm tired of defending this shit. Is it so wrong to have a song with the original skeet-skeeters whispering amorously about how good they are at sexing? It is? Well, we don't really care. Wait til you see my dick.
Monday, January 4, 2010
The 100 greatest Hip-Hop songs of the 2000's: 81-90
81: "Break Ya Neck" - Busta Rhymes
This was Busta's last explosive moment, his last song that oozed exuberance and frenetic energy. Over a rollicking Dr. Dre beat the madcap MC dizzies us with a gale-force attack of lyrical excellence from one of Hip-Hop's last elder statesmen.
82: "What Happened To That Boy" - Birdman feat. Clipse
The Neptunes sound is easily identifiable and was omnipresent during the 2000's. Yet every song had its own style, and here again Birdman and Clipse make the track their own. Over a New Wave synth and handclaps Clipse makes the track drip like syrup, all while imparting it with a venomous villainy.
83: "Drivin' Me Wild" - Common feat. Lily Allen
Rap in the 2000's definitely calmed down. Gone were the days of Puffy's shiny suits, the braggadocio of DMX's screaming. Displays of raw emotion had no place in the 2 cool 4 school mentality of 2000's Hip-Hop. Cool was all that mattered, and Common was definitely cool.
84: "Lose Control" - Missy Elliot feat. Ciara & Fat Man Scoop
Missy Elliot is a shining light in music, someone who never compromised or changed who she was just to be more commercially viable. On this self-produced track, Missy thumps and bumps her way into dance-rap ecstasy. Pure Missy.
85: "What's Your Fantasy" - Ludacris feat. Shawnna
World, meet Ludacris. The year was 2000, and labels were desperate for regional rap. It was hard to imagine upon first hearing this song that Luda would go on to be one of rap's biggest stars, but it was impossible to ignore the energy and humor he gave his flow.
86: "Go DJ" - Lil' Wayne
It was on the back of Mannie Fresh that the Cash Money Records empire was built. His sparse electronic beats provided a playground for the young southern MCs at the label. "Go DJ" was his last hurrah, his last hit with a developing Lil' Wayne. 2004's Tha Carter was almost exclusively produced by Mannie Fresh. By the time Tha Carter II was released a year later, he wasn't featured on the album at all.
87: "Swagga Like Us" - T.I. feat. Jay-Z, Kanye West & Lil' Wayne
It seems like a no brainer. Get Kanye West to craft a beat around one of the most electrifying songs of the decade, then get the four most popular MCs in the world to rap over it. It wasn't much of a gamble, but it still payed off big. When a pregnant M.I.A. joined the four on stage at the VMAs, it became clear what this was: a meeting of titans.
88: "Through the Wire" - Kanye West
Who would have thought that a car accident, Ensure, and Chaka Khan would be the perfect formula to launch the biggest new name in rap of the decade? Kanye West, apparently, who turned tragedy into triumph. Kanye's journey from backpack rap to stadium status begins here.
89: "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" - Eve feat. Gwen Stefani
A leftover of the late nineties, this track has all the hallmarks of corporate rap. Beat by Dr. Dre and Scott Storch, Gwen on the hook, the lavish music video. But the song rides smooth and stays with you, the coolness reminding you where you are.
90: "Upgrade" - Lil' Wayne
Lil' Wayne is at his best when he's on the attack, and it's for this reason that Da Drought 3 is his most accomplished album. Over two discs Wayne tackles the biggest beats and makes them his, his freestyles outshining the originals in almost every instance. Over this Beyonce track and on the rest of the album Weezy makes his best case for being the best rapper alive.
This was Busta's last explosive moment, his last song that oozed exuberance and frenetic energy. Over a rollicking Dr. Dre beat the madcap MC dizzies us with a gale-force attack of lyrical excellence from one of Hip-Hop's last elder statesmen.
82: "What Happened To That Boy" - Birdman feat. Clipse
The Neptunes sound is easily identifiable and was omnipresent during the 2000's. Yet every song had its own style, and here again Birdman and Clipse make the track their own. Over a New Wave synth and handclaps Clipse makes the track drip like syrup, all while imparting it with a venomous villainy.
83: "Drivin' Me Wild" - Common feat. Lily Allen
Rap in the 2000's definitely calmed down. Gone were the days of Puffy's shiny suits, the braggadocio of DMX's screaming. Displays of raw emotion had no place in the 2 cool 4 school mentality of 2000's Hip-Hop. Cool was all that mattered, and Common was definitely cool.
84: "Lose Control" - Missy Elliot feat. Ciara & Fat Man Scoop
Missy Elliot is a shining light in music, someone who never compromised or changed who she was just to be more commercially viable. On this self-produced track, Missy thumps and bumps her way into dance-rap ecstasy. Pure Missy.
85: "What's Your Fantasy" - Ludacris feat. Shawnna
World, meet Ludacris. The year was 2000, and labels were desperate for regional rap. It was hard to imagine upon first hearing this song that Luda would go on to be one of rap's biggest stars, but it was impossible to ignore the energy and humor he gave his flow.
86: "Go DJ" - Lil' Wayne
It was on the back of Mannie Fresh that the Cash Money Records empire was built. His sparse electronic beats provided a playground for the young southern MCs at the label. "Go DJ" was his last hurrah, his last hit with a developing Lil' Wayne. 2004's Tha Carter was almost exclusively produced by Mannie Fresh. By the time Tha Carter II was released a year later, he wasn't featured on the album at all.
87: "Swagga Like Us" - T.I. feat. Jay-Z, Kanye West & Lil' Wayne
It seems like a no brainer. Get Kanye West to craft a beat around one of the most electrifying songs of the decade, then get the four most popular MCs in the world to rap over it. It wasn't much of a gamble, but it still payed off big. When a pregnant M.I.A. joined the four on stage at the VMAs, it became clear what this was: a meeting of titans.
88: "Through the Wire" - Kanye West
Who would have thought that a car accident, Ensure, and Chaka Khan would be the perfect formula to launch the biggest new name in rap of the decade? Kanye West, apparently, who turned tragedy into triumph. Kanye's journey from backpack rap to stadium status begins here.
89: "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" - Eve feat. Gwen Stefani
A leftover of the late nineties, this track has all the hallmarks of corporate rap. Beat by Dr. Dre and Scott Storch, Gwen on the hook, the lavish music video. But the song rides smooth and stays with you, the coolness reminding you where you are.
90: "Upgrade" - Lil' Wayne
Lil' Wayne is at his best when he's on the attack, and it's for this reason that Da Drought 3 is his most accomplished album. Over two discs Wayne tackles the biggest beats and makes them his, his freestyles outshining the originals in almost every instance. Over this Beyonce track and on the rest of the album Weezy makes his best case for being the best rapper alive.
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