71: "How We Do" - The Game feat. 50 Cent
Dr. Dre made a huge impact with 1999's Chronic 2001, and just like its title Dre's style overflowed into the next millennium. The early part of the century was dominated by Dre and his proteges, and "How We Do" is all about Dre. Game's Compton flow is the best think to come out of Cali in a long time, and 50 is still operating at his zenith. A dynamic duo that we'll see again on the countdown.
72: "Lean Back" - Terror Squad
Hip-Hop didn't used to have songs like this. Songs that become ubiquitous, that dominate all forms of media for an epic amount of time. "Lean Back" was a number one hit that refused to go away, a position usually reserved for mind-numbing pop songs. Just more proof of Hip-Hop's popularization and gentrification during the 2000's.
73: "Move Bitch" - Ludacris feat. Mystikal & I-20
Atlanta was crucial for the rise of regional rap during the last decade, and "Move Bitch" is one of Luda's most defiantly southern songs, with a greasy and powerful beat and the slurring twang of Mystikal and I-20. They create something that is at the same time cathcy and menacing, and as Chris Rock said, increasingly harder to defend. "Well as you can see, there's a bitch in his way that he needs to move. Thus the term: Move bitch, get out the way. You need to open your eyes so you can get the bitches out of your way!"
74: "Acid Raindrops" - People Under the Stairs
California Hip-Hop never really got over Death Row and Dr. Dre. The rest of the country we're huge contributes to the modern rap scene while the West Coast became less and less of a player. Indie Hip-Hop found its niche in California though, with groups like Jurassic 5 and People Under the Stairs. The songs were light, uplifting, drenched in SoCal sun and marijuana smoke, and hearkened back to the Native Tongues of the early 90's. They were also infectious. (Ignore the white guy in the video, who is probably from Cali and thinks this video was a great idea.)
75: "Back Like That" - Ghostface Killah feat. Ne-Yo
The Hip-Hop/R&B collaboration was perfected and proliferated during the 2000's, so much so that there's a new Grammy category for them. The massive success of songs like Usher's "Yeah" showed us that this was the new way to pop perfection, and "Back Like That" is a power pop tour de force. Ghostface spits the story of a breakup that has clearly given him pain, all while Ne-Yo delivers a hurricane of a hook.
76: "What's Golden" - Jurassic 5
At one point in the late 90's, Jurassic 5 and people like them were touted as the future of Hip-Hop, underground rap that was self-conscious and intellectual. As we'll see later in this list, the lofty goals set for underground Hip-Hop in the 90's were never manifested in the next decade. This was as close as we got, a J5 song that got moderate airplay. The group that was supposed to change the game would be disbanded in 2007.
77: "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" - Soulja Boy
The Soulja Boy story is certainly one that could only happen in the internet age. A young kid from Atlanta puts a simple rap song he made himself online, accompanied with a dance that goes along with it. Its a formula that's been exploited for success countless times, but never by such a complete outsider with no connections to the music industry. The result? Seven weeks at number one and instant fame for the young star.
78: "Hustlin'" - Rick Ross
Authenticity has always been a source of controversy in Hip-Hop, and its importance has always been debated. You'd have to be a fool to think that the majority of contemporary MCs murder people on a regular basis, yet "realness" is still to many the ultimate judge of a rapper. If this is the case, Rick Ross probably isn't your favorite. A former prison guard who took the name of a famous cocaine trafficker, Ross caught a lot of flack for being a phony. Who are we kidding? Hip-Hop is now Pop, and Pop is and always will be superficial. So go ahead, enjoy your fake gangsterism and fictional thuggery. Everybody else is.
79: "Ch-Check It Out" - Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys are rap royalty, and their future at the moment seems tenuous with MCA's fight with cancer ongoing. 2004's To The 5 Boroughs was a testament to the city that birthed them and the old school sound of Golden Age Hip-Hop in NYC. Hopefully we will get a chance to see the Boys change their style once again, but in the meantime we can listen to them gracefully pay homage to a style that is long gone.
80: "Hot In Herre" - Nelly
Nelly + Neptunes = cultural phenomenon. Songs that get spread around everywhere lose some of their power, but listening to this track you can still here what it was that caused the commotion. Nelly is the party rap king, and over an irreverent Pharrell beat he created the song you play at a party that lets everyone know they're at a a party.
No comments:
Post a Comment