Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts

Thursday, December 30, 2010

2010's top 7

So the year's almost over, which means all bloggers are contractually obligated to start posting lists of things. Let's face it, nobody's happy about this, but I'm not trying to lose my job. That said, here's the top 7 mixtape releases of 2010. Why seven? Because it's a lucky number and easier than 10. What's a mixtape? For my definitional purposes, it's a body of music released under a single title, free of charge, and unavailable for purchase in stores, on iTunes/Amazon, etc. Projects that almost made this list include: Smoke DZA's George Kush Da Button, which certainly wins the award for best title, and Kanye's G.O.O.D. Fridays effort, which I'm omitting because it wasn't really a mixtape. Kind of a progressive mixtape maybe, but he's gonna win album of the year anyway, so he can sit this one out. To the batlist!


7. The Marathon - Nipsey Hussle
One of two tapes Nipsey let loose this year, this one actually sounds like more than leftover tracks. Unlike the other tapes on this list, the production is not 100% original. He recycled Ye's "Runaway" beat and raps over an MGMT track, but the tape still has a cohesive sound, and the West Coast prodigy sounds focused and ready to proceed after an all too common label snafu.



6. Friday Night Lights - J Cole
The latest offering from the Roc nation kid. Like a number of his fellow list residents, he still hasn't released an official album, but the mixtapes have been impressive, especially when you consider that he's making all the beats himself, too. Thoughtful raps and some catchy hooks make this one a winner



5. Str8 Killa No Filla - Freddie Gibbs
Gangsta Gibbs keeps building momentum. While I didn't enjoy this tape quite as much as last years', it did more than enough to satiate his fans, and the Str8 Killa EP tie-in actually gave the young Gary native a product for people to purchase on iTunes/Amazon. I know I did.



4. K.R.I.T. wuz here - Big K.R.I.T.
Big K.R.I.T. just came out of nowhere (also known as Mississippi). If he keeps puttin out projects like this, no one's gonna complain that he arrived unannounced. He presented this as an album, and it certainly sounds like one, but it was only released as a free download, so I'm calling it a mixtape. So there. Also, all original production by Krit himself. Listen and enjoy.



3. Trunk Muzik - Yelawolf
If you're crusin, I got that trunk muzik. This came out in the frozen wastelands of last January, but 'bama's favorite white boy warmed up the rest of the country with his best effort to date. The tape proved so popular that it was flipped into an album last month. This guy has a serious buzz going right now, and although some people hate his voice, he's certainly making original sounds. I'm lookin forward to whatever the next project is.



2. More About Nothing - Wale
D.C.'s favorite MC returns from an album that everyone arbitrarily hated on to provide a tape that may have trumped his entire body of work up to this point. This thing is jam-packed with great song after great song, and, in my opinion, the Seinfeld samples are even better interwoven than they were on the original Mixtape About Nothing. Original topics, clever lyricism, and very strong production for the win.



1. Kush & Orange Juice - Wiz Khalifa
This sucker dominated my iTunes playcounts, though I wasn't even expecting it to. It came out early in the year and never outwore its welcome in the rotation. It's party music and chill music all at once. The overall sound is so cohesive and purely relaxing, it's like getting a contact buzz without even passing the j, though sometimes you'll swear you can smell the smoke. Kush & OJ plays start to finish without a single jarring moment and is likely to please a variety of audiences- men, women, hip-hoppers, and non hip-hoppers alike. It's little wonder that Wiz's popularity has basically exploded after this tape. Here's to the upcoming album. Black & Yellow, people.


Posted by Alex at 12:20 AM 1 comments
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Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Best Rappers Alive, Part 2


So, I was going to wait until the end of the year to update this list, but now seems as good a time as any. I'll do some sort of best of '09 for year's end.



1. Wale
The promise shown in Nike Boots has been fully realized. Wale's mixtapes, including the most recent Back to the Feature, has shown just how intellectual this guy can get, and everything he's leaked off Attention: Deficit has been fantastic. It's only a couple weeks away, folks. Witness the future.




2. Lil Wayne
Mr. Carter is headed to the bing for the better part of a year now. I wish him all the best, and would council him by pointing out the wonders this could do for his craft. That mind forced to sit behind a wall for a year might yield something truly great. It's no coincidence that he seems to be rapping better than ever at the moment. The No Ceiling mixtape proves that he hasn't lost anything. It would be another Da Drought 3 if not for all the Young Money features. Wayne has the best jokes.





3. Obie Trice
One doesn't hear from Obie too often, but when he decides to drop something, it's decidedly amazing. Still, unless he releases his long awaited album soon, and maybe a mixtape every once and a while, Obie is in danger of drifting into obscurity. Maybe that's what he wants, but I would hate to see a talent like this take himself out of the competition.








4. Mikkey Halsted
Mikkey has definitely put in hours since the last time this list was published. He's prolific with the leaked tracks, getting a more diverse range of production, and has been spreading his namesake by collaborating with just about every Chicago Hip-Hop artist you can imagine. His Uncrowned City label is really becoming a force in the city. The Photo Album remains unreleased, as anticipation builds.



5. Freddie Gibbs
Whoa. I thought this guy was solid before, and then he went and dropped midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmusic. Might be the drop of the year. The production.. The lyrics.. I posted his previous drop earlier this year, and he's got another tape coming in November. Mainstream criticism loves this dude.



Special mention goes to Young Buck, who still has one of the best ears for production and has huge potential on his next album drop. Also, Lupe seems to be coming out of hiding more, and there's always the question of what that Drake album is going to prove. Stay Tuned.
Posted by Alex at 12:16 AM 0 comments
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Monday, April 13, 2009

Listing, Part 2

As promised, I present to you the 5 Hottest Producers in the game right now.  I say "hottest" to avoid any quibbles about "catalogue."  Production's all about the now.  So with apologies to DJ Premier and Dr. Dre (Dre, if you ever decide to drop Detox instead of phoning in beats for Em, we'll talk), let's begin.

1. Kanye West
Let's face it; he's always going to be remembered as a better producer than rapper, and he is.  I've enjoyed every stage of Ye's production career so far, and so has the general public.  Even those right-minded people who thought his singing on 808s & Heartbreak was pansy couldn't say the production wasn't on point.  With no signs of stopping, looks like Yeezy's breaking the mold on this one, and anyone who complains that he samples too much needs to jump off something tall and try to land on their head.  Tracklist:
-Love Lockdown
-Flashing Lights
-Let The Beat Build, Lil Wayne
-Swagga Like Us, Everyone
-I Poke Her Face, Kid Cudi


2. Dion Wilson - a.k.a. No I.D.
First the student, then the mentor.  Rap godfather of the Chi, No I.D.'s best work has come recently, in my opinion.  Namely, his yet fully public work with Mikkey Halsted.  He has described it in interviews as his symphony and from what I've heard, it certainly sounds like nothing else and utterly fantastic.  Props to dude for his recent mainstream acclaim on Jigga's last album and the rumors he helped Kanye with most of the  upcoming The Blueprint 3.  Tracklist:
-See You In My Nightmares, Kanye West
-Karma, Mikkey Halsted
-Put It On Ya, Plies
-Rebel To America, Mikkey Halsted
-Success, Jay-Z


3.  Polow-Freache Jamal Fincher Jones - a.k.a. Polow da Don
So we all know Love In This Club was crazy, and I don't really care that he used GarageBand; that's what it's there for.  You're just mad you didn't figure it out first.  He's also got Rich Boy under his belt, which you might call his symphony.  Yeah, maybe a lot of his production is geared toward singers, but face it, rappers love his beats.  What do you think remixes are for?  Tracklist:
-Let's Get This Paper, Rich Boy
-Love In This Club, Usher
-Role Models, Rich Boy
-Turnin Me On, Keri Hilson
-Forever, Chris Brown


4. Marcello Valenzano and Andre Christopher Lyon - a.k.a. Cool & Dre
These two have really had a magic touch of late and the work they've done down south has given them a whole bag full of hits.  They're best when they're working with epic sounds, and the end result of most of their tracks are some wicked freestyle beats, hence the popularity of their group tracks.  Listen.  Tracklist:
-Brown Paper Bag, DJ Khaled and Friends
-My Life, The Game
-Hot Revolver, Lil Wayne
-Blown, Busta Rhymes
-All My Life, Jay Rock


5. Christopher Gholsen - a.k.a. Drumma Boy
This guy has a mad musical background and it really comes through in the production.  You can tell he likes classical music.  That synth crescendo you've been hearing at the beginning of your favorite tracks?  Yep, that's your boy.  He's making some of the most fun music out right now.  Tracklist:
-Watch Dis, Plies
-I'm Da Man, Plies
-Put On, Young Jeezy
-My Life, Your Entertainment, T.I.
-Lost, Gorilla Zoe


Shout out to J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League.  Y'all made Rick Ross' career; just got squeezed out here.  Dem beats are buttery!

Posted by Alex at 11:05 AM 0 comments
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Monday, April 06, 2009

Listing

As far as I can tell, the only way one is allowed discuss Hip-Hop is through lists. Therefore, let's jump right into the meat of it. I give you the five best rappers alive. This is a fluid list; artists are always one bad career move or bus slam away from falling into obscurity and/or the grave. A quick note of criteria. To be the best alive you have to be:
1) alive.
2) prolific.
3) relevant.
4) talented.


1. Obie Trice
Detroit is filled with great rappers, but perhaps none have the raw talent of O. Trice. His flows are unparalleled and his wordplay never gets boring. A platinum-selling artist, the two albums he dropped on shady records are classics, especially Second Round's On Me. The mixtapes he did with DJ Whoo Kidd are equally impressive. Not to mention he's as real as they come. Now that he's free from Interscope's stifling bureaucracy, he can pursue his own projects, so hopefully we'll be getting a lot more product from him in the future. Look for his album Bottom's Up to drop on his new Worldwide Hustle label this year.
I put together a tape of some of his rarer tracks:


2. Eminem
Remember what I said about Detroit? The white boy always brings the pain, and is the closest thing the game has to a relevant legend since Jay-Z got bored and started watching movies. Em's production slowed to a faint trickle through all his rehab business, but the new album (Relapse, for those of you who live under rocks) is slated for May and with public anticipation bubbling over, the next rapper on this list is about to learn a thing or two about record sales. To prepare yourself for the new Em, check out some rare old Em--his first LP with some funky beats and a laid back flow that marks the time before he rapped about the occult:


3. Lil Wayne
People love to hate on this guy, which shows you just how big he's become. Y'all know his story by now. Personally I think he's a fascinating experiment--literally raised by the Hip-Hop industry. The formula worked after over a decade of solid grind, and Weezy went multi-plat despite a leaked album. Tha Carter 1 & 2 are classics and dude produces music at Makavelli speeds, showing no sign of slowing. I don't think people can deny it anymore; he's a game changer. The ante has been upped for every rapper operating in the age of the Internet. The latest to leak:



4. Mikkey Halsted
This list just keeps building on itself. Wayne cited this dude as one of his biggest influences--moreso than Gille The Kid, who claimed to have ghostwritten for Weezy. Mikkey's story is an interesting one. Kanye did his demo tape and they were both signed by Cash Money, but Yeezy dipped off to The Roc and fame at the last minute. Mikkey, meanwhile, who was slated to be Juvi's replacement, recorded a lot of tracks that got locked away in a vault by the much maligned Birdman. He's back, though, and is more poetic than anyone out there. He's more than buzzworthy in the Chi, and when his No ID-produced Chicago: The Photo Album sees release on a major label in the near future, dude's gonna blow up. Till then, check out his flawless mixtape:


5. Plies
If you think my list loses credibility by including this man, you can go curl up in your bed and cry about your favorite genre while you listen to Nas through expensive headphones. Plies is hot, he's getting some of the most interesting production around right now and he released three full-length studio albums in a year and a half (Definition of Real is my personal fav). Some chide him for his often monosyllabic rhyming, but I think he's really coming into his own. No one does charming, levelheaded vulgarity like this guy. His earliest records are bangers:


There's more to come. Production's next.
Posted by Alex at 11:21 AM 1 comments
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