The 11s: (7) Beats...

12:03 pm - Thu, Dec 29, 2011: 5 notes

The 11s: (7) Beats…

My favorite beats this year. I’m not sure that I can completely articulate my criteria for what constitutes a dope beat, but I suppose there are a few factors to consider:

Context: what’s the artist trying to achieve by rapping over this shit and how well did he/she succeed goal-wise? For instance, it is a club song? Some lyrical miracle shit? Niggas talking shit? A cinematic story?
The instrumental: Am I content to listen to the beat without vocals (not really my cuppa tea, so if I can do that, the beat is good money). That said, pure instrumental shit (no vocals attached ever) doesn’t qualify.
Synergy: this works in two ways; did the artist meld so well with the beat that I can’t even imagine anyone else over it, or conversely, did I immediately imagine a better (read - one of my favorites) spitting over that shit.
Did Papoose freestyle over the beat? If he didn’t then your beat sucks. That’s the king of NY. Nobody betta.
Will it get vaginas moist? Just kidding. I don’t own a vagina - I only rent.

You’ll notice some cheating here and there, but you oughta be used to me taking such liberties by now. I’m already depressed at the fact that I’m going to leave out some really dope shit that I momentarily forgot, but oh well:

John Scino - Dirty Martini (Troy Ave ft. Prodigy): Had to do a little more searching than usual to find the producer on this shit, but I’m glad I get to give the guy some credit. Holy fuck this is gully. Credit to Troy Ave for picking the beat, but Prodigy comes in on the third verse and completely obliterates the song. This is how the Mobb should sound in 2011. Maybe if there was more shit like this on ‘Black Cocaine’ (and more Nas?), the rap blogluminati would have geeked out a bit more over the first Mobb project in forever. As things stand, this griminess of this beat only meant that Troy Ave cracked the rotation for a brief minute. I hope we hear more shit like this outta John Scino. Whoever he is.
Mr. LEN - The Song That Never Ends (Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire ft. Heron): Woozy, subterranean, minimalist genius. The perfect soundscape for eXquire and Heron to unfurl reams of non-sequiturs and cool threats. What more can I write? Just go listen to it muthafucka.
Clams Casino - Bass (ASAP Rocky): Ooh, two beats from ‘Live Love ASAP’ on this shit. Feel free to make any inferences you’d like. Please go ahead. My pleasure. Just kidding. I’ve come to the sudden realization that it’s kind of self defeating to try to come up the usual number of words to rant about sounds that aren’t words, but I’ll keep hacking away. Clams Casino has gotten a ton of love all around the place for being the main purveyor of this ‘cloud rap’ shit and I gotta say, I don’t mind this shit at all. The low-fi, spacey and insanely catchy vibe I get from most of his beats gives me hope that someday, Blu will meet Clams and make an album that anyone other than his stans want to hear.
Salaam Remi - Nasty (Nas): I’d love to skip ahead to the part where I just write about the beat, but per rap blog law I’m mandated to mention the prevailing thought that Nas’ beat choices are blah, blah blah… blah. Fuck outta here with that shit. Not in this neighborhood. This is one of those beats that just grows on you and it’s always nice to hear someone try some familiar sounding boom-bap shit without it coming off as dated. As a concession to you assholes, I’ll admit that Nas’ performance is easily the highlight of the song, but there’s a subdued brilliance to this beat. I swear. I love it. Salaam doesn’t get enough props. SMH.
Cardiak - Rise (MMG/Curren$y/Cyhi/Teedra Moses): Some smooth, laid-back playa shit. The bass line on this is probably the best one I heard in a rap song all year. The shit is just so smooth. Cardiak did a lot more work for Ace Hood and Young Chris and I remain impressed with his work. In fact, I’m familiar enough with his shit to ID it within the first few bars
J. Cole - God’s Gift (J. Cole): In one of the 6 million interviews that Cole did before he actually got around to dropping his surprisingly not awful album, he noted that Jay-Z was supposed to be on this shit. That would have been glorious. This is the kind of beat that would have brought out the best in the Camel. Let’s face it, Jay has been floating through 95% of his verses since 2003. Camel being the business man that he is decided to give Cole a verse on some vaguely shitty dubstep shit was will (or already is) undoubtedly a single. Boo.
Midnight Black - All We Do (Young Jeezy): If the hook on this shit wasn’t so vulgar, it ought to be a single. Adheres to Jeezy’s traditional trap sound, but incorporates elements for the ladies. Trappers love pussy too. Man cannot live by sales alone.
Cardo - B.A.N.ned (Freddie Gibbs): I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell. That’s Cardo’s mantra in a nutshell. OK, maybe not, but the man picked a great sound to trademark. Combine that with a Sade sample and what I imagine was a lot of weed and alcohol and the result is the most violently playful song I’ve heard in a good minute. I appreciate this kinda shit.
The Alchemist - Covert Coup (Curren$y): Yep. The entire album. I can honestly claim that everything on this project is outstanding and works so well together that I’d be doing someone a disservice if I attempted to parse through that shit. That someone is me - I need some sleep damnit. I still can’t believe they gave this shit away for free. Wow.
40/Drake - Cameras (Drake): If we’re being fair, I should really just give this spot to Lex Luger. I’ve devoted quite a few words to this already, so I’ll just leave it at dope Lex rip off, cool Jon B sample.
Brandun DeShay - Pac Blood (Danny Brown): I’ll say the following; (a) Brandun DeShay should get way more placements, (b) low key, he’s made a few of my favorite beats in the last few years, (c) anyone that can bring a new twist to a Nautilus sample in 2011 deserves to be rich & famous soon, and (d) it just occurred to me that Mr. DeShay probably has a lot more shit floating around that I haven’t heard. That changes now.

Honorable mentions:

Just Blaze - Lord Knows (much better than the shit he gave Rawse for that lame single)
Beatnick & K-Salaam - Heaven Can Wait (that Jamiroquai sample though!)
Big K.R.I.T. - Get Right (Game should have paid KRIT a grip for this shit)
Dom Kennedy - The Homies (total West Coast G shit - too bad he isn’t big on listing production credits. then again, maybe we all need to go back in that direction).
Lex Luger - (Let’s call this a year-long achievement award. He’s far from an originator, but folks be biting hard and he’s still the best at his sound. For instance, Rick Rawse’s ‘9 Piece’)
The Neptunes/Kanye - Gotta Have It (The Neptunes still have it)
Hitboy/Kanye/Mike Dean - Niggas In Paris (I remember hearing this for the first time and wondering why ‘Otis’ was the first single)
The Alchemist - The Red Carpet (Had to squeeze this in. So cinematic and soulful)
G-Luck & B-Don - Can’t Stop (85% of the shit they did for Slim Thug this year sounds like Lex Luger, but when they deviate from that sound, things get magical)
Beautiful Lou - Kissin’ Pink (ASAP Ferg showed out on this shit. I mean that).