50 songs I really liked this year...

10:00 am - Mon, Dec 20, 2010: 329 notes

50 songs I really liked this year…

Here’s a random sampling of my favorite songs of the year. But a few rules first:

Only one per artist (makes me think harder and prevent me filling the list with the same people over and over again).
No ranking. I have an idea of the songs I like the most, but putting them in order is for the brave.
I also tried to leave out songs I covered positively earlier in the year.

[List Champs: Big KRIT, Curren$y & Wiz Khalifa]

Let’s go:

Waka Flocka Flame - Grove Street Party featuring Kebo Gotti: On the low, this is the best Lex Luger beat of the year. He might have a future with shit like this.
Wiz Khalifa - In My Car (Tha Puff Bus) featuring Juicy J: Don’t be stupid Atlantic, this is single material.
Miike Snow - Animal (The Parks Jump Up Remix): Electro-pop for people who don’t like electro-pop music.
Maino - Retaliate: For the love of all things good, I hope Maino isn’t addressing an actual human on this track. This is how anger sounds.
Quadron - Pressure: It’s all in the horns.
Roc Marciano - Ridin’ Around: Aggressive content with good advice on corpse disposal.
Big Boi - Tangerine featuring T.I.: Almost made me break my anti-strip club stance. Almost.
Rick Ross - BMF featuring Styles P: I guess we’re stuck with Rawse and Luger for a while. The perfecting of schizo-delusional rap?
Jake One & Freeway - Sho’ Nuff featuring Bun-B: Drawing a blank on the sample used on this, but it’s fucking beautiful.
Swedish House Mafia - One featuring Pharell Williams: I prefer my techno either American, British or French, but this shit goes hard in da paint and the club. Swedish bitches won though (See Elin Nordegren).
Big K.R.I.T. - Moon & Stars featuring Devin The Dude: If you can’t feel this soulful shit, I feel for you.
Mike Bigga (Killer Mike) - Swimming: If anyone had told me that Bigga would sound this dope over a beat like this, I’d tell them to “get the fuck out.”
Freddie Gibbs - The Coldest featuring BJ The Chicago Kid: A really random choice - everything he does is excellent.
Vado - Large On The Streets: More of this and we’ll have to take this guy seriously.
El Prez - Contact! featuring Freddie Gibbs: Cali weed rap with Gibbs on that renegade shit.
T.I. - Amazing featuring Pharell: On rare occasions, Pharell takes time off from defiling models. Then he and Chad accidentally recapture glories past.
Janelle Monae - Tightrope featuring Big Boi: She’s really great. I want her. Bad.
Curren$y - Prioritize featuring Nesby Phips: Curren$y sounds great when he’s actually awake.
Trademark Da Skydiver - Oxygen: Woozy weed rap FTW.
Tony Yayo & Danny Brown - Trap Ball featuring Lil’ B: SWAG! WOO! TRAP! BALL!
Dr. Dre - Kush featuring Akon & Snoop Dogg: Groundbreaking? Nah. But I dare you to resist this shit in the club.
Raekwon - Butter Knives: Violence sounds better on wax with a lot of detail.
Ghostface Killah - Troublemakers featuring Method Man, Raekwon & Redman: Classic Wu + the unofficial member.
Joell Ortiz - Sing Like Bilal: Joell + Primo. What else do you want?
Them Crooked Vultures - New Fang: Heavy rock from a super rock group.
J-Murk - The Truth: Blistering introduction of a really young and really good MC.
Alicia Keys - Unthinkable (I’m Ready): I find most of her music intolerable these days, but she and Drake cooked up a good one here.
Big KRIT/Wiz Khalifa/Curren$y - Glass House: I know I’m cheating here, but I played this too often to leave it off. Probably my favorite song this year.
Francis & The Lights - For Days: The kind of pop I fux with.
The Roots - Right On: Joanna Newsom at her most tolerable.
Erykah Badu - Love: It’s all in the title, right? Over a slow-burner by Dilla.
Dom Kennedy - 1997: A coming-of-age/brag rap tale made beautiful by shimmering synths.
Nas & Damian Marley - Friends: You’ve heard the message before, but not over bongos and rap/toasting.
MC Eiht - So Well: That’s classic, smooth, west coast shit. Makes you think of sunshine. Gyeah!
Camron & Vado - You Killin Me featuring Kid Cudi: Weird combo, but this song is mostly about the ALC beat.
DJ Quik & Suga Free - Nobody: This combo can do no wrong. Look out for “The Book of David.”
Young Jeezy - Illin’ featuring The Clipse: One of the great mysteries of 2010 is how Young Jeezy/Def Jam managed to mess up his buzz. He’s still got it.
Kanye West - So Appalled featuring everyone and their momma: It has RZA on it.
Gaygns - The Gaudy Side Of Town: A few minutes too long and I prefer the live version, but few solo tracks made me listen to entire projects this year. This is one of ‘em.
The Serial KilLAz - It’s Whatever featuring Uncle Murda: This shit harder than a muthafucka. Don’t catch a charge listening to this one.
DJ Crazy Toones & WC - Frontline: Old Gangsta Rap FTW.
Kid Cudi - These Worries featuring Mary J. Blige: I’ll be damned if this fiend doesn’t have a way with a hook. Mary kills it too.
J. Cole - Who Dat: In a fairer world, this would have been the track to take him places. But as it stands, it was a nice introduction.
Drake - Light Up featuring Jay-Z: You might not believe me, but I only really care for the beat. Fuck your triple-“aunt-andre” camel.
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - Butt-House Blondies: Inappropriate amounts of muffled guitar with muffled/garbled vocals. My speed.
B.o.B. - Bet I Bust featuring Playboy Tre & T.I.: B.o.B. does this bama rap shit much better than he does pop or folk or rock, but bama rap doesn’t pay the bills anymore.
Marco Polo & Rustee Juxx - Fucking With A Gangsta featuring Sean Price: Fewer things in life are gullier.
Jackie Chain - Stalker: Any of the tracks off his mixtape would do. Solid project all around. This is just funny as shit though.
Reflection Eternal - Just Begun featuring Jay Electronica, J Cole, & Mos Def: That’s a lot of pedigree on one track. I think Electronica just beats J.Cole to the victory here.
Chip Da Ripper - Movie: I dare you to listen to this and not feel relaxed immediately afterwards.

So there it is. I suppose I should have listened to a little more indie shit this year, but there’s just so much to take in these days. I’ll be catching up on that shit into the new year.

Thanks for reading and look out for my album list later this week…