Monthly Report: August Singles
1. Gucci Mane f/ Plies - "Wasted"
I feel kind of bad for Gucci that he can't ever seem to have a solo hit without there being some kind of extraneous drama involving labels and guests. The fight with Jeezy over "Icy" that we continue to see fallout from today gets more and more ridiculous as the years go by and they both continue to have so many bigger songs than that one hit both wanted for himself. Big Cat tried to stop Atlantic from releasing the "Freaky Gurl" remix since they'd put out the original. And now "Wasted," the insurgent potential megahit that kind of out of nowhere went from a mixtape track to an album-launching single, is being fucked up because, as I mentioned the other day, Warner Bros. is now pushing an inferior remix with OJ Da Juiceman in place of Plies, who himself isn't the greatest rapper but has by far the most memorable verse on the song. I actually heard a radio DJ the other day basically say "please stop requesting the version with Plies, we're legally now allowed to play it anymore." Between this and shutting down Cocaine Blunts, Warner Bros. is sure doing a hell of a job of fucking up what should be the easiest record to promote on their whole fall schedule. Anyway, accept no substitutes, the Plies version is the jam of the summer.
2. Whitney Houston - "Million Dollar Bill"
I wrote a Singles Jukebox blurb about this that hasn't gone up yet, and I feel like anything I'd say here would just be a regurgitation of that, but yeah, this is great.
3. DJ Quik & Kurupt - "Hey Playa! (Moroccan Blues)"
One of the standout tracks from maybe my favorite album of the year, still never fail to be amused by the way Quik keeps throwing the devil and vampies and the voice of great antiquity while Kurupt is just treating it like another club jam.
4. The-Dream - "Sweat It Out"
Love Vs. Money is the best popular album of 2009 that would've been more popular if not utterly failed by its singles campaign. After "Rockin' That Shit" became his 4th consecutive top 10 R&B hit without any extra starpower propelling them (tacked-on Fab and Jeezy verses for the videos don't count), Def Jam should have been assured of the fact that this weird-looking songwriter guy with the squeak toy voice somehow charmed the radio-listening public to the point that he didn't need big guests to make hits. And yet they pushed out 2 consecutive duds, with nothing to reccomend them but Kanye and Mariah feature credits, and totally killed the momentum of what would've probably otherwise been a big album (or at least a bigger seller than his debut). It looked like the album was just going to be further buried when a re-release was schedule with a really awful new single called "Hit It On The Road," but thank god, someone finally came to their senses and sent one of the several perfectly good tracks on the album with no guests out to radio.
5. Fabolous f/ Keri Hilson - "Everything Everyday Everywhere"
Fab's flow on this song ain't great (this is, after all, the "up in this bitch like an unborn baby" song), but as a Keri song it's just killer and makes me wonder why Ryan Leslie didn't produce anything on her album. Love that whole bridge and her triplet "everyeveryeveryeveryevery" thing on the outro.
I feel kind of bad for Gucci that he can't ever seem to have a solo hit without there being some kind of extraneous drama involving labels and guests. The fight with Jeezy over "Icy" that we continue to see fallout from today gets more and more ridiculous as the years go by and they both continue to have so many bigger songs than that one hit both wanted for himself. Big Cat tried to stop Atlantic from releasing the "Freaky Gurl" remix since they'd put out the original. And now "Wasted," the insurgent potential megahit that kind of out of nowhere went from a mixtape track to an album-launching single, is being fucked up because, as I mentioned the other day, Warner Bros. is now pushing an inferior remix with OJ Da Juiceman in place of Plies, who himself isn't the greatest rapper but has by far the most memorable verse on the song. I actually heard a radio DJ the other day basically say "please stop requesting the version with Plies, we're legally now allowed to play it anymore." Between this and shutting down Cocaine Blunts, Warner Bros. is sure doing a hell of a job of fucking up what should be the easiest record to promote on their whole fall schedule. Anyway, accept no substitutes, the Plies version is the jam of the summer.
2. Whitney Houston - "Million Dollar Bill"
I wrote a Singles Jukebox blurb about this that hasn't gone up yet, and I feel like anything I'd say here would just be a regurgitation of that, but yeah, this is great.
3. DJ Quik & Kurupt - "Hey Playa! (Moroccan Blues)"
One of the standout tracks from maybe my favorite album of the year, still never fail to be amused by the way Quik keeps throwing the devil and vampies and the voice of great antiquity while Kurupt is just treating it like another club jam.
4. The-Dream - "Sweat It Out"
Love Vs. Money is the best popular album of 2009 that would've been more popular if not utterly failed by its singles campaign. After "Rockin' That Shit" became his 4th consecutive top 10 R&B hit without any extra starpower propelling them (tacked-on Fab and Jeezy verses for the videos don't count), Def Jam should have been assured of the fact that this weird-looking songwriter guy with the squeak toy voice somehow charmed the radio-listening public to the point that he didn't need big guests to make hits. And yet they pushed out 2 consecutive duds, with nothing to reccomend them but Kanye and Mariah feature credits, and totally killed the momentum of what would've probably otherwise been a big album (or at least a bigger seller than his debut). It looked like the album was just going to be further buried when a re-release was schedule with a really awful new single called "Hit It On The Road," but thank god, someone finally came to their senses and sent one of the several perfectly good tracks on the album with no guests out to radio.
5. Fabolous f/ Keri Hilson - "Everything Everyday Everywhere"
Fab's flow on this song ain't great (this is, after all, the "up in this bitch like an unborn baby" song), but as a Keri song it's just killer and makes me wonder why Ryan Leslie didn't produce anything on her album. Love that whole bridge and her triplet "everyeveryeveryeveryevery" thing on the outro.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 11:21 PM.
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I'd say UGK 4 Life, Liquor Store Mascot, Blackout! 2, and possibly Sally Shapiro's new one (haven't finished it yet, but it's beautiful so far) are better than BlaQKOut, but it's a really great record in its own right. No question.
Playboy Tre's definitely in my top 10 for the year so far, maybe UGK too.