1. Yelawolf - Trunk Muzik
I guess you could say that one of my new year’s resolutions is to be less close-minded about new rappers, because I kinda grew up in the era where paying attention to radio and MTV was enough to be able to hear most of the new hip hop artists worth hearing, and as little as a year or two ago all the MCs getting internet hype were nerdy Kanye wannabes. But now pretty much nobody of any worth gets their break with a radio single anymore, and there’s a whole wave of less overtly internetty rappers coming up with zip file mixtapes that I’d gotten way too used to being able to ignore. One of the more universally liked ones recently has been Yelawolf, and while it was a little hard for me to take his singing voice after being introduced to it via the fucking Flock Of Seagulls hook that Slim Thug song, he’s a really slick doubletime rapper. I don’t know why he gets compared to Twista so much, though, he sounds so much more Bone Thugs to me.

2. Jay Electronica - Victory
Jay Electronica is someone else I kinda put off hearing for a long time using his terrible terrible name as an excuse, but now that I’m listening to him, who knows, maybe I’ll even give Nipsey Hussle a chance! I guess this is some kind of best-of type mixtape so it seemed like a good place to start, and there’s definitely some really impressive verses on here, even if it’s hard to feel blown away unless you, I don’t know, wish rap stopped changing after Illmatic. His name makes a lot more sense now that I’ve heard him call himself “Jay Coldplay” and favorably compare himself to Kevin Spacey in K-PAX -- apparently he’s a really dorky college student circa 2002 trapped in a great rapper’s body.

3. various artists - Hope For Haiti Now
I have to say, I wasn’t expecting much from this, I mainly bought it because I was feeling kind of shitty about not having donated anything to Haiti relief in any other way and my TV was broken the night of the big telethon so I missed all that stuff. But this is overall pretty enjoyable, with some really nice versions of classic songs by mostly good artists, and even that Jay-Z/U2/Rihanna thing isn’t the trainwreck it could’ve been. Sure, a lot of it is bland or forgettable, but I fuck with Shakira doing The Pretenders and J-Hud singing The Beatles and the versions of their own songs that Madonna and Sting and Beyonce do. And it’s kind of refreshing that the vibe here is all sadness and compassion, no weird political undertones or aggressive patriotism like with the music in that 9/11 telethon back in the day. That new “We Are The World” is totally unredeemable ass, too, so it’s nice to be able to have this and feel good not just about buying but listening to it.

4. Eels - End Times
It was weird to think about it and realize recently that I’ve heard all of the Eels’ first 5 albums, all either because my brother had them or I ended up with a promo. Electro-Shock Blues is really good but it’s hard to think of myself as a fan when the guy (ugh do I have to call him “E”?) has such a regrettable mix of impressive songwriting/arranging chops, completely cringe-inducing wordplay and self-pitying drama queen lyrical tropes. I mean I don’t doubt the guy’s as unhappy as his songs often make him sound, but the weird cutesy edge that’s gotten his songs placed in all three Shrek movies makes it all a little hard to take. It almost seems redundant that this is his “divorce record,” it seems like he’d be writing these kinds of miserable heartbreak songs regardless of what’s going on in his life. And in spite of all that, I still find myself enjoying this.

5. Omarion - Ollusion
I decided to give this album a try on the basis of loving the single and first track “I Get It In,” and though the album is bookended with another awesome Tank-produced track at the end, it’s about as goofy and slight as you’d expect. There’s a ballad about sexing on a copy machine, “Last Night (Kinko’s),” and “Hoodie” features a “hella far” that’s almost as funny as the “hella toit” in “I Get It In.”

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