"Commas (Remix)" by L.E.P. Bogus Boys featuring Young Jeezy, T.I., Ma$e and Spenzo
This is a pretty generic song that has taken the very generic course of having Wayne on the original with T.I. and Jeezy taking his place on the remix. This track briefly kicked up some dust for T.I. dissing Gucci by name (more or less) in his verse, but in the weeks since then the prospect of a one-on-one beef got forgotten in Gucci's Twitter massacre. T.I.'s actually verse actually feels kind of sleepy and anti-climactic as the closing verse though. The original had the odd distinction of featuring Ma$e only on the hook with some ad libs, but here he gets a verse and it's pretty good. I always love hearing Jeezy on these kinds of revved-up beats, though.
Best Verse: Jeezy
Overall Grade: B-

"Crickets (Remix)" by Drop City Yacht Club featuring T.I. and Jeremih
This was a pretty goofy minor pop rap hit way earlier in the year, so I'm not sure why a T.I. remix just finally came out now. He sounds good on the beat doing his R&B Tip thing, but I don't know why he'd bother doing that kind of song if it isn't for his own single, it's not like this is gonna get mix show burn. If you don't know the track, it's worth checking at least the first Drop City Yacht Club verse to see how terrible it is.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C+

"Entertainment (Remix)" by Sean Paul featuring Nicki Minaj,  Juicy J, and 2 Chainz
Hilarious flop single from a few months ago where Sean Paul yells "girl you need a spaaaaaaanking" over a trap beat with Juicy J and 2 Chainz verses, now remixed with a Nicki verse thrown in for good measure. It's actually good, particular for the first high profile punchline about Miguel at the Billboard Awards. Actually, Juicy and Tity's verses are good, too, this song would be pretty dope if the Sean Paul parts weren't so garbage.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B

"F.D.B. (Remix)" by Young Dro featuring French Montana, T.I., Trinidad James and DJ Drama or B.o.B, Wale, and Chief Keef
One of the more surprising developments in radio rap this year has been that Young Dro scored his biggest solo radio hit in 7 years with a song where the chorus is "fuck dat bitch." And I guess that was exciting enough for Dro and Grand Hustle for them to do two separate remix, with two different grab bags of guests from pretty much the same pool of mid-level mainstream MCs, and Dro spazzes out with a whole new flow. Tip follows suit with a similar doubletime, but it's a little more commonplace for him. Wale, Trinidad and B.o.B are all their usual tame boring bullshit, and then the Keef verse sounds like it was recorded on a wax cylinder. I thought maybe it was a hastily tacked-on mixtape verse, but there's actually a Young Dro interview where he talks about Keef being on the official remix, so I guess that's really what the remix sounds like?
Best Verse: Young Dro
Overall Grade: C+

"Feds Watching (Remix)" by 2 Chainz featuring Lil Wayne and T.I.
I don't know if this is an official remix per set, since it was debuted on Dedication 5, but unlike all the other tracks on the tape, it included Tity's verse from the original, and these guys were all just on tour so it makes sense that they'd do this remix as a trio, so I'm counting it. Great record, seems to sound better with every passing week that it's out, and I was definitely hoping it'd get a big remix, but this is a little anti-climactic, Weezy in particular drops one of the worst verses on a tape that's pretty dull to begin with, and T.I. is just okay.
Best Verse: T.I.
Overall Grade: D

"It Won't Stop (Remix)" by Sevyn Streeter featuring Chris Brown
This song was really dope to begin with, so throwing goddamn Chris Brown on the remix was pretty unnecessary (although probably inevitable, since he signed Sevyn). It's not bad as a duet, but I'm already getting annoyed at some of the radio stations that had recently picked up on the song starting to default to the remix.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C

"Life Round Here (Remix)" by James Blake featuring Chance The Rapper
I just listened to the original for the first time before putting on the remix, lol British popular music is such a heinous shitshow now, what the fuck even IS this garbage? Chance has been growing on me the last few months, but he's not so great on this as to salvage a near unlistenable song.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C

"Mula (Remix)" by Big Sean featuring Meek Mill, 2 Chainz and Earlly Mac
I guess this was the big song off Sean's mixtape last year but I never heard the shit, until the remix on his album. Going from French to Meek and 2 Chainz is a trade up, at least, but I don't think much of the song in any incarnation. Meek's verse is pretty short but is a nice little shot of energy in one of those otherwise turgid Young Chop tracks. Sean improves on his verse from the original, too. His verse ain't bad, but what the fuck is an Earlly Mac?
Best Verse: Meek Mill
Overall Grade: B

"Royals (Remix)" by Lorde featuring The Weeknd
I feel like this is personally trolling me, one of my least favorite figures in popular music remixing one of my least favorite pop hits of the year. It's kinda bland and inoffensive as remixes go, though.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C

"She Tried (Remix)" by N.O.R.E. featuring Lil Wayne, Birdman and Ja Rule
This song is notable in that the part of horrible sex raps that are in every Lil Wayne verse these days are in the chorus and entire concept of this song. This remix is notable for Ja Rule putting way too much effort into crafting an actually decently impressive verse on a remix of a terrible non-hit song.
Best Verse: Ja Rule
Overall Grade: B

"Twerk It (Remix)" by Busta Rhymes featuring Vybz Kartel, Ne-Yo, T.I., Jeremih and French Montana
I already wrote about the Nicki Minaj remix in this space, but that ended up being the version they pushed to radio and shot a video for, shitty as it was, so now here's the big posse cut remix. Looking at this lineup, Ne-Yo is probably a safe bet for the low point, but he's actually the high point, putting all these harmonies on the second half of his verse and taking it to this surprising place. Jeremih, who's always had a nice little island lilt in his voice, just kinda half-asses it, on the other hand. But Vybz and Tip are dope and even French doesn't embarrass himself too badly, considering how awkward he sounded on "Freaks."
Best Verse: Ne-Yo
Overall Grade: B

"Trying To Be Cool (Remix)" by Phoenix featuring R. Kelly
I can't stand this band, so them being the band that ropes Kells in on his rock festival run reaching out to the alt crowd. This is nice, though, he turns one of their aimless songs into something catchy and almost Hall & Oates-ish. At the end, Kells comes very close to rhyming 'Phoenix' with 'remix' like Fall Out Boy does in the song "Phoenix."
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B-

This entry was posted on Monday, September 23, 2013 at 9:24 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.