I've been writing this Remix Report Card thing since 2007, and have covered pretty much every major rap remix of the last 13 years. After a few years of writing the column for Noisey, I brought it back to Narrowcast for one big 2019 year-end Remix Report Card. But now I'm trying get back into regular installments, probably quarterly again. Here's a 2020 Remix Report Card playlist on Spotify of all the remixes discussed below.

"Big Drip (Remix)" by Fivio Foreign featuring Lil Baby and Quavo
By the time this song started to chart nationally and end up on my radar, it already had an all-star remix. Quavo's verse is good by Quavo standards, but his voice is a weird fit for these dark ominous New York drill beats, Lil Baby sounds much better on it.
Best Verse: Lil Baby
Overall Grade: B-

"BMO (Remix)" by Ari Lennox featuring Doja Cat
"BMO" was my favorite R&B single of 2019 but it didn't really occur to me whether I'd want a remix. And even when she has some bars, I'd rather hear Doja Cat sing than rap, so I dunno, this doesn't really do much for me.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B-

"Crunk Ain't Dead (Remix)" by Duke Deuce featuring Lil Jon, Juicy J and Project Pat
Lil Jon started wearing a giant chain that said 'crunk ain't dead' back in 2006 in the waning days of his commercial dominance. So it was funny to see a Memphis rapper take up the phrase as his own rallying cry 13 years later, after a decade of mainstream southern rap still more or less sounding like crunk but not being called that anymore. And inevitably but satisfyingly, there a was a remix with Lil Jon shouting the hook along with Duke Deuce and verses from a couple Memphis elder statesmen who were popularizing crunk (the sound and the term) even earlier than Lil Jon.
Best Verse: Juicy J
Overall Grade: B+

"Dior (Remix)" by Pop Smoke featuring Gunna
Much like Lil Baby on the "Big Drip" remix, this has the novelty of hearing a YSL rapper on one of these NY drill tracks that sounds nothing like the Atlanta production he usually raps over. I don't think Gunna really rises to the occasion here, though, it's the kind of combination that sounded better in my head than in practice
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C

"Heartless (Remix)" by The Weeknd featuring Lil Uzi Vert 
Notwithstanding "XO Tour Llif3" being Lil Uzi Vert's best song, Abel and Uzi isn't really a combination that sounds good to me. But Uzi is a good judge of what flow goes with what track and his approach here is solid.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B-

"Heart On Ice (Remix)" by Rod Wave featuring Lil Durk 
I don't know if this is happening in other markets, but the Baltimore/D.C. rap stations have been playing this remix instead of the original Rod Wave solo version. And I don't really understand it, it's not like Lil Durk otherwise ever gets spins around here. And I've really just started to hate his verse the more I hear it, especially that awkward hat tip to the song on The Big Day that he guested on.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: D

"Highest In The Room (Remix)" by Travis Scott featuring Rosalia and Lil Baby 
"Highest In The Room" may go down at the most forgettable Hot 100 #1 since "Crack A Bottle." And even the remix that kicked off Travis Scott's JackBoys EP that added Lil Baby to the song didn't seem to add much to its shelf life. But I really dug the curveball of including Grammy-winning flamenco singer Rosalia on the remix. It's pretty entertaining to hear her do the trademark Travis Scott "it's lit!" and "straight up" ad libs before her verse and then add a whole different dimension to the song.
Best Verse: Rosalia
Overall Grade: B

"Life Is Good (Remix)" by Future featuring DaBaby, Lil Baby and Drake 
I never really understood the original "Life Is Good." I'm sure they were trying to ride the "Sicko Mode" beat switch wave, but it just sounds like a Drake song and an unrelated Future song over a different beat were awkwardly stapled together. The remix, however, makes the shrewd move of putting Future over the Drake part of the song, and then having the guests over the Future part. It all comes together pretty nicely (and with a minimum of Drake, who only appears via his hook from the original).
Best Verse: DaBaby
Overall Grade: A-

"Lottery (Renegade) (Remix)" by K Camp featuring Quavo 
TikTok gave K Camp his first national hit in almost 5 years when "Lottery" became the music for the Renegade dance challenge. So it was a good idea to throw a star on the song and try to ride that momentum a little more. But I never thought "Lottery" was as memorable as K Camp's more melodic earlier hits. And the track just doesn't give a guy like Quavo a lot to work with, I think a lot of the other big Atlanta guys would've been a better fit for this.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C-

"Loyal (Remix)" by PartyNextDoor featuring Bad Bunny and Drake 
I really can't stand the original "Loyal," but Bad Bunny sounds at home on this track and really makes it his own. The PND hook still sucks, though.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B+

"Move Like A Snake (Remix)" by Kayla Nicole featuring Missy Elliott
Kayla Nicole is a YouTuber who I mainly know as the girl looking down in that one meme. But apparently she makes music too, and her breakout song got a Missy remix. Missy kind of takes over the track and makes it her own. And it usually kind of bums me out when a major star does that to some new artist's first hit, but it's not like there was a whole lot to this song to begin with.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B

"Roll Some Mo (Remix)" by Lucky Daye featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Wale
I always kind of roll my eyes when Wale hops on the remix to an R&B song. Like I know it's his lane, but all he does here is make a really good song sound more like generic radio fodder. Ty's verse is good, though.
Best Verse: Ty Dolla Sign
Overall Grade: B

"Slide (Remix)" by H.E.R. featuring Pop Smoke, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Chris Brown 
Just like it was interesting to hear other rappers on a Pop Smoke beat, it's cool to hear Pop Smoke rap on something much mellower than his usual sound, and it's sad that we'll never get to hear him do more stuff like this or diversify his sound.
Best Verse: Pop Smoke
Overall Grade: B

"Slow Down (Remix)" by Skip Marley featuring Wale and H.E.R.
Another R&B song with a Wale verse, he obviously knows what he's doing but it kinda feels like an AI program could add Wale to these songs with a high amount of accuracy at this point.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C+

"Sugar (Remix)" by Brockhampton featuring Dua Lipa 
Dua Lipa can do no wrong in my eyes right now and Brockhampton can generally do no right. But "Sugar" is a  crossover hit that kind of follows through on their longtime marketing gimmick of calling themselves a "boy band," and her voice sounds good on the track for a brief cameo.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B

"Suicidal (Remix)" by YNW Melly featuring Juice WRLD
So a rapper who is more known for being a murder suspect than for his music released a song called "Suicidal," and then released a remix featuring a rapper who died a couple months ago after accidentally ingesting a lethal amount of drugs. This whole track's existence just makes me uncomfortable, like what the fuck is going on, how did we get here? That said, the song is more in Juice WRLD's wheelhouse than YNW Melly's, so the remix improves on the original.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C

"What You Did (Remix)" by Mahalia featuring Cam'ron and Ella Mai 
The original "What You Did" flipped the Rose Royce flip from Cam'ron's "Oh Boy," and it's always a fun idea on paper to have a rap star of yesteryear appear on the remix of a song that samples their hit. But Cam started to lose his step just a few years after "Oh Boy," and almost two decades later I can barely stand to listen to his new stuff. So both of his verses on this remix are just kind of depressing to listen to, although he musters a little more energy on the second one.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: D+

"Yummy (Remix)" by Justin Bieber featuring Summer Walker 
It irritated me to no end that R&B radio actually played this tepid song fairly heavily for a while there, not even the Summer version, which at least makes the song tolerable fora minute there.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B-

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 21, 2020 at 12:00 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.