Here's
Vol. 1 of this year's Remix Report Card and the
Spotify playlist of every remix I've covered so far this year.
"Alone (Remix)" by Trae Tha Truth featuring Lil Poppa and Kocky Ka
I don't know why Trae Tha Truth popped up a couple months ago with a remix of a 2022 album track, but "Alone" is a pretty good song with a Spanish guitar loop and one of those sticky Trae melodies. Florida teen rapper Lil Poppa and Brooklyn rap singer Kocky Ka both sound fine on teh song but don't add a whole lot to it.
Best Verse: Lil Poppa
Overall Grade: B-
"Dark Nights (Remix)" by Kocky Ka featuring Meek Mill and Fridayy
I never even heard of Kocky Ka before I started putting this Remix Report Card together and wound up with two songs he's on right at the top of the post. Can't say I'm a fan. In fact his voice annoys me in a similar way to Fridayy, although Meek and Fridayy kind of get on the same vibe as their recent hit together, "Proud of Me."
Best Verse: Meek Mill
Overall Grade: B+
"Egypt (Remix)" by Westside Gunn featuring Doechii
Last year, Doechii mentioned Westside Gunn as one of her favorite artists in an Apple Music interview. And in April, WSG sampled that interview in his song "Egypt," and Doechii posted a pretty charming
video of her all amped up about hearing her voice on one of his songs, and a couple weeks later an official remix dropped with a verse from her. I love when things like that happen in hip hop, you get this mutual appreciation than turns into a cool collaboration, she sounds great on a Griselda track and really adds to the whole growing repertoire of reasons she's one of the best MCs out right now.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: A-
"First (Remix)" by KenTheMan featuring Monaleo
KenTheMan and Monaleo are both from Houston, kinda make similar music, and are at similar levels of fame, so this remix doesn't put the song in any kind of new light or take it to a new level. But I like the synergy of them working together, and it's a solid addition to the great run of features Monaleo has been on.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B+
"For Me (Remix)" by Loe Shimmy featuring Brent Faiyaz
Loe Shimmy is a Florida rapper, and "For Me" is the kind of melodic trap song with trap pianos that's less than 2 minutes long that you've heard a hundred times before. But it was his biggest song to date when he released it last year, and got even more streams for a remix with Brent Faiyaz, which makes the song significantly more listenable.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B
"4 Kampe II" by Joe Dwet File featuring Burna Boy
It's interesting to see how Afrobeats and dancehall and all these different styles intermingle throughout the diaspora, Joe Dwet File is a French-Haitian artist and he got one of Nigeria's top stars on the remix to his international breakthrough. Burna Boy is such a smooth, subdued presence that I feel like he doesn't really do much to add to a song when he jumps on it besides starpower, though.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C+
"Hard Fought Hallelujah (Remix)" by Brandon Lake featuring Jelly Roll
Brandon Lake is a pastor-turned-recording artist who was big on the CCM charts for years before "Hard Fought Hallelujah" became his first Hot 100 hit a few months ago. Jelly Roll is a huge secular star who's also pretty religious and says a lot of inspirational stuff. So this is a smart collaboration, but it's a pretty pointless new version where a guy with a similar voice who happens to be a lot more famous sings the same lyrics on the second verse. And I don't really care for either version of the song and am just kinda sick of hearing Jelly Roll on everything.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C-
"Laho II" by Shallipopi featuring Burna Boy
Another Burna Boy remix, this one for a fellow Nigerian artist, and I feel like he brings a little more flavor to the song.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B
"Love Me Not (Remix)" by Ravyn Lenae featuring Rex Orange County
"Love Me Not" is kind of a sleeper hit that blew up on TikTok a couple months ago and put Ravyn Lenae on the Hot 100 for the first time. But she already released a remix last fall when it was a new song that hadn't really done anything yet. Maybe she should go back and do another remix with a big star now, Rex Orange County is, I dunno, basically Shawn Mendes with indie cred, pretty boring remix, two people with weird voices who don't sound particularly good together.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: D
"Mine (Remix)" by Amerie featuring Consequence and Caiden The Crownholder
Here's a rarity in this column, an actual remix with a different beat from the original track. In this case, Amerie swapped out the mellower original "Mine" track for a sample of DMX's "Party Up" and verses by Consequence and his 13-year-old son Caiden The Crownholder, who is apparently been recording for years and is some kind of kiddie rap sensation. Kind of a weird mix of vibes going on here that doesn't really cohere, nobody really expected or wanted to hear these artists on an old Swizz Beatz track or even on a song together.
Best Verse: Consequence
Overall Grade: C
"Mutt (CB Remix)" by Leon Thomas featuring Chris Brown
Last year I covered the first remix of "Mutt" featuring Freddie Gibbs before the song popped off and became a radio hit. And while I don't really like this remix either, I'm not mad at Leon Thomas circling back to get an actual famous person on the track, the Gibbs verse was weak anyway. I never really liked the vocal reverb on Thomas's voice on "Mutt," but Chris Brown's voice has the same effect on it so at least I can say it's a deliberate choice.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C+
"Nasty Work (Remix)" by Yah Yah & Domo featuring Tank
"Nasty Work" is kind of a schticky song with a lot of sleazy explicit lyrics over an '80s R&B-style LinnDrum groove. Tank has done some corny 'toxic' R&B like this to stay relevant in recent years, so he's at least a good fit for the remix, I suppose, and he tries to switch up his cadence and hit some high notes, but his voice is pretty similar to Domo's, so the remix more or less sounds the same as the original to me.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C
"New York Knicks Anthem (Remix)" by Busta Rhymes featuring Joey Bada$$, Papoose, Nems, Swizz Beatz, and DJ Scratch
The Knicks got knocked out of the playoffs in the second round this year, but the Knicks have sucked for so long that New Yorkers collectively acted up like they won a chip. That's kind of also the way the NYC rap scene has acted about Joey Bada$$ battling a bunch of undercard West coast rappers after he tried and failed to provoke a response from Kendrick. So there's just kind of the stench of mediocrity and desperation all over this, the remix to Busta's Knicks-themed remix of his 2006 single "New York Shit," which also had an official remix featuring Papoose back then, and the fact that Papoose is still prominent enough to be on the hometown pride posse cut is enough of an indictment of the state of New York. And the only relative new blood on here is a guy who had a minor hit called "Bing Bong" a couple years ago.
Best Verse: Papoose
Overall Grade: D
"Shameful Game, Pt. 2" by Pale Jay featuring Conway The Machine
Pale Jay is I guess one of these singers who wears a ski mask and is secretive about his identity, there are a lot of artists like that these days. The original "Shameful Game" was released way back in 2021 and this version sounds a little slowed down and run through the Griselda aesthetic, and I'm not a superfan of that stuff but it sounds pretty cool here.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B-
"Streets Ain't the Same (Remix)" by Icewear Vezzo featuring Warren G
The original "Streets Ain't the Same" featured a JetsonMade-flip of the "Regulate" beat, and naturally it was an opportunity for Warren G to pop up on the remix. Kinda predictable but it sounds good. Would've loved a Michael McDonald guest spot too, though.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B+
"Timeless (Remix)" by The Weeknd featuring Doechii and Playboi Carti
This combo seemed better on paper when I heard this remix announced than it turned out to be. I do wanna hear more rappers on this beat, though, it's a shame posse cut remixes are so completely out of style.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B-
"Whim Whamiee (Remix)" by Pluto featuring Sexyy Red
"Whim Whamiee" is one of those catchy surprise hits from a charismatic amateur that bubbles up now and then, and it was just a couple years ago that "Pound Town" was one of those. Sexyy Red is a little more polished than she was then, or than Pluto is now, but still, putting her on this remix is like a hat on a hat, it would've been nice to get one seasoned rapper on this nice Zaytoven beat.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B-
"Whoa (Mind In Awe) (Remix)" by XXXTentacion featuring Juice WRLD
Apparently Juice WRLD did his unofficial version of this XXXTentacion song ages ago and it's only just gotten an official release this year, and I have to say, it's one of X's better songs and Juice WRLD sounds good on it. Still, it's so weird to keep getting 'collaborations' between rappers who've been dead for several years.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B
"Yey Yey (Remix)" by E.M.E featuring LaRussell
LaRussell is just kind of corny and putting him on an Afrobeats track was a terrible idea.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: F
