Producer Series Mix #2: Rich Harrison

1. Missy Elliott - "Can't Stop"
2. Toni Braxton - "Take This Ring" (mp3)
3. Tha Rayne f/ Joe Budden - "Didn't You Know" Remix (mp3)
4. Kelly Rowland - "Can't Nobody" (mp3)
5. Destiny's Child f/ T.I. and Lil Wayne - "Soldier"
6. Beyonce f/ Jay-Z - "Crazy In Love"
7. Alicia Keys - "Dragon Days" (mp3)
8. Jennifer Lopez f/ Fabolous - "Get Right" Remix
9. Jennifer Lopez - "Whatever You Wanna Do"
10. The Pussycat Dolls - "I Don't Need A Man"
11. Amerie - "Why Don't We Fall In Love"
12. Amerie - "Why Don't We Fall In Love" Remix
13. Amerie - "1 Thing"
14. Amerie - "Talkin' About"
15. Amerie - "Talkin' To Me"
16. Amerie - "I Just Died" (mp3)
17. Amerie f/ Carl Thomas - "Can We Go"
18. Amerie - "Rolling Down My Face"
19. Amerie - "All I Need"
20. Amerie - "Come With Me"

By no means an obscure producer, but I wanted to put together a solid mix of his best stuff, half Amerie and half other artists. If you want a more complete discography, you can go here, but I went for a personal selection, starting off with a handful of my favorite kinda underrated tracks, so none of his boring Mary J. Blige tracks or that weird Duran Duran single. I think my favorite thing about RH, more than just the heavy Go-Go percussion or brassy samples, is the way he waits patiently to add textures and melodic embellishments, like the piano chords that drop in more than halfway into "Talkin' About," or all the layers that gradually accumulate throughout "Can't Nobody." I'll note that the "Get Right" remix is the one with the Fab verse and the original beat, not the weird synthy beat on the video version.

Previously in the Producer Series: Shondrae "Bangladesh" Crawford

Labels: hip hop, Jay-Z, music, music babble, Producer Series Mix, R and B

Producer Series Mix #1: Shondrae "Bangladesh" Crawford

1. Shawnna f/ Twista and Ludacris - "R.P.M." (mp3)
2. Ludacris f/ Shawnna - "What's Your Fantasy"
3. Ludacris f/ Trina, Shawnna, and Foxy Brown - "What's Your Fantasy" Remix (mp3)
4. Ludacris - "Ho"
5. Ludacris f/ UGK - "Stick 'Em Up"
6. Ludacris f/ Twista and Jagged Edge - "Freaky Thangs"
7. Ludacris - "Coming 2 America" (mp3)
8. Freeway f/ Lil' Jon - "Rep Yo Click" (mp3)
9. Petey Pablo f/ Rasheeda - "Vibrate"
10. Ciara - "Hotline"
11. Kelis f/ Too $hort - "Bossy"
12. Turf Talk - "Hubba Rock"
13. Young Gunz - "Same Shit, Different Day"
14. Yung Wun - "I Tried to Tell Ya" (mp3)
15. Missy Elliott - "Click Clack"
16. 8-Ball & MJG - "You Don't Want Drama"
17. 8-Ball & MJG - "Don't Make" (mp3)
18. 8-Ball & MJG f/ Lloyd - "Forever"

Shondrae, who's been putting that "Bangladesh!" soundbyte at the beginning of all his tracks lately, is one of my favorite quasi-Southern producers, from Iowa by way of Atlanta (contrary to the belief of mash-up DJ herbs who think he's from Memphis). For a while a few years ago, I lurked on a hip hop production nerd message board where Shondrae was the resident celebrity, back when he was still part of DTP. But even before that, I was checking for his beats, and even though he's got a few hits under his belt, it seems like not too many people know him by name. This is pretty much all the tracks I know of by him, except for a handful of other Luda/DTP tracks that I left off to fit it all on one disc. Also, the original version of "Rep Yo Click" with 8Ball & MJG on it from a few months ago. Let it also be said that K.W. Griff's remix of "Don't Make" is one of my favorite Baltimore club music tracks of the past 2 years.

Labels: hip hop, mp3, Producer Series Mix, R and B

Black Eyed Peas - "Pump It"
This video makes me feel so bad for Taboo. Not only does he get only 2 lines in the entire song, but he's the only member of the group who doesn't have a cool superpower, unless you count when he karate chops the camera at the very end, which I don't. 6/10

Fall Out Boy - "A Little Less 16 Candles, A Little More 'Touch Me'"
A while back, I talked about how the Killers kinda dropped the ball with a shitty third video for a song that could've been much bigger with a different video, but it didn't really matter because they'd already sold a couple million records at that point. This is the same kind of deal. I didn't like FOB's first hit, but I like "Dance, Dance" and I like this, but man, this video is ass. Doesn't fit the song at all, truly laughable acting, cheesy Buffie/Blade/Underworld vampire hunter plot, a lot of really annoying sound effects and dialogue that interrupt the song, which is one thing I can never forgive with videos. I mean, sure, go crazy with the choreography and special effects if you want, but let me listen to the actual song. My Chemical Romance's big epic 3rd video was also kind of a disappointing but at least fit and enhanced the mood of the song. 3/10

James Blunt - "You're Beautiful"
I still hate this song, but I've learned to enjoy whenever the video comes on by narrating the action in a shrill imitation of James Blunt's voice. "I took off my shirt. I'm sitting on the ground, with my shoes. I'm very wet, I might as well just jump into the water." Try it, it's loads of fun. 3/10

Busta Rhymes f/ Mary J. Blige, Rah Digga, Missy Elliott, Lloyd Banks, Papoose and DMX - "Touch It (Remix)"
It's a shame somebody had to die at all, but he at least could've died for a better video. It's a pretty entertaining spectacle, though, all the different guests and their names flashing across the screen, sometimes just people who aren't on the even on the song like Sean Paul show up and have their names flashed across the screen.The long long intro that involved both a tribute to Izzy and a silly skit with Spliff Star and a bunch of cheerleaders. And all the terrible terrible verses, maybe the non-rapper out of the bunch, Mary J., having the best verse of anyone, DMX's part rendered (more) incoherent by the censors (BLARGH BLARGH FORK IN YOUR EYE BLARGH BLARGH TOOTHLESS), Missy doing another stupid and slightly creepy verse about how she wishes she looked like Beyonce or Halle Berry or Nia Long. And Papoose managing through it all to still be the worst, like riding the beat never once occurred to him and he just had to do his cheesy conceptual rhyme about his fingers being the 5 boroughs. 4/10

Chris Brown - "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)"
I hated on this video a while back, but the song has really grown on me. And while the choreography is completely bizarre and embarrassing to watch, Omarion's cameo is funny enough to redeem even the unfunny DeRay cameo. 4/10

She Wants Revenge - "Tear You Apart"
I'm kind of fascinated by stuff like this and Louis XIV, and Morningwood, faux-indie bands that get across-the-board negative reviews, like critics and hipsters who fall for shitty nu-rock hypes all the time are just a little too proud of themselves for not falling for these shitty nu-rock hypes. This truly is horrible, but the Joaquin Phoenix-directed video is so over-the-top it's practically camp. There's a dialogue-heavy plot (note to Fall Out Boy: Joaquin Phoenix knows how to use subtitles instead of having people talk all over the song) about a girl who has a dick or some other dark secret that the guy who feels her up at the school dance is shocked and repulsed by. And when the high school lynch mob chases after her, the two wrinkly old douchebags from She Wants Revenge magically appear and rescue her to teach her how to be a happy hermaphrodite or something. 1/10

Missy Elliott - "We Run This"
Dave Meyers is the worst video director in the world when he's working with anyone besides Missy, but together they're pretty good. The first part of the video with "Bad Man" looks pretty amazing and makes me enjoy a song I never much liked on the album. The only parts that annoy me are when Missy's head is super-imposed on other people's bodies in ways that look really cheesy and unrealistic, but I guess that's all a part of her creepy "don't I look like Beyonce?" thing. 7/10

Pussycat Dolls f/ Will.I.Am - "Beep"
At first I thought I just liked this song because of the ELO sample but now I pretty much like the whole thing. It's obnoxious in a fun way like "My Humps" but is pretty well written, too. It's kind of hilarious how on their third single, they finally let a PCD other than the girl from Eden's Crush sing, and even then just a couple of the girls, a line each, Taboo-style, so they're not just glorified video chicks (which really, is what they are, one singer with a permanent crew of video chicks). And even then, the choruses handled by the other 2 girls are the worst parts of the song, they just totally fuck it up. I keep getting the feeling that Will.I.Am is paying homage in this to Q-Tip in the "Breathe And Stop" video, just because these are the only 2 videos I've ever seen where a rapper rides a bike through a room full of dancing chicks. 7/10

Labels: hip hop, R and B, TV, video

Albums:
1. T.I. - King
2. Prince - 3121
3. Jon Auer - Songs From The Year Of Our Demise
4. Donald Fagen - Morph The Cat
5. Jaheim - Ghetto Classics
6. Remy Ma - There's Something About Remy
7. Little Clayway - Still Movin' Independently
8. various artists - Unruly Club Classics Vol. III
9. B.G. - The Heart Of Tha Streetz, Vol. 2 (I Am What I Am)
10. Juvenile - Reality Check

Singles:
1. DJ Khaled f/ Paul Wall, Lil Wayne, Fat Joe, Rick Ross and Pitbull - "Holla At Me Baby"
2. Toni Braxton - "Take This Ring"
3. T.I. - "What You Know"
4. Foo Fighters - "No Way Back"
5. B.G. f/ Mannie Fresh - "Move Around"
6. Remy Ma - "Conceited"
7. Jamie Foxx f/ Ludacris - "Unpredictable"
8. Ray Cash f/ Scarface - "Bumpin' My Music"
9. Heather Headley - "In My Mind"
10. E-40 f/ Keak Da Sneak - "Tell Me When To Go"
11. All-American Rejects - "Move Along"
12. Lil Wayne - "Hustler Musik"
13. Prince - "Black Sweat"
14. Chamillionaire f/ Krayzie Bone - "Ridin'"
15. Kelly Clarkson - "Walk Away"
16. Chris Brown - "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)"
17. Daddy Yankee - "Rompe"
18. Lil Kim - "Woah"
19. Fall Out Boy - "A Little Less 16 Candles, A Little More 'Touch Me'"
20. Twista f/ Pitbull - "Hit The Floor"
21. Pussycat Dolls f/ Will.I.Am - "Beep"
22. Cassidy - "Cassidy Theme"
23. DJ Shadow f/ Keak Da Sneak and Turf Talk - "3 Freaks"
24. Keyshia Cole - "Love"
25. T.I. - “Why You Wanna”
26. Three 6 Mafia - "Poppin' My Collar"
27. Click Five - "Catch Your Wave"
28. Morningwood - "Nth Degree"
29. Donnell Jones f/ Jermaine Dupri - "Better Start Talking"
30. Shawnna - "Gettin' Some"
31. Beyonce f/ Slim Thug and Bun B - "Check On It"
32. Ghostface f/ Ne-Yo - "Like That"
33. Ne-Yo - "So Sick"
34. Notorious B.I.G. f/ Twista, Bone Thugs N Harmony, 8Ball & MJG and Swizz Beatz - "Spit Yo Game" (Remix)
35. Christina Milian f/ Young Jeezy - "Say I"
36. Sean Paul - "Temperature"
37. Teddy Geiger - “Confidence (For You I Will)”
38. The Lox - "Take Everything"
39. Kirk Franklin - "Looking For You"
40. Rihanna - "S.O.S."
41. The Fray - "Over My Head (Cable Car)"
42. Dilated Peoples - "Back Again"
43. KT Tunstall - "Black Horse And The Cherry Tree"
44. Dem Franchize Boyz - "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It"
45. Alicia Keys - "Every Little Bit Hurts"
46. LL Cool J f/ Freeway - "Whatcha Want"
47. Matisyahu - "King Without A Crown"
48. Kelis f/ Too $hort - "Bossy"
49. T-Pain f/ Mike Jones - "I'm N Luv (Wit A Stripper)"
50. Jaheim - "The Chosen One"

Labels: Baltimore music, hip hop, lists, Prince, R and B, Steely Dan, T.I., The Posies

Jaheim - "Like A DJ" (mp3)
It seems kind of unlikely that 4 R&B albums have hit #1 on Billboard already this year, but what's really ridiculous is that I've posted songs from all of them in the past week. I need to space this stuff out more, I promise I'll ease up on the R&B for a minute. I think Ghetto Classics is the best of the bunch overall, though, Stylus slapped a B- on it but I thought my review pointed more toward a B or B+. This track is kind of unrepresentative in its club-readiness but still, one of the best tracks, and the lyric's whole extended metaphor appeals to music nerds like me.

Note: In light of the end of Stylus in 2007, I decided to archive the text of all my reviews for the site on this blog for posterity, since I don't what the future holds for the Stylus domain, and have included both the letter grade ratting that accompanied the original review, and an adjusted rating that I would give the record now in retrospect.

Jaheim
Ghetto Classics
Warner
2006
Stylus rating:B-
Adjusted rating by reviewer: B

Either Jaheim Hoagland is consistent to a fault, or he's crafted his album titles to give that impression. 2001's Ghetto Love, 2002's Still Ghetto, and the new Ghetto Classics work their theme as monomanaically as Trick Daddy's five album run of Thug-related titles. But maybe it's the "classics" part that's more key to Jaheim's appeal, because despite modernized hip-hop production touches, his music is all big-hearted, old school soul that owes more than a small debt to Marvin Gaye. He's also a far more skilled disciple of Luther Vandross than, say, Jamie Foxx.

Of course, Jaheim has to reaffirm his ghetto aesthetic on tracks like "I Ain't Never" with references to cooking bricks in the kitchen and standin' on the corner pitchin'. But then, he's one of the few R&B singers today who can pull off such claims convincingly, and sounds right at home when collaborating with the Diplomats or D-Block. In fact, in an R&B climate where sometimes entire albums can be littered with cameos by rappers, Jaheim limits Ghetto Classics to one appearance apiece from Lox members Styles P. and Jadakiss, like he's keeping it all in the family and not just collaborating with rappers for the hell of it.

DJ Kay Gee, the non-rapping third member of Naughty by Nature, has made a graceful transition from the soulful bangers that drove early 90's pop rap to the similar production styles that dominate contemporary R&B. And he's responsible for four of the best tracks on Ghetto Classics, including the new single "The Chosen One," which continues the hit parade of Willie Hutch samples on urban radio that was jumpstarted by the Three 6 Mafia. Elsewhere, hip-hop producers like Scott Storch and Bink! from Roc-A-Fella conform to Jaheim's aesthetic with lush, melodic backdrops that actually suit a singer better than a rapper.

Ghetto Classics might not contain a breakout single as inspired as "Fabulous," which crept into the Top 40 in 2003, but the lack of obvious hits doesn't hurt the listening experience. At 43 minutes, it's Jaheim's shortest album. But it's a smooth, cohesive ride that never lapses into boredom like, say, Ne-Yo's recent debut In My Own Words. And when Ghetto Classics does divert from Jaheim's usual style, it's just once, and results in perhaps the best song on the album.

Propelled by a stuttery keyboard riff and club-ready drums, "Like a DJ" stands out like a sore thumb from the rest of the album's pillowy mid-tempo arrangements. But the upbeat dance track is propelled by a perfectly realized lyric paralleling a romantic relationship with a hit record's journey up and down the charts, complete with clever nods to the Vandross sample from Twista's "Slow Jamz." Jaheim laments falling "from top ten, to not even bein' in your countdown," until his lover goes digging in the crates and plays him again. It's a sly metaphor that might have a special resonance for, say, a singer who hasn't released an album in four years and might worry that his fans have moved on. But it's clear that the fanbase Jaheim built with his first two albums hasn't forgotten him, because Ghetto Classics became his first #1 album, despite no hit single and minimal promotion. The narrator of "Like a DJ" might fret about being passed over for a newer sound, but it looks like Jaheim shouldn't have to worry about that.

Reviewed by: Al Shipley
Reviewed on: 2006-03-14

Labels: mp3, R and B, some shit I wrote, Stylus

The O'Jays - "I Swear, I Love No One But You" (mp3)

Mary J. Blige - "No One Will Do" (mp3)

Ne-Yo - "Get Down Like That" (mp3)

In one of those instances of sampling synchronicity that's become increasingly frequent in the hip hop era, two R&B albums that recently topped the charts both sampled the same O'Jays jam from 1976, and not even a particularly well known album cut, either. The Ne-Yo one was the first I heard, and it completely blew me away on the first listen, to the point that I haven't really gotten into the rest of In My Own Words. I mean, I'm happy that the dude stomped out Hawthorne Heights on the Billboard charts, but when one track is so much better than everything else on the album it's really hard to pay attention to the other stuff. The album ends with a hidden track that's a remix of "Get Down Like That" with Ghostface, but if you ask me it doesn't really add anything to the Ne-Yo solo version (besides a mild "yeah, it makes sense that this is the track Ghost would get on" reaction), and I like the way Ne-Yo sounds on the verses better. Plus the title is way too close to their other collabo, "Back Like That." I have no problem with them putting it on the album twice, though, since I already listen to it way more than twice as often as the other tracks. So I was definitely intrigued enough to want to check out the O'Jays original, and when someone on ILM mentioned that the first track on Mary J.'s last album sampled the same song, I decided to go and complete the trifecta. Mary's version takes the more typical sped-up chipmunk approach to the sample, but all three songs do pretty much the same thing with the chorus, singing the title right over that big melodic hook, with the Mary version not really even changing the words much. The O'Jays one is great in and of itself and has a brilliant tempo change at the end, but to my ears it works best as a piece of the perfection that is "Get Down Like That," maybe my favorite song of the year so far.

Labels: mp3, R and B

Jamie Foxx - "Heaven" (mp3)
Large sections of Unpredictable, as covered in my City Paper review, are truly laughable (I'm still not entirely sure that "Storm (Forecass)" isn't supposed to be a quiet storm parody), but he totally pulls it together for the 2 ballads at the end, especially this Stevie-style one that he wrote himself and Babyface produced.

Also in the City Paper, Jim reviews the Grand Buffet show I talked about last week.

Labels: City Paper, Grand Buffet, R and B, some shit I wrote

Albums:
1. Remy Ma - There's Something About Remy
2. DNA - True Crime: Harm City, Volume 5
3. Jaheim - Ghetto Classics
4. Dem Franchize Boyz - On Top Of Our Game
5. Ne-Yo - In My Own Words
6. Morningwood - Morningwood
7. B. Rich - Born Rich
8. Jamie Foxx - Unpredictable
9. The Sands - 9 song demo
10. YoungBloodZ - Ev'rybody Know Me

Singles:
1. T.I. - "What You Know"
2. Jamie Foxx f/ Ludacris - "Unpredictable"
3. All-American Rejects - "Move Along"
4. Remy Ma - "Conceited"
5. Lil Wayne - "Hustler Musik"
6. Twista f/ Pitbull - "Hit The Floor"
7. Beyonce f/ Slim Thug and Bun B - "Check On It"
8. Prince - "Black Sweat"
9. Ghostface f/ Ne-Yo - "Like That"
10. Foo Fighters - "No Way Back"
11. Daddy Yankee - "Rompe"
12. Lil Kim - "Woah"
13. DJ Khaled f/ Paul Wall, Lil Wayne, Fat Joe, Rick Ross and Pitbull - "Holla At Me Baby"
14. Ne-Yo - "So Sick"
15. Pussycat Dolls f/ Will.I.Am - "Beep"
16. Consequence f/ Kanye West - "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly"
17. Ludacris, Trick Daddy and Luke - "Throw Da D '06"
18. Click Five - "Catch Your Wave"
19. Ray Cash f/ Scarface - "Bumpin' My Music"
20. Three 6 Mafia - "Poppin' My Collar"
21. Morningwood - "Nth Degree"
22. Donnell Jones f/ Jermaine Dupri - "Better Start Talking"
23. Shawnna - "Gettin' Some"
24. Juvenile - "Get Your Hustle On"
25. LL Cool J f/ Freeway - "Whatcha Want"
26. Pink - "Stupid Girls"
27. Kanye West f/ Lupe Fiasco - "Touch The Sky"
28. Don Omar f/ Fabolous and Swizz Beatz - "Dale, Don, Dale" (remix)
29. Pitbull f/ Pretty Ricky - "Everybody Get Up"
30. Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz f/ E-40 and Sean Paul - "Snap Ya Fingers"
31. Dem Franchize Boyz - "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It"
32. Heather Headley - "In My Mind"
33. Dilated Peoples - "Back Again"
34. E-40 f/ Keak Da Sneak - "Tell Me When To Go"
35. KT Tunstall - "Black Horse And The Cherry Tree"
36. Nelly f/ Paul Wall, Ali and Gipp - "Grillz"
37. Rhymefest f/ Kanye West - "Brand New"
38. Mary J. Blige - "Be Without You"
39. Imogen Heap - "Hide And Seek"
40. Chris Brown - "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)"
41. Christina Milian f/ Young Jeezy - "Say I"
42. The Fray - "Over My Head (Cable Car)"
43. Pharrell Williams - "Angel"
44. Busta Rhymes f/ Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott and Rah Digga - "Touch It (Remix)"
45. Mary J. Blige - "Take Me As I Am"
46. Kirk Franklin - "Looking For You"
47. Jagged Edge - "Good Luck Charm"
48. Blue Da Vinci f/ Fabolous and Young Jeezy - "Streets On Lock"
49. Sean Paul - "Temperature"
50. Gwen Stefani f/ Ludacris - "Luxurious" (Zone 4 Remix) (mp3)

I just barely decided to count the "Luxurious" remix, since it's apparently a few months old, but 92Q's been playing it heavily lately. And I like it a lot, especially considering I've disliked all of Stefani's solo singles except "Cool" (and, ugh, "Crash" is amazingly by far the worst yet). It's a total improvement on the original, replacing the poorly employed Biggie/Isley sample with gorgeous strings and a Miami bass-ish beat, switching out the sluggish Slim Thug verse for Ludacris rapping through weird vocal effects, and ditching the horrible "chi-ching" bridge for the "if you ain't got no money take your broke ass home" chant. The complete change of context even makes me like the melody and tolerate her Olive Oyl vocal timbre.

Labels: Baltimore music, hip hop, Lil Wayne, lists, Prince, R and B, singles, T.I.

Favorite Singles of 2006 So Far (most of which admittedly were released in '05 but are peaking in '06)

1. Twista f/ Pitbull - "Hit The Floor" (mp3)
2. Beyonce f/ Slim Thug and Bun B - "Check On It"
3. Jamie Foxx f/ Ludacris - "Unpredictable"
4. Daddy Yankee - "Rompe"
5. All-American Rejects - "Move Along"
6. Remy Ma - "Conceited"
7. Ne-Yo - "So Sick"
8. Pussycat Dolls f/ Will.I.Am - "Beep"
9. Ludacris, Trick Daddy and Luke - "Throw Da D '06" (mp3)
10. Click Five - "Catch Your Wave"
11. Three 6 Mafia - "Poppin' My Collar"
12. Morningwood - "Nth Degree"
13. T.I. - "What You Know About That"
14. Donnell Jones f/ Jermaine Dupri - "Better Start Talking"
15. Shawnna - "Gettin' Some" (mp3)
16. Mary J. Blige - "Be Without You"
17. Ghostface f/ Ne-Yo - "Like That"
18. Don Omar f/ Fabolous and Swizz Beatz - "Dale, Don, Dale" (remix)
19. Pitbull f/ Pretty Ricky - "Everybody Get Up"
20. Dem Franchize Boyz - "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It"
21. LL Cool J f/ Freeway - "Whatcha Want"
22. Young Jeezy - "Trap Star"
23. Keyshia Cole - "Love"
24. E-40 f/ Keak Da Sneak - "Tell Me When To Go"
25. Nelly f/ Paul Wall, Ali and Gipp - "Grillz"

Labels: hip hop, lists, mp3, R and B, singles, Trick Daddy

Dre - "Naomi"
Much as I like Cool & Dre as a production team (although they really came soft on the last Fat Joe album compared to their beats on Loyalty), I've been predicting and dreading that Dre was gonna try and get some shine as a rapper ever since he starting sticking his face in the camera in the "New York" and "Take You Home" videos. And what do you know, he got signed to Jive and they shot a video for his wack single "Naomi." Jesus, and I thought Pharrell was a terrible rapper. If this guy blows up you are officially not allowed to complain about Kanye's mic skills ever again. Christina Milian is cute in her cameo, although she still has the ill-advised blonde dye job. I can't quite tell if one of the girls at the end of the video is the song's namesake Naomi Campbell, but if so, hey, she was in the "Change Clothes" and "Nasty Girl" videos, too, and those were also wack songs.

Young Jeezy - "Trap Star/Go Crazy"
"Trap Star" might be my favorite record released off his album so far, although I think it's just kind of a video Jeezy got to make for a song he likes because he has a lot of pull at Def Jam right now, because there's already a video for "My Hood" too, which seems to be the official current single. The spelling on the chorus ("I'm a T-R-A-P S-T-R") makes me think of Homer Simpson ("I am so smart, I am so smart, S-M-R-T").

Jamie Foxx f/ Ludacris - "Unpredictable"
In the last couple weeks, suddenly they've been running a new version of this video that's about half new footage, half the same footage as the original version. I think maybe they shot some new scenes just so Jamie could show off Eva Longoria, or maybe because they wanted to show Jamie in his classic low key mustache look, and less of his creepy fu manchu and fake-tiger-stripe-tattoos look. I think I liked the old version better, though, mainly because the colors were more uniform and it fit better with the weird triple frame letterbox video style that Hype Williams has been using in every video except for "Gold Digger" lately (Slim Thug's "I Ain't Heard Of That," Beyonce's "Check On It," Twista's "Girl Tonite," Ne-Yo's "So Sick," Young Jeezy's "My Hood," etc.). They kinda messed up the look the video used to have, the original "Unpredictable" was probably the best looking video in that style next to Smitty's "Diamonds On My Neck." It's kind of funny how Hype is so into letterbox innovation, remember what a big deal it was when he premiered the white "milk box" look in the "Big Pimpin'" video?

Robin Thicke f/ Pharrell - "Wanna Love You Girl"
Yet another busy wide screen letterbox Hype video. And y'know, I liked the single off his first album, but I'm starting to get tired of this cat, it seems like people are way too eager to write about him and drop the "oh my god, did you know he's Alan Thicke's son?" bomb like anyone doesn't know by now. This song is absolute trash, like a bad parody of contempo R&B, saying "wanna love you girl" over and over in monotone and then layering a falsetto vocal. Another nu-Neptunes beat with unquantized drums that are supposed to sound "raw" and "live" but just sound like they were programmed by someone who doesn't know how to work a drum machine. Thank god the Neps aren't working on the new Timberlake album due to disputes with Jive, so they can pawn off their terrible would-be Justin tracks to their wannabe Justin.

Chris Brown - "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)"
The song has a nice quiet, intimate vibe, and his voice has less of that shrill, piercing tone than it does on "Run It," which makes my ears bleed, but oh my god, his dancing in this video is the most bizarre, embarrassing shit I have ever seen. It's like Usher's most ill-advised moves crossed with the Elaine Benes dance with the elbows and the kicks.

Labels: hip hop, R and B, video

Little Feat - Little Feat
Talib Kweli - Right About Now: The Official Sucka Free Mix CD
Jamie Foxx - Unpredictable
The Notorious B.I.G. - Duets: The Final Chapter
Three 6 Mafia - Most Known Hits
John Mellencamp - Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits
Tim Buckley - Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology
Top Of The World Records - The Grand Opening
Under Sound Music - Breaking Ground, Vol. 1
Mike Crosby & Kenny K - In Da Club, Vol. 1

Labels: Baltimore music, hip hop, In My Stereo, Little Feat, R and B

What's up with Anthony Hamilton being one of VH1's You Oughta Know "artists on the rise"? They do know that his last album went platinum and was on the Billboard chart for a gazillion weeks, right? At what point is someone an established artist these days?

Labels: R and B, TV

Shareefa - "I'll Be Around" (mp3)

Surprisingly, the single best track on the new Ludacris/Disturbing Tha Peace album is the one straight R&B track, and it's not even Bobby Valentino. Salaam Remi brings the perfect horn samples and Shareefa paraphrases "How We Do" and "Release Yo Delf". She'll probably never squeak an album out on DTP after Field Mob and Playaz Circle but if she's got more like this she definitely deserves to.

Note: In light of the end of Stylus in 2007, I decided to archive the text of all my reviews for the site on this blog for posterity, since I don't what the future holds for the Stylus domain, and have included both the letter grade ratting that accompanied the original review, and an adjusted rating that I would give the record now in retrospect.

Various Artists
Ludacris Presents...Disturbing Tha Peace
DTP
2005
Stylus rating: B-
Adjusted rating by reviewer: B

s of 2004's Red Light District, Ludicrous has remained one of Southern hip hop's sturdiest franchises, with four straight platinum-plus albums to his name. And while his sales have yet to slip, it feels like at least something about him has, and it's not necessarily his rubbery, versatile rhyming skills. Early in his career, he was second only to OutKast as Atlanta hip-hop's ambassadors to the mainstream. But in recent years, that distinction has gradually been shared with several others, from Lil Jon to T.I. to Young Jeezy, to the point that Ludacris is now only edgy in the context of Usher and Ciara songs. Of course, danger has never been an ingredient of Ludacris's appeal: he's all cartoonish creativity and motormouthed charisma. There's no need for him to start talking about the trap now, and if he did it would be laughable. Nonetheless, his career seems a little lackluster these days, and one gets the feeling that if he decided to focus on movies, the game wouldn't miss him much.

When Luda first showcased Disturbing Tha Peace on the 2002 group album Golden Grain, the label's roster was comprised of only Luda and five other rappers: Shawnna, I-20, Lil Fate, Tity Boi, and Dolla Boy. Since then, St. Louis rapper Chingy joined the company and dropped the multi-platinum debut Jackpot, and then acrimoniously split from DTP. In 2004, Shawnna and I-20 both quietly issued slept-on solo debuts, and this year Luda signed R&B singer Bobby Valentino. And somewhere along the way, the DTP family got a lot bigger. Counting members of newly signed groups like Field Mob and Lazyeye, 16 individuals signed to the label appear on Ludacris Presents.

As such, Ludacris Presents gives the individual artists far more breathing room with solo tracks and fewer posse cuts than Golden Grain. And although Ludacris remains by far the label's biggest and most magnetic star and shows up on more tracks than anyone else, he keeps a low profile on the album's first half, appearing on only one song and a few tedious Ocean’s Eleven-inspired skits before track ten. Surprisingly, the mid-album stretch of Luda-dominated tracks is a slight downer compared to the album's first half of spirited newcomers. New solo tracks like "Sweet Revenge" don't leave much of an impression, nor does the remix of Red Light District's "Two Miles an Hour," where Luda's Xeroxed verse from the original is upstaged by Playaz Circle.

Shawnna, who held down Golden Grain's standouts "RPM" and "Posted," comes back to flip a Too $hort sample on the fellatio anthem "Gettin' Some," but is missed on the rest of the album. On "Come See Me" with Interscope's boring next hype Stat Quo, Smoke of Field Mob drops tired punch lines such like, "Never seen like Stevie and Ray Charles" as if you've never heard them before, but the spiky, unpredictable peaks and valleys of his voice keep his flow twisting around and around over a sick Bollywood sample. Tity Boi and Dolla Boy, two DTP lifers who combined form the duo Playaz Circle, have long been among the label's most promising shelf dwellers, and they prove their worth on various posse cuts and "You Ain't Got Enough," with Tity Boi unleashing hilarious boasts such as, "My ring look like I peed on my pinky" in a perfect matter-of-fact tone.

Although the accents won't let you forget DTP's Atlanta roots, a conspicuously large amount of the album's hottest beats come from New Yorkers. The aforementioned "You Ain't Got Enough"'s insane hi-hat stuttering beat was produced by Buckwild, and new trio Norfclk get a great look from G-Unit producer Needlz in the herky-jerk bump of "Put Ya Hands Up." Salaam Remi, who helmed the bulk of Nas' last few albums, comes through with two of the album's best beats, including Shareefa's R&B banger, "I'll Be Around."

When the album's first single "Georgia" leaked several months ago, many mistakenly credited Just Blaze with the production, but it turns out that producer Vudu Spellz was just convincingly aping some of Just's trademark sound effects. "Georgia" feels like a badly flubbed attempt at an event record, in which Luda announced the signing of Field Mob with their collaboration, making an anthem for their home state over a Ray Charles sample. But the beat is an awkward bump that fails to make crunk out of the delicate piano loop, and Jamie Foxx softly sings the hook without the spirited Ray mimicry of his appearance on Kanye West's "Gold Digger."

Although Chingy's producers Trak Starz turn in a couple beats, the simmering discontent between Luda and his former labelmate is brought up in the form of a couple of jokes at Chingy's expense. In his absence, Bobby Valentino is now the label's biggest star next to Luda, and the dull singer mercifully only makes one appearance on the album for "Table Dance." Rap-metal trio Lazyeye follow in the footsteps of Fuzzbubble and Spymob as the lone rock band on powerful rap labels, and their single contribution to the album, the bonus track "Blood In The Air" is not an encouraging preview—even though the guest verses by Shawn Jay of Field Mob and Small World of Norfclk persevere, saving the track from becoming a total train wreck.

Ludacris Presents...Disturbing Tha Peace is the kind of album that doesn't get much love in hip hop these days. As a rule, group albums sell less than solo albums, and label compilations sell even less. Consumers want more of the A-list rapper and less of his crew, even if the hungrier MCs around him are making more exciting music. So far, Ludacris hasn't had much luck turning his label into a star factory on the level of, say, 50 Cent's G-Unit. But on this album, several of DTP's artists show potential, and hopefully they'll become the kind of artists that can sell records on their own, and not just on a bigger star's coattails.

Reviewed by: Al Shipley
Reviewed on: 2006-01-04

Labels: hip hop, mp3, R and B, some shit I wrote, Stylus

This year was my first as a paid critic, and I consumed a lot more new music than is average for me. But still, I feel the same way I do at the end of every year, like I drank from a pretty shallow well of music and probably missed the boat on a lot of stuff. And I also feel like I gave things a lot less repeat listens than I did in other years. There's stuff that isn't on this list that I listened to more times than some things on this list, but usually for review purposes or because it took me a while to figure out it wasn't very good. That's why I can't ever really say with any confidence with it was a good or bad year for music (unless we're talking a very specific scene or genre), and I wonder if even industry people and obsessive downloaders who consume hundreds of albums a year can say so either. But it was a cool year for me, even if I wish there were more revelations on this list and fewer average albums by people who I'll buy anything by. I'd hoped to vote in the Pazz & Jop poll for the first time this year, but I procrastinated too long on trying to get in on it and missed the deadline. Oh well, I'll try again next year.


1. Kanye West - Late Registration

I was following Kanye's production and copping his mixtapes and every single leaked track for so long that by the time The College Dropout finally dropped, I had developed Kanye fatigue and didn't really get to enjoy its phenomenal success, and when I put it at #1 at the end of last year, I did so kind of by default. And I kind of am again this year, as I would've loved for a much different kind of hip hop album to have blown it out of the water for me. But my endorsement of this is much more certain, he really did his thing and let everyone know the first wasn't a fluke. It's still kind of soggy and overlong, but I can say that I actually enjoy it all the way through, skits and all (which I can't say for the long stretch surrounding "School Spirit" on Dropout). There's stuff that still doesn't make sense to me, like "Addiction" or the random Common solo track in the middle of the album, but it all fits together. And the tracks I don't love have something to redeem them, like that bizarre verse in "Celebration" where he talks about how his son is going to be well endowed.

Kanye West - "Roses" (mp3)


2. Apollo Sunshine - Apollo Sunshine

There's something I completely fucking love about what Apollo Sunshine do, and I don't think I got entirely to the bottom of yet. But even with kind of bland, touchy feely lyrics and not a lot to distinguish them aesthetically from a lot of other bearded indie pop bands that I wouldn't give the time of day to, they made an album and played a couple live shows that just completely bowled me over this year. And really, if nothing else, I have to credit the guitar solos. If Elephant 6 bands had solos like that I might give a shit about more of that stuff.

My Stylus review of Apollo Sunshine
Apollo Sunshine - "Eyes" (mp3)


3. System Of A Down - Mezmerize

As tightly concise as the first album but better paced and with just enough goofy Malakian moments to make it more inviting and replayable.

My City Paper review of Mezmerize
System Of A Down - "Sad Statue" (mp3)


4. Rod Lee - Vol. 5: The Official

This is the only album on this list that was also on my best of Baltimore 2005 list, and that's largely because of the far reaching waves it made outside of Baltimore this year. Rod Lee has been one of my favorite Baltimore club music producers for years, and it was real gratifying to see him get his props all over the place. I copped at least a dozen club mixes this year, and while it's a little hard to justify putting one above many similiar ones simply because of better distribution ad visibility, it really is the best sounding (more expensive mastering, maybe?) and best paced.

My Government Names review of Vol. 5: The Official
K.W. Griff - "Good Man" (mp3)


5. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter II

One of the reasons I always procrastinate on these year end albums lists is that there's always 4th quarter hip hop event releases to sneak in there. And I'm about the last person you'll catch getting excited about a Chopped & Screwed CD, but the C&S bonus disc of Wayne's greatest hits is really worth the price tag in and of itself. I don't think there's another rapper and producer I'd rather hear slowed than Wayne and Mannie Fresh. Tom is nuts about thinking that "Shooter" is a potential single or even one of the best songs, though. It's like all the rap songs with the guy from Maroon 5 but not as good.

Lil Wayne - "Hustler Musik" (mp3)


6. Grand Buffet - Five Years Of Fireworks

Noone who watched the SNL "Lazy Sunday" video over and over should be sleeping on Grand Buffet.

My Stylus review of Five Years Of Fireworks
Grand Buffet - "Pink Deadly" (mp3)


7. Beanie Sigel - The B.Coming

I'm kind of hoping that now that he's a free man again he's going to make an album that leaves this one in the dust.

My City Paper review of The B.Coming
Beanie Sigel f/ Freeway and Young Chris - "I Can't Go On This Way" (mp3)


8. Brooke Valentine - Chain Letter

The kind of schitzo R&B album that Missy wishes she made this year.

My City Paper review of Chain Letter
Brooke Valentine f/ Jermaine Dupri - "Playa" (mp3)


9. The Posies - Every Kind Of Light

In my mind, The Posies can almost do no wrong, and while this wasn't the perfect comeback I'd hoped for, they definitely made some worthy additions to their catalog.

My Stylus review of Every Kind Of Light
The Posies - "Second Time Around" (mp3)


10. Black Rob - The Black Rob Report

Like Beanie, this proves I have a weakness for spirited gasps from fading NY rap dynasties.

Black Rob - "Long Live B.R." (mp3)


11. Lil Kim - The Naked Truth

Hell no, it's not a five mic album, but considering that she possesses one of my least favorite voices in rap and I've never been much of a fan, it's a triumph that I'm feeling this. The cover photo really scared me off of copping it for a couple months, even though I loved "Lighters Up." Actually, the real triumph is that I can tolerate an album with multiple Katt "Money Mike" Williams interludes. I'm gonna give Kim the benefit of the doubt that she decided to diss Foxy Brown on a song titled "Quiet" before Foxy announced that she was going deaf.

Lil Kim - "Durty" (mp3)


12. Amerie - Touch

I guess a whole album of "1 Thing" was too much to hope for, but the less bombastic stuff had some surprising staying power.

My Stylus review of Touch
Amerie - "Come With Me" (mp3)


13. Cassidy - I'm A Hustla

"Hotel" will probably always loom over him a little too much to be taken seriously by everyone, and now that he's behind bars his career might be over anyway, but he really did step up and make a hot album, whether anyone wants to admit it.

My Stylus review of I'm A Hustla
Cassidy f/ Swizz Beatz - "Get 'Em" (mp3)


14. Medications - Your Favorite People All In One Place

I have to admit that to me, they're still a surrogate for the superior and short-lived Faraquet, but Rush-meets-Fugazi is not a niche that many other bands are serving, so I'll take what I can get.

My City Paper review of Your Favorite People All In One Place
Medications - "This Is The Part We Laugh About" (mp3)


15. Missy Elliott - The Cookbook

Missy's last two albums were my least favorite to date, her collaborations with Timbaland slowly becoming a dried out husk of what they once were, so I was probably in the minority in being overjoyed that she finally branched out with producers other than Timbo. It still can't touch the earlier albums, but it was a step in the right direction. She really fucked up sales with the singles choices, though. "Teary Eyed" totally bombed and "We Run This" probably will too. It's a crime that "Can't Stop" isn't on the radio right now.

Missy Elliott - "Can't Stop" (mp3)


16. Brendan Benson - The Alternative To Love

He continues to slide into more of the 2nd album's mopery and less of the 1st's giddy rush, but he's getting better at balancing the two.

Brendan Benson - "Between Us" (mp3)


17. The Evens - The Evens

There's something charming about this dinky, scaled down version of Fugazi's already relatively subdued later albums. I kind of have to tune out the parts where he's talking about police and governors, though.

The Evens - "Sara Lee" (mp3)


18. Ebony Eyez - 7 Day Cycle

Maybe I'm still alone in this but seriously, I think the TrackBoyz are the dopest producers in the game right now. It's a shame this album came and went with such little notice.

My City Paper review of 7 Day Cycle
Ebony Eyez - "Good Vibrations" (mp3)


19. Sheek Louch - After Taxes

If people are starved enough for decent New York hip hop that they'll rep for everything the Diplomats do, then I don't really understand why records like this and the Black Rob can be so ignored.

My Stylus review of After Taxes
Sheek Louch - "Intro" (mp3)


20. Petra Haden - Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out

The original The Who Sell Out isn't my favorite Who album by a mile, but it's a perfect choice for a ridiculous project like this. Petra Haden throws herself completely into an a cappella note-for-note cover, even doing the silly interstitial skits and fake commercials and silly voices and fake accents and beatboxing the drum parts. Like Carla Bozulich's reading of Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger, another recent cover of an entire decades-old album by a So-Cal alt-rock chick friend of Mike Watt, it's a completely unnecessary idea that was pulled off with absolute conviction.

Petra Haden - "Heinz Baked Beans" (mp3)

Labels: Apollo Sunshine, Baltimore music, Brendan Benson, Dischord, Grand Buffet, hip hop, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, lists, mp3, R and B, The Posies

1. Kelly Clarkson - "Since U Been Gone"

I debated on and off for most of this year whether to include this in 05 lists, since I had it on my 04 list and it was already charting and getting heavy video play back in like November of last year, but since it didn't really climb up to #1 level in my esteem until this year, I'll let it ride out and continue to give it points on 05 stuff.



2. Amerie - "1 Thing"

“Nananana-oh” vs. “Woah-oh woah-oh ahhh” vs. “Ding dong ding dong ding!”



3. R. Kelly - "Trapped In The Closet"

At this point, I've already written so much about this, for the City Paper, other blogs, the gargantuan ILM thread about it that I started, and a blurb for another site's singles list, and I'm not sure if I have anything else to say, but I stand by all of it.



4. Three 6 Mafia f/ Young Buck and 8Ball & MJG - "Stay Fly"

MJG's verse > Juicy J's verse > DJ Paul's verse > 8Ball's verse > Crunchy Black's verse > Young Buck's verse



5. My Chemical Romance - "Helena"

I love speed ballads.



6. The Game f/ 50 Cent- "Hate It Or Love It"

The way 50 doffs his cap in the video is priceless.



7. Mariah Carey - "We Belong Together"

The best Eric Roberts soundtrack of the year.



8. Ying Yang Twins - "Wait (The Whisper Song)"

My first Gov't Names post about it was the 1st or 2nd webpage on the entire internet to mention this song, and while I'd be crazy to take credit for creating this monster, I definitely feel like I encouraged it, for better or worse.



9. Cassidy - "I'm A Hustla"

I am completely in favor of the second coming of Swizz Beatz.



10. Missy Elliott f/ Ciara and Fatman Scoop - "Lose Control"

Fatman Scoop makes everything better.



11. Ludacris f/ Bobby Valentino - "Pimpin' All Over The World"

Just when I thought noone knew how to do good pop rap anymore.



12. Shakira f/ Alejandro Sanz - "La Tortura"

Accordians + reggaeton = best idea anyone had all year.



13. Ying Yang Twins f/ Pitbull - "Shake"

I don't know what Pitbull is saying on the chorus, but then, I don't know what "Din Daa Daa" means either.



14. Dem Franchize Boyz f/ Jermaine Dupri, Da Brat and Bow Wow - "I Think They Like Me (So So Def Remix)"

I don't think people realize what it means that a posse cut that only slips one chorus between 5 verses managed to climb up this far up the charts (almost to the top 10 now). Noone wants to give So So Def their respect but this is such a hot track.



15. John Legend - "Ordinary People"

The corny video that unwisely let the random couples from central casting shout over the song almost ruined it, but it's still a good song.



16. Lil Kim - "Lighters Up"

"Welcome To Jamrock" bite though it may be, I still like it better.



17. Snoop Dogg w/ Justin Timberlake and Charlie Wilson - "Signs"

Like "Lose Control", it's the ad libs by the performer with 3rd billing that makes the song for me.



18. The Killers - "Mr. Brightside"

Something I never wanted to like but gradually had to give it up for.



19. Tweet f/ Missy Elliott - "Turn Da Lights Off"

I identify with Missy because the intro makes me want to scream "wicked!" and run it back over and over too.



20. Natasha Bedingfield - "These Words"

I don't share the opinion that every girly pop tune on the U.K. charts needs to be imported over here, but this one was a good call.



21. Vivian Green - "Gotta Go, Gotta Leave (Tired)"

As overblown and oversung as "Emotional Rollercoaster" but with an actual hook. I don't think there's another single on this list that I sang along with every single time I heard it.



22. Kanye West f/ Adam Levine of Maroon 5 - "Heard 'Em Say"

I'm still not sure if this is a great choice for a single, but it's one of my favorite tracks on the album and so far I love hearing it in any context.



23. David Banner - "Play"

Conceptually it's a "Wait" rehash but really there's no precedent for some of the shit going on in the instrumental.



24. Mariah Carey - "Shake It Off"

Perfectly light and airy in all the ways that the terrible remix with Jay-Z and Young Jeezy isn't.



25. System Of A Down - "Hypnotize"

Their best grandiose slow song because it's half the length of "Aerials".

Labels: hip hop, Kanye West, lists, R and B, R. Kelly

26. Toni Braxton - "Take This Ring"

Fucking amazing track and easily one of Rich Harrison's top 5 best productions. I don't know if this is even officially a single yet (supposedly it's going for adds in early '06) but it's gotten some spins on my local station and I can't get enough of it.



27. Franz Ferdinand - "Do You Want To"

I hated "Take Me Out" for the whole year it was inescapable, and even looking at that picture up there I still kind of hate them, but this one won me over pretty quickly even though I guess it's not that different from "Take Me Out". I think it's the intro that hooks me mainly.



28. Lil Mo - "Dem Boyz"

This set the D.C./Baltimore airwaves on fire back in the spring, and I'm so mad that it never really took off nationwide, even after the video with all the Baltimore scenery dropped. Chucky Thompson was Rich Harrison before Rich Harrison was Rich Harrison, bringing D.C. flavor to mainstream R&B, and there's a shitload of Go-Go in those drums.



29. Juelz Santana - "Mic Check 1, 2"

Neo Da Matrix from Ruff Ryders brings one of the hottest beats of the year and the kid who's even wack by Dipset standards manages not to ruin it.



30. Gucci Mane f/ Young Jeezy - "Icy"

Some people dragged it out for 6 months, but the whole Snowman bullshit was really only funny for about 5 minutes, and it was these 5 minutes.



31. Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz f/ Usher and Ludacris - "Lovers & Friends"

As just another Usher slow jam this would be pretty subpar, but then they shoehorned in a Lil Jon verse to justify it being on his album, and then a Luda verse to complete the "Yeah!" triumverate, and ended up with something much more interesting. Lil Jon almost sounds like he's crying on his verse. Favorite lyric: "are you sure you wanna go this route?/let a nigga know before I pull it out".



32. Bobby Valentino f/ Lil Wayne - "Tell Me"

Weezy at his worst, but amazing beat and it more or less renders "Slow Down" unnecessary.



33. Fall Out Boy - "Dance Dance"

"Sugar, We're Going Down" never really did anything for me, but this one hooked me, especially the 2nd verse and the bridge into the chorus.



34. System Of A Down - "B.Y.O.B."

The week this dropped was maybe the first time since I was a teenager that I've been glued to the radio in anticipation of hearing a new hit rock song again and again.



35. Tony Yayo f/ G-Unit - "I Know You Don't Love Me"

50 hilariously playing into his own image as a paranoid, insecure superstar who worries that his groupies are running out the door to chase whatever other rappers are in town.



36. Black Eyed Peas - "Don't Lie"

The chorus sounds almost like a country song to me. And I swear, there have been a couple times that the Taboo verse actually got me a little emotional.



37. Toby Keith - "As Good As I Once Was"

Don't double dog dare me now.



38. Young Jeezy f/ Akon - "Soul Survivor"

I found a lot of Jeezy's celebratory trap shit kind of distasteful ("Icy" being celebratory non-trap shit), but this is the one track that really won me over, maybe the bleakest hit rap song of the year?



39. Nickelback - "Photograph"

What the hell is on Joey's head?



40. Coheed and Cambria - "The Suffering"

I'd apologize, but this is fucking great.



41. Damien Marley - "Welcome To Jamrock"

Overrated as hell but still not bad.



42. Rihanna - "Pon De Replay"

Run run run run everybody run run.



43. Jae Millz - "Who"

Another Nth generation New York mixtape rapper whose album will never drop but just keeps on churning out hot songs. Granted, it's no "No, No, No", but then, what is?



44. Purple Ribbon All-Stars - "Kryptonite"

Three 6 stutter hooks and S&C chopping aside, noone in rap ever really seemed to catch onto the subtle little repetitive vocal edits that various Native Tongues messed with in the early 90's (I'm thinking "Steve Biko (Stir It Up)" and one of those radio skits from De La Soul Is Dead), so it was cool to finally see someone pick up on that approach.



45. Webbie f/ Bun B - "Give Me That"

5 foot 7, a hundred and thirty nine pounds, etc etc.



46. Destiny's Child - "Girl"

I BEEN KNOWIN' YOU SINCE YOU WERE TEN!



47. T.I. - "U Don't Know Me"

Maybe never sounded better than in the context of the snippet at the end of the "Bring Em Out" video, but it was still cool to see it do well as its own single.



48. Lee Ann Womack - "I May Hate Myself In The Morning"

Classy award magnet country that's better than "I Hope You Dance".



49. Common f/ The Last Poets - "The Corner"

Couldn't stand it for a while, but it's a serious head-nodder.



50. Tyra - "Country Boy"

The best use of triplets this side of the Boyz N Da Hood single. Another one of those great R&B singles that fell through the cracks this year.

Labels: hip hop, Lil Wayne, lists, R and B, singles, T.I.