Deep Album Cuts Vol. 400: Al Green

Monday, April 13, 2026

 



I was looking through some old files and found a list I made, way back in early 2013 when I had just started the Deep Album Cuts series, of about 60 artists that I was interested in making playlists of. Most of them, I posted a long time ago, but there were some names peppered in there that, 400 volumes later, that I still hadn't gotten around to: Billy Joel, Aerosmith, Incubus, John Mayer, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and this guy, Al Green. I've never come remotely close to running out of artists I wanted to include here, but it was fun to get a reminder that some have been on the bench for way too long. Al Green's 80th birthday is today, which I funnily didn't even realize until last night when I was finishing this post. 

Al Green deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. I'm A Ram
2. Stand Up
3. I'm Glad You're Mine
4. Rhymes
5. Take Me To The River
6. Something
7. It Ain't No Fun To Me
8. Simply Beautiful
9. Tomorrow's Dream
10. I Wish You Were Here
11. Feels Like Summer
12. What A Wonderful Thing Love Is
13. I'll Be Good To You
14. All Because
15. So You're Leaving
16. The City
17. For The Good Times
18. Your Love Is Like The Morning Sun
19. Truth n' Time
20. Beware
21. I'd Fly Away

Track 13 from Back Up Train (1967)
Track 9 from Al Green Is Blues (1969)
Tracks 1 and 14 from Al Green Gets Next To You (1971)
Tracks 7 and 15 from Let's Stay Together (1972)
Tracks 3, 8, 12, and 17 from I'm Still In Love With You (1972)
Tracks 2 and 18 from Call Me (1973)
Track 20 from Livin' For You (1973)
Tracks 5 and 16 from Al Green Explores Your Mind (1974)
Tracks 4 and 10 from Al Green Is Love (1975)
Track 21 from Full Of Fire (1976)
Track 6 from Have A Good Time (1976)
Track 11 from The Belle Album (1977)
Track 19 from Truth n' Time (1978)

When I started to really get into classic soul music as a teenager, I started buying Marvin Gaye albums and also loved my dad's best-of compilations of Stevie Wonder, Barry White, and especially Al Green. The double platinum Al Green's Greatest Hits is his best-selling release, my dad had the 1995 CD reissue that added and swapped out several tracks from the original 1975 sequence, and that's really a musical bible for me, although I eventually started exploring Green's proper albums. I don't think he's the reason I started going by Al instead of Alex, in person and in bylines, but he might have been an influence. 

In 1976, Green was ordained as a Baptist minister and established a church in Memphis, and in 1980 he began exclusively recording gospel for many years. I focused on his years as a secular soul star in the '60s and '70s, his remarkable run with Hi Records (his debut Back Up Train was released with a different label, although it doesn't sound that different from the signature sound he'd develop at Hi with Willie Mitchell). There are some pretty dark stories and allegations about Green in the '70s, which were always pretty disappointing and disillusioning to learn about, because his music radiates so much joy and warmth and he's written some of the greatest love songs. Hopefully he found his way after that. 

Livin' For You's 8-minute closer "Beware" is the only time he really stretched out a song like that in the studio, it's fun to hear the Hi Rhythm Section really cut loose. I'd never seen or heard about Green playing any instruments, so I was surprised to realize just recently that he started playing guitar on his records from The Belle Album onwards, so you can hear his guitar on "Feels Like Summer" and "Truth n' Time." Green hasn't released an album since 2008, but he's released occasional tracks and this year's To Love Somebody EP, which had covers of the Bee Gees, R.E.M., the Velvet Underground, and a duet of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" with Raye. Raye also featured Green on her great recent album This Music May Contain Hope, and I just love the way she sounds awed and humbled to be on a song with him. 

"Rhymes" was covered by Donald Fagen and Todd Rundgren and "It Ain't No Fun To Me" was covered by Graham Central Station. "Take Me To The River" is one of Green's most famous songs thanks to Talking Heads turning it into a Top 40 hit, but Green didn't release it as a single, I guess David Byrne was just an Al Green fan who really liked the song. I've almost never heard the original Al Green Explores Your Mind version unless I was listening to that album, and the many other covers of it usually mimic the slower Talking Heads arrangement, so I felt like including the original version of "Take Me To The River." 

Of course, Al Green is one of the most sampled artists in the soul canon, just tons of great hip-hop made from his records. "I'm Glad You're Mine" has a legendary drum break sampled on lots of tracks, including "I Got A Story To Tell," which is on my Notorious B.I.G. deep album cuts playlist. "I Wish You Were Here" was sampled on "Eye For A Eye (Your Beef Is Mines)," which is on my Mobb Deep playlist. "Tomorrow's Dream" was sampled on "I Remember," which is on my Coolio playlist. "What A Wonderful Thing Love Is" was sampled on Kendrick Lamar's "6:16 in LA." "Simply Beautiful" was sampled on Talib Kweli's "Good To You" and Maxwell's cover was a hit a couple years ago. And "Your Love is Like the Morning Sun" was sampled on KRS-One's "The French Connection."

Previous playlists in the Deep Album Cuts series:
Vol. 1: Brandy
Vol. 2: Whitney Houston
Vol. 3: Madonna
Vol. 4: My Chemical Romance
Vol. 5: Brad Paisley
Vol. 6: George Jones
Vol. 7: The Doors
Vol. 8: Jay-Z
Vol. 9: Robin Thicke
Vol. 10: R. Kelly
Vol. 11: Fall Out Boy
Vol. 12: TLC
Vol. 13: Pink
Vol. 14: Queen
Vol. 15: Steely Dan
Vol. 16: Trick Daddy
Vol. 17: Paramore
Vol. 18: Elton John
Vol. 19: Missy Elliott
Vol. 20: Mariah Carey
Vol. 21: The Pretenders
Vol. 22: "Weird Al" Yankovic
Vol. 23: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Vol. 24: Foo Fighters
Vol. 25: Counting Crows
Vol. 26: T.I.
Vol. 27: Jackson Browne
Vol. 28: Usher
Vol. 29: Mary J. Blige
Vol. 30: The Black Crowes
Vol. 31: Ne-Yo
Vol. 32: Blink-182
Vol. 33: One Direction
Vol. 34: Kelly Clarkson
Vol. 35: The B-52's
Vol. 36: Ludacris
Vol. 37: They Might Be Giants
Vol. 38: T-Pain
Vol. 39: Snoop Dogg
Vol. 40: Ciara
Vol. 41: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Vol. 42: Dwight Yoakam
Vol. 43: Demi Lovato
Vol. 44: Prince
Vol. 45: Duran Duran
Vol. 46: Rihanna
Vol. 47: Janet Jackson
Vol. 48: Sara Bareilles
Vol. 49: Motley Crue
Vol. 50: The Who
Vol. 51: Coldplay
Vol. 52: Alicia Keys
Vol. 53: Stone Temple Pilots
Vol. 54: David Bowie
Vol. 55: The Eagles
Vol. 56: The Beatles
Vol. 57: Beyonce
Vol. 58: Beanie Sigel
Vol. 59: A Tribe Called Quest
Vol. 60: Cheap Trick
Vol. 61: Guns N' Roses
Vol. 62: The Posies
Vol. 63: The Time
Vol. 64: Gucci Mane
Vol. 65: Violent Femmes
Vol. 66: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Vol. 67: Maxwell
Vol. 68: Parliament-Funkadelic
Vol. 69: Chevelle
Vol. 70: Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio
Vol. 71: Fantasia
Vol. 72: Heart
Vol. 73: Pitbull
Vol. 74: Nas
Vol. 75: Monica
Vol. 76: The Cars
Vol. 77: 112
Vol. 78: 2Pac
Vol. 79: Nelly
Vol. 80: Meat Loaf
Vol. 81: AC/DC
Vol. 82: Bruce Springsteen
Vol. 83: Pearl Jam
Vol. 84: Green Day
Vol. 85: George Michael and Wham!
Vol. 86: New Edition
Vol. 87: Chuck Berry
Vol. 88: Electric Light Orchestra
Vol. 89: Chic
Vol. 90: Journey
Vol. 91: Yes
Vol. 92: Soundgarden
Vol. 93: The Allman Brothers Band
Vol. 94: Mobb Deep
Vol. 95: Linkin Park
Vol. 96: Shania Twain
Vol. 97: Squeeze
Vol. 98: Taylor Swift
Vol. 99: INXS
Vol. 100: Stevie Wonder
Vol. 101: The Cranberries
Vol. 102: Def Leppard
Vol. 103: Bon Jovi
Vol. 104: Dire Straits
Vol. 105: The Police
Vol. 106: Sloan
Vol. 107: Peter Gabriel
Vol. 108: Led Zeppelin
Vol. 109: Dave Matthews Band
Vol. 110: Nine Inch Nails
Vol. 111: Talking Heads
Vol. 112: Smashing Pumpkins
Vol. 113: System Of A Down
Vol. 114: Aretha Franklin
Vol. 115: Michael Jackson
Vol. 116: Alice In Chains
Vol. 117: Paul Simon
Vol. 118: Lil Wayne
Vol. 119: Nirvana
Vol. 120: Kix
Vol. 121: Phil Collins
Vol. 122: Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Vol. 123: Sonic Youth
Vol. 124: Bob Seger
Vol. 125: Radiohead
Vol. 126: Eric Church
Vol. 127: Neil Young
Vol. 128: Future
Vol. 129: Say Anything
Vol. 130: Maroon 5
Vol. 131: Kiss
Vol. 132: Dinosaur Jr.
Vol. 133: Stevie Nicks
Vol. 134: Talk Talk
Vol. 135: Ariana Grande
Vol. 136: Roxy Music
Vol. 137: The Cure
Vol. 138: 2 Chainz
Vol. 139: Kelis
Vol. 140: Ben Folds Five
Vol. 141: DJ Khaled
Vol. 142: Little Feat
Vol. 143: Brendan Benson
Vol. 144: Chance The Rapper
Vol. 145: Miguel
Vol. 146: The Geto Boys
Vol. 147: Meek Mill
Vol. 148: Tool
Vol. 149: Jeezy
Vol. 150: Lady Gaga
Vol. 151: Eddie Money
Vol. 152: LL Cool J
Vol. 153: Cream
Vol. 154: Pavement
Vol. 155: Miranda Lambert
Vol. 156: Gang Starr
Vol. 157: Little Big Town
Vol. 158: Thin Lizzy
Vol. 159: Pat Benatar
Vol. 160: Depeche Mode
Vol. 161: Rush
Vol. 162: Three 6 Mafia
Vol. 163: Jennifer Lopez
Vol. 164: Rage Against The Machine
Vol. 165: Huey Lewis and the News
Vol. 166: Dru Hill
Vol. 167: The Strokes
Vol. 168: The Notorious B.I.G.
Vol. 169: Sparklehorse
Vol. 170: Kendrick Lamar
Vol. 171: Mazzy Star
Vol. 172: Erykah Badu
Vol. 173: The Smiths
Vol. 174: Kenny Rogers & The First Edition
Vol. 175: Fountains Of Wayne
Vol. 176: Joe Diffie
Vol. 177: Morphine
Vol. 178: Dr. Dre
Vol. 179: The Rolling Stones
Vol. 180: Superchunk
Vol. 181: The Replacements
Vol. 371: The Beastie Boys
Vol. 372: Marianne Faithfull
Vol. 373: Sly and the Family Stone
Vol. 374: Billy Idol
Vol. 375: The Jam
Vol. 376: Roberta Flack
Vol. 377: Chubby Checker
Vol. 378: Bad Company
Vol. 379: Mana
Vol. 380: Joe Cocker
Vol. 381: The Kinks
Vol. 382: Phish
Vol. 383: Faith No More
Vol. 384: The Alarm
Vol. 385: Jill Sobule
Vol. 386: Luther Vandross
Vol. 387: Angie Stone
Vol. 388: MC Lyte
Vol. 389: The Beach Boys
Vol. 390: The S.O.S. Band
Vol. 391: Bad Bunny
Vol. 392: Donna Summer
Vol. 393: The Wu-Tang Clan
Vol. 394: Raekwon
Vol. 395: Ghostface Killah
Vol. 396: RZA
Vol. 397: GZA
Vol. 398: Method Man
Vol. 399: Redman

4:00 AM

Friday, April 10, 2026

 




This week on Spin, I interviewed GoldFish, and wrote a Deep Cut Friday column about "Would You Mind," the Janet Jackson song that made miscellaneous uncs shoot poison. 

11:32 AM

Movie Diary

Thursday, April 09, 2026

 






a) Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice
The time travel comedy is a subgenre that tends to aim low for lots of self-referential, self-aware fun like Hot Tub Time Machine. And Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice isn't entirely an exception, but I found it to be a pleasant surprise, a gleefully ridiculous movie that hides its heart long enough that you might be caught off guard by the sweet, clever third act as you realize that every single character in this movie has watched a lot of "Gilmore Girls." Vince Vaughn and James Marsden are both the right kind of comic actors who can play their parts like a straight-up crime drama for enough of the movie for the silly parts to hit harder, and my favorite moment is Keith David yelling "it's raining titties over here!" while "Ants Marching" plays in a strip club, 

b) The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
As a father, I pretty much know what to expect when my sons want to go to the movies and see one of Illumination's animated blockbusters, and both of their Mario movies are weaker than Despicable Me but better than The Secret Life of Pets. My kids seemed pretty happy with this one, much like the last one, and as before, I mostly only chuckled when Bowser voiced by Jack Black was onscreen. I hoped that Donald Glover's addition to the cast as Yoshi would add to the entertainment value, but he just did the little Yoshi squeaks and occasionally said "Yoshi," kind of pointless casting, anybody could've done that and you'd never guess it was him. 

c) Eternity
It's a thought experiment that people have proposed many times before: if you're reunited with your spouse in the afterlife, what happens with people who outlived a husband or wife and then remarried? Eternity is just a feature-length exploration of that question, with Elizabeth Olsen as a women who dies and has to choose between her first husband who died young in a war, and the second husband she spent over 60 years with. I liked it, but it might be the most conventional A24 movie ever, if it had been written in the '90s it probably would've starred Julia Roberts or Tom Hanks. Eternity is no Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but in its best moments, it's a similarly affecting meditation on relationships and the disconnect between idealized memories and reality, Olsen and Miles Teller were good and really brought the premise to life, and John Early and Da'Vine Joy Randolph were good comic relief characters. Ultimately a little forgettable and less than the sum of its parts, though. 

d) The Testament of Ann Lee
People talk about a lot about how studios try to advertise movie musicals now without letting people know they're musicals, but man I really had no idea that The Testament of Ann Lee was a musical until people started singing in the middle of scenes. It's also an origin story of the Shakers, but it's not a Book of Mormon-type satirical musical, although, almost more of a horror movie in tone. Usually I kind of roll my eyes when a historical film stars an actor who's way more beautiful than the real person was or probably was, but it kind of works here, if Amanda Seyfried was starting a religious movement I'd be like, to quote Maria Bamford, "sure, I'll join your cult." Also, there aren't many American actors these days who seem to be capable of decent British accents, but she's one of them, I was impressed. 

e) Alien: Romulus
I think Alien and Aliens are classics and everything else that has come out of that franchise, including last year's hit series "Alien: Earth," has squandered its potential in really irritating ways. Alien: Romulus kept my hopes up for longer than usual, I was pretty on board with it right up until that final monster, that was a really stupid twist, I'd have a much higher opinion of the movie if it had just ended 20 minutes earlier, it was already pretty action-packed up to that point. Fede Alvarez really has a great eye, I liked his earlier movies but I was really impressed by how he nailed the Alien aesthetic with some dazzling modern visual effects. 

f) Crime 101
This was better than I expected it to be based on it being a crime movie with a stupid title starring two Avengers and one of the X-Men. Nick Nolte looked really rough in this movie, I was joking around about it on Twitter earlier this week but I hope he's okay! 

I'd never seen this, the 1987 adaptation of The Running Man starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's funny just how very 1987 its vision of 2017 is, but also a little scary how prescient its game show dystopia was, better than I expected it to be. 

Edgar Wright's recent Running Man adaptation is different from the earlier film in some interesting ways, some I liked and some I didn't, but overall I think a better movie, a little overlong but worth it for that third act. I hope Wright gets back to something more quirky and/or personal after this, though. 

i) Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
This cleared the low bar of being better than Crystal Skull, although I was still amused at just how ridiculous the plot ended up being. Keep scrolling if you want to avoid spoilers for a blockbuster from 3 years ago, but it's fucking hilarious that the villain is like "I'm going to go back in time and kill Hitler, but for evil reasons." I'm a little baffled by Phoebe Waller-Bridge's career, it's been almost a decade since "Fleabag" debuted and this is the only other substantial live action role she had in her thirties? 

I heard this was going to be on PBS and I randomly found one night that it was about to be on, I really enjoyed it. An 80-minute film about a career that spanned 60 years and 100 albums is inevitably only going to scratch the surface, I wish it got more into just a few specific records or compositions. But I thought it had a good mix of interviews with collaborators and insights from talking heads, and I liked how they delved into his early days in Chicago, his experimentations with synthesizers, his unlikely commercial breakthroughs, fascinating stuff. 

I drew heavily on Graeme Thompson's Phil Lynott biography Cowboy Song when working on my recent Thin Lizzy piece. But I also put on this 2008 documentary that had low production values but a pretty decent amount of insight in interviews with a few band members, friends, and rock writers. 

My wife loved Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal growing up, while I grew up on all the other Jim Henson stuff but not those. I will often play David Bowie's music while the family's eating dinner, and "Magic Dance" invariably comes up on the Amazon Echo shuffle, and my son loves that song now, so his mother took the opportunity to do a Labyrinth movie night. It was fun to finally see it, Bowie's performance is so ridiculous, in a good way. 

11:31 AM

Deep Cuts Vol. 399: Redman

Wednesday, April 08, 2026

 




I posted a Method Man playlist yesterday, so I'm gonna roll right into a playlist of his most frequent non-Wu-Tang collaborator. 

Redman deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. Rated "R"
2. How To Roll A Blunt
3. A Day Of Sooperman Lover
4. Bobyahed2dis
5. We Run N.Y. f/ Hurricane G
6. A Million And 1 Buddah Spots
7. Iz He 4 Real
8. Rock Da Spot
9. Case Closed f/ Napalm and Rockwilder
10. Do What U Feel f/ Method Man
11. Rhymin' Wit' Biz with Def Squad and Biz Markie
12. A Very Special Joint (Intro) with Method Man
13. Blackout with Method Man
14. America's Most with Method Man
15. Well All Rite Cha f/ Method Man
16. Brick City Mashin'!
17. Real N****z f/ Scarface, Treach, Jamal, and Icarus
18. Dat Bitch f/ Missy Elliott
19. Dangerus MCees with Method Man
20. Walk In Gutta f/ Erick Sermon, Keith Murray, and Biz Markie
21. Mic, Lights, Camera, Action
22. Lite It Up f/ Naughty By Nature, Rah Digga, Shaquille O'Neal, Lords of the Underground, Lady Luck, Artifacts, Heather B., Channel Live, and Nikki D

Tracks 1, 2, and 3 from Whut? Thee Album (1992)
Tracks 4, 5, and 6 from Dare Iz A Darkside (1994)
Tracks 7, 8, 9, and 10 from Muddy Waters (1996)
Track 11 from El Nino with Def Squad (1998)
Tracks 12 and 13 from Doc's Da Name 2000 (1998)
Tracks 14 and 15 from Blackout! with Method Man (1999)
Tracks 16 and 17 from Malpractice (2001)
Track 18 from How High: The Soundtrack with Method Man (2001)
Track 19 from Red Gone Wild: Thee Album (2007)
Track 20 from Blackout! 2 with Method Man (2009)
Track 21 from Redman Presents...Reggie (2010)
Track 22 from Muddy Waters Too (2024)

Reggie Noble debuted on EPMD's 1990 album Business As Usual, and became the biggest star of EPMD's extended family Hit Squad alongside Keith Murray, Das EFX, K-Solo, and Hurricane G, among others. Redman's '90s albums benefited from a lot of production from Erick Sermon at the peak of his powers, but Redman did a lot of production himself, sometimes co-producing with Sermon or Rockwilder, who'd go on to make some huge hits, including the massive Method Man & Redman hit named after him, "Da Rockwilder." Hit Squad also eventually turned into Def Squad, a supergroup with Redman, Erick Sermon, and Keith Murray, and their one album is pretty fun. Redman's self-produced tracks include some hits ("Rockafella," "Smoke Buddah," "It's Like That") as well as as the tracks on this playlist "We Run N.Y." and "A Special Joint (Intro)," which I really wish was a full-length song because Redman sampled the Little Feat classic "Spanish Moon" for that beat and it sounds sick. 

Muddy Waters is I think the Redman album I've listened to the most and have owned on CD for the longest, but I went into making this playlist not really being sure what his best album is. And after playing things back-to-back, yeah I'd say Muddy Waters is my favorite, it just feels like the perfect midpoint between his harder darker earlier stuff and his more playful later stuff with or without Method Man. He really doesn't have any wack albums, though (I think...I never heard 2015's Mudface and it's not on streaming services today). 

I'm loathe to listen to albums that are sequels to an artist's earlier classic, but 2024's Muddy Waters Too was solid. He has made sequel songs to "A Day of Sooperman Lover" on most of his albums, and I kinda roll my eyes at some of those, but the first one with the Johnny "Guitar" Watson sample is pretty good. I remember realizing how much Eminem loves Redman when he hosted "BET's Top 25 Countdown," a great old show where celebrities would just play their favorite videos for a couple hours, and Em played so many Redman videos. You can really hear the Redman that heavily influenced Em on "Rated 'R.'" 

Meth has a couple of solo albums that sold slightly more than Blackout! but it's the biggest album in Redman's catalog. Sometimes I think they both had the potential to be more individually than the hip-hop generation's Cheech & Chong, but pretty much all their songs together are great, their friendship and musical chemistry is pretty genuine, I can't complain. I remember one time in the '90s, I said "Wait, are Method Man and Redman brothers?" and my brother responded "Well, they do have the same last name...Man." That was pretty funny. 

In 2019, the MTV Video Music Awards were held in New Jersey for the first time in Newark's Prudential Center, and the broadcast closed with a medley celebrating New Jersey's contributions to hip-hop. Naughty By Nature did "O.P.P" and "Hip Hop Hooray," Queen Latifah did "U.N.I.T.Y.," Wyclef did "Gone 'Til November" and "No Woman, No Cry" (?), Fetty Wap did "Trap Queen," and Redman...was also there, but no Redman songs were included in the medley. 

That awkward moment highlighted the fact that Redman is probably the greatest MC from New Jersey with the greatest catalog, and he's sold about 4 million albums just as a solo artist, so he absolutely had to be on that stage. But his solo singles never really crossed over big, and in a situation where it wouldn't make sense for him to do "Da Rockwilder" with Method Man, I guess MTV didn't think enough people would know "Time 4 Sum Aksion" or "I'll Bee Dat!" for him to perform 90 seconds of it, which I think is kind of dumb and insulting, if you get the guy he should do one of his songs. On the bright side, maybe that performance led to the Muddy Waters Too posse cut "Lite It Up" with Latifah, Naughty By Nature, Rah Digga, Shaquille O'Neal, and a bunch of other Jersey legends. 

11:21 AM

Deep Cuts Vol. 398: Method Man

Tuesday, April 07, 2026

























Over the past few weeks, I've made playlists of the Wu-Tang Clan as well as the solo catalogs of Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, RZA, GZA, and now Method Man, and I think I'll wrap up the Wu program and do Meth's other longtime collaborator Redman next. 

Method Man deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. What The Blood Clot f/ RZA and Y-Kim The Illfigure
2. Stimulation
3. Meth Vs. Chef f/ Raekwon
4. Tical
5. Mr. Sandman f/ RZA, Inspectah Deck, Streetlife, Carlton Fisk, and Blue Raspberry
6. Play IV Keeps f/ Streetlife, Inspectah Deck, and Mob Deep
7. Torture
8. Cradle Rock f/ Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and Booster
9. Big Dogs f/ Redman
10. 1, 2, 1, 2, with Redman
11. Run 4 Cover with Redman, Ghostface Killah, and Streetlife
12. Cisco Kid with Redman, Cypress Hill, and War
13. We Some Dogs f/ Redman and Snoop Dogg
14. The Prequel f/ Streetlife
15. The Turn f/ Raekwon
16. Dirty Mef f/ Ol' Dirty Bastard
17. Got To Have It
18. Four Minutes To Lock Down with Redman, Raekwon, and Ghostface Killah
19. It's That Wu Shit with Ghostface Killah
20. The Purple Tape with Inspectah Deck and Raekwon
21. Episode 9 - Ronins f/ Hanz On, Cappadonna, and Masta Killa
22. Switch Sides f/ Jadakiss, Eddy I, and 5th PXWER 

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 from Tical (1994)
Tracks 6, 7, 8, and 9 from Tical 2000: Judgement Day (1998)
Tracks 10 and 11 from Blackout! with Redman (1999)
Track 12 from How High: The Soundtrack with Redman (2001)
Tracks 13, 14, and 15 from Tical 0: The Prequel (2004)
Tracks 16 and 17 from 4:21... The Day After (2006)
Track 18 from Blackout! 2  with Redman (2009)
Track 19 from Wu-Massacre with Raekwon and Ghostface Killah (2010)
Track 20 from The Meth Lab (2015)
Track 21 from Meth Lab Season 2: The Lithium (2018)
Track 22 from Meth Lab Season 3: The Rehab (2022)

Method Man was Wu-Tang's first breakout star, the biggest seller out of the crew, and one of hip-hop's most enduring sex symbols for 30 years and counting. But Tical is always looked at as an album that could've been better, not as revered other classic era Wu solo albums like Cuban Linx or Liquid Swords, to say nothing of other '94 debuts like Illmatic and Ready To Die. That's a dope album, though, in fact so is the follow-up. Tical 2000: Judgement Day is one of those very long albums where the two singles, which were cool but didn't have huge crossover appeal, were buried on track 25 and track 27. Sure, there are parts of the album that haven't aged well, like "Donald Trump (skit)," an 11-second track of the future president leaving Meth a voicemail unconvincingly feigning impatience for the rapper's second album, but there's some great stuff on there. 

Method Man is really part of two franchises: Wu-Tang, and his partnership with Redman, which has yielded two albums, the profitable feature film How High (directed by Jesse Dylan, son of Bob) and its soundtrack, and a short-lived network sitcom. Blackout! is about as good as no stakes pop rap gets, it might actually be better than any of Meth's solo albums. His later solo albums are hit-and-miss, sometimes he kind of got lost in making whatever a famous Def Jam rapper was supposed to be making at the time. But he's got more grimey Wu-Tang-style solo stuff than he gets credit for, and it was fun to cherry pick that stuff for a playlist like this.

7:39 AM

Saturday, April 04, 2026

 


My appearance on the Popular Music Books in Process series with Maren Hancock and Charity Marsh from this week is now archived on YouTube. Speaking of which, I made a YouTube playlist of every track I could find that I mentioned in Tough Breaks: The Story of Baltimore Club Music. It currently includes 133 videos and it makes a good soundtrack for the book: 



5:50 PM

Friday, April 03, 2026

 





I wrote about "Sigh's Smell of Farewell" by Cocteau Twins for Spin's Deep Cut Friday column this week. 

4:34 PM

Deep Album Cuts Vol. 397: GZA

Thursday, April 02, 2026


 













Continuing on from Wu-Tang Clan, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, and RZA, here's a another playlist of a Wu-Tang solo catalog. 

GZA deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. Swordsman f/ Killah Priest
2. Gold
3. Investigative Reports f/ Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, and U-God
4. Labels
5. Hell's Wind Staff/Killah Hills 10304
6. 1112 f/ Masta Killa, Killah Priest, and Njeri
7. Publicity
8. Stringplay (Like This, Like That) f/ Method Man
9. Beneath the Surface f/ Killah Priest
10. Silent f/ Ghostface Killah and Streetlife
11. Animal Planet 
12. Stay In Line f/ Santigold
13. Sparring Minds f/ Inspectah Deck
14. Destruction of a Guard with DJ Muggs and Raekwon
15. Advance Pawns with DJ Muggs, RZA, Raekwon, and Sen Dog
16. Illusory Protection with DJ Muggs
17. Unstoppable Threats with DJ Muggs, Masta Killa, and Prodigal Sunn
18. Life Is A Movie f/ RZA and Irfane Khan-Acito
19. 7 Pounds
20. Short Race f/ Roc Marciano
21. Firehouse f/ Ka

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 from Liquid Swords (1995)
Tracks 6, 7, 8, and 9 from Beneath the Surface (1999)
Tracks 10, 11, 12, and 13 from Legend of the Liquid Sword (2002)
Tracks 14, 15, 16, and 17 from GrandMasters with DJ Muggs (2005)
Tracks 18, 19, 20, and 21 from Pro Tools (2008)

Gary Grice originally recorded under the name The Genius, and famously was the one guy who released a major label solo album, 1991's Words form the Genius, years before the Wu-Tang Clan became a big name brand. That album, unfortunately, is not on Spotify, so I couldn't include any of it in the playlist. But it's a pretty good record with some excellent Easy Mo Bee production, I would love to add "Life of a Drug Dealer" or "Living Foul" (referenced on De La Soul's "Bitties in the BK Lounge") if that album ever gets a digital re-release. 

His first album as GZA, Liquid Swords, was named after the kung fu film Legend of the Liquid Sword, is rightly revered as one of the best Wu-Tang albums alongside Enter the Wu-Tang, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., and Supreme Clientele, if not one of the best rap albums ever. GZA is an amazing MC, albeit in a less flashy or eccentric way than a lot of his groupmates, closer to Nas than the other Wu-Tang guys in some ways. Most of the songs on Liquid Swords don't even have explicit lyrics tags, which is striking because you probably wouldn't even notice the lack of cursing while listening to it, even if it's obvious that he doesn't delight in profanity like Ghostface or ODB (on the other hand, his most recent album Pro Tools is only on Spotify as a clean edit, which is annoying). And RZA was just really on some shit on that album, I love the synth sounds and more textured use of samples on Liquid Swords. 

My brother bought Beneath the Surface, I remember we'd enjoyed the single "Breaker, Breaker" which the video got some airplay, but I don't recall listening to it much at the time. "Breaker, Breaker"'s B side "Publicity" is by far the most popular track on the album on Spotify today, good song. There's only one RZA beat on "1112," but Beneath the Surface has a little more continuity with the Wu-Tang song than, say, Raekwon's Immobilarity, including a great beat by Inspectah Deck on the title track. 

2002's Legend of the Liquid Sword was less a sequel to GZA's most popular album than simply named after the full title of the film that inspired it. "Stay In Line" featured guest vocalist Santi White, who had been an A&R at Epic Records and a songwriter for GZA's MCA labelmate Res, and would years later launch a successful solo career first as Santogold and then Santigold. I really dug the beats DJ Muggs did for GZA on their album together, he's definitely one of those people who should be in the rotation of Wu-Tang solo album producers more often, he has the right sound. GZA was pretty early to embrace guys like Roc Marciano, Black Milk (who produced "7 Pounds", and the late Ka on Pro Tools back in 2008. That makes it bittersweet that he hasn't released an album in 17 years, because he clearly keeps an ear to the underground, but he's been talking up a new album called Dark Matter since at least 2015, so hopefully that will materialize someday. 

9:40 AM

Deep Album Cuts Vol. 396: RZA

Tuesday, March 31, 2026



 











I've already done deep cut playlists of the Wu-Tang Clan, Raekwon, and Ghostface Killah, I'm not gonna do playlists for every member of the group but I'm gonna see how many I can manage. 

RZA deep album cuts (Spotify playlist):

1. Deadly Venoms (as Prince Rakeem)
2. Blood Brothers with Gravediggaz
3. Pit of Snakes with Gravediggaz
4. Unspoken Word
5. Kiss of a Black Widow f/ Ol' Dirty Bastard
6. N.Y.C. Everything f/ Method Man
7. Bobby Did It (Spanish Fly) f/ Ghostface Killah, Islord, Royal Fam, Jamie Sommers, and Ndira
8. Cakes with Kool G Rap
9. Bong Bong f/ Berretta 9 and Mad Cez
10. Black Widow Pt. 2 f/ Ol' Dirty Bastard
11. Seul Face a Lui f/ IAM
12. Fast Cars f/ Ghostface Killah and Erica Bryant
13. The Whistle f/ Masta Killa and Prodigal Sunn
14. Fatal
15. Elephant Chase with Howard Drossin
16. Money Don't Own Me f/ Monk and Stone Mecca
17. Whar with Ghostface Killah, Kool G Rap, and Tash Mahogany
18. The Brothel with Howard Drossin
19. Ana Electronic with Banks & Steelz
20. Thriller Main Theme B
21. Freedom of Movement with the Colorado Symphony and Christopher Dragon

Track 1 from Ooh I Love You Rakeem EP (as Prince Rakeem) (1991)
Track 2 from 6 Feet Deep with Gravediggaz (1994)
Track 3 from The Pick, the Sickle, and the Shovel with Gravediggaz (1997)
Tracks 4, 5, 6, and 7 from Bobby Digital In Stereo (1998)
Track 8 from Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai - The Album (1999)
Tracks 9 and 10 from Digital Bullet (2001)
Track 11 from The World According to RZA (2003)
Tracks 12 and 13 from Birth of a Prince (2003)
Track 14 from Blade: Trinity (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2004)
Track 15 from The Protector (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2006)
Track 16 from Digi Snacks (2008)
Track 17 from The RZA Presents: Afro Samurai Resurrection The Soundtrack (2009)
Track 18 from The Man With The Iron Fists (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2012)
Track 19 from Anything But Words as Banks & Steelz (2016)
Track 20 from Thriller (Soundtrack) (2019)
Track 21 from A Ballet Through Mud with the Colorado Symphony and Christopher Dragon (2024)

RZA is the primary producer of the Wu-Tang's group albums and most of the earliest and best solo albums, and the mastermind of the whole group's sound and concept. His leadership and his beatmaking has been questioned at times, but there's no denying that he, more than any other individual, is responsible for the whole movement, regardless of who became a bigger name as a rapper. In the early '90s, Bobby Diggs signed to Tommy Boy as Prince Rakeem, and his goofy-lighthearted single "Ooh I Love You Rakeem" (De La Soul producer Prince Paul helped with) was never successful enough to lead to an album, although there was an EP with two additional songs, and several remixes. One of those tracks on that EP is titled "Sexcapades (Wu-Tang Mix)," so he was planting the seeds of the Wu-Tang Clan early. He used another kung fu movie, Five Deadly Venoms, as the inspiration for both the song "Deadly Venoms" and, later, the Wu-Tang-affiliated girl group Deadly Venoms. 

Before Wu-Tang blew up, RZA formed another group with a few Tommy Boy refugees, Prince Paul and his Stetsasonic bandmate Frukwan, and another guy named Poetic, taking morbid death-related aliases as Gravediggaz (RZA became 'The RZArector). By that point plenty of groups like Geto Boys and Three 6 Mafia dabbled in what would be come to be known as 'horrorcore,' but Gravediggaz rode a wave of industry hype that it could be the next big thing, an escalation of the violence and shock value of multiplatinum gangsta rap. That never quite happened, but the 1994 Gravediggaz debut 6 Feet Deep was still a pretty big deal, charting higher than the first Wu-Tang album had, spinning off three singles, and hitting stores before Method Man or anyone else from Wu-Tang had a solo album (GZA's pre-Wu debut aside). 

By the time RZA finally released a proper solo album, he's already produced the lion's share of 7 or 8 albums, and had been kind of a minor presence as a rapper on most of those albums. My older brother had a few Wu albums in the late '90s, including Wu-Tang Forever and Bobby Digital In Stereo, which I didn't think much of at the time, but it sounds alright now. I'm kind of surprised it actually went gold. Apparently RZA and GZA wrote most of Ol' Dirty Bastard's verses back in the day, and that makes sense in retrospect, RZA's mushmouth flow is kind of like a less electric version of how ODB rapped. "N.Y.C. Everything" might have the best RZA verse I've ever heard, a Ghostface-level barrage of surreal imagery. 

At the beginning of Bobby Digital In Stereo, RZA sneers about other producers overusing samples popularized by the Ultimate Breaks & Beats series: "Ultimate breakbeats and shit, right? N____s still making money off of those shits, looping the same shits for a thousand years and shit, right?" He was alluding to the new style he was pivoting to, with less of those dusty drums from '70s soul records and more dry programmed drum machine beats, often unquantized with snare drums and cymbals jutting out at odd, counterintuitive moments. There's a Guitar Center promotional video that's been going viral every few months for years, or RZA programming a drum machine on-camera and just making one of the most awkward beats you've ever heard. People laugh at that video partly because RZA produced so many classic songs and that video seems atypical or evidence of how far he's fallen off. But the beats on Bobby Digital In Stereo, and some of the albums he's made since then, don't sound too different from that. That kind of beat generally sounds better once someone's rapped on them, though, they don't make a lot of sense as instrumentals. That's a testament to how the other members of Wu-Tang saw his vision and rapped over those tracks and made them feel complete. 

RZA's only made four proper solo albums, three of them in the 'Bobby Digital' persona, and the other one, Birth of a Prince, is probably his best. It was pretty entertaining to find that Digital Bullet actually has a song called "Bong Bong" that I guess is the genesis of that becoming RZA's most famous catchphrase. But I also wanted to make room for some of the other stuff he's done, the Prince Rakeem era and the first two Gravediggaz albums he was on, and some of the film score soundtrack work that's become a bigger and bigger part of out his output, including his own directorial debut The Man With The Iron Fists. He made The World According to RZA, an album full of collaborations with European rappers, and he also made an album with Interpol frontman Paul Banks under the name 'Banks & Steelz,' which I either never heard of or completely forgot about. Apparently he also has a group with the bassist from System Of A Down but the record they made never got released. His reach exceeds his grasp sometimes, but imagine all the great music we would've missed out on if RZA didn't have the confidence to put his weird ideas out there. 

1:40 PM

The 2026 Remix Report Card, Vol. 1

Monday, March 30, 2026




























It's been quite a while since I wrapped up my 2025 Remix Report Cards, so I've got a whole lot to write about here, remixes of 38 different songs. Here's the Spotify playlist:

"As Alive As You Need Me To Be (Pixel Grip Remix)" by Nine Inch Nails featuring Pixel Grip
I was a big fan of NIN's TRON Ares soundtrack, and a few weeks ago they surprise released the remix album TRON Ares: Divergence, which has a couple new versions of the album's Grammy-winning rock radio hit. One is an Arca remix that just changes up the beat, and the other is by the Chicago electronic trio Pixel Grip, and uses a bit of the original Trent Reznor vocal but is mostly sung by Pixel Grip frontwoman Rita Lukea. Good shit, I checked out more Pixel Grip songs on the strength of this and I like them.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B

"ASAP (Remix)" by Mya featuring 21 Savage
There are a lot of videos of 21 Savage seeming like a genuine R&B head, singing along to songs in the car or at concerts, which is really one of the most charming things about him. But I almost never like his R&B collaborations, it just sounds painful hearing him rap on soft tracks deadpanning dumb shit like "that ass soft, she got her BBL in Heaven" and "she call me Batman, she know that all her exes Joker" (???). The "ASAP" hook riffs on T.I.'s 2005 hit of the same name and he would've been a better guest for the remix, shit even A$AP Rocky would've matched the vibe better. I adore Mya and am glad she's releasing new music, but I hope the other stuff she has coming out has better production, it's not a very good track.  
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C-

"B.B.B. (Remix)" by Juvenile featuring Megan Thee Stallion
I kind of feel bad for less established rappers who do a song with a big name rapper and then get replaced on the remix. Florida rapper Genesisthegawd's verse on the original "B.B.B." is pretty good, but once you hear Meg on the remix you really just totally forget about her, she can't compete on that level, the song didn't even chart until the remix dropped. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B+

"Bedroom Posters (Remix)" by Yellowcard featuring Good Charlotte
When I interviewed Ryan and Sean from Yellowcard last year, I told them that I thought "Bedroom Posters" was a standout track from the album and they talked about how much they loved performing it and hoped it would do well at radio. A few months later, they released a new version with Good Charlotte (really just Joel Madden singing the second verse and some backing vocals on the bridge and last chorus, but it sounds good, he's a good addition to the song). "Bedroom Posters" is currently #6 on Alternative Airplay, making it the biggest hit of Good Charlotte's career on the chart (they were boosted a lot by MTV and pop radio at their commercial peak, "The Anthem" was their only previous top 10 hit on alternative radio). 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B 

"Boat (Remix)" by Trim featuring BunnaB and YK Niece
"Boat (Slimey Edition)" by Trim featuring Pooh Shiesty
"Boat" is the breakout hit by South Carolina rapper Trim, and even though Pooh Shiesty is objectively a bigger name, his remix doesn't have remotely as many streams as the original or the other remix. And that makes sense, BunnaB and YK Niece just sound more natural as guests on a track like this. Most rap remixes are longer than the original song but both "Boat" remixes are oddly shorter than the original. 
Best Verse: BunnaB
Overall Grade: B+

"Boots on the Ground (Remix)" by 803Fresh featuring Fantasia
Somehow I missed that Fantasia appeared on a remix of "Boots on the Ground" last summer and didn't cover it in any of my 2025 Remix Report Cards, so I'm just catching up and throwing it in here for sake of keeping the column a pretty comprehensive record of significant remixes. I love hearing her voice on a track like this, I wouldn't mind if she did more music in that southern soul style that's blowing up right now. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B 

"Celebration (Remix)" by Big Freedia featuring Queen Latifah and Dawn Richard
Dawn Richard is originally from New Orleans, so her appearance on Big Freedia's latest album was cool. Queen Latifah doesn't have any N.O. roots that I know of, but she still sounds surprisingly good on this with her old school flow. Latifah's got some classic songs that you can still play today, but her acting career so completely eclipsed her musical career that it's somewhat surprising to see her drop a verse on a song in 2026. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B- 

"Cliche (Jonas Brothers Remix)" by MGK featuring the Jonas Brothers
"Cliche (Sad Version)" by MGK
I haven't particularly liked much of the hip-hop that MGK became famous with or the punk pop he became more famous with, but I do like "Cliche," the bouncy pop song he released last year with silly boy band choreography in the video, even if he still sings it in the same dour tough guy voice he uses in every genre. Jonas Brothers have been crossing genres off their checklist a lot lately, too, with collaborations with Russell Dickerson, Switchfoot, and Kenny G, so it feels like these two entities were inevitably going to run into each other at some point. And the Jonases' voices make this song sound even more conventionally pop, so I like it. MGK also recorded the song as a piano ballad and it sucks, but it's nice to hear him try slightly more to actually sing. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B

"Crack (Remix)" by 3Dcam featuring Fredo Bang
Monroe, Louisiana rapper 3Dcam's biggest hit, "Crack," is one minute and 45 seconds long, has a bounce beat with a sped up sample of the Yung LA hit "Ain't I," and sounds like it was recorded in a laundry room with a Radio Shack microphone. Baton Rouge rapper Fredo Bang is a pretty minor national star but he sounds like a really polished pro by comparison on a track like this. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C+

"Da Fuxk (Remix)" by Rob49 featuring Lil Yachty, G Herbo, YTB Fatt, G Youngin, and BTY Beedo
Rob49, G Youngin, and BTY Beedo released "Dafxckk" in November, and the remix came out on Friday with a slightly different song title. It feels kind of like a deliberate sequel to Rob49's signature song "WTHelly" with everyone repeatedly saying "da fuck?" instead of "what the helly." A fun track, and I always respect when the original artist adds a new verse to the remix, but the track really gets too long with the last Rob49 verse after the beat switches, this did not need to be over 6 minutes. 
Best Verse: YTB Fatt
Overall Grade: B-

"Decisions (Remix)" by Big Ro6 featuring G Herbo
Indianapolis rapper Big Ro6's 2024 song "Decisions" went viral last year when people started making jokes about how he sounds like a pirate, and he's been leaning into it, recently releasing an album called Street Shanties, which has a song called "Blackbeard." I don't really get it, he mostly sounds to me like Kevin Gates or the late Snootie Wild (who was often compared to Gates), and "Decisions" is mostly a pretty grim gangsta rap song. So I'm glad he went with a straightforward remix with someone like G Herbo, even if I'm not really a fan of Herbo these days. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B- 

"Dracula (Remix)" by Tame Impala featuring Jennie
There was a weird moment about a decade ago when Tame Impala's Kevin Parker leapfrogged out of indie rock cult artist status and worked on albums by Rihanna and Lady Gaga, but mostly he's just gotten bigger and bigger over the years by steadily making the same kind of chill psychedelic indie rock records. I'm not a big Tame Impala fan so I'm not a good judge of whether "Dracula" is a good Tame Impala song, but I find it kind of flimsy and annoying. But putting one of the Blackpink girls on the track kind of works, I like it more as a pop song than as an alt-rock song.  
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B 

"DSRVE 2" by Jordan Webb featuring Mick Jenkins
Mick Jenkins is such an underrated rapper, he kinda takes a few bars to hit his stride on this track by Nashville rapper Jordan Webb but then he locks in and it's great. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B+ 

"Dumb Crasy (Remix)" by So Supa featuring Tre Loaded and Big Boogie
"Dumb Crasy (G-Mix)" by So Supa featuring Trippie Redd and Lil Yachty
"Dumb Crasy Too" by So Supa featuring Big Money Blitz and Tre Loaded 
Mississippi's So Supa, whose real name is Vontrel Pringle (a way better name than his stage name), is such a monotone rapper that he makes 21 Savage sound like Busta Rhymes. His breakout song was 2021's "Dumb Crasy," and he's regularly made sequel solo tracks ever since, with "Dumb Crasy 8" being the most recent (at the beginning of "Dumb Crasy 7" he says "I said 6 is gonna be the last one...I lied"). He's also done three posse cut remixes of the song between 2023 and 2026, so I decided to just review all of them here. It's not a good song and there's not really any particularly good versions of it, it's just a bunch of bars with no hook over a really minimal nondescript beat. 
Best Verse: Big Boogie
Overall Grade: C

"Feeling On My Body (Remix)" by Taffy featuring Pluto
A pair of unsigned rappers that I think are both from Atlanta, Taffy Babii and Miss Asia, made a song last year sampling the 2009 Party Boyz hit "Flex." And it was always called "Feeling On My Body" on streaming services, but they'd bill it as "Flex (Remix)" when appearing on those YouTube performance series where the microphone seems to be hanging from a cloud in the sky. Then Taffy did a remix with Pluto fame and it's taking off on rap radio, which is nice for Pluto since YK Niece has been getting way more features since "Whim Whamie" hit. As with Genesisthegawd from "B.B.B.," I feel kind of bad for Miss Asia for getting left off the biggest version of a song she was on, but Taffy still shouts her out on the remix.  
Best Verse: Taffy
Overall Grade: B+

"Fine Shyt (EB Remix)" by Vedo featuring Eric Bellinger
"Fine Shyt (Remix)" by Vedo featuring Jacob Latimore
"Fine Shyt (Remix)" by Vedo featuring Trevor Jackson
Vedo hasn't done much of note since his one big hit, 2021's "You Got It," which had a pretty good remix with one of the last guest verses Young Dolph released before his death. I guess he's going all in on "Fine Shyt" being his catchphrase-driven comeback single, although none of the guests on the three remixes is really that big a star, I think he should've just put all of these out at once as a posse cut. Jacob Latimore is the only guy who leans into the slow jam vibe instead of sing-rapping in a faster cadence, I thought that was by far the best approach, and Trevor Jackson remains the most embarrassing man in R&B. 
Best Verse: Jacob Latimore
Overall Grade: C+

"Finsta (G-Mix)" by Lizzen featuring So Supa and Big Money Blitz, and Jacquees
The original "Finsta" was on Lizzen and Jacquees's 2025 collab project But First R&B, but Lizzen wasn't on it, it was a Jacquees song with verses by Kayla Nicole and Saint Lamaar. And then the remix bills Lizzen but not Jacquees, but the song is still Jacquees with guest verses, Lizzen doesn't even do DJ Khaled ad libs or anything, it's kind of bizarre. And the So Supa verse is absolutely horrible. Do better, Vontrel Pringle. 
Best Verse: Big Money Blitz
Overall Grade: D

"4 Raws (Remix)" by EsDeeKid featuring Timothee Chalamet
Liverpool rapper EsDeeKid's debut album Rebel was a big hit in the UK last summer, but he wears a balaclava and is secretive about his identity, leading to a rumor (or probably really more of a running joke) that he's actually Timothee Chalamet. So in December, Chalamet and the real EsDeeKid linked up for a remix of the album's opening track to have a little fun with the rumor and promote both the song and Marty Supreme, which gets mentioned gratuitously. I think it's pretty harmless and entertaining that Chalamet is a hypebeast hip-hop head who made novelty rap tracks as a teenager, so it feels silly to grade his verse, but it's a mix of clever punchlines and garbage bars like "I'm havin' fun, just sextin'/ my dick is young and restless." He also says "my life is an opera, look at the Oscars," which sounds funnier now that there's been a whole overcooked controversy about Timmy's remarks about ballet and opera. The remix was posted with a video on I think Instagram and YouTube without being released on streaming services, but it still got so much attention that the original "4 Raws" became a top 40 hit on the Hot 100.  
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B- 

"Gas Station Love (Remix)" by EJ Jones featuring BigXthaPlug
I called the original "Gas Station Love" the worst R&B hit of 2025 and a "street harassment carol," the BigX verse is alright but it doesn't do anything to redeem the stupid song for me. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C+ 

"Hoes Be Mad (2.0)" by Cash Cobain featuring YK Niece, Loe Shimmy, Zeddy Will, and BunnaB
Nobody on this track is a huge star (yet), but it feels like a pretty good summit of where danceable uptempo regional rap is right now, with a couple New Yorkers, a couple Atlanta rappers, and another from Florida. 
Best Verse: YK Niece
Overall Grade: B

"Hustlin Mf Pt 2" by Bally Baby featuring Belly Gang Kushington
A remix, the YK Niece version of "Friend Do," recently made Atlanta rapper Belly Gang Kushington a mainstream star, and now he's getting invited onto other people's remix. I like his verse on this, he sounds better than on "Friend Do," but he also kind of generally sounds like Foghorn Leghorn. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B

"Little Miss (Misdemeanor)" by Girlset featuring Missy Elliott
Girlset is a girl group with American members that was assembled by the K-pop company JYP Entertainment on the reality show "A2K." And like lots of K-pop, their sound is very influenced by Y2K era American pop and rap, so it was a smart idea to get Missy on here, she doesn't light up the track like she often does but I'm always happy to hear her voice. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C+ 

"Lullaby (Mega Remix)" by JayDon and Paradise featuring Usher
"Lullaby (Remix)" by JayDon and Paradise featuring Jay Park and LOUIS of LNGSHOT
Teen R&B star JayDon (the voice of young Simba in the 2019 Lion King) is signed to Usher and (deep sigh) L.A. Reid's new label Mega, so Usher jumped on a remix of JayDon's breakthrough radio hit. JayDon's first line on the song is "I confess just like I'm preachin'," so Usher cuts into the song right there with a Confessions reference, it's pretty slick. There's another remix with a couple of midlevel K-pop stars that I've never heard of and it's not bad. On the original "Lullaby," Paradise and JayDon each sing half of the third verse. They also do that on the remixes, but Paradise sings new lyrics while JayDon's half of the verse is the same as on the original. 
Best Verse: Usher
Overall Grade: B+

"Morocco (Remix)" by Joshua Baraka featuring Shenseea and Axon
A remix feature, on Moliy's "Shake It To The Max (Fly)," turned out to be a big moment for Shenseea last year, so I'm glad she's jumping on more remixes, she sounds good on this track from Ugandan singer Joshua Baraka. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B-

"Most Likely RMX" by Dess Dior featuring KenTheMan and Saucy Santana
Saucy Santana is kind of boring and one-note to me, but I feel like KenTheMan is getting better and better, she's a star. 
Best Verse: KenTheMan
Overall Grade: B

"Now Or Never II" by TKANDZ & Cxsper featuring Lil Baby
"Now Or Never" was Essex rapper's breakthrough single on the UK charts, and Lil Baby actually sounds like he's trying on this unlike a lot of his guest verses in recent years, I think this is a more effective little US/UK cultural exchange than that overplayed Central Cee/Lil Baby song. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: A- 

"Pixelated Kisses (Remix)" by Joji featuring Yeat
When Joji released "Pixelated Kisses" it felt like a very deliberate attempt for him to add some edge to his sound with noisy 'rage' production, which I'm more or less fine with since his music was really bland to begin with, so doing a remix with Yeat makes sense. And I think one of the best tracks on Yeat's new album is the one featuring Joji, I don't really feel like the ideal audience for either of these guys but I think they work well together. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C+

"Pretty Girls Win (Remix)" by Boosie Badazz featuring B.G. 
Clubby uptempo songs were never really Boosie's thing -- a lot of people know him mainly for "Wipe Me Down" and "Independent" but those are other people's songs that he guested on. "Pretty Girls Win" is a rare example of Boosie setting out to make a fun accessible song and it's actually pretty good. B.G.'s kind of a counterintuitive choice for the remix, though, he's another great southern rapper who kind of became a star in spite of his lack of pop instinct, but Boosie and B.G. have made a bunch of other tracks in the last couple years that play to their strengths. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C- 

"Still Sincere" by MJ Cole featuring PinkPantheress
MJ Cole's 1998 single "Sincere" was an early chart breakthrough for the UK garage scene, and PinkPantheress's music has a heavy influence from that era, so it's really cool to hear her do a new version of the track with MJ Cole.  
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B

"Triple It (Remix)" by Cailin Russo and Don't Scare Billy featuring BIA
I wasn't familiar with Cailin Russo but I guess she's one of those nepo babies who's semi-famous for several different reasons. She's the daughter of the lead singer of alt-rock radio footnotes Unwritten Law, she's modeled for several major brands and played Justin Bieber's love interest in two music videos, a song she released in 2018 recently blew up after playing at the end of the "Heated Rivalry" season finale, and she has a writing credit on the Kanye West hit "Hurricane." "Triple It" is kind of shitty Soundcloud rap pastiche, most of her stuff doesn't sound like that, but the BIA verse is good. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B- 

"Trump The Bill (Trapa-Mix)" by Sunshine Benzi featuring Cleotrapa
"Trump The Bill (Trim Edition)" by Sunshine Benzi featuring Trim
People had a good laugh about an email in the Epstein files referring to "Trump blowing Bubba," and Chicago rapper Sunshine Benzi riffs on that on her viral hit ("I'm getting busy, no Trump and Bill/ no Trump and Bill, presidential coupe, gotta Trump the bill"). All three of these rappers are very audibly Nicki Minaj-influenced, so I breathed a sigh of relief that there were no pro-MAGA Barbz bars. 
Best Verse: Cleotrapa
Overall Grade: B

"Walk That Walk (Remix)" by Anthony Q featuring 803Fresh, Tonio Armani, and Soulful Skonie
I have mixed feelings about the whole southern soul movement, I think the production lets the vocalists down pretty often, but 803Fresh really carries this remix and makes the song sound better. 
Best Verse: 803Fresh
Overall Grade: B+

"We On Go III" by BIA featuring TiaCorine
"We On Go (Rage Mix)" by BIA
In the last installment of this column I reviewed "We On Go II" featuring Denzel Curry and A$AP Ferg, and BIA recently released We On Go Pack with two more versions of the song. The original "We On Go" beat by Honorable C.N.O.T.E. and Tommy Brown already sounded like a Travis Scott-style 'rage' track, but the Rage Mix has a guitarist and drummer rocking out over the song, it's not produced very well and sounds a little cheesy, although the drummer gets off some good splashy fills. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: D 

"wgft (Remix)" by Gunna featuring Chris Brown
The remix helped "wgft" jump up the charts and get Gunna his highest Hot 100 peak since "FukUMean," which I think is probably all that really matters when remixes like this drop. Breezy just does too much on the track, though, he has the wrong energy to replace Burna Boy on a pretty laid back song. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: D 

"Yaya (Remix)" by Compton Av featuring Snoop Dogg, 310babii, and Steelz
"Yaya (SheMix)" by Compton Av featuring Lola Brooke, Natalie Nunn, India Love, Blueface, and Steelz
"Yaya (Thailand Remix)" by Compton Av featuring Mixie Mixx, FIIXD, GUNNER, 4Bang, and Steelz
Compton Av has put together three different posse cut remixes for his biggest song, with the producer Steelz getting a feature credit on every version, and the remix with Snoop has gotten more streams than the original. It's pretty funny that Blueface is on the 'SheMix' that has guest verses from several women, but I feel bad that a very good Lola Brooke verse is stuck on a track with him and rap-adjacent reality TV/Instagram influencer types India Love and Natalie Nunn.  
Best Verse: Lola Brooke 
Overall Grade: C

"You (Remix)" by Soulful Skonie featuring Anthony Q
I just reviewed an Anthony Q remix featuring Soulful Skonie that came out in November, and Anthony Q returned the favor for this remix that dropped in February. A mellower slow jam kind of song that doesn't make as much sense as a collaboration, but Anthony Q's voice sounds good on it. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B- 

"Yunnnn (Wemix)" by Stunna4Vegas featuring Monaleo
This is the first collaboration that Stunna4Vegas and Monaleo have released since they got married last year, so calling it a 'Wemix' is pretty cute, even if it's just the kind of punchline-heavy banger they both excel at. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B 

"Zombie (Remix)" by Yungblud featuring the Smashing Pumpkins
Yungblud seems to be on this mission to befriend as rock elders as he can, including the late Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, and now Smashing Pumpkins. A lot of times when a famous band is credited on a new version of a song, it's really just the lead singer adding some vocals (as with the 'Good Charlotte' version of the Yellowcard song I wrote about earlier in this post). But you can actually tell that Yungblud re-recorded "Zombie" with the Smashing Pumpkins and it sounds way better than the original. "Zombie" became Yungblud's first #1 song on alternative radio a few weeks after this was released, but I have no idea which version's getting radio airplay, because the only alternative station in my area plays so little new music that even #1 hits can pass them by. 
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B 

1:39 AM