It’s only right that ALLBLACK and E-40 would finally link up; two off-kilter flowing Bay Area P’s from overlapping but different eras with their own eccentric senses of humor. Even better that these kindred spirits are spitting over this monstrous Bay beat from Sho Nuff. This beat is nasty I can’t wait to put this on full blast in the whip. Add in a verse from the always-reliable Chippass and you’ve got a perfect Tres Amigos track. ALLBLACK is one of the best out right now. You’ve got to love the fact that he’s one of the hottest names in the game but he’s still grateful on every song still humbly thanking everyone for fucking with him. For every E-40 line nowadays that makes you say, “come on E-40” he has a simple but dope line like “If I go broke I’m selling the car that I’m driving” or “If you jump ship there ain’t no getting back on my boat.” ALLBLACK’s whole verse is filthy as you’d come to expect at this point.
The top song of the month finds your host sitting back eating a bag of crab chips, taking a long, relaxed drag from my Black and Mild taking in this Baltimore rap scene feeling like I’m Prop Joe. Caught this one Betchua (apparently aka Bitchuary) by Shordie Shordie on Crimedawbylaw the other day and haven’t stopped playing it since. This is the hardest song I’ve heard in a minute.
Betchua is going to hit millions of views, or at least it should. Shordie Shordie is a star. So far everyone I’ve showed this too in real life basically for the first 30 seconds or so was like ‘I don’t know about this one’ and then shortly after was nodding along and agreeing that it’s pure fire. Shordie Shordie has the requisite charisma and image that give Betchua the star power needed for a smash hit; Betchua has literally got it all – the song, the dance, the beat, the super catchy chorus, and most importantly it pulls off the difficult tightrope act of simultaneously having something for the ladies but still being something that the hard rocks in the trenches will appreciate, for example “When I leave you be going seeing different faces, when I leave I be fucking bitches different places; still in these streets, I’ve got charges that a nigga facing”. It’s basically the perfect slap for 2019. I challenge anyone to listen to it and not have it in their head for at least a week afterward.
“I’m in the club drinking Henny with my black and Mild, got my gun in I can wave it and start acting wild, but I won’t do that ’cause I guess that shit is out of style, that’s why I left the club early.” This line really says it all these days.
YNW Melly ft. Fredo Bang – Ingredients
Basically a 1a and 1b for song of the month because ‘Ingredients’ is up there too.
ure, unadulterated heater off of the YNW Melly album. Another early nominee for song of the year for 2019? Save for a track here and there the entire Melly album is straight heat. I’ve been blasting this all week and I think I played in 9 or 10 times in a row in the car after I first heard it. I’m a total square but I can def see the appeal of bumping this in the car driving away after hitting a lick in Florida. I love the hook here and the beat is nice too. It took me a minute to warm to NBA Youngboy opp extraordinaire Fredo Bang’s part but it’s grown on me more and more and now him stepping up to give his verse is one of my favorite parts of the song. While lyrically it’s pretty run of the mill/mediocre (what exactly does ‘picking that ass apart’ entail anyway? Lol), I’ve grown to appreciate the blunt-instrument quality of his voice/flow that he brings to the track as a foil to Melly.
FREE MELVIN!
YNW Melly – Robbery
Another banger off of the new Melly album. Pure heat. Possibly the most melodic song ever written about robbing? (Although I’m sure readers can come up with a few other candidates). Melly is definitley getting some shine but I’m surprised he isn’t blowing up even more with songs like this and the above.
Shordie Shordie – Pablo
Another heater off of Shordie Shordie’s fantastically-named ‘Captain Hook’ album. Shordie’s flow to kick this one off is sick. He definitley won’t be a one-hit wonder.
Earl Sweatshirt ft. Navy Blue – The Mint
I never really checked out or got into Earl Sweatshirt or any of these guys over the years, but I finally gave in and checked this out after seeing it on a bunch of year end lists and seeing a lot of positive reviews for Some Rap Songs, and I have to admit, this was just as dope as everyone was saying. Earl’s flow on this was sick. I ended up listening to the album probably 8 or 9 times in a row over the course of the long MLK weekend, it was only 24 minutes or so but it was definitley a captivating album. I also really liked ‘Ontheway!’ and ‘The Bends’ on here.
DB Tha General ft. Mistah FAB – Dope Era
Got this one from Rap Music Hysteria’s Best of 2018, just one of many gems on there. Beat is so sick. DB is always reliable and I’m never opposed to some new Mistah FAB. I’m still wondering why DB keeps yelling that he’s Brutha Man, Fifth Floor, like the Martin character but whatever I’m down with it.
JPEGMAFIA – Panic Emoji
As you can probably see by now I’ve been getting into some wierd stuff over the past month. Actually, let me rephrase, I’ve been getting into a lot of Baltimore stuff and a lot of wierd/’artistic’/avant garde type rap which I’m not usually into but for some reason I’ve been feeling in January. I finally checked out JPEGMAFIA for the first time, after seeing him on a lot of people’s Year End lists, and I had no idea what to expect with ‘Peggy’ i.e. I had no idea what to expect him to sound like. He was a bit hit or miss to me but the songs I did like by him were absolute bangers, my favorite of which is ‘Panic Emoji’. This beat is wild, it almost reminds me of some song you’d hear in some dark 80s movie in a scene about a prom or something.
MIKE – NeverKnocked
Another favorite from my out of left field avant garde grind. I love the ‘This year I’m playing Pac for my kids’ line and the lo-fi beat really grew on me after a few listens. This was an interesting album I’m looking forward to see what this guy does next. Side note – this guy is going to be hard to Google.
Kiddo Marv ft. John Wicks, Freese Cola, YBJ & CBE – Visa
I’m always up for some new Florida Haitian rap. I had been listening to a bunch of Marv a couple of years ago and had unfortunately kind of just forgotten about him so it was nice to see he’s still out here grinding. I have to go back and check out the rest of his recent output.
Poppa – R Kelly
I honestly wasn’t sure before I clicked this if it was going to be an R Kelly song called ‘Poppa’ or a Poppa song called ‘R Kelly.’ I’m not 100% clear here on what Poppa is doing wading around in that dirty water which cannot be heatlhy, but this song is low-key fire and really grew on me after a couple of listens. It’s not even particularly recent it looks like it’s from 2017 but I guess people have been re-posting it because of all the recent R Kelly news.
Westside Gunn – Elizabeth
This is a great example of the type of music these Griselda guys are capable of when they are at their best and not trying to be overly lyrical just for the sake of it. This is like ‘classic’ hip hop to me that evokes memories of a bygone age while still being ‘new’. ‘Every color Lambo truck we can make it, OG just came home from being caged in, don’t know what to do been locked up since Reagan, Allah got a better plan for you be patient.’
Pure, unadulterated heater off of the YNW Melly album. Another early nominee for song of the year for 2019? Save for a track here and there the entire Melly album is straight heat. I’ve been blasting this all week and I think I played in 9 or 10 times in a row in the car after I first heard it. I’m a total square but I can def see the appeal of bumping this in the car driving away after hitting a lick in Florida. I love the hook here and the beat is nice too. It took me a minute to warm to NBA Youngboy opp extraordinaire Fredo Bang’s part but it’s grown on me more and more and now him stepping up to give his verse is one of my favorite parts of the song. While lyrically it’s pretty run of the mill/mediocre (what exactly does ‘picking that ass apart’ entail anyway? Lol), I’ve grown to appreciate the blunt-instrument quality of his voice/flow that he brings to the track as a foil to Melly.
There’s a whole bunch of other bangers on this album, my second favorite of which was ‘Robbery‘. People who were into the whole Lil Baby/Gunnna acoustic guitar wave will probably also love ‘My Heart‘ on here. The song with Kanye seemed kind of out of place with the rest of the album and wasn’t really my thing but it was different/worth a shot and should give him exposure to a whole new audience. I feel like he also might as well have thrown ‘Freddy Krueger‘ on here as well since it’s still fairly recent and had been a huge single. I didn’t think I liked that one at first but I can’t get that haunted house-sounding ‘Cooling in the cut with my shooters’ hook out of my head so I guess now I’m a fan.
The new year finds your host sitting back eating a bag of crab chips, taking a long, relaxed drag from my Black and Mild taking in this Baltimore rap scene feeling like I’m Prop Joe. Caught this one Betchua (apparently aka Bitchuary) by Shordie Shordie on Crimedawbylaw the other day and haven’t stopped playing it since. This is the hardest song I’ve heard in a minute.
Betchua is going to hit millions of views, or at least it should. Shordie Shordie is a star. So far everyone I’ve showed this too in real life basically for the first 30 seconds or so was like ‘I don’t know about this one’ and then shortly after was nodding along and agreeing that it’s pure fire. Shordie Shordie has the requisite charisma and image that give Betchua the star power needed for a smash hit; Betchua has literally got it all – the song, the dance, the beat, the super catchy chorus, and most importantly it pulls off the difficult tightrope act of simultaneously having something for the ladies but still being something that the hard rocks in the trenches will appreciate, for example “When I leave you be going seeing different faces, when I leave I be fucking bitches different places; still in these streets, I’ve got charges that a nigga facing”. It’s basically the perfect slap for 2019. I challenge anyone to listen to it and not have it in their head for at least a week afterward.
“I’m in the club drinking Henny with my black and Mild, got my gun in I can wave it and start acting wild, but I won’t do that ’cause I guess that shit is out of style, that’s why I left the club early.” This line really says it all these days.
Not to sound like a trend hopper but I’m feeling this Baltimore scene right now, could Baltimore be the Detroit of 2019?
And if you’re looking for a more serious show instead of just non-stop entertainment it also looks like he could be on HGTV and replace one of those house-flipper shows like Desert Flippers or Fixer Uppers just flipping/rehabbing/renting out houses in Toledo I’d def rather watch that than the Property Brothers in some cushy suburb…
Happy New Year’s everyone. Starting the year off with some serious heat from Lazy-Boy. Lazy basically continues his power of morphing into a spectacularly face-tatted Noteno version of Chris Brown or Ty Dolla $ign on this one, making magic over a wildly catchy beat. I have to admit that after listening to a ton of Lazy-Boy in 2016 and 2017 I really slept on him this past year and didn’t realize he put out so much new material. I finally caught up on all of his 2018 releases over the holidays and this was my favorite song. It’s a shame I heard it so late otherwise this would have definitely displaced something else on my 2018 top 50 list. Lazy-Boy really has a gift for these half-rapped, half-sung infectious joints over these bouncy Bay beats. There’s just something about hearing Lazy singing ‘I’ll turn a new Glock into a throwaway” or talking about calling his “brothers in the pen” over summery production like this.
Now that we’re done with the more arduous task of making the ‘Top 50 songs of 2018’ list, I’ll switch to the easier task of putting up a quick top 10 songs for December 2018. We’re going a little overboard this month as you’ll see. Thanks for reading this year and see you in 2019!
Yung Skreww ft. Philthy Rich, J. Stalin, TD, Yung Getta Dro – If I Wasn’t Getting Money
Saw this one on Crimedawbylaw and while it’s two years old, it’s become one of my favorites that I’ve heard in a long time. It really is the ultimate mellow slapper, like he described it. I’m especially loving the chorus from Young Getta Dro and Skreww’s verse, outshining his more famous contemporaries. “You a mohterfucking snitch like what was you telling for, if you wasn’t with the shit what you hung with the fellas for? If you don’t like it, stay away from the clique nigga, 187 on an undercover bitch nigga!” Skreww’s verse just had so much heart.
Cash Click Boog – 200 Proof
I’d heard Boog’s name here and there and probably as a feature in passing but didn’t really start checking him out until reading Raygarraty’s great all-Detroit top songs of 2018 list, and then I decided to delve more into his music and he really grew on me. ‘200 Proof’ is my favorite of his songs so far. “Blues got me feeling cool as ever, snow or rain nigga, shoot whoever, your main bitch on my dick cause I do it better. Southwest in this bitch then there’s stupid cheddar.”
Side note – I love the Thizzler best of 2018 cyphers that they came out with this year, and the fact that they had one including a bunch of the Detroit guys like Boog and guys from BandGang/ShredGang, commemorating the timeless and always-fruitful Bay Area to Detroit connection.
Kodak Black – Identity Theft
Kodak with a heartfelt ode to credit card fraud. Rappers have been rapping about the dope game for probably at least 30 years so it’s about time the identity theft game got some love.
Kodak with a heartfelt ode to credit card fraud. Rappers have been rapping about the dope game for probably at least 30 years so it’s about time the identity theft game got some love.
Alright it’s that time of year again where we come together to celebrate the holidays and compile our top 50 songs of the year, as we deck the halls to the sounds of Kodak, Peezy, FMB DZ, ALLBLACK, and maybe even some OT Genasis and T-Pain. This is in order from top to bottom, and the top couple of songs were really hard to decide between for a true #1 but any of them would be a worthy #1 song of the year. There are probably another 10 or so songs that deserved to be on here but I wanted to cut it off at 50 just to have some discipline/organization. Wishing you all happy holidays and many blessings in the New Year
Dip Gods are back. Just in time for Thanksgiving Dipset laced us with this reunion album. This was easily my favorite song off of it. Such a triumphant, prime-era Dipset, all-conquering Heatmakers beat. Apparently it samples a Queen song but I have no idea I just know it’s making me feel invincible right now. I love the over the top ‘Grrrrrrrr’ ad lib at 0:34 after Jim Jones says he was ‘purging for a check’ almost sounding like a rabid grizzly. Jones actually probably had the best verse out of anyone on this and has quietly had a really strong 2018. While Juelz rapping that he ‘gets loose like a tooth’ seems uninspired and isn’t the prime Juelz we all remember, it’s still good to hear from him and he makes up for it with just the sheer self-belief and intensity as he raps ‘From the stoop to the coupe, money stacked from the floor to the roof’ or ‘Cam saw a star and showed the world my light… I put in work they can’t take my stripes’. The song ends on the strangely sad note of Juelz musing that ‘I guess forever means forever til forever’s gone’ until, of course, Dame Dash breaks in with a typically firey Dame Dash half-time speech and starts yelling about that Dipset will live forever. A grandiose effort from the Dips and I would expect nothing less at this point. I wish I got to go to the album release party where, from what I can gather, it looks like everyone went around Harlem in an open-top bus, listened to the album on headphones with some sort of blue LED’s, smoked vape pens and ate chop cheeses.
Poppa da Don x Abillyon – Smoked
1a and 1b this month were Dipset and this one. Staying on this unexpected NYC Crip wave/Poppa da Don wave with Poppa and Abillyon’s ‘Smoked’. Like one of those cartoon angels on your shoulder or a Loc’d out Sunday school teacher, Abillyon implores you to ‘do the right thing or you’ll get smoked’ in that heavenly voice of his. Abillyon is quite the hook-smith and this could be one of the best of the year. I also love the gleeful ‘I’m on the other side with the Locs!,’ willfully declaring themselves as the ‘other side’ or the opps and celebrating it. Abillyon is a name some may recognize from the height of the GS9 era; from looking at his Soundcloud and quickly browsing other streaming sites, it doesn’t look like he has released a ton of music since then but he seems to be making a resurgence now. Poppa is in the middle of a strong run as well between this, ‘Crip Shit‘ and his mixtape ‘Fucc Wit Da Cuz Vol. 2‘.
Dave East – No Pork
East has me lacing up my Timbs and throwing on a big Marmot jacket with this first one. The smooth ‘No Pork’ might be the magnum opus of East’s career thus far. It’s a ‘classic’ sounding NYC rap song done right without sounding dusty or too formulaic. This is that classic wintertime music, and the type of track that you want to play while you’re hunkering down at the crib or out on a rare nice sunny day in the winter. East goes into full-on nostalgia/story-telling mode as he takes us on a trip down memory lane through the ups and downs of his life growing up in Harlem.
“I told Shooter (see below) we gon get rich no matter what, they was happy when we was down now when we see them they made as fuck. We don’t got to live in the projects no more, I dropped out, but it’s funny I’m hitting college on tour. I need ’em fresh, cop em again if I copped em before. Charlotte Hornets top and bottom, colored aqua velour. Ahki used to let me in after the locks on the door. I ain’t speeding, I ain’t smoking, what the fuck you stopping me for? I hid my first .38 behind the socks in my drawer, my mama asked me why you got a gun, you not going to war? If I go get a cigarette there might be opps at the store.”
Envy Caine – Intro
Your host got caught lacking in his car trapped in the big east coast snow storm this month for over 12 hours on the same mile of highway but fuck it it takes more than a few snowflakes to kill the old Pink C. Not only am I alive and well but as you can see I’ve been on a NYC kick lately catching up on some of these young bols. Even though I’m hella late on this one from Brooklyn’s Envy Caine but I’ve been blasting it non-stop. This is the intro to his ‘2 Many Situations’ mixtape from the spring.
“Damn, My whole city AGAINST me, but fuck it cause I got all these killers with me”
I love the raw aggression/malice and the me against the world ethos that Envy delivers that bar with. Almost reminding me a bit of AR-Ab.
This song goes so hard/aggressive it’s the new song I play when I want to get angrier in a situation, like in traffic or in a long line at a store, although that’s actually probably a counterproductive strategy on my part.
I also love the delivery of “Opp niggas throwing salt, tryna bad mouth” line. Salt kills snails but not Top Opposition.
Poppa da Don, Dave East, Tulito, Trap God Mula – Crip Shit
It’s turning into winter fast out here, and you know what that means, it’s that time of year to hunker down, lace up the Timbs, throw on a big Marmot jacket and see what’s going on in the big apple. These NYC Crips have really been coming out with some heat lately. Here, we get two of the best linking up and Brooklyn and Harlem joining forces with Poppa da Don and Dave East, along with Tulito and Trap God Mula/Sha Mula who may have the best verse of all on this one.
I love the pure energy and fervor Mula brings here as he says ‘Sha Mula I’m the Trap God, probably made $100 thou in my backyard,” pounding his fist as he raps it. “Blue flag 100 Locs I’m moving wocky nigga, 2-seater, I8 they couldn’t stop me nigga!” I’m hyped off of the defiance he’s spitting with.
East makes a typically solid contribution here as well, and also just released arguably the best song of his career, in my opinion, with ‘No Pork .’ Poppa da Don put out a total banger ‘Smoked‘ with Abillyon over the summer which I think is going to start blowing up even more because Meek Mill was talking about it recently.
My only very minor gripe with this one is that I wish they grabbed my man Top Dolla and got him on this one this would have been perfect for him!
Peezy – Pressure
Peezy is so consistent, coming out with one if not more song every month that usually cracks and sometimes tops this list. We really need to take a minute to step back and appreciate the run that this guy is on, he’s forced his way into the argument for top rapper of 2018 in my opinion. You’ve got to love the triumphant ‘Got shot a couple times they was hoping I died, popped up buying Rollies out the store with my guys’ especially since everyone really was briefly worried he died last winter.
Blueface – Respect My Crypn
I have to admit I was a bit skeptical at first when I first heard about him but hadn’t listened to him yet, but Blueface is starting to grow on me. The ‘mop the floor and hide the wet sign just to catch him slippin’ line’ is genius; I can’t believe no one came up with that before. And to his credit apparently he really does ‘pull up and bounce out with a briefcase when it’s time to handle business,’ according to recent news reports.
I love his tone on the ‘I’m an alpha male, ain’t no bitch in me. Grown ass man, feed my family” line, like he’s incredulous that someone is even questioning if that’s the case. The ‘Give a fuck if he like it, he gon respect this Crippin’ hook is also strangely infectious. Blueface is almost sounding like a less artsy/creative but more Crip west Coast Young Thug. And while he can be a bit over the top, he actually has the charisma and personality to pull it off.
Juice WRLD – All Girls are the Same/Juice WRLD – Lucid Dreams/Juice WRLD x Future – Fine China/Juice WRLD – Used To etc.
At the risk of getting cyber-bullied by music critics with far better taste than me, I’ll admit that I went back and listened to a ton of Juice WRLD this month. Yeah, it’s some guy whining about girls but some of these songs are actually really dope. Some of these beats are absolute fire as well. I’m cheating here and putting all the Juice WRLD songs as one song. I’m going to ask my mom to drive me back to Hot Topic now. GO AHEAD AND CYBER BULLY ME, DO YOUR WORST!
Kiing Shooter ft. Dave East – 30 Percent
A third Dave East appearance here for this month’s top 10; 30 Percent is the first track from his aggressively-named protege Kiing Shooter’s mixtape ‘Fucc the Doubters’. The interplay here as East and Shooter trade bars back and forth like a Styles and Jada is great. Whereas ‘No Pork’ is the type of song you could kick back and relax at home listening to, ’30 Percent’ is more of an aggressive one you’d blast when you’re in the mood to get rowdy. Shooter has a dope and pretty unique-sounding deep/’blunt’ voice and raps over the top ignorant lines like “I’m creeping through the back window hoping they don’t keep alarms, .40 on me just in case the dog or the grandma home.”
Kodak Black – Take One
So dark and foreboding from Kodak.
Metro Boomin’ x 21 Savage – Don’t Come out the House
This became more of a meme than a song at this point but I had to include it even though we’re at over 10 songs now. This was a risky gamble by 21 Savage that paid off – if done wrong, his whole whisper thing could have backfired and sounded way too intimate and sensual (Pause!) but somehow he pulls it off and makes it sound menacing. I feel like 21 Savage has went on a certain trajectory, when he was first making a name for himself he was releasing a lot of interesting stuff, then he sort of reached peak Savage and got oversaturated as he got super popular, and now that we’ve sort of crossed past that bridge he’s releasing some nice verse here and there again.
