Yeah yeah.  I got a list.  But this ain’t no “shit I want you to think I listen to so I can boost my hipster cred” list.  This is simply what I listened to the most in 2011.  On some super-scientifical method steez.

A few caveats:  Strictly 2011 release dates.  Late 2010 gets the bozak.  I based this list on the number of plays a song received via iPod/iPhone/iTunes.  Not a lot of wax was pressed this year, so vinyl wasn’t much of a factor (more on that later).  Of course, that favors joints dropped early in the year, so I pro-rated tracks based on the month of their release to level the playing field.  Lastly, I had a few albums in heavy rotation throughout the year.  In order to even things out, I subtracted the total plays of the whole album from the play count of the songs on that album.  So, if I bumped that ________ album 25x and played Track One 47x, then that song gets 22 spins.  But nobody should give a fuck about that shit.

Let’s do this, son:

50.  Apathy “Check To Check”

Evidence laced the track, and the beat was the knock.  Coupled with the Andre 3000 vocal sample, this was The Cream & The Clear.  An unfair advantage, fa’sho.  Apathy’s warning track power got that PED boost, and he had a hit out the park like Hank.  On the reals, I’m not a big Demigodz fan, but Apathy kicked some heart-felt shit and stayed true to The Weatherman’s vision.  50 game suspension revoked.

49.  Cam’ron & Vado “Killa“  First off, I love Killa Cam as an emcee rapper, no homo.  At the height of the Dip-Set/Byrd Gang Movement, nobody could solve the Pink Panther’s Jacques Clouseau flow and over-the-top braggadocio.  The crew proved they weren’t immune to beef, and the Set dipped.  Cam wandered the hip-hop graveyard that is Koch, with mixed results.  The beats weren’t up to the standards set by Just Blaze and The Heatmakers.  But I owe Cam at least a spin on each new release, so I lowered my expectations and copped that Gunz N Butta album with Juelz, Jr. Vado.  The first track was fire.  ”Killa” had that overly dramatic production steez I loved from the Killa Season-era, courtesy of Araab Muzik.  Killa killed it, opening with this gem:

“I might long-mink it/Or fly-fox it/Might floor seat it/Or skybox it.”

What I didn’t expect was the fire spit by Vado: “I’m just fuckin’em/I don’t care who she slept wit/Shorty only good for the throat like Chloraseptic/These rappers hot combs/your boy the next pick
I don’t straighten it out/get blown when the tech spit.”

Vintage Dip-Set jammie.  Word… Life.

48. A.Dd+ “Can’t Come Down”  (Produced by Brain Gang X’Zavier)

Vocally, they remind me of dead prez by utilizing a combination of southern drawl, double-time and “fuck a 9-to-5″ ethos.  Plus, I hear they working on a project with Black Milk?!?  These cats gonna blow up soon.  Too high.  I hope they can’t come down.

47. M.O.P. “Sparta”

They 300 minus 298. The rap game gets a much-needed Timberland up the ass, courtesy of Billy Danze and Lil’ Fame.  M.O.P. do what they do.  You know they M.O.  They keep it that gutter.  The Snowgoons laced the sinister synths over some ol’ boom bap, and let the Mash Out Posse fuck shit up for fake thugs worldwide.  In a world of uncertainty, it’s safe to say I’ll never see these cats rock skinny jeans and snap-backs.  Get ya bullet-proof helmets and cover your cerebellum, holmes.

46. Mexicans With Guns “Highway To Hell Remix” featuring Freddie Gibbs and Bun B

As prolific as Gibbs has been these last few years, I felt a little disappointed with his output this year.  The overall song quality just wasn’t there.  He never dropped a weak verse, but I wasn’t feeling the majority of the production choices.  I want more Finger Roll.  More Kno.  That Alchemist EP that’s prolly never gonna happen.  And Mexicans With Guns.  Please, Jeezy!  Arm the Mexicans!  Fuck Federales!  This is the type of track Gibbs needs to further separate himself from the run-of-the-mill gangsta rappers that are signing with the so-called A-Listers these days.  Rhyming with the legendary Bun-B on the remix just takes it next level.  As for the highway?  See you when I get there.

45.  Random Axe “Random Call”

Black Milk brought the boom-bap drums and a serviceable verse.  Guilty Simpson stayed in merc mode.  But nobody fucks with the P on “Random Call.”  Sean Price was goin’ in on the Drake fake emcees with their “love letter rhymes and raps about chicks.  Just a whole lotta druggin’ and thuggin.’  That’s it.”  That is all.

44.  Tyler, the Creator “Yonkers“  It seems like this song came out years ago.  But it did get a decent amount of spins in-between the ears of one Goodwill Hunter last spring.  However, I think the OFWGKTA hype outweighed the product, and I might have only listened to “Yonkers” a handful of times after the album dropped.  The video is still pretty ill, but Tyler’s press did not go over well with me.  That NaS interview in XXL sealed the deal.  Not legit, dude.  It’s not that I don’t like the track anymore, but I’d say I’ve moved on. And so shall we…

43.  Wu-Tang Clan “Laced Cheeba” featuring Sean Price and Trife Diesel  Not sure what that Legendary Weapons LP was all about.  And I don’t really care.  Most of it was aiight, but nothing I can’t live without.  Unfortunately, that hampered the play count on this joint.  I really dig the simplicity of “Laced Cheeba.”  I’m a meat and potatoes hip-hop head.  Breakbeats and rhymes.  For all I know, Ghostface Killah and Sean P may have phoned it in.  But Tony Starks still “came thru and seasoned your broth.”  Good enough for me.

42.  CunninLynguists “Enemies With Benefits” featuring Tonedeff  One of the best albums I’ve heard in years, from one of the best groups in all of hip-hop.  Kno‘s production on “Enemies” stuck with the somber and soulful sonics found throughout the Oneirology album, but this track also provided a little comedic relief.  We’ve all got had that crazy-ass significant other, and we all make the same stupid-ass mistakes when our “judgement gets cloudy.”  But we all don’t make dope-ass rhymes about it like Natti, Kno and Tonedeff:

“She might literally love me to death/We had a stairway to heaven til’ I fell down the steps/Now I’m left with a pain in the neck/But she’s my eye candy/The flavor I savor/And I’m part Vader/I think with my saber/I live in crazy town and I’m married to the mayor” (Natti)

41.  Atarilogic “Guilty Leisure“  This is the type of shit I wanna listen to in the headphones.  Or driving in my car at night.  It just sounds like the city.  Further proof that minimalistic production goes a long way when done right.  Atarilogic crafts a funky lil’ bassline around some sparse drums for that perfect chill-out after-party venue.  Or the homie’s basement after-hours.  Or the summertime BBQ.  Basically, it’s dope music for the soundtrack to your life.  Get it here.  Or here.  Or just press play below.  Now.

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