Part Three.  My most-played tracks of 2011.  No need for an introduction…

Feel free to drop a couple pennies if you want.  Also, there’s a Part 1 (50-41) and Part 2 (40-31). Check ‘em out if you want.

30.  Evidence “Crash”

According to the above video, this beat came about by accident.  Alchemist refined the erroneous sequence and Evidence smashed it.  It doesn’t sound to far off of what they usually come up with.  Chaotic sound effects, layers of local news feeds, chopped vocals and stabs are trademarks of the Step Brothers on the boards.  This shit is like an updated Bomb Squad production.  Organized Konfusion.  EV brings the heat, calmly rippin’ thru his verses as a stark contrast to the sonics.  It’s like he recorded his vocals to just the drum beat, then ALC brought that wall of sound back to top it off.  Ill shit, son.

29.  Jay-Z & Kanye West “N!ggas In Paris”

Jay-Z & Kanye West-Niggas In Paris (Unofficial Music Video) from Joseph Maruca on Vimeo.

Not a big fan of the “fake video” steez, but this one ain’t too bad.  Unless you’re prone to epileptic seizures.  Then, it’d prolly knock you off your feet.  I apologize in advance (although nobody watches videos on their CPU while standing).  On the realz, tho, I thought there was supposed to be a real video for this track with Will Ferrell?  I liked this joint the first few times I reviewed Watch the Throne, but I never appreciated it as a potential single until I heard it in the club.  That shit cray!  This beat bangs.  As for the lyrics, there’s a few clever punchlines and a decent amount of nonsense.  Not Jay or ‘Ye’s best work.  However, it’s still hot.  A big song by the biggest artists on some we-can-say -whatever-the-fuck-we-want type-shit.  Plus, Jay name-drops Jordan in Game Six.  Well-played.

28.  Danny Brown “Party All the Time”  (Produced by Brandon Deshay)  If this track is your first introduction to Danny Brown, well, you’re in for a treat.    XXX has it all (for free).  He’s one of the most animated emcees in the game right now.  However, “Party All the Time” finds Brown at his most subdued.  This could be the polar opposite to the Eddie Murphy x Rick James collabo of the same name.  Warm keys and a guitar lick set an ill mood.  Cymbal crashes compliment drums that seem to just chug along.  After glorifying drugs for nearly the whole album, Brown opts to drop his “Scenester” joint to show the dark side of the “party girl” lifestyle.  My guess is that he wrote this so that he could get drunk, sniff blow, pop pills and hit that shit.  Touché, Danny Brown.  Touché.

27.  Casey Veggies “Ridin’ Round Town”

Brandon Deshay laces another track on my Top Fiddy, and I don’t even know who he is.  Prettay, prettaaay, pretty good.  Pretty good.  I don’t know much about Casey Veggies, either.  But I heard he’s associated with OFWGKTA and/or Tyler (comma) The Creator.  Pretty sure I could look this shit up on the innerwebz, but I don’t think it’s that exciting.  I probably won’t be listening to many more Casey Veggie joints in the future.  Actually, we got beef, if that’s even possible.  What do vegetarians use as a substitute for beef?  Aiight.  Me and Casey Veggies got tofu.  You see, I copped that Sleeping In Class (Deluxe Edition) (illegally, of course) on the strength of “Ridin’ Roun Town,” only to find out that they threw a bunch of other rappers who I don’t care about on the album.  Again, I could probably look ‘em up, but don’t care.  There’s just too many rappers right now.  I can’t keep up.  Which brings me to my issue with Mr. Vegan.  I typed a series of 0′s and 1′s into my computer, and it made songs go on my phone (not sure how that happened, but I can assure you it did).  Next thing I know, I’m giving Sleeping In Class a spin, and I get to a track with some bootie wit cheese mu’fucka on it.  I look at my phone to see the guest artist: Bitch Miller.  All of the sudden, I feel nauseous.  Short of breath.  ”Am I dying?” I thought.  Then I passed out.  When I came to, I frantically began to AskJeeves bing Google the track listing for Sleeping In Class (Deluxe Edition) only to confirm my worst of fears: I had listened to Mac Miller.  After a week or so on suicide watch, I finally came to the realization that this was not my fault.  I had done all within my power to avoid Wac Miller, and was duped into catching 16 bars of horrible because someone accurately tagged a track.  How was I to know?  Would it really surprise anyone that a rapper might call himself Bitch Miller these days?  It was at this time that I decided that I must make Casey Veggies pay…

For legal reasons, I am no longer allowed to speak on the above situation (pending trial).  So I guess I can speak my piece about the one thing I like about Casey Veggies.  ”Ridin’ Roun Town” is pretty dope.  I mean, it’s got a bangin’ beat despite looping up the less-than-fresh Gato Barbieri track “Return Tango (La Vuelta).”  I can’t front on the sample, though.  Veggies has an above average flow, but repeated listens lead me to believe that lyrics are not his strong suit:  ”Don’t say LA without CV in it.”  Huh? What?!?  ”Four doors/girls goin’ loco/over Four Loco/we was poppin’ that night.”  Safe to say Rakim’s not losing sleep over skippin’ his Veggies…

26.  GDP “Someday When Things Are Good” (produced by DoS4gw & The Empty Cup)

Lyrics?  Somebody want lyrics?  GDP brings content back to the forefront with this gem off the Useless Eaters LP.  ”Someday When Things Are Good” speaks upon the nomadic life of a starving artist.  The road life is often misconstrued, fabricated by stories of the “Sex, Drugs and Rock-n-Roll” mythology.  Reality is nowhere near that glamorous, but most don’t have the intestinal fortitude to speak on this lifestyle with such honesty:

“We make these long drives/and i’m not even sure why/ the fear of what we missed if we didn’t/ fuels the whole ride”

The (presumably) live instrumentation, courtesy of dos4gw & The Empty Cup, is worthy of a best-of list in it’s own right.  The horns and piano give the track a jazz club vibe until the second verse brings with it a sonic sense of urgency (and some fuzzed-out guitar) until GDP brings us to a close:

“I’m a ramblin’ man with a long night in front of me/ from city to city/ country to country/ we bottle up and go/ i’m a poor lonesome boy and i’m a long way from home/ i got one hand on the wheel/ and four on the road…”

At the risk of losing my street cred, this song is fuckin’ beautiful.

25.  Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire “The Last Huzzah” featuring Despot, Das Racist, Danny Brown and El-P

A full menu of NYC indie hip-hop. Despot sets the table, Kool A.D. and Heems of Das Racist serve some appetizing bars with rhymes like ”I’m NaS man/I’m God’s Son/Nah dunn/I’m on One
I’m dumb/I don’t got guns, dude/Let’s battle and see who sons who/I’m reading Sun-Tzu.”  Danny Brown gives ya tha munchies and you can count on El-P to feed you the meat and potatoes. Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire is the icing on the cake.  No doubt Necro laced this shit somethin’ special.  Huzzah!

24.  Pistol “Judas Priestly”  featuring Shape and TMFSE

SlangCorp ringleader Pistol doubles up his hustle on this self-produced banger off 25 Fa Life. Cohorts Shape and TMFSE (The Man From Somewhere Else) join in to kick that ill shit over the down-tempo boom-bap we’ve come to expect from the Wet Orange delegation. Shape sets it off with a classic opener, “I’m having trouble passing blunts thru these brass knuckles/don’t ever ax to see an Axe Thrower act humble.”
Pistol reps for the crew while givin’ mad reasons for his paranoia: “We use less/don’t tell me where your right-wing god went/I’d rather roll with all these drug-dealers and shiesty conmen/who get the best M/candy-flip the rawest L/dope so pure they make you whore yaself and pawn yaself/January February March April/all twelve/the law already knows who we are/so who you gon’ tell?” TMFSE follows that gem with yet another: “Ring the Sean Bell/aww hell/we play wrong well/sing a song swell to make her thong smell/Duck Hunt the symmetry to fuck up the industry/and write similes in notebooks we cut from The Giving Tree/pens and drugs/at the world’s end, cuz/I wasn’t born yesterday/but my girlfriend was.”

SlangCorp on some shit.

23.  Greneberg “Sewer Gravy”

Greneberg – Sewer Gravy by DeconRecords

Gangrene (Alchemist + OhNo) x Roc Marciano = Greneberg.  All three are on that Diamond D “best producer on the mic” tip.  It’s ALC manning the boards on this joint, a revisit of the Gangrene track “Gutter Water” featuring Raekwon the Chef.  Heavy on the horns, “Sewer Gravy” is that rawww shit.  Roc Marci does his thing here, effortlessly kickin’ that tough-talk with a dash of cuisine art: “Smack ya beak off/blast tha piece off/black E-Class speed off/seats is soft like pizza sauce/exotic queen like seahorse at 3/4ths.”  Oh No comes off a little more agitated than on his dolo projects.  Not to be outshines on his his own beat, ALC spits “Ink drippin’ from my pen’s potent/don’t give a fuck about the current direction of rap/I’m smokin’/while I’m composin’/sodomize records without a Trojan/double G chain swang in a motion/of a semi-circle on my chest.”  The track closes with a collage of news snippets, notably those describing the sanitation of Indianapolis waterways.  Apparently, it’s all gravy: “Float-ables and all.”

22.  A$AP Rocky “Brand New Guy” featuring Schoolboy Q  First off, ‘A$AP Rocky‘ is one of the worst names of all-time.  That shit just doesn’t roll off of the tongue, not to mention the moniker’s proximity to another NY emcee, Aesop Rock.  As for his music, I can’t really co-sign on A$AP’s hype.  He’s on some H-Town SUC-tip, but hails from Harlem.  True, hip-hop is finally past the geographical pigeon-holing, but the Live Love A$AP album has no trace of East-Coast influence whatsoever.  That being said, “Brand New Guy” is dope.  Not yet sure if it’s a guilty pleasure, but it’s gotten a decent amount of spins.  A$AP spits first, on some “Fuck swagga/you been jackin’/Fuck fly/I am fashion/Try’na cop that Benz wagon/My bitch drive it and my friends crash it.”  He’s got style, without a doubt.  But my money’s on Schoolboy Q.  While stayin’ on your P, Q breaks down his composition:

“Biggie and Nas, put they ass in a blender
Sprinkle some 50 and came out this n!gga
Equipped with a gat and a dick in ya mouth
Balls in my hands and your bitch in my house
Twisting up weed, diggin’ her out
Just feelin’ her out
Do all that shit you be talkin’ about
While you gone, shit, Netflix on your couch
What this poppin’ about?
Microwave oven while you out there cuffin’
You over there lovin’
That bitch be my stuff in
Like, like we really be fuckin.’”

Shots fired.

21.  GDP “Oxypolycontin”  

Aussie producer AOI lays down-under the dusted sonics for GDP‘s open-letter to his friend and former collaborator. Taken at face value, the track is dope as fuck. The beat is a throwback to the tail-end of the golden era, and GDP’s cadence is on-point throughout. However, this track really shines once you delve a little deeper. “Oxypolycontin” serves as an intervention. GDP airs his grievances (’tis the season), admits to his own vices, and closes by assuring allegiance (not to mention, world domination) some day, when things are good.

“Oxypolycontin” is remarkable for many reasons.  The heavy subject matter proves that emcees can emote real feelings without coming off like Drake a whiny bitch.  The beat seems to plays tricks with ones ears. It seems to be at a much higher tempo, due to the chaotic nature of the instrumental.  AOI gets that head noddin’ at a rapid pace.  But the most amazing aspect is the fact that GDP’s lyrics don’t even rhyme, for the most-part.  Unfortunately, the innerwebz failed me on locating the lyrics to back up this point, but I challenge you to count the bars that actually rhyme.  I can only imagine how difficult this would have made the writing and recording process, when considering the personal nature of the song.  Un-fucking-believable.

 

Up next, we enter the Top 20 of 2011.  A$AP Shortly.