We gettin’ right down to the real nitty-gritty, now. Top Twenty of ‘Eleven. If you missed 50-41, 40-31 or 30-21, click the respective links, dunn.
20. CunninLynguists “Get Ignorant”
Kno gets his sped-up sample on, while the CunninLynguists relive their daily frustrations with The Man, their jobs and society as a whole. Natti opens with the rhetorical:
“Do I gotta get ign’ant and show my pigment on the job?
Slap the darkest part of my hand across jaws?
These days and times with jobs hard to find
You gotta work a salt mine or work an assault 9…”
At his tipping point, he drops an ill Bryan Cranston simile:
“…But life’s a skinny bitch/it’s a struggle to get a handle
I’m about to just break bad/like Malcolm’s dad
Be Meth Boyardee/with a lab and a yellow cab
So I can get my picket fence and yellow lab
That American Dream makes me wake up and scream.”
Tired of the fruitlessness of the proper channels, Deacon the Villian fantasizes about blackmailing his boss. His second verse touches on societal expectations and the meaning of success. Safe to say he prolly ain’t keepin’ up with the Kardashians, as well…
The track closes with the most improved emcee in the game, Kno, droppin’ science on the masses for their continued ignorance in the face of real travesties:
“Genocide in East Africa/but you watching Battlestar Gallactica
Filling up the data/in the back of ya/digital camera
Taking glamorous/shots/of your mammaries
Surrounded by/Vanity Fair magazine
And stuffed animals/in the house your parents paid for
Built by hand/on land people slaved for
Get ignorant, stay ignorant, in fact…”
The CunninLynguists should be on everyone’s radar by now. Kno crafts A-List productions that will eventually give him some shine. Natti and Deacon bring a southern-tinged lyricism we haven’t heard since the Dungeon Family’s hey-day. They always come with fresh concepts, great beats and rhymes. Don’t sleep.
19. TMFSE & G.R.I.E.F.78 “Lethal Weapon 3″ featuring Pistol
I wrote about this project a while back. SlangCorp at it again. For the unaware, their roster is hella deep. The Black Guy/White Guy Buddy Movie album stars TMFSE (of Emily Rugburn) and G.R.I.E.F.78. Grief handles the production on “Lethal Weapon 3,” sounding like some pre-Bobby Digital RZA on the SP1200-type-a-hype. It’s next to impossible to listen to this track (or anything SlangCorp) without inhaling mass quantities of blunt smoke to ya face. Which sucks when The Man tries to hold ya down…
All three emcees rock this funky joint til ya lightin’ ya fingers on fire. Pistol delivers his bars with a deliberate flow, while G.R.I.E.F. and TMFSE spit their tongue-twisting verses with a great utilization of the studio punch-in. Laced with punchlines, “Lethal Weapon 3″ is a worthy trill-OG.
Danny Brown delivers a retrospective joint about his genetic makeup, crafting a killer hook:
“It’s in my/DNA/cuz my pops liked to get fucked up the same way/it’s in my/DNA/cuz my moms liked to get fucked up the same way/DNA/DNA/cuz my fam liked to get fucked up the same way/DNA/DNA/cuz my fam liked to get fucked up the same way”
However, Brown never tries to use this as an excuse. The verses never try to justify his vices, just state the facts. Much like his parents, Danny Brown likes drugs. That is all.
Curren$y and Alchemist with yet another banger from Covert Coup. ALC has a penchant for crafting hip-hop classics out of dolla-bin rock cuts (see: Evidence “The Far Left“). Curren$y spits that “Jet Life Jet Life” shit he’s been know to spit. No need to reinvent the wheel when you’ve got this type of beat to work with. Not to say the rhymes ain’t dope. But the subject matter never steers clear of the smoke weed/fuck hoes ethos of hip-hop 2k-to infinity. It works here.
16. Evidence “To Be Continued…”
The above visuals were incredibly well-edited, and have become synonymous with this track. Another joint I’ve already passed your way. Evidence gives the Word… Life, Son crew a partial drop on this one, reppin’ ellipsis fans worldwide: “Dot-dot-dot.” Whatever, dude. We’ll take it. ”To Be Continued…” is the prototype boom-bap shit for my playlist. Everything works here: crisp drum programming, horn loops and cuts with precision. Props to Sid Roams for another jammer. Mr. Slow Flow keeps it true-school with braggadocio rhymes about how ill he gets, delivered with crystal-clarity. No arguments here. He provided more than enough evidence.
15. Jay-Z & Kanye West “Murder To Excellence”
Image courtesy of Tumblin' Erb
The Throne gets it white right on “Murder To Excellence.” Janye (s/o to egotripland) give us a glimpse of what they can rap about once they get bored with their wealth. I was shocked/disappointed to know that Swizz Beatz was involved with the production of this track, but at least they didn’t let him pop up on the hook. This beat is fiyah, tho. Coupling that with the subject matter, this was my favorite track on Watch the Throne. Born in the cornfields of Northwest Indiana, it’s no wonder I’m all for the pro-Black lyrics & fuck Whitey-steez. Right?
Both Jay-Z and Kanye go in on this concept record. There’s so much goin’ on lyrically, I can’t possibly cram it all in here. I suggest checkin’ for the meaning of the lyrics here. It’s a pretty decent synopsis. Bottom line: the beat is dope, the lyrics are fantastic, and the messages are real. Pretty sure Herman Cain and Alan Keyes didn’t get the memo.
14. Atarilogic “Daylight”
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This track provided the back-drop for many a late night session. Atarilogic allows the listener to choose his/her own adventure by crafting instrumental tracks that are open to interpretation. When coupled with the occurrences of the day, each listen to “Daylight” takes me down a different path. It relives stress, intensifies paranoia, and even plays the role of an aphrodisiac for those times when you’re with that special someone in your separate outdoor bathtubs. In addition, I *highly* recommend cueing up The Lost Plot when it’s time to blast fools in Golden Eye. Say word.
13. People Under the Stairs “Talkin’ Back To the Streets”
People Under The Stairs | Highlighter | Talkin’ Back To The Streets by piecelock70
“It’s been a long time…” Tru-dat. It always seems like an eternity between PUTS albums, because their shit is like morphine for beat fiends. When Thes One and Double K announced the release of Highlighter on their Piecelock70 site a few months back, the WLS crew was all ears. PUTS makes hip-hop the way it was intended to be. The most consistent duo since EPMD broke up (yep, I said it), they never come less-than-fresh. ”Talkin’ Back To the Streets” embodies California sunshine. The production (Thes One) soothes the soul. The keys compliment the drums to create a warm and fuzzy feeling. Double K drops cuts from Rakim and DJ Qwik, so you know RockMedski approves. Fuck, even RHCP Anthony Ked Nah, I ain’t no snitch. Fuck that.
The People Under the Stairs have the uncanny ability to ride a beat with their rhymes. I could easily zone out and listen to the words as sounds, completely ignoring the lyrics. However, that would be a disservice. Both Thes and Double K kick the dope verses, per usual. Hella fresh.
12. Chip tha Ripper “Plural” Chip and KiD CuDi are boys, so I figured I’d check him out. He was featured on a few dope tracks (especially Pac Div’s “Don’t Forget the Swishers“) and I think he’s in that Pulled Over By the Cops supergroup with Freddie Gibbs, The Cool Kids, and Bun B. But is Chip dope by association, or on his own merits? I can’t call it, as of yet. I didn’t really get into Gift Raps too much, but this song def caught my ear. The beat (courtesy of Chuck Inglish and The Blended Babies) is on some blunted-on-the couch vibe. It’s only right that Chip would rip on another weed anthem. Instead, he flips the script and goes all “art of story-tellin’” on us. These are the tales, the freaky tales. And Chip tells the tales pretty well, but dusted production and the clever hook prove to be most addictive: ”Two goin’ at once/I like my girls like I light like my blunts/And that’s two goin’ at once/Two goin’ at once.”
11. YP “Who I Be (Clap)”
Midwest reppin’ YP is worthy of a lottery pick, despite declaring his eligibility in the fourth quarter of 2011. He’s got that Chicago fire, spittin’ drug dealer raps like a hip-hop head. It’s apparent that he’s a professional emcee, not another trapper-turned-rapper. Much like his homie Freddie Gibbs, YP breathes new life into a played-out genre. He’s got the skills to flip the pills, no doubt. Dude got punchlines for days. I first heard this track on DJ (muthaah-fuuuckinn’)Roc’s Big Buziness Volume 4: Streets Edition, and it’s been a go-to track ever since. A simple beat, enhanced by hand-claps, gives YP ample space to slang “everythang from marijuana to Skittles.” (Insert Marshawn Lynch joke here). I can see why they call him the truth.
Top Ten up next, yo!