We find ourselves in July and it's been a pretty good year thus far musically. There's been a gang of outstanding tracks released so far. A lot of stuff flying under the radar too. I decided to put together a list of my top five, with a few honorable mentions. These are some tracks that have found themselves on repeat in the car, on my iPhone/iPod or at the house. These are jawns that I'm really digging. Disclaimer: This is my list, not the end all be all list for the top 5 joints of the year. Hit up the comments with your top five.
I hope you enjoy.
Tracklist
1. Kanye West Feat. Dwele - Power
2. Shad - Yaa I Get It
3. Signif x HAZ SOLO - Unleashed (BIG Beard mix)
4. Jay Mills, RaTheMc, Emperess - Trouble
5. Big Boi - Shutterbug
6. Eternia and MoSS (feat. Tiye Phoenix & Jean Grae) - The BBQ (remix)
7. Rob Roy - White Shoes
8. Theophilus London - I Want You (Marvin Gaye Cover)
9. GhostWridah (feat. Mayday) - Still Not Famous
10. Miguel (feat. J. Cole) - All I Want Is You
11. The Roots (feat. Monsters Of Folk) - Dear God 2.0
Check my thought process and ranking ...
# 1 Power (Kanye West feat. Dwele) - The first time I heard Kanye's "Power", I thought two things, 1) He took the buzz from all of the Drake leaks and 2) Kanye is still a problem musically. I was almost late to work over this track when it dropped. I had just downloaded and ripped a copy to my iPod before I left the house and was sitting in the parking lot at work blasting it! I looked down at the clock and realized what time it was, let the track ride out to the end and punched in 6 minutes late. Good ass job, Kanye (pun intended).
# 2 Dear God 2.0 (The Roots feat. Monsters of Folk) - "How I Got Over" is one of the strongest albums released this year. But since folks don't support good music, the numbers won't support that claim. I know it though, in my heart, how strong this album is. "Dear God 2.0" supports my claim at the album's strength. Black Thought goes off on this track ... "They said he's busy hold the line please, call me crazy I thought maybe he could mind read ..." The sample is tough and Thought delivers lyrically.
# 3 Yaa I Get It (Shad) - The first time I heard this track is was via Shad's teaser video for the track. I usually hate video teasers for tracks. But this was serious. The beat hit and Shad rips through the first few lines, "Maybe I'm not big cause I don't blog or twitter ... dog I'm bitter..." and then he just lays into it on this track. A lot of folks sleep on the homie from north of the border but lyrically Shad is a beast. The dude is talented and his latest offering "TSOL" shows it.
# 4 Shutterbug (Big Boi) - This track is serious. The first time I heard it, I visualized what the video would look like. A few weeks later when the video dropped, it was basically what I had seen, give or take. Big Boi provides that ride slow in your Caddy music. After hearing "Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty" sans the Gucci track , I guess it's time to get a Cadillac for sure so I can dig the music appropriately.
# 5 The BBQ Remix (Eternia & MoSS feat. Tiye Phoenix and Jean Grae) - I like both versions of this track but for me it's Jean Grae who makes me favor this track more. Plus Eternia holds her own and Tiye Phoenix brings it. Both the original and remix get a lot of play but this one just a little bit more. By the way, Eternia & MoSS' "At Last" is a great album from front to back. Get that!
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)
All I Want Is You (Miguel feat. J. Cole) - The first time I heard "All I Want Is You" I was in the middle of finalizing the tracks for episode # 2 of the podcast and this track made me rework the whole thing. Miguel's vocals and J. Cole's verses sold me. This track is definitely a winner this year.
Trouble (Jay Mills, RaTheMc, Emperess) - The first time I heard this joint from Jay Mills, RaTheMc and Emperess (three fierce emcees who just happen to be women) it was basically acapella at a live show (I peeped the tape). It immediately became a favorite. It took me a few weeks to track down the mp3. When I finally did, I blasted it. I shared it. I supported it. I'm hoping for a remix to this track with a few more dope ladies. This track is definitely trouble.
I Want You (Theophilus London) - When I first heard Theophilus London's "I Want You", I immediately thought that the track was a solid winner. Sampling Marvin Gaye could either be good or bad (horrible if you can't deliver). Theophilus delivers and lets the track simmer (copyright Michael Jackson) in just the right places.
White Shoes (Rob Roy) - "White Shoes" is off of Rob Roy's "King Warrior Magician Lover", which is technically a track from last year however Rob Roy just released the project this year for free download. The full project is dope and "White Shoes" is one of my favorites off of it. "White shoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooes ..."
Unleashed (Signif) - "Unleashed" was on Signif's "Beautifly Flawed" project and released this year on "The Transition Remixes" produced by Haz Solo. The first time I heard the newly produced track was at 6:15 in the morning as I was getting ready for work and it was brought to me by some dope visuals from the homie Darren Cole's Alphabang Productions camp. Yeah, "Unleashed" gets a lot of play.
Still Not Famous (GhostWridah feat. Mayday) - Still Not Famous gets the wild card selection. A new track that just hit my inbox a few days ago but has been getting steady plays since. I definitely dig this track a lot from the Miami emcee with a little help from Mayday. GhostWridah's "In Love With My Future" project is filled with some pretty solid tracks.
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