Monday Mixtape, Vol. 63

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to 2017! I'm clearly a few weeks late, and I took a sabbatical from the blog. I was also trying to get over my anger at Spotify for not releasing how many minutes of music I listened to this year. I don't think I could have beaten last year's 100,000 minute mark, but it's always cool to know. Ridiculous how much info Spotify has on our listening habits and such but doesn't tell us shit. Very annoying. 

Not a whole lot usually gets released right before the new year, but Run the Jewels is nothing usual.

Their new album, Run The Jewels 3, is a phenomenal album, spitting fire at the establishment and the state of the union. Not only does it feel like a revolutionary album in an unordinary time, but it's lyrically fed up and a calling to arms to "kill your masters."

I'll let Killer Mike (maybe the second best lyricist around right now next to Kendrick) take it from here:

Choose the lesser of the evil people, and the devil still gon' win
It could all be over tomorrow, kill our masters and start again
But we know we all afraid, so we just simply cry and march again
At the Dem Conven my heart broke apart when I seen them march mommas in
As I rap this verse right now, got tears flowing down my chocolate chin
Told the truth and I've been punished for it, must be a masochist 'cause I done it again
"Ooh, Mike said 'uterus'"
They acting like Mike said, "You a bitch"
To every writer who wrote it, misquoted it
Mike says, "You a bitch, you a bitch, you a bitch"
Add a "nigga" for the black writer that started that sewer shit
I maneuver through manure like a slumdog millionaire
El-P told me, "Fuck them devils, Mike, we gon' be millionaires"
I respond with a heavy "Yeah"
Big bruh says "Fuck that, toughen up
Stay ready, write raw raps, shit rugged rough"
The devil don't sleep, us either
El spits fire, I spit ether
We the gladiators that oppose all Caesars
Coming soon on a new world tour
Probably play the score for the World War
At the apocalypse, play the encore
Turn around, see El, and I smile
Hell coming, and we got about a mile
Until it's over I remain hostile

Killer Mike really entered the political fray this year with his endorsement of Bernie Sanders, and he is a voice that speaks to a lot of people. From the front to back of this album, Killer Mike and El-P continue to rise on a platform with more people listening and more people acting. I saw them at Coachella a couple years ago, and the crowd was NUTS, feeding off every syllable and sweat of the two. They're becoming the modern day "Run DMC." 

The xx also released an album this year, and I like much more than their last album which just felt like a regurgitation of their first album. Definitely check it out. 

How can I not start this mixtape with “Redbone,” easily the biggest miss on my Top 100 Songs of 2016. I actually listened to Gambino’s album from start to finish a couple times, and for some crazy reason, this song didn’t sing out to me. But after Glover’s speeches at the Golden Globe (winning for his amazing new show “Atlanta” and best actor in a musical or comedy), I had to come back to his album and rediscovered “Redbone.” This song is like Prince and Outkast making love, it’s just beautiful. 

If you didn’t see Glover’s speech, he also gave a shout out to Migos, the Atlanta rap trio who had a guest appearance on one of the best episodes of the season, though he wasn’t shouting them out for being on “Atlanta,” but instead for writing the greatest rap song ever (his words), “Bad and Boujee.” I hadn’t heard of that song either, so I went to play it and was immediately hooked. 

I’ve always been one of the many to make fun of Big Sean because I’ve always thought his flows were awful and his lyrics were terrible. He has a new album coming out, and if “Moves” is any indication, it might be worth listening to. 

If you haven’t heard Milo on some of my previous mixtapes, Scallops Hotel is another one of his projects. It’s weird with strange beats and weirder cadences. “Lavender Chunk” is probably the most accessible track on the album, but if you’re into some weirder rap, check this album and Milo’s latest album out as well. 

Hope to see you next week!

Top 25 Albums of 2016

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We tend to underestimate albums because of music's over abundance. We tend to discount years as the twirl of time spins faster each year turning into decades. I only get 50 (if I'm lucky) more #1 albums of the year in my lifetime. In the grand scheme of things, that's not whole a lot of albums. My eyes will gray and so will Frank Ocean's. But his voice will always remain on Blonde, my #1 Album of 2016, and his lyrics will always be on the page. These are the best albums of my life.

Just like I wrote in my Top 25 Albums of 2012 when Frank Ocean's debut album Channel Orange was my #1 Album, Ocean's music has a beauty that feels fragile and naked but completely confident. His songwriting - both lyrically and musically - drastically expanded on this album. Thematically, Ocean covers similar topics to Channel Orange, including longing and heartbreak, loneliness, cars, Hurricane Katrina and trinkets from New Orleans life, drugs, and love. He was great lyrically on Channel Orange and continues to be here. None better exemplifies this than my favorite lyrics from "Solo,"

It's hell on Earth and the city's on fire
Inhale, inhale there's heaven.

In "Ivy," a track about longing after an ugly breakup, Ocean's whispers,

All the things I didn't mean to say
I didn't mean to do
There were things you didn't need to say
Did you mean to? Me too
I've been dreaming of you

Blonde took me time to fully appreciate. I remember sending a text to someone after listening to it for a day that "it's no Channel Orange," but now having listened to this album hours and hours on end, I think it's better. It's exploratory and unique, and the songs sound so different yet they all work together.

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Anderson Paak - NPR's Tiny Desk Concert

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The best newcomer of this year has been Anderson Paak. His album Malibu is a treat from start to finish. I've missed seeing him a couple different times, but I am always weary seeing newer artists because they tend to be very raw live and still finding themselves. WELP...Anderson Paak is one of those exceptions, a guy's whose talent shines even more so in his live performances. 

If you haven't gone down the rabbit hole of NPR's Tiny Desk Concert, please do so immediately. There's a treasure trove of live gems. And this one from Anderson Paak is certainly one of them:

Top 100 Songs of 2016

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I saw The 1975 at Coachella two years ago enveloped in the desert of Indio as the sun was setting over the tops of palm trees, and the lead singer was draped in a deep V tank top, weighing in at a cool 95 pounds, constantly stroking his sheen of hasn't-been-showered-in-months hair, looking more like the newest member of One Direction than someone I'd ever think would be capable of writing my favorite song of the year. WELL PEOPLE, life is full of surprises, and The 1975' "Somebody Else" was my favorite track this year, eclipsing all sorts of other phenomenal songs.

"Somebody Else" reminds me of what 80s music could have been: a sultry and subdued synth driven jam that cruises to a bass line and the sweet falsetto of said One Direction-like vocalist, Matthew Healy. It was released in early 2016, and I've NEVER gotten tired of it, listening to it an ungodly amount of times.

As it goes for the other 99 songs, there are some usual suspects showing up on the list: Frank Ocean (four songs), Drake (three songs), Radiohead (two songs), and Kendrick (one of his own and featured on two tracks), but there's also two new artists that I have become mildly obsessed with - Night Moves (three songs) and Isaiah Rashad (three songs).

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Monday Mixtape, Xmas Style!

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So it's due time for a little bit of Christmas music flavor - Monday Mixtape style! 

I am hard at work compiling my annual Top 25 Albums and Top 100 Songs of the Year lists, so I'm hoping this mix will keep you busy while you're "out" shopping (beer in hand, Amazon online and you damn well better be spending more than $50 to get that free shipping).

Enjoy the week AND HOW CAN YOU NOT WITH VINCE GUARALDI BLOWING YOUR EAR DRUMS?? 

Listen to this Song - The Weeknd "Secrets"

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A year or two back I had an intervention with The Weeknd. He was doing entirely too many drugs and did not sound well. So I had to step in. 

Unfortunately, the intervention didn't work as The Weeknd continues to sing about doing copious amounts of drugs on his new album. 

If there's one thing I've learned in my old age it's that drugs make you cool and then once you're no longer cool you're addicted to drugs. 

But this is neither here nor there! The important part of this rambling is that The Weeknd released a ridiculously catchy song on his new drug-filled album. It's called "Secrets" and I can't stop playing it.

I'd just like you to hear it before it gets played so damn much that you can longer feel your face. 

Enjoy!