Just going to leave this here for posterity.
Link
And embed, which may or may not work:
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Saturday, January 03, 2015
Ninth Annual End of Year Mixes
Years gone by: 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009. The 2012 link should have the intro/explanation to what I try to do with these mixes.
- Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk. Liked the song, but it felt like it would get old quick.
- Jennifer Lopez & Iggy Azalea - Booty. I just don't like J Lo, and adding Iggy after the fact - while a nice admission that no one likes Pitbull anymore (if in fact anyone ever did) - rung a little hollow.
- Jesse J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj - Bang Bang Bang. Just didn't like it as much as their other songs.
- Ella Henderson: Ghost. One of the final cuts.
- Usher f/ Juicy J - I Don't Mind. Good song, but not exactly fresh material.
- Drake - 0 to 100/The Catch Up. One of the final cuts. It just didn't really vibe with the rest of the mix.
That's a lot of cuts. I usually struggle to round of the mixes with songs I like, but this year I had way too much. Then there was also D'Angelo. I know a lot of people have praised the album, but his voice makes it hard for me to hear what he's actually saying, and while I pick it up more on subsequent listens, it bugs me enough that it ruins the whole thing for me. Sorry, D'Angelo.
Let's get to the mixes.
1. Kid Ink - Body Language f/ Usher & Tinashe. I fell in love with this song, so much that I wanted to lead off with it. It's kind of a classic 90s throwback, with the heavy hitters on the hook. You might not think of Tinashe as a heavy hitter yet, but she put out one of my favorite albums this year, and I expect big things from her.
2. Taylor Swift - Blank Space. TS' version of "I Get Around," this narrowly beat out "Shake It Off" (which is her version of "Dirt Off My Shoulder"), mostly because Summer asked me to pick "Blank Space." She gets one request per year, and this was it.
3. J. Cole - Wet Dreamz. Topic selection is everything, be it baseball analysis or music or anything else. This topic definitely stands out, and the beat knocks as well.
4. Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass. The Massachusetts girl makes good.
5. Iggy Azalea - Fancy f/ Charli XCX. Love her or hate her, and I understand both viewpoints, this is an awesome, awesome song.
6. James Newton Howard - The Hanging Tree f/ Jennifer Lawrence. Yes, Jennifer/Katniss, I am coming.
7. Shakira - I Can't Remember To Forget You f/ Rihanna. Most people probably forgot this song came out in 2014, since it debuted on January 13th. But it did, and it's about as superstar a collabo as you can think of.
8. Ariana Grande - Break Free f/ Zedd. It is a little harder to appreciate her songs since she does legit look like a 12-year-old girl, but she definitely can sing. She doesn't quite have Mariah's range or charisma though, so let's knock it off with those comparisons.
9. Calvin Harris - Summer. This joins the semi-long line of songs with my wife's name in them, and it was a smash hit to boot. Easy pick here.
10. Kendrick Lamar - i. Another easy pick. Hope we get more K. Dot in 2015.
11. Selena Gomez - The Heart Wants What It Wants. I couldn't believe it myself when I realized how much I liked this song.
12. Migos - Handsome and Wealthy. I learned of this group when Q-Tip called them "tha truth." That doesn't happen often.
13. Trey Songz - Touchin', Lovin' f/ Nicki Minaj. Trey basically plays second banana on his own song. Nicki crushes her verse. It really was her year. And her outro on the song leads beautifully into...
14. Nicki Minaj - Anaconda. There was a lot of social media fuss around the cover art and video and with good reason, but it's also a damn good song, and I can't really remember anyone having the stones to flip Sir Mix A Lot's beat, so bonus points for that.
15. Charli XCX - Boom Clap. Infectious.
16. Future - Benz Friendz (Whatchutola) f/ Andre 3000. This is the one song I really cheated on. It wasn't one of the six singles from Future's monster album, but since four of the six landed on the Hot 100, I can only assume that this one would have as well had it been chosen. And since this was the one with Andre 3000 on it, it gets the nod. Outkast 4 lyfe.
17. YG - Who Do You Love? f/ Drake. I had heard about YG for awhile, and this song didn't disappoint.
18. Tinashe - 2 On f/ Schoolboy Q. Like I said, Tinashe rocked my world this year. And the Schoolboy Q feature puts it over the top. It also served as Schoolboy's one appearance this year, as I just didn't like his album as much as most.
19. Clean Bandit - Rather Be f/ Jess Glynne. This song doesn't really fit, so it kind of got pushed toward the back, but it was one of my favorite songs of the year.
20. Sam Smith - I'm Not The Only One. Hard to deny this guy's talent, even with a boring name like Sam Smith.
21. Michael Jackson - Love Never Felt So Good (Original Version). I sort of cheated here too, because I believe the version of this song that charted was the one with Justin Timberlake, but that strikes me as unnecessary. The song was brilliant on its own.
1. FKA Twigs - Pendulum. I still don't exactly know what this song is, other than a song I'm in love with. And that's enough. Perhaps my favorite song of the year. I don't really make that distinction because who cares, but this song would be in the conversation for sure.
2. Run The Jewels - Blockbuster Night Part 1. I had at times five different songs from this album picked. I probably could have just pasted in the whole thing and called it a day.
3. Lil' B - No Black Person Is Ugly. The Based God puts out so much material that it's basically impossible for me to keep up with it all, but this one cut through it all this year.
4. Statik Selektah - Get Away f/ Joe Scudda and Colin Munroe. Another hard selection, as SS' album had a lot of great choices. This narrowly made the cut over "Alarm Clock" featuring Ab-Soul, Jon Connor & Logic?.
5. Isiah Rashad - Heavenly Father. This album got better every time I listened to it, which is good, because I was initially underwhelmed, especially with the hooks.
6. The Social Experiment - Sunday Candy f/ Chance The Rapper. Chance is barely established and is already trying new things. That's an encouraging sign, especially when the result is awesome music such as this.
7. Vince Staples - Limos f/ Teyana Taylor. Oh my, this beat. I'm in love with this song.
8. Big K.R.I.T. - Mt. Olympus. There were a lot of responses to "Control." This was one of the only ones worth even noting.
9. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - High f/ Danny Brown. "Pinata" is on the short list for album of the year. This was yet another album where I had a hard time picking just one song.
10. Mobb Deep - Dirt. To be honest, I thought their album was pretty uneven, and there weren't a lot of standouts. This was one of the few.
11. DJ JS-1 - Show Shockin' f/ El da Sensai, Tame One and Reef the Lost Cauze. A great throwback beat, with three unheralded but awesome lyricists who are very at home rapping over it.
12. Cam'ron & A-Trak - Dipsh*ts f/ Juelz Santana & Dame Dash. Cam retains his belt for "funniest rapper alive." Not that it was really in dispute. The Dame Dash outro is also hilarious, though probably not in the way Dame intended it to be.
13. Flying Lotus - Never Catch Me f/ Kendrick Lamar. I don't like FlyLo as much as most do, but this song is hard to deny.
14. Ray West & O.C. - Lovers. Another great concept album, and this song was my favorite topic chosen on the LP. The recent rash of producer/rapper collaborations has been great for hip-hop, and this album is a prime example of why.
15. Azealia Banks - Ice Princess. I fear that her legacy will be as the brat who can't shut up on Twitter, which would be a shame, because she makes great music...when she gets around to it.
16. Prhyme - Dat Sound Good f/ Ab-Soul and Mac Miller. The DJ Premier and Royce da 5'9" collabo is another great example of the producer/rapper team up, and here they produce that classic Premo sound, with two (relative) newbies along for the ride.
17. Drake - How 'Bout Now. Drake and K. Dot are so good that they can rule the roost even in years when they don't put out albums. Pretty impressive.
18. Cormega - More. Another of my favorite albums of the year, and this is one of my favorite cuts off of it. The album gets a little preachy at times, but 'Mega has earned that right at this point.
19. Pharoahe Monch - Losing My Mind. This album, and this song in particular, were incredibly revealing.
20. The Roots - When The People Cheer f/ Modesty Lycan. Anything The Roots do is close to an automatic selection. They may not put out albums that frequently anymore, but since they still play together all the time, they haven't really lost a step.
21. Ras Kass & Apollo Brown - Bon Voyage. Nearly picked "How to Kill God" but I felt like this song was a better fit to close out the mix.
Bonus Christmas Track. Fabolous - I Don't F*ck With Christmas. I had a hard time picking a hip-hop Christmas song this year - record more Christmas albums, rappers!!! - but this one came along just in the St. Nick of time.
Aboveground Mix
Lots of pop this year. This was one of the hardest cut downs. Here are the songs that didn't make the cut:- Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk. Liked the song, but it felt like it would get old quick.
- Jennifer Lopez & Iggy Azalea - Booty. I just don't like J Lo, and adding Iggy after the fact - while a nice admission that no one likes Pitbull anymore (if in fact anyone ever did) - rung a little hollow.
- Jesse J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj - Bang Bang Bang. Just didn't like it as much as their other songs.
- Ella Henderson: Ghost. One of the final cuts.
- Usher f/ Juicy J - I Don't Mind. Good song, but not exactly fresh material.
- Drake - 0 to 100/The Catch Up. One of the final cuts. It just didn't really vibe with the rest of the mix.
That's a lot of cuts. I usually struggle to round of the mixes with songs I like, but this year I had way too much. Then there was also D'Angelo. I know a lot of people have praised the album, but his voice makes it hard for me to hear what he's actually saying, and while I pick it up more on subsequent listens, it bugs me enough that it ruins the whole thing for me. Sorry, D'Angelo.
Let's get to the mixes.
1. Kid Ink - Body Language f/ Usher & Tinashe. I fell in love with this song, so much that I wanted to lead off with it. It's kind of a classic 90s throwback, with the heavy hitters on the hook. You might not think of Tinashe as a heavy hitter yet, but she put out one of my favorite albums this year, and I expect big things from her.
2. Taylor Swift - Blank Space. TS' version of "I Get Around," this narrowly beat out "Shake It Off" (which is her version of "Dirt Off My Shoulder"), mostly because Summer asked me to pick "Blank Space." She gets one request per year, and this was it.
3. J. Cole - Wet Dreamz. Topic selection is everything, be it baseball analysis or music or anything else. This topic definitely stands out, and the beat knocks as well.
4. Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass. The Massachusetts girl makes good.
5. Iggy Azalea - Fancy f/ Charli XCX. Love her or hate her, and I understand both viewpoints, this is an awesome, awesome song.
6. James Newton Howard - The Hanging Tree f/ Jennifer Lawrence. Yes, Jennifer/Katniss, I am coming.
7. Shakira - I Can't Remember To Forget You f/ Rihanna. Most people probably forgot this song came out in 2014, since it debuted on January 13th. But it did, and it's about as superstar a collabo as you can think of.
8. Ariana Grande - Break Free f/ Zedd. It is a little harder to appreciate her songs since she does legit look like a 12-year-old girl, but she definitely can sing. She doesn't quite have Mariah's range or charisma though, so let's knock it off with those comparisons.
9. Calvin Harris - Summer. This joins the semi-long line of songs with my wife's name in them, and it was a smash hit to boot. Easy pick here.
10. Kendrick Lamar - i. Another easy pick. Hope we get more K. Dot in 2015.
11. Selena Gomez - The Heart Wants What It Wants. I couldn't believe it myself when I realized how much I liked this song.
12. Migos - Handsome and Wealthy. I learned of this group when Q-Tip called them "tha truth." That doesn't happen often.
13. Trey Songz - Touchin', Lovin' f/ Nicki Minaj. Trey basically plays second banana on his own song. Nicki crushes her verse. It really was her year. And her outro on the song leads beautifully into...
14. Nicki Minaj - Anaconda. There was a lot of social media fuss around the cover art and video and with good reason, but it's also a damn good song, and I can't really remember anyone having the stones to flip Sir Mix A Lot's beat, so bonus points for that.
15. Charli XCX - Boom Clap. Infectious.
16. Future - Benz Friendz (Whatchutola) f/ Andre 3000. This is the one song I really cheated on. It wasn't one of the six singles from Future's monster album, but since four of the six landed on the Hot 100, I can only assume that this one would have as well had it been chosen. And since this was the one with Andre 3000 on it, it gets the nod. Outkast 4 lyfe.
17. YG - Who Do You Love? f/ Drake. I had heard about YG for awhile, and this song didn't disappoint.
18. Tinashe - 2 On f/ Schoolboy Q. Like I said, Tinashe rocked my world this year. And the Schoolboy Q feature puts it over the top. It also served as Schoolboy's one appearance this year, as I just didn't like his album as much as most.
19. Clean Bandit - Rather Be f/ Jess Glynne. This song doesn't really fit, so it kind of got pushed toward the back, but it was one of my favorite songs of the year.
20. Sam Smith - I'm Not The Only One. Hard to deny this guy's talent, even with a boring name like Sam Smith.
21. Michael Jackson - Love Never Felt So Good (Original Version). I sort of cheated here too, because I believe the version of this song that charted was the one with Justin Timberlake, but that strikes me as unnecessary. The song was brilliant on its own.
Underground Mix
Lots of stuff left off this as well. Jhene Aiko, Boldy James, Gangsta Boo, Ab-Soul, Pusha T, Luke James, Prince, the 1978ers, Ghostface and Lauryn Hill all had songs that didn't make the cut. I'd like to say Wu-Tang Clan and G-Unit also were close to making the cut, but their comebacks were mostly depressing. Oh well, nothing lasts forever.1. FKA Twigs - Pendulum. I still don't exactly know what this song is, other than a song I'm in love with. And that's enough. Perhaps my favorite song of the year. I don't really make that distinction because who cares, but this song would be in the conversation for sure.
2. Run The Jewels - Blockbuster Night Part 1. I had at times five different songs from this album picked. I probably could have just pasted in the whole thing and called it a day.
3. Lil' B - No Black Person Is Ugly. The Based God puts out so much material that it's basically impossible for me to keep up with it all, but this one cut through it all this year.
4. Statik Selektah - Get Away f/ Joe Scudda and Colin Munroe. Another hard selection, as SS' album had a lot of great choices. This narrowly made the cut over "Alarm Clock" featuring Ab-Soul, Jon Connor & Logic?.
5. Isiah Rashad - Heavenly Father. This album got better every time I listened to it, which is good, because I was initially underwhelmed, especially with the hooks.
6. The Social Experiment - Sunday Candy f/ Chance The Rapper. Chance is barely established and is already trying new things. That's an encouraging sign, especially when the result is awesome music such as this.
7. Vince Staples - Limos f/ Teyana Taylor. Oh my, this beat. I'm in love with this song.
8. Big K.R.I.T. - Mt. Olympus. There were a lot of responses to "Control." This was one of the only ones worth even noting.
9. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - High f/ Danny Brown. "Pinata" is on the short list for album of the year. This was yet another album where I had a hard time picking just one song.
10. Mobb Deep - Dirt. To be honest, I thought their album was pretty uneven, and there weren't a lot of standouts. This was one of the few.
11. DJ JS-1 - Show Shockin' f/ El da Sensai, Tame One and Reef the Lost Cauze. A great throwback beat, with three unheralded but awesome lyricists who are very at home rapping over it.
12. Cam'ron & A-Trak - Dipsh*ts f/ Juelz Santana & Dame Dash. Cam retains his belt for "funniest rapper alive." Not that it was really in dispute. The Dame Dash outro is also hilarious, though probably not in the way Dame intended it to be.
13. Flying Lotus - Never Catch Me f/ Kendrick Lamar. I don't like FlyLo as much as most do, but this song is hard to deny.
14. Ray West & O.C. - Lovers. Another great concept album, and this song was my favorite topic chosen on the LP. The recent rash of producer/rapper collaborations has been great for hip-hop, and this album is a prime example of why.
15. Azealia Banks - Ice Princess. I fear that her legacy will be as the brat who can't shut up on Twitter, which would be a shame, because she makes great music...when she gets around to it.
16. Prhyme - Dat Sound Good f/ Ab-Soul and Mac Miller. The DJ Premier and Royce da 5'9" collabo is another great example of the producer/rapper team up, and here they produce that classic Premo sound, with two (relative) newbies along for the ride.
17. Drake - How 'Bout Now. Drake and K. Dot are so good that they can rule the roost even in years when they don't put out albums. Pretty impressive.
18. Cormega - More. Another of my favorite albums of the year, and this is one of my favorite cuts off of it. The album gets a little preachy at times, but 'Mega has earned that right at this point.
19. Pharoahe Monch - Losing My Mind. This album, and this song in particular, were incredibly revealing.
20. The Roots - When The People Cheer f/ Modesty Lycan. Anything The Roots do is close to an automatic selection. They may not put out albums that frequently anymore, but since they still play together all the time, they haven't really lost a step.
21. Ras Kass & Apollo Brown - Bon Voyage. Nearly picked "How to Kill God" but I felt like this song was a better fit to close out the mix.
Bonus Christmas Track. Fabolous - I Don't F*ck With Christmas. I had a hard time picking a hip-hop Christmas song this year - record more Christmas albums, rappers!!! - but this one came along just in the St. Nick of time.
The Music
I didn't bother embedding the playlists on Spotify this year, because I've sort of had it with Spotify now that they've increased from like one ad every half hour to six or seven. But I did upload the songs to a service called MixCloud. You can check them out below.Monday, December 30, 2013
Eighth Annual End of Year CDs
Click here for last year's mixes as well as the standard intro. And see here for 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Aboveground Mix
1. Lorde -- Royals: Basically the song of the year. By a teenager no less.
2. Ciara -- Body Party: This song lifts the slow part of the beat from one of my favorite songs of all time:
The song was also sung by Ciara, who was herself just a teenager at the time. This one was a no-brainer for me. It was also one of the hits for breakout producer, Mike Will Made It.
3. Kanye West -- Bound 2 f/ Charlie Wilson: It's not that I didn't appreciate the tone of Yeezus overall, because I did. Kanye might come off as fairly insane during interviews, but the sentiments of his music do have some truth to it. Having said that, this song as the capper is a fantastic reminder that Kanye can be fun, and is one of the best beat flips that you'll find anywhere.
4. Robin Thicke -- Blurred Lines f/ T.I. & Pharrell: This song treads the line between fun and outlandish, but given the waves it made this year, I felt obliged to include it.
5. Lady Gaga -- Do What U Want f/ R. Kelly: Speaking of making waves, little compared with what surfaced about R. Kelly toward the end of the year. I feel pretty conflicted about including a song with him, especially now that I have a daughter. On the one hand, I grew up with R. Kelly. I didn't know about his personal life when I was a kid who fell in love with songs like "Bump And Grind," "Down Low," "I Believe I Can Fly," and others. "Ignition (Remix)" is basically one of my 10 favorite songs, and I've listened to it hundreds -- if not thousands -- of times. On the other hand, some of the things alleged about him are downright disgusting. I suppose that when he was initially acquitted of charges, I shrugged my shoulders and figured it was just haters being haters. But at this point, it's hard to square that view with reality. This article especially drove home what I was feeling. So I think from here on out, I will steer clear of him. Consider this the parting shot.
6. Miley Cyrus -- Wrecking Ball: I would submit that if you just heard this song on the radio and didn't know who was singing it, you'd wholeheartedly enjoy it. Of course, that's probably not possible for most of us, because this was basically Ms. Cyrus' year. And as such, this song had to be here.
7. Lily Allen -- Hard Out Here: One of the few songs on the mix that didn't actually hit the Billboard Hot 100, but I don't care. I love Lily Allen, and this song definitely would have charted if she hadn't spent so much time out of the spotlight.
8. Beyonce -- Pretty Hurts: A more pointed take from Beyonce. I could have easily slipped "XO" or "Drunk In Love" here, but I was especially attracted to this track (as well as "Hard Out Here) because of the birth of my daughter. This song didn't chart either, but given the circumstances surrounding the album's release, that's both not a surprise nor a fair way to judge it.
9. Sara Bareilles -- Brave: What "Roar" would have been if it was, you know, good.
10. Mariah Carey -- #Beautiful f/ Miguel: Still on fire, all these years later, and the duet/assist from Miguel takes this one to another level. This is easily one of her best songs in years.
11. A$AP Rocky -- Fashion Killa: The last of three songs that didn't actually chart. This one wasn't released as a single until November, so it didn't have as much time to chart. A$AP had two other songs that did chart this year, but I had "F*cking Problems" on last year's mix and "Wild For The Night" was one of my least favorite songs on his album. FK was one of my favorites, on the other hand, so that wasn't a real difficult choice.
12. The Neighbourhood -- Sweater Weather: I don't know, I just liked this one. So many pop songs are so worthless that I look hard for the ones that don't totally suck, and this one was the result of that digging. I hadn't heard of the band or song until I sat down to do put the mixes together.
13. J. Cole -- Power Trip f/ Miguel: It's rare that a rapper opens up about being stuck on a girl for so long, be it real or imagined, and the girl in this song is either real or a fantasy girl that he has concocted over a long period of time. Either way, it was powerful. Miguel makes his second appearance without having a song of his own.
14. Drake -- Hold On, We're Going Home: The only other contender for song of the year, in my humble opinion. I absolutely loved "Pound Cake," and briefly considered putting both tracks on the mix, but in the end I had to cut down to one, and this was the clear choice. It'll be interesting to see if Drake can keep getting better. I think his album this year was his best to date, which is saying a lot given how good his second album was.
15. Justin Timberlake -- Mirrors: If you told me sophomore year of college that the twerp from N'Sync would go on to be a multimedia icon for the next two decades, I would have laughed at you until you punched me in the throat, but that's where we find ourselves. The Jay-Z/JT concert at Fenway Park I went to this summer was pretty epic, and JT was never in finer form than when belting this one out. I also loved that he had the stones to go long with every song on this album. It's like he combined the original and remix in each song.
16. Paramore -- Still Into You: As someone who has been married for quite some time, this one really grabbed me. It's true for me, I hope it's true for you (or will be someday).
17. Eminem -- The Monster f/ Rihanna: Similar to my feelings about R. Kelly, I've come nearly full circle on Eminem. I want to eventually write about this topic in greater detail, but to say that I have fallen out of love with the man who once my favorite rapper would be a gigantic understatement. I thought most of his new album was garbage, but this track brings together the kind of topic selection that made him a star with gimmick-free lyrics, and Rihanna on the chorus. Hard to beat that.
18. Schoolboy Q: Collard Greens f/ Kendrick Lamar: Schoolboy Q is going to settle into a long career as the Pippen to Lamar's Jordan, and that is in no way a bad thing. He's a pretty gifted rapper, and whenever the two of them are side-by-side on a track, it's must-listen material.
19. Ellie Goulding -- Burn: Gotta love it when a song about smoking weed permeates pop culture like this one has.
Underground Mix
1. Chance The Rapper -- Juice: Based on this kid's experiences after getting suspended from school, I wish I had been more unruly in my high school days. Although I probably would have just played Madden the whole time, so maybe not. Looking forward to big things from Chancellor in the near future.
2. Janelle Monae -- What An Experience: This song just makes me happy. It's slow enough that you could partner up and slow dance to, but it's lively enough that you could be a little goofy while doing so. In other words, my kind of song. Other songs on her album gained more critical acclaim, but this was my favorite.
3. Danny Brown -- 25 Bucks f/ Purity Ring: One of the great crimes of this year is that I haven't had a chance to listen to Brown's album as much as I would like. Once I get heavy into editing The Hardball Times Annual (please buy a copy if you haven't already done so!) I tend to gravitate toward the familiar. As such, I end up listening to or watching the same things over and over again while editing. Aside from playoff baseball, Thor and Captain America on Netflix and the new Drake album were basically all I consumed for about a month and a half. That's too bad, because Brown's album is fantastic, and this cut especially.
4. Joey Bada$$ -- Unorthodox: The second mixtape that JB dropped, "Summer Knights," was a bit of a disappointment, but this track -- which was actually released about six months earlier as part of a promotion with Mountain Dew (??) -- was a standout. Part of that is due to the still-incredibly-enjoyable scratches from DJ Premier. Premier actually had a few tracks that could have made the cut, but the fact that I listened to this one for most of the year pushed it over the top.
5. Cage -- You Were the Sh*t in High School: Once upon a time, Cage and Eminem were the great white hope's of the underground. That was a long time ago, and Cage is certainly out there, but this one not only is a bit more grounded, but a tease of what his career could have been like.
6. Tony Touch -- Thought Process f/ Black Thought: Tony Toca returned this year, which was pretty surprising. I cut my teeth on his mixtapes once upon a time, and that he got new, non-NBC-glossy content from Black Thought was pretty sweet. Both men can still clearly bring it.
7. Cam'ron -- Golden Friends: Cam'ron -- who once flipped the Monday Night Football anthem, along with many, many others -- flipping the beat to the "Golden Girls" is about the least surprising thing ever. Literally the first song I ever heard from him was him flipping the Magnum PI beat for "357." As ever, Cam is hilarious.
8. Big Sean -- Control f/ Kendrick Lamar & Jay Electronica: The closest this generation will get to "Verbal Intercourse," with K. Dot as Nas, Big Sean as Raekwon & Jay Elec as Ghostface. This song is also on my short list for song of the year, and it tells you all that you need to know about Big Sean that he was too much of a coward to actually put this on his album. Yeah, K. Dot flamed you, but if you didn't know that was coming, then you are way dumber than I thought.
9. Havoc -- Life We Chose (Mobb Deep Remix) f/ Prodigy: Few three-word phrases delighted me as much as "Mobb Deep Remix" did this year. The original version of this song had Lloyd Banks instead of Prodigy, and generally a hip-hop remix will simply add verses rather than take them away, but Hav knew that Banks' contribution to the song was ultimately unnecessary. Hopefully this gets Hav and P back in the studio for '14.
10. Run The Jewels -- Banana Clipper f/ Big Boi: Also on the short list for song of the year. The first few times I listened to this, I thought Big Boi's contributions seemed tacked on, like an afterthought, but I've come around on that view. It's pretty sick that two decades in, El-P is still lacing tracks, and this project may have been his best to date -- still visceral, but also accessible. He and Killer Mike really have a great groove together.
11. Q-Tip & Busta Rhymes -- Butch & Sundance: Speaking of great grooves, this project was such a good idea I don't know why it didn't happen sooner. More of this, please!
12. Wu-Tang Clan -- Family Reunion: Not even half the Clan drops in on this track, but it's a great little song anyway. It's disappointing that we didn't get to hear the whole album this year, but hopefully it'll come to fruition in 2014.
13. Boldy James & Alchemist -- Moochie: I didn't think a "nicknames" track could be done better than Big L's "Ebonics," but this one is a rightful heir. Looking forward to seeing what this dude does in the future, especially if it's once again with Alchemist.
14. Czarface -- Rock Beast: One of the first 7L & Esoteric tracks I ever heard was "Speaking Real Words," with Inspectah Deck. I'm not sure they ever fly onto my radar without that Wu-Tang sign-off, to be honest. They have been delighting me ever since though, and have come full circle with a whole album with Inspectah Deck. There were other tracks with good guest shots, but this one hit the hardest for me.
15. Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge -- The Sure Shot (Parts One & Two): In general, I didn't care much for the way this album went. I didn't care about the backstory of GFK being killed but melted on wax, and having a feud with the DeLuca crime family. I also wasn't in love with the beat selection. But this track, where the DeLuca's are only mentioned once, and the music is more "live band plays traditional hip-hop," was pretty sweet.
16. Action Bronson & Party Supplies -- Practice: I wasn't about to include anything from AB's reprehensible "Saab Stories" project, and considered leaving him off the mix altogether. But the "Blue Chips 2" project is a lot more upbeat and lively, and any song that includes Allen Iverson's most famous rant is a-OK with me.
17. Earl Sweatshirt -- Molasses f/ RZA: For the second straight year, Earl Sweatshirt clocks in at track #17. That happened by accident, but I thought it was funny that my mind continues to work in the same fashion. I love tracks that pair old school with new school, and this was one of the best examples of that this year.
18. Jay-Z -- Open Letter: Jay-Z's "Holy Grail Magna Carta" album was an abomination, and we will never speak of it again. But in the run-up to the album, he dropped this song, for free, and it was a great reminder of just how good Jay still is when he is engaged. Even the White House was compelled to respond to the song.
19. Prodigy & Alchemist -- Bible Paper: A match made in heaven.
20. Yancey Boys -- Quicksand f/ Common & Dezi Paige: I have never been big on J. Dilla, but this beat was nice, and even though I don't care that much for Common these days, he ripped it on this song.
21. R.A. The Rugged Man -- Legends Never Die (Daddy's Halo): If you can listen to this song without tearing up, there's a good chance that you're not human. If you know anything about R.A. The Rugged Man, you know this song was a big departure from what he normally does, which made it that much more special. If my son says anything even half as nice about me someday, I'll know I wasn't a total waste of space on this earth.
Bonus Christmas Track. Mr. Lif -- Santa's Got a Muthaf***in' Uzi: With the emotionally heavy song out of the way, I had to end with a Christmas track that was more off-beat and funny than it was nostalgic and warm and fuzzy. This one fit the bill to the T, and gave me an excuse to listen to Mr. Lif for the first time in years. Seriously, what happened to him?
Here are the Spotify embeds. Note again, that the Underground mix is incomplete on Spotify because almost half of the songs don't actually appear on Spotify. Enjoy!
Sunday, March 31, 2013
2013 MLB Regular Season Predictions
Just putting these here for posterity (you can also see part of these predictions and awards picks at FanGraphs here). Maybe I'll go into more detail on them at a later time, but more likely I won't.
AL EAST
TB, 88-74
TOR, 87-75
BOS, 83-79
NYY, 82-80
BAL, 78-84
AL CENTRAL
DET, 93-69
CHW, 86-76
CLE, 76-86
KC, 74-88
MIN, 61-101
AL WEST
TEX, 93-69
LAA, 91-71 * Wild Card
OAK, 89-73 * Wild Card
SEA, 71-91
HOU, 63-99
NL EAST
WAS, 94-68
ATL, 91-71 * Wild Card
PHI, 74-88
NYM, 67-95
MIA, 59-103
NL CENTRAL
STL, 88-74
CIN, 87-75
PIT, 82-80
MIL, 81-81
CHC, 72-90
NL WEST
SF, 89-73
SD, 88-74 * Wild Card
LAD, 86-76
ARI, 83-79
COL, 74-88
Real quick thoughts: Really could see any team winning the AL East...the White Sox are perpetually the hardest team to figure out, but I like their pitching...I'm not as high on the Angels as most, probably, and higher on the A's than most. Again, the gap is closed by the A's pitching...I don't think the gap between Washington and Atlanta has increased that much...I'm not sold on the changes in Cincy. If Choo can't play center they may be in big trouble, and I'd be very surprised if they have the same starting pitching health that they had last year...Pittsburgh finally gets their above-.500 season...the NL West seems almost as open as the AL East to me, although I can't picture a scenario where the Rockies win the division...Padres are clearly my surprise team. If they get any pitching, watch out.
AL EAST
TB, 88-74
TOR, 87-75
BOS, 83-79
NYY, 82-80
BAL, 78-84
AL CENTRAL
DET, 93-69
CHW, 86-76
CLE, 76-86
KC, 74-88
MIN, 61-101
AL WEST
TEX, 93-69
LAA, 91-71 * Wild Card
OAK, 89-73 * Wild Card
SEA, 71-91
HOU, 63-99
NL EAST
WAS, 94-68
ATL, 91-71 * Wild Card
PHI, 74-88
NYM, 67-95
MIA, 59-103
NL CENTRAL
STL, 88-74
CIN, 87-75
PIT, 82-80
MIL, 81-81
CHC, 72-90
NL WEST
SF, 89-73
SD, 88-74 * Wild Card
LAD, 86-76
ARI, 83-79
COL, 74-88
Real quick thoughts: Really could see any team winning the AL East...the White Sox are perpetually the hardest team to figure out, but I like their pitching...I'm not as high on the Angels as most, probably, and higher on the A's than most. Again, the gap is closed by the A's pitching...I don't think the gap between Washington and Atlanta has increased that much...I'm not sold on the changes in Cincy. If Choo can't play center they may be in big trouble, and I'd be very surprised if they have the same starting pitching health that they had last year...Pittsburgh finally gets their above-.500 season...the NL West seems almost as open as the AL East to me, although I can't picture a scenario where the Rockies win the division...Padres are clearly my surprise team. If they get any pitching, watch out.
Friday, January 04, 2013
Seventh Annual End Of Year CDs
Standard intro: Each year, in a (mostly) vain to stay up to date with the music world, I put together an end-of-year CD set, and give them out to some close friends as Christmas/Hanukkah presents (you can see my 2009 and 2010 and 2011 write-ups here). I try to wait until I hand all of them out, but that didn't happen this year, and if I didn't write this up now it just wasn't going to happen.
As a reminder, on the Aboveground mix I use the Billboard Hot 100 as a guide (I said Top 100 last year, which was inaccurate) -- the idea being to try to capture what was popular this past year. The Underground mix is decidedly the opposite, it's just a bunch of rap songs that weren't "popular" that I want to make sure to never forget. The only other rule is that the song had to be released commercially during 2012 (though I relax that rule for international songs that may have been released internationally prior to 2012 but not in the US until this year -- I can't be everywhere, people).
With that, let's get to the 2012 mixes. If you want to listen along, I made Spotify playlists, and stashed them at the bottom. Though I don't think the Underground one is going to play properly, since a bunch of the songs weren't actually on Spotify (also, one song got added twice somehow). That's how you know they're really underground.
Aboveground Mix
1. Frank Ocean -- Thinkin' Bout You: Right off the bat, we have a compromise. I definitely liked "Pyramids" more, but not only did it not chart in the top 100, but more importantly it's nine minutes long, and since I like to squeeze as many songs out of my 80 minutes, I don't like including really long songs. This is actually probably my third-favorite cut off the album -- I got slightly addicted to "Forrest Gump" as well. That's not a knock on this song, which I also love, it's just such a great album.
2. Fun. -- Some Nights: I think these guys may rise and fall quickly, but I really liked this album. I would have gone with "We Are Young," but it was actually released in 2011.
3. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis -- Thrift Shop f/ Wanz: Imagine my surprise when I started doing my research and I found out that this song actually charted! I fully expected this to be a cut on the underground mix. The video is as amazing as the song. Though since I bought it on Amazon I can't load it onto my iPod. Apple is a bunch of haterz.
4. The Lumineers -- Ho Hey: These guys probably have a shorter shelf life than Fun., but I like songs with chants in them. Sue me.
5. Miguel -- Adorn: Probably the best love song of the year. And the beat is just sick.
6. Kendrick Lamar -- Swimming Pools (Drank): It's the shorter version without the skit at the end if you're scoring at home, but it doesn't really matter. It also gave me faith in humanity that this song charted. I was hoping it would, but didn't expect it. This album is on the short list for best album of the millenium (or is it the Newmanium?).
7. Of Monsters And Men -- Little Talks: Another crazy video. I fully blame FanGraphs' Mike Newman for inadvertently persuading me into liking this song/band. There was like a good two weeks where he wouldn't shut up about them.
8. Nas -- Daughters: Ah, growing up. Can't believe Nas' baby mom didn't like this song. There's just no pleasing some people. This song didn't actually chart, but it freakin' should have. What's wrong with you people? Also, it was nominated for a Grammy. (Wait, did I just justify a rap song by saying it was justified for a Grammy? I think I need a shower that felt so dirty. Moving on.)
9. Gotye -- Somebody That I Used To Know f/ Kimbra: I love it when non hip-hop acts use the "featuring" thing in their songs. I feel like that doesn't happen enough. I feel like it's usually a "duet," or "with" or something similar.
10. DJ Khaled / Kanye West -- Cold: For some reason this is billed as a DJ Khaled song, even though he seems to have little do with it. I could have gone with "Clique" here, but Big Sean needs to stop calling himself B.I.G. I'm protesting him until he does. I could have gone with "Mercy," but the hook gets annoying REALQUICK. I could have gone with "New God Flow," but it was long, and I feel like the version that charted probably wasn't the version that included Ghostface, so it just didn't feel right to include it. But moreover, I love that Kanye and Kim Kardashian are all hugged up now, and that he felt the need to slap Kris Humphries on this track. Also, that New York DJ's are digging on Humphries as well. Good times.
11. Taylor Swift -- We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together: Taylor Swift songs always go after Kanye songs. It's just the right thing to do. And, I know some people don't care for her, but she writes her own stuff, which is a big plus, and she dumped a Kennedy. What more do you want?
12. Imagine Dragons -- It's Time: More white people. This is what I get for swearing off Rick Ross, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj for the year. Mariah Carey's "Triumphant" would probably here, but again, no Rick Ross. Sick of that dude. Just go away. Rihanna and Nicki are just on time out though. They'll be back, probably.
13. A$AP Rocky -- F****n' Problems f/ Drake, Kendrick Lamar & 2 Chainz: Also surprised that THIS one charted! Can't wait for his album to drop. Trying to not download the bootleg, that's how pumped I am for it. If that makes sense (it probably doesn't). Also, I love that they don't let 2 Chainz actually rap on this. "Yeah, uh, you can do the hook? Or part of the hook, how about that?" He's the very, very poor man's Busta Rhymes. At least Busta used to get his own verse.
14. Carly Rae Jepsen -- Call Me Maybe: You know you like it.
15. Psy -- Gangnam Style: See #14. I should really live blog the video at some point. It's all gold, Jerry, pure gold!
16. Meek Mill -- Amen f/ Drake: I have to say, I'm not all that impressed by Meek Mill, but I dug this one. Still, Drake murders him on it. In fact, as much as I like A$AP, Drake pretty much murdered him on that "F****n' Problems" as well.
17. Mumford & Sons -- I Will Wait: I sort of wanted to hate this song, since I heard way too much about this band on Twitter this year. But I didn't hate it, so I felt compelled to include it.
18. Bruno Mars -- Locked Out Of Heaven: I was going to include a Bruno Mars song last year, but it had been released in the prior year, so it got the ax. Also, he was on the Bad Meets Evil cut, but still. Situation rectified now. That this is also a Mark Ronson track was the icing on the cake.
19. T.I. -- Sorry f/ Andre 3000: So, I cheated a little on the Billboard Hot 100 thing here also. This wasn't released as a single until after Thanksgiving, and I assumed it would chart, but it apparently hasn't yet. Still, it should, and the fact that Andre 3000 finally comes clean about/admits to the mistakes that led to him and Big Boi -- which is probably a lot more important to me than it is to you -- put it over the top.
20. Adele -- Skyfall: I get kind of tired of people fawning all over her, but damned if she isn't good. Now all I have to do is go see the movie.
Underground Mix
1. Schoolboy Q -- Hands On The Wheel f/ A$AP Rocky: A killer song with an absolutely infectious beat that I was happy to see wasn't overlooked on end-of-year lists. I feel like albums that come out in January run the risk of being overlooked at the end of the year, but maybe that's just the cynic in me.
2. Joey Bada$$ -- Survival Tactics f/ Capital STEEZ: This kid's mixtape, "1999" -- and I say kid because he's like 18, 19 -- was just tremendous from start to finish. He has a whole Pro Era crew. Expect to see them on these lists in future years, although unfortunately, not the gentleman who guested on this track -- Capital STEEZ -- since he apparently committed suicide on Christmas Eve.
3. Angel Haze -- Cleanin' Out My Closet: I could have gone with "This Is Me," or "Werkin Girls" or one of the other tracks off of "Reservation," but "Cleanin' Out My Closet" is probably the most important track of the year. Just an absolutely gut-wrenching record.
4. Main Attrakionz -- Cloud Life: A nice palette cleanser. The "aww man, RIP to 2Pac" cracks me up EVERY TIME. Were they so high that they just realize that he died? Did they suddenly have a spiritual moment where they thought 'damn, how could we NOT shout him out?' Did they think of doing it after watching the 2Pac hologram? Or was it just a spur of the moment thing? I need to know why 2Pac was shouted out in this song more than 15 years after he died. (Also, shout out to Matt Dennewitz from Pitchfork. That dude is alright. Buy his albums.)
5. Big Boi -- Mama Told Me f/ Little Dragon: Probably this mix's weak link. Probably should have gone with "Sixty-Seven Turbo Jet" from Curren$y & Harry Fraud here, but I kind of liked it that Big Boi stuck it to Little Dragon's label for refusing to allow her to appear on the track. And also that it's a better version of an actually released song.
6. Talib Kweli -- Push Thru f/ Curren$y & Kendrick Lamar: Automatic entry from Talib Kweli is automatically entered. Although K. dot kind of crushed him on it. It's OK though, Talib is still putting in work, and you gotta love that.
7. Action Bronson -- Thug Love Story 2012: This song is all over the place, and complete nonsense in a jovial way. Kind of like a Ghostface track. I know, I know, tired comp. But it's true.
8. Aesop Rock -- Zero Dark Thirty: It took me a long time to get what was being said on "Wu-Tang Forever" because I would just kind of zone out to the beats. This song is very similar to that.
9. El-P -- Oh Hail No f/ Mr. Motherf*****g Exquire & Danny Brown: "I like the part where you cried, I liked nothing else."
10. Odd Future -- Rella: It's amazing to think that this group of guys is responsible for spawning Frank Ocean's career. I mean, I'd like to think that Frank would have broken through without them, but it probably would have taken a lot longer, if it happened at all. Methinks there's more than meets the eye with Odd Future. Can't wait to see what's next.
11. Sean Price -- Bar-barian: In one of my FanGraphs chats this year, one commenter kept asserting that Sean Price was/is the best rapper of all time, and got really angry with me when I laughed off the comment -- mainly because it's a laughable comment. But that stuck in my head, and I ended up checking out the album. So, here's to you, anonymous chat commenter.
12. Blu & Exile -- Growing Pains f/ Johaz & Fashawn: You absolutely did have to be Bo Jackson! Still bitter that you couldn't throw to Bo, and had to throw to Marcus Allen instead. F Marcus Allen.
13. Clyde Carson -- Slow Down f/ The Team: This Bay-area rap crew never would have been on my radar were it not for the fact that this was apparently Pablo Sandoval's walk-up song this year. So here's to the intersection of baseball and hip-hop!
14. Killer Mike -- Big Beast f/ Bun B, T.I. & Trouble: Never been all that into Killer Mike before, but "R.A.P. Music" was phenomenal. Almost went with the title track, or "Reagan" here, but I decided there weren't enough posse cuts on the mix yet (that's a joke, there's plenty).
15. M.I.A. -- Bad Girls (N.A.R.S. Remix) f/ Missy Elliott & Azealia Banks: I probably could have stayed simple and just went with the original version, but her accent is just weird when she is straight rapping (like in the last verse) instead of sing-songy rapping. Also, I couldn't find an Azealia Banks cut from this year that was worthy, so sneaking her in on this remix was a nice compromise. Plus, Missy back from the dead! Azealia and Missy may actually be kindred spirits.
16. Kanye West -- White Dress: All KimYe all the time! I'm slightly amazed that this song didn't chart, or that people really didn't make a bigger deal out of it. There's still time, I guess. It might be one of his best songs, which is saying something.
17. Earl Sweatshirt -- Chum: This dude is deep.
18. Captain Murphy -- The Killing Joke: More clever Batman references in hip-hop please.
19. Freddie Gibbs -- Shame f/ BJ The Chicago Kid: You would think that I would have heard a song cleverly dedicated to one-night stands before, but I don't think that I have. Let me rephrase that. I'm sure I have, but none were as memorable as this song, which is just marvelous.
20. Danny Brown -- Grown Up: Danny Brown's version of "Juicy."
21. Wu-Block -- Crack Spot Stories f/ Raekwon & Jadakiss: "Fiends at the door, I'm too lazy to let them in, turkey sandwich, barbecue chips, ESPN." Sounds just like me ... except for the dope fiends at the door part ...
BONUS CHRISTMAS TRACK. R. Kelly -- A Love Letter Christmas: I don't follow the current year thing for this last track, because it's too hard to find good Christmas music. But leave it to R. Kelly to create the Christmas remix. Maybe someday he'll even find his snow girl.
Spotify playlists:
As a reminder, on the Aboveground mix I use the Billboard Hot 100 as a guide (I said Top 100 last year, which was inaccurate) -- the idea being to try to capture what was popular this past year. The Underground mix is decidedly the opposite, it's just a bunch of rap songs that weren't "popular" that I want to make sure to never forget. The only other rule is that the song had to be released commercially during 2012 (though I relax that rule for international songs that may have been released internationally prior to 2012 but not in the US until this year -- I can't be everywhere, people).
With that, let's get to the 2012 mixes. If you want to listen along, I made Spotify playlists, and stashed them at the bottom. Though I don't think the Underground one is going to play properly, since a bunch of the songs weren't actually on Spotify (also, one song got added twice somehow). That's how you know they're really underground.
Aboveground Mix
1. Frank Ocean -- Thinkin' Bout You: Right off the bat, we have a compromise. I definitely liked "Pyramids" more, but not only did it not chart in the top 100, but more importantly it's nine minutes long, and since I like to squeeze as many songs out of my 80 minutes, I don't like including really long songs. This is actually probably my third-favorite cut off the album -- I got slightly addicted to "Forrest Gump" as well. That's not a knock on this song, which I also love, it's just such a great album.
2. Fun. -- Some Nights: I think these guys may rise and fall quickly, but I really liked this album. I would have gone with "We Are Young," but it was actually released in 2011.
3. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis -- Thrift Shop f/ Wanz: Imagine my surprise when I started doing my research and I found out that this song actually charted! I fully expected this to be a cut on the underground mix. The video is as amazing as the song. Though since I bought it on Amazon I can't load it onto my iPod. Apple is a bunch of haterz.
4. The Lumineers -- Ho Hey: These guys probably have a shorter shelf life than Fun., but I like songs with chants in them. Sue me.
5. Miguel -- Adorn: Probably the best love song of the year. And the beat is just sick.
6. Kendrick Lamar -- Swimming Pools (Drank): It's the shorter version without the skit at the end if you're scoring at home, but it doesn't really matter. It also gave me faith in humanity that this song charted. I was hoping it would, but didn't expect it. This album is on the short list for best album of the millenium (or is it the Newmanium?).
7. Of Monsters And Men -- Little Talks: Another crazy video. I fully blame FanGraphs' Mike Newman for inadvertently persuading me into liking this song/band. There was like a good two weeks where he wouldn't shut up about them.
8. Nas -- Daughters: Ah, growing up. Can't believe Nas' baby mom didn't like this song. There's just no pleasing some people. This song didn't actually chart, but it freakin' should have. What's wrong with you people? Also, it was nominated for a Grammy. (Wait, did I just justify a rap song by saying it was justified for a Grammy? I think I need a shower that felt so dirty. Moving on.)
9. Gotye -- Somebody That I Used To Know f/ Kimbra: I love it when non hip-hop acts use the "featuring" thing in their songs. I feel like that doesn't happen enough. I feel like it's usually a "duet," or "with" or something similar.
10. DJ Khaled / Kanye West -- Cold: For some reason this is billed as a DJ Khaled song, even though he seems to have little do with it. I could have gone with "Clique" here, but Big Sean needs to stop calling himself B.I.G. I'm protesting him until he does. I could have gone with "Mercy," but the hook gets annoying REALQUICK. I could have gone with "New God Flow," but it was long, and I feel like the version that charted probably wasn't the version that included Ghostface, so it just didn't feel right to include it. But moreover, I love that Kanye and Kim Kardashian are all hugged up now, and that he felt the need to slap Kris Humphries on this track. Also, that New York DJ's are digging on Humphries as well. Good times.
11. Taylor Swift -- We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together: Taylor Swift songs always go after Kanye songs. It's just the right thing to do. And, I know some people don't care for her, but she writes her own stuff, which is a big plus, and she dumped a Kennedy. What more do you want?
12. Imagine Dragons -- It's Time: More white people. This is what I get for swearing off Rick Ross, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj for the year. Mariah Carey's "Triumphant" would probably here, but again, no Rick Ross. Sick of that dude. Just go away. Rihanna and Nicki are just on time out though. They'll be back, probably.
13. A$AP Rocky -- F****n' Problems f/ Drake, Kendrick Lamar & 2 Chainz: Also surprised that THIS one charted! Can't wait for his album to drop. Trying to not download the bootleg, that's how pumped I am for it. If that makes sense (it probably doesn't). Also, I love that they don't let 2 Chainz actually rap on this. "Yeah, uh, you can do the hook? Or part of the hook, how about that?" He's the very, very poor man's Busta Rhymes. At least Busta used to get his own verse.
14. Carly Rae Jepsen -- Call Me Maybe: You know you like it.
15. Psy -- Gangnam Style: See #14. I should really live blog the video at some point. It's all gold, Jerry, pure gold!
16. Meek Mill -- Amen f/ Drake: I have to say, I'm not all that impressed by Meek Mill, but I dug this one. Still, Drake murders him on it. In fact, as much as I like A$AP, Drake pretty much murdered him on that "F****n' Problems" as well.
17. Mumford & Sons -- I Will Wait: I sort of wanted to hate this song, since I heard way too much about this band on Twitter this year. But I didn't hate it, so I felt compelled to include it.
18. Bruno Mars -- Locked Out Of Heaven: I was going to include a Bruno Mars song last year, but it had been released in the prior year, so it got the ax. Also, he was on the Bad Meets Evil cut, but still. Situation rectified now. That this is also a Mark Ronson track was the icing on the cake.
19. T.I. -- Sorry f/ Andre 3000: So, I cheated a little on the Billboard Hot 100 thing here also. This wasn't released as a single until after Thanksgiving, and I assumed it would chart, but it apparently hasn't yet. Still, it should, and the fact that Andre 3000 finally comes clean about/admits to the mistakes that led to him and Big Boi -- which is probably a lot more important to me than it is to you -- put it over the top.
20. Adele -- Skyfall: I get kind of tired of people fawning all over her, but damned if she isn't good. Now all I have to do is go see the movie.
Underground Mix
1. Schoolboy Q -- Hands On The Wheel f/ A$AP Rocky: A killer song with an absolutely infectious beat that I was happy to see wasn't overlooked on end-of-year lists. I feel like albums that come out in January run the risk of being overlooked at the end of the year, but maybe that's just the cynic in me.
2. Joey Bada$$ -- Survival Tactics f/ Capital STEEZ: This kid's mixtape, "1999" -- and I say kid because he's like 18, 19 -- was just tremendous from start to finish. He has a whole Pro Era crew. Expect to see them on these lists in future years, although unfortunately, not the gentleman who guested on this track -- Capital STEEZ -- since he apparently committed suicide on Christmas Eve.
3. Angel Haze -- Cleanin' Out My Closet: I could have gone with "This Is Me," or "Werkin Girls" or one of the other tracks off of "Reservation," but "Cleanin' Out My Closet" is probably the most important track of the year. Just an absolutely gut-wrenching record.
4. Main Attrakionz -- Cloud Life: A nice palette cleanser. The "aww man, RIP to 2Pac" cracks me up EVERY TIME. Were they so high that they just realize that he died? Did they suddenly have a spiritual moment where they thought 'damn, how could we NOT shout him out?' Did they think of doing it after watching the 2Pac hologram? Or was it just a spur of the moment thing? I need to know why 2Pac was shouted out in this song more than 15 years after he died. (Also, shout out to Matt Dennewitz from Pitchfork. That dude is alright. Buy his albums.)
5. Big Boi -- Mama Told Me f/ Little Dragon: Probably this mix's weak link. Probably should have gone with "Sixty-Seven Turbo Jet" from Curren$y & Harry Fraud here, but I kind of liked it that Big Boi stuck it to Little Dragon's label for refusing to allow her to appear on the track. And also that it's a better version of an actually released song.
6. Talib Kweli -- Push Thru f/ Curren$y & Kendrick Lamar: Automatic entry from Talib Kweli is automatically entered. Although K. dot kind of crushed him on it. It's OK though, Talib is still putting in work, and you gotta love that.
7. Action Bronson -- Thug Love Story 2012: This song is all over the place, and complete nonsense in a jovial way. Kind of like a Ghostface track. I know, I know, tired comp. But it's true.
8. Aesop Rock -- Zero Dark Thirty: It took me a long time to get what was being said on "Wu-Tang Forever" because I would just kind of zone out to the beats. This song is very similar to that.
9. El-P -- Oh Hail No f/ Mr. Motherf*****g Exquire & Danny Brown: "I like the part where you cried, I liked nothing else."
10. Odd Future -- Rella: It's amazing to think that this group of guys is responsible for spawning Frank Ocean's career. I mean, I'd like to think that Frank would have broken through without them, but it probably would have taken a lot longer, if it happened at all. Methinks there's more than meets the eye with Odd Future. Can't wait to see what's next.
11. Sean Price -- Bar-barian: In one of my FanGraphs chats this year, one commenter kept asserting that Sean Price was/is the best rapper of all time, and got really angry with me when I laughed off the comment -- mainly because it's a laughable comment. But that stuck in my head, and I ended up checking out the album. So, here's to you, anonymous chat commenter.
12. Blu & Exile -- Growing Pains f/ Johaz & Fashawn: You absolutely did have to be Bo Jackson! Still bitter that you couldn't throw to Bo, and had to throw to Marcus Allen instead. F Marcus Allen.
13. Clyde Carson -- Slow Down f/ The Team: This Bay-area rap crew never would have been on my radar were it not for the fact that this was apparently Pablo Sandoval's walk-up song this year. So here's to the intersection of baseball and hip-hop!
14. Killer Mike -- Big Beast f/ Bun B, T.I. & Trouble: Never been all that into Killer Mike before, but "R.A.P. Music" was phenomenal. Almost went with the title track, or "Reagan" here, but I decided there weren't enough posse cuts on the mix yet (that's a joke, there's plenty).
15. M.I.A. -- Bad Girls (N.A.R.S. Remix) f/ Missy Elliott & Azealia Banks: I probably could have stayed simple and just went with the original version, but her accent is just weird when she is straight rapping (like in the last verse) instead of sing-songy rapping. Also, I couldn't find an Azealia Banks cut from this year that was worthy, so sneaking her in on this remix was a nice compromise. Plus, Missy back from the dead! Azealia and Missy may actually be kindred spirits.
16. Kanye West -- White Dress: All KimYe all the time! I'm slightly amazed that this song didn't chart, or that people really didn't make a bigger deal out of it. There's still time, I guess. It might be one of his best songs, which is saying something.
17. Earl Sweatshirt -- Chum: This dude is deep.
18. Captain Murphy -- The Killing Joke: More clever Batman references in hip-hop please.
19. Freddie Gibbs -- Shame f/ BJ The Chicago Kid: You would think that I would have heard a song cleverly dedicated to one-night stands before, but I don't think that I have. Let me rephrase that. I'm sure I have, but none were as memorable as this song, which is just marvelous.
20. Danny Brown -- Grown Up: Danny Brown's version of "Juicy."
21. Wu-Block -- Crack Spot Stories f/ Raekwon & Jadakiss: "Fiends at the door, I'm too lazy to let them in, turkey sandwich, barbecue chips, ESPN." Sounds just like me ... except for the dope fiends at the door part ...
BONUS CHRISTMAS TRACK. R. Kelly -- A Love Letter Christmas: I don't follow the current year thing for this last track, because it's too hard to find good Christmas music. But leave it to R. Kelly to create the Christmas remix. Maybe someday he'll even find his snow girl.
Spotify playlists:
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
2012 MLB Season Predictions
Earlier today (or yesterday by the time this posts), the FanGraphs' staff predictions hit the interwebs. Since those were just the basics, here are the rest.
About the Red Sox -- I really see this team as having a depth problem, particularly on the pitching staff. We are already seeing this with the Andrew Bailey injury, but even before that it was going to be an issue. Clay Buchholz had a bad back injury last year, and we can't know if he'll make it through a full season healthy. And that's not counting the untested Daniel Bard and Felix Doubront starting. I wasn't in the minority in leaving them out of the playoffs -- 12 of the 20 FG people left them out.
This division leaves a lot to be desired. If Kansas City can land the right pitcher for the front of their rotation, next year could be the year they take over the division for a long time. But this season, it will still be Detroit atop the division. But even with Fielder, they will be a bad champion, with a horrible defensive infield.
I think this will finally be Texas' year, although I may have said the same thing last year. Anaheim claims one of the two Wild Cards along with Tampa.
Tampa will win the play-in game, and then fall to the Yankees in the Division Series. In the other Division Series, Texas will beat Detroit. That will set up a Texas-Yankees ALCS for the second time in three seasons, with the same result. I was one of six FG folks to put them in the World Series.
Here is my sleeper. I like the Nats a great deal this season. They have an improved rotation, a deep bullpen, and while Mike Morse should regress some, Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman should bounce back nicely. This division is chock full of talent though, so it won't be easy, and really any team from one-through-four could come out on top. But I think this is the year that the Phillies fall apart. And while Miami should be better, I think Atlanta has enough starting pitching depth to put them over the top and into one of the Wild Card spots. I was one of just two FG people (Zach Sanders being the other) to pick Washington for the division, and one of just eight to pick Atlanta to reach the postseason at all.
As we saw tonight, the Cardinals are still going to be a formidable team. I detailed it on Monday in my first ESPN Insider piece (check back for one every Monday), but they are very deep in all three phases -- lineup, rotation and bullpen. I would love to pick the Reds to win the division, but I just don't trust Dusty Baker. I don't see why Bronson Arroyo is still on that squad. I could see the Cubs at better than 75 wins, but at this time, I don't see where their extra wins would come from, so I'll stand on 75. I was one of just six FG people to take St. Louis to win the Central, and one of five to slot Cincy for a Wild Card berth.
Arizona has a wealth of pitching, and could be even better this year. What's more, they're a fun team to watch, which is a plus. As for the Giants, I just don't believe in their offense, at all. The Dodgers' offense won't be much better, but I expect the Kemp-Ethier duo to be better than Sandoval-Posey. And I also think the Dodgers will play better defense.
Atlanta takes the Wild Card play-in, loses to Arizona in the DS, and St. Louis takes down Washington in the other DS. In the LCS, Arizona bests St. Louis, setting up an incredibly entertaining D-backs-Rangers World Series.
I think that my favorite part of doing these picks was realizing that there really is no obvious favorite, and that was borne out in the FanGraphs' picks.
Happy Opening Day everyone. It's going to be a great year.
| AL East | W | L | PCT |
| NYY | 94 | 68 | 0.580 |
| TB | 92 | 70 | 0.568 |
| BOS | 88 | 74 | 0.543 |
| TOR | 88 | 74 | 0.543 |
| BAL | 60 | 102 | 0.370 |
About the Red Sox -- I really see this team as having a depth problem, particularly on the pitching staff. We are already seeing this with the Andrew Bailey injury, but even before that it was going to be an issue. Clay Buchholz had a bad back injury last year, and we can't know if he'll make it through a full season healthy. And that's not counting the untested Daniel Bard and Felix Doubront starting. I wasn't in the minority in leaving them out of the playoffs -- 12 of the 20 FG people left them out.
| AL Cent | W | L | PCT |
| DET | 91 | 71 | 0.562 |
| CLE | 83 | 79 | 0.512 |
| KC | 78 | 84 | 0.481 |
| MIN | 70 | 92 | 0.432 |
| CHW | 65 | 97 | 0.401 |
This division leaves a lot to be desired. If Kansas City can land the right pitcher for the front of their rotation, next year could be the year they take over the division for a long time. But this season, it will still be Detroit atop the division. But even with Fielder, they will be a bad champion, with a horrible defensive infield.
| AL West | W | L | PCT |
| TEX | 96 | 66 | 0.593 |
| LAA | 92 | 70 | 0.568 |
| SEA | 75 | 87 | 0.463 |
| OAK | 68 | 94 | 0.420 |
I think this will finally be Texas' year, although I may have said the same thing last year. Anaheim claims one of the two Wild Cards along with Tampa.
Tampa will win the play-in game, and then fall to the Yankees in the Division Series. In the other Division Series, Texas will beat Detroit. That will set up a Texas-Yankees ALCS for the second time in three seasons, with the same result. I was one of six FG folks to put them in the World Series.
| NL East | W | L | PCT |
| WAS | 90 | 72 | 0.556 |
| ATL | 87 | 75 | 0.537 |
| MIA | 86 | 76 | 0.531 |
| PHI | 85 | 77 | 0.525 |
| NYM | 68 | 94 | 0.420 |
Here is my sleeper. I like the Nats a great deal this season. They have an improved rotation, a deep bullpen, and while Mike Morse should regress some, Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman should bounce back nicely. This division is chock full of talent though, so it won't be easy, and really any team from one-through-four could come out on top. But I think this is the year that the Phillies fall apart. And while Miami should be better, I think Atlanta has enough starting pitching depth to put them over the top and into one of the Wild Card spots. I was one of just two FG people (Zach Sanders being the other) to pick Washington for the division, and one of just eight to pick Atlanta to reach the postseason at all.
| NL Cent | W | L | PCT |
| STL | 89 | 73 | 0.549 |
| CIN | 87 | 75 | 0.537 |
| MIL | 83 | 79 | 0.512 |
| CHC | 75 | 89 | 0.451 |
| PIT | 71 | 91 | 0.438 |
| HOU | 56 | 106 | 0.346 |
As we saw tonight, the Cardinals are still going to be a formidable team. I detailed it on Monday in my first ESPN Insider piece (check back for one every Monday), but they are very deep in all three phases -- lineup, rotation and bullpen. I would love to pick the Reds to win the division, but I just don't trust Dusty Baker. I don't see why Bronson Arroyo is still on that squad. I could see the Cubs at better than 75 wins, but at this time, I don't see where their extra wins would come from, so I'll stand on 75. I was one of just six FG people to take St. Louis to win the Central, and one of five to slot Cincy for a Wild Card berth.
| NL West | W | L | PCT |
| ARI | 93 | 69 | 0.574 |
| LAD | 85 | 77 | 0.525 |
| SF | 83 | 79 | 0.512 |
| COL | 78 | 84 | 0.481 |
| SD | 74 | 88 | 0.457 |
Arizona has a wealth of pitching, and could be even better this year. What's more, they're a fun team to watch, which is a plus. As for the Giants, I just don't believe in their offense, at all. The Dodgers' offense won't be much better, but I expect the Kemp-Ethier duo to be better than Sandoval-Posey. And I also think the Dodgers will play better defense.
Atlanta takes the Wild Card play-in, loses to Arizona in the DS, and St. Louis takes down Washington in the other DS. In the LCS, Arizona bests St. Louis, setting up an incredibly entertaining D-backs-Rangers World Series.
I think that my favorite part of doing these picks was realizing that there really is no obvious favorite, and that was borne out in the FanGraphs' picks.
Happy Opening Day everyone. It's going to be a great year.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
A Brief Reminder of Bill Belichick's Brilliance
The Patriots defense has not played particularly well this season. Or for the last couple of seasons, to be perfectly honest. But the strength of a Bill Belichick defense has always been that they take away your greatest strength, essentially daring you to beat them with one hand tied behind your back. Last night, the Patriots D was able to do that to the Broncos, and as good as Tom Brady and Co. were, the play of the defense was why the Patriots so utterly dominated the Broncos.
The Broncos were a running team this season. Overall, they averaged 4.8 yards per carry (6th in the NFL) and 164.5 yards per game on the ground (1st in the NFL by 11.5 yards per game). Last night, the Patriots took away the run. The Broncos only averaged 3.6 yards per carry, and while they did pile up 144 yards, much of that was due to the fact that they refused to abandon the run in the second half.
Stopping the run stops all of the Broncos' offensive momentum, as they seem most effective at throwing the ball when they can utilize play action. With the threat of the run neutralized early, the Patriots were not fooled by the Broncos' play action. This was most notable when Gerard Warren came bursting through the line and went straight for Tebow, wrestling him to the ground before he even had a chance to turn around.
The Patriots put the game out of reach in the final two minutes of the first half, but up until that point Denver still had a chance. But the reason they weren't able to gain much traction is because the Pats forced them to win without their best weapon, and they simply aren't a good enough team to do that.
The Broncos were a running team this season. Overall, they averaged 4.8 yards per carry (6th in the NFL) and 164.5 yards per game on the ground (1st in the NFL by 11.5 yards per game). Last night, the Patriots took away the run. The Broncos only averaged 3.6 yards per carry, and while they did pile up 144 yards, much of that was due to the fact that they refused to abandon the run in the second half.
Stopping the run stops all of the Broncos' offensive momentum, as they seem most effective at throwing the ball when they can utilize play action. With the threat of the run neutralized early, the Patriots were not fooled by the Broncos' play action. This was most notable when Gerard Warren came bursting through the line and went straight for Tebow, wrestling him to the ground before he even had a chance to turn around.
The Patriots put the game out of reach in the final two minutes of the first half, but up until that point Denver still had a chance. But the reason they weren't able to gain much traction is because the Pats forced them to win without their best weapon, and they simply aren't a good enough team to do that.
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