Here are my favorite ten songs of the past twelve months.
10. “Craft Brewed” (ft. Silent Knight) – J57
Another year, another list almost done! The last and (in my opinion) best 10 songs of 2011. Here it goes. The ten-spot goes to the song “Craft Brewed” by J57, who is a relative newcomer to hip-hop (I saw his name attached to several projects this year). The drums on here are just amazing. This is one of those jams that when I hear it, the volume gets a cranking. It just sounds so danceable and bouncy. I have yet to hear this in a club setting, but I imagine it’ll work like magic.
The song isn’t that old (released around November I think), it was part of a Brown Bag AllStars compilation I found on the net. The production on “Craft Brewed” immediately made J57 a candidate for my ‘ones to watch in 2012’ list. The beat is hard-hitting! One of the hardest I’ve heard all year round. Looking forward to hearing more, and Silent Knight did an his thing on this beat. His flow and voice matched quite nicely.
It’s that time of the year again, folks. The time when every critic and/or blogger tries to give you the definitive answer to that all important question: “What was good in 2011?”
These ‘end year lists’ come in many different forms, and cover almost any cultural or creative output imaginable, from best movies to best literary works. For one month the entire web is hell-bent on educating the masses on what they should be reading, watching or listening to. And it usually results in quite an interesting, if not, very entertaining read.
In the past four years I’ve contributed to this tradition by making a yearly Top 100 list of my favorite songs. Each year I would write a series of ten blogs, in which I would discuss ten songs per blog (counting down from a hundred).
This year’s “Soundtrack of 2011” series represents a collection of songs that piqued my interest over the past eleven and a half months. The reason for their inclusion in this list can be attributed to a number of things namely, lyrical content, musicality and sentimental value.
The list will cover a wide range of musical genres, but at the end of the day its main focus is on black music. Hip hop, soul, jazz and R&B are all very well represented in this list.
So, without any further ado……let the countdown commence!
For now I’ll leave you with an excerpt from a review I find to be very spot-on:
“Undun is based on a character, Redford Stephens, who is faced with the experiences, limitations, and mortality of the streets and drug life. An incredibly dark and even sometimes morbid album, it conveys Redford’s existence in life and death as predestined. And so he gives in to the life, seeming to have no choice: “Illegal activity controls/my black symphony/Orchestrated like it happened incidentally.”
undun is wrought with dark, regretful tones, but it is the lyrics (delivered effortlessly by Black Thought, Big K.R.I.T., Aaron Livingston, Dice Raw, P.O.R.N., Phonte, Truck North, and Bilal) that drive the emotion. The grand leitmotifs of Redmond’s story are woven carefully in the lyrics, so they become vivid when paired with the slow, somber neo-funk tones.
The Roots are known for crossover success and integrating a wide array of genres and influences into their art, and this album is no exception. What makes this album exceptional, however, is the way they have taken intense themes and topics, yet blended them delicately into an album that any music fan will find remarkable. It is the rare piece of music that can speak to many, yet speak to one. The Roots have created a beautiful, heartbreaking album that accomplishes just that.” – (excerpt from prettymuchamazing.com)
It’s that time of the year again, folks. The time when every critic and/or blogger tries to give you the definitive answer to that all important question: “What was good in 2011?”
These ‘end year lists’ come in many different forms, and cover almost any cultural or creative output imaginable, from best movies to best literary works. For one month the entire web is hell-bent on educating the masses on what they should be reading, watching or listening to. And it usually results in quite an interesting, if not, very entertaining read.
In the past four years I’ve contributed to this tradition by making a yearly Top 100 list of my favorite songs. Each year I would write a series of ten blogs, in which I would discuss ten songs per blog (counting down from a hundred).
This year’s “Soundtrack of 2011” series represents a collection of songs that piqued my interest over the past eleven and a half months. The reason for their inclusion in this list can be attributed to a number of things namely, lyrical content, musicality and sentimental value.
The list will cover a wide range of musical genres, but at the end of the day its main focus is on black music. Hip hop, soul, jazz and R&B are all very well represented in this list.
So, without any further ado……let the countdown commence!
This is a school example of how to get the most mileage out of a sample. Feist’s “Limit To Your Love” gets a really elegant reworking for Silent Knight’s “Stayin’ Busy”. I admit that I was sceptical at first; especially considering James Blake already delivered the best possible cover imaginable. But after hearing it several times, the beat grew on me. Until eventually I couldn’t get enough of it.
As far as mic presence goes, Silent Knight outdid himself on this project. He makes his rhymes very easily accessible by sticking to what he knows best. The content combined with his delivery make for a very pleasant listen. While the rest of Silent Knight’s album “Busy Is My Best Friend” is quite noteworthy, this track (Stayin’ Busy) still remains my favorite.
It’s that time of the year again, folks. The time when every critic and/or blogger tries to give you the definitive answer to that all important question: “What was good in 2011?”
These ‘end year lists’ come in many different forms, and cover almost any cultural or creative output imaginable, from best movies to best literary works. For one month the entire web is hell-bent on educating the masses on what they should be reading, watching or listening to. And it usually results in quite an interesting, if not, very entertaining read.
In the past four years I’ve contributed to this tradition by making a yearly Top 100 list of my favorite songs. Each year I would write a series of ten blogs, in which I would discuss ten songs per blog (counting down from a hundred).
This year’s “Soundtrack of 2011” series represents a collection of songs that piqued my interest over the past eleven and a half months. The reason for their inclusion in this list can be attributed to a number of things namely, lyrical content, musicality and sentimental value.
The list will cover a wide range of musical genres, but at the end of the day its main focus is on black music. Hip hop, soul, jazz and R&B are all very well represented in this list.
So, without any further ado……let the countdown commence!
Gerald Walker is someone I hope to hear a lot from in the upcoming years. He’s been on the grind for some time now; releasing several high-quality mixtapes and a ton of great tracks. His “The Other Half Of Letting Go” project proved once more that the combination of R&B vocals and hip-hop beats could lead to some stunning results. The fact that Gerald Walker can out sing Drake any day of the week also doesn’t hurt.
“It’s All Real” was by far my favorite track on this project. It reminded me of those old laidback G-funk cuts by dudes like Warren G. Not that this is exactly like that, but the groundwork is the same. Another thing that comes to mind when listening to this song is the resemblance with some of the more mellow cuts by hip-hop outfit Bone Thugs and Harmony. What I want to say here is that this song brings back a lot of memories and feelings, and therefore is very deserving of a place in my list.
It’s that time of the year again, folks. The time when every critic and/or blogger tries to give you the definitive answer to that all important question: “What was good in 2011?”
These ‘end year lists’ come in many different forms, and cover almost any cultural or creative output imaginable, from best movies to best literary works. For one month the entire web is hell-bent on educating the masses on what they should be reading, watching or listening to. And it usually results in quite an interesting, if not, very entertaining read.
In the past four years I’ve contributed to this tradition by making a yearly Top 100 list of my favorite songs. Each year I would write a series of ten blogs, in which I would discuss ten songs per blog (counting down from a hundred).
This year’s “Soundtrack of 2011” series represents a collection of songs that piqued my interest over the past eleven and a half months. The reason for their inclusion in this list can be attributed to a number of things namely, lyrical content, musicality and sentimental value.
The list will cover a wide range of musical genres, but at the end of the day its main focus is on black music. Hip hop, soul, jazz and R&B are all very well represented in this list.
So, without any further ado……let the countdown commence!
With his sophomore solo release Washington emcee yU opted for a slightly different production sound. That old skool Boom Bap sound provided by Oddisee on their group effort Diamond District has been traded in for a jazzier counterpart. And given yU’s voice, flow and subject matter, I’d say the match is quit fitting.
Anyone familiar with his solo project “Before Taxes” will instantly know that this dude is one seriously talented cat. And with “The Earn” he delivers yet again. This record is very down-to-earth. yU talks about the things that matter to him; “The Earn” is basically what you get when you take rap music and strip it of all its macho bullshit. Nothing but ‘real talk’ and dope beats.
“Write On” is one of my favorite cuts on the album. I especially love the spoken word segment in the middle. Delivering pearls of wisdom like: “Art will always remain a remedy for pain”.
It’s that time of the year again, folks. The time when every critic and/or blogger tries to give you the definitive answer to that all important question: “What was good in 2011?”
These ‘end year lists’ come in many different forms, and cover almost any cultural or creative output imaginable, from best movies to best literary works. For one month the entire web is hell-bent on educating the masses on what they should be reading, watching or listening to. And it usually results in quite an interesting, if not, very entertaining read.
In the past four years I’ve contributed to this tradition by making a yearly Top 100 list of my favorite songs. Each year I would write a series of ten blogs, in which I would discuss ten songs per blog (counting down from a hundred).
This year’s “Soundtrack of 2011” series represents a collection of songs that piqued my interest over the past eleven and a half months. The reason for their inclusion in this list can be attributed to a number of things namely, lyrical content, musicality and sentimental value.
The list will cover a wide range of musical genres, but at the end of the day its main focus is on black music. Hip hop, soul, jazz and R&B are all very well represented in this list.
So, without any further ado……let the countdown commence!
This is the very first song in the Dutch language to ever make it on my list. I’m serious! Wudstik’s second solo album was a risky undertaking, seeing as most people know him as a rapper. For “Vind” (the album’s title, which means ‘to find’) however, he decided to explore his singing ability. And my god can this man sing! Taking notes from various American R&B/Soul singers Wudstik has crafted a very elegant, meaningful and smooth R&B record.
The thing that struck me the most about this project is the level of maturity in the writing. Unlike most R&B albums, this has a sense of honesty about it. All the fronting and posing that is usually associated with this type of sound is gone. What remains is a beautifully sincere and heartfelt record filled with love songs.
10. “Craft Brewed” (ft. Silent Knight) – J57
