I was chatting sh** with the homie MFKNRMX, and the topic steered unto the concept of "The Best." In this particular instance we were discussing the idea of the greatest MC of all time, or the "G.O.A.T." as is the term in hip-hop circles. We came to the conclusion that such a promulgation is impossible to declare. This belief that any one of us has any idea of what is "the best" is inane. We live in the information age; more data is emitted than any one possible person can process. For reasons of simplicity, I will be focusing upon music-specifically albums released in 2013. I am not here to insult your taste with any declaration of what is the best. I don't know what is the best; that's totally subjective. I prefer to expound a spell upon about ten albums that I found myself listening to quite often. As mentioned, an incomprehensible amount of music is released daily. I haven't heard it all. I have no interest in hearing every trap beat posted on SoundCloud. Leave that to the critics. Rather than argue religion, politics and who recorded the best album of 2013, I'll just let y'all ride with me as I fire off my favorite albums of 2013.
My criteria and scientific process is fairly elementary. I first perused my iPhone and wrote down every album from this year that moved me. After that, I scrolled through all the 2013 music in my iTunes database to make sure I didn't miss anything. Afterwards, I excruciatingly began eliminating albums. The ten that remain are the ten that I am writing on, in no particular order...
Jessy Lanza, Pull My Hair Back
Hyperdub has it easy. Their reputation precedes them. I will pretty much listen to anything they release. I came across this album without knowing that it was a Hyperdub release. I liked the album art and the title was certainly inviting, so I listened to it. I immediately played it again. What I like most about this album is the subtlety of the final product. She laid off the compressor and you can hear that. There is a lot of this new age R&B happening at the moment, and I like a lot of it, but usually it's just some chick singing over a beat that a based dude should actually be rapping over. The sounds don't meld naturally. Jessy Lanza is creating her own mood in her music. This is a versatile album; the vocals are subdued enough that you could read to it, but it is s**y enough that you could slow crush to it.
"Pull My Hair Back"
Blue Sky Black d**h, Glaciers
I've been listening to Blue Sky Black d**h since way back when their sound was a bit more influenced by East Coast production, and collaborators included MCs Hell Razah, Holocaust and Gutta. Even then, their production was solid, but it seemed as if they were still developing an idiosyncratic style. Their work was also undeniably diverse, enough so to create an indie album with Yes Alexander.
Something happened when BSBD relocated to Seattle. Possibly attributed to the inclement weather that the city is known for, BSBD's dark sound became more shrouded. To compliment this evolution of sound came a new cast of collaborators, Nacho Pica**o, Skull and Bones and Deniro Farrar; MCs who were drastically different, both stylistically and topically, than the MCs that BSBD had previously worked with. There was a perfect synergy within the music these artists created. I am guessing that the evolution evident in their later Seattle-based work created a warranted sense of confidence within BSBD that may have been the impetus for Glaciers.
My expectations for Glaciers were indeed high, only because I expected BSBD to mature sonically yet again. As impressive as Late Night Cinema was, NOIR progressed their sound. I was very curious as to how this audible progression would continue. Glaciers is a daring album to create in 2013. Over the course of sixty minutes, five tracks evolve from meagre two-bar loop beginnings into grandiose legends of sound. These songs actually mutate beyond themselves without the inherent arrogance of experimental electronic music. You can still nod your head to this album. No insane drum
programming that disrupts the rhythm. Merely some very well-planned and perfectly executed long-a** songs in an age where I'm being told that people no longer have the patience to read a complete paragraph.
"III"
Snoopzilla & Dam-Funk, 7 Days of Funk
Snoop Dogg is like Nas to me. Not stylistically, but I view their body of work in a similar fashion. Both artists made cla**ic debut albums (also note that The Chronic owed as much to Snoop as it did to Dr. Dre), and after those albums they began to exist in the nether realm of rappers who make albums that contain instances of their former greatness, be it inconsistently. I listen to Illmatic and few other preferred songs from across the Nas discography. Concerning Snoop's catalog, I really only listen to Doggy Style and a**orted tracks from various albums. I recognise the genius of both artists, I just prefer to listen to their earlier albums.
Well, 7 Days of Funk is an interdimensional portal that takes a listener back to what made us love Snoop in the first place. I refuse to overan*lyze this album. It serves its purpose to perfection. This EP is perfect for driving in California on a summer afternoon, in route to a barbecue with your left arm hanging out the door, catching a tan. This truly is that funk that has been missing in contemporary music. I'm just hoping that they do another album and that the next one has more songs on it.
"Let It Go"
Blood Orange, Cupid Deluxe
I had been listening to this dude's music, but I didn't do the historiography on who I was listening to. As I am a hipster, I was previously aware of Lightspeed Champion. I surely would not have guessed that these groups had Dev Hynes in common without having done further research. Cupid Deluxe is just a joy to listen to. I am definitely privy to albums that I can let play as a entire cohesive piece, without the need for fast-forwarding. As much as I liked Master P and No Limit, those dudes began a trend of making vast 70-minute collections of singles rather than actual albums. Blood Orange captivates the entire journey. The album is perfectly balanced.
Of particular note to me were the two MCs that guest feature on the album. When I first heard them on "Clipped On" and "High Street," I was like, "I know who the f** this is." After perusing liner notes I realized I was listening to Despot and Skepta(!); quite impressive choices for guest vocals. And lest I forget he's got the homie Dave Longstreth from Dirty Projectors on this joint. It's albums like this that I truly enjoy, for they are difficult to categorize. I believe that we are entering an epochal period in music where in genres and distribution are becoming obsolete. I look forward to more experimentation as such with sound.
"On the Line"
Caz Greez, Misfit
In December of 2012, BSBD released a free album entitled 'BSBD presents Skull & Bones.' I had no idea who or what Skull & Bones was, other than the obvious allusion towards the infamous secret society. I listened to the release with an open ear. As usual, the beats were incredible; they continued thematically with this evil sound, but there was something about this album that really caught my attention. I then realized that these two dudes rapping-whose names I didn't learn for quite some time-upon initial listen sounded like standard trap rappers, but with deeper investigation one heard these guys were really doing something quite novel and rather good.
I later learned that the dudes rapping were Bolo Nef and Caz Greez, Seattle transplants who alongside a producer named Khrist Koopa were part of a soi dissant cult called "UDF". UDF stands for Underworld Dust Funk or sometimes, "Unity Diversity Freedom." These dudes made the drug life sound authentic and novel, a difficult feat to pull of in a period when Miley Cyrus has her tongue out waiting for Molly. I'm old, so I remember a time when rappers told us that they "don't smoke weed or sess." Drugs always have had a place within hip-hop, but since the conception and popularization of hip-hop in the 70s, the opinion regarding which d** are considered acceptable for personal consumption in a public setting have been greatly liberalized. In the early 90s, Cypress Hill declared it acceptable to inhale marijuana. Tha Alkaholiks made binge-drinking sound cool. Rappers from the Bay Area were referencing ecstasy and MDMA in the late 90s-early 00s, about the same time that the Three 6 Mafia were promoting c**aine usage. We are amidst a global economic crisis that is altering the quality of life for many, particularly disenfranchised young people in developed countries like America. During economic downturns, denizens tend to turn up more often. What I hear from UDF is documentary music in the vein of NWA; completely unabashed and offensive to people unfamiliar with such an environment, yet surprisingly honest and nuanced for people either in the know or with a working imagination. UDF is like Mobb Deep on DMT. Possibly even EPMD on MDMA. Maybe Outkast on some drug that my square-a** has never heard of.
This Misfit album is the culmination of a lot of related music I have enjoyed throughout the year. The primary producers of the album are Khrist Koopa and Ryan Evans, both of whom produced incredible albums this year with Caz Greez's Underworld Dustfunk, UDF's Bars & Bullets and Ryan Evans' Widow Maker, set the framework for a sinister soundscape that perfectly compliment Caz Greez's tales of extreme drug use, paranoia and deviant s**. This music is really dark; possibly too evil for most listeners. This album was made for Sunday mornings. Not a reference to church-going folks, but rather to the vampires who will be up for days on end, living in an underbelly that most of us tend to avoid. I look forward to hearing more music from the people involved in the creation of this album.
"Days in Delusion"