THIS WEEK IN HIP HOP
In terms of rap music, 2009 has been both utterly depressing and magnificently awe-inspiring. Through the years, music has slowly become more and more diverse but also more and more fragmented. That fact has never felt more palpable than now. Think about it: in 2019, what will we think of 2009? A decade from now, what song from 2009 will we be able to say “Now THAT was our song”? What song will come on the radio unexpectedly in 2019 (if we still even have radios by then) and unite us all in head-nodding, booty-shaking, lyric-mouthing merriment? It’s a scary thought to think that 2009 might not have contributed anything more to the collective hip-hop canon (if we still even have that by 2019) than Drake’s “Best I Ever Had.”

On the other hand, this fragmentation has led to a ton of really great music. Since we aren’t buying records en masse anymore, most artists kind of stopped giving a fuck about scoring radio hits and have taken rap into bold new territories. DJ Quik busted out the world music crates. Mos Def crafted a cohesive album with approximately one and a half hooks altogether. Gucci Mane came up with 1,000 synonyms for his jewelry. Ghostface Killah formally legitimated the art of “Rap & Bullshit.” Some kids from LA revived hyphy while doing the Running Man backwards in bright skinny jeans. Fuck, even Soulja Boy started experimenting with backpack rap. Yes, God exists. And he’s got his swag turned on.

But before we jump into this “Best Of” list, an editorial note: this is one moonlighting critic’s personal taste in rap, which carries with it plenty of limitations. Not the least of which is time and energy. Try as I might, it takes special circumstances for any one person to really keep up with rap. This is not at all a definitive list. It’s merely a jumping off point to share good music with you. Actually, I’m hoping fellow Jezebel Music rap head, Matt, tells me I’m completely full of shit and then clues me in on everything I missed. And I hope you do the same for me too. (For “The Best Rap Albums of 2009: Part 2,” go here.)

10. Lil Wayne & Juelz Santana | My Face Can’t Be Felt
Lil Wayne fans have been hailing the No Ceilings mixtape as Weezy’s triumphant return to rapping form after a year or so of coasting on the superstardom afforded from Tha Carter III. And yeah, he has come back to snapping some pretty good punchlines. But I think his greater strength is in the raw emotion and truth he spills out from time to time. To date, two of the most memorable musical moments of Lil Wayne’s career have been the pained, pleading, nearly-crying hooks to Playaz Circle’s “Duffle Bag Boy” and The Game’s “My Life.” My Face Can’t Be Felt contains more of these vulnerable moments, including the heartbreaking “How Can Something” in which Lil Wayne confesses in great writerly detail the pain of love lost and what that’s meant for the child that’s left in between the two estranged lovers.

More on The Best Rap Albums of 2009: Part 1

Watch Video For Passion Pit’s “Little Secrets” (The One With All Those Kids Screaming “Higher and Higher! Yay!”); Video Looks a Lot Like Tron, But Not Nearly As Good (It’s Only Marginally Better Than Tron Legacy) [Youtube]

Someone Decided a Sleigh Bells/Weezy Mash-Up Was a Good Idea; We Bring You “Fireman on the Ground,” Which is Terrifyingly Abrasive. Elsewhere, Check Out Our Pictures of Sleigh Bells Playing Our October Feature Show [Prefix]

Stream Brooklyn’s Crystal Antlers Covering Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” Which Is Great In a We-Sound-Like-High-Schoolers-Covering-Dylan Kind of Way [Fader]

Your Favorite Post-Collegiate, Post-Ironic, Afro-Bombastic Pop Band Vampire Weekend Announce Winter US Tour; Contra, In All It’s Fantastically Despised Glory, is Released January 17; Elsewhere, Stream New VW Track “Cousins,” Which I Despise Fantastically [NME]

King Khan and BBQ Show Issue Statement About the Band’s Arrest; All Interested Parties Remain Unphased and Unsurprised by Fact that These Guys Keep a Good Stock of Shrooms in Their Tour Van [Pitchfork]

Stream New Beach House, “Norway,” off the Upcoming LP Teen Dream, Released January 26 (I Know, Usually, at the Very Mention of Beach House, I Would Imply How Boring They Are. But, This Song Quite Gorg……. – Whoops, Fell Alseep Again (Kidding, It’s Really Good) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Watch Possibly Seizure Inducing Video For Beyonce and Lady Gagas’ “Video Phone;” I Know You’ve Always Wanted to See Beyonce and Gaga Wield Enormous Guns…Give Into That Urge [Spin]

NME Releases Hilariously “NME-Esque” List of Their Top Albums of the Decade; Top Ten Includes the Strokes (at Number 1), Libertines (Number 2), Primal Scream (Number 3), The Streets (Number 9)…Well, You Get it. They Like Brit-Rock. A Lot [NME]

compiled by Max Sebela

Stream Four Songs Off Gil Scott-Heron’s New Album, I’m New Here, Which, According to Brooklyn Vegan, Will Be Remixed By Goth-Brits The xx; Elsewhere, Does Anyone Know Whether or Not the Revolution is Going to Be Televised This Year? I’m Pretty Sure I Saw It On TV Last Year, But Who Knows…[Brooklyn Vegan]

Speaking of The xx, They Permanently Lose Keyboardist Baria Qureshi – Meaning They Are Now Contending With Only New Kids on the Block For Least Attractive New Kids on the Block Look Alikes [NME]

Stream Animal Collective Playing “Bleeding” Live, a Version of Which Will Appear on the Upcoming Fall Be Kind EP; Released November 26 [Stereogum]

Watch New Video From Clipse, “Doorman,” From the Oft-Delayed Till the Casket Drops, Due Out December 8; Clipse, We Get It, You Love Cocaine, It’s Played Out, No One’s Career Has Ever Been Defined By Their Love of Coc – Oh, Wait, Nevermind. Keep Doin’ What You’re Doin’ [Pitchfork]

Stream Flying Lotus’s Remix of Lil Wayne’s “I Feel Like Dying,” Which May Make You Feel Like Dying (I Apologize For Easy Joke, But C’mon, Flying Lotus’s Doom-Glitch Is Supposed to Make You Feel Like Dying) [Myspace]

Stream Memory Tapes Take On New Yeasayer Single, “Ambling Alp,” Which Retains All of the Original’s Inspiration, But Cuts Away the Almost-Sickening Attention to Detail (Read: Overproduction); Yeasayer’s Odd Blood Released February 9 [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Stream Solange’s (Beyonce’s Little Sister) Cover of Dirty Projectors’ Bitte Orca Highlight “Stillness is the Move,” Which is as Awesome as It Sounds – Elsewhere, Remember When Jay Z Went With Solange to Go See Grizzly Bear? That Was Cool [Pitchfork]

compiled by Max Sebela

Watch Flaming Lips Video For Embryonic Cut, “Watching the Planets,” In Which Wayne Coyne Gets Completely Naked, and a Giant Fur Monster Gives Birth to a Ton of Naked Adults…Flaming Lips, You’ve Gotten So Predictable (Uh, this is Most NSFW Thing Since This) [NME]

Stream Joy Orbison’s Remix of Four Tet’s Single “Love Cry” (Which Sounds Almost Nothing Like the Original Track…Which May or May Not Be a Good Thing); Elsewhere, the Original Version “Love Cry” is On the Upcoming There Is Love In You, Due Out January 26 [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Watch Trailer for Mogwai’s Live Documentary, Burning; Sadly, Trailer Contains No Fire, Just Dramatic Black and White Shots and Post-Rock; Burning Released 2010 [NME]

Lil Wayne Finally Gives Rebirth a Release Date (December 15); 2010 High School Grads Dread Possibly Being Named “Prom Queen” For Fear of Tiresome Chanting, Weezy Mimicry [Tiny Mix Tapes]

Hey, You Like the Hold Steady? (Yes, You Do). Then You Should Probably Be Psyched For Craig Finn’s Former Band, Lifter Puller, Re-releasing All Their Music, Along With a Commemorative Lifter Puller Book. (You Will Be Excited, Or I’ll Make You Excited); Elsewhere, I Am Unhealthily In Love With the Hold Steady [Pitchfork]

Stream Hot Chip’s “Take It In” off the Upcoming (And Announced Yesterday) One Life Stand; Elsewhere, I Beg the Question: Who Likes Hot Chip? I Have Heard They Are Huge, But Have Never Met a Single Person Who Would Call Themselves a Hot Chip Fan. Prove Me Wrong, Readers [Prefix]

Watch Brooklyn’s Merrill Garbus, Better Known as Tune-Yards (Even More Better Known as tUnE-YaRdS) Perform “Real Live Flesh” in the 4AD Studios. It’s Good and Local…Just Like Us [Prefix]

Stream New Atlas Sound, “The Screens,” Which May Be the Most Stripped Bare, Fragile (And Possibly Best) Song Bradford Cox Has Ever Recorded – Download the New Virtual 7 Inch Here [Gorilla vs. Bear]

compiled by Max Sebela

New Jersey Punks Titus Andronicus Had a Really Miserable Time at the Vice Halloween Party (Headlined by Bad Brains and the Jesus Lizard) – Frontman Patrick Stickles Was Thrown on the Street for Dressing Like Ulysses S. Grant; More Importantly, Photos of Stickles as Grant Unavailable [Titus Andronicus]

Watch Gossip Girl Star Leighton Meester Perform Weezer’s “(If You’re Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To;” “Did R.C. Sleep With L. After the Show? How Pissed Was C., When It Happened…Tune In to Find Out xoxo, Gossip Girl” [Spin]

New York Experimental Post Punk Blah Blah Liars Announce New Album, Sisterworld; Band Name Would Suggest That They Actually Did Not Announce New Album – Liars Definitively Untrustworthy [Pitchfork]

Lil Wayne and Birdman Getting Sued by Spoken Word Artist Thomas Marasciullo for Allegedly Sampling His Vocals Without Permission; Meanwhile, Wayne is Both Going to Jail, and Got Baked at Alec Baldwin’s Daughter’s Birthday Party (Yay Puns!) [NME]

Charlotte Gainsbourg’s “Heaven Can Wait” Featuring and Recorded With Beck; Gainsbourg’s Third Album IRM Released January (And It Sounds Like a Wes Anderson Soundtrack) [The Playlist]

Original Stooges Guitarist James Williamson To Rejoin The Stooges After Death of Ron Asheton [Spin]

compiled by Max Sebela

19 Year Old Canadian Singer-Songwriter Taylor Mitchell Mauled by Coyotes at a National Park in Nova Scotia [Brooklyn Vegan]

Watch Video For New No Age, “Losing Feeling;” Contains a Surprising Amount of Motion For Being Shot From the Perspective of An Inanimate Mouse Toy (But Seriously Guys, Mouse Toys Don’t Move) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

As If Social Networking Hasn’t Begun to Simulate Enough of Your Former Life, Facebook Takes Away Foo Fighters (Foo Fighters Are Playing A Gig on Facebook…They Haven’t Been Absorbed Into Mark Zuckerberg’s Web Infrastructure) [NME]

Google Launches “Music Discovery Service” – Service Incapable of Providing Any Music Other Than Lady Gaga and Pet Sounds [Google]

Happy Birthday, Darling, We Got You Exactly What You Wanted: A Cartoonish Cake Recreation of Lil Wayne’s Skull…Yes, Honey, It Is Purple Drank Flavored. Yep, Daughter of Mine, It Scares Me Too [Idolator]

Stream New Four Tet Single, “Love Cry” – Is This a Return to Relevance From Kieran Hebden?! (No…No It Probably Isn’t) [Pitchfork]

Stream Rock Plaza Central (Which Rivals the Worst Band Name I’ve Ever Seen) Covering Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde Classic “I Want You” – One of the Better Dylan Covers I’ve Heard [Prefix]

Goth-Brits The xx Cancel a Bunch of Dates on Their Tour; Say They are “Exhausted” After CMJ (City of Dreams, Make It Here, Make It Anywhere, You Got The Heart, You’ll Get Your Name In Lights, Other Vaudevillian Expressions) [Pitchfork]

Peter Gabriel Covers Radiohead, Magnetic Fields, Bon Iver, and Lou Reed on New Album, Scratch My Back; Released Spring 2010 – It Remains to be Seen Whether Peter Gabriel Will Be the First to Experience “The Vampire Weekend Effect” [NME]

compiled by Max Sebela

Jay Z and Alicia Keys Delay Performance of “Empire State of Mind” at Yankees/Phillies World Series To Thursday; Jay Set to Censor “Empire” For the Performance, Meaning All Uses of “Shit” Will Hopefully Get Changed to “Shoot,” “Poop,” or “Barnacles” [Brooklyn Vegan]

Watch Superchunk Frontman/Merge Records Founder Mac McCaughan Cover Merge Artists Spoon and the Magnetic Fields; He’s Playing “Come Back From San Francisco” Which Is One of the Loveliest of the 69 Love Songs [Spin]

Download Brand New Lil Wayne Mixtape No Ceiling Right Now; Man, The Next Weezy Mixtape May Be Live Mixed From Prison. Possible Prison Titles “Robitussin Prison Blues,” “Me and T.I. Out in the Stockyard,” “My Daddy (Remix)” [Nah Right]

Watch Strokes Frontman Julian Casablancas Sing/Laugh/Be Merry/Look Creepy During a Tonight Show Performance of “11th Dimension;” Upcoming LP Phrazes for the Young Released November 3 [Prefix]

Stream Swedish Duo Air France’s Remix of St. Etienne’s “Spring;” It’s Light and Organic, Unlike Most of Air France’s Material, Which Sounds Almost Directly Ripped From the Soundtrack of Sega’s Sonic Adventure [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Watch Video For Basement Jaxx’s “My Turn,” Which Makes Heavy Use of One of the Most Underrepresented Figures in Nature/Pop Culture: Bears With Swords [Stereogum]

Norwegian DJ Extraordinaire Lindstrøm To Record 40 Minute Version of the “Little Drummer Boy”; Elsewhere, I Pull Out My “List of Things I Really Don’t Need” And Add a 40 Minute Version of “Little Drummer Boy” [Pitchfork]

Watch Brooklynites Real Estate Jam Through a Bunch of Tracks in Uncomfortably Close Quarters in the Tripwire’s Studio; Imagine That it Must Not Smell So Good in that Studio [The Tripwire]

compiled by Max Sebela

Stream Previously Unreleased Track From the Late Great Arthur Russell, “Come to Life,” Recorded in the Late 70s, Which Is Quite Lovely [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Stream New Track From Chicago’s The Lawrence Arms, “Demons,” Which Is Teeming With Midwestern Values (Which Really Just Means It’s Emotive, Non-Blushing Pop Punk); Ask Yourself When The Hell Spin Started Releasing “Exclusive” Tracks From a Local Chicago Band [Spin]

Fantastically Indie-fied Charity Compilation Dark Was the Night, Which Was Released in February, Raised Over $650 Thousand For AIDS Awareness [Pitchfork]

Arcade Fire Working on New Album For 2010? TwentyFourBit Lays Out The Evidence, Forgetting the Fact That Win Butler Has Said Over and Over Again That They Are Currently Writing Material For New Album [TwentyFourBit]

Stream First Official Them Crooked Vultures Song (Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, and John Paul Jones (For The Youngins, That Dude Was In Zeppelin)) Track, “New Fang,” Which Has Guitar So Filthy I Need To Take a Shower; Them Crooked Vultures Released November 17 [Pitchfork]

The Always Innovative Sufjan Stevens To Release “Album” Next Year, Which Will Contain “Songs,” Instead of the High Conceptual Art Pieces Rooted in the Folklore of the 50 States That Have Become So Blasé; Elsewhere, All Albums Contain Fucking Songs, Sufjan [The Tripwire]

NME Quotes Jarvis Cocker: “Pulp Could Reunite for Glastonbury 2010;” Elsewhere, Jarvis Cocker Never Said This In the Referenced Interview; I Make Toast to Poor Music Journalism (And to the Hope That Pulp Actually Does Reunite, Cheers) [NME]

Stream Weez(y)er Collaboration, “Can’t Stop Partying” Off Weezer’s Upcoming LP Ratitude in Which You Can Literally Hear Lil Wayne Lighting a Joint, Which is Risky Considering The Man Is Going to Prison [Idolator]

compiled by Max Sebela