December 19, 2009
The Best Rap Albums of 2009: Part 1
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.
The Jesus Lizard and Bad Brains to Play Free VICE Sponsored Halloween Party In Brooklyn; Theme of Night: 1994; Year Bad Brains Stopped Making Good Music: 1988 [Brooklyn Vegan]
Norwegian “Take on Me” Writers A-Ha Split After 25 Year Career; I Struggle With Realization That A-Ha Had a Career That Spanned Longer Than the Four Minutes of the “Take on Me” Music Video [NME]
Athens Alt-Rock Trio the Whigs Release New Song “In the Dark;” So if the Whigs are “Alt-Rock Revival,” and “Alt-Rock” Was a Way of Describing “Post-Punk” That Went Mainstream, Does That Mean the Whigs are Simulating an Invented Genre, and Are Then Inherently Meaningless? (No, This Song Shreds) [The Tripwire]
Stream Glitched-Out, Doo-Wop Garage Pop Cover of “I Only Have Eyes For You” By Sweden’s Summer Camp – Starts Abrasive; Ends Blissfully Saccharine (In a “I’m Listening To This On My Gameboy” Way) [Gorilla vs. Bear]
Watch Former Be Your Own Pet Frontwoman Jemina Pearl’s Video For “I Hate People;” Features Thurston Moore As a Bespectacled Fry Cook (Which He Should Probably Take Up a Career As), and Cut Outs of Iggy Pop Singing With Pearl; The Entire Thing as Strange as It Sounds [Stereogum]
White Stripes to Release Early Outtakes Through Jack White’s Third Man Records Vault – I May Set Up My First Paid Internet Subscription in Like 5 Years For This [Pitchfork]
Slow News Day; I Report Story About Soulja Boi Getting Evicted From His L.A. Apartment For Unpaid Rent (Let’s See Him “Superman” His Way Out of This One (I Don’t Actually Want to See That)) [Prefix]
Stream New N.E.R.D. Featuring Santigold, “Soldier” – Heavily Influx of Regatone, With the Most Blistering Production the Neptunes Have Done in a Long Time [KanyeUniverseCity]
compiled by Max Sebela
My Morning Jacket’s Jim James to Release George Harrison Covers EP [Billboard]
Highline Ballroom Curate Concerts at The Beach on Governor’s Island [Brooklyn Vegan]
Dirty Projectors in Van Accident. Band Safe, Dates Canceled, All a Bitte Shaken Up (Awful Pun) [Brooklyn Vegan]
Franz Ferdinand, Weezer, The National (and more!) to Play Free Virgin Festival in Maryland [Spin]
Snoop Dogg, Talib Kweli, Soulja Boy, and Buzz Aldrin?! Collaborate on Single?!…Uhh?! [Spin]
The Roots Debut First Single From Upcoming How I Got Over Tonight on Jimmy Fallon [Pitchfork]
Pavement Singer/Guitarist Scott Kannberg to Release First Solo Album The Real Feel as Pavement Pseudonym “Spiral Stairs” [Matablog]
Bon Iver/Collections of Colonies of Bees Side Project Volcano Choir Ready Debut Unmap – Due Out 9/22 No Surprise: Artwork Features Snow [Prefix]
Lil Wayne Drug Possession Trial Postponed Until August 11 [Prefix]
compiled by Max Sebela
