So, as stated before, I’m looking for folks who might be interested in doingf a Sunday Seven of their own, since I’d like to know what’s in YOUR CD collections. If you want to contribute on a Sunday in the future, drop me a line (musicpublisher@consumerhelpweb.com) and I’ll sign you up.
My dear iPod is about to be completely filled. I’m operating with about 1.5 gigs left. One solid release day and I’m sunk. Let the unchecking begin!
Here’s this week’s seven:
OK, so we’re only an hour-20 songs (ed. note, actually, 40 songs…I wrote this Tuesday morning)-into VH-1’s list of the Top 100 rap songs of all time. While I’m absolutely grateful that VH-1 takes the time every year, via its’ Hip-Hop Honors special, to honor the pioneers of hip-hop in a way that the networks you’d EXPECT to be honoring them don’t (hello, BET), I must admit that, as a true school hip-hop fan, some of their choices are severe head-scratchers. I mean, who told VH-1 to honor Missy Elliott before Queen Latifah or Dr. Dre? Hell, Missy’s less qualified to be enshrined in any sort of Hip-Hop Hall of Fame than any of this year’s 5 honorees, who range from “it’s about time” (Slick Rick, De La Soul, Too $hort) to borderline acts like Cypress Hill and Naughty by Nature. Not that I don’t dig either group, but Cypress followed up one absolutely sensational debut with a sea of mediocre albums, while Naughty released a string of excellent singles but never put it together for one truly great album.
Now I’ll admit. I’m a friggin’ sucker for countdowns, and VH-1’s pop culture specials are usually on point. I’ve often fantasized about being a panelist on one of those “I Love the…” specials. Hell, you could give me a lobotomy and I’d be funnier than Mo Rocca. That said, this list of the greatest hip-hop songs leaves me a little cold (so far) for a couple of reasons.
Because of my age and where I grew up, I’m always going to give the stank eye to anyone who claims to be a hip-hop authority. That said, VH-1 has already erred big time with a couple of their choices. I absolutely adore PM Dawn’s “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss”, but is that really a hip-hop record? (I do, however, think they missed a golden opportunity by not having KRS-ONE comment on the record). While “Memory Bliss”‘s inclusion is certainly debatable, I don’t think there’s one single person who would agree with the inclusion of L’Trimm’s “Cars That Go Boom”. Miami bass? Certainly. Freestyle? Okay. Hip-hop?? That’s stretchin’ it, folks. Granted, there’s probably a noticeable lack of female emcees on this countdown, which could explain why they shoehorned L’ Trimm in, but any real hip-hop fan who watched that segment had to have at least a little of the taste of disgust swirling around in his or her mouth.
It also seems like some artists were included just for the sake of a broad representation and so certain artists didn’t take up too many spots on the countdown. I don’t know that Eve even makes a list of Top 100 female rappers, so to have one of her songs (and “Who’s That Girl” of all of them) on the countdown is a bit surprising. And where they got some of the artist choices right (nice to see Jungle Brothers on this countdown, although the thought of Baby Bam in glam-rock makeup will haunt me for the next several weeks), their song choices (“What U Waitin’ For?” instead of “I’ll House You”? Really?…) leave much to be desired. Although I think they substituted because “I’ll House You” doesn’t have a video.
Of course, you know the whole opinions are like assholes… theory, and I suppose I should be grateful that the network once considered MTV’s stale cousin is the only TV station doing right by hip-hop these days. However, I still would love to see who the panel is that voted for this countdown, so I can smack the person who said it would be a good idea for “Cars That Go Boom” to be on this list…
This week’s seven is being brought to you during commercial breaks for the Emmy Awards, which is surprisingly funny and entertaining this year.
Ah, and if anyone would like to do a Guest Sunday Seven, please let me know. Let’s get busy.
Track 1: “The Blast (live)” by Talib Kweli & Erykah Badu
This is a live version of Kweli’s hit taken from “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party”, a show I actually had an invite to and skipped. Because it was raining and I’m a lazy bastard. I regretted going for a while, and then while sitting in the movie theater watching the movie version, I realized I had a much better view of what was going on at the show than I would have had I actually gone to the show.
This version has more energy than Kweli’s studio version on “Reflection Eternal”, and Badu is a nice touch on the chorus. He’s a little husky here, but he sounds energetic, something he didn’t when I saw him in an underwhelming performance opening for the Beastie Boys three years ago.