Best of 2009: Beat Drop Leftovers

Here are a few more beats that stood out to me this year but that I didn’t submit to the Beat Drop for one reason or another, none of which had anything to do with the actual enjoyability of the beats.

G-Side “Rising Sun” [prod. Block Beattaz]
I knew Brandon would pick this one and he writes way better than me so I figured I better not even try lest I sound completely retarded in comparison. He pretty much covers it in the Beat Drop and on No Trivia. But one detail I’m partial to is the times during ST’s verse when Block Beattaz throw a quick effect onto the end of his line. Like when ST raps “Methadone music, crack gone rap/Syrup in a song,” the word “rap” has this screwed up effect which morphs into a chipmunk effect for “syrup,” signifying Southern rap music and its reliance on drugs as a topic and as an aesthetic. They use the same effect when ST spits “You ain’t a G, you a dude(?) do boy, I’m a W-2 boy” and “W-2 boy” is screwed. It’s like trying to usurp the musical language of crack rap for the purposes of responsible hustler rap. Obviously, I’m overthinking it but it was a small detail that I appreciated nonetheless.

Mos Def ft. Slick Rick “Auditorium” [prod. Madlib]
Another joint I figured Brandon might choose. Not much to this here, it just happens to be this extremely dope, Mid-Eastern, trek-across-deserts sample, wrapped in as much mystery as Madlib himself. I actually kinda want to hear Rakim on this since he’s got this similar mysterious, mythological vibe emanating from him. Definitely would’ve been better than anything on The Seventh Seal, but I digress.

Beautiful Skin Mix

I made a mix for a girl (who we will from here on out refer to simply as Girl) for her birthday because I’m a sucker like that. I won’t exactly be sharing it with you because yknow, it’s a gift for her and not you. But I did take some time picking out the songs and sequencing them and I thought I did a pretty good job. This isn’t saying much but this is my best mix yet (thanks also in large part to Audacity, which I’m finally beginning to learn how to use). Here’s what I included in the mix and some explanation of why. It’s mostly love/girls’ songs because I generally don’t give girls enough credit to be down with hard-assed gangster rap (except Monique, who is a 5-star chick like that) and also shottas don’t make for good hollas. But it’s still generally good rappity rap regardless.

1. Ryan Leslie – How It Was Supposed To Be

Well, except for this. I don’t listen to enough R&B to be a good judge but Ryan Leslie’s album is one of the best R&B albums I’ve heard in years. And this song has been stuck in my head for months, causing me to involuntarily sing it aloud throughout the day, sometimes rocking the harmony, betraying my high school choir roots (poorly at that …… our choir really sucked). I realize throwing this in first sounds cocky like “This is how a mixtape is supposed to be done.” But it’s just that this is the only straight-up R&B joint and I didn’t know how to fit that into the mix. I decided to tack it onto either the beginning or the end. I chose the beginning because it’s upbeat and I want to start off upbeat or fun for the mix.

2. Method Man & Redman – Mrs. International

These first four songs are all songs with fun concepts. It’s no surprise that two of them are from members of the Wu-Tang, which is prone to coming up with great concepts for girl songs (e.g. “Ice Cream,” “Killa Lipstick” come to mind). “Mrs. International” fits right into that mold with a great hook and hilarity from Redman (“Weren’t you on Maury?”). The concept fits the Girl really well too because she loves travelling the globe, is very interested in world politics, and seems to value bougie worldliness in general.

3. Atmosphere – Domestic Dog

The Girl also loves Slug from Atmosphere so I wanted to work him in. This joint off Atmosphere’s very good Strictly Leakage mixtape finds Slug extolling the virtues of picking up chicks at the grocery store. He’s usually really emo so when he gets a chance to be an asshole, it’s refreshing. Great hook too. The song reminds me of my pick up lines, which Girl really enjoys when I use them to fake hit-on her.