2009 Wrap Up: Song of the Year
A while back, my niece asked me “Is December gonn’ be the last month?” When I told her yes, she started to cry. I tried to comfort her and when I asked what was wrong, she responded; “I wanna live…”
“Oh Srei, December is the last month of the year, not the last month of forever.”
Anyway, December usually comes and goes without me really really thinking of it as the end of the year. But since it is, over the next few days I’m gonna throw you some of my favorites from the past 12. Feel free to disagree
Song of the Year: “Exhibit C” by Jay Electronica
I’ll admit, I didn’t even realize Just Blaze could make a beat like this. I just thought he was a goofy dude who had a good ear for samples. Combine his sense of humor, his seemingly obsessive-compulsive nature, and his musical training as a drummer – I figured, no wonder his beats come out so hot. But I swear I didn’t realize he could make beats that could make you cry and isht. It’s like Just making a Dilla joint. Amazing. (I could live without him screaming on it though…)
But as great as the music is – it’s the verses that make the song. Good Lord, it’s just abstract enough to appeal to hip hop nerds, but just gutter enough to appeal to, uhh, other hip hop nerds. He makes references to MF Doom lyrics, Public Enemy lyrics, Run-DMC lyrics, and even Temptations lyrics. He checks 5 Percenter philosophy, streets in his native New Orleans, in Philly, in Detroit, baller rappers like Nas, Diddy, and Q-Tip, plus Nikola Tesla, and then implies he’s more real than any of the world’s religions. And he does this all in two verses without ever boring you or making you feel like he’s trying to make you think he’s smart.
The crazy thing to me is, when I first started hearing Jay Elec joints on the Internets, I was always like “what’s the big deal? This guy rhymes in robot slang.” I didn’t really see what appealed to people about him, but I get it now.
Damn I get it.
Favorite line: its quite amazing that you rhyme how you do/ and how you shine like you grew up in a shrine in Peru
Tags: music