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Top 25 songs of the top 6 months of 06 · by Sach O
Nothing says “nerd” like a damn top 25 list. A mid-year one no less.
With crack week in the rearview, I’m back like cooked…nevermind. What I am back with is a quarter pound of rap tracks that’ve made me smile or wild out in the past year. No particular order, just a mixtape full of bangers to cap off the first half of the year. If you’re still listening to new Hiphop in 2006, you should be listening to this.
1. Ghostface Killah ft. Raekwon – R.A.G.U.
Fishscale had a ton of dope moments, but nothing hit the spot quite like this Pete Rock produced Wu-Banger. Hooking up a choice Delfonics loop and throwing in a string arrangement so bizarre only the Wu could get away with it, this was exactly what I wanted to hear out of Rae and Ghost united. Wu producer Dreddy Krueger agreed and swears up and down that Cuban Linx II will not only match this but blow it out of the water. Let’s hope he’s not lying.
2. T.I – What You Know
The song that had the entire east coast asking about Toomp, T.I’s lead single was a monstrous synth jam of epic proportions. Meanwhile, T.I beat Jeezy at his own adlib game charging the track with a call and response energy that’ll even make the staunchest haters wild out.
3. Gnarls Barkley – Crazy
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard this at least a million times and are now sick of it. Still, there’s no denying the pop genius behind the biggest hit of the year. Cee-Lo delivers the kind of song Andre always wanted to and DM flips a spaghetti western bassline into the radio gold. Their second single “Smiley Faces” was pretty awesome too.
4. Lupe Fiasco – I Got Ya
Lupe Fiasco made a major splash with his Food and Liquor bootleg, but if there’s any justice in the world, this is song that will send him to the top of the pops. Armed with a berserk take on the Natives Tongue sound courtesy of the Neptunes, Lupe goes off with the flow proving that playfulness and fun can still result in viable singles. The crazy piano loop and accordion combo alone will blow your mind.
5. The Roots – Can’t Stop This
Well the first part of the song anyways, I can do without the experimental outro. Regardless, Tariq’s dedication to Jay Dee is touching without being sappy and serves as a perfect ending to the most consistent album of the year. Dilla’s Donut of the Heart is flipped to perfection resulting in one last classic from the man who brought us so many.
6. Apathy – All About the Crime
Ap’s album was all but ignored by the press and the listeners but I’ll keep fighting for it. Celph Titled’s beat sounds like vintage Easy Mo Bee and the scratched Gang Starr and Onyx samples will bring you back to the Illmatic/Bad Boy era. Cats criticized Apathy for spitting about the illegal life, but they obviously skimmed past this banger which does a better job explaining crime than any boasting drug dealer raps.
7. AZ – The Format
With Nas still AWOL, Premo took it upon himself to hook up with AZ again to deliver some raw NY rap. You know the basics: raw drums, rugged bass and creative street lyricism, but it’s the synth flourishes and xylophone that’ll have you editing those “Premo fell off” posts off your damn blog.
8. Snoop Dogg ft B-Real – Vato
The Neptunes deliver again, this time flipping a gothic gangsta beat for Snoopy to reclaim the streets over. The ex Doggy Dogg meanwhile delivers some of the roughest rhymes we’ve heard from him in a while, actually building anticipation for The Blue Carpet Treatment. The kicker though, is B-Real’s over the top chorus warning that “we won’t believe what he saw”.
9. Rick Ross – I’m Bad
From my track by track breakdown: Ross pays tribute to LL Cool J and S.W.A.T at the same time. Clever. This is actually the best pure rapping on the album and Ross does a pretty good job. The breakdown at the beginning of verse 3 is particularly gangsta. If ever I’m in a high speed chase down in Miami, this is the song I’d want to ride to.
10. Saigon – Matter of Time
Not exactly brand new, but this track features some of Sai-giddy’s better verses over a laid back Just Blaze burner. Challenging people to step up and rise above ignorance and calling out “Lil Kim syndrome”, Sai proves that he just might have 06 if ever he drops that album.
11. The Clipse – Mr. Me Too
Probably the most unorthodox track on the list, I still can’t believe they’d choose something so bizarre as the first single to a purportedly mainstream album. Pharell does El-P by lining up clicks, feedback and staccatto drums into a soundscape so weird it’ll leave Aesop Rock wondering how to rhyme to it. So what do the Clipse do? Remind us that half of these crack rappers cold stole their steez. Hype inducing.
12. Raekwon ft Busta Rhymes – State of Grace Remix
The original was the single most awesome track I heard last year, but Busta’s incredible first verse REALLY set it off. Cats were nervous about Cuban Linx II and who could blame them? After all, it’s not as if Raekwon has had a particularly good track record and Rza’s recent efforts seemed half-hearted at best. All doubts were put to rest however the minute this track hit the airwaves. With every subsequent Rae track being solid gold as well, this could go down as the first shot from a classic album.
13. Bootcamp Click – 1 2 3
The Last Stand is a dope album, but it doesn’t exactly parlay in the classic BCC sound. Leave it to Pete Rock to deliver the album’s highlight by flipping a laid back beat that simultaneously takes the listener back to Blackmoon era Brooklyn for the verses and Chronic era Cali for the moog enhanced hook. Buckshot, Sean P and Starang meanwhile do what they do best: talk that blunted eastcoast dialect.
14. Lil Wayne – Tha Mobb
Technically released in 2005, this one still gets a fair amount of burn today. A five minute relentless barrage of rhymes without regard for song-structure, hooks or a topic, this was Wayne’s reintroduction to the world for those who slept on the original Carter. South haters had to swallow their bile while the rest of the world welcomed “the best rapper alive since the best rapper retired” with open arms. Raw and uncut, this track proved that Wayne’s raps were serious. I could put Georgia Bush here, but this track defines Wayne’s evolution better than anything.
15. Chamilionaire – Ridin Dirty
The mixtape messiah bounced back from a mediocre first week by pushing the hell out of this strip-club/highway anthem until he unbelievably surpassed ex-partner Paul Wall in sales. Borrowing the best elements of 50 Cent’s sing-song hooks and merging them to rapid fire flows, Cham pissed off cops worldwide with this one. Plus he even made a Bone Thug member relevant. Another track released in 2005 that made an impact this year.
16. Inspectah Deck – A Lil Story
Mistakenly credited to the Rza, this beat is courtesy of European Wu affiliate Cilvarings. Regardless of the production credit, what’s important is that the Rebel INS returned to full form shaking off the mediocrity of his previous solo work and rumors of a vocal damage. More so than any other track this year, this one made the Wu fans go craaaazzyyyy.
17. Ludacris – War with the Gods
Who was he dissing? T.I? Chingy? Jeezy? Turns out that this battle rap was for whoever took offense and wanted it with Chris. Unsurprisingly, no one chose to take the South’s best lyricist to task after hearing this flow clinic. Luda’s Release Therapy album looks to be his best album yet and this may be the track that ushers in Ludacris as a “serious” artist. Nobody smilin…but everybody’s nodding their heads.
18. LL Cool J ft Freeway – Whatcha waiting for
Ok…so Uncle L’s album sucked terribly. That’s still no reason to ignore the one banger on Todd Smith. It’s pretty cliché, but once every couple of years Cool J delivers a song that reminds us why we always refrain from dissing him. Last time it was “The Truth” off Kay Slay’s tape but “Watcha waiting for” one ups the ante by tag-teaming him with Freeway who sounds absolutely thrilled to be “rhyming with a legend”. If the eastcoast wants to come back, their DJ’s are going to have to start giving love to records like this.
19. Cunninlynguists – Nothing to Give
Another underground gem, CL continue to be the single most slept on group in Hiphop today and it boggles the mind that Big Boi, Luda, T.I or ANYONE below the Mason Dixon line haven’t had the foresight to sign them. With pop potential a plenty and a conscious stance similar to Lupe and Kanye’s, the “A Piece of Strange” production team could be next year’s big thing with the right deal. “Nothing to Give” may not be the most obvious banger on the album but it’s probably the best: dark Shadowesque keys and drums, a vocal sample about how “the trap don’t seem so wrong” and hood raps by Deacon and Natty all merge to form one of the year’s bleakest moments. Let’s hope that Witchdoctor collabo album comes out dope.
20. Method Man ft Lauryn Hill – Things they Say
Probably not the song that’s going to revive Mr. Mef’s career, “Things they say” is a somber reflection on how fucked up things have been for both Mef and his 90’s peers in general. Despite the hate, Meth can still rap like a motherfucker and the bluesy strumming fits his angry honesty like a glove. Let’s hope the rest of the album is this dope.
21. The Game – One Blood
Everyone is saying two things about the Game. First, that his career is over and that he’s completely insane. Second, that he’s rapping better than ever and that he’s completely insane. Abandoning Dre’s mannered melodic bump for a self-produced gutter stomp, Game goes Ice Cube on all his haters (aka the entire music industry). It’s sink or swim time for last year’s big thing, but he may just prove to be good at the breast-stroke (no butterfly tattoo).
22. E-40 – Yay Area“Tell me When to Go” may have been bigger, but it’s the Rick Ross produced, Digable Planets sampling opening from 40 Water’s latest that really set it off. I’m not going to pretend as if I have any authority to speak about Hyphy but I know what I like. I like this.
23. Outkast – The Train
Amidst all the worry about the new Outkast album, they still found a way to sneak in a great song. Flipping the same kind of soft guitar/sitar strumming that Meth and Sermon did on “Things they say” over an adventurous horn driven rhythm, “The Train” is probably the best Outkast song since the broke up (or did they?). Dre and Big Boi still don’t rap enough, but they produced one hell of a head nodder here.
24. Fried ft Rza – When you get out of Jail
Borderline Hiphop, but a great soul song as produced by Rza that won’t get a fraction of the light X-Tina’s Premier produced work will grab. Heavy drums, distorted strings and shimmering pianos accompany unknown singer Fried as she narrates her loneliness while her man is up in the belly of the beast. Bonus points for Rza’s psycho rap at the end.
25. Oh No ft. Buckshot – Get Yours
9th Wonder didn’t do the Buckshot Shorty any favors on their album last year by giving him beats that could best be described as “Black Moon Light”. Thankfully, Oh No doesn’t make the same mistake on this track. Flipping a Galt MacDermot sample into a menacing by-coastal banger, this is as good a case as any for the BCC to consider recording in California rather than Carolina.
Comments for "Top 25 songs of the top 6 months of 06"
of the ones i’ve heard, i have no major complaints (not feeling the game track, though). how about…
Shakey Dog, Big Girl—Ghost
Long Time Coming—Roots
Reverse Ya Steps—De La
Wamp Wamp—Clipse
Range Rover, Rover Sport—Rae
MURS Day—MURS
Mighty O, Morris Brown—Kast
Internationally Known—Count Bass D
Where Yall At—Nas
Sumday—Juggaknots
Body Movin, Love, Won’t Do—Jaydee
Let’s Go—Monch
Juggernaut—Killer Mike
— eauhellzgnaw Aug 9, 05:53 PM
That Fried song is from 2004.
— SacmenFeg Aug 10, 02:39 PM
heh. I KNEW there weren’t 25 songs worth putting up this year.
Seriously though, throw the new Madvillain in there and you’ve got a list.
— Sach Aug 10, 03:21 PM
throw the new Trae in there and you’re shitting all over madvillian
— SergDun Aug 12, 06:58 PM