Over the last twenty days of December (and obviously 2013), I’ll be writing about my favorite twenty albums and songs of the year, one a day. Not best. Not most influential. Not most likely to land on a Complex slideshow. Just my favorite, ranked in order.
Today’s a triple post, because unforeseen (and very happy) circumstances prevented me from keeping up on my list. But the hustle never ends.
16. tree - sunday school ii: when church lets out
Tree’s one of those unique rappers who’ve coined the perfect term to describe their music: soul trap. It’d be easy enough to just drop that on you and step away, because it really is exactly what he makes. Sunday School II’s lower end is dominated by booming drums and machine-gun hi-hats, but he’s also dragging soul samples into almost uncomfortable shaking pitches like a grizzled master. But that’d be lazy. It’s clear that Tree hails from Chicago (the influences are everywhere), but the old head’s also firmly displaced from the Chicago scene that’s cropped up in the last couple years. It took Kanye West to drag out a few Auto-tuned murmurs from Chief Keef, but that drawling wail is exactly what makes Tree so gripping (like on “So Bad”). It takes a specific skill-set to pull off the type of music that Tree’s carved out his own niche for – the dual types of production that Tree juxtaposes so perfectly, the knack for indelible lines (“I’m probably not the grandchild that my grandma raised/But I’m something like the son that my momma had in mind”). He’ll rattle off a couple lines, draaaaaag out the last couplet’s word, then snarl the next few. Tree’s rough voice sounds like it has its own echo (maybe that’s where he draws his presence from), and it’s hard to imagine any other voice behind Sunday School II. Oh, and his hook game is absolutely impeccable.
16. joey bada$$ - “unorthodox (prod. dj premier)”
Ever since the ‘90s-Nas comparisons first started snowballing up, this collaboration was inevitable – possibly the most iconic producer of the 1990s, DJ Premier, linking up with the figurehead of the New York revival movement, Joey Bada$$. Joey’s a very flawed lyricist; you’ve only got to look to the likes of Vince Staples or Earl Sweatshirt to see how simplistic Joey lets his lyrics get. But on “Unorthodox”, it’s just pitch perfect. He’s in this vintage Premo with gusto, slinging around boasts like he’s young Hova. It’s worth noting that this was perhaps as he was reaching the apex of his popularity and hype – this isn’t a Joey Bada$$ humbled by the relative flop of Summer Knights, this is a Joey Bada$$ coasting off the spotlight and major label rumors. And it’s absolutely infectious in a way that no other Joey song is. “Waves" is a perfect vignette of his life, and "Enter the Void" sees Bada$$ taking up Soulo’s conspiratorial tone without skipping a step, but there’s nothing quite as thrilling as this in his catalog – halfway through writing this, I had to stop to rap along with the rest. I could talk about how Joey’s framing racism better than he does in any of his other songs, or how his swagger is more convincing here than anywhere else, or I could just tell you that this is far and away the best song he’s ever made.