Generic list post: April 2023

Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when the Premier League became as pointless as the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and the Scottish Premier League. Why couldn't Elon Musk's shitty space rocket have crash landed on Manchester Citeh's training ground and injured their entire first team until the end of the season????

Drama - Big Ball (2001)
Homeboy Sandman - A! (video) (2022/2023)
Nef The Pharaoh - What Do You Like (2023)
Suga Free & Kokane - Bitch In Da Trunk (2023)
iCandy - Keep Dat N*gga (2023)
Curren$y & Jermaine Dupri - Screens Fallin' (2023)
Rae Sremmurd - Flaunt It/Cheap (2023)
Mic Terror - Might Pimp (2023)
Big Doobie - I Go To Costco For That Wock (And That Chicken Bake) (2023)
Madness - Night Boat To Cairo (French TV performance) (1980)
Bad Manners - Inner London Violence (1980)
S-J - I Feel Divine (Dem 2 remix) (1997)

Other reading/listening: I put together a Day Day Sustaaa Quinary Of Quality playlist; Mosi Reeves wrote a killer article on 80s Bay Area Rap; EttelThun did a mix of Harry Allen's 12 Underacknowledged Hip-Hop Cuts; Chicken N Kalinka put together a 4 part best of Slip-N-Slide Records compilation; Juiceboxxx took us back in time with his favourite concert clips from 2003; The Spartorialist paid tribute to movie opinionz from the Baby Blue.

PS: that Drama Big Ball single linked up top is my second favourite late pass discovery song of 2023 so far. It's like Mystikal recorded a Country Grammar-era Nelly type single. Cheers to Chicken-N-Kalinka's aforementioned best of Slip-N-Slide Records compilation for that one.

Thizz Khalifa Part 707

"I got higher than a muthaf*ckin' whatdyacallit
Some n*ggas pullin' hamstrings 'cause they ain't ballin'"

Nef The Pharaoh - What Do You Like
(From What Do You Like single; 2023)


Mentioned What Do You Like in January's wrap-up post, but its since become my Slap Du Jour alongside P-Lo's Regular. Basically, a blappified-beatjack which is more to my taste than the song it begets. Ultimately, a good example of how the Kid Cuddy Nef is an old soul in a new Rapper's body. And speaking of bodies, now Nef's got swole he's finally grown into his Big Chang Chang nickname.

PS: Old Enough is still better than most of the bullshit that people were jockin' last year.

It Ain't My Falt

Harold Faltermeyer - Shoot Out
(From Axel F single; 1985)


Something I learned today: Harold Faltermeyer's Shoot Out isn't actually on the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack even though it's featured in the movie and was the B-side to Axel F. As the dearly-departed Maori man said - how bizarre! Back in 1985 Young Marty loved Shoot Out as much as its famous A-side even though I'd never seen Beverly Hills Cop and barely knew who Eddie Murphy was - both songs just sounded like some cool electronic bodypopping music I could do The Robot to.

Then again, back in 1985 Young Marty thought any song with a synthesiser sounded like some cool electronic bodypopping music: from Paul Hardcastle's 19 to Neil Falconer's Spy Hunter arcade theme to Pet Shop Boys' West End Girls to Jan Hammer's Miami Vice theme to Madonna's Into The Groove to the Colin Baker era Doctor Who theme to Dead Or Alive's You Spin Me Round (Like A Record). It wasn't until Falco dropped Rock Me Amadeus that ya host said "I can't pop to that!"

Mondays are Terrorble Part 2

"Got her screamin', soundin' like Texas Chainsaw Massacre
But I ain't Leatherface, I ain't chasin' after her"

Mic Terror - Might Pimp
(From YouTube; 2023)


Mic Terror back up on The Martorialist, turning the Windy City into the Wavy City. Open ya third eye and realise that a song can't be sexist if it interpolates Olivia Newton-John's Physical. Two talking points here: Mic's No Limit Mystikal vest, and the video being shot at FakeShoreDrive's Project Pat show this past weekend.

Previously: Mondays are Terrorble.

My Mind Spray 9

I'm on a crusade to get M.O.P's Handle Ur Bizzness (DJ Premier remix) recognised & realised in the Shinola Remixes of Shitty Songs canon. Go bump that shit in ya Lex Coup or ya Lex hoop and tell me I'm wrong.

If people talk about best songs from the blog era and they don't mention $tarlito's Alright, Beeda Weeda & DJ Fresh's Bassrock Babies and Giftz & TREE'S Nino then those people probably misspent the era listening to a buncha bullshit by Kid Cudi, Odd Future, and A$AP Mob

Is I Gotta Habit the only Max B song Maya Jama knows? Obviously I wouldn't expect her to be up on the Kill That Faggot remix, but where's the love for Why You Do That or Where Do I Go? eh?

W.O.A.T modern Rap fan - guys who swear that Azealia Banks has more than one good song. Granted, that one good song varies from listener to listener, but nobody genuinely likes or needs more than one song by Ya Kid A.

Can I plug my Day Day Sustaaa playlist again? Hardest 5 song playlist uploaded to the internet in 2023 no IMHO necessary.

Exclusive footage of Britain colonising France (1980)

Madness - Night Boat To Cairo
(From Le Collaro Show; 1980)


Because I'm still in the 2 Tone zone after Dance Craze, here's Madness doing Night Boat To Cairo on some French TV show in 1980. It's a mimed performance, but in the best way possible. Word around town, England's 2022 World Cup semi-final loss to France was reparations for this clip. Parlez-vous Francais, mi amor, merci, oui oui, bon bons, good moaning and all apologies.

Back in 2019 I tried to solve the ever-enduring question of One Step Beyond or Night Boat To Cairo? In hindsight, the answer is clearly BOTH!

Alphabet Boy (reprise)

Homeboy Sandman - A!
(From A! single; 2022/YouTube; 2023)


Belated video for my favourite Homeboy Sandman loosie of last year, shot in a German Hip-Hop club which looks exactly like what you'd imagine a German Hip-Hop would look like. As with most of the best Sandman songs, this one strikes a delicate balance between cosmic and commonplace by mixing Galaxy Brain shit with Ground Control shit. I'm not saying I agree and I'm not saying I don't - I'm saying I won't ever stop finding entertainment in Sandman's wacko eccentricities. The song's also a good example of No Bap with motion - and that's thanks to a bassline which will have you bustin' and pluckin' air-bass moves like Mark King from Level 42.

Can we get a video for Radiator next plz?

Paid Tha Costco To Be Da Boss

Big Doobie - I Go To Costco For That Wock (And That Chicken Bake)
(From I Go To Costco For That Wock (And That Chicken Bake); 2023)


File this under 'novelty Rap which hits like Reality-Rap in the cost of living crisis era.' God bless Costco - we came for the fabled Kirkland white t-shirts, we left with a trolley full of frozen meat and fabric conditioner. Call it Operation Stockola.

Born To Audiomack: Day Day Sustaaa Quinary Of Quality

~~ Day Day Sustaaa Quinary Of Quality ~~
1. B.A.N.P (2022)
2. Act Up (2020)
3. Hit They Block (2023)
4. Get Somebody Else To Do It (ft. Eatem) (2023)
5. Only Fans (2021)


2023's first Quinary Of Quality playlist: five songs by Baton Rouge brawl-music's most promising rookie. Day Day Sustaaa genuinely makes WNC Whop Bezzy sound like Will Smith by redefining the meaning of Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble. A true equal opportunity hater, Day Day will whoop the baby out of a pregnant girl in one song, and flip-flop a guy on the block in another song. She had a legit viral hit with her No Limit beatjack Act Up, but it's her recent original songs B.A.N.P, Get Somebody Else To Do It and Hit They Block where she's earned her stripes as a proper Queen of Rox - hard Rox. Get this lass in the studio with some Trel Itz A Hit beats ASAP.

Raeturn of the Jedi

Rae Sremmurd - Flaunt It/Cheap
(From Sremm 4 Life album; 2023)


Do you ever find a song equally addictive and annoying? That's how I feel about Flaunt It/Cheap here. This begins as Swag-Rap De La Soul and ends up as a Star Wars strip club anthem. Like 99% of tracks with beat-switches, it'd be better if it were two separate songs, but since it's not it'll have to knock as it is.

Take It To Ya Mouth

"F*ck dat n*gga, he ain't got no motion
That ain't his money on the 'gram he postin'
N*gga been a joke, but a bitch ain't jokin'
Tryna come back, what the f*ck you smokin'?"

iCandy - Keep Dat N*gga
(From Keep Dat N*gga single; 2023)


Exactly what I want from my 2023 viral Pop-Rap. One song which scratches two itches for me: a lass talking disrespectful shit and a My Boogie Shoes sample. Somewhat of a lazy nostalgia-bait sample you might argue, but I don't even care because My Boogie Shoes is a de facto top three song on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Actual factz: My Boogie Shoes shoulda been three minutes longer, while Disco Inferno shoulda been three minutes shorter.

**EDIT** Trick Daddy should do a remix of the iCandy song. Bring back battle-of-the-sexes answer records in Rap IMHO. From Roxanne Shanté's Roxanne's Revenge to Too $hort's Yo Neck, Yo Back/My Dick and My Sack, it's all #banter innit?

Memento Maury

"Damn, that sound 'bout right
First I thought that I wasn't, but now I think I might
Be raising a lil' girl
Butterflies on the flight, Spitta welcome to the real world"

Curren$y - Paternity Test
(From Independence Day mixtape; 2008)


Rap songs with I Can't Help It samples FTW. I miss the days when Curren$y would flip & bounce a Fabolous ladeez jam into a storytelling track about being summoned to the Maury show for a paternity test. Men lie, women lie, but DNA evidence is like Shakira's hips. The realest shit Spitta ever said is "funny how one night can rearrange your whole life" innit?

(Yes, Essence Fest has got me rediscovering old mixtape era Curren$y songs I haven't listened to in years.)