Wednesday 13 December 2023

The obligatory best Rap songs of 2023 post

After The Show, it's the La Di Da Di
Then after the La Di Da Di it's the Hotel, Motel lobby
Then after the Gin & Juice it's time for a piss
And after the late pass discoveries songs then it's time for this...

Yes ma, no Martorialist siesta. Sometimes I feel I should change my name to Mart Adams the way I dislike so much current Rap. Then I'll find a couple of new legit jams and it feels like I've stumbled on some 8th wonders of the world. Maybe I'm a hater, or maybe a lotta people will listen to any old current shite as long as it's by an ageing New Yorker/a teenage gangbanger/Drake/an indistinguishable street guy from Michigan/Earl Sweatshirt & his m8s/a freestyling content-creator. I'm not immune to songs by some of the aforementioned rappers, but other Rap songs are available. So, in no specific order, here's the Rap songs which soundtracked my year including the customary handful of Rap songs which dropped right at the end of the previous year.

Like I said last time around, year end lists are supposed to be a record of your favourite songs, not a résumé of every new song you've listened to four times in the last twelve months. Lemme break it down like dis: a year end list which is undiscerning to the point of being disingenuous deserves to be gently dissed dunnit? Thus, I propse a new rule for all fellow list-making OCD nerds higher echelon Rap connoisseurs: if you didn't like a song enough to buy or rip the MP3 then it doesn't belong in your year end list.

IF U A RESPECTABLE HIGHER ECHELON RAP CONNOISSEUR WHO HANDLE YO BIZ AND TAKE JUDICIOUS CARE OF YO MP3 FOLDERS U LAPHING AND LUVING THIS POST! IF U MAD U THE ONE IM TALKIN BOUT!!!! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Best Rap songs of 2023 no IMHO necessary:
TREE - 10 Mac 11's
Lebra Jolie - What Kinda
Day Day Sustaaa ft. Eatem - Get Somebody Else To Do It
Max B ft. DJ Drama - Lemonade
Coi Leray - Players
Nef The Pharaoh ft. LARussell - Furley Goat
Sexyy Red - Shake Yo Dreads
Zae Shakur - Donuts In A Benz
Coyote ft. Shaquille O'Neal - 3 Lokos
Homeboy Sandman - Then We Broke Up
P-Lo - Regular
Kaliii ft. DJ Smallz 732 - KToven
Kookei - So Icy
Berner ft. The Jacka - Gone (remix)
Myaap - HTS
Lord Sko - Pimp Socks
Rae Sremmurd - Flaunt It/Cheap
MoneyBagg Yo ft. GloRilla - On Wat U On
Slimeroni - Freak Like Me
Luh Tyler ft. Trapland Pat - Can't Move Wrong
iCandy - Keep Dat N*gga
Mic Terror ft. Gzus Piece - The Titty Song
Gzus Piece - Rich Off Drugs
Lil' Ricefield - Him Burton
BeatKing ft. Sukihana, Diamond & Princess - On Yo Head (remix)
Suga Free & Kokane - Bitch In Da Trunk
BigXthaPlug - Texas
Poe Whosaine - You Bad If You Thought Different
TisaKorean - uHhH HuH.MP3
Curren$y & Jermaine Dupri - Essence Fest
Capolow - You Hear Me Now?
RMC Mike - I'm Back
2Humpy & 2Rare - 2Humpy Anthem
Yuno Miles - Party All Night (video version)

Best non 'Murican Rap songs of 2023 no IMHO necessary:
J Hus - It's Crazy
Dave & Central Cee - Sprinter
Nines - Calendar
CASisDEAD - Venom
Busy Signal ft. M24 - Badman Ting

Best Other Genres™ songs of 2023 no IMHO necessary:
Peggy Gou - (It Goes Like) Nanana
Real Lies - Valentine
Everything But The Girl - Nothing Left To Lose
Kenya Grace - Strangers
Donae'o - Let There Be Light
Tyla - Water
Tinashe - Needs
The Guy - Sorry Buddy
Mean Jeans - I Don't Give A Shit Anymore

Tha blog is hot, but it's cold out here for doz of us who don't do Twitter or whatever. If you've enjoyed this list in any way then gimme a link plz. EOY season is like Heaven - everybody wanna get a seat. How you make it to the gates and forget Marty?

Bonus beats: I only made a few Born To Audiomack playlists this year, but they were all great. Tell me, have you heard them? Yeah, they put together by me, but on the lo they belong to listener folks and their lugholes.

The 45 King - five deep cuts
Various - original bangers better than the official versions
Various - lesser-celebrated songs by Martorialist faves
Cousin Fik - Quinary Of Quality
Nef The Pharoah - best of Neffy
Day Day Sustaaa - Quinary Of Quality

29 comments:

  1. LMAOOOO at that Suga Free Kokane song. How did I miss that?

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  2. Love that Max is still making good music from behind bars. The cruel irony will be that as soon as he gets out that’ll change SMH

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  3. That Tyla song is a banger.

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  4. How was that J Hus album?

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  5. I wasn't really feeling the J Hus album apart from 3 songs, 1 of which was that Drake-less edit ripped from YouTube.

    Suga Free & Kokane showing the half steppers how Toxic Masculinity™ can be an artform.

    The Peggy Gou, Tyla and Kenya Grace singles were all massive hits here and it's always nice to hear songs you like in supermarkets, shops, pubs, taxis etc. Alas, I never heard the Everything But The Girl comeback single outside anywhere 😕

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  6. Congratulations on another year in blogging. Nice list, no surprises on the rap front and some great non-rap picks. Forever grateful for being the first the tip me to that Peggy Gou song, song of the year for me.

    Also love that Kenya Grace song, hadn't heard that one before.

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  7. Yeah, I think I'd posted or mentioned every Rap song in this list.

    Kenya Grace song is like PinkPantheress if she could actually sing. That shit has dual usage for me too because I can play it alongside the Everything But The Girl song AND the CASisDEAD song.

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  8. "Kenya Grace song is like PinkPantheress if she could actually sing." ☺️

    Venom was a definite highlight off that CASisDEAD album.

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  9. I know you fuxwit the song, but PinkPantheress' vocals on Boy's A Liar were pretty painful to me 🙉 😄

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  10. Lol @ Mart Adams

    Need the French guy to upload a zipfile of this

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  11. I can make you a list, but anything else? Not my job.

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  12. here to shake hands emoji on the kenya grace song ... shared the love for that one as well on my list https://ddrake.substack.com/p/best-music-2023

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  13. Which hero will deliver unto us the zip file?

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  14. David - Peggy Gou and Tyla too 🙏

    Can't believe TREE didn't make your list tho. 10 Mac 11's and I Usually Say How I Feel are 2 of his best songs ever.

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  15. Some extra community service at the end of the year:

    https://mega.nz/file/x3k0zB5Z#cdhrFy_eZ42a9LtMf4ajbTsXX8RnQ6111coXMUtkzfs

    Some 320 kb files, some youtube rips, so quality may vary. Only song missing is that Dave song, hadn't heard that one before.

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  16. Between that and the Do The Crew recommendation you've earned the Most Valuable Commenter award of 2023.

    The Dave & Central Cee song was a number 1 chart hit here for 10 weeks or summat. I tried to front on it at first, but ended up loving it.

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  17. I'm always looking forward to this list. You're one of the few that truly try to fulfill the promise of the internet for finding music from people without a machine backing them.

    Curious if you've ever come across ShyBelligerent. I was disappointed when LA Rap became Michigan Rap but with LA slang, but this guy's got an unhinged desperate quality to his raps that I need:

    1) https://youtu.be/kXkke-Et5Ug?si=vlxNoxIpuIg6l-Bw

    2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dfjwsTzA8I

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  18. my obligatory annual question: where is Black Metal? LOL

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  19. Ray, it's far away from me. I did listen to Danzig's Left Hand Black yesterday tho.

    Rex, I've seen ShyBelligerent songs on Siccness. Good moniker. This first song is good too.

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  20. Props to you and props to Yohan

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  21. Were you not into the Yachty songs? I think "Strike" is pretty good. Not really a fan of his until the stuff this year. Though obviously forgot about it when it was time to make my list, felt a little bad about that because it did feel like he finally figured something out about songcraft this year

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  22. I don't listen to him. Can't stand his voice.

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  23. Was doing some private investigating on the Dre versus Bruce battle and found this gem of an interview with Little Bruce: https://boxden.com/showthread.php?t=1912260

    Some pretty good insight on what went on back then. Late 80's/early 90's Vallejo gets a bit murky sometimes.

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  24. Good shit. Little Bruce ending up on Thizz was a proper 90s WWF/WWE type switcheroo.

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  25. As someone who's often longing for a good ole zip file of whichever comps gets posted I gotta send a couple praises to Yohan for delivering it before Christmas!

    My top rap songs:

    Big Sad 1900 - Therapy 3 (https://youtu.be/5QrPaJgdR8Y) closely followed by Midnight In Seattle, but I've still listened to the first one more.

    Sada Baby - Ugly Sweater (https://youtu.be/TF7mikxk00k)

    Tree - 10 Mac 11s (probably the song - and album - you posted that I've enjoyed the most this year, it's still on fairly regular rotation at home)

    Oddisee - People Watching (https://youtu.be/0Vp1P0JRETs)

    Kodak Black - Came Thru Flushing (https://youtu.be/IGuh3A6_PrE) (he could easily have trimmed a few songs off that album but it's his release I've enjoyed the most since Lil Big Pac).

    La Rumeur - Un Gosse À La Fenêtre (https://youtu.be/cUV9pYFOn7Y)

    Sameer Ahmad - Santeria ft Eloquence (https://youtu.be/NJvHmoX7tjA)


    And for older stuff that I've been either re-discovering or revisiting:

    Spent a lot of time listening to Hard To Kill by Gucci Mane, songs like Big Cat Laflare, Everybody Know Me or Stick'Em Up are all classics in their own rights.

    Loved that Ea$t $ide 415 double tape that 12man Rambo dropped last year, loaded with Bay Area raps from pre-92, so many cold flows.

    Revisited a big portion of the AZ discography because I was supposed to see him live, only to end up not going ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (still was worth doing another deep dive in his catalog)

    Found Tru - Tru 2 Da Game at a local record store so this one also got quite a few spins (https://youtu.be/E-TnRsnxhME insane closer)

    Really enjoyed your Quinary Of Quality compilations, as well as the Mississippi & Indiana deep dives from thehotboxsocial.

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  26. Finally a list which contains a TREE song. THE TREE song in fact 🙏

    I'm liking this Oddisee song.

    I was unaware of that 12 Man Rambo compilation. Will peep.

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