And my mothaf*ckin' circle smaller than Son Doobie's todger!

You're f*ckin' right I know Lil' Ken and he reckons WNC Carlos has settled on 70th Street as his prefix. You f*ckin' right Carlos' rapping & Trel Itz A Hit's production are one of 2016's most potent new combinations. F*ckin' right Keep A Glock is like a drunken beserker-Bounce version of Webbie's most savage song. F*ckin' right this is just a generic Baton Rouge rap video with teenagers wavin' guns around in someone's garden, but if it stops t'internet sleepin' on the song then it's served a purpose.

70th Street Carlos - Keep A Glock
(From YouTube; 2016)


You're f*ckin' right this new Carlos & Trel song is equally as savage. Hell yeah, WNC got joints - you're f*ckin' right. Ask that blogga Mike, he just heard Cross Me for the first time last night.

70th Street Carlos - When I Was Little
(From t'internet; 2016)


F*ckin' right I put together a best of Carlos EP. F*ckin' right all 6 songs on there were produced by Trel Itz A Hit.

The obligatory best rap songs of 2016 post

... and it's goodbye to the year when KanYe West went from Champions to tinkerman and Claudio Ranieri went from tinkerman to champion...

Raise a toast to 2016 - the exact point in history when middle class StanYes officially usurped middle aged 4 eLeMeNtZ survivalists as rap's W.O.A.T demographic. Usual EOTY rules apply here: one song per artist, no order of preference, and a handful of tracks from the filter-end of 2015. If anyone fancies turning this list into a playlist then do it on YouTube because twelve of these tracks aren't available on Spotify or any of its streaming competitors. Shit, four of them aren't on YouTube either, but at least you can find my Rich The Kid-less edit of Rich Homie Quan's Stay Down on the 'Tube (no Paula Yates.)

Boone - Pop A Perc
Yo Gotti - Down In The DM
Lil' Chris - Gods Crying
Jidenna - Long Live The Chief
Lil' Yase - Gigalo
Willie Joe - I Wonder
2 Chainz - MFN Right
WNC Carlos - Keep A Glock
WNC Da Label - Who You Playing With
Dreezy ft. Jeremih - Body
Uncle Murda - Cam'Ron Voice
Kap G - Southside
Ezale & DJ Fresh - We Want Some Pussy
Nef The Pharaoh ft. Philthy Rich - #Saaydaat
Tink - Aquafina
Yung Cat - You Ah Bitch
Rae Sremmurd ft. Gucci Mane - Black Beatles
YG - Bool, Balm & Bollective
RJ - OMG
Rich Homie Quan - Stay Down [Martorialist Edit]
Young Thug & Travis $cott ft. Quavo - Pick Up The Phone
Foxx - Too Old
Boosie BadAzz - Smile To Keep From Crying
Webbie ft. Boosie BadAzz - Problem
Mic Terror - I Don't Call The Cops
White Gzus ft. GLC - G Is For Green
Eat Em - Trophy
Kevin Gates - Hard For
Carolyn Rodriguez ft. Kap G - On The Grind
Young Devi D ft. Brandoshis - Don't Judge Me
Jimmy Wopo - Elm Street
King Louie - We Like To Party
Brill 4 The Thrill ft. Plushh - Pay Me
Ka - That Cold and Lonely
21 Savage & Metro Boomin - No Heart
Aminé - Caroline
D.R.A.M - Cash Machine
5th Ward Weebie ft. S 8ighty & Big Choo - Club Luv
A-Wax - Always Something
No Panty - Gato
Danny Brown - When It Rain
DJ Quik & Problem ft. Shy Carter - A New Nite/Rosecrans Groove
Kamaiyah - For My Dawg
NBA YoungBoy - 38 Baby
Max B ft. Wiz Khalifa, Alpac & Joe Young - Silver Surfer
French Montana ft. Kodak Black - Lockjaw
Mozzy ft. June - 1 Up Top
T.E.C & Maine Musik - Ain't No Comin' Down
Mike $aatchi - Marty McFly
Egyptian Lover - Kinky Nation (Kingdom Kum) [808 Mix]
Related: 2016's best non-rap songs IMO and Sixteen which ain't from 2016.

Generic list post: sixteen which ain't from '16

Basically, sixteen old legit choons that I've discovered in 2016 - a very good year for stumblin' upon gems that I'd previously missed by some of my favourite rappers as it turns out. Cheers to Frankie, BigSleep, Marcello, Noz, SE, Rey, and REDlite for the seven joints they put me onto, and thanx to myself for finally comin' across the other nine.

Slick Rick - Star Trek (1991)
2Pac - F*ck All Y'All [O.G version] (1994)
Cheeky Blakk - Keep It On The Real (1996)
Luniz - X.O. (1996)
OutKast - Roaches & Rats (1996)
Casual - Who Do That (1997)
Mac Dre - Pawns In The Game (1997 or 1998)
Beanie Sigel - Peep The Steelo (200?)
BallGreezy - Shone (2007)
Jackie Chain - Oh Yeah (2007)
The Jacka - Rule The World (2007)
Max B - I Gotta Have It (2008)
A-Wax - Dead People (2010)
Rich Boy - All I Know (2011)
Lil' Yase & Yatta - Get It In (2015)
Young Devi D - Young Fly N*gga (2015)
Honourable mention goes out to Step One for goin' up against ya whole solar system and findin' a true holy grail with the explicit version of the Firm Biz (World's Famous Remix). Fingers crossed 2017 is the year someone finally uploads Juvenile's Ca$h Money Gorilla from the 400 Degreez promo cassette to t'internet.

Generic list post: 2016's best non-rap songs IMO

Now is the winter of our vanity content, where everyone inflicts their favourite songs of the year on t'internet via all manner of convoluted lists. Here's 16 legit jams from the past year or so which aren't even rap songs - instead we got House shit from Chicago dons and cheeky Nando's dons, U.K Afrobeats shit, Dancehall shit, Ghancehall shit, R&B shit, girl-group pop shit featuring Ty Dolla $ign, and future-FunK shit which bangs that little bit harder than DāM-FunK's usual shit.

Mr. Fingers - Qwazars
Shift K3Y - Like This
Moelogo - Pénkéle
Kwamz & Flava - Takeover [O.G version]
Kwamz & Flava ft. Coast2Coast Ent. - Stop Stalling
New Age Muzik - Da Beat
Spice - Indicator
Dexta Daps - Chinese Jordan
Chi Ching Ching - Nacho
Konshens - Bruk Off Mi Cock
Shatta Wale - Bie Gya
Tweet - Magic
Jacquees - Know You
Tinashe - Touch Pass
Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign - Work From Home
DāM-FunK - Hazy Stomp
Bonus beats: top 5 old non-rap songs ya host discovered in 2016. How had none of these songs found their way into my orbit before this year? It's a mystery, Scooby Doo.

The Animals - Inside-Looking Out (1966)
Bananarama - He's Got Tact (1982)
Larry Heard - Missing You (1999)
Chi Ching Ching - Roast Or Fry (Breadfruit) (2015)
Donae'o - Mami No Like (2015)

Slangin' humble pie and St. Ides in the same sentence

"I feel like I'm Marty McFly, wat' me just travel in time
I need a bitch from the '80s, wat' me pull up with a dime
I been livin' like a rock star, rips in my jeans when I slide
Hot box the Delorean, roll up some dope and get high"

Mike $aatchi - Marty McFly
(From YouTube; 2016)


Did my damnedest to resist this Reys-Cafe find but I can't deny its Legit Slap status any longer. Still prefer it didn't have those trendy Atlanta production tics, but the kid $aatchi definitely has himself something akin to a 2k16 Reagan Era with this one. If there's two things Bay Area rap needed right now it's a song which samples the G.O.A.T Vaporwave tune, and a sixteen year old Armenian Travis Barker lookalike rapper who caught the holy ghost of Chazmaniia.

Crazy thing is Rich The Factor just dropped a new song with the exact same sample. The Oakland-to-Kansas City rap connection ain't had no love for Diana Ross' It's Your Move until 2016?

Generic list post: Stop Lyin' edition

Youze rap critics have had enough time to milk your articles about how Tribe's new album is a comfort blanket for 2016's annus horribilis, but now it's time to fess up to the unfortunate truth: that whole LP is a mess which depends on the listener sympathising with Phife's death to forgive the album's many shortcomings. The penance for blatantly misleading your readers? 10 Hail Luciens and an hour spent cleansing your sins with this list of 10 noughties legit jams by Q-Tip and Consequence.

Q-Tip - Let's Ride (2000)
Consequence ft. KanYe West - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (2002)
Q-Tip ft. Busta Rhymes - N.T. (2000)
Consequence ft. KanYe West - Take It As A Loss (2004)
Q-Tip - Breathe And Stop (2000)
Consequence - Don't Forget 'Em (2007)
Q-Tip - Renaissance Rap (2008)
Consequence ft. Common, KanYe West & Talib Kweli - Wack N*ggas 2 (2004)
Consequence - Job Song (2007)
Busta Rhymes & Q-Tip - Thank You [Kid Capri Remix] (2013)
Do any of these songs contain Phife soundin' like a literal Lil' Half Dead, Q-Tip usin' the Beastie Boys Intergalactic vocal-filter, Busta Rhymes doin' plastic-rastamon Dem Bow karaoke, or Jarobi fumblin' to make words rhyme? Of course they don't, and that is why they're all empirically better than anything on that Tribe album. Wack N*ggas 2 is particularly notable since it's the first time Talib Killjoy had displayed a sense of humour since Fortified Live.

She say you annoyin' like a splinter

"Bitch, you 'bout make me flash
Finna get on ya nerves like I'm a rash
You ain't poppin', bitch, you know you trash
And I'm just statin' facts
If you don't like it, fuck it, we can scratch
Light your ass up like you was a match"

Jay Lewis ft. WNC Whop Bezzy - GYAB
(From YouTube; 2016)

... as in Get Yo' Ass Beat. Surprised this is the first WNC-related song to reach a million views on YouTube since it's not one of the more immediate songs in the Wreck-N-Crew oeuvre, but its charms slowly reveal themselves like as all mid-tempo Baton Rouge fight songs tend to do. Shit might be the best example of that particular sub-genre of Louisiana rap since Mista's Going Down, and Jay Lewis outdoes Whop with his own style - "Say lil' bitch don't make me flash like a picture/I stay in that water like a pickle!"

Born to Audiomack: the best of G. Dep

I got a G-Dep playlist for those who consume shit, I love to do it like Jennifer Love Hewitt. Why? Because G. Dep's music was simultaneously butta and gutter, word to mother, go ask your brother, even when Dep was smokin' sherm he never succumbed to the 1993 Ced Gee stutter. How? By collecting the Deputy's twelve best songs starting with five late '90s indie-era joints, six gems he recorded during his tenure with Bad Boy Records, and the one highlight from his attempted late '00's comeback.