Generic list post: January 2026

Obligatory wrap-up post of those songs I've played most during the month when I'm still mostly stuck on music from 2025. Also the month I paid homage to It Doesn't Matter by Wyclef & The Rock, I'm Talented by Masterminds, Saturday Night by Schoolly D and Special Ed in general.

Newcleus - Disco Kryptonite (2025)
Aesop Rock - John Something (2025)
Ezale - Make Her Gig (2025)
Young Bari ft. BossLife Big Spence - That's A Playa (2025)
Young Devi D - What's Left (2025)
Jim Jones - JOMO (2025)
Liim - Break (2025)
Paul Wall & DJ Fresh - What Chu Really Know (2025)
T.I. - Let Em Kno (2026)
P-Lo - Out The Box (2026)

Bonus bloggin: 1nce again I'm gonna use my monthly wrap-up post to keep track of the best movies and TV shows I've been watching. * indicates rewatches dunnit.

Movies I watched and liked:
The Appointment (1981)
Down By Law (1986) *
Mirror Mirror (1990)
Mike Bassett: England Manager (2001) *
Saipan (2026)

TV shows I watched and liked:
Superfan: The Story of Vladimir (2023)
Only Connect (new episodes) (2026)
Bournemouth vs. Arsenal (2026)
Newcastle vs. Leeds (2026)
Barcelona vs. Real Madrid (2026)
Inter Milan vs. Arsenal (2026)
Arsenal vs. Kairat Almaty (2026)
Benefica vs. Real Madrid (2026)
Match Of The Day 1 and 2 (new episodes) (2026)

I Cudi Been A Contender!

Kid Cudi - Maui Wowie
(From A Kid Called Cudi mixtape; 2008)

Kid Cudi · Maui Wowie

After the ridiculousness of Jim Jones claiming he's responsible for Kid Cudi's Day 'n' Nite blowing up, Cudi is entitled to whip up a viral duck tale of his own. So lemme suggest this: he should claim that his beatjack of Grind Mode's She's So Fine (I'm So High) is responsible for the original blowing up. Who cares about posting the truth anymore in the post-truth era? That's one of the two Cudi songs I fuxwit because the kid accidentally took a trip offshore on the wave on that shit. His music got wiped out totally afterwards, but Maui Wowie is a notable entry in the canon of Shinola Songs By Shitty Rappers.

I feel like I was the only person who rode for the Jim Jones & Statik Selektah single last year. For those of us who enjoy Jones at his most ridiculous when he's putting the Cap into Capo, that song was an absolute treat. There was no better piece of unintentional comedy in a 2025 Rap song than when Jones said "I been in court, the DA's looking like he seen Gotti" on that shit.

Jim Jones - JOMO
(From From The Church Steps album; 2025)

Jim Jones Capo · Jomo

My Mind Spray: Special Ed edition

One of my favourite short-lived Rap rumours: Special Ed only had one hand. Brought about because of Ed's bizarre pose on the cover of his debut album; short-lived because as soon as you saw the video for I Got It Made, you knew Ed wasn't Kase 2.5.

As far as opening trifectas of songs on Rap albums go, Taxing, I Got It Made and I'm The Magnificent from Special Ed's debut album is one of the best three choon runs on a golden-era LP. Which makes it all the more baffling that Priority Records decided to remix I'm The Magnificent for the single/video release and ruined the song with vastly inferior production. As far as pointless video mixes of classic Rap song ever go, the video mix of I'm The Magnificent is second only to the video mix of In The Ghetto by Eric B. & Rakim. Two separate A&Rs destroyed two perfect songs with two shitty video remixes in the SAME DAMN YEAR.

Speaking of I'm The Magnificent, Special Ed's "I betcha what you want is just attention/your mother & your father should have used some prevention" lyric is applicable to most current Hip-Hop media personalties: DJ Vlad, Adam22, Joe Budden, DJ Akademiks, Wack 100, Trap Lore Ross etc. The world would be a better place if none of those lads were ever born.

Titch Homie Quan

T.I. - Let Em Know
(From Let Em Know single; 2026)

T.I. · LET EM KNOW

Never expected the first 2026 Rap song I'd post would be a new T.I. single produced by Pharrell, but happenstance works in mysterious ways. To me, this song sounds like the single Rich Homie Quan should have released as the follow-up to Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh). More confirmation that I only enjoy new Atlanta Rap which sounds like old Atlanta Rap with a subtle tweak. Plz God let this one blow up so T.I. stops trying to be a terrible comedian/podcaster.

Saturday Night's alright

Schoolly D's Saturday Night single turns 40 years old sometime this year. Don't expect me to know the exact date tho because I'm not a nutcase like Dart Adams. Saturday Night isn't as important a song as P.S.K. "What Does It Mean?", but I reckon it's Schoolly's ultimate choon. That's not to say it isn't important too, mind - it's a key song in Rap's breakbeat revolution of 1986, but it rarely gets the credit for that because Schoolly wasn't from New York and the track wasn't produced by Marley Marl or Ced Gee. Saturday Night is one of those classic 1980s singles which never had a video, so the closest we've got is the menu screen from the King Of New York DVD which sets Saturday Night to the scene of Frank White dancing in the hotel room with his homeboys & homebirds. Cheeba cheeba y'all.

Bari Island

Young Bari ft. BossLife Big Spence - That's A Playa
(From That's A Playa single; 2025)


If Mac Dre was still alive today, this is the type of beat I'd hope he was gabbing over. That's A Playa is Young Bari's best single since I Rep That Blocka in 2011 and I can say that with certainty because I went through Bari's catalogue last year. BossLife Big Spence ain't the best rapper, but he delivers a killer chorus and bridge here so he deserves his verse too. Moral of this song? Say what you see like Roy Walker.

Young, Black, Talented & Gifted

Situations which have been rendered obsolete by the sands of time: reading a review of a Rap song in a magazine, thinking "hhhm sounds interesting", randomly hearing the song playing in record shop at a later date and being like "oh, that's that joint!" That's what happened to me when I read about Masterminds' I'm Gifted in On The Go magazine and then heard it playing in the Mr. Bongo record shop a few months later. I'm Talented sounds like a Labcabincalifornia era Pharcyde song if it were recorded by a New York backpack duo who didn't have their Jansports strapped too tight. True story: "steering clear of player hating and playing pretending all the while" is one of the main ingredients for good backpack-Rap. This shit still gets me open like Daniella Westbrook's nostrils.

Masterminds - I'm Talented
(From The Cold War EP; 1997)

camlo · Masterminds - Im Talented 1997

We're still in Kansas City, Toto

Young Devi D - What's Left
(From What's Left single; 2025)


Bloggers say it's love, but it never was, they always had envy like The Breakfast Club. Me tho, I'm glad to have Devi D free and back releasing songs like First Day Out and What's Left. The latter is some professional Kansas City Sobb Music, but those are tears of joy because our narrator is no longer sitting in a prison cell 21 hours a day with 3 snoring, farting cellmates. Hell is sleeping in a room with other blokes.