January 8th, 2011: I know. 2010 is soooo last year by now and some might say that no one is looking for 2010 retrospectives anymore. Perhaps but if it is broken down into little bites with snappy headings they should. So here goes:
*Most effective use of the word "fuck" in a 2010 song goes to both Cee Lo Green (and his overexposed "Fuck You") and The Rubberbandits' "Horse Outside" - the hip-hop/comedy duo from Limerick, Ireland, who in December enjoyed a surprise runaway hit in Eire with the song/video (above) after it debuted on the RTE TV Irish sketch comedy show Republic of Telly. The bandits were my guests on WFMU in March of '09 during a live remote broadcast from Limerick.
*Best 4 emcee albums of 2010: Homeboy Sandman "The Good Sun" (High Water/Fat Beats), Tone Tank + Scott Thorough Scott & Tone (Modern Shark), Gangrene (The Alchemist & Oh No) Gutter Water (Decon), Ghostface Killah Apollo Kids (Def Jam)
*Best 3 DJ/turntablist releases of 2010: V/A Community Scratch Music Volume 2 (Nozl Recordings), V/A Return Of The DJ, Vol. VI (BOMB Hip-Hop), & Rob Swift The Architect (Ipecac Recordings)
*Best two officially released mixes: El-P Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3 (Gold Dust) & DJ Babu The Beat Tape Vol. 2 (Dilated Junkie Music/Nature Sounds)
*Best 3 under-the-radar hip-hop sub-genres of 2010: Gurp City, Homo-Hop, & the Krip-Hop movement.
*Most discriminated sector (still) within hip-hop music: Women artists
*Best hip-hop movie soundtrack: OST for the Florian Gaag directed German graffiti film WHOLETRAIN (Goldkind Filmproduktion GmbH)
*Best educational hip-hop release: Naru Kwina Hip Science 101 (Hip Learning)
*2 Most gifted/versatile/prolific producers of 2010: Amp Live (inc. his solo Murder At The Discotech + Zion I's Atomic Clock, and 9th Wonder (inc. David Banner & Murs collabs)
*Best two ongoing 12-part series in 2010: Madlib's montly Madlib Medicine Show releases thru Stones Throw, and Coolzey's summer weekly song release in his "Coolzey and The Search for the Hip Hop Hearts - Volume I: He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper" free mp3 series which premiered each week on WFMU and were/are given away as free downloads on the FMA (Free Music Archives) and other select sites.
*Best wrap-up in a rap song of 2010 = Skillz' "2010 Rap Up" from the man who shaped the annual retro rap-up format in which he not only condenses the main rap/hip-hop stories of the year but also the main news headlines grabbers too. Click below to play
Billy,
I miss you!
Marjorie (aka your UK home girl n Berkeley)
Posted by: Marjorie | January 25, 2011 at 11:45 PM