BoyzInDaCorner

Summer Hip-Hop Playlist

by Conor Teichroeb

A collection of new Hip-Hop singles from this year that I think vibe well with the summertime and are just great songs in general. Hope you enjoy some new music, and check out my breakdown below to find links to some free mixtapes, all of them FIRE and that’s a guarantee y’all

Summary Version:
Bona-fide stoner shit up until track 7,
last few tracks are some real bass knocking fuckers, pump this shit with care

Unabridged Version: The track-by-track breakdown

Start this fatass summer hip-hop playlist with ActionBronson ex-chef of Queens, New York. This track, likely titled for its date of recording, is fucking dope. Thank producer Party Supplies for the flyass beat with an incredible change of tempo half way through and don’t sleep on Bronsons always humorous and classic flow. If you even like this song a little, go download the FREE mixtape it helms from, Blue Chips, entirely produced by PartySupplies.

Next up is the Amaze 88 produced track off Kool ADs 51 Mixtape. If you haven’t heard of Das Racist, fulfill your googling duties, flex your youtube muscles and get acquainted. Kool AD returns to his Bay area roots for this tape and brings in Main Attrakionz (who kills this beat) for an incredibly chill and head-boppable tune. Also a great FREE mixtape to cop if you like the track

NEXT: Joey Bada$$. This kid most definitely is Badass. listen to this song, it isn’t from the 90s and has no right in 2012, but it is. Straight out of the 90s, 17-year old Brooklyn native is blowing up by reviving the boom-bap stylings of hip-hop’s post-golden era and pulls it off damn well on his also FREE mixtape, 1999.

A.dD+ are the Boyz’ favorite new southern duo. They are like reincarnated Outkast, hopefully they’re down to release like 10 amazing albums into this next decade….. They’ve got a lot of singles and an album for download for FREE on their Soundcloud

THE RECIPE::: if you haven’t heard this shit……… like damn. This is a new Dre banger and he’s not even the star, step aside because Kendrick steals this motherfuckin show (and he probably wrote Dres verses too). This is the first single from Kendrick’s upcoming album Good Kid, Mad City due out this fall.

peep the production on this Kate Boosh Shit….. fuck yes. The other half of Das Racist, Heems brings in childhood friend Mike Finito to produce his entire Nehru Jackets mixtape (yes, its FREE). such a fantastic sample flip… and Despot’s verse at the end is epic as usual.

Rap game Taylor Swift is Kitty Pryde… self-proclaimed hip-hop troll, she’s pretty polarizing among hip-hop fans. Decide for yourself, and don’t be too quick to judge Riff Raff’s verse; another enigmatic character born of the internet (so many music videos), but also my new favorite white-trash rapper. He’s incredible. Really.

Outdoorsmen. Meyhem Lauren has always brought mad game to every Bronson project, straight hard hip-hop-ass flow peep this FREE mixtape for some great gangster shit, oh and another fantastic Despot verse here.

Okay okay now we’re getting into some heavy shit, Big Beast by Killer Mike is a fucker of a truck featuring T.I. and Bun B with some straight up and down stellar verses on incredible production by El-P. Oh and this song also happens to have the BEST music video of the year by far, it’s on some straight Tarantino shit

FUCK A PISS TEST. Great dubby production by A-Trak for Juicy J and Danny Brown to go in over.. thx 4 th bss

the FULL RETARD: this song knocks. in the future. and now. El-P is no joke my favorite rapper of hip-hop. Since his groundbreaking effort in Company Flow (FuncrusherPlus=myfavoritealbumever) in the 90s to his brand new album Cancer 4 Cure (and entire production credits on Killer Mike’s new album) he’s been defining the underground scene for almost two decades. And I mean jesus christ just listen to this song?!

Lastly a Remix done by Seattle-natives Shabazz Palaces on a Spank Rock song. Don’t really know much about Spank Rock, but I love Shabazz and this remix is crazy sick.

Album Review: Young Man in America by Anaïs Mitchell

Anaïs Mitchell
Young Man In America

Brad Zukerman, May 1, 2012

Anaïs Mitchell’s 2010 epic, Hadestown, was possibly the most overlooked album in a decade. It remains the highest rated album of all time on Any Decent Music – a review aggregator in the MetaCritic vein (where, by the way, it’s not even listed). And yet, no love. Even indie-bible, Pitchfork.com, which churns out 25 reviews a week, missed it. Considering, though, that the album is a “folk opera,” re-telling the story of Orpheus and Eurydice as a commentary on the Great Depression, this is no surprise.  While undeniably beautiful, the album was every bit as dense and inaccessible as you might imagine. For that reason alone, I’m going to say that its successor, Young Man In America, might just be better. Mitchell’s ambition may have gained Hadestown critical recognition as “perfect,” but it was simply too bizarre for public acceptance. In Young Man In America, on the other hand, it’s her subtlety that reigns.

For too long (about 2 weeks), I listened to this album as a purely musical expression, hardly taking the time to understand the content. But that is definitely no critique of the music; Mitchell’s songs are so beautifully crafted that they simply demand listening. Immediately, the title track and “Dyin Day” jump out at you, as near perfect folk songs. Each is simultaneously upbeat, powerful, and soothing, blending a fantastic array of perfectly plucked and pounded instruments. There isn’t a musically bland, or overly conventional song on the album. And, as a cherry on the sundae, none of those unconventional songs are even slightly daunting or inaccessible. They are all catchy without ever sacrificing complexity.

All of that said, the exceptional aspect of Young Man In America is clearly its content. Anaïs Mitchell is as impressive a social critic as they come, cutting to the heart of American life with the poignancy and precision of a Tocqueville or Twain. Young Man In America is not the concept album that Hadestown was; rather, it’s – in her words – “a meditation on a theme.” Less cryptic than its predecessor, that theme is clear from the title: being a “young man in America.” Thankfully however, you needn’t shudder at the prospect of didactic political bullshit. No, in Young Man In America, Mitchell manages a commentary that is more a beautiful, if tragic, contemplation of American life than a party platform expose. 

“Oh mother shelter/A mother is a shelterer… //Your cities are a wilderland / Look upon your children,” she cries on the thumping opener, “Wilderland,” which, when google’d, returns this: “In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Rhovanion or Wilderland was a large region of northern Middle-earth” (Wikipedia). Simultaneously establishing America as a motherly protector and middle-ages-war-zone, Mitchell crafts a unique, yet familiar, canvas on which to paint her pictures. The first of these pictures, and the title track, traces the life of a ‘young man in America.’ Though her words seem antiquated, her themes still resonate. Blurring the arc of childhood with a tinge of nostalgia – “I come out like a cannonball / Come of age of alcohol” – she invokes an Arcade Fire-esque critique of modern adolescence. Another all too familiar narrative, her protagonist then bounces from his paternal rejection to dreams of fame to a descent into madness, settling ultimately as “Another wayward son / Waiting on oblivion.” This theme is clear throughout the album, perpetually painting a picture of fleeting ease in a turbulent world. The album is similarly caught up in the question of lineage. “He Did,” the album’s central contemplation of fatherhood, traces a strained father-son relationship to a tragically uneventful death, culminating in a set of questions: “But who gave you an axe to grind? / Who gave you a path to find? Who gave you a barn to build? / And an empty page… to fill?” Her ability to turn these situations on their head, making you question and often appreciate some of life’s givens, is where the album becomes truly powerful.

For Hadestown, Mitchell recruited folk heroes Greg Brown, Justin Vernon, and Ani DiFranco – among others – to play the myriad characters of her epic. For YMIA, however, she goes it alone, telling tales from all perspectives – predominantly male – in her singular squeaky voice. Though it may seem little more than an arrogant neglect of the effect of her voice, Mitchell is clearly aware of how best to use it. The consistency and curiosity of her voice gives her ever-shifting perspectives profound weight, removing Mitchell “the story-teller”from her stories, and granting her objectivity as a social critic. The first 8 songs are told from a man’s perspective, in a wide array of tones, culminating in “Annemarie,” a sad cry for the fleeting acceptance of a lover. On the next track, “Tailor,” the album pivots, with a young woman defining herself only in relation to her man. Again, we see Mitchell’s brilliant ability to balance every situation, striking a note in the heart of every listener. Truly a feat, few have ever managed to present such a complex, universally relatable tapestry in such a concise, calming entity.