10. "Flawless Crowns" - Raekwon
Like I was gonna leave this song off the list. The past couple years have found Raekwon in the midst of a second career renaissance, kick-started by the release of best friend Ghostface Killah's landmark Fishscale and continuing through last year's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt. 2, one of the best Hip-Hop albums of the decade. It's great to see Rae at the top of his game again; he released a damn good mixtape, Cocainism 2, a couple weeks back. This is my favorite thing he's released all year. A slight 2 and a half minutes and two verses, Rae spits wildfire, revisiting his Lex Diamond persona and finding several creative ways to tell the world that he sells crack. The real story here is the beat, which melds smooth jazz horns, a slinky bass groove and a glockenspiel to give what would have been a minor track a cinematic scope.
9. "Bet I" - B.o.B ft. T.I. & Playboy Tre
Though The Adventures of Bobby Ray was a slight disappointment as a whole, it works pretty well on a track-by-track basis. "Bet I" is the best showcase for the man's sheer rapping ability, as well as the most straightforward rap song on the record. B.o.B's greatest strength is his voice, and his ability to emphasize and stretch out individual words and syllables for maximum effectiveness in his flow, and he attacks the "b" sounds in his verse with a fervor that's absent in the rest of the record. As an added bonus, Bobby Ray brings along two of his ATL buddies, including label-boss T.I., fresh out of jail. Though T.I. grabs the headlines, Playboy Tre steals the show with his trademark drawl in the anchor spot, placing an exclamation point on an excellent song.
8. "As We Enter" - Nas & Damian Marley
"As We Enter" starts off Distant Relatives with a bang, diving straight into the good stuff and providing a succinct distillation of the album's ethos. "As We Enter" is the most purely collaborative song on the entire disc, with Nas and Jr. Gong trading off lines and finishing each other's sentences over a beat sampled from a song by Ethiopian guitarist Mulatu Astatke. While Nas and Marley attempt to combine political Afrocentrism with streetwise rhymes throughout the album, this song marks the only time when the contrasting styles are not remotely distracting or self-indulgent. The result is infectious and unmistakably the product of two distinctly great artists, that manages to exist outside of the shadow of Exodus or Illmatic.
7. "The Ghetto" - Freddie Gibbs
Much has been said about this song in blog circles, but I need to add my two cents. Gary, Indiana native Freddie Gibbs is one of the best up and comers around. He released one of last year's best mixtapes and has contributed some great songs and guest verses so far this year. "The Ghetto" is probably the best representative of the Gibbs aesthetic. Though less hardcore than most of his work, "The Ghetto" paints a vivid picture of his neighborhood and his childhood, as he reminisces about the small details about growing up in the hood, such as Sunday dinner at his grandmother's house and how his mother chose to ignore Freddie's drug abuse and dealing. In a just world, this would be a hit.
6. "Power" - Kanye West
(can't find a good youtube video)
Oh Yeezy. Yes, the man's an egomaniac and a headcase, but he's fucking talented. I don't really expect "Power" to reflect, too much, the overall sound of Good Ass Job!, but it's a damn good song. Kanye (or rather, co-producer S1) combines soulful handclaps and chants with King Crimson's classic "21st Century Schizoid Man" to create a unique and powerful (sorry) song. I'm a particular fan of the last minute or so, when all the elements of the beat come to a thrilling head, with a synth arpeggio thrown in for good measure. I await this album with open arms.
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