Last night on Apple Music, Q-Tip previewed something new and unreleased on his Abstract Radio station. This new gem, “Want U 2 Want” featuring Kendrick Lamar gives me life. This track is sick. It’s old-but new sound to it puts you in a vibe that nobody in this music industry has touched on in a while. If you’re one of those raw and true hip hop fans like me, get a load of this.
Everyone and their mother knows who Nicki Minaj is. She has had 82 Billboard “Hot 100” entries and 13 Top 10 Billboard hits. She has been around since 2009 and continues to top herself. With over 80 songs on the Billboard chart, it is hard to figure out what are her stand out tracks. Since I have been following her since the beginning of her career I can tell you what are the best ones to listen to, and the ones to avoid. Nicki had a strong start, which is why so many of her best songs are on Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. In about 2011/2012 she really started experimenting with her style, which produced some of her worst tracks. Currently, she is featured on every track so it’s hard to keep coming up with new ideas when you are spitting fire constantly for the last eight years. Here are my top tracks and worst tracks by the queen of rap:
My top picks:
DID IT ON’ EM:
This has to be one of my favorite rap songs of all time. The pure swag that emulates off this track cannot be ignored. The verse about how these bitches are her sons was a revolutionary line that appears in all of the other tracks she has produced. It set the bar for herself as a rapper that should be feared. You can’t listen to this track without thinking you are the baddest bitch to ever live.
Roman’s Revenge (feat. Eminem):
Minaj and Eminem team up on this track to scare everyone who is listening. Not only is this track produced to perfection, it has a crazy theme with a high energy chorus. Eminem completely kills his verse to the point where he overshines Nicki. I would say this is one of the best verses Eminem has put out.
Nicki’s verse in Monster:
You know I had to mention it.
Itty Bitty Piggy:
This song was one of the huge reasons why she got famous so of course, it is one of her best songs.
Yo Gotti – Rake It Up ft. Nicki Minaj:
This is a relatively recent release. I felt like Nicki really gave it her all in this verse, which I was missing since I felt like she was getting too comfortable in her position. Could it be that Cardi B scared her?
Beez In The Trap:
This song not only was great, but the music video gave it a great visual element to set it over the top.
Big Sean – Dance (A$$) Remix ft. Nicki Minaj:
This song is just all around incredible. A song dedicated to ass shouldn’t be this good. Nicki lays down one of her greatest verses of her career and sends this song to superstardom. If you haven’t memorized the lyrics yet you have lived under a rock.
Her Worst Songs:
Katy Perry- Swish Swish feating Nicki Minaj:
Although Nicki was the highlight of the music video, I really don’t get why she would have such a bad verse for the track. It seems like she put it together in less than 10 minutes. She is definitely starting to get too comfortable.
Stupid Hoe:
I am actually amazed that Nicki survived the backlash that came from this song. Almost everyone in 2012 was talking about how trash this song was. Luckily she didn’t let it bring her down and she never released a song like this again.
Anaconda:
I’m sorry but I hate “Anaconda”. I don’t know what is so appealing about having another song sampled over her raps about her ass. It is just boring and I never understood the hype. It’s just lazy.
Swalla:
When I watched this music video I died laughing because of all the music video cliches. This song highlights everything that is wrong with society current day and I have no idea why it got all the views that it did. Nicki really cashed a paycheck with this one.
No Frauds- Nicki Minaj, Drake, Lil Wayne:
This song was supposed to be a diss track for Remy Ma, but Nicki basically dissed herself. The only thing that saves this song is the chorus. I have NO idea why Nicki has decided to throw “Ellen Degeneres” lines into her songs now but it has to go. It isn’t cute Nicki and it makes no sense.
So what are your best and worst Nicki tracks? Do you agree or disagree?
Check out the video here (but I highly doubt you could forget it):
After this release, Fetty Wap was one of the biggest rappers in the game. To capitalize on his success he put out a series of popular singles including “679” featuring Remy Boyz and “My Way” featuring Monty. He also a hilarious feature for Lil Dicky’s “$ave Dat Money” in 2016.
Check out the hilarious music video here:
But after that, it seems like he fell off of the face of the earth. What happened to him after those three singles were released? Well, it could be because he only had one album in 2015 and didn’t follow it up until three years later. Also the songs, “Trap Queen,” “679” and “My Way” seem like the same song but only slightly different. One can’t deny that they carry the same themes, similar beats and vocals.
Every song he put out was a deluded version of “Trap Queen”, which probably made fans not want to listen to the whole album. I know I didn’t want to support him after he displayed that he was only a one trick pony. He should have expanded himself musically so others would be more inclined to follow his career and support him. He should have capitalized on the hype that “Trap Queen” brought it. He recently released an album, For My Fans in 2018 and I didn’t even hear of the release.
I was rooting for Fetty Wap and I hated seeing him fall off. Now that there are so many new rappers in the game it might be hard to have a comeback. I believe in him though, he probably has just been lazy in the studio. Get back on your grind Fetty, the fans miss you.
Check out BlackySpeakz’s Youtube video explaining why he thinks Fetty Wap Fell Off:
Electronic rock has an interesting sound that focuses more on the beats rather than the lyrics. Although there are little to no lyrics, one can still feel the emotions the band is trying to convey. The beat moves through your body, making it great to dance to and lose yourself to. One can create their own meaning in the song, which makes it an extremely interesting genre.
Some people would say that it isn’t music, but I guess everyone has their own definition of what qualifies as music. Dubstep made a huge name for itself in the 2000s and dubstep a subgenre of electronic dance music. So basically electronic rock is dubstep with punk elements incorporated throughout. I think bands like The XX, XXYYXX and Crystal Castles do a great job of redefining the genre to make it modern. Give it a listen, you might just fall in love with it.
Here are my top electronic rock tracks:
And finally, “Intro” by the XX. I have never found a song quite like this. It makes perfect background music for any occasion:
On January 26th, 2018 the rap group the Migos, composed of rappers Offset, Quavo and Takeoff released their latest album Culture II. This was their latest release after their hit album Culture that featured hit songs like “Bad and Boujee” which was basically a cultural movement in rap that inspired so many other artists, and even created artists. The album Culture was released in 2017 and it certainly lived up to the name. Not only did it have “Bad and Boujee” but it also included songs like “T-Shirt” and the title track “Culture” featuring DJ Khaled.
I always have a problem when artists put out albums as the sequel to their last album. This is because they really have to make it live up to the name. Since they named it Culture II, I was expecting it to be two times as better than their previous release, but it fell short. First of all the album is complete with 24 tracks. That is a lot of tracks for a single release. Also, albums should probably consist of about 12-15 tracks, because it narrows down the best of the best. Having 24 tracks creates a lot of filler, and the listener can’t pick out the best ones. It also grows tiresome listening to an album that is over two hours long.
Although it is long, it is not all bad. One of the stand-out tracks is “Stir Fry” which is now a single with a full music video. Also the verses on “Narcos” is an enjoyable listen. I find it annoying that they labeled one of their songs, “Emoji A Chain” because that phrase is not going to last throughout history. Imagine listening to a song called “Emoji” in the future when they have no idea what it is. If you want to create art that will last, make sure you don’t put terms in there that are only relevant to 2018. “MotorSport” is one of the best songs featuring Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, which is a great track that united the two biggest women in rap. The single “Supastars” really does nothing for the rap group but make them sound like any old rap song on the radio when they are known for creating songs that didn’t sound anything that any artist has done before.
Watch The Migos Latest Music Video for “Stir Fry” here:
In 2018, music has gone from CDs, to purely streaming services. The way artists get money is from how many people are listening to their songs on Spotify or Apple Music. It is really hard to get money this way because of the system. Some musicians might only recoup 15 to 20 percent of the streaming revenue they brought in. On Spotify the average “per stream” payout to rights holders lands somewhere between $0.006 and $0.0084, which is basically no money at all. So how do you get around this while still making a profit? Play the system. Create an album that is the sequel to your hit record, put as many songs on it as possible and rack in the money. It is clear that the Migos only wanted to make money on this album, which is sad since they seemed to work so hard to achieve their status in the rap world so why not come out with a good album that proves everyone wrong?
