Here is some rap music from 2012. I think it’s the best rap music from 2012 but you might be inclined to disagree. Especially if you are the sort of person who is wrong. (more…)

#flex (more…)

It’s the end of the year again and at the end of the year we make lists. So here is a list of rap songs that either mattered or should have mattered in 2011. (more…)

DR PHIL! (more…)

My Head Hurts.

I say this every year but this has been the hardest year end singles list I’ve ever had to compile. I mean the shit is. Fucking. Ridiculous. Young people are making great music, old people are making great music. Styles are evolving faster than ever, new little underground pockets of creativity are popping up. Fun rappers are having fun again and serious rappers are getting even more serious. The best of them are doing both. So much great rap is being produced that I had to make quite a few painful omissions from this list – the initial lineup was pared down from about 100. At the same time the labyrinth/maze is more complex than ever. Apart from a handful of triumphs in the upper reaches of this list, major label rap has been a complete mess this year. Several long standing rap icons – particularly the once holy ATLien trinity of Jeezy, T.I. and Gucci – have fallen to relative irrelevance on both creative and commercial levels. Many of the rappers who have found success have done so with records where the act of rapping is an afterthought or even nonexistent. They are now stars who rap, not rap stars.

But forget those bums. This is the Best Rap list. There is no Drake. Other notable omissions include, but are not limited to: aging New Yorkers who have had more major deals than major hits; teenagers from Dallas or LA who keep giving different names to the same goddamn dances and won’t get off my lawn; autistic youtube sensations; dead men whose voices live on in the name of dollars; white people who aren’t wolves or bugs; bloggers turned rappers; child actors turned rappers; children of rappers turned rappers; 40 year old rappers who talk about Gucci; children who act like 40 year old rappers who talk about Gucci; 40 year old rappers who hate both children and Gucci; children who act like 40 year old rappers who hate children and Gucci; Juggalos; Canadians; South Africans and J. Cole.

If you’re just joining us, please read the rules and standards before you start talking shit. Otherwise, hit the jump for the full list and prepare to argue about opinions as if they were empirical facts. Or, you know, just stfu and enjoy fifty good rap songs. (more…)