Metal Lungies

That’s right, Metal Lungies has revived the Beat Drop. This lapsed annual tradition gathers the Internet super friends to discuss the best beats of the year. This year, our panel includes the following esteemed fellows:

• Black Milk, Detroit mainstay (If There’s a Hell Below)
• Christian Rich, rising production duo (Vince Staples, Childish Gambino, Earl Sweatshirt, Mac Miller) (SW14)
• Shafiq Husayn, 1/3 of Sa-Ra and more recently 1/2 of White Boiz (Bilal, Thundercat, Erykah Badu) (Neighborhood Wonderful)
• Rabit, Houston instrumental grime producer, but transcending that into instrumental madness (Communion)
• Strict Face, Adelaide grime producer (Marble Isles)
• Tuamie, Atlanta beat junkie (Blue Black Purple Ethiopian Girl)
• Craig S. Jenkins, contributing editor at Noisey and then some
• Dan from the Internet, Dan from the Internet
• Harold Stallworth, Washington City Paper, Bandwidth, The Bookends Review, and Passion of the Weiss
• Metal Lungies “editor” Evan Nabavian

Battlecat

The Game – Up on the Wall (ft. Problem, Ty Dolla $ign, YG)

Harold Stallworth: It took damn near a decade for Battlecat to finally land a production credit on one of The Game’s retail albums, but it was well worth the wait. Whereas so many modern posse cuts sound like they were derived with data gathered by focus groups, “Up On the Wall” comes across as an organic West Coast anthem, in large part due to Battlecat’s trademark sound: G-funk with a frenetic edge.

Cam Wallace

Sevyn Streeter – Don’t Kill The Fun (ft. Chris Brown)

Strict Face: This is a bit of a kooky one, I’ll admit. Somehow it manages to capture a 70s MOR/soul jam and a 2015 trap joint all in one go without sounding jarring. It just keeps you on your toes.

Cardo, Yung Exclusive

Jay Rock – Vice City (ft. Black Hippy)

Tuamie: The rap flows and the programming on that beat fit perfectly, and the pattern is crazy.

Che Pope, Kanye West, Omar Riad (co-production by Illangelo, additional production by Mike Dean)

The Weeknd – Tell Your Friends

Christian Rich: Been playing this nonstop in the whip. I also wanted to hear a pop artist on a soul sample. The Weeknd has earned that pop star title. I remember Common took the sample when I was a kid, but this flip is more calm.  The lyrics are raw and the synth at the end brings it full circle with today’s music. Kanye and crew killed this.

Christian Rich

Mac Miller – Time Flies (ft. Lil B)

Christian Rich: Now this is our joint. I’m not biased, it just sounds like nothing I’ve heard before with the compression and suction. Plus, Lil B’s philosophies are like listening to Socrates in modern day. Mac delivers on this.

D. Rich

Rick Ross – Bill Gates

Harold Stallworth: The production on “Bill Gates” meets halfway between Mannie Fresh circa 1999 and the Trackmasters circa 1997. Here, Atlanta producer D. Rich combines his loose, bouncy drums with what could very well pass for the ambient sounds of a tropical rainforest. What results is the rare fusion of Rick Ross’s trap side and mafioso side.

Denmark Vessey

Denmark Vessey – Warning (ft. Guilty Simpson)

Evan: I imagine that when making this beat, Denmark Vessey pushed himself to see how broken he could make it sounds and while maintaining coherence. The drums amble along as if unsure of themselves and the Kill Bill Ironside siren shows up, stutters, and fades out totally off beat. There are few other sounds. A headnod feels unnatural. It’s the kind of track RZA, Madlib, and Dilla would relish. It challenges you to keep up.

Eestbound, Wondagurl

Travis Scott – Antidote

Christian Rich: This right here is a joint that came out of nowhere. It was just a SoundCloud song that blew up. It’s like a Rae Sremmurd record but with Travis’ own twist. This feels like a timeless record. Like it’s gonna be played at weddings and shit. Wonagurl is a gem.

Finn

Finn – Iya (ft. Faultz)

Strict Face: One of the better grime producers to emerge as of late links up with one of the hardest (and hungriest) MCs I’ve heard out of England. It’s practically a victorious Dipset instrumental, only recast at 140bpm, when you think about it.

Flippa, Miguel, Oakwud, PopWansel, Steve “Ace” Mostyn

Miguel – Deal

Black Milk: The first few cuts on this Miguel album were a new sound for him that I really like. This song in particular sorta has three different beats in one. I love how it starts with an intro, transitions into the main beat, and then slows way down toward the end. It has a really good groove throughout.

Flying Lotus, Thundercat

Thundercat – Them Changes

Shafiq Husayn: It’s obviously an Isley Brothers drum loop but he then put an amazing song on top of it. Simplicity.

Frank Dukes, Velous, Vinylz

Drake – Right Hand

Christian Rich: One of Drake’s slept on records. It’s his take on the Bay Sound, but I think it has a little more to it. It’s subtle but got the right swing. Almost like a J Dilla joint. The hook, of course, is infectious.  It’s a quiet banger.

Goose

Young Thug – That’s All

Dan from the Internet: “That’s All” is bar none the best beat to come out of Young Thug’s recent onslaught of free music. Goose has been silently producing some of Thug’s most accessible and pop beats, so much so he’s giving frequent collaborators London On Da Track and Metro Boomin a run for their money. The bright synths melt into Thug’s signature yelp like the beat was made especially for Thug; and if it was, I wouldn’t be surprised. The beat is spare and sugary. But it’s signature Young Thug and Goose, who also produced the excellent “Calling Your Name.” Goose is a trap producer with a pop pedigree and it shows on every single nook and cranny of this song. Goose becoming Thug’s go to producer could only make them the strongest pairing in rap right now and hopefully that future isn’t too faraway.

The Hitmen, Puff Daddy

Puff Daddy – Auction (ft. Lil Kim, King Los, Styles P)

Harold Stallworth: The first five tracks on MMM (Money Making Mitch), Diddy’s surprisingly strong promotional mixtape, were composed by at least a sliver of Bad Boy’s legendary stable of in-house producers, The Hitmen. The mixtape was intended to serve as a primer to No Way Out II, the sequel to his debut solo album from nearly two decades earlier. The Hitmen succeeded in recapturing a bit of the big, symphonic sound that marked the darker corners of Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death and The Lox’s Money Power & Respect. “Auction” is their bubbliest and most triumphant beat on the mixtape, but there’s still an underlying grit that harkens back to the golden era of Bad Boy.

hoodlove

hoodlove – Penny Sweets And Cream Soda

Evan: I think I found this track when Mr. Mitch reposted it on SoundCloud and/or played it on a Rinse show. It feels like a lullaby built from spare parts. A handful of sounds clang and echo, leaving big empty spaces for you to fill with your own wistful nostalgia. With under 500 plays, it’s the most obscure track you’ll find on an end of year list, which is fitting for a track so minimal that it seems to fade away while you’re listening to it.

(cont’d on page 2)

Two beats from L.A. screenprinting company Hit+Run’s new compilation blew my mind. First is Knx’s boom bap slapper “putemup” which reminds you how intoxicating the right few seconds of a vocal sample can be. The second is “No Love” by Armenian beatmaker Bei Ru which is busy and elegant and takes you to another place. Listen to both potent potables below and listen to the rest of the album here.

As we do every year, we asked some assorted homies to tell us about their favorite beats of the year. The 2012 Metal Lungies Super Friends are…

• Hit-Boy – Tomorrow’s super producer (HITStory, “Niggas in Paris”)
• Chuuwee – Sacramento rhyme technician (Wild Style)
• Mo Kolours – Half-Mauritian beat-making wunderkind (EP2: Banana Wine, “Brave” / “Dredd Music”)
• Ray West – Bronx boom bap scion (LUV NY)
• Jeff and Eric Rosenthal of ItsTheReal, twerking at the intersection of Judaism and hip-hop.
• Adrian Carter – Cooler than you
• Metal Lungies editor-in-chief KNOBBZXL aka Bigg Moose aka Evan Nabavian

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My stomach hurts and my throat is on fire. I wish I could sit on the toilet and re-read all seven Harry Potter books, but I can’t do that right now. I’m a working man. Kind of. I have to put in some good hours so that they’ll hire me at the end of this internship. I miss college so much, but I try not to dwell on the good times I took for granted — Halo 3 marathons and staying up until 3:00 with no repercussions. Time to be a grown up.

New York City is freezing and my blood is barely moving by the time I get to Penn Station. I get home at 11:00 and spare an hour of sleep to listen to LiveLoveASAP again. 2011 was rough. We lost Amy Winehouse, Gil-Scott Heron, Heavy D, and Nate Dogg. There were riots and protests all over the world. But I’ll sleep soundly tonight, heartened by the fact that my new baby cousin has all his toes and fingers and that this year, the following beats were dope.

As is tradition, we gathered some friends to each pick their five favorite beats of the year. 2011’s swaggiest are…

Pete Rock – Soul Brother #1

Big K.R.I.T. –  Mississippi maestro

Mark Ronson – DJ, super-producer, the man

Dave1 – 1/2 of Chromeo, expert funkateer, style guru, life long hip hop connoisseur

Waka Flocka – Hardest in the paint

Georgia Anne Muldrow – Stones Throw lady

Nick Speed – One of Detroit’s finest

PT PrimeTime – 1/3 of Untamed Ent (The 6 Day Equation)

HL – Droptops & Stacy Lattisaw Tapes

Jensen Karp – Pop culture junkie, Gallery 1988 owner, rapper pension plan beneficiary.

Craig S. Jenkins – Potholes In My Blog

Rebecca Haithcoat – LA Weekly

Joey – Straightbangin

And your humble editor, KNOBBZXL aka Evan Nabavian

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Continued from Part 1.

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2010 was chock full of crazy shit. Teena Marie just died—as did Leslie Nielsen a few weeks back. LeBron made a deal with the devil’s advocate, Pat Riley. There were the Nashville floods no one heard about because of the BP oil spill. Of course, the economy continued to tank, with the politicians too busy circle-jerking each other to get anything of substance passed, besides a half-assed health bill. And even Tron disappointed, for having too much of “The Dude,” for chrissakes.

But there were some bright spots. Christopher Nolan continued to push the boundaries of film for the better. The World Cup justified AM drinking. And “The Dude” won an Oscar.

As always, the (good) music never stopped. The year will best be remembered for Kanye’s second-semester ubiquity, from his tweets to the leaks to his almost-masterpiece. Eminem solidified his comeback, with the only album (besides Taylor Swift) that sold well this year. Dame Dash continued his own resurrection, too, cleverly hopping on the Curren$y bandwagon. Janelle Monae finally released a full-length, which was arguably the year’s best. Big Boi proved his independence worthwhile. B.o.B. went pop, which is good for him, I guess. And Jay-Z rapped over a Pete Rock beat. God is good, sometimes.

Special thanks to Devin Chanda of Scheme Engine and The Smoking Section for blessing us with the introduction.

If you listened closely, you caught a lot of great music this year. If not, we’ve got you. We gathered our friends to tell us their five favorite beats of the year. DJ Eclipse got to pick six because he’s special. You can find part two here. Forming today’s musical brain trust we have…

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Swine flu, Balloon Boy, Michael Jackson, Iran, and Cash for Clunkers.

At least there were some cool beats.

For our end of the year Beat Drop, we asked our friends to pick their favorite beats of 2009. Part 1 featured artists; today we have everyone else.

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So, what have we learned in 2009?

Raekwon is more trustworthy than Dr. Dre. No one believed either of ’em when we were told that Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II and Detox would drop in our lifetimes (R.I.P. to those that didn’t make it long enough), but Rae played the role of the tortoise, creeping upon the finish line, while Dre continues to stroll, seemingly uncommitted as to whether his magnum opus will live up to the hype. In the meantime, we have a handful of average-quality sounding reference tracks (with a surprising amount of T.I.), a Dr. Pepper commercial featuring a beat that may make Detox (though, it has already been utilized by Wale and Rick Ross & Birdman), and some $300 headphones (to enhance the listening experience of music that actually sees the light of day).

Albums don’t matter anymore. At least, that’s one rationale as to why Eminem is not one of MTV’s 10 hottest MCs (despite selling 600K of Relapse, his first release in five years, in its first week), omitted in exchange for several MCs who either did not drop albums this year (Weezy, Jeezy and Yeezy) or dropped mediocre-at-best albums (Fab). (Sorry if I’m downplaying the “heat” of Katie Couric interviews and Taylor Swift speech interruptions. Also sorry if I’m implying that MTV’s list has that much credibility.)

Not even 50 Cent can sell records in today’s industry — and this is the same 50 Cent that once sold Curtis to the buying public! Maybe it’s time to redefine “flop” — not that we ever had a Webster’s definition for it — because if 50 flopped, then what do you call Wale’s first week numbers? That’s not a diss, either — I like Wale a lot, and ML’s been tracking his career since 100 Miles & Running back in ’07. In fact, the only reason I don’t have a physical copy of Attention Deficit nearby as I type (I had to resort to iTunes) is because I couldn’t find one on any Best Buy store shelves — though, for whatever it’s worth, the Best Buy employee who told me that they didn’t have any copies also told me that it was dope (I should’ve asked him where he copped his copy).

Gucci Mane is a rap star. I never would have imagined this based on his first two videos — to me, he was just another terrible rapper from the South with no charisma. Now, he’s a pretty good rapper with, well, a little charisma. Good enough, I guess.

Rappers continue to diss Jay-Z and get no response. Game put out a diss record, which was kind of sad (in a lame, pathetic sort of way). Beanie Sigel put out a diss record, which was also kind of sad (in a “doesn’t feel right” sort of way). 50’s been trying to bait Jay for a while, but to no avail — The Blueprint 3 didn’t have a “Takeover”, let alone a half-a-bar for everyone to share. The only rapper to get a response record from Jay in the last few years? Jim Jones. That may be what’s the most sad about all of this.

And, last but not least, the following beats are dope…

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With the all-too-real “sophomore jinx” phenomenon that is as prevalent in music as it is in sports, dropping a second album that is a complete transformation in sound from one’s debut is a risky move. Yet, despite a platinum plaque, a Source Award for Best New Group, and loads of positive reviews (a 4.5-mic rating amongst them), Andre Benjamin and Antwan “Big Boi” Patton decided to make such a transition. From smoothed-out to spacey. From Caddies to comic books. From portraying a pimp’s lifestyle to questioning the existence of life forms on other planets. From “If you smoke a dime, then I’ll smoke a dime” to “No drugs or alcohol so I can get the signal clear”. From “Talkin’ ’bout her period late, guess what I did” to “Oh yes I love her like Egyptian”.

Granted, there were some points of similarity between Outkast’s first two albums — pieces of Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik still prevalent in ATLiens, and vice versa. The “GREETINGS EARTHLINGS” sound effect that kicks off ATLiens was first heard on “D.E.E.P.”, the closing track on Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. And, on ATLiens’ two biggest singles, Dre and Big were still talking about “slammin’ Cadillac doors” and “all that pimp shit”.

So, maybe Outkast didn’t pull a complete 180 between their first two albums… but, it was at least a 160. Rappers aren’t supposed to make such dramatic changes in styles and still maintain such a high level of success? Maybe so, but noise isn’t supposed to be organized, either. (Also, noise isn’t supposed to be spelled with a “z”, but let’s ignore that for now.)

The only two things that one could really say was consistent between the two albums was the quality of the music (incredible) and the names in the production credits (Rico Wade, Ray Murray and Sleepy Brown). And, as their work within and outside of the Dungeon Family collective throughout the years has shown, it’s no coincidence that the name “Organized Noize” and incredible music go together like fish and grits. Oh ye-yer.

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They say a picture is worth a thousand words — I can work with that. That should mean that instead of writing an extensive introduction about our latest Beat Drop honoree, one Timothy Mosley, I can simply show a picture and be good. And for that picture, I ask you to pause the below video at 1:52.

As you may have guessed, and likely seen before, that was Timbaland and Jay-Z, from the concert-mentary Fade To Black, taking the first step in the process of crafting “Dirt Off Your Shoulder”. After hearing a couple of beats that he appeared to be none too fond of (one of which ended up as “The Potion” on Ludacris’ The Red Light District), Jay hears the beat that would become “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” and makes the face that should be looking right back at you on your screen… that is, if you paused the YouTube video, like I asked you to do.

That screwface-invoking reaction is the trademark of a Timbaland production. Most great hip hop beats will have you nodding your head as soon as it drops, but, when Timbo provides his magic touch, the head-nodding comes after a brief delay of a few seconds — a moment in time where everything else stops, confusion ensues, and a grown man dancing around with a banana (no Peanut Butter Jelly Time) in his hand is commonplace.

Does that make Timbaland “the best there is”, as he so eloquently puts it toward the end of that clip? If you’ve been following these Beat Drop posts, you’d know how hesitant we are to crown someone at the expense of others. But when it comes to pushing the envelope with production (and not just hip-hop production), Timbo may have a case for the throne. And since he’s lost all that weight since Fade To Black, the crown wouldn’t have to be fitted over that pack of hot dogs on the back of his neck.

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