Submitted For Your Perusal

Ben Mathis-Lilley asks, “Why do rappers whose work I hold in such high regard have such terrible taste in rock?” His answer, that middlebrow rock artists “are seen by their hip-hop collaborators … as living samples, picked out of the musical spectrum because their voices have some distinctive quality,” is a good one.

1. Jay-Z - “Blue Magic”

I think it’s fair to call Jay-Z’s 2006 effort Kingdom Come a disappointment. I also think it’s fair to call his 2007 effort American Gangster a pleasant surprise, if not quite the masterpiece some people hoped for or think it is. At the very least, Jay-Z sounds completely re-energized. “Blue Magic” is one of my favorite tracks, partly because it contains my favorite lyric of the year: “Blame Reagan for making me into a monster/Blame Oliver North and Iran Contra/I ran contraband that they sponsored/Before this rhyme stuff we was in concert.” I really dig the pun on “concert,” as well as the critique of the government, made more explicit by the “Fuck Bush” line (also a pun, btw) a few bars later. The Rakim-era beat is fresh too.

2. Rihanna ft. Jay-Z - “Umbrella (Remix)”

Don’t let all the talk of rain fool you, this was the song of the summer, just like “Hey Ya” and “Crazy” were in previous years. In addition to being a great pop song, it has an epic, anthem-quality to it that I like that I think is missing from many pop songs these days, certainly many pop songs in the R&B idiom.

3. Kanye West - “Stronger”

Perhaps the best “pump up” rap song since LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You,” though when I first heard a leaked, early version of it, I didn’t like it, despite Renato Pagnani’s — who runs my favorite hip-hop blog — glowing review. Something about it just didn’t feel right to me. But then Kanye went back to the lab and reworked it a bit for the final release and I loved it as soon as I heard it. Funny how little, almost imperceptible changes can make a big difference. That’s production for you, I suppose. Kanye, of course, is easily one of the most interesting artists in music today. As Rex Sorgatz of fimoculous.com puts it, “Kanye is one of a dying breed of artist, like a Bob Dylan or a Woody Allen or a Bjork, who create art out of sheer force of will and ego. Art and life aren’t binaries for these people. How else to explain this album’s sui generis cocktail — a sampling of his mentors in dance (Daft Punk), street (Jay-Z), fashion (Louis Vuitton), and art (Murakami). And, I suppose, literature (Nietzsche), by pinching that particularly arch aphorism about surviving adversity. ‘That which does not kill me…’ might suggest that Kanye’s force emerges from some sort of Ayn Randian individualism, but it’s more clearly the power that comes from treating your life as collage.”

Additionally, “Stronger” contains my second favorite lyric of the year: “You know how long I’ve been on ya, since Prince on Apollonia, since OJ had Isotoners, don’t act like I never told ya.” In my mind, the Prince reference aside, that’s a pretty clever line, the haters of Kayne’s rapping be damned.

4. Justice - “D.A.N.C.E”

Speaking of Daft Punk. For me, this was the jam of the summer after “Umbrella,” even if it was only hipsters who were listening to it in the summer. Listening to it again in preparation for this mix, I couldn’t help but think that Michael Jackson should team up with Justice for his comeback album.

5. M.I.A. - “Paper Planes”

Admittedly, I’m not the biggest M.I.A. fan in the world. Her first album didn’t grab me all that much. Something to do with the whole post-colonialism pastiche thing maybe. This song, however, mostly thanks to the gun shots and the cash register samples, grabbed me straight away. I also like that’s more reggae-pop/hip-hop than electronica/dance music.

6. Britney Spears ft. Lil’ Wayne - “Gimme More (Dirty Pop Remix)”

This song pairs two of the more interesting (but for vastly different reasons) figures in music: Britney Spears (aka a tragic symbol of how our culture chews up and spits out celebrities) and Lil’ Wayne (aka the “Greatest Rapper Alive”). And odd pairing perhaps, but somehow it also makes almost complete sense here. I like the original version of this song OK, but I think this remix is just sick, especially when you listen to it really, really loud, as if you were in a club. (Britney lovers and haters alike should check out Stephen Elliot’s “Why Britney Matters: Why ‘Blackout’ Is the Most Underappreciated Smash Album of 2007”.

7. R. Kelly ft. Snoop Dogg - “Double Up”

R. Kelly’s Double Up was one of the weirdest, most brilliant albums of 2007 in my mind, and I had to include something from it, even if Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet” might be the more enduring Kelly work. Regardless of how you feel about his nasty freakiness, you gotta admit that Kelly has amazing phrasing. With his half-rapping, half-singing style, he can make even the stupidest lines sound good (see, for example, “The Zoo” and “Sex Planet”).

8. Amy Winehouse - “Back to Black”

Some might have chosen “Rehab,” but I like this song better, especially when the strings kick in, which I’m always a sucker for, provide they’re done well. I love the whole Back to Black album and sincerely hope Winehouse doesn’t O.D. before recording more songs. (I’m selfish like that.) The combination of Mark Ronson’s retro, horn-infused production and Winehouse’s unique voice brings a smile to my face every time I hear this song. The clichés are true: It sounds like it was recorded forty years ago but at the same time is incredibly fresh. A completely different sort of R&B from that purveyed by R. Kelly. I hope they let Winehouse record the theme song to the new Bond movie.

9. Feist - “1234”

Yes, this song is featured in an iPod commercial. No, that’s not why I like it. Rather, as Gang Starr’s Guru once put it, just like with Amy Winehouse, it’s the voice. The “twangy but not quite country” sound is nice too.

10. Interpol - “No I in Threesome”

Critics didn’t seem to like Interpol’s third album as much as they did their first two. I’m not exactly sure why. Certainly the cover art is cool. Currently, “No I in Threesome” is my favorite song from it. I don’t, however, condone threesomes. If years of listening to Tom Leykis have taught me anything, it’s that threesomes are almost always trouble.

11. The National - “Green Gloves”

I didn’t like The National’s album Boxer as much as some critics did. (Truth be told, I think it’s sort of boring.) But I really like this song, partly because I identify with the song’s narrator (who is separated from his friends who are all out getting wasted), and partly because I think it’s really beautiful. Sometimes that’s enough.

12. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - “If You Want Me” (From the Once Soundtrack)

I also didn’t like the movie Once as much as some people did, nor I did I like the soundtrack as much as some people did, but I appreciated both, and this song, with its haunting vocals, really grabbed me, perhaps because it’s unlike the other songs in the movie. It reminds me a bit of Portishead, whom I really like.

13. Radiohead - “Jigsaw Falling Into Place”

No other release in 2007 had me as excited as Radiohead’s In Rainbows did (well, maybe Kanye’s Graduation). I think the album lends itself to a straight-through, close listening; nevertheless, this track stood out for me. I love the way it builds to a fury, and then, just as quickly, ends.

14. The White Stripes - “A Martyr For My Love For You”

The White Stripes album got slept on a little bit. Sure, I didn’t like it as much as their last two, but come on, it’s the White Stripes. I dig their rock & roll, bluesy, riffy numbers less than their slower songs about weird relationships (e.g., “I Want to Be the Boy” off Elephant). This is one of those, and just as important, I think it nicely concludes the mix.

“Thank god the age of audiophiles is over…. Audiophiles are jackasses. You know who I’m talking about: The guys – and they’re almost always guys – who own $54,000 stereo systems and have their entire apartments dominated by thousands of vinyl albums of rare imports that are boring beyond description but which they force you to listen to, when you make the ghastly mistake of actually visiting their sonic sanctuaries.” —Clive Thompson

Related reading: Rolling Stone’s “The Death of High Fidelity.”

“Madonna wrote the book on sex, Prince wrote the Bible, Janet Jackson preached it, and Aguilera translated it, Spears has yet to read it.” –James Hannaham