Space Age Hustle

Walkmasterflex’s Something, 2011: 10 Overlooked Records

2011 was the year when the music in my atmosphere exploded into a million little pieces, so overwhelming that it was impossible to keep up with it all. I know I’m not the first person to say this. But between various technological hiccups like my iPod getting stolen and my external harddrive on my computer breaking, and this annoying thing called “work”, I missed more music than I care to admit, and the chance of me formulating a definitive year end list became virtually nonexistent. It was easy for things to slip through the cracks, and while we became suddenly aware of a great many number of new artists, either through gimmicks or through generally intriguing and compelling releases, it was near-impossible to fully delve into their full catalogs and spend the time that I feel like I used to spend with them. All this music, and the sped up hype cycles around them, made 2011 feel like it lasted for an eternity. I heard and forgot about more music this year than probably the previous 24 years of my life combined.

While I was suddenly too busy to really keep up with substantial posting on Space Age Hustle this year (major props to Soft Money for keeping the lights on here for most of the second half of 2011), I hope to be back to regularly contributing in 2012. Even through dealing with tons of bullshit that got in the way of me really paying attention to and engaging with new music properly, I never stopped listening. So in recognition of the avalanche of new music released this year, I’ve decided to use my year end wrap up to highlight ten tracks that were unfairly ignored in 2011. They don’t represent the best tracks the year had to offer, necessarily, but they were all great in their own ways and all deserved some reevaluation as 2011 drew to a close. I mean, I could sit here and tell you about how great “Money on the Floor” or “Racks” was, but haven’t you heard that enough, faithful (obsessive) rap blog reader?

RITTZ- HIGH FIVE 

KD- DROP 

DJ Burn One had another amazing year, and yet still somehow ended up more underrated than he had any right to be. He produced and contributed beats on a dizzying number of mixtapes this year, not one of which was as widely received as it should have been (with the exception of his most high-profile work this year, with A$AP Rocky). Burn One’s commitment to push a singular vision and to work with artists that fit into that aesthetic was just out-of-step enough with the rap world this year to cause many to miss out on some of his best work yet.

“High Five” is probably the best known of my included tracks, but this track should have been huge. A track that was considered an early candidate for best track of the year (by me, as least) when it was released back in February, it was mostly the victim of bad timing, as it seemed most had forgotten about it by the end of the year. DJ Burn One, sampling Tommy Wright III, turns in possibly the best beat of the year, a hulking, hypnotic, bass-heavy banger that destroyed every soundsystem I played it on. Rittz is at his best here, spitting finely-tuned, double-time shit talk for 3 verses, only taking a rest to let that earworm of a hook get you.

“Drop”, off the even more ignored KD mixtape G-Fluid, from April, is Burn One at his best, pushing his dedication to the influence of UGK and country rap tunes to their fullest. Whereas “High Five” was a successful reimagining of Memphis’ rap sound, KD has always been beholden to the style and swagger of Pimp C, and Burn One has always been at his strongest crafting tracks like this for him.  A convincing and original take on the country rap tune sound.

SUPA VILLAIN- GWAP (REMIX) (FEAT. RICH BOY & TRAE)

Another Southern producer pushing a unique, fully-formed sound, Supa Villain released three solo mixtapes this year, each better than the last, finally, inevitably, linking up with Burn One for the Christmas Day release of 40 Acres and a Muller, an excellent tape that may stand as one of the year’s best, though it’s still too early to say. After my conversation with Villain in May, it became clear that, while he may not always know exactly what he’s trying to do when he steps in the studio, his ability to capitalize on inspiration and feel out a track is virtually second to none. Villain’s also an incredibly versatile producer:  he’s able to trade in trap territory (“DJ Dirty Money”), atmospheric piano ballads (Rich Boy’s “All I Know”), and Block Beattaz-esque trancerap (“Shot Call”) as easily as anyone. However, on the remix of Rich Boy’s “Gwap”, he drops into Houston influenced riding music, adding his own spin and allowing all three artists featured to find a comfort zone. This track was too low-key and laidback to sound like a Big Rap Moment, but it really was.

LIL LODY-TURNT UP

Lex Luger’s sound was one of the biggest stories of this year. More accurately, the shameless imitation and appropriation of his sound was one of the biggest stories, as what was once one of the most immediately exciting and visceral production styles in years became watered-down and played out by a number of second-tier mixtape producers. However, for every hundred shitty Luger-lite tracks that came out, there were a couple that felt as exciting as those original Brick Squad tracks that Luger produced. Lil Lody was responsible for many of these, and none of them got more play from me than “Turnt Up”, the opening track from his mixtape The Theory. Chest-cracking bass, evil synths, and Tourette’s-level hi-hat tics are all apparent, and the icing on the cake is Lody’s hook, in which he sounds perfectly like that drunken asshole jumping on yr couch and screaming obscenities at a random party. Yeah, it’s pretty obnoxious when it goes on for too long, but its entertaining as hell for a couple minutes.

FRENCHIE- MONEY TOO (FEAT. GREEDY AND ZOEBALLA)

WAKA FLOCKA- THIS IS BRICKSQUAD (FEAT. YG HOOTIE, FRENCHIE, WOOH DA KID, ICE BURGANDY, & P SMURF)

The Brick Squad universe was ever-expanding this year, getting more confusing and overwhelming by the week. The number of random 5^th-tier hangers-on grew to epic levels, which, of course, increased the already-high level volume of output to staggering levels. Few of us (with the exception of Noz) had the time or patience to wade through random mixtapes by random underlings in Waka’s World. However, many of the releases I did hear were stronger than they had any right to be, though most of it traded in a fairly formulaic style of knucklehead rap. These two tracks, however, mutated that formula into something that sounded interesting and fresh. “Money Too”, off of Frenchie’s Concrete Jungle mixtape, features the type of tough-guy talk you’d come to expect from this unit, but placed over a slow, atmospheric beat, and featuring some great, untrained singing on the hook. A Brick Squad Ballad.

“This Is Bricksquad”, as the title suggests, is a 4 minute posse cut featuring some of the higher level Brick Squad members and ignorant murder-rap at its finest, but it’s that beat that really makes this track so interesting. The beat is at a higher tempo than Brick Squad tends to record on, but it works with the rapid-fire, ADD-level verse trading. Waka’s “Brick Squad Brick Squad Brick Squad” hook is great, and P Smurf gets a gold star for the “100 holes in yr face like a milkcrate” line.

KEYBOARD KID- THE RAPTURE 

Clams Casino’s breakthrough Instrumentals mixtape in February not only single-handedly transformed Clams into a viable solo artist, but also elevated the Cult of Producer to dangerously high levels. Naturally, a number of gifted, faceless producers followed suit with their own beat tapes, and while they had their moments, few could successfully highlight their own beats as original and interesting compositions the way Clams did. While the backlash against this obsession with rap production (especially when its presented sans rapper) is already starting, justifiably, there is significant worth in evaluating producers on their own merit. “The Rapture”, off the moody BasedInTheRain666 EP, was my favorite instrumental track of the year. The way Keyboard Kid plays with the dynamics and samples on it is strong enough to develop its own narrative and atmosphere, while also still sounding appealing as a possible backing track to vocals. There weren’t many instrumentals released this year that could find that vaunted middle ground.

RICH KIDZ- RUMOR FEAT. YOUNG THUG & TITY BOI 

 The name “Rich Kidz” was probably off-putting enough to most to completely avoid their #straightlikethat2 mixtape, which was, in fact, as overlong and obnoxious as you’d probably expect from a Rich Kidz tape, but did include its fair share of sing-along pop-rap anthems. This track featured Rich Kidz doing their finest Travis Porter impression, as well as a verse from Young Thug, responsible for his own underrated track this year, “Eat U Alive”. But it’s a pre-name change Tity Boi who steals the show here, burying perhaps his best verse of 2011 in the middle of a fucking Rich Kidz song. Combined with a peppy but not annoying synthline and some surprisingly deep bass, this track is way better than it had any right to be.

SHADY BLAZE- THE BEGINNING

MAIN ATTRAKIONZ- OAKLAND CONCRETE

Echoing Soft Money’s year-end wrap-up, it’s probably irresponsible for us to continue to write about Main Attrakionz and the Green Ova collective here anymore, but I listened to more music of theirs than I did from any other artist this year, and also wanted to offer a final 2 cents on them in this space. Listening to music and writing about music has always been intensely personal to me, and I’d be equally dishonest to say that, biased as I might be, they didn’t make some of my favorite music this year. At my deepest core I will always remain a huge fan of what they do, and their sound has always struck me on a very personal level. The blurring of lines between artists, blogs, fans, and the music-industrial complex made it very hard to figure out what angle people were working from this year; it became easy to get drowned in the bullshit surrounding music, and forget about the music itself entirely. Taste is and will always be subjective, but the whole purpose of this blog was not to be a critical corner, or be fanboys, or to wrangle the Power of Tumblr for some cleverly designed marketing push for an artist; it was meant to be a place for Soft Money and I to nerd out about artists we liked and help shine some light on artists we felt were doing interesting things but being overlooked. That’s what it continues to be. Okay.

So past the bullshit, onto the music.  Also responsible for a huge amount of releases this year, much of this year’s earlier work from Green Ova remains in the shadows, and these two tracks were two of my favorites from the collective. Shady Blaze’s “The Beginning”, off the collaborative album Shady Bambino Project with Squadda B, features one of my favorite Squadda productions. The beat uses all of his usual tools (the snaps, devastating low-end, the vocal samples, that weird decaying hi-hat), but its Squadda’s unusual ear for composition and songwriting that allows him to endlessly recombine these sounds into something fresh and interesting. Shady interacts with the beat in a way most rappers are unable or willing to do, switching style and flow to suit the ever-changing sound. It’s just one of the most hopeful, life-affirming tracks I’ve heard this year.

“Oakland Concrete”, from the Blackberry Kush Bonus Disc, on the other hand, is responsible for some of the best Green Ova lyrics this year, a detailed description of day-to-day struggle and dreams that I found myself relating to more than I care to admit this year. It’s a track that, when taken in combination with their rest of their work this year, offers a look at two young artists dealing with life’s complexities, that offers something deeper and frankly more interesting that much of what I heard this year, and represents a nuanced and subtle approach towards music-making that can be completely missed with the release of an overwhelming amount of music. We should all take more time in 2012 to spend quality time with any music we’re listening to, rather than reduce ourselves to pointless meme-fication and creating Tumblr-ready micro-genres (sorry for that, guys). To get dumb and idealistic here for a moment, it’s easy to forget that relevant music isn’t always the most immediate. Music that sticks with you rarely shows up on a Tumblr feed, or in your Twitter timeline, or featuring Kreayshawn. It’s something that you can’t shake, that you find yourself returning to and thinking about even after you’ve stopped listening to it, and that illicits some sort of personal, emotional reaction from you. Think I’m gonna work on finding more of that this year.

-Flex