Music - 2004

OMFG never judge a book by its cover

or the look by the lover and most of ALL do NOT judge U.S.E. (United States of Electronica) by their horrible name! Thanks to Matos I decided to give this album a shot - and you can give it a shot for free too, the entire thing is free here. Just click on the link and look at the bottom-right corner for "U.S.E. album." Vocoders!!! This is like what I imagine R Kelly's album this year was like - insuppressible joy, except on speed.

Top Twenty singles, 2004.
This is the list I submitted to Stylus for the end-of-the-year singles list; I'd be surprised if more than 25% of it makes the final top 40. Probably fewer. There's definitely stuff I'd switch around on it now. But I'll make a better singles list soon and post it.

1. Brandy - Who is She 2 U
2. Slim Thug feat. Bun B and T.I. - Three Kings
3. T.I. - Rubber Band Man
4. Nina Sky f. Vybz Kartel - Move Ya Body (Remix)
5. Lil Wayne - Go DJ
6. Ying Yang Twins - What's Happenin'
7. Trillville ft. Twista - Neva Eva (Remix)
8. Usher - yeah!
9. Justus K - Frei/Hot Love
10. Slim Thug, Mike Jones and Paul Wall - Still Tippin'
11. Teedra Moses - Be Your Girl
12. Ghostface Killah ft. Missy Elliot - Tush
13. Crime Mob - Knuck if you Buck
14. Vybz Kartel - Picture This
15. Ce'cile - Hot Like We
16. Lil Scrappy - No Problem
17. H20 Phlo - A Little Closer
18. Tanya Stephens - Can't Breathe
19. Jay-Z - 99 Problems
20. Gwen Stefani - What Are You Waiting For (Jacques Le Cont Remix)

So much to discuss.

It has been a good year.
Erick, Sergio and I compiled a list of 2004's best hip-hop singles, but check it regularly cuz we add songs in the comments section - Click here for the list. Feel free to add your own contributions to the comments section too.

Still have to hear MM Food and the new Destiny's Child album! Snoop has a new album coming out and I'm really looking forward to it too. Teedra Moses, Stina Nordenstam, oh my!

I should mention - Trick Daddy's album is great, possibly top twenty. I like this Swishahouse mixtape Full Time Hustler ok, its a bit predictable though. Pitbull's album is cool. I need to hear the Teedra Moses album but it sounds really promising. The Junior Boys was an album I was up and down on for a while but I really don't ever feel compelled to listen to it these days so I don't think its going to finish very high on my final list.

The MIA/Diplo mixtape Piracy funds Terrorism is really good, but the way everyone on ILM was going on about it, I thought it would be fucking AMAZING but really its just EXACTLY what I expected - which is to say, really great, but not shockingly so. I wanted to be stunned, but was merely extremely pleased. Heh.

Also - saw Coppershot, the Ja. DJ team last night. Got really drunk. When they dropped some B-More club i practically lost my mind. Hearing "Never Scared" and "Knuck if you Buck" was also a highlight. The speakers in The Underground are pretty shitty and unfortunately that didn't work to Vybz Kartel's advantage on "Picture This" which is one of my favorite songs of the year. It sounded kind of crummy on the soundsystem there though. Grimey stuff like "Knuck if you Buck" came across really well.

Til next time...