rafi-dangelo

Top 100 Songs of 2012 (Top 20)

These are the best songs of last year according to me, because everybody else’s list is awful.

Previous: 100 - 81, 80-61, 60-41, 40-21.

(Also, these were 2011’s tracks.)

20. Anita Baker “Lately”
The Grand Dame of late-night mumblecore R&B updated one of Tyrese’s early hits and snagged a Grammy nomination for it.

19. Grimes “Genesis”
I never know what Claire Boucher is saying. Does it mean anything? Do we even care? Experimental indie pop that remains accessible for normal people is hard to come by.

18. The Vaccines “Teenage Icon”
The Vaccines have been bringing 2001 back to indie rock for a couple of albums now, especially with their second single from Come of Age.

17. Madonna “Girl Gone Wild”
Easily Madonna’s best single since “Hung Up,” “GGW” proves Madonna is still at the top of the heap for infectious dance music.

16. Fiona Apple “Hot Knife”
Fiona Apple gets a little sassy and a little tounge-in-cheek on this bouncy jazz-influenced cut.

Look at this photo.

Y’all. I just found out yesterday that Nu Shooz is a white couple. Finding out those two made “I Can’t Wait” is like finding out Screech made “Hey Mr. DJ” and I felt so lost in my soul.

Weekly Charts.

Watch this video.

Anita Baker “Lately”

How does she still sound exactly the same after all these years? Tyrese is probably sitting a corner somewhere kicking himself for letting Anita cover this song because clearly he’s not allowed to sing it ever again after this.

Man.

She ate this up. But not in that “screamsing” way all the black girls think they’re supposed to sound these days. Ms. Baker just sang the song and left the hysterics in the cupboard. Can’t wait for this album.

Look at this photo.

I never really liked rap music. I hated rap music growing up, so I missed Biggie and Tupac and every other Important Rapper. My music library is all over the place, but there’s almost no hip-hop so I said, “Rafi, let’s get into some rap music.” Figured I’d start with one of the best so I played Ready to Die like 3 times.

I can’t get into it. When I listen to music, honestly I don’t even hear the lyrics until the 5th or 6th time because I’m going straight to the music. What’s that beat? Oo nice chord progression. Interesting counterpoint there. Love that harmony during the bridge. Almost every rap song I hear just sounds like someone talking angrily over a repetitively boring background and I lose interest.

So I guess I’m done with that experiment. :-/
I’ll just stick with the rap songs I already like.

Weekly Charts.

Look at this photo.

I have all kinds of problems with Kandi’s voice. I love her—she’s really the only one left to love on RHOA—but she sounds very Moo Cow Goat Moan sometimes. That said, homegirl can write a song and her last album was really overlooked.

Plus, Xscape is always necessary.

Weekly Charts.

BHM Day Fifteen: The Negro National Anthem

(Previously in black history.)

In 1900, James Wheldon Johnson was principal of The Stanton School, the first school for black children in Jacksonville, FL. Today, it serves academically gifted students grades 9-12, but in 1900 it was a segregated elementary school. Johnson wrote the poem “Lift Every Voice And Sing” for his children to perform in honor of Lincoln’s birthday. Five years later his brother, John Rosamond Johnson, set the poem to music, and the song became a way for blacks all over the country to stand in solidary through the trials of Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement. By 1919, the song had spread, and the NAACP adopted it as “The Negro National Anthem.” Since then, the song has been found in black church hymnals across the country and sung at a variety of events and gatherings.

After the jump, the traditional version of the anthem and one performed in the 1980s by Melba Moore and a host of other R&B greats.

Watch this video.

Flashback Friday: Anita Baker “Caught Up In The Rapture”

That Anita Baker Shimmy! Get it, Ma’am. Also, the guitarist and the bass player are killing it at the end. This is actual live music.

Look at this photo.

So how about Kelly Clarkson completely just sneaked up on me with this album? Truth be told, I’ve never been totally sold on Kelly because all of her songs basically sound the same. She just got left or she’s about to get left and she’s gonna holler about it to a one-two-beat with a guitar and some belting ad-libs. That is Kelly Clarkson’s entire catalog. And after the disappointment of her last two albums, I just wrote her off.

Well, she found a way to make that “Since You Been Gone” formula work again because damn if Stronger isn’t the best pop-rock album since P!nk first decided to stop making black people music. It’s pretty strong from start to finish and a good half of the songs I actually put on my “play these jams a lot” list.

And I decided to finally sit through Travis Barker’s album a few times instead of just skipping to the tracks I like.

It was really boring.

Weekly Charts.