10. LOVE.-Kendrick Lamar fet. Zacari
So I just need to get some bit of information before I rant about this thought that's on my mind and that's that I actually do enjoy rap and hip hop as genre's and feel they're just as much real music as every other genre unlike a good portion of other rock music fans who feel the desire to hate on any rapper that's not Eminem I feel it's a genre with a wealth of talented people making some interestingly great stuff but it's not a genre I specifically have enough of a connection with to treat it like other millennial as some anti status quo race based anti traditionally punk tinged music that an older more conservative minded generation would find as nothing more than disposable noise.
I personally never will see it as an equaling punk music as a fuck you to baby boomers simply because it's a genre that's for the most part THE MAINSTREAM it's modern American pop music through and through and if you're not Rap you're in the dust because I remember watching this interesting round table discussion were these critics talked about how Rap music is the standard of our modern day culture and it's continued urbanization and it was a very interesting view and it got me really thinking about why this genre is a thing and why I was so fucking pissed that my local alternative rock station is starting to play more rap and hip hop in it's rotation going so far as to have Snoop Dogg headline it's biggest festival and it got so far that I do recall drunkenly having a mild argument with one of that stations Dj's and now I'm here at the end of the year a lot less angry and with one simple statement in regards to Hip Hop and it's place in alternative music which simply put it doesn't belong there simply because mainstream culture is Rap music it's not punk rock to play that genre it's simply required to keep the young demographic of disenfranchised liberal teenagers looking to piss off older folks by listening to music that goes against their standards of what makes good music and in turn they're alienating people like me that went to this station wanting to hear rock music that wasn't cock rock post grunge I hate my parents jams that I'd heard fifty different flavors of a million times over and under I want to hear Punk, New Wave, and the various way's you can make a guitar interesting not Chance the fucking Rapper, Donald Golver, OR FUCKING HEY YA!(which no shit STOP PLAYING THAT FUCKING SONG IT'S NOT 2003-2004 LET IT FUCKING DIE!) if I wanted to hear those acts I'd just turn on the top 40 stations they play them a plenty trust me.
That was a very stream of conscious thought that I'm not gonna edit because fuck it it's the truth and what's funny is that even with ALL of that in mind the song to kick off this years list is a rap tune by the only artist in the game that I personally feel makes a quality of music that's at points above it's genre Kendrick Lamar.
“DAMN! LOVE AND LUST! DAMN! ALL OF US!” I can't say how many times I got fucked up and listened to that line over and over again but I did and while DAMN. As an album was not that great this odd little Drake inspired tune just seemed to stick with me in a way that's kind of odd to be honest it's a 3 minute love song about how much adoration he has for his fiance and nothing more and the backing vocalist Zacari sounds like The Weekend and Justin Beiber had a baby which is to say a lot better than he has any right to sound.
The strength of this track is very simple to me it's just a modern day R&B track that has just enough traditional elements to give it a familiar feeling while still sounding like something you'd expect to hear today and it's simple and easy to digest nature gives me this odd feeling of satisfaction and adoration that make me think it's one of the best things I've heard in a long time also it's a great tune to get FUCKED UP TO! So yeah Kendrick is the best and this song contrary to what I've heard some critics say is great and my pick for the 10th best song of the year.
