Relive, and Debate, Great Music with "The Rap Yearbook"

Time to download the book about all of our favorite downloaded songs

I just finished another book by another former Grantland writer, and, once again, I really enjoyed it. I just recently finished and reviewed the very excellent "Boys Among Men: The Preps to Pro Generation that Changed the NBA" by Jonathan Abrams. So, naturally I figured another Grantland writer would have an equally as good book. The book I chose was "The Rap Yearbook" by Shea Serrano.

"The Rap Yearbook" was given to me as a gift, and I was putting off reading it until I caught up on some other reading, but boy am I glad that I read this book. It is widely known that I'm a big hip hop fan. I've written about a lot of hip hop groups and have been listening to hip hop for many, many years. This book is a great read about the most important, not best, rap songs from the years 1979 to 2014. It was absolutely fascinating. Serrano is just around my age, so we have very similar taste in older hip hop, but very different taste in more recent hip hop.

Serrano picked the most important song for each year, so it wasn't necessarily the best. It was the most important/influential song during it's particular year. The early years are easy to agree with. In 1979 he has Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight". Obvious choice. Some other obvious choices that are very hard to disagree with, 1980 Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks", 1982 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message", 1987 Eric B and Rakim's "Paid in Full", 1988 N.W.A's "Straight Outta Compton", basically all the late 80's, early 90's stuff is easily and correctly chosen. He also writes a few paragraphs as to why the song is the most important. He points out what the song is about, why it's important, the influence it had, the message it sends, Serrano pretty much breaks down every legit reason why the particular song is the song of the year.

The author and I definitely differ when it comes to 21st century hip hop, and that makes this book great. Serrano seems to think that more popular artist put out more significant songs. I understand why he thinks this. The more popular the artist, the more people it reaches, thus making it more important. I just prefer more underground, lesser known hip hop artists. That's my particular taste. I'd rather listen to Murs or Mr. Lif or Dilated Peoples than Kanye or Drake or, god help me, Macklemore. But, as I said above, I totally understand why he picks those people. Serrano may like more lesser known artists too, but that would not make for a good book for more than half the hip hop listening community. So, in the 21st century, he picks some songs that I disagree with. In 2005, he picks Kanye West's "Gold digger". Yeah, it's a popular song, with a very good beat, but I don't think any song featuring an actor, Jamie Foxx, should be considered. Also, the song is very misogynistic. But, I don't know what I would put in it's place. That's where Serrano has me beat. Serrano also picks other stuff I don't agree with in the 2000's. Stuff like 2008 Lil Wayne's "A Milli". It's a fine song, but Lil Wayne had peaked already by that time and he was definitely on a down swing. It felt more like a lifetime achievement to put him in this book. For 2009 he picked Drake's "Best I Ever Had". Drake is a terrible rapper and an even worse bandwagon sports fan. Drake stinks, his music stinks and he will be irrelevant in about 5 years. Drake does not belong in this book. For 2012, he picks Macklemore's "Same Love". Sure, the song has a very good message, but it is not a good rap song. Macklemore is the biggest poser in the history of music. He is worse than Elvis. He calls himself independent, but he does nation wide commercials and carries himself like a jackass. "Same Love" is important, but not because of Macklemore and I'm sure there is much better, much more important songs from 2012. Macklemore, in my opinion, is as bad as Drake. They are corporate rappers that make corporate, shitty rap music. For 2013 and 2014 Serrano picked two songs I didn't recognize. For 2013 he picked Big Sean's "Control" and it wasn't until I read why he picked it that it was the coming out party for Kendrick Lamar. Personally, he could've picked any song from Lamar's debut album, "good kid, m.A.A.d city" as the most important song of 2013 and it would have been a better choice. In 2014 he picked a song I never heard of by Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug called "Lifestyle". His reasoning was more about the emergence and weirdness of Young Thug than the music. Ok by me.

Another thing that makes "The Rap Yearbook" a great book is the collaborations. In each chapter, Serrano brings a fellow writer or friend in and they give their rebuttal to what should be the song of the year. So, we get at least two different perspectives in each chapter. Serrano isn't married to his choice and that makes him a wonderfully gifted writer. He wants outsiders points of view and ideas. He's open to hearing why he is wrong and why someone else is right. I love that.

"The Rap Yearbook" is a must read for all fans of rap music and music in general. It's fascinating and it brings you back to that time in your life. I knew exactly where I was when I first heard his 1999 choice, Eminem's "My Name Is". I can picture 16 year old me bobbing my head to his 1998 pick, DMX's "Ruff Ryder's Anthem". I vividly remember arguing with friends and family that Jay Z was the clear winner in his beef with Nas, and Serrano picked "Takeover" vs. "Ether" for his 2001 songs. This book is wonderful. Go out, buy it and read it. You won't be disappointed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is sorry to tell the head editor that 3rd Bass did not make the book. The head editor gave Ty the gas face. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Digable Planets

I'm going to get back to music that I enjoy today for my nomination to the greatest American band debate. Last week, I nominated the Beach Boys, but I made it abundantly clear that I loathe the Beach Boys. Today, I'm getting back to mid 90's rap music and I'm nominating Digable Planets.

I know a lot of people may not know who Digable Planets are, they only released three albums, but everyone knows one of their songs. I'll get to that song in a bit. Also, of their three albums, I only like one of them. But, the one I like is classic and way ahead of it's time. Much like my Sugarhill Gang blog, I nominated them based on one song, Digable Planets get the nod simply based on one classic album. The album that I'm speaking of is called "Reachin (A Refutation of Time and Space)". This album came out in 1993 and it was totally different from anything I'd ever heard. I hadn't yet discovered A Tribe Called Quest, so the jazz influence that Digable Planets used on this album was completely new to me. The way each of the members rhymes on each of the songs is very much their own unique style. The three members are named after insects, they went for a whole vibe of being insects from another planet on this album, very weird but very cool. Their names are Butterfly, the leader, Doodlebug, the city boy and Ladybug Mecca, the fierce feminine voice of the group. Butterfly has a very cool, hip way to how he raps. He sounds so confident and comfortable doing what he does. He is one of the most underrated and best rappers I've ever heard. Butterfly brings the "street" to the group. He's got a gruffer voice, but he also reads poetry on this album and speaks truth on political beliefs of the band. Ladybug Mecca is awesome. She's a strong female and she can rap with the best of them. Some of her verses on some of the songs are incredible. She is/was a true genius of a rapper. They use jazz as the driving force in their sampling on this album. Now, I don't care for jazz music, but put a beat to it and some good rapping, I'm totally on board.

As I said before, Digable Planets came to me before Tribe, so without them, I would've never found Tribe. A Tribe Called Quest is one of my all time favorite groups and you can read why I like them so much on the site involved within this very same debate. "Reachin" came to me as a pre teen. My brother Seth, who's been on the podcast before, introduced to them. I was listening to Ma$e and Puff Daddy and Seth gave me this record and told me to "enjoy some real hip hop". He was right on the mark, and I listened to this tape, that's right, I remember when there were tapes, so much, I wore it out and my folks had to buy it on CD for me. I love everything about this album. I used to listen to it on my Walkman while playing basketball with my friends. I was, and still am, totally obsessed with this album.

It opens with "It's Good to Be Here". This is a great song. They talk about their love for music and the fact that they're just happy to be performing together. This song proved to me that all bands don't hate each other, some really do enjoy the other band mates company. After that song, it's great song after great song, in my opinion. Songs like "Pacifics", "Where I'm From" and "What Cool Breezes Do" are classics. "Pacifics" is a groovy, jazzy rap song. It's a great early 90's rap tune. "Where I'm From" shows the band giving love to their hometowns. It's a great song for anyone from either Philadelphia or New York. "What Cool Breezes Do" is almost a full on jazz song. There's rapping on it, but this song is more about the instrumentation. "Time and Space (A New Refutation Of)", has Doodlebug reading poetry and the rest of the band doing straight forward rap. It's pretty great. The song I spoke of earlier that I thought most people would know is "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)". This song was played pretty heavily on the radio in the 90's and I still hear it in commercials from time to time. The chorus is the most memorable part. simple lyrics, "I'm cool like dat, I'm cool like dat, I'm cool like that, I'm cool" and they switch it up a little with, "I'm cool like dat, I'm fly like dat, I'm hip like dat, I'm down like dat". I guarantee most of you know this song when you hear it. Later in the album they have great songs like "Jimmi Diggin Cats", "La Femme Fetal", "Nickel Bags" and "Swoon Units". "Jimmi Diggin Cats" has the band expunging the fact that, if Jimi Hendrix was still alive, he'd be a Digable Planets fan, and it's hard to argue with them listening to the song. "La Femme Fetal" is a song that's way ahead of it's time. The lyrics call out people that oppose places like Planned Parenthood and talk about how insane right wing Christian nut jobs truly are. Had this song been released now, it would be all over social media. Back then, it was kind of overlooked and that's a shame. The song is about a young couple who decide to abort a pregnancy because they live in squalor and don't have the means to take care of a child. It has a great message and for the pro choice people out there, me included, this is a great statement song. I love this song so much. "Nickel Bags" is about exactly what you thin it's about. Each member takes a turn talking about how much they like weed and why it's so good. This is a love song to marijuana. Also, this was ahead of it's time too. Release it today, it would be a mega hit. "Nickel Bags" would put Afroman's "Because I Got High" to shame. "Swoon Units", the second to last song on the record is a straight ahead rap song. Each rapper is rapping fast yet smooth and the beat is very bass heavy. It's a good song. This album is a rap masterpiece and I love every minute of it.

It's kind of a shame because they peaked so early, but "Reachin" is a great high point to have in their short career. I love this album and I love Digable Planets. I hope this piece brings new listeners to the group and you discover this great album.

Digable Planets, you get my nomination for the discussion of greatest American band today.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He is still washing the Beach Boys stink off his mind and needs some great hip hop to clear his thoughts. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.