Any accurate rap list is going to include Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” quite close to #1, for sure it was insanely popular last year. When rap radio - increasingly unambitious and homogenous - presents their “throwback” lunch hour with songs from 2010, Billboard reminding people that D-Nice or Main Source existed is a significant development.Ī more reasonable beef to have with this list, though, is that Billboard, in taking this closed-circuit perspective on their charts, which have shifted and adjusted in methodology, is neither an accurate portrayal of the respective moment, nor does it provide a clear picture of what listening to rap has been like since 1989. And those small little forgotten moments when truly strange and regional songs took over rap are fascinating and even important in a genre whose history is rarely given the same attention as say, rock’n’roll. And in that sense, it’s rather bold.Īt the very least, this list reminds you that forgotten singles like the horrifying-in-a-good-way, streeter-than-street growler “Left/Right” by Drama (#92) and the Neptunes-produced drug trade banger “Cross The Border” by Philly’s Most Wanted (#22) are songs that once existed in the collective mainstream’s consciousness. In short, this is an extremely nerdy, rap game Nate Silver kind of numbers-crunching exploration that does its best to be empirical. This seems important to stress because so much discussion of this list is filled with fruitflies in the comments section blabbing about how it’s wack or whatever because Waka Flocka sits higher than Main Source. So, for example, Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” is at #1 because it dominated the Hot Rap Songs charts longer than say, Notorious B.I.G.’s “Big Poppa,” which sits at #8 - not because it is the “better” song. That is to say, it is not a list that concerns itself with the quality of these songs. Let’s begin by calling attention to how this list was constructed: It is “based on on actual performance on the weekly Hot Rap Songs chart,” with some adjustments for “various changes in chart rules, chart length and methodology throughout the years.” To mark the 25th anniversary of their Hot Rap Songs Chart, Billboard released their “Top 100 Songs of All Time” list and, unsurprisingly, it’s both fascinating and frustrating.
0 kommentar(er)
