Yet Another Year In Pop: 10

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Flo Rida bags the number one spot with a Dead or Alive sample, the Saturday's Comic Relief effort has to settle for second place.

[Poll #1362347]

Lower reaches watch: dudes have finally realised that the version of Beggin' on that advert isn't by Madcon at all and have accordingly bumped up the Frankie Valli version up to #47; Ladyhawke, Annie Lennox and Red Light Company are all hovering just outside the top 40.

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Actually, I need to counter the awfulness of 'Chip Diddy Chip' by drawing attention to Chipmunk's previous brilliance. UGH why is he releasing that when he could be doing stuff like:

Fire Alie - his biggest banger so far! That beat is unstoppable (love the "bay-beh" vocal samples) and Chipmunk absolutely kills it



Mr Myagi - a beat like knives being sharpened, fantastic hissing flow on the chorus, but there's something faintly cartoonish about that tiptoeing melody too - the tension between genuine and comic menace is really superb here



League Of My Own - surprisingly delectable G-funk, of all things



64 Bar Statement - Chipmunk's flow at its best, he's so versatile and confident here - calls himself "the Harry Potter of grime" (maybe he should get together with Nicki Minaj, who calls herself Hermione on 'Can't Stop Won't Stop', though tbh she'd probably eat him alive), love the sudden injection of menace at "I can run rings round any MC" and the line "If I get signed I will stick to grime/Help out the youths that's stuck on the grind/I won't do a Kane or a Dizzee/Leave my friends in the ends, are you dizzy?"



Beast - a street single from last year, a slower, dubbier grind - the imagery of a monster seeping up from Tube tunnels into the streets really works, the balance between that achingly pretty guitar melody and the grinding bass is excellent too. Really like the video too, simple but effective (unlike the school uniforms of the 'Chip Diddy Chip' video, which is just a horrid cliché).



4 Minutes - that bombastic beat really was made for rapper freestyles, I'm surprised more didn't appear last year. He sopunds like he's having an absolutely great time tackling it, esp as it gets to its climax and then starts singing along

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Three words: HIGH. SCHOOL. MUSICAL. Grime goes teenpop! It's brilliant! Even though it just sounds semi-OK enough for a borderline tick!

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Y'know, this song benefits immensely from ignoring the video and cutting out the awful skit in the middle. It might be weak for grime, but it's strong for kiddie-rap! Which is what this basically is -- much better flow in a different context. Standing on the shoulders of midgets.