The 25 Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2007 (#25-20)
25. Chamillionaire ft. Slick Rick: “Hip Hop Police”
Chamillionaire’s a good rapper. His flow kind of reminds me of Krayzie Bone had he grown up chugging syrup through humid Houston summers. And unlike a lot of Southern rappers, Chamillionaire has interesting ideas, even if he doesn’t always know the best way to implement them. “Hip Hop Police” is one of those moments where he connects, with Paul Wall’s former better half in storytelling mode, venting about the hip-hop police playing the role of both suspect and cop. But Slick Rick owns the track, rocking his eye patch, with an effortless ‘88 swagger down to the fat gold ropes still clanging around his neck. It’s the sort of verse that reminds you how he got the nickname “the ruler.”
Download:
MP3: Chamillionaire ft. Slick Rick-”Hip Hop Police”
24. Consequence ft. Kanye West-”The Good, The Bad, The Ugly”
If you found Graduation a little too “Euro” for your tastes, you’d probably prefer this song off of Consequence’s debut album, Don’t Quit Your Day Job. Kanye chipmunk souls a dusty Smokey Robinson sample and steps away from the boards to show Consequence how he himself must’ve felt after “Diamonds of Sierra Leone.” You also have to like the fact that Kanye manages to spit a verse without a Luis Vuitton reference. Huzzah.
MP3: Consequence-”The Good, The Bad & The Ugly”
23. Clean Guns-”We Just Run Things” .
Zilla Rocca and Nico the Beast definitely had some very good songs on their debut, Sometimes There is Trouble, and on their Living in Harmony mixtape, but with “We Just Run Things” they deliver their first great song. On this cut, the first on their mixtape with World Domination Headquarters, they master songcraft, paring catchy hooks with complex lyricism, and a sharp, subtle sense of humor. It’s the difference between rappers who can put out a good album versus those who can have a career.
Download:
MP3: Clean Guns-”We Just Run Things”
Download the entire mixtape for free here (left-click)
22. Freeway-”Roc-A-Fella Billionaires”
I’ve made my thoughts on the Freeway album well-known, but however mediocre it is, I do really like a couple tracks. This is probably my favorite. Dame Grease supplies a beat full of shrill whistles and marching band horns that sounds right at home on Hard Knock Life Vol. 2, as does Jay, who pretty much lays Freeway to waste. Leaked way back in June, this was probably the first time that everyone should’ve realized that Jay-Z had decided to attempt being a good rapper again.
MP3: Freeway-”Roc-A-Fella Billionaires”
21. Little Brother-”Can’t Win For Losing”
Track 2 on Little Brother’s first 9th Wonder-less album, “Can’t Win For Losing” is a sort of state of the union for the group. But if it weren’t more than just that, it probably wouldn’t be very notable, considering only 14 people really cared that 9th Wonder left the group in the first place (eight of of which were probably in Phonte’s family). Tacitly answering the doubters, not only does Illmind provide a better beat than anything 9th ever gave them (”The Listening” excluded), but Phonte manages to intelligently articulate the difficulties and struggles inherent in being an independent-minded artist without sounding whiny. Which is much harder than it seems.
MP3: Little Brother-”Can’t Win For Losing”
20. Phat Kat-”Nasty Ain’t It”
As the well of posthumously released Dilla beats grows dry, this should be remembered as one of the last great ones. A metallic, dystopian slice of ice-cold futuristic-funk, “Nasty Ain’t It” leaves one wondering if Dilla was only really beginning to enter his prime. Meanwhile Phat Kat dashes Blade Runner-like past the screeching whistles and ringing alarms of the track, roaring with a spectacularly surly lung-scorched growl and a barely contained rage.
MP3: Phat Kat-”Nasty Ain’t It”
You aren’t going to find many kids songs on this list, but thankfully you can find music and arts on the Web for your children. One of the most simple arts and crafts supplies, that being a healthy supply of different coloring sheets to choose from, can be found on plenty of kids arts and crafts websites.
Stumble It!
December 5th, 2007 at 10:10 am
i’m glad “good/bad/ugly” finally got some sort of release; it was too good of a song to sit on the shelf for ALMOST FOUR YEARS.
December 5th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Dag, that time of year for the lists already? Im diggin Phat Kat; was put down to him via a few mixtapes. One.
December 5th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Yeah…I was rockin’ “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly” back in 2003 off of one of Consequence first mixtapes.
Good morning America
Good morning to Erica
who gave me good head while watching Good Morning America
Good morning New York
have a good day in court…
I love that joint.
One.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Also, that’s an Al Green sample in “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.” It’s a song called “I Wish You Were Here.”
December 5th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Man, I haven’t heard any of these songs. I did not listened to very much rap in ‘07, probably because I was too busy wrapped up in my own yarn, and also because I was busy getting dusted all the time.
December 5th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Phat Kat better be on more year end lists…his album was incredible raw hip hop front to back.
Thanks for putting us after Cons to the Quence. I LOVED that joint back in ‘04. If his album more joints like that, I may have listened to it more than twice.
And thanks to everyone who checks the Beat Generation and downloads our songs free off this wonderful site. Now go BUY the Ghostface album!
December 5th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Good call Jeff. However, I’m pretty sure Kanye took the sample from Smokey covering Al Green. But it’s definitely an Al Green original.
December 5th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Looking forward to the next 20. It’s funny how little hip hop released this year I’ve actually listened to; I seemed to have spent so much time digging deeper into the past that there just haven’t been enough hours in the day.
I imagine my upcoming list is going to be pretty different to yours Jeff… prepare for battle!
Take it easy,
Dan
December 5th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Sweet… I was counting the days until Jeff entered into year-end list mode. This looks to be the start of something big for the 2007 contenders.
Oh, and I second Zilla’s Ghostface campaign.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Slick Rick still killin’ it, I see. Dude’s still in my top five MC’s, easy.
December 7th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Freeway? Really? Hmmm.
December 12th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
[…] great Passion of the Weiss counted off his 25 best hip hop songs of 2007 in 5 five-song posts. It’s a solid list, accompanied by […]