Atlanta’s Sy Ari Da Kid teams up with Snootie Wild for “Old,” a base heavy, trap-infused record that’s going to invade the airwaves of clubs and car trunks everywhere. Sy Ari’s hybrid flow between rapper and crooner is complimented by Snootie’s infectious southern drawl, pairing the two in perfect congruency throughout the track’s entirety. If his growing catalogue and recent release of “S.O.O.N.” (Somethin Out Of Nothin) has taught us anything, it’s that Sy Ari The Kid will be a frequented go-to in no time.

The post Sy Ari Da Kid ft. Snootie Wild – “Old” (Prod. By Will-A-Fool & Bobby Kritical) appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Digging around on the internet usually leads you to dark, sordid parts of the deep web (and usually a spiral of Wikipedia entries), but once in a while you’ll stumble on a gem. YouTube user Odd Davud has been quietly uploading rare Odd Future recordings over the past couple of weeks and they’re sonic throwbacks to the group’s darker, grungier days. Among the uploads is a 2010 outtake from Earl Sweatshirt called “Rats,” produced by Tyler, the Creator. The song is only 90 seconds and therefore likely was never finished, but it’s lo-fi, angry, and murky. We also have have a better quality version of Tyler’s demo called “Heart of Gold.” Check out everything below.

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Via The Stashed

One of Old‘s most unexpected though surprisingly solid collaborations just got the most fitting video imaginable. It’s not often that videos look and feel exactly the way that their songs do, but the time-frozen walkabout of “25 Bucks” hits every nail on the head. Danny leads us through the poverty, smoke, and childhood that populate much of the 2013 LP (our vote for best of the year), bouncing off of the dope camera work with ease and intensity.

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#15: 1017 Thug – Young Thug

For better or worse, 2013 has undeniably been the year for trap music. Saturated with molly references, menacing bells, thudding bass and auto-tune, most of this music has been aggressively forgettable. Even the most passionate trap-enthused DJs haven’t kept most of these songs in rotation. Nevertheless, amidst this atmosphere of ephemeral mediocrity, one particular artist is etched into our minds: Young Thug. The Atlanta artist released 1017 Thug back in February, but it’s still a fresh project. Released a few weeks after Young Thug‘s signing to Gucci Mane‘s 1017 imprint, the mixtape reminds us of the unbridled experimentation that characterized trap’s initial emergence. Before trap music had a readily identifiable aesthetic, it was basically the sound of people trying to make money by any means necessary. Accordingly, no stone was left unturned; no idea was left unconsidered. Young Thug keeps that spirit alive, using trap sounds to create music that doesn’t easily fall into the categories of “street anthem” or “club-ready.” 1017 Thug features him truly exploring what trap can do beyond making people “turn up.” Of course, this mixtape will make you turn up, but that’s not all there is to it. There’s some genuine craftsmanship here.

#14: Summer Knights – Joey Bada$$

Young Brooklyn rapper Joey Bada$$ had a hectic 2012. The release of his mixtape 1999 was insanely successful, very quickly propelling him and his Pro Era crew from internet underdogs to widely acknowledged emcees. Yet despite these gains, the year ended with a tragic los:, the suicide of Joey‘s friend and fellow crew member, Capital STEEZ. Joey and company strongly kept chugging along, working with other artists, touring and just generally trying to capitalize on their hard-earned opportunities, but death is a strange and unpredictable experience, so when Summer Knights was announced, there was some genuine trepidation regarding how good the music could be in the wake of such a tragedy. Fortunately, Joey delivers. Whereas 1999 painted Joey and Pro Era as meticulous nostalgists, Summer Knights shows that the crew’s artistic roots extend far beyond 90’s New York. New York’s particular contributions to hip-hop are still central to how Joey creates, but Summer Knights depicts Joey with leanings toward reggae, dub, poetry and arguably even some punk rock, with flows to match.

#13: Cut 4 Me – Kelela

Kelela has the uncanny ability to establish harmony amidst the most elemental chaos. Featuring graceful melodies atop amorphous tracks from producer hive Fade to Mind, Cut 4 Me is 50 minutes of fearless exploration of voice and affect. Strikingly, most of the songs are remixes, yet Kelela stealthily colonizes them all, owning them for herself. Some of these instrumentals truly are intimidating, yet Kelela faces them like a veteran, variously taming them and absorbing their unbridled energy into her melodies. Cut 4 Me is the musical equivalent of the comic book character Storm controlling, unleashing and becoming one with the weather.

#12: King Remembered in Time – Big K.R.I.T.

The consequence of giving fans consecutively stronger releases is the escalation of their expectations. With the release of Live From the Underground, Big K.R.I.T. found himself fighting against the quality of his former releases, much to his chagrin. After all, he made many sacrifices for Live From the Underground, namely its necessarily small number of samples in comparison to his mixtapes. Dealing with the reception of his debut album, the Mississippi rapper doubled-down on King Remembered in Time, actively competing with and trying to best his previous works. He isn’t as successful as he could have been, but the tenacity and the gumption of the project resonate well. K.R.I.T. both gives fans what they want and gives them a potent “STFU,” all while remaining relatively innovative and open-minded. There are surely some misfires, but when K.R.I.T. is on point, he’s truly unmatched. Read our full review here.

#11: No Poison, No Paradise – Black Milk

Black Milk‘s biggest career mistake may have been titling his 2010 LP, “Album of the Year.” While that project certainly stands firm as a great body of work, it is on No Poison, No Paradise that the Detroit emcee/producer crafts his magnum opus and undoubtedly one of the best albums of 2013. From the Mel-assisted opener, the listener is taken on a morose journey through the childhood of Sonny, a fictionalized character brought to life by Black Milk’s own experiences. Think of this as a more flushed-out and hyper-realized version of The Roots’ Undun. “Deion’s House” tells the story of Sonny’s friend, who is a quasi-bad influence, given the fact that he pulls Sonny towards the street life, while at the same time pushes our hero to pursue his musical aspirations. Herein lies the narrative in a nutshell: dealing with the influences of your surroundings while striving towards a greater goal. While Black Milk’s production sometimes garners more attention than his lyrical skills, as do his collaborations with the likes of Danny Brown and Jack White, this is the album that proves that his pen game is just as lethal.

The post RESPECT. Roundtable: The Best 15 Albums of 2013 appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Also, read our review of Old here.

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What’s brilliant about Old is that Danny Brown frames this cost in terms of old fans/expectations vs news fans/expectations: Side A and Side B, respectively. Yet if you pay attention the cost, the battle, is actually internal. On the Rustie-produced “Dope Song,” a track that has the atmosphere of an unexpected boss fight in a Final Fantasy game, Danny Brown aggressively asserts that he’s done rapping about his experiences in the drug trade. Shouting the chorus with the full power of his throat, he almost sounds like he’s barking. In fact, he is barking; he’s warning the listener that the specter of his drug tales and their inherent misery is not a specter: it is very alive, so alive that even when he’s rapping over a track that is made to be ecstatic, he still feels compelled to reflect on his past.

What’s interesting about this reflection, however, is that he’s actually reflecting on his present. “Dope Song” is just as much about summoning traumatic experiences as it is about acknowledging that those experiences don’t need to be summoned to be felt. “Side B” as a whole feels like a response to “Side A” and vice versa, both in terms of content and in terms of the division itself, but in actuality, both sides are responses to themselves,indicating their parallels and subsequently the fact that the divisions are artificial.

For instance, on the A-Trak produced “Smokin & Drinkin” Danny raps “Stress, party it away, hope these problems just go away.” At another point in the song, he references “Blunt After Blunt;” he’s not just being self-referential here: he’s emphasizing that he uses his problems to solve his problems. Stated differently, he uses bad habits (the past) to solve bad realities (the present). Similarly, on “The Return” he and Freddie Gibbs tell us that the gangster has returned while emphasizing that he never left: “The return of the gangster, fuck a hipster, squeeze a trigger/You got me fucked up: I’m a hood ass nigga.” In both songs, the present is presented as a solution to the past all while acknowledging that there isn’t really a split between the two. Danny Brown (circa 2013) is Danny Brown (circa 2011) is Danny Brown (circa 2009).

This is the main difference between XXX and Old. Whereas XXX was a yearning for something to happen, for a talented to artist to be acknowledged and appreciated for the lengths he goes to make his art, Old is a proof (in the logical sense) that that rapper has never been solely party rapper or thoughtful rapper. He is both simultaneously and neither is possible without the other: he wants to have fun because he spent decades not having fun (selling drugs, being poor, being incarcerated) and he wants to temper his fun because his way of having fun (partying and taking massive amounts of drugs) is not very sustainable.

This argument for harmony and continuity is reflected in both the content and the sound of the album. Despite the album’s apparent schism, few of the instrumentals sonically (aesthetically) indicate whether Danny will definitely rap about his past or his present. For instance, if Danny‘s raps are removed from the dizzying “Kush Coma” (Side B) and the buzzing “Dope Fiend Rental” (Side A),  neither one could be definitively placed on either side of the album. In fact, these songs have the same producer: SKYWLKR. Even the hellish “Torture,” with its raspy snares and suffering echoes could become a party track with the right approach. The same goes for the bubbling instrumental of “Red 2 Go;” it could easily burst into something hedonistic. All in all, there is nothing inherent, predestined, about the album’s elements, including the main element, Danny Brown.

In the end, this is Old‘s strength. By setting up and even enacting a false division between old and new, past and present, Danny Brown is able to disrupt both ideas and focus on his real woe: his future. He knows that he’s beyond the party/festival circuit – he’s got the bars, the versatility, the passion, and the energy – but how long can he float above it without crashing? Even he lacks the answer. But the way he poses the question, by mocking the past and the present, is brilliant. A lot of writers and listeners have claimed that Old lacks humor in comparison to XXX, but Old is the best joke of Danny‘s career. The Hybrid is still The Hybrid and fans are still lazy listeners.

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