Uh, 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs?

So I caught this story on Stereogum yesterday about VH1 and their top 100 greatest hip-hop songs. Now, I know these songs were chosen by viewers, and they probably had to have a video for the show that will be on VH1, but this list is all kinds of ridiculous.

First, there are good songs on the list. "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five and "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang paved the way for rap and hip-hop in popular culture. And they are still great songs. Some argue Public Enemy has better songs than "Fight the Power," but I think the passion, fury, and political unrest in that song embodies their best work. And of all the LL Cool J songs to pick, "I Can't Live Without My Radio" is probably the best. And how is Digable Planets - "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" at 62? I will never get tired of that song. It is better than most of the top 10.

However, the list features a lot of strange choices. For instance, "Push It" in the top 10? What? That song is meh, at best. Even though I did have a crush on Salt n Pepa in middle school. Also songs like "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer or "Jump Around" by House of Pain don't really deserve their place on the list. Sure I know all the words to "Jump Around" and "U Can't Touch This" had unprecedented success on the charts, but neither has aged well. Kanye West deserves to be in the Top 20, but "Through the Wire," "Jesus Walks," "Can't Tell Me Nothing," and "Heartless," among others, are better songs than "Gold Digger." And I'm glad "Parents Just Don't Understand" by Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff made the list, instead of something like "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It." But the coolness of "Summer Time" would have been a better choice, and brought back all that warmness that Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff created. "What They Do" by The Roots is a great display of what they do, especially of ?uestlove's drumming, but how about "You Got Me" w/ Erykah Badu, which features more of The Roots at their unpredictable best, and why more hip-hop needs to feature live instrumentation. It also features a mind-blowing video that I haven't forgotten since it came out (why are those people laying on the ground?). I'm also glad to see The Beastie Boys make the list, because I think they are often over-looked, especially because Paul's Boutique is a ground-breaking album. In that vein I would have included a personal fave, "High Plains Drifter" or the song with a video, "Shadrach." 

I could go on and on with things that I don't think should be on the list. But instead I wanted to add my two cents about songs or artists that I think are missing. Danger Mouse and his experimental mashup of The Beatles "The White Album" and Jay-Z's "The Black Album" may be the best rap album you've never heard, and should have had a showing on the list. Same with Kid Cudi and Wale, two rappers who released exceptional albums last year, both of which have songs that should top this list, but don't. I'm a little surprised Cudi's "Day and Nite" wasn't even there. Where's Lupe Fiasco? Maybe his skateboarding anthem, "Kick, Push." The more I go through this list, the more I see missing. Also missing is the UK form of rap known as Grime. Maybe Dizzee Rascal's awesome "Fix Up, Look Sharp," which has found life on DJ Hero. Or England's other import, and one of rap's best storytellers, The Streets. Check out "Blinded by the Lights" or the hilarious "Heaven for the Weather." I would've also liked to see more independent rappers make the list, like Aesop Rock's nightmarish funhouse "None Shall Pass," or anything from Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein.

I've included as many of the songs as I could below. These are rap songs, so use your judgment as they do have language, etc.

Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Dear Hype Train,
I am glad you occasionally pick up a passenger that belongs there.
Sincerely,

Scott Rader (and probably other Beautiful Creatures fans.)

Lena Duchannes is the new girl in Gatlin County, South Carolina, a place that hasn't changed much, and doesn't see many "new girls." Gatlin residents are still a little broken up about the Civil War. They don't care much for progressiveness. It's the kind of backwater town people want to leave, or that get trapped in and hacked to pieces by a lunatic. Ethan Wate is one of Gatlin's residents who would rather leave. His mother recently died, and since then him and his father barely speak. He reads to escape, something not many of his friends do. He does what is expected of him, although not with great pleasure. He's one of the basketball teams stand-out stars, but readers get the feeling he's only there out of obligation. He's even dated cheerleaders. But he wants more. And if you can't see where this is going . . . well, I'll tell you. Obviously, Lena and Ethan are meant to be together. Right? Well, as the back of the book says, "Some loves are meant to be . . . others are cursed."

This is the kind of book I never really saw myself getting into. I mean, it seemed awful Twilight-y from what I read. It is, indeed, a supernatural romance between a mortal and, because I don't want to ruin things, a not-mortal. It isn't, however, as girly or cheesesauce as that may sound. Part of that comes from the awesome decision to make Ethan the narrator. Sure, he's sensitive and falling head over heels in Nicholas Sparksian love, but he's also a guy and he isn't fawning, primping, gushing, and laughing in whispers over Lena. There's also a deeper mystery that shoots through the story, so 500+ pages aren't spent on how much these two love each other. There's danger, hatred, a wonderful cast of characters, which are real instead of quirky. Look at the slightly evil Uncle Macon, who looks like Cary Grant, but may be the most dangerous person in the book, except they spend time giving him more dimensionality. He isn't just written off as pure evil or as it turns out, pure good. He, even in his good moments, always seems like he may snap and kill the entire cast, giving his character an uneasy edge every time he appears in a scene. Also, the supernatural element in Beautiful Creatures is made more human. That is more human than a vampire. Vampires can die, but they don't seem real. It makes them hard, or creepy, to be attracted or connected to. Here, however, the supernatural character (it seems like that is supposed to be a surprise to I am bobbing and weaving from saying who or what) isn't ageless or immortal. So it isn't creepy. Also, they are always in just as much danger as the "mortal" character, making their power necessary to keep both characters safe. Ok. This is tricky.

What made me fall in love with this book was 1.)the believable, 3-dimensional (no relation to Avatar) characters and 2.)the beautiful writing. Stohl and Garcia have a way of intoxicating the reader with their prose. They take some of the girly away from the romance, and gave us an intense, epic thriller to grab on to.

Review: The Magicians by Lev Grossman

It's been a few days since I finished this book, and promptly moved on to Beautiful Creatures. This one I picked up for a respite between volumes of the bulky, but super-mega-awesome, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel. And The Magicians may suffer from the completeness of the latter and the quick, lovey, mystery-packed former. That may infer that I didn't like it, I liked it quite a bit. However, I think my view of it may suffer by being read around the same time as two similar but better books (and I've only read 1/3 of Jonathan Strange, so my feelings about that could change too.)

So, here's what I like about The Magicians and why I'm glad the Alex committee picked it. There are a few problems I had with it, but I will leave those on the cutting room floor.

Quentin Coldwater is smart, lonely, and obsessed with the fantasy world of Fillory (think Narnia). He's preparing for his final year of high school and the upcoming rigors of an Ivy League education (fingers crossed.) He pines over his best friend's girlfriend and does close-up magic tricks to busy himself in-between getting straight A's and beyond. That is until he discovers the magic and wonder he's always escaped into is actually real. He's been invited to start classes at Brakebill's, a very elite school for magicians (think Hogwart's College.) But he soon finds magic isn't the awesome, ideal, fantastic art he's believed it to be. It's difficult and painful, and he has to study hard just to do the basic spells. The Magicians pays great respect to the fantasy that's come before it, very clearly tipping it's hat to Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia, but it adds the cold-harsh reality of college, becoming an adult, and how our dreams and dream worlds may not be all they are cracked up to be.

(ok. I got a little wordy yesterday when I was writing that synopsis. So I quit and came back to the review today.)

So . . . while thinking about what I liked about the book last night, that's after I wrote the synopsis for this review, I realized it takes the darkness of the last 4 Harry Potter books to the next level. This book is considerably more dangerous than any of the boy wizard's adventures, but this isn't technically the story of a boy wizard and his friends. That's not to say The Deathly Hallows wasn't dangerous, Grossman just ups the ante in The Magicians. Magic in this universe is literally painful, and everything has to go just right, or it plain won't work. In the Potter series if a spell goes slightly amiss then hilarity ensues. In The Magicians if a spell is done wrong, well a magical beast is unleashed that may or may not eat the students.

Also, the characters here aren't automatically granted what they want. They have to work and struggle to become magicians, and I think that makes their journey in the end more heroic, more satisfying. Of course, some may argue that Quentin is a tool, and he is. But I connected with his loneliness. And he does work his tail off for everything he gets. He's not just some magical person who has always had the gift and will, without a doubt, defeat the enemy in the end. That's never a certainty. Not the way it is in the other books. That makes for more of a thrill when it comes to the end. We think we know the outcome, we want the "hero" to prevail, but it isn't a guarantee.

I like that. I like that it challenges readers in a different way. It wants them to believe in wonder, but not to take it for granted. It wants us to remember the world is dangerous, so why wouldn't other worlds be dangerous as well?

Oh Yeah! Lost Starts Tonight!

Scott Westerfeld's Uglies+Playmobil=Bubbly!!!

Need some silliness to help you get through the day? How about some book related silliness? Well, some teens or tweens decided to make their own Uglies movie with Playmobil pieces. It's pretty fun!  Check it out.