My wife and I welcomed a baby boy into the world a little over 6 weeks ago. My older bro and most of my friends have kids so when they all told me that I was no longer going to have any free time I kind of shrugged them off. Most of my free time forever has been spent listening to music and looking for new music so I really couldn’t imagine my life without that. Well folks, my free time is out the window. That means I’m kind of washed on the music scene now so unless a homie of mine is going to text me and tell me to peep a new song or album, I’m prob not gonna be hip to any of the new tracks. I’m already witnessing this happening as somebody like 2 Chainz dropped a new album and I had no clue. Man…. Have I fallen off? I can’t even keep up with 2 Chainz releases?!?!
2 Chainz new album So Help Me God is out now
I’ve been making playlists on Spotify the past 8 or 9 years so I’ve built up a nice library to hold me over the next few years. I have to kick back and rely on playlists that I made stoned out of my mind on a Saturday afternoon years ago to get me by. The time I actually have to listen to music now is little to none as I no longer drive my car to work during Covid-life so there’s 45 minutes of daily listening time just gone. I drive to the grocery store which is maybe a 3 minute song away so I have to be strategic in what I play. My biggest time to really get into music now is on walks with my little baby boy. It’s very therapeutic for me to get out of the apartment and just walk around pushing little man. Here’s my debate though… Can I rock the AirPods when I walk with him or is that not being a good father? My other option is just putting the phone in the stroller and letting him bump with me as we cruise the streets. Earlier this week I introduced my seed to main man Curren$y and he was nodding his head to the beat. How could he not though? Curren$y probably has the best ear for beats in the game and some wavy Harry Fraud beats just mix well with a nice afternoon.
This morning when I left the pad pushing that stroller it was 11am and I got outside with my mask on and started scrolling down my playlist library on Spotify. I might even try out a shuffle or two on a few playlists before I land on what I’m gonna roll with for the walk. I came across my Kendrick “ADHD” playlist and knew I had the winner. My homie Carl got me on this type of vibe the other day when he texted me out of the blue with an old ScHoolboy Q and Kendrick Lamar track from 2011 that stays fresh. The whole ScHoolboy album Setbacks was full of heaters but “LigHt Years AHead (Sky HigH)” was truly on another level. That beat by Focus goes and Q’s verses are laid back but totally in the pocket. Kendrick coming in and singing on the chorus just builds the song up more as it builds. And then Kendrick Lamar steps in and absolutely murders the beat. So yeah…. Carl’s text is how I got on this vibe for my walk with little man today.
Sure I’m skipping through some songs as we hit the local park but I hit some good tracks on the walk today. It’s only right that I walk you through some of what came on. Maybe you know some of these and maybe you don’t but I’ll just document my December 26th, 2020 walk with my seed today. As I was on my 2nd or 3rd lap of the park “Angels” came on and there was no skipping going on there. Some of that old A$AP Rocky music is hard AF and this song is right near the top for me. I always figured it was Clams Casino on the beat but in researching now I’m seeing it was a producer named Amsterdam. That beat tho…. FLAMES. Rocky’s flow is on point too and this song just bangs. Dope video too!
The Spotify shuffle Gods must have been behind the wheel of the algorithms today because in came another Harry Fraud beat. “Muslim Wedding” from Action Bronson started and man that song is such a banger with that screwed up chorus. Was “Muslim Wedding” just a loosie or did it actually make it on an album? I’m just glad it’s up on Spotify because there are were several fire Bronson tracks that dropped around this time that aren’t on the DSP’s. Like “Morey Boogie Boards,” why can’t we get this on Spotify already? Is it the sample clearance that’s not getting it up there? It’s a shame. Dope track!
My walks with little man are about 45 minutes so I can get in a few songs before I have to go back to the apartment. I’m always trying to find those 1 or 2 songs that will have me hitting the rewind button and it wasn’t until Danny Brown made his way into rotation that I got my track of the day. I’m not even sure how I got into Danny Brown but while most might hear the voice and not be into it, I hear the passion and the lyrics behind the voice and I’m all in. Now that I think about it, I think it was the Black & Brown EP from 2011 he had with Black Milk where I first took notice. Black Milk has always been nice behind the boards and him linking up with Danny made me listen. “Wake Up” was the song in particular that got me into Danny Brown. From there I started going back through his other releases which brought me immediately to the “XXX” album that he dropped earlier that year on Fool’s Gold Records. The album was and is dope but there are several songs on there that rise above. None other than “30” which is a Skywlkr beat that not many emcees could rap on. But Danny feels at home with the unorthodox beat and something must have struck a chord with him because the emotion he rhymes with is truly remarkable. The tone in his voice tells me that his back’s up against the wall and this rap game just had to work out for him. The lyrics were just so real too. They took me all the way out to Detroit and had me picturing Danny stealing power from his neighbors just to plug up the Nintendo. I listened to “30” at least 5 times today. It encompasses everything I look for in a song to motivate me. Danny’s talents made me dust off the cobwebs off of this site and write a little something today. Props to Danny Brown on a great song and a dope album. Made my walk with my little boy that much better today.
“30” lyrics snagged from Rap Genius
If looking for the playlist that contains all these songs, here you go. All on that 2010 - 2014 era of rap which will go down as one of the best of all time when we all look back at this rap game.