By: Sam Dykema
Written as part of contributions to thepanelcollab.com
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What is up Panel-ites, its your boy Sammy back with my July In-Review. I’ve been incredibly busy trekking through the Wyoming wilderness foraging for food and cooking meats on an open flame so I’m sorry for my writing absence. I hope in my time away you’ve had a not only a fantastic and healthy summer but also gotten the chance to read my reviews and check out Kota the Friend and Deante’ Hitchcock’s albums from this summer. Opposed to the reviews like I did last month, this week I’ll just be giving ya’ll a little taste of my playlist highlights from the past month or so from across all genres. Some songs recently released, some much older but all recently queued and discovered or rediscovered recently by myself. Hope you enjoy. Rap/Hip-Hop
This July was probably the first month in almost a decade where rap and hip-hop didn’t overwhelmingly rule my listening, which while I’m not upset at how much other music I’ve explored and revisited this week it is odd to not have an endless supply of tracks that I want to throw at you all for this piece, nonetheless I did find some stuff worth mentioning.
Lewis Street EP
I mean c’mon, if this wasn’t already on your liked songs from this past month you had to be under more of a rock than me. On the two track EP J Cole brings absolute heat, setting his next album up to decisively crown himself the best of 2020 and best in the game. To hear Cole rap like he does on The Climb Back’s first verse is what I’ve been legitimately lusting for since 2014 Forest Hills. I respect and enjoy post-Forest Hills J Cole but to be perfectly frank I always knocked him for losing some of that fire he had on his earlier pieces (See: Tale of 2 Citiez, GOMD, Let Nas Down and so on), after Middle Child and this EP I have no doubt we will still get 2014 rap his ass off J Cole back. On Lion King on Ice we see how that vintage Cole cadence and rhyming can meld with his newer ability to nail a hook by himself. If this truly is a teaser for an album we are about to see before 2021, this year might not end up so bad anyways.
Eggs – Wiki
I may very well be late on this track as it came out in September of 2019 but it popped up on a playlist a couple weeks back and I haven’t been able to keep it out of my rotation when I hop in the car. The meandering beat with gospely vocal and violin pacing over top combined with Wiki’s aggressive flow and egg-centric hook make this one worth checking out.
Call From The Bank- Nipsey Hussle, MGMT
Introducing the biggest snub from Lucious’ June blog about best raps over non-rap beats. If you haven’t heard this joint, absolutely need to queue this one up in memory of the great Nipsey Hussle. Electric Feel by MGMT is an absolute banger as is, toss Nip’s cocky, distinctly west coast flow over top and yeah, it’ll play.
As God Intended – Apollo Brown & Che Noir
I was scrolling through the comments of a tweet that talked about the Lewis Street EP dropping and saw multiple users hyping up how excited they were that J Cole dropped and Che Noir had a project dropping that night too, I was intrigued. So when this bad boy dropped I was even more excited to see Apollo Brown was her producer for the project. Brown is a guy I hadn’t heard from in quite awhile but his 2011 Clouds was my first introduction to strictly beatmaking and I’ve tried to check out anything I see with his name on it. Che Noir was not someone I was as familiar with but after getting just two tracks into As God Intended, I’m ready to proclaim her as one of, if not the, top female MC out there right now. Her flow, and subject matter are allowed to absolutely shine over top of Brown’s beats. Some of my favorite tracks are Hustle Don’t Give where she appears alongside Black Thought and ’94 a deeply reflective conclusion to the album giving listeners and idea of her rapping background and inspiration.
Other genres My July has had heavy house music presence but also been just kind of all over the map. From being on water under the sun or pacing me through my biking/hiking endeavors I’ve found these tracks to be a few of the ones that I keep pulling up.
All Star – Breathe Carolina Remix
Similar to what I said about Electric Feel, this Smash Mouth song as-is is already an all-time banger but this remix speeds it up and does it enough justice to be not only playable but pretty damn catchy.
Style Is the Answer – Mash
A pretty deep house song from 2012 with very gradual musical change but it makes the list strictly off the sample, the vocal of the man defining “style” goes in and out over top of the chill, funky bassline and makes for a humorous and vibey track
Sexy, Black Timberlake, Controller and Topdown -Channel Tres
One of my favorite new artists I’ve discovered this summer is definitely Channel Tres. The funky meld of dark house/edm beats, rapping and electronic hooks make him kind of addictive. I find myself playing Sexy, Black Timberlake daily at this point. If you like Controller and also enjoy house music (specifically) Walker & Royce be sure to check out their remix of Tres’ original too.
C.U.D.I (Can U Dig It) – Cosmo’s Midnight
Absolutely infectious island house song that I can’t stop playing anytime I’ve been near water or just feel like I want to smile this month. I can absolutely dig it.
Chicken Tenders – Dominic Fike
I’ll be perfectly honest; I think this is the song of summer. When I first heard it I assumed it was another pop-banger that had passed me by because I’m generally a week or two late on the ultra-popular Billboard joints but to my surprise this hasn’t even appeared on Billboard or been on everyone else’s rotation this summer so please go get down to it. To me, it seems like it’d be a shoo-in for at the very least a top 100 if not much higher with how catchy every element of the song is. Either way Chicken Tenders opened me up to Dominic Fike. And Chicken Tenders is simply just the latest in Fike’s catalogue of fun, uplifting alternative pop-rap that also includes singles like Phone Numbers and Acai Bowl.
Son of A Preacher Man – Dusty Springfield
You might know recognize my throwback of the month from its Pulp Fiction fame. It has been a staple of my hungover morning routine this entire summer and that’s why it appears here. Quintessentially late-60s in sound with a walking bass, layering of a variety of instruments, and Springfield’s always beautiful soprano vocals make it a great wake-up song. The bassline of this one was also famously sampled by Cypress Hill on “Hits From The Bong.”
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