The Audacity of Dope

2012 is all finished and as is tradition on SNSS, we ended December with our annual “Best Of” wrap up show.  You can check some of our recent wrap ups here (2009, 2010, and 2011) and down below is this year’s list.  Our format is simple: there’s no countdown and we don’t claim this to be any sort of definitive list.  Instead, we just pick our favorite songs of the year from local and national artists, with the only caveat being that we try not to pick multiple songs from the same artists.  If that was the case, folks like Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, and Nas could easily fill up many of the spots.

Without further ado, our playlist, download links, and some notes about each track.

Show #394 (12-30-12)
**Best of 2012**

1. Kanye West ft. Pusha T & Ghostface Killah – “New God Flow (Remix)”
2. Meek Mill ft. Big Sean – “Burn”
3. Gangrene (Oh No & Alchemist) – “Flame Throwers”
4. J. Pinder ft. Dice – “Never No” (Local Music)
5. Schoolboy Q ft. ASAP Rocky – “Hands On The Wheel”
6. Big K.R.I.T. – “4EvaNaDay (Theme)”
7. Dom Kennedy – “My Type Of Party”
8. Rashad – “Make Love 2 This”
9. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Mary Lambert – “Same Love” (Local Music)
10. Reef The Lost Cauze – “The Prey”
11. Lupe Fiasco – “Bitch Bad”
12. The Physics – “So Funky” (Local Music)
13. Shad – “Old Prince”
14. Frank Ocean – “Pyramids”
15. Nas – “The Don”
16. Beanie Sigel ft. State Property – “The Reunion”
17. Jarv Dee – “I Just Wanna” (Local Music)
18. Kendrick Lamar – “B*tch, Don’t Kill My Vibe”
19. Miguel – “Do You…”
20. BJ The Chicago Kid – “Good Luv’n”
21. Rick Ross ft. Dr. Dre & Jay-Z – “3 Kings”
22. Ray Dalton – “So Emotional” (Local Music)
23. Yuna – “Live Your Life”

Link to download/stream the mp3 of the show – http://www69.zippyshare.com/v/11535119/file.html
(back up link – http://linkmixes.com/e367jv3frsds)
(2nd back up – http://www.sharebeast.com/vkqnfp1dyis4)

If there are any problems with the links or if you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

Notes:

1. Yeezy had multiple records that could hold down anyone’s list (“Mercy,” “Clique,” “Way Too Cold (Theraflu),” etc.), but we went with the remix to his Ghostface inspired single, featuring Tony Starks himself.  Pusha might have stole the show though…
2. “God…oh God!” – Big Sean said it all.
3. Alchemist had plenty of great beats in 2012, but this slept on record featured his hardest slap of the year.
4. If it weren’t for a certain duo from Seattle blowing up in 2012, Pinder’s success would be more widely celebrated.  If he continues to release songs like this, it’ll come.
5. Crews like GOOD Music, Young Money, and MMG were everywhere in 2012, but the year’s best collective was Top Dawg.  Ab-Soul, Kendrick, and Q shined, with the latter’s biggest record being this collaboration with ASAP Rocky.
6. While K.R.I.T.’s official major label debut album was quite good, his mixtape was better.  The man just makes quality music left and right.
7. Dom took some flack this year for his slowed down, relaxed rhymes on the Yellow Album, but it worked like a charm on his DJ Dahi produced single.
8. Rashad was the most slept on artist in 2012.  His Museum project came out of nowhere and is a borderline classic.
9. See #4.  Mack and Ryan owned 2012, both in Seattle and nationally, attaining new heights for unsigned artists.  “Thrift Shop” is a top 10 single, but “Same Love” was their most powerful and helped Washington state legalize same sex marriage.
10. Tackling one of the most troubling stories of the year, Reef summed up the anger, confusion, and worry that Trayvon Martin’s murder brought up in February.
11. Never one to bite his tongue, Lupe launched a scathing assault on one of hip-hop’s favorite words.
12. If the Physics put out music, it’s a lock that they’ll have a song on our wrap up list.  One of the best groups in hip-hop resides in our backyard.
13. It’s a testament to SK’s rhyming ability that a freestyle, quick-strike style mixtape dropped for fun still produced some of the best verses of the year.  Just wait until his next album…
14. Last year, “Novacane” was my song of the year.  This year, Frank took it again with his 10 minute opus.  He also gets my album of the year for the brilliant Channel Orange.
15. We could have easily picked “Daughters” or “Bye Baby” here, but we went with his Salaam Remi produced, Heavy D inspired anthem.
16. Beanie may have ran into some legal trouble this year (…again), but he also managed to get the band back together for a record that was undeniably Philly…and filthy.
17. The Moor Gang made a significant impact locally in 2012 and with songs like this, there’s no reason they can’t break out nationally in 2013.
18. With all due respect to Nasir, Kendrick likely dropped the rap album of the year.  We could have picked a number of songs off it, but we went with this instant classic.
19. We played “Adorn” early on, well before it went on to be one of the biggest songs of the year, but “Do You…” was the better pick off Miguel’s album.  A flawless song.
20. Frank may have had the R&B album of the year, but BJ wasn’t that far behind.  Pineapple Now-Laters was highly slept on, but people will wake up when he starts to get a major label push in 2013.
21. Rozay, Dre, and Hov with a beat by Jake One?  Yep!  New name: Jake Won.
22. Many know of Ray’s name through his singing on Macklemore’s “Can’t Hold Us,” but he stepped out on his own in 2012 with this song.  If he keeps making music like this, the sky is the limit.
23. Yuna linked up with Pharrell for multiple songs off her major label debut, but this catchy single was the strongest.  Having her perform it live on SNSS was one of our highlights of the year as well.

Honorable mentions from artists not otherwise represented:

• 50 Cent – “You Took My Heart”
• Aaliyah ft. Drake – “Enough Said”
• Ab-Soul ft. Alori Joh & JaVonte’ – “Empathy”
• ASAP Rocky – “Goldie”
• A Yellow Man – “3,000 Miles Of Youth”
• Big Boi ft. Little Dragon – “Mama Told Me (Unreleased Version)”
• Blu & Exile – “The Only One”
• Brother Ali – “Writer’s Block”
• Brothers From Another ft. Prometheus Brown & Thig Natural – “Molly Moon”
• Common ft. Maya Angelou – “The Dreamer”
• Danny Brown – “Grown Up”
• Dee-1 – “Writer’s Block”
• DJ Khaled ft. Scarface, Nas, & DJ Premier – “Hip-Hop”
• Dr. Oop – “Magic Milk”
• Ellie Goulding – “High For This”
• Elzhi – “Blue Window”
• Freddie Gibbs & Madlib ft. BJ The Chicago Kid – “Shame”
• Gensu Dean ft. Olivier Daysoul – “Wantchu”
• Gilbere Forte – “Pray”
• Killer Mike – “Willie Burke Sherwood”
• Little Dragon – “Sunshine”
• Maffew Ragazino – “Amaretto Sour”
• Mansions On The Moon – “Leaves Fall”
• Oddisee – “Paralyzed”
• OnCue – “Kinda Late”
• Rhye – “Open”
• Rochelle Jordan – “Pressure”
• Saigon ft. Jovan Dais – “Women Are The New Dogs”
• Slum Village ft. De La Soul – “Turning Me Off”
• Steven A. Clark – “Don’t Have You”
• THEESatisfaction – “QueenS”
• The Kid Daytona ft. Jadakiss – “Low (Remix)”
• The Weekend – “Twenty Eight”

See you in 2013.

Not much to say this week.  Hope you’re all celebrating the holiday season with your friends and family.  Tune in next week for our “Best of 2012” edition of SNSS.  Don’t miss it…

Show #393 (12-23-12)

1. Game ft. Pusha T – “Name Me King”
2. T.I. – “The Introduction”
3. Maffew Ragazino – “Friday Night”
4. Supastition – “Yada Yada”
5. Skyzoo ft. Freeway – “Pockets Full”
6. **INTERVIEW WITH SCRIBES, PT. 1**
7. ASAP Rocky ft. Kendrick Lamar, Joey Badass, Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Actin Bronson, & Big K.R.I.T. – “1 Train”
8. Thurz ft. Jarell Perry – “Keep Livin’”
9. Elijah Blake ft. Common – “X.O.X.”
10. Shelton Harris – “Wake Up” (Local Music)
11. Chin Injeti ft. Sonreal – “Gunna Be Fine” (Local Music)
12. **INTERVIEW WITH SCRIBES, PT. 2**
13. MC Eiht – “The Reign”
14. Outkast – “West Savannah” (Throwback of the Week)
15. Big Boi ft. Phantogram – “CPU”
16. J. Cole – “2012”
17. Arima Ederra – “Flow Chart”
18. Rhye – “Open”
19. Mac Slug ft. Reno Red – “Music Is Key” (Local Music)
20. 2 Player Co-Op (Trackademicks & 1-O.A.K.) – “Nothing Looks The Same”

Link to download/stream the mp3 of the show – http://www14.zippyshare.com/v/67208981/file.html
(back up link – http://linkmixes.com/53cm5qwe7d8w)
(2nd back up – http://www.sharebeast.com/yzr606v2x2fw)

If there are any problems with the links or if you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.