rap radio hits of the first half of 2012

fuck

top 10: same damn time, ayy ladies, i do, dance (a$$), nobody's perfect, gotta have it, cashin' out, round of applause, magic, sabotage

bottom 10: rack city, you the boss, no church in the wild, the motto, HYFR, stay schemin', take it to the head, bag of money, another round, crew love

1. shot caller
2. gotta have it
3. the motto
4. rack city
5. a$$
5. nobody's perfect
6. stay schemin
7. cashin out
8. mercy
9. ayy ladies
10. beez in the trap
11. magic
12. take care
13. round of applause
14. can't get enough
15. supafreak
16. up
17. HYFR
18. faded
19. drank in my cup
20. no lie

looking at this list, it's been a pretty good year for rap radio

yeah it's been aight, all things considered

you not fucking with "same damn time"?

not really one of my favorite future songs tbh

i mean idk i like it as much as anything i put in the 15-20 range

"supafreak" was a song that i really underrated

not on that list, i just mean in general

"supafreak" is pretty whatever to me, i leave it on when it comes on the radio only if i don't feel like flipping around to other stations.

cashin out and mercy

cashin out better for the summer
mercy better for soundtracking stunting

there are a lot of artists on this list i've been actively avoiding

"beez in the trap" or "magic" or "a$$"

are all those jeezy singles off the recent album? god that was dreary

"the motto" is obv amazing apart from any version of it with drake or wayne on it

i guess i'd really love "rack city" and "drank in my cup" if i'd had to hear them everywhere but i haven't so i don't really care

"the motto" is obv amazing apart from any version of it with drake or wayne on it

― kanye kardashian (lex pretend), Thursday, June 7, 2012 4:47 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

so...the instrumental?

the funkystepz remix is the shit

yeah the funkystepz remix where drake is pitched up to sound like a gremlin, also the kalenna freestyle on her mixtape

any other remixes out there sans the two tiresome original protagonists let me know

eh i hate that beat and the "Rack City" beat, all these timid clean little bass and drum demo-sounding beats can fuck off.

i like them cuz they sound like travis porter songs

i mean travie songs are often more musically dense than that/what most people would give them credit for, but still -- it's the same sorta stripped down, strip club thing

the 3 Travis Porter singles produced by FKi are the greatest sounding things, i WISH there were any other songs by them or anyone else that sounded like that (xpost)

i like them cuz i like stuff that seems to be about how crunk you can get on as little as possible (cf "oh" but in a different way)

the 3 Travis Porter singles produced by FKi are the greatest sounding things, i WISH there were any other songs by them or anyone else that sounded like that (xpost)

― shipl.de.al (some dude), Thursday, June 7, 2012 5:03 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

it was really disappointing that fki didn't have a single new song on the album

yeah seriously! some of teh other beats are really good but it's like what the hell. i was disappionted enough just to find out that the guy who did those beats wasn't a member of the group.

1. ass
2. same damn time
3. cashin out
4. drank in my cup
5. hyfr

worst: lotus flower bomb

I was hoping that Travis Porter album would be better

the FKi beats on Differenter Gang are so tight

that whole tape is kind of a minor classic

i think the travie album is getting unfairly hated on in our general circle, but yeah it could've been better. solid, like, 7.5 album i think

reminds me of like when the state vs radric davis didn't have a single new zaytoven beat on it

can you please not say "travie," they're not the gym class heroes

i like it in a "reclaiming an epithet" sorta way

1. cashin out
2. same damn time

the rest

surprised al is hating on stay schemin tho that song is cool w/ me

+ coinage of 'fanute the coupe'

Literally the exact same ranking for me right now, too, D-40. Though I might ultimately give the advantage to "Same Damn Time" since I'm probably less likely to tire of that one.

stay schemin & shot caller

i really like the akon remix of "cashin out" (obv)

shot caller would be #3 probably
i also like beez in the trap & stay schemin

i know it's not big around here but i like 'take it to the head' a lot

J. Cole f/ Trey Songz – “Can’t Get Enough”

cant believe this was still there this year, but i also like it

all the jeezy stuff is pretty generic & terrible to me in retrospect. 'i dont really care' is also imo a pretty awful waka song

"Cashin' Out" has kinda gotten old for me quick, verses are pretty nothing and the beat just kinda makes me wish "Ain't Gon' Let Up" had been bigger.

lotta people fronting on "I Do," sure it's a retread of a very familiar UGK song but that shouldn't bother a bunch of Big K.R.I.T. fans

hehe

I really don't hear another great single on that Waka album, unfortunately. Nothing tops "Round of Applause," and not much of it tops "I Don't Really Care"

doesnt sound v similar to me although 'aint gon let up' was actually pretty big around here

xxp

lotta people fronting on "I Do," sure it's a retread of a very familiar UGK song but that shouldn't bother a bunch of Big K.R.I.T. fans

― shipl.de.al (some dude), Thursday, June 7, 2012 4:57 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hasnt everyone been pretty critical of krit
but still i cant listen to andre any more its painful

idk the ones with tyga or b.o.b could be "no hands" territory

xp to evan

that shit where hes talking to a woman about how one day they'll have a daughter & she'll make the club swoon, its just creepy imo, like hes fantasizing about how hot his daughter will be

xxps to self

anyway glad we all agree rap radio is p dope right now

xp to J0rdan yeah, but "No Hands" was great. That one with the Nicki/Tyga/Flo-Rida(!) pileup is just so desperate. The B.o.B. one kinda works for what it is, I guess, but again, faint praise

anyway glad we all agree rap radio is p dope right now

I spent six hours listening to rap radio at a grillout last night, and I don't recall hearing one song that I actively disliked. A couple exposed singles I'm meh on, but mostly it was just a lot of gold

Also, save for "Take It To the Head," there's not a lot of Chris Brown on the radio at this moment, so i'm enjoying that respite

amazed that people actually like 'same damn time'

Also, save for "Take It To the Head," there's not a lot of Chris Brown on the radio at this moment, so i'm enjoying that respite

― Evan R, Thursday, June 7, 2012 6:05 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

are you kidding? "Another Round" and "Birthday Cake" and "Strip" are inescapable and "Right By Your Side" and "Sweet Love" are building steam pretty quickly

hasnt everyone been pretty critical of krit

― littledotheyknow (D-40), Thursday, June 7, 2012 6:00 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

it was a joke, Serious C.A.T.

Fuck, ima go with beez

i don't really get "Beez In The Trap." no good verses, awkward hook, beat that makes me pine for "Beemer Benz or Bentley," where's the appeal.

i like that grindy low-pitched noise

and the snap that reverbs for like 20 seconds

are you kidding? "Another Round" and "Birthday Cake" and "Strip" are inescapable and "Right By Your Side" and "Sweet Love" are building steam pretty quickly

Ah, forgot about "Birthday Cake." They play that so often it just registers as background noise to me now. "Another Round" and "Strip" are mostly out of rotation here, though, and "Right By Your Side" and "Sweet Love" haven't caught on, at least not yet. So this is about as Breezy-free as our rap station gets

spotify playlist

http://open.spotify.com/user/1000timesyes/playlist/4icsbOkvygqLsSkyZKMkTN

drank in my cup

i don't really get "Beez In The Trap." no good verses, awkward hook, beat that makes me pine for "Beemer Benz or Bentley," where's the appeal.

― shipl.de.al (some dude), Friday, June 8, 2012 12:03 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

i kidna felt this way about it initially but it wormed its way into my head. i like how circular it is, if that makes sense.

fuck is on your biscuit

xp wtf just spent the last 20 minutes making a spotify playlist out of these.. and then i hit refresh

like beez in the trap because of the me against the world feel of it, also it's kind of raw like a milli

RIDIN ROUND WITH THAT NINA!!!!!!!

The Beez in the Trap beat is great but I can't get over my intense distaste for Nicki Minaj/Young Money. It is pretty demented that there's a huge pop song right now that's just a tritone repeating over and over again.

also the chorus is dumb as hell (says the guy who's voting for Ca$h Out)

it's definitely kinda awkward which is why I like it

kenoe is a dope producer who should get hired for big name stuff more often

i really hate soda commercials on the radio or TV where you hear the sound effects
of

*PSSSSSH* --guk guk guk guk-- *AHHHHHHHHH*

― easter back, somebody call the binks truck (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, April 11, 2012 11:51 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I have to tell you goons, listening to the Kirko Bangz song is like fucking torture to me. I think hearing that song for me is like when other people open the Tryptophobia thread

lol

it's a pretty weak track imo. I always have to stop myself from literally rolling my eyes when it slows down.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

bump for last minute votes!

Almost missed this. Top five in no order:

Drake f/ Rihanna - “Take Care”
Nicki Minaj f/ 2 Chainz – “Beez In The Trap”
J. Cole f/ Missy Elliott – “Nobody’s Perfect”
Future f/ T.I. – “Magic”
Future - "Same Damn Time"

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ugh

Not at all crazy about "Cashin' Out."

it kind of interests me that it's still possible for a rapper to have a hit as big as Ca$h Out or LoveRance do without having any real public profile or identity beyond that song

its esp fascinating with loverance b/c the song is so mind-numbingly generic imo

lurkers and herbs AT THE SAME DAMN TIME

its esp fascinating with loverance b/c the song is so mind-numbingly generic imo

― littledotheyknow (D-40), Wednesday, June 13, 2012 11:08 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

i like that loverance beat a lot

"cashin' out," while good, is pretty damn generic too

one thing that really bugs me about "mercy" is how needlessly redundant the chorus

lamborghini mercy, your chick she so thirsty
i'm in the two seat lambo with your girl she tryna jerk me

like, y'all already established that you're in the lambo with my girl in the first line! say something else!

idk

also pusha t & kanye rapping about blue dolphins and molly is secretly the corniest thing in major rap this year

ha the exact same thing about the chorus occurred to me and was bugging me this morning

there is nothing cornier than "your duncan hines is irrelevant"

i give her that D
cuz that's where i was born and raised in

http://www.safety2008.org/assets/images/1.gif

haha

radio edit says "at the same same time" which is so stupid

haha yeah, i just heard that for the first time a couple weeks ago, because 99% of the stations that play it are not afraid of the word "damn" and was like ugh wtf

the big sean line is especially egregious because he's cramming syllables and barely sounding out every word so it ends up a borderline incoherent "i give her that D/ cuz that's where born and raised in"

i wish there were stations that played "same damn time" here :/

the two rap songs (rappin-ass rap songs, obv) i can think of that have been big on the radio here but not on this list are "function" and "the recipe", both of which are better than most of the songs here

i hear a fair amount of "The Recipe" (which i hate) here, but it hadn't quite reached the chart peak of the parameters i set for this poll. haven't heard an E-40 song on the radio since "U & Dat" :(

heard "function" in heavy rotation when i was out in LA

it's weird... you think that if any east coast city would put e-40 in rotation, it would be baltimore, but shit is still just so segregated

"bitch", "my shit bang", and "function" have all gotten at least a smattering of airplay here, nothing from The Ball Street Journal tho

40 was always somewhat popular but something of a cult figure here, but My Ghetto Report Card was huuuuuge, both big singles got blanket play for a year or two

yeah i had no concept that "Function" was doing anything anywhere until i saw it on a Billboard chart.

i don't know anyone who listens to E-40 here; i did a '20 greatest MCs of all time' radio roundtable thing a few months ago and got a lot of resistance for even bringing up his name.

i'm so mad at whoever voted for "HYFR"

"superhyphy" and "thizzle dance" both got quite a bit of play at that time too, even tho the latter was a few years old at the time. still hear them on the radio occasionally, esp. "thizzle"

xp haha otm, but not as mad as at whoever voted for "crew love"

WE HATIN THE CREWWWW, WE HATIN THE CREWWWWWWWWWWWWW

is "HYFR" a dud or just not really been pushed yet?

WE LOVVVVVVVVVVIN THE JEWS, WE LOVVVVVVVVVVVVIN THE JEWS

^ my version

no votes for shot caller :(

it's getting kinda big at the moment, although "crew love" seems to be stealing its momentum a lil bit (to the extent that radio has any hesitation about putting 2 drake songs in rotation at once)

xpost

these poll results are 60% young money >:O

I still haven't heard Future on the radio at all, although "Racks" and "Tony Montana" seemed popular with people I know. Haven't heard "Magic" or "Same Damn Time" in the wild at all tho. :(

these poll results are 60% young money >:O

― bronytheus (some dude), Thursday, June 14, 2012 9:52 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

well the options are prob 60% young money

only 43%

'mercy' has been hitting in a big way for me lately

need an edit that gets rid of big sean obv

love how 2 chainz sonuds like the climactic finale

yeah "Mercy" is like the only recent big 2 Chainz guest verse where he rises to the occasion

yeah

where else has there been talk about 'mercy'? it's basically kanye's take on 'hustle hard' right?

if it is, it's not remotely as transparent as "theraflu" being a bite of "i'm goin' in"

the Super Beagle sample in Mercy is so awesome

big sean's verse is good on mercy imo

damn didn't vote in this but haven't had a chance to listen to rap radio yet this year. loads of good songs here! i quite like HYFR, it's fun to sing along to!

big sean's verse is good on mercy imo

― littledotheyknow (D-40), Sunday, June 17, 2012 2:09 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

"built a house up on that ass, that's an ass-tate" and "now we out in pari, yeah I'm perrier-ing" are next level awful even by his standards

it's probably the second best verse after 2 chainz, but that's a low bar to hurdle considering pusha & kanye's verses

I kinda like pusha's verse better than big sean's

"built a house up on that ass, that's an ass-tate"

if ludacris said this a couple years ago u would have laughed with the rest of us

im not a big sean fan by any means but hes such an overhated dude at this pt

tell me how my ass tate

im not a big sean fan by any means but hes such an overhated dude at this pt

― littledotheyknow (D-40), Sunday, June 17, 2012 1:23 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

no not really, he's a terrible rapper getting increasingly popular. there's nothing wrong with hating him.

^^^^^^^^

'asstate' is such a pained bit of wordplay that there's no RIGHT way to set it up, but there are certainly ways that would've been less unapologetically lazy than "built a house up on that ass, that's an ass-tate"

first twenty times i heard "mercy" i thought he was saying "ass-stake" like "mistake." which was confusing but i thought maybe he was negging the girl in question.

which i think has caused me maybe to value the "ass-state" pun too highly because at least it's better than my moronic interpretation

i like that song a lot, even though i couldn't tell you why, but would have voted "cashin out" because:

RIDIN ROUND WITH THAT NINA!!!!!!!

― crüt, Saturday, June 9, 2012 2:41 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

first twenty times i heard "mercy" i thought he was saying "ass-stake" like "mistake." which was confusing but i thought maybe he was negging the girl in question.

― horseshoe, Sunday, June 17, 2012 8:49 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

i love the idea of big sean rapping about when he accidentally built a house on a girl's ass

"ah yes... *takes a ship of whiskey* that was one of my biggest investment ass-stakes"

i am an idiot

synthetic fabric material covering her butt, that's ass-tate

big assio mistake

i love the idea of big sean rapping about when he accidentally built a house on a girl's ass

― lamborghini persie (J0rdan S.), Sunday, June 17, 2012 8:53 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

just to spell out my dumb logic, i thought he was saying that it turned out to be an insubstantial ass.

insubstantial foundation for an ass-house

i like this latest ass-tangent

put some zit cream on that ass, that's an ass-tringent

ass-issted living

ass-emble head in sunburst sound

in the bay at the moment. so great hearing all ma jams on the radio. they play 'adorn' all the time!

rap radio thoughts

- clyde carson 'slow down' was prob my fav bay area rap radio banger
- 'dope bitch' sounds real nice on the radio when the suns shining
- that rick ross & usher joint is jammin'
- that tyga song they kept playing (make it nasty) is so so shit. rehashing his own shit
- i quite like that j. cole joint with missy elliot (actually and 'work out' too)
- 'ayy ladies' is brill and i still listen to the travis porter album all the time
- i think i might be starting to like e-40 O_o

i need to repent for not repping for "same damn time"

i like french montana "pop that" ft lil wayne rick ross & drake a lot

who doesn't like e-40 !?

i like french montana "pop that" ft lil wayne rick ross & drake a lot

― flopson, Friday, September 14, 2012 12:27 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark

i like this song but lil wayne ruins it

who doesn't like e-40 !?

― listen to that wu-tang whistle blowin' (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, September 14, 2012 4:36 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

his name is tpp

xp ya i guess his verse is awful, idk with 'pop that' i feel the way you guys seem to about, like, "i'm on one" or something, just a great beat

wayne's verse is stupid but so is everyone's on that song, his at least kinda matches the energy of the beat more than the others

also kinda lol but mostly sad that there are apparently radio station somewhere playing "make it nasty"

it's crazy how "Turn On The Lights" somehow makes more sense to me as a single than it did on the album

xp ya i agree with that, my biggest complaint about 'pop that' is how little french montana there is on it

it's crazy how "Turn On The Lights" somehow makes more sense to me as a single than it did on the album

― Evan R, Friday, September 14, 2012 2:02 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

so obv an album highlight what r u smokin

Eh, I never fully drank the Future Kool-Aid. What other critics saw as charming, I just thought was kind of lazy. I could appreciate the songcraft and to a lesser extent the vision, but the half-awake rapping was a deal breaker for me. And until the latter was a single, I always preferred "You Deserve It" to "Lights" anyway.

("Same Damn Time" is one of the year's highlights, though, obviously)

we should def do this poll again

lol i'm sure these songs will be polled to death at the end of the year

I think second half 2012 is already shaping up to be better than first half. Rap radio is in a real special place right now

eh some good stuff right now but i dunno if i'd say that. fwiw these are songs that have peaked more recently that'd have been options if i made this poll now:

Chief Keef f/ Lil Reese - "I Don't Like"
DJ Khaled f/ Kanye West and Rick Ross - "I Wish You Would"
Driicky Graham - "Snap Backs & Tattoos"
50 Cent f/ Alicia Keys and Dr. Dre - "New Day"
French Montana f/ Rick Ross, Drake and Lil Wayne - "Pop That"
Future - "Turn On The Lights"
Juicy J f/ 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne - "Bands A Make Her Dance"
Kanye West f/ Big Sean and Jay-Z - "Clique"
Lil Wayne f/ Big Sean - "My Homies Still"
Meek Mill f/ Drake - "Amen"
T.I. - "Go Get It"
2 Chainz f/ Kanye West - "Birthday Song"

eeee, yeah, I guess I feel victim to selective memory; there's a lot of trash on that list. Paired with all the current big R&B hits, though, urban radio has still just been a joy to listen to for the last few months

yeah lotta good r&b singles out

the original 'bandz a make her dance" is incredible imo. totally slept on that one.

so apparently the main vocal sample in "mercy" comes from some random rapper http://rapgenius.com/Yb-lambo-lyrics

lol at the lyrics they cut out so they could get the sample they wanted

OK Lamborghini Murci
Your chick she's so thirsty
Yeah my name is James
But with these hoes I am not Worthy
Can you please not chirp me
These petty niggas irk me
I'm in that two seat Lambo
With your girl
She's trying to jerk me

haha i just assumed from the overuse of "your chick"/"your girl" that it had to be 2 Chainz

they played "Pop That" at like three different sets at Made In America

haha i just assumed from the overuse of "your chick"/"your girl" that it had to be 2 Chainz

― some dude, Monday, September 17, 2012 1:23 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah i always just assumed it was him as well

well god for YB that he got rich off a song no one in the world cared about. the kia shine route to making millions.

haha at least he wrote the lines they used! kia shine ran a fuckin shell game

'take it to the head' really grew on me

weren't you raving about it when it was new?

whenever that song comes on i think it's "Another Round" or "You Da Boss" or "By Your Side" or one of the other dozen boring songs by the same people

nah. i think i might have said i liked it at one point. but its grown on me more since & it sounds refreshing on radio

still want to do this one more time

chainz' "i'm different" is a new-ish song that sounds really good on the radio right now

yeah "I'm Different" is a joint

will prob do another poll in early december when billboard's year-end lists drop