JAY-Z TRACKS / NEPTUNES TRACKS REDUX / I JUST WANNA POLL U (BALLOT 2 ME) voting closes June 16th

So last October, V79 ran a Neptunes tracks poll, but around the time the voting deadline was closing, he stopped posting to ilx, and appears to be still out there on the internet but not posting here or responding to any messages regarding the poll. So, with my Jay-Z poll coming up in the queue, I thought I’d be a good time to attempt to get the Neptunes poll back on track, too, since there’d likely be a lot of the same people voting in both. But, of course, you can vote in one and not the other, it doesn’t matter, but I’d appreciate if you’re particularly interested in one at least throwing a top 10 together for the other.

Since some of you already sent V79 ballots, I will keep it simple – if you re-send me what you already sent him, that will be counted. If you want to vote now for the first time, or revise your ballot from before, that’s fine too. Up to 35 favorite Neptunes tracks (please vote for at least 10), ranked or unranked (you can number your ballot, but if you don’t, please specify ranked or unranked). Any discussion of the Neptunes discography should probably take place in the thread that already exists, just because we already talked about a lot of stuff there last year and it’d be easier to pick up the conversation again there: The Official ILM THE NEPTUNES Poll (#27 In Series) - Voting & Campaigning Thread (VOTING STILL OPEN)

With that business out of the way, this thread is primarily for the Jay-Z tracks poll, and discussion of his catalog. You can vote for up to 35 tracks (and at least 10), just like the Neptunes poll, to keep it simple. There are also 2 subpolls:

-top 5 favorite Jay-Z albums

-top 5 tracks you love, but not for Jay (i.e. it has a great beat or hook or verse by another rapper, but Jay doesn’t really add much of value to it and/or it would be just as good or better without him).

Send all ballots to shipley.al at gmail dot com. The deadline is midnight (wherever you are) at the end of Sunday, June 16th. This is a firm deadline with the Neptunes poll, which I will roll results out for first, but I may informally let Jay-Z ballots trickle in for a few days after that or set a new deadline (no promises, though, get them in by the 16th if you can).

I didn't use the vaunted ilx poll spreadsheet when I did the Timbaland poll, but maybe I should give it a try, can someone send it to me?

Unexpectedly excited for this Jay-Z poll! I feel like on a track-specific basis there's a lot to talk about.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmhW_PgsyKKodGZkUi14NV9mYUZ2bUhyV29QU3hBV3c#gid=0

That's the spreadsheet saved as a Googledocs file -- I think you can "download as" to get a local copy on your machine, but working on the web went fine for me on the Miles poll.

yeah his catalog is just insanely rich. I'm gonna start talking about some songs I consider underrated (will only post YouTubes if I feel like a lot of people haven't heard them).

Scarface's "Get Out" is my favorite Jay-Z feature that nobody ever talks about, amazing song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlyMbRgWC9g

have already received Ismael and Jeff W's re-submitted Neptunes ballots! hope you guys do Jay ballots too!

I'm in for both, just need to re-submit the Neps and get working on Jay.

for your consideration: "Best Of Me Part 2," imo Jay's best R&B collab ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQqwLPKYbok

OH MAN YEAH

6 Neptunes ballots in already and just got the first Jay-Z ballot a little while ago! keep 'em comin'!

can i vote for can i get open?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kcCcyPi-2A

all features and collabs are fair game (i mean, more substantial cameos than "Hawaiian Sophie," anyway).

bubblin in dublin

im quite drunk and ready to listen to jay verses on random. :D

can't wait to mean mug everyone who votes for post-retirement junk

i dunno, we'll see. i'm kind of skeptical about much of that stuff having a relatively strong consensus. only thing i'm voting for post-2003 will prob be the "Diamonds" remix, maybe "New Day" or "Dear Summer" too if i feel like it.

Forgot to mention how much I like the title "I JUST WANNA POLL U (BALLOT 2 ME)"

I can even here Pharrell singing "ballot to me / but don't bullshit me"

well i had to reference jay AND the neptunes and i wasn't gonna quote "change clothes" or "blue magic" over here

some dude do you have like a link to a list of neptunes-eligible stuff?

there's some discogs linked in the OG poll thread: The Official ILM THE NEPTUNES Poll (#27 In Series) - Voting & Campaigning Thread (VOTING STILL OPEN)

I'm being pretty loose about anything Pharrell and/or Chad had anything to do with, including "Rump Shaker" and "Get Lucky"

some dude do you have like a link to a list of neptunes-eligible stuff?

― Lamp, Wednesday, June 5, 2013 8:28 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Also here is a pretty comprehensive spotify list for Neptunes
http://open.spotify.com/user/sutrarama/playlist/687z3my4nlvZyU0mkZdsYF

I'm creating a Jay list right now as well.

Here is the Jay Z playlist, quite a few features on there too
http://open.spotify.com/user/theshipment/playlist/3I9MS3uvPcPzBJqGqySnuX

Not on the playlist but I think I'll be a little sad if this doesn't make it on the final countdown somewhere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XPZSbdyPKk
Just noticed that TYler ThE Crator stole his whole steeze from Jay in this video.

i missed the neptunes poll first time round (well, until it was well under way) - might be an opportune moment to jump in on that! and def in for jay-z. pre-emptive side-eye at anyone including more than one track from the last 8 years

aw i forgot i did that neptunes playlist. i did a swiss beatz one as well and was gonna do a bunch of producers.

We can include Get Lucky? I'll have to tweak my ballot then.

doubt it

I'm being pretty loose about anything Pharrell and/or Chad had anything to do with, including "Rump Shaker" and "Get Lucky"

I mean, it feels odd because he didn't produce it but if some dude says it counts then it counts.

oh shit didnt see that! yeah i thought it was productions only

I mean, Pharrell did co-write "Get Lucky," so I'm allowing it, but if people don't feel it's 'canon' they're welcome to ignore it. Probably lots of people will vote for "Hella Good," and that's technically not a Neptunes track -- iirc Chad and Pharrell co-wrote and played synths but Nellee Hooper produced it.

i dunno, we'll see. i'm kind of skeptical about much of that stuff having a relatively strong consensus. only thing i'm voting for post-2003 will prob be the "Diamonds" remix, maybe "New Day" or "Dear Summer" too if i feel like it.

― some dude, Thursday, 6 June 2013 04:15 (8 hours ago) Bookmark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIqsw2mndx4

I guess "Ignorant Shit" could be considered post-03 too, but I always knew it as a Black Album outtake, def voting for that.

I love Rump Shaker but always think of it as a Teddy Riley jam

same here. i'm just leaving the decision of its inclusion up to the electorate.

Pharrell now has 2 top 10 songs at the same time. Last time that happened was in May 2003 (JT's "Rock Your Body" and Snoop's "Beautiful").

damn

bump

still heartbroken that "Hey Papi" didn't place in the Timbaland poll, let's get it right this time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar6yL37XifU

I mean, Pharrell did co-write "Get Lucky," so I'm allowing it, but if people don't feel it's 'canon' they're welcome to ignore it

Eeh, this is an unwelcome spanner in the works. Get Lucky can go spin but Lose Yourself To Dance would be my no.1 if I voted for it. Damn you V79 for not wrapping this up earlier.

i honestly would be surprised if either gets more than a couple votes, i'm just saying i'm leaving the door open

Yeah I'm not even really considering those.

Should we take the Neps talk to the Neps thread though?

This Jay balloting is harder than i thought cos i have so much love for the non-hits and low key stuff.

i'm not gonna police the separation of topics too much, unless it starts to veer into territory already covered in the o.g. Neptunes thread

please ban "get lucky" from the poll

i say leave it in and then let's do a kickstarter for contracts on the voters lives

controversy sells, please keep bumping the thread for this completely irrelevant furor

haha

Jays verse on this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U-VcRD_Ygw

Also I remember hating Money Cash Hoes when I originally bought vol 2 but it clicked hard for me a few years later
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXR6U4C7pdI

Not sure I'm gonna have room for anything past Blueprint tbf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvtWRdcfI28

everyone on form but jay's is ridiculous

i like to think about how awkward it would be if everyone from that track were in the same room today

Cross-ref plug for the Kellz poll coming in a month or so.

excited for that one

feel like "Who You Wit" is the most forgotten Jay single, was his first song I really dug since I was initially lukewarm on "Ain't No," and really it was his 2nd biggest hit for a while until he blew up in '98:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHizCizvMQI

actually i guess Foxy's "I'll Be" was bigger if i count features, that record was huge

nothing here is making sense to me. what's the part about the neptunes?

for the second option, can i choose non jay tracks that he happens to be on?? like the face track u selected ???

it's 2 different polls that i'm running at the same time, because someone tried to do a Neptunes poll last year and then flaked out.

features and collabs are all fair game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPHmpTT7f04

reason i never really had that connection with jay is the bulletproof smooth jazz appeal emotionless always, a frankly suspect origin story, never able to tap into real pathos or whatever, never hitting that real selfloathing, never able to tell his story compellingly but he always had the right people around him. i tried to make a list and i'm just choosing tracks that jay happens to be on, acting as a steadying influence, cordial host.
like this.
talking about magic carpet rides and sunshine before delving into unreconstructed pain & suffering raps, beans meditating on cycles of poverty, anger, trapped in the hood forever forever, face coming in at the end to explain that it doesn't get better, 40 years old still in south park.

yeah pick out songs however you wanna pick em, curious to see your ballot

if i made an honest list that didn't rely on jay happening to be on dope golden age rocafella tracks i think it would be heavy on watch the throne, post blueprint miscellany like "dear summer" because i think that's the point where his style meets the ideal content for him. i really, really liked watch the throne and it's not something i'm proud of.

haha yeah Jay is pretty good on that record. he's still Jordan with the Wizards on anything post-05 for me, though.

love this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Pd-64fHTXM

quiet as it's kept, Best of Both Worlds had jams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efm-WS1RIbA

i think the idea of repping pre-"retirement" jay-z over current jay-z is kind of silly
as if fuckin hawaiian sophie jay or r kelly jermaine dupri collabing jay or reasonable doubt norah jones scarface raps jay was somehow a pillar of rap game legitimacy

not saying his catalog was pure before that, it was just better.

norah jones scarface raps?

norah jones scarf ace raps

Oh you know, jazz samples and mafioso posturing, those things that Jay-Z did so much more, and so much more poorly, than other 90s rappers

Snoopy Track top 5 for me probably. Jay is host most dickish on that 2nd verse, probably Timbos toughest beat too. I think I voted that #1 on the Timbo poll.

"Snoopy Track" is cool but my least fav of the holy Vol 3 Timbo set, was surprised by how high it placed in the Tim poll

pre blueprint top 15
1. intro/a million and one questions/rhyme no more
2. it's like that ft kid capri
3. where i'm from
4. you're only a customer
5. soon you'll understand
6. this can't be life ft beanie sigel scarface
7. friend or foe 98
8. brooklyn's finest ft notorious big
9. 1-900-hustler
10. dead presidents
11. coming of age
12. money cash hoes
13. snoopy track ft juvenile
14. notorious big ft jay-z i love the dough
15. can't knock the hustle irv gotti remix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRZvemxAYAc

No 22s, D'evils or Can I Live?

1. intro/a million and one questions/rhyme no more

otm, utterly perfect rap music

'can i live' should be on there.

that top 10 is rock solid but i sort of lost interest moving into the final 5.

Imaginary Player is essential imo

"snoopy track" is dope of course but "so ghetto" is def the best album track off vol 3 imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SZLu5bjHCQ

"brandish iron / outlandish buyin" has always been one of my fav rap lyrics ever

i always heard that beat as a slowed down 'hold u down' then recently i actually heard 'love theme from the landlord' and it fucked me up

where did "jigga what" place in the tim poll? that beat is beyond everything

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/4216-the-blueprint/

am i the only one that that still harbors a low level but ungetaroundable antipathy for jay just because... Jay-Z / Nas hip-hop throw down? & other throw-downs? i mean even nas was able to get over it but i feel like i'd still run up on jay if i ever saw him in person

i did a playlist of extra deep cuts (i.e. nothing as canon as "Where I'm From" or "PSA"):

http://narrowcast.blogspot.com/2013/06/deep-album-cuts-vol-8-jay-z.html

dylannn's list is pretty otm though

Great list there (you and dylannn both). Crazy that we can dive three layers deep and still unfold so much quality.

A Week Ago is DEF going on my list

it's kind of impossible to choose among RD tracks

yeah...i'm definitely voting for a core of, like, Can I Live/FOF/Dead Presidents/Regrets/Ain't No, but there's any number of other songs i'm on the fence about. not sure if Brooklyn's Finest is too much about Big to put on a Jay ballot.

i want 40 spots!

ha as soon as i decided on 35 spots i was like fuck i can't narrow it down to that, oh well

im at like 60 right now

i can't choose which can i live to put on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gFYrGu3oj4

I > II

he did SO MANY sequels of his early songs, seems like way more than other 90s rappers? Dead Presidents, Who You Wit, Friend Or Foe, Coming Of Age, Can I Live...a lot of them were just tacking on new verses if he was re-releasing something on a new project (or even just putting a new verse on the single release of Big Pimpin'), but still. i am forever waiting for the "Imaginary Player 2" that was on the early Vol. 2 tracklist i saw on the Roc-a-fella AOL message board in the summer of '98, when i was stanning back before the coinage of 'stan.'

"Friend Or Foe '98" is the only one i'd be super inclined to count as its own song in the poll, although i love both and would prob just vote for the first. i guess "Can I Live 2" and "Coming of Age 2" are pretty distinct songs too.

"Ni**as Back In Paris"

wasn't that the working title for Before Midnight?

lollll

ha

i wish i could vote for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSE1EBeErAw

westwood replayed it, i taped it and i listened to that tape like a 1000 times. god knows what happened to all those shitty rocafella guys but for ages i got a kick out of seeing their name in the source, and treated the real dudes like beanie and free as gods amongst men. this post is a little hyperbolic but not that much.

Less than a week until Neptunes ballots are due! Keep em comin!

top 15 blueprint and after

1. why i love you w kanye
2. heart of the city
3. scarface guess who's back ft jay-z beanie sigel
4. u don't know remix ft mop
5. meet the parents
6. lost one
7. freeway - what we do ft jay-z beanie sigel
8. poppin tags ft killer mike big boi
9. song cry
10. DOA
11. otis
12. kanye west never let me down ft jay-z
13. rock my world remix
14. my 1st song
15. beanie sigel - think it's a game ft jay-z freeway

that's not nearly as heavy on post-retirement stuff as you suggested it might be!

i'm super bummed about this but i don't think i'm going to have the time to really go back and re-listen to his whole catalog before sending in a ballot, but i'll definitely still send one

35

1. intro/a million and one questions/rhyme no more
2. why i love you w kanye
3. soon you'll understand
4. heart of the city
5. can i live
6. scarface guess who's back ft jay-z beanie sigel
7. it's like that ft kid capri
8. where i'm from
9. you're only a customer
10. this can't be life ft beanie sigel scarface
11. otis
12. song cry
13. notorious big ft jay-z i love the dough
14. friend or foe 98
15. brooklyn's finest ft notorious big
16. meet the parents
17. 1-900-hustler
18. dead presidents
19. coming of age
20. lost one
21. beanie sigel - once again it's on ft jay-z
22. freeway what we do ft jay-z beanie sigel
23. u don't know remix ft mop
24. poppin tags ft killer mike big boi
25. DOA
26. kanye west never let me down ft jay-z
27. my 1st song
28. streets is talkin ft beanie sigel
29. come and get me
30. rock my world remix
31. money cash hoes
32. snoopy track ft juvenile
33. its alright ft memphis bleek
34. beanie sigel think it's a game ft jay-z freeway
35. can't knock the hustle irv gotti remix

are you gonna email that to me or should i just count that as your ballot

i'll email! i've never voted in an ilm poll. i want to make lists for the other two side polls.

aight cool

people can be pretty sensitive about 'don't spoil the poll by posting your ballot before it's over' btw but i don't really care that much if it happens once or twice

sorry! i didn't know the etiquette.

yeah don't sweat it

meet the parents is great

http://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Studio060613.jpg

is that Chris Brown?

Nasty Nas

oh good. A+ pic in that case

1. intro/a million and one questions/rhyme no more ---- not nas rhymes where you can imagine the rhymes written out in blue pen on yellow legal, scratched out, written over, 'but i wanted to bring a couple of books to the studio today ... don't even remember when i was writing these shits or what's in these shits, probably a bunch of bullshit, fuck it' sound of pages flipping, and no matter what comes out in the booth the final version is not the unified production, beats and performance and the sound and the bounce of it but the rap as it existed on the page, the content, the written form, so fuck it if i am doesn't have a hot beat on it. not big rhymes where flow and feel carry him but personality and sound alone could carry it. jay sounds more effortless than anyone, maybe he just wrote to the beat right there or composed it in his head, drawing together rhymes and routines rehearsed mentally for days but so much feel for how things should sound, how a particular couplet sounds over a particular pause in the beat, stretching a syllable and matching the stretch on the next bar or at the end of the verse so everything fits together perfectly, adlibs that sound like the product of the dozenth take but never sounding like that. even if there's no compelling content or no personality like nas or big, he can pull it off. ugggh nice watch / do you really have a spot / like you said in friend or foe / and if so, what block?

2. why i love you w kanye ---- "i'm not sure how anyone could really feel invested in this at all." that's the way i felt until i heard it. i was living with my scottish friend mike, who loved molly and joe budden and grimy 90s nyc rap fan and a dude from detroit named paris, who loved boys, drugs and house music. at one point, the only music we had in the house was a thumb drive with this album on it and we played it before going out every night on some fucked up video disc player with a usb port, through our tv. this was the first rap album for a long long time that i experienced in some sort of communal setting with people that loved it. so, i heard this before going out and hearing 'niggas in paris' out was always a crazy euphoric moment that took the night to the next level, hearing that distorted BALL SO HARD MOTHERFUCKERS WANNA FIND ME, screaming the kanye verse in each others faces, coming home and dancing to and falling asleep to the same songs. mike was the first dude i ever sat around and had endless discussions with about tragedy khadafi albums and mega and he played me budden freestyles and there was a lot of skepticism about a 2011 kanye jay album because we could agree kanye was his own thing but jay could still be evaluated against our creaky rap rules and neither of us had bothered checking for him after, like, 'girls, girls, girls' was a thing and we were young enough to write him off forever. jay on this, off the creamy rocafella beats or 00s superproducer shit that i never really dug and authoritative and smart and goes beyond anything that could be evaluated by our outmoded budden freestyle rap rules style. 'why i love you,' jay-z tentatively booming on strings and static, the back and forth with kanye.

3. soon you'll understand ---- with other rappers, part of what i find compelling is the flaws, finding the worst track on an album and trying to figure out what the point was, trying to dig into the cracks and pull out the meat and figure out what the TRUTH is, man-- you won't understand it unless you see the pain in his eyes. forget who said that. with this, telling a story that another rapper could mishandle in an interesting way, reveal something about themselves, but jay makes it flawless and the compelling thing is staring into his frozen shrimp eyes and figuring out if it's genuine, if it's a real story. i always got caught on some of the lines in 'song cry,' which is meant to be emotional jay but some of the lines seem disingenuous coming from him, 'used to cut up they buddies now they sayin they love me.' i think it's the creepiness of the sound, the game of trying to figure out if he's genuine....

even as an uncommitted jay-z fan, i'm at my dad's house right now, where i've still got a box of cds and i realized i own every album up to blueprint 2, incl like roc la familia, streets is watching soundtrack (and at some point i'm sure i owned the vhs tape) and the s dot carter mixtape.

haha i definitely had the Streets Is Watching VHS. i need to see that er 'movie' again.

aaaand now pharrell has his first #1 since lol "money maker"

12 Neptunes ballots in so far! that's more than V79 got last year but still not enough! keep 'em comin! you got a couple more days!

i'll play

sent my neptunes one off. so obscenely busy that a jay-z one might not happen in time :(

so far I have 15 Neptunes ballots in and 6 Jay-Z ballots in. Neptunes poll is supposed to close up tonight, but I'm going out of town for a couple days tomorrow, so I may start the rollout later in the week and let people get in ballots a little late if they need a little extension. Jay-Z voting deadline won't be for AT LEAST a week, if ballots keep coming in really slow and the Neptunes rollout takes too long I may keep the Jay poll open into July and let the Motown poll go first.

some people that iirc i haven't gotten any ballots from yet that i'm really hoping to see: rtc, d-40, spottie ottie, k3vin, rev. strongo sent v79 a ballot but i haven't seen him around to forward it to me.

i think i wanna try that ilm poll excel spreadsheet, anyone have a copy they can e-mail me today?

considering that i only have half as many Neptunes ballots as i got for the Timbaland poll, i'm gonna leave the door open through at least Wednesday night. have at it if you've been procrastinating.

can i vote for the stretch & bobbito freestyle with big l?

sure

I posted an online version of that spreadsheet at the top of the thread, but just now emailed you a copy as well.

as far as freestyles (or 'freestyles') go, love this all-time dick move, Joe Budden has a hit with a beat Jay passed on, so he grabs it back and sons him on it for the fuck of it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT-v-VnfhHo

oh thanks man!

Man... if Jay would have did Pump It Up we probably wouldn't know who Joe Budden is.

yeah even Jay makes mistakes sometimes

Ive got my neps ballot ready just gonna run through the order to make sure I can lock it down for good. I'll have it by Wed. no problem.

Man... if Jay would have did Pump It Up we probably wouldn't know who Joe Budden is.

― Shock G Mo Collier (Spottie_Ottie_Dope), Sunday, June 16, 2013 11:45 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

or freeway or beanie or basically anyone on the roc roster who heard that beat and didn't grab it

well yeah but Jay woulda pushed that thing through the charts

although re Budden I still love that one with Christina Millian

what's the ratio of dogshit neptunes/jay songs to dope neptunes/jay songs? is it 2:1?

Would be interesting to see which producer he has the best hit/miss ratio with. Also this seems pertinent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B--ZARCwSIE

pertinent thread to this convo: best Jay-Z/producer combo

imo Jay and Pharrell have made 1 classic together, maybe 3 lightweight fun jams, and about a dozen dirty diapers

apparently Jay wanted the "Grindin'" beat, i kinda can't even picture him on it, don't think he could've improved on the song it became

pertinent thread to this convo: best Jay-Z/producer combo

^^ this was my immediate first thought when watching that commercial tonight

tim losing that poll is a disgrace

Yeah Clipse rocked Grindin just fine.

Commercial needed Preem tho

well, you know, Premo is busy with prestige projects like Joey Bada$$ and The Nacirema Dream

lol for real he is involved in some laaaaaame stuff these days

they should've thrown jay on one of those grindin remixes at the end of lord willin

there was bound to be a jay related headline before this poll finished.

haha yeah pretty much. Pharrell having his biggest hits in half a decade feels a bit more 'woah, timing.'

magna carta holy grail. i just keep saying it to myself in a smh daze

you gon vote or what

you know i'm philosophically disinclined to these things, don't be awkward

[goes to ur dealership, never cops nuttin]

pshhh you know you have a list, just post it and i'll count it

yeah rtc plz vote

ship i'll get mine in soon

Still need the Neps ballots tonight right?

pharrell's got the #1 and #2 songs in the country right now

I'm gonna give people til the end of Saturday for Neps and roll out results next M-F -- could a mod change the subjext line to "Neptunes voting closes June 22nd"?

some seriously amazing songs gonna get the shaft on this poll

...unless of course it's YOUR favorite and there's still time for you to vote for it!

so i have the preliminary tally done, which looks pretty damn exciting i have to say, but i am welcoming any additional ballots until the rollout begins. it'll be a top 30, with 10 a day starting on probably Tuesday or Wednesday, so feel free to vote until then.

this is speaking of Neps only for now right?

yes, only Neptunes rollout. i'm not gonna close voting on the Jay poll for a while, needs a lot more ballots to justify doing a rollout of.

al I will definitely do a jay-z ballot.

to that end can anyone recommend the most essential non-album jay-z tracks for my consideration and edification?

including features, or just solo tracks not on albums?

both!

well i'm clarifying what tim was asking for

i too would appreciate a list of your favorites that includes both

a lot of y'all still m.i.a. with neptunes ballots, c'mon k3v/lex/spottie/dylan/rtc/deej/rev don't flake out y'all, get me up to 20 voters

Has V79 voted?

Particularly solo tracks not on albums, but definitely both.

i thought you were set on the neptunes. i don't have much to add with my list but i'll make one tonight.

i'm never 'set' as long as these polls have less than half the voters of polls for bullshit like [insert band name here]

Timbaland

lol, well yeah it is annoying to have so many fewer voters than i had for Timbaland. after discussing all these guys on ILM for over a decade it shouldn't be that hard to get participation on polls of their discographies, but there's a lot more 'too cool for school' happening here than in threads about '80s alternarock bands or w/e.

is izzy saying timbaland is bullshit?

of the 80something artists on that list of polls, i've never heard of a third of them (stephen merritt? spacemen 3???), half i've never knowingly heard music by and only know them thru ilm mentions (cocteau twins, st etienne, fairport convention, the fall, the cure), the rest are semi-legit but why bother (led zeppelin/rolling stones/beatles or the fucking KINKS??? i forget the name of the one kinks song i know) or i dunno, i don't think i'm that young or that the median age of ilm has creeped up rapidly but shit like u2, i don't get it.

nah he was just pointing out i got 2x as many ballots for the Timbaland poll a couple years back.

timbaland on ilm is a grand tradition, though, everyone setting aside their u2 and cure albums to note how how timbaland is changing the musical landscape, then returning to their contemplation of the joshua tree, only returning to him when they need an explanation for any unusual sounds in any post-2005 rap music (that can't be explained by comparisons to nine inch nails or french dance records).

*furiously contemplates the joshua tree*

dude I haven't voted in any of these single-artist polls!

It's a production team, not a single artist :)

i mean if you're reading this thread and not voting that's exactly what i mean by 'too cool for school.' drop a POX in my inbox ffs, it would take literally two minutes.

Submitted my Neps ballot. Left off about 15 tracks that I'm sad about leaving off.

your ballot was awesome!

by which i mean "the most like mine"

i mean if you're reading this thread and not voting that's exactly what i mean by 'too cool for school.' drop a POX in my inbox ffs, it would take literally two minutes.

― some dude, Saturday, June 22, 2013 1:55 PM Bookmark

No, I get anal about this shit! I'd be thinking about it for the next two weeks.

you've had two weeks six months

i was kind of lost on the neptunes. like, "what happened to that boy" at number one, "beautiful" at number two, then list some clipse songs. i was never really feeling the particular mid decade neptunes sound they came with on their big tracks not for malice&pusha (altho "beautiful" is exactly that sound right?).

but look, i still got a ballot in.

yeah it's appreciated!

baby, i'm not always there when you call

i'm sitting here crying R&B thug tears for the song your ballot just knocked out of the top 30, though (xp)

why are ilm polls so carefullly controlled? what would happen if i set up shop on a renegade 2 chainz poll or something?

i was one of the main people behind the organization of all that, mainly because there's such a copycat thread mentality on ilx, and as soon as people figured out they could do these kinds of ballot polls, i pictured them just taking over New Answers for a few months and becoming unbearable. which wouldn't have been the end of the world, and i acknowledge it's faintly ridiculous to structure it all so much, but in retrospect i think it's been a good thing, it's kind of nice to have a routine to it, i think people would've burned out on these things a while ago if it'd been total mob rule.

only a top 30? cool, so there's no way my #1 made it then.

no complaints though (lol). i'm psyched this is finally happening.

not at all, heh. i'm not a fan of countdowns that start at records that got 1 or 2 votes, so setting at 30 raises the bar to like like at least 5 votes to get in. (xp)

wow, last 2 ballots totally shook up the top 5, this is still pretty easy to influence!

by which i mean "the most like mine"

― some dude, Saturday, June 22, 2013 3:37 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/780356413/DR-ALBUM_COVER_WEB1.jpg

REV, DO A BALLOT

26-30 is kinda lame now, maybe i'll just do a top 25.

I tried 25 for The Doors, felt it was a bit short tbh. It does cut out any interminable trawling through x-and-friend's pet favourite, but otoh you're into the big ones immediately with no real time for everyone to get warmed up. 40's probably about right imo.

Also 25 doesn't split well over multiple days.

yeah i was mostly kidding, will def be 30. mayyybe if i feel like it i'll do 40 i dunno. will definitely unveil at least the top 50 after the countdown is over -- 164 songs received votes

standing now at 18 ballots, will accept any stragglers who send something to me today, though, would love to get up to 20.

alright, got in one more ballot from thewufs, gonna officially close polling for the final count and start rolling out results today! stay tuned!

how many jay-z ballots?

sorry for not voting in neptunes, I kinda missed their heyday as a pop fan & didn't think you'd just want a ballot with "Hot in Herre", "Southern Hospitality", "Freetime", "Grindin", & "Milkshake". but if you do let me know!

hey i don't care what anyone votes for. but oh well, count's over, don't sweat it!

only got like 7 or 8 Jay-Z ballots, gonna set a new deadline for that sometime in July.

NEPTUNES TRACKS POLL - RESULTS NOW!