My early 2011 fantasy rankings for third basemen have gone live on The Hardball Times. Enjoy.
Happy holidays everyone!
Box Score Tonight: Week Sixteen/TNF Edition
While I am home for the holidays and do get the NFL Network while I am at home, I sadly did not watch this game. We only get the channel in our main room and my mom loves to hog that TV. And since she's the one actually paying the bills, I think her way rules. So like every other blogger ever alive, I am sitting here writing this post in the basement.
While the above would have been true if I was home, DME and myself went on a double date with our girlfriends and spent a lovely evening in Chicago so the above point is moot because I was unavailable to watch this game anyways. I don't know why I divulged so much personal information in the beginning of this post, but writing clever openings is hard. I mean I'm a riot and all (and humble) but I'm not Adam Carolla here when I can be on all the time (Oh boy, though, that would be the life).
Plus, I feel like I can connect with you Joe GOI Reader and we can bond on a deeper level. We'll begin just as soon as I dominate and be absolutely boring and correct while doing it.
- As expected, the Pittsburgh Steelers trounce the worst team in the NFL right now: the Carolina Panthers 27-3. I don't know though, something seems off about that score. If you want to be the very best, you not only need to beat the crappy teams and do it easily, you need to absolutely demolish them. Like if Auburn played a high school football team. There's a "dominating" factor that goes into rankings of which team is the best and I feel like the Steelers should have put up more points that only 27.
- In fairness to Jimmy Clausen, the Panthers offensive line makes the Bears line seem like they are the New England Patriots. Claussen has no one to throw to, no semblance of a running game (especially against a Steelers defense) and a bottom five receiving corps in the league. But he still had a truly atrocious game: 43 completion percentage, 0/1 TD/INT ratio, 72 passing yards, and a 33.2 passer rating. He still needs to get starts because he is the QB of their future. Assuming they don't draft Andrew Luck.
- Jonathan Stewart gets 18 carries. Mike Goodson gets 4. Stewart (71) gets one less yard rushing than Clausen got passing (72).
- Steve Smith led all receivers in this game with 8 targets, but only gets 3 receptions and gets six less receiving yards (17) as did Carolina's leading pass catcher Mike Goodson (23).
- Big Ben goes off for another great fantasy day after being crappy during the regular season. Teams fighting for 8th in their leagues are thrilled: 69% completion percentage, 320 yards, 1/0 TD/INT ratio, and a 111.5 passer rating. I don't know, the yards and YPA (10.0) are great but it's games like this and the "down" year Roethlisberger is having makes me revert back to my hating on him days. It's that low TD/INT ratio that I don't like. Against the worst team in the league (granted a better-than-you-think decent pass defense) he should have put up at least 3 TDs. If Tom Brady or Michael Vick played this game, I think they would have done that- because those guys are truly elite.
- I've been liking Mendenhall all year because of his Illinois ties and such, but I feel like I've been seeing a lot of these games like the one he had on Thursday and calling them good, but I think they're just average at best and my bias calls them good. He got 65 yards on 18 carries (3.6 YPC- that's Matt Forte bad) but he saves the day with a touchdown. Again, I feel like he's had a lot a lot a lot of 3.9 YPC or less days but he gets a touchdown (which saves you in fantasy) and he's been a workhorse, but maybe I need to downgrade him for the season.
- Mike Wallace again makes me look good: 4/6, 104 yards, TD. I have him in one league and am facing him (b/c TBO owns him) in the GOI league. I'm conflicted.
- Hines Ward also gets 8 targets and like Steve Smith also only gets 3 catches. But Ward got 38 receiving yards- more than half of the passing yards Clausen threw.
- Considering nothing really happened in this game, um, yeah, I'm done.
Does anybody but me read BST's? Come on, ANY suggestions how to end these. I'm all ears.
While the above would have been true if I was home, DME and myself went on a double date with our girlfriends and spent a lovely evening in Chicago so the above point is moot because I was unavailable to watch this game anyways. I don't know why I divulged so much personal information in the beginning of this post, but writing clever openings is hard. I mean I'm a riot and all (and humble) but I'm not Adam Carolla here when I can be on all the time (Oh boy, though, that would be the life).
Plus, I feel like I can connect with you Joe GOI Reader and we can bond on a deeper level. We'll begin just as soon as I dominate and be absolutely boring and correct while doing it.
- As expected, the Pittsburgh Steelers trounce the worst team in the NFL right now: the Carolina Panthers 27-3. I don't know though, something seems off about that score. If you want to be the very best, you not only need to beat the crappy teams and do it easily, you need to absolutely demolish them. Like if Auburn played a high school football team. There's a "dominating" factor that goes into rankings of which team is the best and I feel like the Steelers should have put up more points that only 27.
- In fairness to Jimmy Clausen, the Panthers offensive line makes the Bears line seem like they are the New England Patriots. Claussen has no one to throw to, no semblance of a running game (especially against a Steelers defense) and a bottom five receiving corps in the league. But he still had a truly atrocious game: 43 completion percentage, 0/1 TD/INT ratio, 72 passing yards, and a 33.2 passer rating. He still needs to get starts because he is the QB of their future. Assuming they don't draft Andrew Luck.
- Jonathan Stewart gets 18 carries. Mike Goodson gets 4. Stewart (71) gets one less yard rushing than Clausen got passing (72).
- Steve Smith led all receivers in this game with 8 targets, but only gets 3 receptions and gets six less receiving yards (17) as did Carolina's leading pass catcher Mike Goodson (23).
- Big Ben goes off for another great fantasy day after being crappy during the regular season. Teams fighting for 8th in their leagues are thrilled: 69% completion percentage, 320 yards, 1/0 TD/INT ratio, and a 111.5 passer rating. I don't know, the yards and YPA (10.0) are great but it's games like this and the "down" year Roethlisberger is having makes me revert back to my hating on him days. It's that low TD/INT ratio that I don't like. Against the worst team in the league (granted a better-than-you-think decent pass defense) he should have put up at least 3 TDs. If Tom Brady or Michael Vick played this game, I think they would have done that- because those guys are truly elite.
- I've been liking Mendenhall all year because of his Illinois ties and such, but I feel like I've been seeing a lot of these games like the one he had on Thursday and calling them good, but I think they're just average at best and my bias calls them good. He got 65 yards on 18 carries (3.6 YPC- that's Matt Forte bad) but he saves the day with a touchdown. Again, I feel like he's had a lot a lot a lot of 3.9 YPC or less days but he gets a touchdown (which saves you in fantasy) and he's been a workhorse, but maybe I need to downgrade him for the season.
- Mike Wallace again makes me look good: 4/6, 104 yards, TD. I have him in one league and am facing him (b/c TBO owns him) in the GOI league. I'm conflicted.
- Hines Ward also gets 8 targets and like Steve Smith also only gets 3 catches. But Ward got 38 receiving yards- more than half of the passing yards Clausen threw.
- Considering nothing really happened in this game, um, yeah, I'm done.
Does anybody but me read BST's? Come on, ANY suggestions how to end these. I'm all ears.
The Big 10 = That Crazy Uncle At Christmas
My Cousin Vinny is one of my favorite movies ever. I've seen it probably at least 15 times (twice last semester to "study" for Evidence) and that scene where Joe Pesci is cross examining the witness about eating grits is one of the funniest scenes ever. Another funny scene is where, in the midst and stress of preparing for the case, Pesci yells at his fiance Lisa, played wonderfully by Marissa Tomei, for stresing him out. He says to her:
It all started off when they added Nebraska to the Big 10. That move in and of itself was wonderful. I'm all for expanding the conference (although I would have loved Texas, but such is life) and Nebraska is a great football program. But this is just the murder case. But this is before Vinny Gambini arrived on the scene.
The first problem arose when the Big Ten refused to change their name. Naming your conference the Big Ten with 11 teams is fine. But with the addition of Nebraska, that makes it 12 teams in the conference. So now there are 12 teams in th Big Ten and 10 teams in the Big Twelve.
Next, the conference decided to split the 12 teams into two divisions and added a Conference Championship Game to the football schedule. Again, another great idea. But the crap that was added to this was the naming of the two divisions. One is the "Leaders" division and the other is the "Legends" division.
Really Big Ten!? Really!? Those names are so dumb that there needs to be an SNL skit Really!? With Seth and Amy to discuss the stupidity of those names. How did no one in that room throw out the guy who suggested it? I don't care if the Commissioner Jim Delany himself came up those retarded names. Someone in that meeting room needed to say, "Those are the worst names ever. You have made every one in this room stupider for having to listen to you and may God have mercy on your soul" and then thrown him out of a window like an Arnold Schwartzenegger movie.
But icing on top of the cake was the new logo that has been unveiled. I'm a big fan of the old logo with the number "11" hidden within the "Big Ten" lettering to signify there are 11 teams in the Big Ten. But with the addition of Nebraska, the conference needed a new logo. And this is the shit they came up with:
Good lawd I hate this logo and I think the vast majority of people are in agreeance with me. Not only is this way to simple and something I would have made as an art project when I was five, but it doesn't convey that there are 12 teams like I think it should.
Now I love the Big Ten because it's my home conference and I'll have loyalty to it until the day I die/ if Illinois ever leaves it, but the Big Ten have just made a string of bad after awful after worse decisions since adding Nebraska that I just can't agree with. Just like Adam Carolla ranting about how movie executives shouldn't get to keep their jobs for all the dumb fuck mistakes they make, I think the same applies to Delany and the people running this conference.
Lisa, I don't need this. I swear to God, I do not need this right now, okay? I've got a judge that's just aching to throw me in jail. An idiot who wants to fight me for two hundred dollars. Slaughtered pigs. Giant loud whistles. I ain't slept in five days. I got no money, a dress code problem, AND a little murder case which, in the balance, holds the lives of two innocent kids. Not to mention your BIOLOGICAL CLOCK - my career, your life, our marriage, and let me see, what else can we pile on? Is there any more SHIT we can pile on to the top of the outcome of this case? Is it possible?Well the Big 10 kind of reminds me of this speech. What other shit can they pile on to make things worse?
It all started off when they added Nebraska to the Big 10. That move in and of itself was wonderful. I'm all for expanding the conference (although I would have loved Texas, but such is life) and Nebraska is a great football program. But this is just the murder case. But this is before Vinny Gambini arrived on the scene.
The first problem arose when the Big Ten refused to change their name. Naming your conference the Big Ten with 11 teams is fine. But with the addition of Nebraska, that makes it 12 teams in the conference. So now there are 12 teams in th Big Ten and 10 teams in the Big Twelve.
Next, the conference decided to split the 12 teams into two divisions and added a Conference Championship Game to the football schedule. Again, another great idea. But the crap that was added to this was the naming of the two divisions. One is the "Leaders" division and the other is the "Legends" division.
Really Big Ten!? Really!? Those names are so dumb that there needs to be an SNL skit Really!? With Seth and Amy to discuss the stupidity of those names. How did no one in that room throw out the guy who suggested it? I don't care if the Commissioner Jim Delany himself came up those retarded names. Someone in that meeting room needed to say, "Those are the worst names ever. You have made every one in this room stupider for having to listen to you and may God have mercy on your soul" and then thrown him out of a window like an Arnold Schwartzenegger movie.
But icing on top of the cake was the new logo that has been unveiled. I'm a big fan of the old logo with the number "11" hidden within the "Big Ten" lettering to signify there are 11 teams in the Big Ten. But with the addition of Nebraska, the conference needed a new logo. And this is the shit they came up with:
Now I love the Big Ten because it's my home conference and I'll have loyalty to it until the day I die/ if Illinois ever leaves it, but the Big Ten have just made a string of bad after awful after worse decisions since adding Nebraska that I just can't agree with. Just like Adam Carolla ranting about how movie executives shouldn't get to keep their jobs for all the dumb fuck mistakes they make, I think the same applies to Delany and the people running this conference.
A Bullet Point Retrospective Of This Past Decade
Last night, I stumbled across a perplexing top 100 players of 2000-2009 list by none other than Rob Neyer. I usually respect Neyer's opinion, but his list was way out of whack. For example, not only was Johan Santana ranked ahead of Randy Johnson, but Randy Johnson was barely ranked in the top 20 (No. 18)! There is no justification for ranking any of Jorge Posada, Bobby Abreu, Johan Santana, Todd Helton or Lance Berkman ahead of the Big Unit, arguably the best pitcher of the modern era.
The list kind of gave me a headache and got me thinking. With the new year around the corner, another season removed from the Steroid era, Neyer's list ineffably inspired me to look at some leaderboard data from 2000-2009, courtesy of the new time-span feature on Fangraphs. Here is what I found:
As always, leave the love/hate in the comments.
The list kind of gave me a headache and got me thinking. With the new year around the corner, another season removed from the Steroid era, Neyer's list ineffably inspired me to look at some leaderboard data from 2000-2009, courtesy of the new time-span feature on Fangraphs. Here is what I found:
- Per cumulative UZR, the 10 best defenders at a single position of the past decade were Andruw Jones (CF, +120.8), Adrian Beltre (3B, +113.2), Carl Crawford (LF, +97.7), Scott Rolen (3B, +96.4), and Ichiro Suzuki (RF, +83.1). Note that cumulative UZR is ranked for player by position played, not by player en toto.
- Per cumulative UZR, the 10 worst defenders at a single position of the past decade were Manny Ramirez (LF -110.2), Jermaine Dye (RF, -103.5), Brad Hawpe (RF, -83.8), Dunn (LF, -71.5), and Bobby Abreu (RF, -60.7). SexyRexy's boy Michael Young ranked No. 6, with a -60.7 UZR at SS, while Jason Bay (LF, -47.1 UZR), Pat Burrell (-44.6 LF) and Johnny Damon (CF, 41.6) all wished they played more DH.
- Accounting for difference in position (an 87.8 run adjustments, the difference between Andruw Jones playing all of his CF time over the last decade in the corners) to allow apple-to-apple comparisons, the difference between the best (Andruw Jones, CF) and worst (Manny Ramirez, LF) fielders at a single position over the last decade was 319 runs. In other words, on average, the difference between using Manny in left instead of Jones would cost you 3.2 WAR. That is how many WAR David Ortiz was worth in 2010, how many WAR Elvis Andrus was worth in his rookie year, and +4.7 more WAR than Neifi Perez accrued over the course of his career (-1.5 WAR). Scary, right?
- The five most plunked batters of the past decade were Jason Kendall (159), Jason Giambi (138), my boy David Eckstein (134), Craig Biggio (132), and Carlos Delgado (126). Utley, who only became a full-time player in the middle of the decade, was plunked a ridiculous and league leading 99 times from 2005-2009.
- Of pitchers who threw 1,000 or more innings last decade, Johan Santana had the lowest tERA (3.31), Curt Schilling had the lowest xFIP (3.16), and Pedro Martinez had the lowest FIP (2.92) and ERA (3.02). If we lower the IP threshold to 400 and only include starting pitchers (ignoring guys like Mariano Rivera and Eric Gagne), then Tim Lincecum ranks No. 1 in tERA (2.91), FIP (2.75) and ERA (2.91). Lincecum was "only" third best in xFIP (3.23), behind only Curt Schilling (3.16) and Randy Johnson (3.21).
- Only three starting pitchers who tossed 400+ innings last decade averaged a strikeout rate of 10 or more batters per nine innings: Randy Johnson (10.37), Mark Prior (10.37), and Tim Lincecum (10.17). Only Big Unit pitched more than two full seasons last decade, however, making his achievement all the more impressive. Kerry Wood (9.94) and Pedro Martinez (9.93) came damn close to making this list.
- Brad Radke had the best walk rate of any pitcher who tossed 600+ frames last decade, a hard better than big fat David Wells (1.40), while Daniel Cabrera (5.24) and Victor Zambrano (5.15) were the only 600+ inning pitchers of the past decade to walk more than five batters per nine. Oliver Perez (4.95) is crying somewhere.
- Kirk Reuter did his best to post a K/BB under 1.00 last decade, but failed (1.03). Daniel Cabrera was also pretty bad (1.30). Meanwhile, Curt Schilling's 6.01 K/BB mark last decade was by far the best. The second and third best K/BB posters of the last decade, Mariano Rivera (4.88) and Pedro Martinez (4.63), couldn't hold a candle to Schilling's bloody sock of control.
- In terms of Fangraphs WAR value (for pitchers, this is based on FIP), the 10 most valuable players of the past decade were: Alex Rodriguez (+76.4), Albert Pujols (+73.3), Barry Bonds* (+65.1), Randy Johnson (+55.8), Chipper Jones (+54.2), Todd Helton (+53.8), Lance Berkman (+53.8), Roy Halladay (+53.8), Andruw Jones (+50.1), Javier Vazquez (+49.2). Curt Schilling (+45.6 WAR) barely missed the cut.
- The five worst hitters (per cumulative batting runs) of the past decade were almost exclusively shortstops: Jack Wilson (SS, -121.4), Cristian Guzman (SS, -99.7), Omar Vizquel (SS, -84.6), Vinny Castilla (3B/SS, -75.3), and Orlando Cabrera (SS, -72.4). This goes to show that even in the era of offensive shortstops, shortstops were still amongst the worst hitters in baseball.
- Juan Pierre (-44.0 batting runs) was the worst non-shortstop playing hitter of the past decade.
- The five best hitters (per cumulative batting runs) of the past decade were Barry Bonds* (+570.7), Albert Pujols (+566.3), Alex Rodriguez (+499.5), Manny Ramirez (+447.9), and Lance Berkman (+415.7). No surprise here, as these Hall of Fame-worthy hitters were the only hitters to accrue 400+ batting runs last decade. Sorry, Todd Helton (+396.7).
- The difference between using Jack Wilson over Barry Bonds at DH last decade would have resulted in a loss of 687.7 runs, or a ridiculous 6.9 WAR per season. Thank god Jack Wilson, when healthy, is one of baseball's most elite defenders at one of baseball's hardest positions to field, right?
- In terms of total fielding value (cumulative fielding runs), the five worst fielders of the past decade were Manny Ramirez (-126.0), Bernie Williams (-119.5), Adam Dunn (-115.9), Jermaine Dye (-106.3), and last year's gold glove winner Derek Jeter (-77.8). This list closely tracks the UZR/position list, but gives a more complete picture of each player's total defensive value.
- In terms of total fielding value (cumulative fielding runs), the five best fielders of the past decade were Andruw Jones (+176.1), Adrian Beltre (+115.8), Scott Rolen (+114.4), Ichiro Suzuki (+110.5), and Placido Polanco (+101.1). Carl Crawford (+100.7) was the only other name to eclipse the 100 fielding runs mark, though something tells me Chase Utley (+74.0) would have as well if made a full time player before 2005. This list closely tracks the UZR/position list, but gives a more complete picture of each player's total defensive value.
As always, leave the love/hate in the comments.
Sucks To Be A Dolphins Season Ticket Holder
If you are a Miami Dolphins fan, you have not seen your team win many games at home this year. Sure, Lions fans and Bills fan and such have not seen their teams really win at home either, but at least those fans can take solace in the fact that their team also don't win games on the road. But not the Miami Dolphins. Currently, the Dolphins are a .500 team at 7-7. But the home crowd has only seen their team win ONE game.
The Dolphins are 1-6 at home and 6-1 on the road. They are the worst home team in the league and tied for the best record for any away team. In the Superbowl era, the Dolphins have the worst home/road differential with +5. Eight teams are tied for second with +4 (like the 2007 Giants) but no team has ever been as bad as the Dolphins.
Can we coax Dan Marino out of retirement?
source: The New York Times on 12/21/10 in a better titles article called Too Bad Miami Can't Play 16 Road Games.
The Dolphins are 1-6 at home and 6-1 on the road. They are the worst home team in the league and tied for the best record for any away team. In the Superbowl era, the Dolphins have the worst home/road differential with +5. Eight teams are tied for second with +4 (like the 2007 Giants) but no team has ever been as bad as the Dolphins.
Can we coax Dan Marino out of retirement?
source: The New York Times on 12/21/10 in a better titles article called Too Bad Miami Can't Play 16 Road Games.
THT Forecasts 2011 and Oliver, LIVE!
Dear Readers,
People who know me know I rarely plug products, especially fantasy products. Generally speaking, you do not need to shell out the big bucks for a fantasy subscription at Baseball Prospectus because, even if you understand the difference between SIERRA and WARP-3, equally valuable free information is out there for the taking. Between Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference to Minor League Splits, you can get everything from indexed CHONE projections to player-by-player Bill James projections for free. The power of the internet is glorious and free and like I say with closers, why pay if you don't have to.
I have found one exception to my rule, however. For the last six or so months, I have been using and contributing to THT Forecasts, which incorporated Brian Cartwright's Oliver system. You can call me biased because I wrote most of the Oakland player card comments and because I work for The Hardball Times, but Oliver is truly one of the most comprehensive and accurate systems out there.
In early 2009, Brian Cartwright compared the Oliver system to PECOTA, CHONE and ZiPS with respect to actual baseball numbers regarding 2006-2009 data. In terms of wOBA projection, "Oliver had the lowest mean error at .006, followed by CHONE .011 and PECOTA and ZiPS at .012 each."
Using just the 2009 projection numbers, Tom Tango took a look at the accuracy of all the popular projection systems. For 2009, Oliver ranked thusly in comparison to the other big names out there:
If all THT Forecasts was was next year's Oliver projection, however, I would likely not be plugging the program (you can get comparable next-year projection systems out there for free, honestly). The reason that THT Forecasts is so valuable is because it is comprehensive. Not only do you get next year's projections, for example, but you get a straightforward (unlike BPro) six-year forecast for players. This can be monumental for Fantasy players in keeper leagues. The projections for the current season are also updated during the season (glorious in-season updates!), which helps you figure out who to buy/sell over the rest of the year. Here are just some of the features you get access to for less than $15.00:
You can purchase a subscription to THT Forecasts for $14.95 by clicking here
People who know me know I rarely plug products, especially fantasy products. Generally speaking, you do not need to shell out the big bucks for a fantasy subscription at Baseball Prospectus because, even if you understand the difference between SIERRA and WARP-3, equally valuable free information is out there for the taking. Between Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference to Minor League Splits, you can get everything from indexed CHONE projections to player-by-player Bill James projections for free. The power of the internet is glorious and free and like I say with closers, why pay if you don't have to.
I have found one exception to my rule, however. For the last six or so months, I have been using and contributing to THT Forecasts, which incorporated Brian Cartwright's Oliver system. You can call me biased because I wrote most of the Oakland player card comments and because I work for The Hardball Times, but Oliver is truly one of the most comprehensive and accurate systems out there.
In early 2009, Brian Cartwright compared the Oliver system to PECOTA, CHONE and ZiPS with respect to actual baseball numbers regarding 2006-2009 data. In terms of wOBA projection, "Oliver had the lowest mean error at .006, followed by CHONE .011 and PECOTA and ZiPS at .012 each."
Using just the 2009 projection numbers, Tom Tango took a look at the accuracy of all the popular projection systems. For 2009, Oliver ranked thusly in comparison to the other big names out there:
- Chone (63.8% accuracy)
- ZiPS (62.3% accuracy)
- Oliver (60.7% accuracy)
- Marcel (59.0% accuracy)
- PECOTA (56.4% accuracy)
If all THT Forecasts was was next year's Oliver projection, however, I would likely not be plugging the program (you can get comparable next-year projection systems out there for free, honestly). The reason that THT Forecasts is so valuable is because it is comprehensive. Not only do you get next year's projections, for example, but you get a straightforward (unlike BPro) six-year forecast for players. This can be monumental for Fantasy players in keeper leagues. The projections for the current season are also updated during the season (glorious in-season updates!), which helps you figure out who to buy/sell over the rest of the year. Here are just some of the features you get access to for less than $15.00:
- Oliver projections for the next six years for more than 9,000 major and minor league players. These forecasts include hitting, pitching and fielding statistics (the latter based on Brian Cartwright’s own play-by-play system), as well as wins above replacement (WAR) projections. You can read more about Oliver here.
- Raw statistics for the past four years, including all the statistical categories listed above.
- Major league equivalencies (MLEs) for the past four seasons, so you can see not just a player’s raw past statistics, but also how his numbers look adjusted for context.
- Depth chart projections to tell you how much impact a player will make at the major league level this season.
- More than 1,300 player comments from the best team bloggers on the internet, to give you a more subjective look at just about every player who matters.
- A player watch list feature, so you can keep track of every player you care about on one page.
- A fantasy value calculator that lets you set your league parameters, and tells you exactly how much each player is worth in your league.
- Projected standings.
- And all of the above, updated each and every week, from now until October.
You can purchase a subscription to THT Forecasts for $14.95 by clicking here
DME's Top 20 Fantasy Shortstops for 2011
It has been up for a few days already, but here is the link to my top 20 fantasy shortstops for 2011 over at The Hardball Times.
With finals over, I finally have time to address all the comments on both my SS and 2B rankings, let alone finally pump out some new Fantasy Outlook material for 2011. I plan to fantasy forecast Cliff Lee, Zack Greinke, and Adrian Gonzalez. I should also be doing a fantasy podcast for both THT and GOI sometime soon and the Winner to THT's Compete Against The Experts Competition will be announced within the next two weeks. Oh...and I still have a book to read and review.
Time to get hot doggin'!
With finals over, I finally have time to address all the comments on both my SS and 2B rankings, let alone finally pump out some new Fantasy Outlook material for 2011. I plan to fantasy forecast Cliff Lee, Zack Greinke, and Adrian Gonzalez. I should also be doing a fantasy podcast for both THT and GOI sometime soon and the Winner to THT's Compete Against The Experts Competition will be announced within the next two weeks. Oh...and I still have a book to read and review.
Time to get hot doggin'!
The Best Hip Hop Albums Of The Decade: Part Four
You can read Part One and albums 10-8 here
You can read Part Two and albums 7-5 here
You can read Part Three and albums 4-2 here
Before I tell you what the best hip hop album of the decade is, let me remind you I have only ten slots to fill. There are many great albums that have been released over the past ten years that warrant critical praise, but I'm not going to go through every single one and talk about it. Just because an album is off this list does not mean that album is bad and it does not mean that the album isn't amazing. It just means I don't think it was one of the ten best.
Before I reveal my #1 album, let me tell you what's not going to make the list. These are albums that I can see people complaining about and I purposefully left them off the list.
Thank Me Later (2010) by Drake
I liked Drake when he first hit the music scene with his singles "Best I Ever Had" and "Forever" featuring Kanye West, Lil' Wayne, and Eminem. But those are not on Thank me Later and even if they were, I'm not sure they would make up for the dribble of singles he put out the past year. Pure club pop hits like "Find Your Love" and "Over" are the reason that I have a general disdain for where rap music is right now. Now Drake is making a lot of money so kudos to him and what this tells me is that people who are buying hip hop are more to blame that the hip hop artists themselves. People are dumb.
Anyways, for being solely beat heavy and putting no artistry into his lyrics and selling out, Drake takes himself off this list. Plus purists of the word "decade" would mean only 2000-2009 and thus Drake can't qualify anyways.
Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (2003) by 50 Cent
For some reason I thought this was one of if not THE biggest selling hip hop albums of the decade but after doing my research it was not. Maybe it was the highest grossing debut hip hip album. Oh well, either way this album made 50 Cent very rich and famous led by his first single and first hit "In Da Club". Now sometimes pure club hits are acceptable. It's still music and sometimes you just want to listen to something pleasurable and listen to something that makes you want to dance- and that's what "In Da Club" was. Hell, by it's title that's what it was trying to be. But he kept making essentially the same song over and over again.
When Fiddy's third album Curtis was being released, it was the same day as Kanye's Graduation and 50 said that it he loses to Kanye he'll quit the rap game. Well that threat was like Paris Hilton, who didn't even register, saying we all should vote otherwise we'll all die. But in the end Kanye West smoked 50 Cent because I think the general public was smart enough to realize that no matter how catchy 50 Cent is (and the first track off of Curtis was "Ayo Technology" featuring Justin Timberlake and a beat from Timbaland and thus catchy as hell) he will never be close to Kanye West's level. Because Kanye puts effort into his music and tries to be the best rapper ever versus 50 who seems like he just wants to take his paycheck and leave.
So for not trying to and never seemingly trying to make the step from entertainer to artist and for making an awful awful AWFUL movie of the same name, 50 Cent is taken off of consideration from this list.
Tha Carter III (2008) by Lil' Wayne
I don't understand what people's fascination and obsession with Lil' Wayne is- I truly don't. I was never a fan of him even when he was rapping with the Cash Money Millionaires and on TBO's boy Juvenille's song "Back That Ass Up." Even an 11 year old Sexy Rexy listening to Lil' Wayne knew he had no talent or any discernible skill.
Yet ten years later he comes out with what many called the best hip hop album of 2008 and I'm sure you'd find many lists that has this album #1 (or at least top 5) this decade. He won the Best Rap Grammy and beat out T.I.'s Paper Trail- which upset me greatly. I don't even like Weezy's singles, nevertheless the album. The best one I like is "A Milli" because that beat is so annoying it gets stuck in your head and stays there and never leaves therefore you start humming it to yourself.
Lil' Wayne does not rap about any political or societal struggles, he doesn't rap about any of his own personal problems, and he doesn't rap about anything universal. He does what I call "blah blah verses"- which are songs that just string together rhyming syllables at the end of them, but they tell no story whatsoever along the way and it sounds like (and he probably does this too) he just goes into a studio for an hour or two and then calls it a day. It sounds like he doesn't work on his craft and it shows in his music.
For being one of if not the most overrated rapper ever (I'll throw Snopp Dogg in the mix as well) and for having one of the most overrated rap albums of all time and for being overall bad at hip hop, Lil' Wayne absolutely deserves no spot on this list whatsoever.
Lastly, I have really never given Nas a chance. From what I've heard from essentially anybody, Nas is a great rapper. I've heard his best album is Illmatic, which came out in 1994, so obviously a no go on this list, but if he is truly as skilled as people claim he is then I'm sure one of his albums from this decade will probably kick Collision Course off of the list. But I'm not going to critique and album I haven't heard before so its omission means nothing. Just sayin'.
_____________________________________
And now ladies and gentlemen, drum roll please, (bbbbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrllllllllll) the number one album of the past decade is....
1) The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) by Eminem
It's a shame Eminem's debut album The Slim Shady LP came out in 1999 because then it would have been a great debate which album deserved the top spot. But it would not have mattered because The Marshall Mathers LP is Eminem's best album.
Eminem was at his best when he actually had problems to deal with. He had problems at home, lawsuits, and he did some pretty bad shit. But when he got to a good place in his life, albums like Encore and Relapse sucked balls because Eminem lost stuff to talk about. He could only complain about his wife so long until she eventually stopped becoming a problem to him. But early in his career, and especially when he started getting famous, Eminem had a lot of problems and it made for a great record.
By listening to every single one of his albums you pretty much know Eminem's (aka Marshall Mathers) entire life story. You know how crazy his mom was to him and how she pretty much fucked him up, you know his dad left him when Em was very young, and you know he has a daughter with a woman named Kim. And you know how much he hates this women via "Kim"- a song about Eminem getting into a fight with Kim and he describes in graphic detail how he is brutally murdering her.
Despite what you think about the content of the album, from a hip hop and lyrical stand point it truly is genius. Eminem is the best rapper out there- to make words rhyme together and to do it while telling stories/ mini-anecdotes with clever insults and analogies. The epitome of which comes from the albums first single "The Real Slim Shady": It's funny; because at the rate I'm going when I'm thirty/ I'll be the only person in the nursin' home flirting/ Pinching nurses asses when I'm jacking off with Jergens/ And I'm jerkin' but this whole bag of Viagra isn't working. Again, put aside the content for a second (if you're offended by it) and just realize how impressive it is to rhyme those words and sounds together (and trust me, it's better when you hear Eminem rap it as opposed to just reading it off the page)
Of course, I would be remissed if I didn't mention Eminem's best song and (obviously) the best song on the album- "Stan." With a hook that samples the first verse of Dido's "Thank You" Eminem spends three verses about from the point of a view of a crazy, obsessed Eminem fan, aptly named Stan, who sends letters to Eminem and the last verse is Eminem responding back. It's six plus minutes of bliss and great storytelling.
One of the better songs off of the album and the record's second single "The Way I Am" wasn't even originally slated to be on it. But after sending about 12 or so tracks to the record company the company sent the album back stating Eminem needed at least one more song- a pop hit to release the album. That song ended up becoming "The Real Slim Shady" but in his frustration with the record company he created "The Way I Am". Many times Eminem's angry rap voice is annoying to listen to and doesn't fit in with the words he's spitting (i.e. his verse on Drake's "Forever"). However, his angry voice is perfect on "The Way I Am" because it helps emphasize the emotions he's feeling at the moment.
Part of what makes Eminem so great is that he doesn't (or at least didn't) take himself too seriously. He jokes about his persona as a bad boy in the song "Criminal" and his drug taking ways (although that part is partially serious as his latest albums "Relapse" and "Recovery" were titled that for a reason) in "Drug Ballad." He can switch to being a goof ball like in "The Real Slim Shady" to bring out his emotions about his past like in "Kill You" to just rapping about whatever like in "Under The Influence" featuring D12.
Like The Black Album, every song on this record is amazing. The songs shows off Eminem's great lyrical skills, the broad range of emotions he has, as well as good beats (I mean, this is a Dr. Dre produced album). Eminem has hit the trifecta with his sophomore release and because of that, he earns the spot as the best album of the decade.
Let's now recap the list:
10) Collision Course by Jay-Z and Linkin Park
9) Chicken-N-Beer by Ludacris
8) Revolutionary Vol. 2 by Immortal Technique
7) The Documentary by The Game
6) St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley
5) Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below by Outkast
4) College Dropout by Kanye West
3) Paper Trail by T.I.
2b) The Black Album by Jay-Z
2a) The Grey Album by DJ Danger Mouse
1) The Marshall Matters LP by Eminem
You can read Part Two and albums 7-5 here
You can read Part Three and albums 4-2 here
Before I tell you what the best hip hop album of the decade is, let me remind you I have only ten slots to fill. There are many great albums that have been released over the past ten years that warrant critical praise, but I'm not going to go through every single one and talk about it. Just because an album is off this list does not mean that album is bad and it does not mean that the album isn't amazing. It just means I don't think it was one of the ten best.
Before I reveal my #1 album, let me tell you what's not going to make the list. These are albums that I can see people complaining about and I purposefully left them off the list.
Thank Me Later (2010) by DrakeI liked Drake when he first hit the music scene with his singles "Best I Ever Had" and "Forever" featuring Kanye West, Lil' Wayne, and Eminem. But those are not on Thank me Later and even if they were, I'm not sure they would make up for the dribble of singles he put out the past year. Pure club pop hits like "Find Your Love" and "Over" are the reason that I have a general disdain for where rap music is right now. Now Drake is making a lot of money so kudos to him and what this tells me is that people who are buying hip hop are more to blame that the hip hop artists themselves. People are dumb.
Anyways, for being solely beat heavy and putting no artistry into his lyrics and selling out, Drake takes himself off this list. Plus purists of the word "decade" would mean only 2000-2009 and thus Drake can't qualify anyways.
Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (2003) by 50 CentFor some reason I thought this was one of if not THE biggest selling hip hop albums of the decade but after doing my research it was not. Maybe it was the highest grossing debut hip hip album. Oh well, either way this album made 50 Cent very rich and famous led by his first single and first hit "In Da Club". Now sometimes pure club hits are acceptable. It's still music and sometimes you just want to listen to something pleasurable and listen to something that makes you want to dance- and that's what "In Da Club" was. Hell, by it's title that's what it was trying to be. But he kept making essentially the same song over and over again.
When Fiddy's third album Curtis was being released, it was the same day as Kanye's Graduation and 50 said that it he loses to Kanye he'll quit the rap game. Well that threat was like Paris Hilton, who didn't even register, saying we all should vote otherwise we'll all die. But in the end Kanye West smoked 50 Cent because I think the general public was smart enough to realize that no matter how catchy 50 Cent is (and the first track off of Curtis was "Ayo Technology" featuring Justin Timberlake and a beat from Timbaland and thus catchy as hell) he will never be close to Kanye West's level. Because Kanye puts effort into his music and tries to be the best rapper ever versus 50 who seems like he just wants to take his paycheck and leave.
So for not trying to and never seemingly trying to make the step from entertainer to artist and for making an awful awful AWFUL movie of the same name, 50 Cent is taken off of consideration from this list.
Tha Carter III (2008) by Lil' WayneI don't understand what people's fascination and obsession with Lil' Wayne is- I truly don't. I was never a fan of him even when he was rapping with the Cash Money Millionaires and on TBO's boy Juvenille's song "Back That Ass Up." Even an 11 year old Sexy Rexy listening to Lil' Wayne knew he had no talent or any discernible skill.
Yet ten years later he comes out with what many called the best hip hop album of 2008 and I'm sure you'd find many lists that has this album #1 (or at least top 5) this decade. He won the Best Rap Grammy and beat out T.I.'s Paper Trail- which upset me greatly. I don't even like Weezy's singles, nevertheless the album. The best one I like is "A Milli" because that beat is so annoying it gets stuck in your head and stays there and never leaves therefore you start humming it to yourself.
Lil' Wayne does not rap about any political or societal struggles, he doesn't rap about any of his own personal problems, and he doesn't rap about anything universal. He does what I call "blah blah verses"- which are songs that just string together rhyming syllables at the end of them, but they tell no story whatsoever along the way and it sounds like (and he probably does this too) he just goes into a studio for an hour or two and then calls it a day. It sounds like he doesn't work on his craft and it shows in his music.
For being one of if not the most overrated rapper ever (I'll throw Snopp Dogg in the mix as well) and for having one of the most overrated rap albums of all time and for being overall bad at hip hop, Lil' Wayne absolutely deserves no spot on this list whatsoever.
Lastly, I have really never given Nas a chance. From what I've heard from essentially anybody, Nas is a great rapper. I've heard his best album is Illmatic, which came out in 1994, so obviously a no go on this list, but if he is truly as skilled as people claim he is then I'm sure one of his albums from this decade will probably kick Collision Course off of the list. But I'm not going to critique and album I haven't heard before so its omission means nothing. Just sayin'.
_____________________________________
And now ladies and gentlemen, drum roll please, (bbbbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrllllllllll) the number one album of the past decade is....
1) The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) by EminemIt's a shame Eminem's debut album The Slim Shady LP came out in 1999 because then it would have been a great debate which album deserved the top spot. But it would not have mattered because The Marshall Mathers LP is Eminem's best album.
Eminem was at his best when he actually had problems to deal with. He had problems at home, lawsuits, and he did some pretty bad shit. But when he got to a good place in his life, albums like Encore and Relapse sucked balls because Eminem lost stuff to talk about. He could only complain about his wife so long until she eventually stopped becoming a problem to him. But early in his career, and especially when he started getting famous, Eminem had a lot of problems and it made for a great record.
By listening to every single one of his albums you pretty much know Eminem's (aka Marshall Mathers) entire life story. You know how crazy his mom was to him and how she pretty much fucked him up, you know his dad left him when Em was very young, and you know he has a daughter with a woman named Kim. And you know how much he hates this women via "Kim"- a song about Eminem getting into a fight with Kim and he describes in graphic detail how he is brutally murdering her.
Despite what you think about the content of the album, from a hip hop and lyrical stand point it truly is genius. Eminem is the best rapper out there- to make words rhyme together and to do it while telling stories/ mini-anecdotes with clever insults and analogies. The epitome of which comes from the albums first single "The Real Slim Shady": It's funny; because at the rate I'm going when I'm thirty/ I'll be the only person in the nursin' home flirting/ Pinching nurses asses when I'm jacking off with Jergens/ And I'm jerkin' but this whole bag of Viagra isn't working. Again, put aside the content for a second (if you're offended by it) and just realize how impressive it is to rhyme those words and sounds together (and trust me, it's better when you hear Eminem rap it as opposed to just reading it off the page)
Of course, I would be remissed if I didn't mention Eminem's best song and (obviously) the best song on the album- "Stan." With a hook that samples the first verse of Dido's "Thank You" Eminem spends three verses about from the point of a view of a crazy, obsessed Eminem fan, aptly named Stan, who sends letters to Eminem and the last verse is Eminem responding back. It's six plus minutes of bliss and great storytelling.
One of the better songs off of the album and the record's second single "The Way I Am" wasn't even originally slated to be on it. But after sending about 12 or so tracks to the record company the company sent the album back stating Eminem needed at least one more song- a pop hit to release the album. That song ended up becoming "The Real Slim Shady" but in his frustration with the record company he created "The Way I Am". Many times Eminem's angry rap voice is annoying to listen to and doesn't fit in with the words he's spitting (i.e. his verse on Drake's "Forever"). However, his angry voice is perfect on "The Way I Am" because it helps emphasize the emotions he's feeling at the moment.
Part of what makes Eminem so great is that he doesn't (or at least didn't) take himself too seriously. He jokes about his persona as a bad boy in the song "Criminal" and his drug taking ways (although that part is partially serious as his latest albums "Relapse" and "Recovery" were titled that for a reason) in "Drug Ballad." He can switch to being a goof ball like in "The Real Slim Shady" to bring out his emotions about his past like in "Kill You" to just rapping about whatever like in "Under The Influence" featuring D12.
Like The Black Album, every song on this record is amazing. The songs shows off Eminem's great lyrical skills, the broad range of emotions he has, as well as good beats (I mean, this is a Dr. Dre produced album). Eminem has hit the trifecta with his sophomore release and because of that, he earns the spot as the best album of the decade.
Let's now recap the list:
10) Collision Course by Jay-Z and Linkin Park
9) Chicken-N-Beer by Ludacris
8) Revolutionary Vol. 2 by Immortal Technique
7) The Documentary by The Game
6) St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley
5) Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below by Outkast
4) College Dropout by Kanye West
3) Paper Trail by T.I.
2b) The Black Album by Jay-Z
2a) The Grey Album by DJ Danger Mouse
1) The Marshall Matters LP by Eminem
The Best Hip Hop Albums Of The Decade: Part Three
You can read Part One and albums 10-8 here
You can read Part Two and albums 7-5 here
Albums 4-2 are below
4) College Dropout (2004) by Kanye West
When I say "Kanye West" what comes to your mind? Is it "fish sticks"? Is it "arrogant fuck"? It is "Taylor Swift"? Because you'd be correct no matter what you answer. My roommate my Freshman years of college went to go see Wilco in concert as opposed to West because of the comments Kanye said about Bush. Needless to say controversy follows West throughout his entire career. But with all that being said and despite everything Kanye has done in his personal life, he's a phenomenal, talented, and great lyricist and beat creator. While his goofing off with the auto tune pisses me off like most things Kanye does, the words that he spits and the beats that he puts behind them are nothing less than musically genius. While South park joked that he's "the voice of out generation" he seriously is in contention for the best artist of this decade and deserves serious consideration for being a top 5 rapper of all time. Hell, every time, and I mean EVERY TIME, I hear records with both Jay-Z and Kanye West, West raps circles around Jigga Man.
Like Ludacris, I think Kanye is more of a singles rapper and I'm not the biggest fan of his overall albums (especially 808 and Heartbreak) but when you ask me what album best represents Kanye I would say it is his debut. His first single "Through The Wire" Kanye was recorded when his mouth was literally wired shut and he literally rapped through the wire yet was still able to produce such lines as: Imagine how my girl feel/ On the plane scared as hell that her guy look like Emitt Till. I bet many few rappers would know the civil rights story of Emitt Till nevertheless throw in a reference to it. West still managed to rap amazingly throughout the entire song.
Kanye has never been one to shy away from societal issues and songs like "All Falls Down" shows this; about the need that African-Americans seem to have to succeed and have the appearance of success: It seems we be living the American dream/ The people highest up got the lowest self esteem/ The prettiest people do the ugliest things/ From the road to riches and diamond rings. So despite me thinking that Syleena Johnson was talking about "uranium" when I first All Falls Down's chorus, I love the message this songs says along with Kanye's rhymes.
And what I think is truly the best song on this album and still one of Kanye's best is "Jesus Walks". Seriously, how many rappers do you know dedicate a full song to religion!? Yeah, yeah they all thank G-d in their songs and at award shows, but Kanye dedicated an entire song to Jesus. West mentions in the song: They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus/ That means guns, sex, lies, videotapes/ But if I talk about God my record won't get played Huh!? And the best part about this song, and this is coming from a Jew, is that he's not being preachy about it: I ain't here to argue about his facial features or here to convert atheists into believers/ I'm just trying to say the way school needs teachers/ The way Kathy Lee needed Regis/ That's the way I need Jesus. He's just expressing himself himself about his own problems and the way religion helps him out in life. He found a way to successfully rap about religion.
Now I think Kanye's best song is "Gold Digger" because not only is that one of the most inventive beats of all time (sampling the slow Ray Charles classic "I Got A Woman" while using Jamie Foxx who had just won an Oscar playing Ray Charles) but it uses complex storytelling with sophisticated rhymes and actually takes the perspective of both the men and the women about relationships and gold diggers. But I think College Dropout overall is West's best album.
Now really you can choose any West album this decade (sans 808 and Heartbreak) and place it in this slot. I'm going to go the Vh1 route and only have one album per artist. I only have ten slots I'm filling and I'd prefer to showcase a handful or artists. Plus, like I said, I think Kanye is a singles guy, not a full album guys anyway.
For having amazing beats, inventive song concepts, great lyrics and for just being a great rapper overall, Kanye West has earned and deserves a spot on this list.
3) Paper Trail (2008) by T.I.
I originally had Kanye's College Dropout number eight on this list but recently I had a conversation with my brother who had nothing but rave reviews about College Dropout and as I was continuing to write about albums like Outkast's "Speakboxxx/The Love Below" and "Collision Course" by Linkin Park and Jay-Z I had to put College Dropout ahead of those albums. But "Paper Trails" is where I'm drawing the line. This album is what made me a T.I. fan and in all honesty, as a whole, I don't think College Dropout, is all THAT good. I could listen to to this T.I. album for days. Something I can't say about any Kanye West album.
The title originates from T.I. actually writing down his lyrics- which is what makes this album so great. In order to be a truly skilled rapper, you need to be able to free style. You need to be able to spit mad flows and awesome rhymes at the drop of a hat. Guys like Lil' Wayne and Jay-Z make albums this way- they're given a beat and they just spit. And T.I. used to create albums this way as well. He didn't write anything down and just starting rhyming. And by by doing so, he was just another dime a dozen rapper making songs solely for club hits. But as soon as he (a convicted felon) got arrested coming to the University of Illinois to play a concert and got caught with weapons in his tour bus, things changed. So as a result, T.I. ended up having some free time on his hands and started writing down his emotions and feelings and actually started creating art as opposed to just songs and would eventually come together and be known as "Paper Trail"
There are about three to five bad songs on this record and I say they're bad because they don't showcase T.I.'s talent and skill and they are the club hits and the songs you need to make money in music. Unfortunately, those songs ended up being the album's singles (or in the case of "Swing Ya Rag" where Gucci and Louis Vuitton got upset when their products were being used in the music video along as within the chorus of the song- would have been a single). However, the first single "Live Your Life" is the exception. It has a great hook and the beat is a sample from the YouTube sensation "Dragostea Din Tei" by O-Zone (you'd know if you heard it, trust me). The entire song essentially rhymes two words: Consider them my protege/ Homage I think they should pay/ Instead of being gracious/ They violate in a major way and I'm the opposite of moderate/ Immaculately polished/ With the spirit of a hustler/ And the swagger of a college kid but it's amazing the story T.I. is able to tell by essentially rhyming those two words.
And although one of the singles features sexy Justin Timblerlake ("Dead and Gone") and has got a catchy chorus, it actually tells the story about how T.I.'s best friend Filant Johnson got murdered by T.I.'s actions and actually made me believe (until he got arrested again and again) that T.I. was practicing what he was preaching to inner city youts (I'm sorry Your Honor, youthhhhhhhs). What's even more impressive about "Dead and Gone" is T.I.'s pacing in it. It's extremely fast and Twista-eqsue yet he's enunciating every word and still keeps up his flow. It's great to hear T.I. spit fast one one track and then slow it down in another and still be great at both.
The theme of this album is redemption and I truly believe that when T.I. was writing this album, he wanted to make sure to not only to avoid jail forever but to try and balance his law-abiding actions while making sure his drug dealing past wouldn't catch up with him. "Ready For Whatever" and its chorus I think is the epitome of this (and appropriately Track 3 on the record) and says it best: Now is it that hard to understand if you listen/ Either die or go to jail that's a helluva decision/ But I'm wrong and I know it my excuses unimportant/ I'm just trying to let you let you know that I a'int think I had a choice. T.I. knows that he broke the law. He's a felon and he knows felons are not legally allowed to be in possession of fire arms. But he has to carry the firearms for the protection of my family and he raps about this frustration.
Now while the themes of T.I.'s songs are not as universal as I would like them to be, they are personal. When he was free styling, he was cliche. He was rapping about making money and fucking bitches and how awesome he was and all that good stuff. But after his guns conviction, I think T.I. had a different perspective on life and when he sat down to write out his feelings and where he was at this point in his life, I think his music and artistry blossomed.
I could go on and on about and rave about the songs on this record from "Slide Show" a song featuring Anthony Hamilton where T.I. reflects upon his life or "Swagga Like Us" a song featuring Lil' Wayne, Jay-Z, and Kanye West with a hook that steals a line from M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" where T.I. is by far the best rapper on the track or "Sittin' On Top Of The World" featuring Ludacris. This is just a great album from start to finish and for consistency and greatness, "Paper Trail" earns a spot on this list, and a high one at that.
2b) The Black Album (2003) by Jay-Z
Did you really expect anything less that have The Black Album ranked so high? Of course not. Jay-Z is by far and away one of, if not THE greatest rap artists of the past decade; a top five talent on everybody's Greatest List and The Black Album is by far his greatest achievement. To be a truly great album you need to have EVERY single song be good. Not some of them, not most of them, but every single one of them. And The Black Album has accomplished that feat.
The best song on the record and probably Jay's best song and the song that he "retired" on is "99 Problems". The song also has a line that I use, as a kid in law school, as my favorite facebook status "I ain't pass the bar put a know a lil' bit". The song has my favorite rap verse of all time in it- the second verse which Jay-Z gets pulled over by a cop. But what really makes this song so great, besides the fact that it's lyrically genius and every line is awesome, is that it sort of puts rap songs on its head. So many songs talk about bitches and hoes (Boats and Hoes!) and how much they suck and it's hard pimping them and stuff like that, But Jay doesn't care about that stuff. In fact, the chorus goes "I got 99 problems, but a bitch ain't one." It's the opposite of what you would expect, like when two people who like each other and walking away and they DON'T turn around to look at the other one in a movie.
I'm actually speechless about what else to say about this album. I'm sure you've heard the greatness of The Black Album by this point. It's even more impressive if Jay-Z actually didn't write down those lyrics beforehand because his raps on every song is just great. I could go through every single song and talk about and analyze how great it is, but I just can't. I can't even really explain why Jay-Z is so good. The way he rhymes, his cool flow, the non-cliche content of his lyrics- all of it makes him great.
So for being one of the greatest rap albums ever, The Black Album earns a spot on this list.
2a) The Grey Album (2004) by D.J. Danger Mouse
As I'm sure you can tell from the album photo and the name, The Grey Album is a mash up of Jay-Z's The Black Album and The Beatles' The White Album. It takes the awesome lyrics of The Black Album and uses remixed versions of the music from The White Album as beats. And the reason I put this (2a) and not (2b) because I think the one glaring flaw in The Black Album (and part of the reason I can't in good conscious put it #1) is because the beats kind of suck on The Black Album. Maybe they're awesome beats and I've been too negatively impacted by mash ups following the release of the album, but I think The Grey Album has better beats than The Black Album.
As alluded to earlier, I think this is D.J. Danger Mouse's greatest work and it's a shame that it can never be commercially sold because Danger Mouse didn't receive permission from The Beatles before doing this (he also didn't get any from Jay-Z either but Jigga Man has always been cool about people sampling/stealing his stuff that he doesn't care). I love the original beat to "99 Problems" but I think Danger Mouse does it better with a brief sample from "Helter Skelter". I was never a fan of "Change Clothes"'s beat and I think that's why I like Danger Mouse's beat sampling "Dear Prudence" and "Piggies" better.
But I think the biggest disparity between The Black Album's beats and The Gray Album's beats is Danger Mouse's version of "What More Can I Say" that samples a top five personal favorite Beatles song of mine "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." While The Grey Album leaves out the Gladiator Russell Crowe speech from the beginning, I think The Black Album's beat is Common-esque whereas The Grey Album's beat is amazing. Plus, unlike the every other song on The Grey Album, Danger Mouse actually takes out the original Jay-Z chorus (which isn't all that good) and subs in The Beatles chorus, which makes the song even better.
As great as The Black Album is (and it is) it has some major flaws and The Grey Album seems to plug those holes. So for using the amazing lyrics of Jay-Z's The Black Album and improving an already amazing record, D.J. Danger Mouse's The Grey Album earns a spot on this list and earns a spot over the original cut.
Like Kayne, you can plug in any Jay-Z album in this spot. I'm a huge fan of his recent drop The Blueprint, Vol. 3 and I love everything Jay-Z does, but not only do I think The Black Album is his best work, I'm only going to put one album per artist on this list.
My number one album coming soon, although knowing me (if you do) and knowing what artist/album I left off you can probably guess what I will choose, but even still, the best hip hop album of the decade will warrant it's own post.
You can read Part Two and albums 7-5 here
Albums 4-2 are below
4) College Dropout (2004) by Kanye WestWhen I say "Kanye West" what comes to your mind? Is it "fish sticks"? Is it "arrogant fuck"? It is "Taylor Swift"? Because you'd be correct no matter what you answer. My roommate my Freshman years of college went to go see Wilco in concert as opposed to West because of the comments Kanye said about Bush. Needless to say controversy follows West throughout his entire career. But with all that being said and despite everything Kanye has done in his personal life, he's a phenomenal, talented, and great lyricist and beat creator. While his goofing off with the auto tune pisses me off like most things Kanye does, the words that he spits and the beats that he puts behind them are nothing less than musically genius. While South park joked that he's "the voice of out generation" he seriously is in contention for the best artist of this decade and deserves serious consideration for being a top 5 rapper of all time. Hell, every time, and I mean EVERY TIME, I hear records with both Jay-Z and Kanye West, West raps circles around Jigga Man.
Like Ludacris, I think Kanye is more of a singles rapper and I'm not the biggest fan of his overall albums (especially 808 and Heartbreak) but when you ask me what album best represents Kanye I would say it is his debut. His first single "Through The Wire" Kanye was recorded when his mouth was literally wired shut and he literally rapped through the wire yet was still able to produce such lines as: Imagine how my girl feel/ On the plane scared as hell that her guy look like Emitt Till. I bet many few rappers would know the civil rights story of Emitt Till nevertheless throw in a reference to it. West still managed to rap amazingly throughout the entire song.
Kanye has never been one to shy away from societal issues and songs like "All Falls Down" shows this; about the need that African-Americans seem to have to succeed and have the appearance of success: It seems we be living the American dream/ The people highest up got the lowest self esteem/ The prettiest people do the ugliest things/ From the road to riches and diamond rings. So despite me thinking that Syleena Johnson was talking about "uranium" when I first All Falls Down's chorus, I love the message this songs says along with Kanye's rhymes.
And what I think is truly the best song on this album and still one of Kanye's best is "Jesus Walks". Seriously, how many rappers do you know dedicate a full song to religion!? Yeah, yeah they all thank G-d in their songs and at award shows, but Kanye dedicated an entire song to Jesus. West mentions in the song: They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus/ That means guns, sex, lies, videotapes/ But if I talk about God my record won't get played Huh!? And the best part about this song, and this is coming from a Jew, is that he's not being preachy about it: I ain't here to argue about his facial features or here to convert atheists into believers/ I'm just trying to say the way school needs teachers/ The way Kathy Lee needed Regis/ That's the way I need Jesus. He's just expressing himself himself about his own problems and the way religion helps him out in life. He found a way to successfully rap about religion.
Now I think Kanye's best song is "Gold Digger" because not only is that one of the most inventive beats of all time (sampling the slow Ray Charles classic "I Got A Woman" while using Jamie Foxx who had just won an Oscar playing Ray Charles) but it uses complex storytelling with sophisticated rhymes and actually takes the perspective of both the men and the women about relationships and gold diggers. But I think College Dropout overall is West's best album.
Now really you can choose any West album this decade (sans 808 and Heartbreak) and place it in this slot. I'm going to go the Vh1 route and only have one album per artist. I only have ten slots I'm filling and I'd prefer to showcase a handful or artists. Plus, like I said, I think Kanye is a singles guy, not a full album guys anyway.
For having amazing beats, inventive song concepts, great lyrics and for just being a great rapper overall, Kanye West has earned and deserves a spot on this list.
3) Paper Trail (2008) by T.I.I originally had Kanye's College Dropout number eight on this list but recently I had a conversation with my brother who had nothing but rave reviews about College Dropout and as I was continuing to write about albums like Outkast's "Speakboxxx/The Love Below" and "Collision Course" by Linkin Park and Jay-Z I had to put College Dropout ahead of those albums. But "Paper Trails" is where I'm drawing the line. This album is what made me a T.I. fan and in all honesty, as a whole, I don't think College Dropout, is all THAT good. I could listen to to this T.I. album for days. Something I can't say about any Kanye West album.
The title originates from T.I. actually writing down his lyrics- which is what makes this album so great. In order to be a truly skilled rapper, you need to be able to free style. You need to be able to spit mad flows and awesome rhymes at the drop of a hat. Guys like Lil' Wayne and Jay-Z make albums this way- they're given a beat and they just spit. And T.I. used to create albums this way as well. He didn't write anything down and just starting rhyming. And by by doing so, he was just another dime a dozen rapper making songs solely for club hits. But as soon as he (a convicted felon) got arrested coming to the University of Illinois to play a concert and got caught with weapons in his tour bus, things changed. So as a result, T.I. ended up having some free time on his hands and started writing down his emotions and feelings and actually started creating art as opposed to just songs and would eventually come together and be known as "Paper Trail"
There are about three to five bad songs on this record and I say they're bad because they don't showcase T.I.'s talent and skill and they are the club hits and the songs you need to make money in music. Unfortunately, those songs ended up being the album's singles (or in the case of "Swing Ya Rag" where Gucci and Louis Vuitton got upset when their products were being used in the music video along as within the chorus of the song- would have been a single). However, the first single "Live Your Life" is the exception. It has a great hook and the beat is a sample from the YouTube sensation "Dragostea Din Tei" by O-Zone (you'd know if you heard it, trust me). The entire song essentially rhymes two words: Consider them my protege/ Homage I think they should pay/ Instead of being gracious/ They violate in a major way and I'm the opposite of moderate/ Immaculately polished/ With the spirit of a hustler/ And the swagger of a college kid but it's amazing the story T.I. is able to tell by essentially rhyming those two words.
And although one of the singles features sexy Justin Timblerlake ("Dead and Gone") and has got a catchy chorus, it actually tells the story about how T.I.'s best friend Filant Johnson got murdered by T.I.'s actions and actually made me believe (until he got arrested again and again) that T.I. was practicing what he was preaching to inner city youts (I'm sorry Your Honor, youthhhhhhhs). What's even more impressive about "Dead and Gone" is T.I.'s pacing in it. It's extremely fast and Twista-eqsue yet he's enunciating every word and still keeps up his flow. It's great to hear T.I. spit fast one one track and then slow it down in another and still be great at both.
The theme of this album is redemption and I truly believe that when T.I. was writing this album, he wanted to make sure to not only to avoid jail forever but to try and balance his law-abiding actions while making sure his drug dealing past wouldn't catch up with him. "Ready For Whatever" and its chorus I think is the epitome of this (and appropriately Track 3 on the record) and says it best: Now is it that hard to understand if you listen/ Either die or go to jail that's a helluva decision/ But I'm wrong and I know it my excuses unimportant/ I'm just trying to let you let you know that I a'int think I had a choice. T.I. knows that he broke the law. He's a felon and he knows felons are not legally allowed to be in possession of fire arms. But he has to carry the firearms for the protection of my family and he raps about this frustration.
Now while the themes of T.I.'s songs are not as universal as I would like them to be, they are personal. When he was free styling, he was cliche. He was rapping about making money and fucking bitches and how awesome he was and all that good stuff. But after his guns conviction, I think T.I. had a different perspective on life and when he sat down to write out his feelings and where he was at this point in his life, I think his music and artistry blossomed.
I could go on and on about and rave about the songs on this record from "Slide Show" a song featuring Anthony Hamilton where T.I. reflects upon his life or "Swagga Like Us" a song featuring Lil' Wayne, Jay-Z, and Kanye West with a hook that steals a line from M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" where T.I. is by far the best rapper on the track or "Sittin' On Top Of The World" featuring Ludacris. This is just a great album from start to finish and for consistency and greatness, "Paper Trail" earns a spot on this list, and a high one at that.
2b) The Black Album (2003) by Jay-ZDid you really expect anything less that have The Black Album ranked so high? Of course not. Jay-Z is by far and away one of, if not THE greatest rap artists of the past decade; a top five talent on everybody's Greatest List and The Black Album is by far his greatest achievement. To be a truly great album you need to have EVERY single song be good. Not some of them, not most of them, but every single one of them. And The Black Album has accomplished that feat.
The best song on the record and probably Jay's best song and the song that he "retired" on is "99 Problems". The song also has a line that I use, as a kid in law school, as my favorite facebook status "I ain't pass the bar put a know a lil' bit". The song has my favorite rap verse of all time in it- the second verse which Jay-Z gets pulled over by a cop. But what really makes this song so great, besides the fact that it's lyrically genius and every line is awesome, is that it sort of puts rap songs on its head. So many songs talk about bitches and hoes (Boats and Hoes!) and how much they suck and it's hard pimping them and stuff like that, But Jay doesn't care about that stuff. In fact, the chorus goes "I got 99 problems, but a bitch ain't one." It's the opposite of what you would expect, like when two people who like each other and walking away and they DON'T turn around to look at the other one in a movie.
I'm actually speechless about what else to say about this album. I'm sure you've heard the greatness of The Black Album by this point. It's even more impressive if Jay-Z actually didn't write down those lyrics beforehand because his raps on every song is just great. I could go through every single song and talk about and analyze how great it is, but I just can't. I can't even really explain why Jay-Z is so good. The way he rhymes, his cool flow, the non-cliche content of his lyrics- all of it makes him great.
So for being one of the greatest rap albums ever, The Black Album earns a spot on this list.
2a) The Grey Album (2004) by D.J. Danger MouseAs I'm sure you can tell from the album photo and the name, The Grey Album is a mash up of Jay-Z's The Black Album and The Beatles' The White Album. It takes the awesome lyrics of The Black Album and uses remixed versions of the music from The White Album as beats. And the reason I put this (2a) and not (2b) because I think the one glaring flaw in The Black Album (and part of the reason I can't in good conscious put it #1) is because the beats kind of suck on The Black Album. Maybe they're awesome beats and I've been too negatively impacted by mash ups following the release of the album, but I think The Grey Album has better beats than The Black Album.
As alluded to earlier, I think this is D.J. Danger Mouse's greatest work and it's a shame that it can never be commercially sold because Danger Mouse didn't receive permission from The Beatles before doing this (he also didn't get any from Jay-Z either but Jigga Man has always been cool about people sampling/stealing his stuff that he doesn't care). I love the original beat to "99 Problems" but I think Danger Mouse does it better with a brief sample from "Helter Skelter". I was never a fan of "Change Clothes"'s beat and I think that's why I like Danger Mouse's beat sampling "Dear Prudence" and "Piggies" better.
But I think the biggest disparity between The Black Album's beats and The Gray Album's beats is Danger Mouse's version of "What More Can I Say" that samples a top five personal favorite Beatles song of mine "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." While The Grey Album leaves out the Gladiator Russell Crowe speech from the beginning, I think The Black Album's beat is Common-esque whereas The Grey Album's beat is amazing. Plus, unlike the every other song on The Grey Album, Danger Mouse actually takes out the original Jay-Z chorus (which isn't all that good) and subs in The Beatles chorus, which makes the song even better.
As great as The Black Album is (and it is) it has some major flaws and The Grey Album seems to plug those holes. So for using the amazing lyrics of Jay-Z's The Black Album and improving an already amazing record, D.J. Danger Mouse's The Grey Album earns a spot on this list and earns a spot over the original cut.
Like Kayne, you can plug in any Jay-Z album in this spot. I'm a huge fan of his recent drop The Blueprint, Vol. 3 and I love everything Jay-Z does, but not only do I think The Black Album is his best work, I'm only going to put one album per artist on this list.
My number one album coming soon, although knowing me (if you do) and knowing what artist/album I left off you can probably guess what I will choose, but even still, the best hip hop album of the decade will warrant it's own post.
Game Of Inches Football Results: Week Fifteen
Pigskin Pick 'Em
1) Sexy Rexy
Overall: 147-76
Last Week: 7-9
Clutch Games: N/A
WTF Games: Jacksonville over Indy
2) The 'Bright' One
Overall: 145-78
Last week: 10-6
Clutch Games: Buffalo over Miami, Indy over Jacksonville, Philly over New York (N)
WTF Games: N/A
3) Cubsfan4evr1
Overall: 131-92
Last Week: 6-10
Clutch Games: N/A
WTF Games: Jacksonville over Indy, St. Louis over Kansas City
Game Of Inches Fantasy Football League
You can check out our GOI league here
(1) Str1fe5 def. (4) Sexy Rexy 103-94
(2) Swag On def. (3) The 'Bright' One 109.5-88
(6) The 11 def. (5) Cubsfan4evr1 121-98.5
What a bad week for the GOI authors. Especially Cubsfan4evr1 who didn't win a single playoff game. "Wah wah" sad trombone.
Next week Sexy Rexy will lose big too, er rather faces The 'Bright' One for third place
1) Sexy Rexy
Overall: 147-76
Last Week: 7-9
Clutch Games: N/A
WTF Games: Jacksonville over Indy
2) The 'Bright' One
Overall: 145-78
Last week: 10-6
Clutch Games: Buffalo over Miami, Indy over Jacksonville, Philly over New York (N)
WTF Games: N/A
3) Cubsfan4evr1
Overall: 131-92
Last Week: 6-10
Clutch Games: N/A
WTF Games: Jacksonville over Indy, St. Louis over Kansas City
Game Of Inches Fantasy Football League
You can check out our GOI league here
(1) Str1fe5 def. (4) Sexy Rexy 103-94
(2) Swag On def. (3) The 'Bright' One 109.5-88
(6) The 11 def. (5) Cubsfan4evr1 121-98.5
What a bad week for the GOI authors. Especially Cubsfan4evr1 who didn't win a single playoff game. "Wah wah" sad trombone.
Next week Sexy Rexy will lose big too, er rather faces The 'Bright' One for third place
Box Score Tonight: Week Fifteen/"Night" Games Edition
I went to a "bar" (or what my suburban village classifies as a bar and one that's attached to a bowling alley) with The 'Bright' One and another friend of mine to watch the Monday Night Football game between the Bears and Vikings. No real or good anecdotes to come out of that, but I'm sure anything funny I say about the game is because it's a one liner TBO told me. We'll begin just as soon as set the record for most kick returns brought back for touchdowns.
- As always we'll start with the Chicago Bears who absolutely dominate and destroy the Minnesota Viking at the University of Minnesota 40-14. NFC North campions BA-BEEE! All my Packers fan and my one Bears-hating Lions fan friends are going to get an ear full on facebook. Wow, that was awful trash talk.
- As just referenced in the opening, Devin Hester returned a kick return for a touchdown as he set the record for most kick returns for touchdowns at 14. He also caught a touchdown and caught two of his three targets for 23 yards.
- I didn't really realize this watching the game but Matt Forte played really well and looking back on it I can see why. His longest run of the day was only 14 yards so his abnormally-for-Forte high 5.4 yards per carry meant he kept getting 5 yards on every single one of his 17 carries pretty consistently. But as always he could not convert a goal line stand.
- I really love Chester Taylor's talent and I wanted him to come to Chicago before the Bears signed him. But every time I saw him he seemed to get dropped in the backfield- which would explain his 0.5 YPC this game (Hell, freaking Garrett Wolfe had 3 more yards on 7 less carries than Taylor). We came to the conclusion that Taylor is only on rush plays so the opposition knows what's coming. I still advocate he come in on full drives and on pass plays because I've seen him play and play awesome in Minnesota. Hell, he used to be the 3rd down back- on obvious pass plays.
- The three of us had a bet, over/under 1 catch for Greg Olson. We pushed. Olson caught all four of his targets for 28 yards. I still don't like him all THAT much.
- Jay Cutler looked good but only threw it for 194 yards on 14 completions. But he threw three touchdowns to only one pick (Cutler's fault). Rashied Davis and Johnny Knox both caught TDs and Knox led all Bears receivers with 78 yards thanks to a 67 yard amazing TD bomb.
- Back up DE Corey Wootten knocks Brett Favre out of the game (I was debating between this and the kick returns record for my opening). It was amazing. John Gruden called Wootton a young Julius Peppers. Let's calm down there buddy, a 7th round draft pick out of Northwestern is not a young Julius Peppers. (copyright 2010 TBO)
- Brett Favre said he'll do one thing and then at the last minute does another. Very out of character for Brett Favre. He said he was out and then he was "doubtful" this morning and then he starts the game- and looked surprisingly good. Favre had a 99.1 passer rating, completed 5 out his 7 attempts and completed one touchdown. And like Brett Favre, one interception.
- Joe Webb, a 6th round pick who was drafted as a wide receiver, came in to replace Brett Favre. He looked awful and looked lost for most of this game and the Bears pass rush got to him early and often. He got 0 passing TDs (1 rushing) and 2 picks (really three because Urlacher had a great pick that called back- like many plays did in this game).
- AD was magically out of this game and thus the 'Bright' One and I will face each other for 3rd place in the Game Of Inches Fantasy Football League. Back up Toby Gerhart looked good to me with his 77 yards on 16 carries (4.8 YPC). This is the year of the white running back. By default and because at least two of them started a game this year- Gerhart and my boy Peyton Hillis.
- Percy Harvin was back and I didn't realize what an impact he made. He caught 5 of his 7 targets for 72 yards and caught Favre's TD pass.
- Mrs. Kendra got as many targets as Devin Aromashodu today- one. But D.A. caught his for a first down and Baskett did not catch his.
- Bill Belichick almost screws over the Bears two weeks in a row by almost losing to the Green Bay Packers. ((c) TBO- again) But the Pats defeat the Pack 31-27.
- I gotsta address this first- the Packers almost won this game. But almost doesn't count it in football (Ask the Lions going into the 4th quarter of games) and this should not have been close. On a 4th and I think a few, the Packers took 30 seconds to run a play which ended in a Matt Flynn sack as time expired. Way to be prepared and show why you should keep your job Mike McCarthy!
- Flynn looks like Tom freaking Brady (minus the lovely hair) as he completes 65% of his passes for 251 yards, 3 TDs, a pick, and a 100.2 passer rating.
- Yet as good of numbers as Flynn put up, Matt Flynn in the game negatively affected Greg Jennings (4/5 30 yards, TD) and Donald Driver (3/6, 31 yards) like we thought he would. But of course everyone knew that James Jones (5/8, 95 yards, TD) would go off.
- Brandon Jackson gets 22 carries (4.5 YPC). John Kuhn gets 6 (and a receiving TD). James Starks gets 0. Dmitri Nance gets 6.
- I don't know how many games in a row it's been but Tom Brady has another game in a row where he doesn't throw an interception and another game in which the Pats do not turn over the ball. Brady ended the day with a 110.2 passer rating. I'm struggling right now between Brady, Rivers, and Vick on who my MVP is. Right now Brady (4) has one less INT than Vick (5) and that was a major indicator for the longest time on why I'd pick Vick. I think Brady is the MVP front runner. Somebody cut that man's hair, he's like Sampson!
- Danny Woodhead gets 9 carries (6.6 YPC). BenJarvin Green Ellis gets 6 (6.3 YPC, rushing TD). Aaron Hernandez gets one (16.0 YPC) and both of Tom Brady's touchdowns.
- Because essentially all the numbers look the same, I'm not going to comment on the Pats wide out numbers. Except for the previous sentence.
Seriously guys, any suggestion on how to end these would be greatly appreciated.
- As always we'll start with the Chicago Bears who absolutely dominate and destroy the Minnesota Viking at the University of Minnesota 40-14. NFC North campions BA-BEEE! All my Packers fan and my one Bears-hating Lions fan friends are going to get an ear full on facebook. Wow, that was awful trash talk.
- As just referenced in the opening, Devin Hester returned a kick return for a touchdown as he set the record for most kick returns for touchdowns at 14. He also caught a touchdown and caught two of his three targets for 23 yards.
- I didn't really realize this watching the game but Matt Forte played really well and looking back on it I can see why. His longest run of the day was only 14 yards so his abnormally-for-Forte high 5.4 yards per carry meant he kept getting 5 yards on every single one of his 17 carries pretty consistently. But as always he could not convert a goal line stand.
- I really love Chester Taylor's talent and I wanted him to come to Chicago before the Bears signed him. But every time I saw him he seemed to get dropped in the backfield- which would explain his 0.5 YPC this game (Hell, freaking Garrett Wolfe had 3 more yards on 7 less carries than Taylor). We came to the conclusion that Taylor is only on rush plays so the opposition knows what's coming. I still advocate he come in on full drives and on pass plays because I've seen him play and play awesome in Minnesota. Hell, he used to be the 3rd down back- on obvious pass plays.
- The three of us had a bet, over/under 1 catch for Greg Olson. We pushed. Olson caught all four of his targets for 28 yards. I still don't like him all THAT much.
- Jay Cutler looked good but only threw it for 194 yards on 14 completions. But he threw three touchdowns to only one pick (Cutler's fault). Rashied Davis and Johnny Knox both caught TDs and Knox led all Bears receivers with 78 yards thanks to a 67 yard amazing TD bomb.
- Back up DE Corey Wootten knocks Brett Favre out of the game (I was debating between this and the kick returns record for my opening). It was amazing. John Gruden called Wootton a young Julius Peppers. Let's calm down there buddy, a 7th round draft pick out of Northwestern is not a young Julius Peppers. (copyright 2010 TBO)
- Brett Favre said he'll do one thing and then at the last minute does another. Very out of character for Brett Favre. He said he was out and then he was "doubtful" this morning and then he starts the game- and looked surprisingly good. Favre had a 99.1 passer rating, completed 5 out his 7 attempts and completed one touchdown. And like Brett Favre, one interception.
- Joe Webb, a 6th round pick who was drafted as a wide receiver, came in to replace Brett Favre. He looked awful and looked lost for most of this game and the Bears pass rush got to him early and often. He got 0 passing TDs (1 rushing) and 2 picks (really three because Urlacher had a great pick that called back- like many plays did in this game).
- AD was magically out of this game and thus the 'Bright' One and I will face each other for 3rd place in the Game Of Inches Fantasy Football League. Back up Toby Gerhart looked good to me with his 77 yards on 16 carries (4.8 YPC). This is the year of the white running back. By default and because at least two of them started a game this year- Gerhart and my boy Peyton Hillis.
- Percy Harvin was back and I didn't realize what an impact he made. He caught 5 of his 7 targets for 72 yards and caught Favre's TD pass.
- Mrs. Kendra got as many targets as Devin Aromashodu today- one. But D.A. caught his for a first down and Baskett did not catch his.
- Bill Belichick almost screws over the Bears two weeks in a row by almost losing to the Green Bay Packers. ((c) TBO- again) But the Pats defeat the Pack 31-27.
- I gotsta address this first- the Packers almost won this game. But almost doesn't count it in football (Ask the Lions going into the 4th quarter of games) and this should not have been close. On a 4th and I think a few, the Packers took 30 seconds to run a play which ended in a Matt Flynn sack as time expired. Way to be prepared and show why you should keep your job Mike McCarthy!
- Flynn looks like Tom freaking Brady (minus the lovely hair) as he completes 65% of his passes for 251 yards, 3 TDs, a pick, and a 100.2 passer rating.
- Yet as good of numbers as Flynn put up, Matt Flynn in the game negatively affected Greg Jennings (4/5 30 yards, TD) and Donald Driver (3/6, 31 yards) like we thought he would. But of course everyone knew that James Jones (5/8, 95 yards, TD) would go off.
- Brandon Jackson gets 22 carries (4.5 YPC). John Kuhn gets 6 (and a receiving TD). James Starks gets 0. Dmitri Nance gets 6.
- I don't know how many games in a row it's been but Tom Brady has another game in a row where he doesn't throw an interception and another game in which the Pats do not turn over the ball. Brady ended the day with a 110.2 passer rating. I'm struggling right now between Brady, Rivers, and Vick on who my MVP is. Right now Brady (4) has one less INT than Vick (5) and that was a major indicator for the longest time on why I'd pick Vick. I think Brady is the MVP front runner. Somebody cut that man's hair, he's like Sampson!
- Danny Woodhead gets 9 carries (6.6 YPC). BenJarvin Green Ellis gets 6 (6.3 YPC, rushing TD). Aaron Hernandez gets one (16.0 YPC) and both of Tom Brady's touchdowns.
- Because essentially all the numbers look the same, I'm not going to comment on the Pats wide out numbers. Except for the previous sentence.
Seriously guys, any suggestion on how to end these would be greatly appreciated.
The Best Hip Hop Albums Of The Decade: Part Two
You can read Part One here and albums 7, 6, and 5 below
7) The Documentary (2005) by The Game
I'm actually not a big fan of The Game. I think he's got a dumb mo fo name, I think he has little true talent, and I think his overall body of work is sub par. But I'm a big fan of The Documentary.
I think the biggest hurdle this album has to overcome is that it's beat driven as opposed to lyrical driven. You look at the producers for the individual tracks and you see the big guns, guys likes Dr. Dre, Eminem, Timbaland, Just Blaze, and Scott Storch. But at the same time, The Game takes us on a journey about the pain and suffering that occurred in his life and it's these mini three minute adventures that makes this album so great.
Part of the reason I think The Game got signed was in the heals of 50 Cent's popularity and how 50 got shot so many times. So what did the record label do, found another gang banger who got shot a bunch of times in The Game. I know getting shot seems cliche and a dime a dozen in rap music now, but I can't imagine how awful it must feel. Hell, I can barely take a punch to the face nevertheless getting shot at. But it's amazing when rappers like The Game can take such an awful event in their lives and turn it into great music. Hell, I think that's something that even 50 didn't accomplish. Songs that the album's title track that has lyrics like: I came back from the dead/ Without a part of my chest/ laid in a hospital bed on cardiac arrest/ I waited for three years/ While everyone else dropped/ Now I understand why Nas did a song with his pops. OK, maybe not the best example, but I promise you, it's a theme prevalent throughout this album that makes it so good.
In fact, the best song on the album is "Start From Scratch" where The Game relives the night he got shot. I wish his storytelling abilities were a tad bit better because while I can pretty much piece together what happened, I shouldn't have to try to do that in the first place. Like what Immortal Technique does in "Dance With The Devil" I would have liked The Game to have been a bit more clear to the listener. But despite that, what you can hear in the pain in his voice and you forgive him for the other flaws in the song. Anyone can read words off of a page, but music is supposed to inspire emotions and The Game does that perfectly.
I'm a big fan of the major hits from this record like "Hate It Or Love It" featuring 50 Cent and "How We Do" but it's the rest of the songs like "Westside Story", "Start From Scratch", and "The Documentary" that really separate it from the rest. So for being beat driven and for a lack of storytelling ability and skill, The Documentary by The Game drops on this list. But for being aesthetically pleasing and bringing emotion and real life drama into every song, The Game earns a spot on this list.
6) St. Elsewhere (2006) by Gnarls Barkley
What is hip hop? I really don't know. I don't know really the difference between hip hop and rap. And I think you can make a good argument that Gnarls Barkley is pop, not hip hop. They are similarities. Both are vocal central. Both are overproduced. Both are nowadays made for clubs and to drunkenly dance to and are not for artistry sake. And both use beats as opposed to instruments (for the studio tracks anyways. It's considered "novelty" to have live musicians be your back up for hip hop artists.) But maybe Gnarls Barkley is to hip hop what pornography is to the Supreme Court: I know it when I see it.
Plus, the first genre wikipedia mentions about St. Elsewhere is "Hip Hop" therefore it must be a hip hop album. Wikipedia never lies to me.
Part of what makes Gnarls Barkley "hip hop" and so great is the two members (yes, GB is a band and they have two members) D.J. Danger Mouse and Cee Lo (aka Cee Lo Green as he's being called nowadays). D.J. Danger Mouse is one of my favorite DJ's out there. We'll see his greatest work of the decade later on this list, but as I mentioned earlier when talking about Collision Course: great hip hop is composed of great beats as well as great vocals. And Danger Mouse creates some awesome beats. I don't even care what Cee Lo sings about in "Smiley Faces", DJ Danger Mouse created such an uplifting, fun, catchy, foot-tapping, soul-hugging beat that no matter how white or bad at dancing you are, you just wanna get up off your seat and start pretending you're in one of those "Step Up" movies.
But the main reason that DJ Danger Mouse is so good and what really shines through in St. Elsewhere is that not only are all of the beats catchy, but the tone of the beats sets up perfectly with the content matter of the lyrics and matches Cee Lo perfectly. Cee Lo sings about his mental psychosis in the band's biggest single "Crazy" and a straight up Scott Storch or Dr. Dre beats would just ruin the song. But Danger Mouse's beat, and only HIS beat, would suffice and does.
And of course, we have the soulful voice of Cee Lo Green. A man who has recently graced our ear cherries with "Fuck You" and has been doing it since the early 2000's when he was working with his fellow A-T-L natives T.I., Ludacris, and Outkast (all three of whom make an appearance on this list). While the DJ sets up the mood perfectly throwing that perfect fastball down the middle, Cee Lo hits a home run with his beautiful and soulful voice along with his creative subjective matter like in "Crazy", suicide in "Just A Thought", and necrophilia in "Necromancer". Sure, attempting to listen to those songs is like trying to convince yourself to watch "Precious"- you've heard it's good, but do you really want to sit through the subject matter? But Cee Lo's lyrics and voice along with the perfect accompaniment of DJ Danger Mouse's beats makes this album a perfect and hidden treasure in music.
While Gnarls Barkley's follow up album "The Odd Couple" was both a commercial and creative disaster, St. Elsewhere will still hold a place in my heart- even though most people only know "Crazy" by the band. In fact, when I first heard "Crazy" I acted like my typical judge-y elitist music snob self and dismissed it. But after seeing them open for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and perform in their crazy costume themed show (every concert Gnarls Barkley dresses up in a theme. During the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, they dressed up in Star Wars outfits) I turned a complete 180 and fell in love with the band.
For being innovative, creative, and not selling out their soul to corporate, main stream America and for turning a side project between two friends into an album that should live on forever in music history, Gnarls Barkley earns a spot on this list.
5) Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003) by Outkast
Recently I was at party arguing with some people (a great way to make an awesome first impression bee tee dubs) about who was the better rapper: Andre 3000 or Big Boi, the two members of Outkast. A song from double B came on the sound system and the party was praising Big Boi and I quote "I'm sorry Big Boi isn't crazy and dresses all weird and shit". They have a point. Andre 3000 is so creative and weird and out there that Big Boi's straight up Atlanta thuginess (yes I did just make up the word "thuginess" deal with it) makes him seem out of place. But listen, I'm not that much of a mainstream meat head that when I listen to rap I don't consider ALL verses and all voices and that I haven't already taken that into consideration. I like and respect Big Boi a lot, I really do. But there's a reason that when Eminem talks about the greats in hip hop in his song "'Till I Collapse" that he singles out Andre 3000 and does not mention Big Boi. And by the way, while I have not heard Big Boi's solo album, but I have heard "The Love Below" which essentially a solo album done combined with Andre 3000's solo album "Speakerboxxx" (while that's not actually true, it does seem like it).
I always thought it was a bit of a misnomer that when "Hey Ya" was first released that everyone credited the song to Outkast. Yet the music video only consists of Andre (many of him in fact), every part of the song is sung or rapped by Andre, and it was produced solely by Andre (although in all fairness Big Boi along with Andre have the sole writing credits to the song). The songs seemed to be the brainchild of Andre 3000. "Hey Ya" came out when I was in high school and a friend of mine told me that Andre had to be essentially forced into creating the song. But I was young and naive at the time. If you go back and look at what Outkast had done before this album you would have not only seen that "Andre dressed all crazy and shit" but "Hey Ya" is the typical Andre 3000 song. I think people liked it because it was so catchy but they fell in love with it because it was so original. At it's core, the song is about two people in a relationship and struggling with it. With lyrics like: You think you've got it/ Oh, you've think you've got it/ But got it just don't get it/ Until there's nothing at all. Ask anyone who's been in a long term relationship- it's hard as shit. And while the music in the background doesn't really match up, I just take "Hey Ya" as Andre 3000's "crazy and shit" take on relationships. Maybe sometimes to get away from those pains and feelings all we really need to do is "shake it like a Polaroid picture" (SIDENOTE: Polaroid recently released a statement to not shake their pictures anymore. In a related story, Bacardi has released a statement to not drink like it's your birthday.)
"Hey Ya" (and rightfully so) is on everybody's top five list for best songs of the decade and "Hey Ya" and "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" won every acclamation in 2003 including the Grammy for Album Of The Year. The other two singles "Roses" and "I Like The Way You Move" (a Big Boi heavy song) are very good and help strengthen the album but the one thing that hurts this album is the one thing that hurts every two disc album- there's too many damn songs. There's a reason most albums only contain 12 tracks, not 24. There's a reason TV shows only last 13 episodes because then you get the "Community" effect where the first season (24 episodes) are hilarious and then second season kinds sucks because you wasted all of your funny material in the first season.
But overall, it's a great album and it's great to see both members of Outkast shine and play to their different strengths. And since two members could not be more alike, it's pleasure to get many different takes and viewpoints on "Speakerboxx/ The Love Below" and for that along with giving the world "Hey Ya" Outkast earns a spot on this list.
7) The Documentary (2005) by The GameI'm actually not a big fan of The Game. I think he's got a dumb mo fo name, I think he has little true talent, and I think his overall body of work is sub par. But I'm a big fan of The Documentary.
I think the biggest hurdle this album has to overcome is that it's beat driven as opposed to lyrical driven. You look at the producers for the individual tracks and you see the big guns, guys likes Dr. Dre, Eminem, Timbaland, Just Blaze, and Scott Storch. But at the same time, The Game takes us on a journey about the pain and suffering that occurred in his life and it's these mini three minute adventures that makes this album so great.
Part of the reason I think The Game got signed was in the heals of 50 Cent's popularity and how 50 got shot so many times. So what did the record label do, found another gang banger who got shot a bunch of times in The Game. I know getting shot seems cliche and a dime a dozen in rap music now, but I can't imagine how awful it must feel. Hell, I can barely take a punch to the face nevertheless getting shot at. But it's amazing when rappers like The Game can take such an awful event in their lives and turn it into great music. Hell, I think that's something that even 50 didn't accomplish. Songs that the album's title track that has lyrics like: I came back from the dead/ Without a part of my chest/ laid in a hospital bed on cardiac arrest/ I waited for three years/ While everyone else dropped/ Now I understand why Nas did a song with his pops. OK, maybe not the best example, but I promise you, it's a theme prevalent throughout this album that makes it so good.
In fact, the best song on the album is "Start From Scratch" where The Game relives the night he got shot. I wish his storytelling abilities were a tad bit better because while I can pretty much piece together what happened, I shouldn't have to try to do that in the first place. Like what Immortal Technique does in "Dance With The Devil" I would have liked The Game to have been a bit more clear to the listener. But despite that, what you can hear in the pain in his voice and you forgive him for the other flaws in the song. Anyone can read words off of a page, but music is supposed to inspire emotions and The Game does that perfectly.
I'm a big fan of the major hits from this record like "Hate It Or Love It" featuring 50 Cent and "How We Do" but it's the rest of the songs like "Westside Story", "Start From Scratch", and "The Documentary" that really separate it from the rest. So for being beat driven and for a lack of storytelling ability and skill, The Documentary by The Game drops on this list. But for being aesthetically pleasing and bringing emotion and real life drama into every song, The Game earns a spot on this list.
6) St. Elsewhere (2006) by Gnarls BarkleyWhat is hip hop? I really don't know. I don't know really the difference between hip hop and rap. And I think you can make a good argument that Gnarls Barkley is pop, not hip hop. They are similarities. Both are vocal central. Both are overproduced. Both are nowadays made for clubs and to drunkenly dance to and are not for artistry sake. And both use beats as opposed to instruments (for the studio tracks anyways. It's considered "novelty" to have live musicians be your back up for hip hop artists.) But maybe Gnarls Barkley is to hip hop what pornography is to the Supreme Court: I know it when I see it.
Plus, the first genre wikipedia mentions about St. Elsewhere is "Hip Hop" therefore it must be a hip hop album. Wikipedia never lies to me.
Part of what makes Gnarls Barkley "hip hop" and so great is the two members (yes, GB is a band and they have two members) D.J. Danger Mouse and Cee Lo (aka Cee Lo Green as he's being called nowadays). D.J. Danger Mouse is one of my favorite DJ's out there. We'll see his greatest work of the decade later on this list, but as I mentioned earlier when talking about Collision Course: great hip hop is composed of great beats as well as great vocals. And Danger Mouse creates some awesome beats. I don't even care what Cee Lo sings about in "Smiley Faces", DJ Danger Mouse created such an uplifting, fun, catchy, foot-tapping, soul-hugging beat that no matter how white or bad at dancing you are, you just wanna get up off your seat and start pretending you're in one of those "Step Up" movies.
But the main reason that DJ Danger Mouse is so good and what really shines through in St. Elsewhere is that not only are all of the beats catchy, but the tone of the beats sets up perfectly with the content matter of the lyrics and matches Cee Lo perfectly. Cee Lo sings about his mental psychosis in the band's biggest single "Crazy" and a straight up Scott Storch or Dr. Dre beats would just ruin the song. But Danger Mouse's beat, and only HIS beat, would suffice and does.
And of course, we have the soulful voice of Cee Lo Green. A man who has recently graced our ear cherries with "Fuck You" and has been doing it since the early 2000's when he was working with his fellow A-T-L natives T.I., Ludacris, and Outkast (all three of whom make an appearance on this list). While the DJ sets up the mood perfectly throwing that perfect fastball down the middle, Cee Lo hits a home run with his beautiful and soulful voice along with his creative subjective matter like in "Crazy", suicide in "Just A Thought", and necrophilia in "Necromancer". Sure, attempting to listen to those songs is like trying to convince yourself to watch "Precious"- you've heard it's good, but do you really want to sit through the subject matter? But Cee Lo's lyrics and voice along with the perfect accompaniment of DJ Danger Mouse's beats makes this album a perfect and hidden treasure in music.
While Gnarls Barkley's follow up album "The Odd Couple" was both a commercial and creative disaster, St. Elsewhere will still hold a place in my heart- even though most people only know "Crazy" by the band. In fact, when I first heard "Crazy" I acted like my typical judge-y elitist music snob self and dismissed it. But after seeing them open for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and perform in their crazy costume themed show (every concert Gnarls Barkley dresses up in a theme. During the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, they dressed up in Star Wars outfits) I turned a complete 180 and fell in love with the band.
For being innovative, creative, and not selling out their soul to corporate, main stream America and for turning a side project between two friends into an album that should live on forever in music history, Gnarls Barkley earns a spot on this list.
5) Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003) by OutkastRecently I was at party arguing with some people (a great way to make an awesome first impression bee tee dubs) about who was the better rapper: Andre 3000 or Big Boi, the two members of Outkast. A song from double B came on the sound system and the party was praising Big Boi and I quote "I'm sorry Big Boi isn't crazy and dresses all weird and shit". They have a point. Andre 3000 is so creative and weird and out there that Big Boi's straight up Atlanta thuginess (yes I did just make up the word "thuginess" deal with it) makes him seem out of place. But listen, I'm not that much of a mainstream meat head that when I listen to rap I don't consider ALL verses and all voices and that I haven't already taken that into consideration. I like and respect Big Boi a lot, I really do. But there's a reason that when Eminem talks about the greats in hip hop in his song "'Till I Collapse" that he singles out Andre 3000 and does not mention Big Boi. And by the way, while I have not heard Big Boi's solo album, but I have heard "The Love Below" which essentially a solo album done combined with Andre 3000's solo album "Speakerboxxx" (while that's not actually true, it does seem like it).
I always thought it was a bit of a misnomer that when "Hey Ya" was first released that everyone credited the song to Outkast. Yet the music video only consists of Andre (many of him in fact), every part of the song is sung or rapped by Andre, and it was produced solely by Andre (although in all fairness Big Boi along with Andre have the sole writing credits to the song). The songs seemed to be the brainchild of Andre 3000. "Hey Ya" came out when I was in high school and a friend of mine told me that Andre had to be essentially forced into creating the song. But I was young and naive at the time. If you go back and look at what Outkast had done before this album you would have not only seen that "Andre dressed all crazy and shit" but "Hey Ya" is the typical Andre 3000 song. I think people liked it because it was so catchy but they fell in love with it because it was so original. At it's core, the song is about two people in a relationship and struggling with it. With lyrics like: You think you've got it/ Oh, you've think you've got it/ But got it just don't get it/ Until there's nothing at all. Ask anyone who's been in a long term relationship- it's hard as shit. And while the music in the background doesn't really match up, I just take "Hey Ya" as Andre 3000's "crazy and shit" take on relationships. Maybe sometimes to get away from those pains and feelings all we really need to do is "shake it like a Polaroid picture" (SIDENOTE: Polaroid recently released a statement to not shake their pictures anymore. In a related story, Bacardi has released a statement to not drink like it's your birthday.)
"Hey Ya" (and rightfully so) is on everybody's top five list for best songs of the decade and "Hey Ya" and "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" won every acclamation in 2003 including the Grammy for Album Of The Year. The other two singles "Roses" and "I Like The Way You Move" (a Big Boi heavy song) are very good and help strengthen the album but the one thing that hurts this album is the one thing that hurts every two disc album- there's too many damn songs. There's a reason most albums only contain 12 tracks, not 24. There's a reason TV shows only last 13 episodes because then you get the "Community" effect where the first season (24 episodes) are hilarious and then second season kinds sucks because you wasted all of your funny material in the first season.
But overall, it's a great album and it's great to see both members of Outkast shine and play to their different strengths. And since two members could not be more alike, it's pleasure to get many different takes and viewpoints on "Speakerboxx/ The Love Below" and for that along with giving the world "Hey Ya" Outkast earns a spot on this list.
Box Score Tonight: Week Fifteen/Late Games Edition
We'll begin with the few late editions just as soon as my defense helps protect my reputation and my pretty boy smile.
- While the opening line was meant to be a stab at Mark Sanchez, I really just didn't have anything to go off of because in like the three afternoon games, nothing major happened.
- So in honor of my loyal GOI fans, we'll start off with the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets. Although I was surprised by the lack of facebook statusry. And no, "statusry" is not one of my many spelling errors.
- In a stunner the New York Jets defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers 22-17
- I want to like Mark Sanchez, I really do. Despite my immense hatred towards USC because of the love ESPN gives them, I feel bad for everyone hating on Sanchez. I saw Sanchez play in the beginning of the year and he looked good to me and wasn't making any interceptions. But he's looked pretty bad of late and he's "needed" to make comebacks late in recent games because he was so bad in the beginning of them, but it's games like these I'd like him to step up and be better. I understand it's the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers but the Jets score because of Nick Folk field goals, a Brad Smith kick return, and a little hat. Yeah yeah yeah a Sanchez TD run in there as well, but I dunno, I don't like that 81.1 passer rating. Maybe I'm just being a hater.
- Tomlinson gets 11 carries. Greene gets 12. Neither get above 50 rushing yards. LT still makes me regret that I benched him, but by default. Stupid Anthony Dixon.
- As much as I just hated on Sanchez, I think we all forget what a bad season Roethlisberger is having with his 78.2 passer rating in this game. You can blame it on the revolving, Bears-esque offensive line and Big Ben is injured. But when you go out and play as poorly as Ben is, you can't make excuses. You either play well or you sit because you're hurting your team playing injured/poorly. Big Ben also had 2 fumbles.
- Illinois alum Rashard Mendenall just goes out there and is solid and sturdy and just performs. 17 carries, 100 yards, TD. Mike Wallace makes me looks good and why I liked him in the beginning of the year and was even on his boat with his AWFUL start of the year: 7 of 10, 102 yards, TD in this game.
- Atlanta Falcons destroy the Seattle Cheating Carrols in Qwest Field like we all expected they would.
- Michael Turner is very good. Roddy White is better. Matty Ice is average/below average outside of a dome and Jason Snelling steals from fantasy value from Turner with a receiving TD. That's all you need to know about the Dirty Birds.
- Matt Hasselbeck has two INT's early and ends up with a 28.9 passer rating. He also fumbled. So he gets pulled for Charlie Whitehhurst. Listen, just because you saw Rex Grossman be competent early in the day doesn't mean YOUR crappy back up will be as well. I don't care how bad Hasselbeck is playing, he's still better than Charlie Whitehurst who finished the day with no picks or touchdowns, 83 yards on 16 attempts, and a 65.4 passer rating.
- Marshawn Lynch actually is pretty decent and NOT shitty in Week 15. He gets 60 yards on 12 carries (5.0 YPC) and a receiving TD. This vaunted Atlanta rushing D is not what it used to be at the beginning of the season.
- With Seattle and St. Louis losing today, it's not only realistic, but possible that the NFC West winner will only win 7 games and thus be under .500. This is not only the worst division in football, but currently the worst division in sports and might be the worst division ever in history. If the NFC West winner doesn't get at least 8 wins, the NFL needs to immediately change the rules and take away an automatic playoff birth. Hell, even if they get 8 wins, either the Giants or Packers will miss the playoffs and have a better record than the NFC West winner. This is like the ACC winner in college football getting an automatic BCS birth but the 7th ranked Michigan State gets left out.
- The Oakland Raiders defeat the Denver Tim Tebow's 39-23
- So far, all Tim Tebow has done is perform and be awesome. Maybe it's because team's don't have enough video on him and we get the 2006 Rex Grossman effect, but come on, who doesn't have tape of Tebow in college? Tebow's numbers on the day: 8 for 16, 138 yards, 1 passing TD, no INTs, and a 100.5 passer rating. He also gets 78 yards off of 8 carries and a rushing TD. He's like Michael Vick light! But like everyone anointing Jay Bruce the best outfielder ever after only like his first two weeks in the majors, let's wait and see how Tebow does with a few seasons under his belt.
- Knowshown Moreno only gets 5 yards on 4 carries. Sorry buddy, this is the Tim Tebow show!
- Illinois alum Brandon Llyod is the only Broncos receiver above one catch (4) and led all Broncos in yards (79), targets (5), and touchdowns (1).
- I've said it before and I'll say it again, Jason Campbell is only allowed a certain number of good games a year and I think he's used them all up in 2010. He has a 69.1 passer rating because of his two picks to one TD and his 15 for 26 for 238 yards.
- Run DMC shows why he wear his Adidas' to show us why it's tricky to walk this way. He gets 119 yards on 20 carries. And another frustrating thing for TBO's team is that my boy Jacoby Ford gets a rushing TD (on a 71 yard rush) and Michael Bush gets the other two rushing TD's of the game. Third string running back Marcel Reese led all Raiders receivers in yards (79) and TDs (1). Mainly because of a 73 yards TD reception by him. I'm sure that was all Reece and had nothing to do with Campbell.
- Because I think it's a funny name, the Bronco's kicker's name is Hauschka. Also, I never want to try and pronounce or write that name again.
I need a new way to end these things.
- While the opening line was meant to be a stab at Mark Sanchez, I really just didn't have anything to go off of because in like the three afternoon games, nothing major happened.
- So in honor of my loyal GOI fans, we'll start off with the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets. Although I was surprised by the lack of facebook statusry. And no, "statusry" is not one of my many spelling errors.
- In a stunner the New York Jets defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers 22-17
- I want to like Mark Sanchez, I really do. Despite my immense hatred towards USC because of the love ESPN gives them, I feel bad for everyone hating on Sanchez. I saw Sanchez play in the beginning of the year and he looked good to me and wasn't making any interceptions. But he's looked pretty bad of late and he's "needed" to make comebacks late in recent games because he was so bad in the beginning of them, but it's games like these I'd like him to step up and be better. I understand it's the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers but the Jets score because of Nick Folk field goals, a Brad Smith kick return, and a little hat. Yeah yeah yeah a Sanchez TD run in there as well, but I dunno, I don't like that 81.1 passer rating. Maybe I'm just being a hater.
- Tomlinson gets 11 carries. Greene gets 12. Neither get above 50 rushing yards. LT still makes me regret that I benched him, but by default. Stupid Anthony Dixon.
- As much as I just hated on Sanchez, I think we all forget what a bad season Roethlisberger is having with his 78.2 passer rating in this game. You can blame it on the revolving, Bears-esque offensive line and Big Ben is injured. But when you go out and play as poorly as Ben is, you can't make excuses. You either play well or you sit because you're hurting your team playing injured/poorly. Big Ben also had 2 fumbles.
- Illinois alum Rashard Mendenall just goes out there and is solid and sturdy and just performs. 17 carries, 100 yards, TD. Mike Wallace makes me looks good and why I liked him in the beginning of the year and was even on his boat with his AWFUL start of the year: 7 of 10, 102 yards, TD in this game.
- Atlanta Falcons destroy the Seattle Cheating Carrols in Qwest Field like we all expected they would.
- Michael Turner is very good. Roddy White is better. Matty Ice is average/below average outside of a dome and Jason Snelling steals from fantasy value from Turner with a receiving TD. That's all you need to know about the Dirty Birds.
- Matt Hasselbeck has two INT's early and ends up with a 28.9 passer rating. He also fumbled. So he gets pulled for Charlie Whitehhurst. Listen, just because you saw Rex Grossman be competent early in the day doesn't mean YOUR crappy back up will be as well. I don't care how bad Hasselbeck is playing, he's still better than Charlie Whitehurst who finished the day with no picks or touchdowns, 83 yards on 16 attempts, and a 65.4 passer rating.
- Marshawn Lynch actually is pretty decent and NOT shitty in Week 15. He gets 60 yards on 12 carries (5.0 YPC) and a receiving TD. This vaunted Atlanta rushing D is not what it used to be at the beginning of the season.
- With Seattle and St. Louis losing today, it's not only realistic, but possible that the NFC West winner will only win 7 games and thus be under .500. This is not only the worst division in football, but currently the worst division in sports and might be the worst division ever in history. If the NFC West winner doesn't get at least 8 wins, the NFL needs to immediately change the rules and take away an automatic playoff birth. Hell, even if they get 8 wins, either the Giants or Packers will miss the playoffs and have a better record than the NFC West winner. This is like the ACC winner in college football getting an automatic BCS birth but the 7th ranked Michigan State gets left out.
- The Oakland Raiders defeat the Denver Tim Tebow's 39-23
- So far, all Tim Tebow has done is perform and be awesome. Maybe it's because team's don't have enough video on him and we get the 2006 Rex Grossman effect, but come on, who doesn't have tape of Tebow in college? Tebow's numbers on the day: 8 for 16, 138 yards, 1 passing TD, no INTs, and a 100.5 passer rating. He also gets 78 yards off of 8 carries and a rushing TD. He's like Michael Vick light! But like everyone anointing Jay Bruce the best outfielder ever after only like his first two weeks in the majors, let's wait and see how Tebow does with a few seasons under his belt.
- Knowshown Moreno only gets 5 yards on 4 carries. Sorry buddy, this is the Tim Tebow show!
- Illinois alum Brandon Llyod is the only Broncos receiver above one catch (4) and led all Broncos in yards (79), targets (5), and touchdowns (1).
- I've said it before and I'll say it again, Jason Campbell is only allowed a certain number of good games a year and I think he's used them all up in 2010. He has a 69.1 passer rating because of his two picks to one TD and his 15 for 26 for 238 yards.
- Run DMC shows why he wear his Adidas' to show us why it's tricky to walk this way. He gets 119 yards on 20 carries. And another frustrating thing for TBO's team is that my boy Jacoby Ford gets a rushing TD (on a 71 yard rush) and Michael Bush gets the other two rushing TD's of the game. Third string running back Marcel Reese led all Raiders receivers in yards (79) and TDs (1). Mainly because of a 73 yards TD reception by him. I'm sure that was all Reece and had nothing to do with Campbell.
- Because I think it's a funny name, the Bronco's kicker's name is Hauschka. Also, I never want to try and pronounce or write that name again.
I need a new way to end these things.
Box Score Tonight: Week Fifteen/Early Games Edition
OK, so there are a lot of early games today. I mean like a lot. I mean like 10 freaking games. Like 20 teams to talk about. I have only predicted 3 games correct so far. And I actually watched football today. Ah, it feels so great to be home. Anyways, so I think I'm just going to point out some key notables and talk about the things I saw today. We'll begin just as soon as I run back a punt return to win the game.
- The Eagles defeat the G-Men in The Meadowlands 38-31. This was one of the games I watched. Amazing end of the game.
- Even though I picked the Giants in Pigskin Pick 'Em I was rooting for the Eagles. If the Giants and Bears end up with the same record, the Giants will warrant the first round bye. But if it's between the Eagles and Bears, Chicago gets the bye
- Michael Vick started out looking awful but after the 60 minutes ran up I would have no problem giving him the MVP. He ended up on the day with three passing touchdowns, one rushing, an interception, and a 97.6 passer rating. But what really warranted his MVP was that he looked like classic Vick on the ground: 130 yards on 10 carries. Many of those runs coming late.
- While it was DeSean Jackson's game ending punt return, it was all Maclin receiving: 7 for 11, 59 yards and 2 TDs. Celek has a 65 yards TD pass.
- Eli Manning doesn't play like shit at home: 4 TDs to 1 INT with a 105.6 passer rating. Two of those TDs go to Mario Manningham (8 for 13 with 112 yards), one to Hakeem Nicks, and one to Kevin Boss.
- Ahmad Bradhaw gets 19 carries. Jacobs gets 12. Both are decently ineffective on the ground.
- Washington Redskins lose to the Dallas Cowboys 33-30.
- This game was Rex Grossman vs. Jon Kitna. What is this, 2006?
-Sexy Rexy Grossman doesn't appear to be awful with his 93.4 passer rating. I think we all remember Grossman's bad games but forget that he had a lot of good games as well. A lot. Seriously, I swear, look it up. Sure Grossman had 2 picks but also 4 TDs and looked better than the corpse of Donovan McNabb.
- I put Santana Moss in my top ten in my rankings. Even with the knowledge that Rex Grossman might start (stupid TNF and rankings deadline). He rewards me with 2 TD passes. Anthony Armstrong leads all Redskins with 100 yards on 5 receptions (6 catches).
- Chris Cooley proves why he's a top 3 NFC TE (by default?). He gets a TD reception so kudos.
- Ryan Torrain gets 11 carries for 53 yards and 5 catches for 48 yards and a passing TD. Keiland Williams gets one carry. Santana Moss gets two. Sexy Rexy gets one.
- Felix Jones gets 12 carries (5.8 YPC). Tashard Choice gets 15 (3.5 YPC) but gets the rushing TD.
- Kitna has another nice game with no picks, 2 TDs, and a 110.8 passer rating.
- Going along with an apparent theme of tight ends having good fantasy games: Jason Witten gets 140 yards and a TD on 10 receptions. Miles Austin gets Kitna's other TD.
- The Jacksonville Jaguars show why the deserve to go to the playoffs as they throw around shit like they're a stereotypical monkey as they lose to the Colts 24-34.
- Peyton Manning still looks off and does not look like his normal commercial front man self but still wins the game with his best Jon Kitna impression: 29 for 39, 2TDs, 0 INTs, and a 105.6 passer rating.
- The Colts develop a ground game. Whodathunkit? Donald Brown gets 129 rushing yards and a TD on 14 carries.
- Against one of the worst rushing defenses Maurice Jones-Drew gets 46 rushing yards and no TDs on 15 carries.
- Back up RB Rashard Jennings led all Jags in receiving yards (64) and catches (7). Like Rex Grossman, Mike Sims-Walker has one of his better games as he catches both of David Garrard's touchdown passes.
- The two loss Cincinnati Bengals defeat the Cleveland Browns, a team that defeated the New England Patriots, 19 to 17.
- Peyton Hillis does his best Mo Jo impression (59 yards on 14 carries) and Colt McCoy outperforms Carson Palmer (132.6 passer rating to 90.7). But Cedric Benson (150 yards, TD, on 31 carries, Holy Fucking Shit- 31 carries) is the difference in this game.
- The Tennessee Titans have a quarterback now and it shows as they finally get a win against the lonely Houston Texans 31-17.
- Andre Johnson does not punch Courtland Finnegan in this one (at least that's what my box score tells me) and catches 6 out of his 12 receptions for 58 yards with a TD. Kevin Walter has the better game though as he is more efficient (7 of 10) gets more yards (79) and catches Schaub's other receiving TD.
- Tight ends Owen Daniels and Joel Dressen both get four catches. Whatevs.
- Arian Foster and Chris Johnson each perform in this game like you would expect the other to perform. Foster gets 15 yards on 11 carries. Johnson gets 130 yards and a TD on 24 carries.
- Kenny Britt gets 128 yards on 6 receptions (9 targets). Nate Washington and Justin Gage (Oh! Just what BST has been missing all year, a Justin Gage spotting!) each catch a Collins TD pass. Randy Moss sits on the sideline throwing a hissy fit and counting his millions of dollars. He doesn't even get a target. He actually probably throw a hissy fit but have the longest press conference EVER where he again babbles in why he loves the New England Patriots.
- The Kansas City Patriots defeat the St. Louis Sam Bradfords 27-13
- Sam Bradford has an awful game: 0 TDs, 2 INTs, 40.9 passer rating. It's games like this that the Rams should have chosen Donkey Kong Suh. But they still made the right choice. Probably.
- Thomas Jones literally doubles Jamaal Charles' carries (22 to 11) yet, as should be expected, Charles dominates this game with his 126 yards, 11.5 YPC, and TD. TJ gets 2.8 yards per carry but also gets a rushing TD. I didn't watch this game but can someone tell me why Jones got so many carries compared to Charles? Seriously, I can't fathom a situation where Thomas Jones deserves more carries than Jamaal Charles. ANY. I don't care that Jones is on steroids and Charles just had both of his legs removed, Jamaal Charles still deserves more carries.
- Matt Cassel played like he just got his appendix removes or something. 15 out of 29, 1 TD, 1 INT, 68.8 passer rating. At least Dwayne Bowe was fantasy relevant this week: 2 catches (6 receptions) for 53 yards.
- LOWERED EXPECTATIONS! My Lions friends are the happiest I have ever seen them because they can't even remember when they won two games in a row and won on the road. They defeat the Tampa Bay Bucs 23-20. Wow, the Lions didn't blow a game late in teh 4th or in overtime? Good job guys. Finally.
- Calvin Johnson, Mike Williams, LaGarrette Blount, and Josh Freeman all perform like you would expect them too. Very well (Except Freeman doesn't win this game on the last drive like he did in the middle of the season). Maurice Morris pisses the every loving shit out of me by sitting on my bench. He gets 15 carries, 109 yards, and a TD. Jahvis Best gets 6 carries.
- After a huge Week Fourteen, Illini alum Regis Benn only gets 4 targets. He catches three of them for 34 yards.
- Drew Stanton had a 91.3 passer rating and has won his past two games. I never understood why the Lions would throw out Shaun Hill because they thought "Hill gave the Lions the best chance to win" as opposed to seeing what they have in their young quarterback. Plus, let's be honest Detroit, you're the Lions, knocking out the starter with a concussion gives you the best chance to win.
- The Arizona Cardinals are so bad that the one win Carolina Panthers defeat them.
- John Skelton may be bad but at least he's able to get the ball out to one of the best wide receivers in the game. Larry Fitzgerald gets 10 targets, 9 receptions, and 125 yards.
- These teams are so bad that nothing is worth mentioning about this game. I don't care what you did Jonathan Stewart! I started you instead of Ray Rice and you did not perform like Ray Rice! Like what Cee Lo Green says on the radio, "Eff You!"
- Speaking of Ray Rice, the Baltimore Ravens defeat the New Orleans Saints 30-24.
- Ray Rice goes off like I expected him to do all freaking season. 31 carries, 153 rushing yards, rushing TD, 5 receptions, 80 receiving yards, and a receiving TD.
- Pierre Thomas got 20 yards off of 6 carries. Reggie Bush gets 11 yards off of 4 carries. Yay healthy running backs! This is what the experts said you needed all year!
- To replace Todd Heap, Ed Dickson catches both of his targets and gets 33 yards and a TD.
- After kinda sorta liking the Buffalo Bills this season I predicted the Miami Dolphins to defeat them. The Bills win 17-14.
- I'm sure The 'Bright' One loved the fact that Fred Jackson got 36 yards on 15 carries. The best player ever (words uttered after Week 4 of the preseason) C.J. Spiller gets 16 yards off of 9 carries.
- Brandon Marshall and Ray Rice were guys I loved in the preseason. And like Rice today, Marshall FINALLY has a great game. I'm sure all Marshall fantasy owners in 8th place in their consolation games are thrilled. Marshall catches 11 out of his 12 targets, 106 yards, and a receiving TD.
- Ronnie Brown gets a rushing TD. Wow, Brown is still healthy this season? Good for him. If I was a Dolphins fan I would prefer half a season of awesome Ronnie Brown than a full season of really bad Ronnie Brown.
Now let's play count the grammatical and spelling errors! And we... aRE... OUT!
- The Eagles defeat the G-Men in The Meadowlands 38-31. This was one of the games I watched. Amazing end of the game.
- Even though I picked the Giants in Pigskin Pick 'Em I was rooting for the Eagles. If the Giants and Bears end up with the same record, the Giants will warrant the first round bye. But if it's between the Eagles and Bears, Chicago gets the bye
- Michael Vick started out looking awful but after the 60 minutes ran up I would have no problem giving him the MVP. He ended up on the day with three passing touchdowns, one rushing, an interception, and a 97.6 passer rating. But what really warranted his MVP was that he looked like classic Vick on the ground: 130 yards on 10 carries. Many of those runs coming late.
- While it was DeSean Jackson's game ending punt return, it was all Maclin receiving: 7 for 11, 59 yards and 2 TDs. Celek has a 65 yards TD pass.
- Eli Manning doesn't play like shit at home: 4 TDs to 1 INT with a 105.6 passer rating. Two of those TDs go to Mario Manningham (8 for 13 with 112 yards), one to Hakeem Nicks, and one to Kevin Boss.
- Ahmad Bradhaw gets 19 carries. Jacobs gets 12. Both are decently ineffective on the ground.
- Washington Redskins lose to the Dallas Cowboys 33-30.
- This game was Rex Grossman vs. Jon Kitna. What is this, 2006?
-Sexy Rexy Grossman doesn't appear to be awful with his 93.4 passer rating. I think we all remember Grossman's bad games but forget that he had a lot of good games as well. A lot. Seriously, I swear, look it up. Sure Grossman had 2 picks but also 4 TDs and looked better than the corpse of Donovan McNabb.
- I put Santana Moss in my top ten in my rankings. Even with the knowledge that Rex Grossman might start (stupid TNF and rankings deadline). He rewards me with 2 TD passes. Anthony Armstrong leads all Redskins with 100 yards on 5 receptions (6 catches).
- Chris Cooley proves why he's a top 3 NFC TE (by default?). He gets a TD reception so kudos.
- Ryan Torrain gets 11 carries for 53 yards and 5 catches for 48 yards and a passing TD. Keiland Williams gets one carry. Santana Moss gets two. Sexy Rexy gets one.
- Felix Jones gets 12 carries (5.8 YPC). Tashard Choice gets 15 (3.5 YPC) but gets the rushing TD.
- Kitna has another nice game with no picks, 2 TDs, and a 110.8 passer rating.
- Going along with an apparent theme of tight ends having good fantasy games: Jason Witten gets 140 yards and a TD on 10 receptions. Miles Austin gets Kitna's other TD.
- The Jacksonville Jaguars show why the deserve to go to the playoffs as they throw around shit like they're a stereotypical monkey as they lose to the Colts 24-34.
- Peyton Manning still looks off and does not look like his normal commercial front man self but still wins the game with his best Jon Kitna impression: 29 for 39, 2TDs, 0 INTs, and a 105.6 passer rating.
- The Colts develop a ground game. Whodathunkit? Donald Brown gets 129 rushing yards and a TD on 14 carries.
- Against one of the worst rushing defenses Maurice Jones-Drew gets 46 rushing yards and no TDs on 15 carries.
- Back up RB Rashard Jennings led all Jags in receiving yards (64) and catches (7). Like Rex Grossman, Mike Sims-Walker has one of his better games as he catches both of David Garrard's touchdown passes.
- The two loss Cincinnati Bengals defeat the Cleveland Browns, a team that defeated the New England Patriots, 19 to 17.
- Peyton Hillis does his best Mo Jo impression (59 yards on 14 carries) and Colt McCoy outperforms Carson Palmer (132.6 passer rating to 90.7). But Cedric Benson (150 yards, TD, on 31 carries, Holy Fucking Shit- 31 carries) is the difference in this game.
- The Tennessee Titans have a quarterback now and it shows as they finally get a win against the lonely Houston Texans 31-17.
- Andre Johnson does not punch Courtland Finnegan in this one (at least that's what my box score tells me) and catches 6 out of his 12 receptions for 58 yards with a TD. Kevin Walter has the better game though as he is more efficient (7 of 10) gets more yards (79) and catches Schaub's other receiving TD.
- Tight ends Owen Daniels and Joel Dressen both get four catches. Whatevs.
- Arian Foster and Chris Johnson each perform in this game like you would expect the other to perform. Foster gets 15 yards on 11 carries. Johnson gets 130 yards and a TD on 24 carries.
- Kenny Britt gets 128 yards on 6 receptions (9 targets). Nate Washington and Justin Gage (Oh! Just what BST has been missing all year, a Justin Gage spotting!) each catch a Collins TD pass. Randy Moss sits on the sideline throwing a hissy fit and counting his millions of dollars. He doesn't even get a target. He actually probably throw a hissy fit but have the longest press conference EVER where he again babbles in why he loves the New England Patriots.
- The Kansas City Patriots defeat the St. Louis Sam Bradfords 27-13
- Sam Bradford has an awful game: 0 TDs, 2 INTs, 40.9 passer rating. It's games like this that the Rams should have chosen Donkey Kong Suh. But they still made the right choice. Probably.
- Thomas Jones literally doubles Jamaal Charles' carries (22 to 11) yet, as should be expected, Charles dominates this game with his 126 yards, 11.5 YPC, and TD. TJ gets 2.8 yards per carry but also gets a rushing TD. I didn't watch this game but can someone tell me why Jones got so many carries compared to Charles? Seriously, I can't fathom a situation where Thomas Jones deserves more carries than Jamaal Charles. ANY. I don't care that Jones is on steroids and Charles just had both of his legs removed, Jamaal Charles still deserves more carries.
- Matt Cassel played like he just got his appendix removes or something. 15 out of 29, 1 TD, 1 INT, 68.8 passer rating. At least Dwayne Bowe was fantasy relevant this week: 2 catches (6 receptions) for 53 yards.
- LOWERED EXPECTATIONS! My Lions friends are the happiest I have ever seen them because they can't even remember when they won two games in a row and won on the road. They defeat the Tampa Bay Bucs 23-20. Wow, the Lions didn't blow a game late in teh 4th or in overtime? Good job guys. Finally.
- Calvin Johnson, Mike Williams, LaGarrette Blount, and Josh Freeman all perform like you would expect them too. Very well (Except Freeman doesn't win this game on the last drive like he did in the middle of the season). Maurice Morris pisses the every loving shit out of me by sitting on my bench. He gets 15 carries, 109 yards, and a TD. Jahvis Best gets 6 carries.
- After a huge Week Fourteen, Illini alum Regis Benn only gets 4 targets. He catches three of them for 34 yards.
- Drew Stanton had a 91.3 passer rating and has won his past two games. I never understood why the Lions would throw out Shaun Hill because they thought "Hill gave the Lions the best chance to win" as opposed to seeing what they have in their young quarterback. Plus, let's be honest Detroit, you're the Lions, knocking out the starter with a concussion gives you the best chance to win.
- The Arizona Cardinals are so bad that the one win Carolina Panthers defeat them.
- John Skelton may be bad but at least he's able to get the ball out to one of the best wide receivers in the game. Larry Fitzgerald gets 10 targets, 9 receptions, and 125 yards.
- These teams are so bad that nothing is worth mentioning about this game. I don't care what you did Jonathan Stewart! I started you instead of Ray Rice and you did not perform like Ray Rice! Like what Cee Lo Green says on the radio, "Eff You!"
- Speaking of Ray Rice, the Baltimore Ravens defeat the New Orleans Saints 30-24.
- Ray Rice goes off like I expected him to do all freaking season. 31 carries, 153 rushing yards, rushing TD, 5 receptions, 80 receiving yards, and a receiving TD.
- Pierre Thomas got 20 yards off of 6 carries. Reggie Bush gets 11 yards off of 4 carries. Yay healthy running backs! This is what the experts said you needed all year!
- To replace Todd Heap, Ed Dickson catches both of his targets and gets 33 yards and a TD.
- After kinda sorta liking the Buffalo Bills this season I predicted the Miami Dolphins to defeat them. The Bills win 17-14.
- I'm sure The 'Bright' One loved the fact that Fred Jackson got 36 yards on 15 carries. The best player ever (words uttered after Week 4 of the preseason) C.J. Spiller gets 16 yards off of 9 carries.
- Brandon Marshall and Ray Rice were guys I loved in the preseason. And like Rice today, Marshall FINALLY has a great game. I'm sure all Marshall fantasy owners in 8th place in their consolation games are thrilled. Marshall catches 11 out of his 12 targets, 106 yards, and a receiving TD.
- Ronnie Brown gets a rushing TD. Wow, Brown is still healthy this season? Good for him. If I was a Dolphins fan I would prefer half a season of awesome Ronnie Brown than a full season of really bad Ronnie Brown.
Now let's play count the grammatical and spelling errors! And we... aRE... OUT!
The Best Hip Hop Albums Of The Decade: Part One
Very rarely will you see me post about basketball. However, you will see me post a lot about football. I'm smart enough (most of the time) to only give my opinion about what I know and what I follow. So while I do occasionally give my opinion about music, I do not claim to know even the small minority of the new music that happens this decade. But then again, I don't want to listen to the crappy indie/hipster movement mumbo jumbo that's going on right now. (You're damn right that's a stab at you DME!) But what I do know is hip hop slash rap. I don't know really what the difference between the two are, but like a Supreme Court jerking it, "I know it when I see it" Not only am I aware of mainstream hip hop but I'm also decently aware of some of the underground stuff as well (Mainly thanks to my indie/hipster little brother). I've seen a white 'Bama rapper names Yelawolf at a Chi-Town club at like 2 in the morning. I've heard rap by a blind elbino rapper. Yeah, a white Jewish boy from the 'burbs has gots street cred son! Yeah, not really, but needless to say I do know a lil' bit 'bout hip hop.
Now originally I wanted to have all ten albums in one mega-post. In fact, I've been starting to write about this topic since a week and a half ago. But as I'm going through and talking about each album, I realize that a full on top ten list will just too huge and too long (that's what she said) to put all in one post. You'll get to maybe one or two anyways and then just skim the rest. So I have decided to break it up into pieces. I haven't decided yet if I'll break it up in three pieces or four and the last post will just be my number choice, but either way, drum roll please: here's part one.
Also, in case you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan of lists.
10) Collision Course (2004) by Jay-Z and Linkin Park
This is the first of three appearances of Jay-Z's The Black Album and this six track album is actually revolutionary. Now pure hip hop fans and pure rock fans (throwing a stab at Linkin Park- "LP is not rock!") both despise this album, but this should be pure joy for music fans. This album was not the first to do rap/rock mash ups, they weren't the last to do it, and it's not the best mash up album on my iPod (That spot currently goes to Stars and Stripes by Adrian Champion which mashes up hip hop hits over White Stripes rock beats. You can go to here to download the free album which I highly recommend) but Collision Course revolutionized mash ups bringing this cult classic style into the mainstream- mainly with its one and only single "Numb/Encore"
Another reason this album makes it on to this list is because I actually like and every single song on this album. Now, it absolutely has the benefit of only having six tracks like a running back leading the league in yards per carry while only averaging five carries a game (Oh, a sports reference! Yay!) but I can still say every single song on this album is good and that's not something I can say for some of the albums on this list.
I remember I was a freshman in college and I had one of the worst drinking nights of my life. I vaguely remember lying in some person's room whom I had just met saying over and over again "Play Kanye West! Play Kanye West!" and my friends helping me stumble back to my room where I promptly blacked out and ended up destroying it a la Charlie Sheen style. My roommate came home the next day and, rightfully so, was extremely upset with me. To help me apologize to him, I spent all night trying to find and then downloading Collision Course to give to my roommate. Despite me just admitting that I had committed at least three crimes and going off on a tangent, I just think it's nice to hear anecdotes. That and Collision Course holds a slightly special place in my heart.
Very few artists can do mash ups successfully and since Numb/Encore shot to #1 on Billboard, many others try to jump on the bandwagon and create mash ups- and all seemed to fail miserably. Which goes to show you what a great job Linkin Park did with Jay-Z's songs. Hell, I can't listen to Jay-Z's "Encore" anymore because the beat just upsets me because Collision Course's version raised the bar and his better than Jay-Z's.
The number one factor that goes into a great hip hop album or song is the quality of the lyrics. Next, it's the flow and style of the rapper. Hip hop as an art form is like poetry for a new generation; it's all about the words and how they are expressed to tell stories. But the quality of the beat is what helps distinguish the good from the great. Common and Talib Kweli are probably the two best lyricists in the history of hip hip, but you'd be hard pressed to find their songs among the best of the best songs of all time (sans Common's "I Used To Love H.E.R.) and that's because they have consistently sub par beats.
I like to distinguish in music (as well as sometimes in movies) enjoyable vs. good. Most of the dribble you hear on hip hop stations right now is enjoyable. It's got a catchy beat and when you have a few alcoholic beverages in you on a Saturday night, those songs are really fun to dance to (or in my case bob my head side to side to). But they are absolutely, by no stretch of the imagination and by no standards of quality, considered good. Guys like Common and Kweli are the epitome of good but not enjoyable. The words these men say and how they say them are one of the truest and most purest art forms we have right now. But at the same time, it's still music and you still need to want to listen to it as opposed to hitting "Next" a la an MTV show when that song comes up in shuffle on your iPod. It's still music and there still needs to be an aesthetic quality to it.
That's why I like Collision Course so much. It's both enjoyable and good. It's got the amazing lyrics of Jay-Z combined with the enjoyable beats of Linkin Park. The rap/rock mash up is not only inventive and creative, but good. And for that Collision Course, you have earned a spot on this list.
9) Chicken-N-Beer (2003) by Ludacris
Now I will fully admit that Ludacris is a singles rapper and not an album rapper. But I knew I wanted LUDA! on this list because I love his talent and skill. But going through his actual album listings and it was slightly disappointing. So if and when Ludacris puts out a Greatest Hits album I will consider that heavily. But despite my recent disparaging, I still think Chicken-N-Beer is Ludacris' best albums. It's just classic Ludacris. Luda really doesn't have the best lyrical skill nor does he have the best beats consistently, but what he does have is amazing flow and old school rhythm and this album is the epitome of it.
When you listen to Ludacris rap you will rarely him to talk about the plight of his fellow African American brethren or his personal problems but what he does talk about is fucking chicks, getting drunk, and starting fights. Now normally these types of lyrics are a recipe for disaster and will not be considered good hip hop music, but Ludacris is able to step above that and create catchy and good songs. "Splash Waterfalls" is just a song about all the hardcore sexual things Ludacris will do to his, um, lover and "Stand Up" is a song about Ludacris going to the club getting drunk and starting fights. Again, not really what you would consider "good".
But somehow they are. Some how Ludacris keeps putting out singles and showing up on people's songs and you're blown away by it. Maybe Luda just has that "it" quality, that one thing you can't quantity (What!? This is a stats blog, you can quantify anything!). But I believe it's something more, that Ludacris is able to put his own take on the cliche and he's able to rise above the average like Barry Sanders was able to rise in front of a mediocre offensive line.
Tracks off of Chicken-N-Beer show off Ludacris's signature Southern Drawl and surprisingly creative rhyming scheme. Lyrics like: Watch out for the medallion my diamonds are recklessssss/ Feels like a midget is hanging from my necklesssssss and makes Chris "Ludacris" Bridges one of the greatest rappers of this generation and makes his album Chicken-N-Beer earn a spot on this list. So while he's now acting (like every other rapper) and doing a fantastic job at it (see Crash, his cameo on Law and Order: SVU), his rapping will hold a special place in my heart. And on this list.
8) Revolutionary Vol. 2 (2003) by Immortal Technique
Who? Yeah mo fos, this is my street cred right herrr! Immortal Technique is a latino rapper from New York who refuses to be signed by labels because he's so against The Man that he wants 100% control over his music. And if you listen to IT's lyrics he is the most leftist, conspiracy theorists, crazy dudes you will ever listen to. Yet it's clear he has talent oozing out of his pores.
Technique's greatest song and THE greatest rap song nobody has heard of is "Dance With Devil"- a nine plus minute song about a young kid's struggle growing up in the project and his dream about becoming a rich gangsta and the awful things he has to go through to achieve this dream he wants. The song has an awful hook sung by Immortal Technique himself and you can hear him trying to push syllables together to make his leftist viewpoint and syllogisms work but when you get to ending that straight out of an M. Night Shylamalan movie (The Sixth Sense Shylamalan not The Happening Shylamalan) and you realize why you spent so long listening to Immortal's words.
But unfortunately Dance With The Devil is on Vol. 1 and not Vol.2. I'm sorry, I just had to give respect to that great song. In fact, it's that song alone that seriously made me consider putting Vol 1 over Vol. 2 in this spot, but I couldn't do it because his follow up is the better overall album.
Immortal Technique's second greatest song, "You Never Know" is off of Revolutionary Vol 2. about how he feel in love with a girl, yet it's a seven minute journey about a real life love story tragedy that happened to him that even Shakespeare himself would say, "Damn, sucka! I'm going steal this shit it's so good!" He also has a song called "Obnoxious" in which the only way I could describe it is like an early Eminem song on Ritalin. Lyrics like: I throw your gang sign up, and then I'll spit in my hand/ Gimme 100 grand, give me your watch, give me your chain/ That's your girl, bitch get over here, give me some brain/ I'll bust off in her face, and right after the segment/ She'll probably rub it in her pussy, trying to get herself pregnant. Despite the extreme vulgarity of those last few lines, I think they represent not only the skill that Immortal Technique has but also his view towards life and society that he has.
Now most of the album (as well as Immortal Technique's career) has to do with politics about how our government is bending us over backwards and just screwing us like something out of a Karl Marx novella and it can get old and tiresome at times, but not only would I prefer a social conscious rapper over some generic pop douche like Gucci Mane, but I feel like I was in his shoes, I would feel the exact same way. I always prefer rappers and hip hop artists to use their music to try and bring out social change- especially considering most (if not all) rappers come from poor and awful upbringings and environments. And Immortal Technique does a great job of that.
For beating the listeners over the head with his views on our government as society like something out of Wall-E and as well for the severe lack of hooks or catchiness (which needs to be at least a LITTLE bit present because we as listeners need to be aesthetically pleased) Immortal Technique's Revolutionary Vol. 2 drops to 8 on my list. But for his great talent, his historical and literally references, and for making the effort and overall doing it successfully to be a socially conscious rapper, Immortal Technique's album earns and deserves a spot as one of the best rap/ hp hop albums of the past decade.
Now originally I wanted to have all ten albums in one mega-post. In fact, I've been starting to write about this topic since a week and a half ago. But as I'm going through and talking about each album, I realize that a full on top ten list will just too huge and too long (that's what she said) to put all in one post. You'll get to maybe one or two anyways and then just skim the rest. So I have decided to break it up into pieces. I haven't decided yet if I'll break it up in three pieces or four and the last post will just be my number choice, but either way, drum roll please: here's part one.
Also, in case you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan of lists.
10) Collision Course (2004) by Jay-Z and Linkin ParkThis is the first of three appearances of Jay-Z's The Black Album and this six track album is actually revolutionary. Now pure hip hop fans and pure rock fans (throwing a stab at Linkin Park- "LP is not rock!") both despise this album, but this should be pure joy for music fans. This album was not the first to do rap/rock mash ups, they weren't the last to do it, and it's not the best mash up album on my iPod (That spot currently goes to Stars and Stripes by Adrian Champion which mashes up hip hop hits over White Stripes rock beats. You can go to here to download the free album which I highly recommend) but Collision Course revolutionized mash ups bringing this cult classic style into the mainstream- mainly with its one and only single "Numb/Encore"
Another reason this album makes it on to this list is because I actually like and every single song on this album. Now, it absolutely has the benefit of only having six tracks like a running back leading the league in yards per carry while only averaging five carries a game (Oh, a sports reference! Yay!) but I can still say every single song on this album is good and that's not something I can say for some of the albums on this list.
I remember I was a freshman in college and I had one of the worst drinking nights of my life. I vaguely remember lying in some person's room whom I had just met saying over and over again "Play Kanye West! Play Kanye West!" and my friends helping me stumble back to my room where I promptly blacked out and ended up destroying it a la Charlie Sheen style. My roommate came home the next day and, rightfully so, was extremely upset with me. To help me apologize to him, I spent all night trying to find and then downloading Collision Course to give to my roommate. Despite me just admitting that I had committed at least three crimes and going off on a tangent, I just think it's nice to hear anecdotes. That and Collision Course holds a slightly special place in my heart.
Very few artists can do mash ups successfully and since Numb/Encore shot to #1 on Billboard, many others try to jump on the bandwagon and create mash ups- and all seemed to fail miserably. Which goes to show you what a great job Linkin Park did with Jay-Z's songs. Hell, I can't listen to Jay-Z's "Encore" anymore because the beat just upsets me because Collision Course's version raised the bar and his better than Jay-Z's.
The number one factor that goes into a great hip hop album or song is the quality of the lyrics. Next, it's the flow and style of the rapper. Hip hop as an art form is like poetry for a new generation; it's all about the words and how they are expressed to tell stories. But the quality of the beat is what helps distinguish the good from the great. Common and Talib Kweli are probably the two best lyricists in the history of hip hip, but you'd be hard pressed to find their songs among the best of the best songs of all time (sans Common's "I Used To Love H.E.R.) and that's because they have consistently sub par beats.
I like to distinguish in music (as well as sometimes in movies) enjoyable vs. good. Most of the dribble you hear on hip hop stations right now is enjoyable. It's got a catchy beat and when you have a few alcoholic beverages in you on a Saturday night, those songs are really fun to dance to (or in my case bob my head side to side to). But they are absolutely, by no stretch of the imagination and by no standards of quality, considered good. Guys like Common and Kweli are the epitome of good but not enjoyable. The words these men say and how they say them are one of the truest and most purest art forms we have right now. But at the same time, it's still music and you still need to want to listen to it as opposed to hitting "Next" a la an MTV show when that song comes up in shuffle on your iPod. It's still music and there still needs to be an aesthetic quality to it.
That's why I like Collision Course so much. It's both enjoyable and good. It's got the amazing lyrics of Jay-Z combined with the enjoyable beats of Linkin Park. The rap/rock mash up is not only inventive and creative, but good. And for that Collision Course, you have earned a spot on this list.
9) Chicken-N-Beer (2003) by Ludacris Now I will fully admit that Ludacris is a singles rapper and not an album rapper. But I knew I wanted LUDA! on this list because I love his talent and skill. But going through his actual album listings and it was slightly disappointing. So if and when Ludacris puts out a Greatest Hits album I will consider that heavily. But despite my recent disparaging, I still think Chicken-N-Beer is Ludacris' best albums. It's just classic Ludacris. Luda really doesn't have the best lyrical skill nor does he have the best beats consistently, but what he does have is amazing flow and old school rhythm and this album is the epitome of it.
When you listen to Ludacris rap you will rarely him to talk about the plight of his fellow African American brethren or his personal problems but what he does talk about is fucking chicks, getting drunk, and starting fights. Now normally these types of lyrics are a recipe for disaster and will not be considered good hip hop music, but Ludacris is able to step above that and create catchy and good songs. "Splash Waterfalls" is just a song about all the hardcore sexual things Ludacris will do to his, um, lover and "Stand Up" is a song about Ludacris going to the club getting drunk and starting fights. Again, not really what you would consider "good".
But somehow they are. Some how Ludacris keeps putting out singles and showing up on people's songs and you're blown away by it. Maybe Luda just has that "it" quality, that one thing you can't quantity (What!? This is a stats blog, you can quantify anything!). But I believe it's something more, that Ludacris is able to put his own take on the cliche and he's able to rise above the average like Barry Sanders was able to rise in front of a mediocre offensive line.
Tracks off of Chicken-N-Beer show off Ludacris's signature Southern Drawl and surprisingly creative rhyming scheme. Lyrics like: Watch out for the medallion my diamonds are recklessssss/ Feels like a midget is hanging from my necklesssssss and makes Chris "Ludacris" Bridges one of the greatest rappers of this generation and makes his album Chicken-N-Beer earn a spot on this list. So while he's now acting (like every other rapper) and doing a fantastic job at it (see Crash, his cameo on Law and Order: SVU), his rapping will hold a special place in my heart. And on this list.
8) Revolutionary Vol. 2 (2003) by Immortal TechniqueWho? Yeah mo fos, this is my street cred right herrr! Immortal Technique is a latino rapper from New York who refuses to be signed by labels because he's so against The Man that he wants 100% control over his music. And if you listen to IT's lyrics he is the most leftist, conspiracy theorists, crazy dudes you will ever listen to. Yet it's clear he has talent oozing out of his pores.
Technique's greatest song and THE greatest rap song nobody has heard of is "Dance With Devil"- a nine plus minute song about a young kid's struggle growing up in the project and his dream about becoming a rich gangsta and the awful things he has to go through to achieve this dream he wants. The song has an awful hook sung by Immortal Technique himself and you can hear him trying to push syllables together to make his leftist viewpoint and syllogisms work but when you get to ending that straight out of an M. Night Shylamalan movie (The Sixth Sense Shylamalan not The Happening Shylamalan) and you realize why you spent so long listening to Immortal's words.
But unfortunately Dance With The Devil is on Vol. 1 and not Vol.2. I'm sorry, I just had to give respect to that great song. In fact, it's that song alone that seriously made me consider putting Vol 1 over Vol. 2 in this spot, but I couldn't do it because his follow up is the better overall album.
Immortal Technique's second greatest song, "You Never Know" is off of Revolutionary Vol 2. about how he feel in love with a girl, yet it's a seven minute journey about a real life love story tragedy that happened to him that even Shakespeare himself would say, "Damn, sucka! I'm going steal this shit it's so good!" He also has a song called "Obnoxious" in which the only way I could describe it is like an early Eminem song on Ritalin. Lyrics like: I throw your gang sign up, and then I'll spit in my hand/ Gimme 100 grand, give me your watch, give me your chain/ That's your girl, bitch get over here, give me some brain/ I'll bust off in her face, and right after the segment/ She'll probably rub it in her pussy, trying to get herself pregnant. Despite the extreme vulgarity of those last few lines, I think they represent not only the skill that Immortal Technique has but also his view towards life and society that he has.
Now most of the album (as well as Immortal Technique's career) has to do with politics about how our government is bending us over backwards and just screwing us like something out of a Karl Marx novella and it can get old and tiresome at times, but not only would I prefer a social conscious rapper over some generic pop douche like Gucci Mane, but I feel like I was in his shoes, I would feel the exact same way. I always prefer rappers and hip hop artists to use their music to try and bring out social change- especially considering most (if not all) rappers come from poor and awful upbringings and environments. And Immortal Technique does a great job of that.
For beating the listeners over the head with his views on our government as society like something out of Wall-E and as well for the severe lack of hooks or catchiness (which needs to be at least a LITTLE bit present because we as listeners need to be aesthetically pleased) Immortal Technique's Revolutionary Vol. 2 drops to 8 on my list. But for his great talent, his historical and literally references, and for making the effort and overall doing it successfully to be a socially conscious rapper, Immortal Technique's album earns and deserves a spot as one of the best rap/ hp hop albums of the past decade.
