The Greatest West Coast Raps
New flotsam: The 100 Greatest West Coast Hip-Hop Songs, the Top 100 Films of the 70s and Billy Woods. Plus, a note on Harry Belafonte.
On May 1, Rolling Stone published “The 100 Greatest West Coast Hip-Hop Songs of All Time.” This was a three-month project that I managed, from compiling the initial list to writing 2/3 of the blurbs. I ultimately submitted 12,700 words of copy, but that included a handful of blurbs that did not make the final cut as well as blurbs that were edited down.
While I served as the project lead, I had plenty of help in deciding which songs to include and omit. A few top RS editors chimed in with opinions. I also gathered a few contributors to help review the list and write blurbs, including David Ma, Clayton Purdom, and Christopher Weingarten. After much cajoling, I also got Paul Thompson to add ideas as well. Finally, my editor asked me to recruit an “industry expert” to check out our results. We turned to Michael Cox of Mike & Keys.
Each blurb involved listening to the track, doing light research to fill out the historical details and making sure the track was spelled correctly. I tried not to rely on Wikipedia, which is useful as a starting place but not always accurate.
When I publish stories, I work hard to avoid the social media noise that often ensues unless people tag me directly. I’m not the type to Google myself. However, KQED editor Gabe Meline pointed out that E-40 commented on his Instagram page.
Also, David Ma and his Dad Bod Rap Pod crew had a discussion on their podcast. I’m afraid to listen.
I think most readers understood that we tried to spread the wealth, so to speak, by focusing on one or two songs per artist. (See E-40’s aforementioned comment that we should have used “Tell Me When to Go” instead of “Captain Save a Hoe.”) But we didn’t have space for every key track. Despite the West Coast theme, the list has few artists outside the Bay Area/L.A. axis. And one of my goals over the next few years is to learn more about English-language Chicano rap. I know there’s better stuff out there than Baby Bash.
The Best Movies of the 70s
On April 29, Rolling Stone published “The 100 Best Movies of the 1970s.” I rarely get an opportunity to write about movies, so I was excited when David Fear invited me to participate.
I wrote about nine films.
F for Fake (Orson Welles)
Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn)
Fantastic Planet (René Laloux)
Get Carter (Mike Hodges)
Life of Brian (Terry Jones)
Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Miloš Forman)
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman)
Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett)
Incidentally, I have a Letterboxd page where I post capsule reviews when I’m motivated to do so. The process is akin to NBA workout routines — trying new stylistic things, figuring out effective lengths, etc. My username is Sceneries. Feel free to add me if you like.
billy woods
To cap a busy week, Rolling Stone published my review of billy woods & Kenny Segal’s album, Maps.
I’ve been following billy woods since the late Aughts, when he formed the group Super Chron Flight Brothers. I received promos of their work through a publicity firm, but didn’t pay much attention. Needless to say, his increasing acclaim has prompted me to revisit all of his work.
In 2012, woods released what is now considered his breakthrough album, History Will Absolve Me. I noticed a buzz around it at the time, but my initial listen yielded a mixed response. Still, I took note of him as someone to keep an eye on.
In 2016, woods noticed in my write-up of the Lessondary Crew for Bandcamp that I praised Elucid’s Save Yourself, an album woods released on his Backwoodz Studioz imprint. He emailed me directly and began sending promos. It’s nice when artists I admire and respect reach out to me directly. However, I’m careful not to let that affect my assessment of their work.
In 2017, woods put out an album I really liked, Known Unknowns, a collaboration with producer Blockhead. I covered it for two year-end roundups: Rolling Stone’s “15 Great Albums You Probably Didn’t Hear” and NPR’s “21 Hip-Hop Albums That Reflected The Politics Of Race, Space And Place In 2017.” Notice how I tried to differentiate the two blurbs despite writing about the same album.
One more billy woods review: here’s a write-up of 2019’s Terror Management for The A.V. Club’s “5 new releases we love” column. That album got uncharacteristically mixed reviews, including a notice by Stephen Kearse in Pitchfork that upset his supporters. But I enjoyed it. By the way, woods used to complain how everyone compared his sound to Definitive Jux. He likely referred to critics like me.
Harry Belafonte and Odds Against Tomorrow
Before I run out of space, I want to leave a brief note on Harry Belafonte, who passed away on April 25. The entertainer and activist’s life has been anthologized elsewhere, so I’ll focus on Odds Against Tomorrow, a film he financed through his company, HarBel Productions.
Through repeated viewings on TCM, I found that Odds Against Tomorrow is a fascinating work. Belafonte not only recruited major white stars like Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters, and Gloria Grahame as well as Black actors like Cicely Tyson and Diana Sands; but also co-created an angry, uncompromising tone that’s in stark contrast to the soft liberalism associated with Hollywood films from that era. It’s a flawed gem that’s worth checking out.
Here is my Letterboxd comment.
And here’s a paperback I found at Kayo Books in San Francisco. I haven’t read it yet.