2010 Year in Review Part 2 (Music and Sports)

Music

Had a convo with Power 106 via Twitter voicing my disagreement over their music direction. It was a very civil convo and I felt they were honest with me but in the end, I think pop/urban radio is slowly moving away from my ears. Has been the last 3 years. The irony of this happening on the day we learned Guru died and reminisced how he fought “for 3 minutes of every rap radio hour.” But as a music fan, this was something that should happen more often - radio stations and their accountability.

TI and Wayne both screwed up their comebacks - TI by stupidly getting arrested again and Wayne dropping that awful 6-foot,7-foot song. Nice going, fellas. 

Only show I watched this year was Keith Murray showing up with boy my Destruct and Rock The Bells 2010. This RTB might be my last but if it is, I saw my favorite album performed live in Midnight Marauders, saw KRS live for the 1^st time and watched Snoop take it back to 93. Next year? Georgia Power with Big Boi and Cee-Lo!!

I discovered more older music this year. Finally got into Radiohead’s albums and hailed Kid A as one of my favorite albums ever. I discovered classic albums by Smashing Pumpkins and De La Soul. That was as big a part of 2010 year in music as anything I listened to. The Bends sounds like total 90’s alt-rock that got copied all decade, OK Computer sounded like depression but beautiful depression as outsiders. Kid A – too good for words. Siamese Dream – such a great guitar album that Billy Corgan dominated.

Oh yeah, discovered LCD Soundsystem finally. Epic music that I’ll take over the Arcade Fire anyday

Top Albums

Atlanta dominated the best of music for me. If it wasn't Cee-Lo's epic viral hit, it was Big Boi showing why music labels had no idea what they were thinking sleeping on his album. And it was OutKast protege Janelle Monae who showed why she is the most creative force in R&B in a long while.

I didn't get into much rock this year. Linkin Park's lead single was a huge disappointment as they tried to be Nine Inch Nails-lite and sounded so soulless. Kings of Leon flopped as well. Rock was so down that the local rock radio station went from 106.7 songs in their end-of-year countdown to only 30 and several artists repeated. Thank goodness for the Black Keys and the return of Social Distortion.

Top Albums

1. Big Boi – Sir Luscious Leftfoot (Best OutKast-related album since Stankonia)

2. Janelle Monae – The Archandroid (The best vocal album of the year)

3. Cee-Lo – The Lady Killer (Soul, funk, attitude from the South’s #1 Renaissance Man)

4. Nas + Damien Marley – Distant Relatives (A powerful statement!)

5. The Roots – How I Got Over (Balancing Depression w/Upliftment)

6. Reflection Eternal – Revolutions Per Minute (10 years off and they still sound great together)

7. Black Keys – Brothers (Straightforward blues based rock that hits ya ear perfectly)

8. Eminem – Recovery (Fantastic Comeback for Slim Shady)

9. J. Cole – Friday Night Lights (Please, don’t let his debut album disappoint like Wale’s)

10. Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part 2
*special note to Lecrae - Rehab and Trip Lee - Between Two Worlds. Two of my favorite Christian rappers dropped great albums with excellent concepts.
**Also special note to HISD -The Weakend. One of the best under-the-radar albums

Yelawolf is my rookie of the year for making the biggest impact. Once I heard him on Peter Rosenberg's Late night show, I was hooked.

Florence + The Machine sound pretty awesome as well. Don’t know what to expect in 2011 but after Sade’s comeback (which is gonna be better when she goes on tour in 2011), can we get our first Red Hot Chili Peppers album in 5 years PLEASE?????

Favorite Songs (in no order)

Big Boi – Shutterbugg, General Patton (Shutterbugg's my single of the Year - the hit that wasnt)
Alicia Keys - Unthinkable

Dead Prez – Don’t Waste It
Sade - Soldier of Love (the 1st buzzed song of 2010 got slept on hard but she's back!)

Snoop Dogg – I Wanna Rock (3^rd decade with a hit)

Royce da 5-9 – Taxi Driver

Little Brother – Curtain Call (a great finale to a great group and the year)

Wale – Eyes of the Tiger
Trip Lee - Show's Over
Lecrae - God is Enough

B.O.B. f. Hayley Williams – Airplanes

Black Keys – Tighten Up (Danger Mouse produced another gem for my new favorite rock group)

Janelle Monae – Tightrope

Nas + Damian Marley – Strong Will Continue

Yelawolf – Pop the Trunk

Cee-Lo – F You

Reflection Eternal – Ballad of the Black Gold, Just Begun (w/ J. Cole, Mos Def and Jay Electronica)

J. Cole – Premeditated Murder

Eminem – Not Afraid, Seduction

The Roots – The Fire (w/John Legend), The Day (w/Blu and Phonte)

Erykah Badu – Window Seat

LCD Soundsystem  - Dance Yrself Clean

Lupe Fiasco – B.M.F. (Liked it way more than Rick Ross' version even if Lupe can do better)

Kanye West – Power/Blame Game w. John Legend

N.E.R.D. – Party People (f. T.I.)

Favorite Mixtapes
1. Friday Night Lights
2. Dead Prez - Revolutionary But Gangsta Grillz
3. Royce da 5-9 - Bar Exam 3
4. Yelawolf - Trunk Muzik 0-60
*Somebody needs to tell Wale to get back on his mixtape game. Last two have been disappointing and the sequel to Mixtape About Nothing had about 3-4 good songs.

Sports

Of course the Decision is the #1 moment – Twitter nearly exploded, non-fans had a say and LBJ went from beloved to hated. Hero to villain who changed the direction of the NBA and the power of the players. Hated how he did it but have no problem trying to win.

Late discovery was Bomani Jones and his morning podcast. Hands down was one of the best things this year and in a lilly-white radio field, it was refreshing to hear a brotha who was smart, funny, usually dead on and young enough to show why he, Michael Smith, Jemele Hill will be great to read/watch the next decade as the faces of Black sportswriters.

I threw away my Michael Vick jersey after he burned a $100M lottery ticket on some beasts. I wasn’t mad at what he did as much as  I was seeing an immature man wasting his God-given talents not leaving his boys alone. I’m more proud of him getting his life back and growing into maturity – he’s a lesson for young men that mistakes don’t have to define you. It helped that he’s turned into Steve Young Part 2 and entered The Matrix.

Favorite Moments

1. Isner-Mahut 3 day marathon at Wimbledon 

2. Lakers/Celtics Game 7 (greatest ugly game ever – this was our 85 Finals moment)

3. Meltdown at New Meadowlands (Vick’s MNF game was sick but this was even better) – welcome back #7

4. US in the World Cup. Ghana going far despite that late miss. David Villa dominating it for Spain

5. Super Bowl 43 (Tracy Porter, gutsy playcalling and Drew Brees holding his son – bigger than fball)

6. Duke winning the ship!

7. Baseball’s Year of the Pitcher (2 perfectos, several no-hitters, including Doc doing it twice, and a game for the memories in Andres Galarraga).

8. Spain won huge this year – World Cup, Pau Gasol, Rafa Nadal.
9. Mark Buherle's kick-save, through the legs play. One of the greatest plays I've ever seen.

*And low twos to the Dodgers beginning what’s sure to be a descent into despair. This Dodgers divorce set a pall over the season and it was terrible watching it unfold after watching a great Opening Day. No coincidence that I didn’t go to another game all year.

Oh yeah, went to my first-ever hockey game. That was one of the coolest things ever and I love the game live now.

I got quite a few things to look forward to 2011 – 10^th anniversary of my most life-changing year ever. The beginning of me growing out of my shell. Like Matchbox 20, I’m ready to see how far I’ve come looking back on it.

Electric Relaxation: Discovering Radiohead

For years, Radiohead was that band that seemed too artsy for me. I felt like trying to listen to an album was like trying to understand Michaelangelo's genius. A daunting task and besides I always felt they weren't accessible.

I remember the first time I heard "Creep" in 2001 when some kids played it at a conference I was attending at Pepperdine University. It was chill, catchy and then when I heard the official version, I loved it. Who doesn't love Creep? I ended up hearing "Optimstic" on the radio as well and I really liked the dreamlike vibe of it.

But an album? Nah, I felt like I wouldn't get why OK Computer and Kid A were hailed at two of the best albums in recent memory. Besides, didn't I hear once they were just a better version of Coldplay?

Things changed when I saw them at the 2009 Grammys for the first time. They had the USC marching band backing them and Thom Yorke looked like he was spazzing on stage. But his presence and the music kept me glued to the TV and I said alright, it's time to consider them differently.

I DL'ed that song (15 Step) and later had to get "Paranoid Android" - They were growing on me more and more and "Paranoid" has one of the smartest lines I've ever heard (Ambition makes you look pretty ugly). Thom wrote that after a crazy bar experience and it just sounds like confusion and clarity wrapped in a sonic blast from Jonny Greenwood.

On Twitter, I kept telling people at the end of the year that I'd finally buy some albums and get schooled on the 5 dudes from England. Lupe Fiasco used "National Anthem" in the "Enemy of the State" mixtape that was bonkers. Last month I dug in and bought OK Computer and Kid A - figure I'd start with the best, right?

Somebody said that Radiohead don't make singles, they make albums and I got that right way. I understood the themes of both albums. OK Computer - feeling lost in the world, Kid A - a visitor coming to a lost world and painting a bleak picture of its future.

OK Computer just hits you from the start. Alienation, feeling like the world's moving on with you, feeling like you don't belong or just trying to fit in. I really liked Karma Police and Climbing Up the Walls. It kinda just fit the mood I've been in for a while - seeing everything go around me and feeling like I'm stuck in netural. Just every bit of an amazing album as I've heard.

But I honestly prefer Kid A - sonically it's like nothing I ever heard before. It's almost like an instrumental album with words thrown in there. "National Anthem" is a call to arms of the disenfranchised, "Optimistic" makes more sense in the theme of the album and "Idioteque" feels like its named - a dance of the idiots who don't see what's coming.

Kid A is more electronic sounding but it works because its good music. Music came first, lyrics obviously came second. When you hear it, you wonder how it even debuted at No. 1 (i remember when it beat Green Day's tepid Warning album). But the buzz behind it was insane and now I see/hear why.

Now I understand Radiohead's genius. They make complete albums to take you into an experience and Thom Yorke's voice just gets that message across so well. Why is it that the best and most influential bands are from Britain. (i.e. Beatles/Stones/Zeppelin/Black Sabbath)

Next on my list: In Rainbows and The Bends.

Guitar Heroes of the 90's and Beyond

I really hate sometimes how people look down on music since 1980. Every great music poll is heavy on music from the 60's and 70's and sometimes I feel like the last 30 years isn't getting its due.

Guitar gods are only 60-70's legends. Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, etc...well I say you better add these geniuses from the 1990's and beyond carrying on tradition. I might do one for the 80's too just to include Stevie Ray, Slash, Kendall from Fishbone, Vernon Reid, etc...

Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine) - SOUL Power with the fury of activism in each note. Some of the most inventive guitar playing I've ever heard. - see "Bulls on Parade" "Know Your Enemy" "Guerilla Radio"

Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains) - an underrated harmonizing vocalist and just plays with a dark, beautiful angst. See "Man in a Box" "Them Bones" "Would"

Dimebag Darrell (Pantera/Damageplan) - Rest in Peace to a metal legend. I'm glad I got turned on to Pantera late last year and moreso this year. See "Cemetery Gates" "Floods" and "Walk"

Kim Thayil (Soundgarden) - "Rusty Cage" "Jesus Christ Pose" "Black Hole Sun"....if this guy isnt the most underrated guitarist of the decade, I dare you to school me. MIA since the band broke up.

Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) - I've said for years that I can't get into Radiohead but this year might change. Listen to "Paranoid Android" and that stormtrooper noise on "Creep" and realize that dude is a genius. Should've won an Oscar for There Will Be Blood's score but rules kept him from it.

Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins/Zwan) - Yeah he's a better songwriter/vocalist than actual instrumentalist. But listen to "Geek USA", "Cherub Rock" "Zero" and tell me he's not a decent shredder too.

Jack White (White Stripes/Raconteurs) - A combo of Detroit fury, Southern blues and old-fashioned rock makes all that WS sound. Rolling Stone ranked him too high in their poll but he's a guitar genius in training. "Seven Nation Army," "Icky Thump" prove it to me.

Mike Einziger (Incubus) - He's underrated as well because Incubus got a few female fans off Brandon's looks. But his guitar playing is creative and can cross genres, giving Incubus a diverse sound that makes them one of the most unique bands of the late 90's-early 00's.

Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) - In the mold of hard rock legends before, McCready gives that 70's arena rock flair to a great band. The whole 10 album says he's a great player (Black and Alive) and he's still killin it on songs.

John Frusicante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) - The last guy I'm mentioning. My 2nd favorite guitarist of all time - Melody, psychedelia, hard rock, Hendrix-like. Too many solos to name, too many great songs to peep. A teen prodigy who blossomed into one of the most technically sound guitarists of my lifetime.

So I lied...one more to name. Actually I'll just show his pic and let y'all bug out

WTF???? Have I lost my Black mind calling this pretty boy a guitar hero. Heck yeah I did and for good reason.

John Mayer deserves to be on this list. Don't let the small voice and simple lyrics fool you, he can PLAY. After watching "Human Nature" at Michael Jackson's funeral and seeing him perform live, dude is bringing the blues alive in that soul of his.

I'm not putting him in Stevie Ray Vaughan's shoes. But I am saying that his skill is underrated and he surprises people with the soul and richness he brings to his craft.