2007: The Year in Review Part 1
Song They Shoulda Just Given the Original To: Chris Brown – Umbrella. Dancing Ass Beige jacked the beat for a remix, and turned it into Cinder-ella-ella-ella-eh, single-handedly creating another ‘official’ remix. It was more compelling pop fare than anything off his own album, and an upgrade to the original presentation.
Runner-up: Kanye – Throw Some D’s remix. Dude can be funny sometimes.
Dungeoned Dragon Award for the Best Performance on a Posse Cut: Ludacris – I’m So Hood Remix. With the rise of the ATL D-boys and his pursuit of the acting bug, Ludacris seems to have been lost in the rap shuffle lately and in danger of losing relevance altogether. So the timing was perfect for this verse on Khaled's remix which he promptly tore down, receiving universal praise for his effort. He really should have been on the original…
Runners-up: Andre 3000 – International Player’s Anthem. Three Stacks deserves recognition for bringing humanity to a song with that title if nothing else.
R Kelly – I’m A Flirt remix. He may be depraved and morally reprehensible, but he certainly didn’t need those other dudes, two pretty big artists in their own right, on this remix.
Phonte – Fan Mail and Joe Budden – Family Business/Family
Lupe Fiasco – Us Placers. Posse cut that folks either adore or abhor, Lupe very much outshines producer buddies Kanye and Pharrell with his abstract verse.
Best Rock/Rap Collabo: Maroon 5 feat. Mary J Blige and Wale – Wake Up Call Remix. With Fallout Boy and Gym Class Heroes leading the way, there was a highly visible genre co-mingling scene in 2007. However, this particular remix was a barnburner, and that’s taking into account the polarizing response Maroon 5 tends to elicit from listeners. Say what you want about Adam Levine, he’s a throwback musician; he’s clearly doing it to get laid. But Mary has always done her best work singing on the chords with black keys and promising newcomer Wale just tears it down.
Rapper That Just Shoulda Said No to the Collabo: For any Jay-Z professional or personal courtesy verse for an R&B singer. Homie, this is why you had to leave Def
The key to longevity at the top is to keep from being exposed. Sure, the roster at Def Jam was restless, but nobody is gonna take former earners like LL seriously. And you could always point to Rihanna and Ne-Yo as artists you developed, hell, maybe you could even front strength and ask for a raise off of their success. But when your industry is struggling to catch up with the times, and it becomes clear that your real value to the company is as a brand, which is progressively slipping, what do you do? You keep it moving, to give you another shot at staying relevant, before they pin you down and you’re labeled as a fossil (like the aforementioned Cool James). Lesson done. And you still thought chess-playing Hov would swap checkers with y’all?
Best Marketing of 2007
1. Rihanna – Something like a phenomenon in 2007: someday, people learning marketing will study about her rise to the top. Considering she started off as a cutesy, teen, West Indian-based artist who bucked all conventional industry wisdom by performing non-soca/reggae material, she pushed the envelope even further this year, branching out into dance, pseudo house and even rock on her way to stringing together a successful series of singles in addition to possibly the pop song of the year. Image-wise, she not only became a sex symbol for grown men but avoided being dragged down into Cassie-esque pseudo-artist status by shaking off the rumours of being Jay-Z’s personal side piece. And as a piece-de-resistence, she shouted out white dudes in the press, cementing her already broadening fan base. Did I forget to mention she ushered in a style of haircut. Or that her subtle dalliance into breast augmentation had a role in prompting Ciara and Kelly Rowland to follow suit. It was such a successful year for Rihanna, she made everyone forget that she can’t really even sing: any pop idol’s biggest measure of success.
2. Fergie – The definition of industry creation. Meaning a mediocre (at best) talent that’s frequently paired up with cooler artists, provided trendy watered down production (cough…Clumsy…cough) and given a hip trendy image (somebody needs to dead her little ride-or-die Vato chick incarnation tho…seriously). Living proof of how talent and substance will always lose a popularity contest and begs the question: is a fraud still a fraud if she is embraced by the public?
3. Kanye vs. 50 – Two biggest selling hip-hop albums of the year, and it’s no surprise. As far as a gimmick goes, it was genius; David vs. Goliath in its least dramatic form, and an all out battle of good against evil in its most compelling. And to top it off, 50 didn’t even have to quit like he said he would.
4. Bow Wow – Still eating off the teenage and pre-pubescent crowd. And ran through Ciara. Now he’s combining forces with an artist with a greater career upside (although that’s a relative…sorry O) to prolong this pathetic dance. Yo
5. Chris Brown – Admit it, you thought ‘Kiss, Kiss’ was pretty weak for a lead single when you first heard it. But they persisted and ‘Dancing Ass Beige’ looks to have a pretty bright future. But let’s make something clear, son is not a great dancer in the sense he will have his own dance like MJ and the 'Moonwalk'. He’s a ‘Volume Dancer’. You do anything enough and you’ll eventually get props…
Worst Marketing of 2007
1. Amerie – Victim of her own success, as the label wants every single to be ‘1 Thing’ or ‘Why Don’t We Fall in Love’. Admittedly, the singles have sucked, but having an album play out in Europe while refusing to work it in
2. Kelly Rowland – Again, unable to spin the little press she got, and has the disadvantage of being stuck in B’s considerable shadow. Got a pity single with video, but that almost makes it worse since her album still hasn’t dropped. Solo career has become waiting for the Destiny reunion.
3. Any Rap Artist on Def Jam not named Kanye or Shawn Carter – Former hip hop haven became graveyard under Hov. 2007 was the year Jay-Z became the ‘Bone Collector’.
4. Mya – This is somebody who’s received considerable press for sleeping around in the industry, and you’re telling me her handlers have been unable to spin any of it? Will her ‘new’ album ever see the light of day? Does anyone care?
5. Joe- Did anyone even know he released an album this year? Talk about pocketing a marketing budget.
3 Females Artists who can really SANG that came out with new material you probably didn’t hear. Whether dude to lack of spins or bad single choices (I know you just got a divorce Jill, but damn), these ladies were the Anti-Fergies of 2007. Meaning, sadly, they all lost.
1. Chaka Khan
2. Angie Stone
3. Jill Scott
Female Vocalist that really can sing but has yet to put out some really listenable contemporary material and missed again in 2007: Joss Stone. She brought back Common Sensitive (sigh...he probably had Badu flashbacks in the studio when he laid down his verse) for her first single and even got a Lauryn Hill cameo for the album. Some people still liked this, but for someone with such pre-hyped talent, her 2007 long player was a really pedestrian effort. To make matters worse, she decided to come out the same year as fellow Brit and all-around ‘It-soulstress’ Amy Winehouse, who’s easily comparable retro style, made Stone practically irrelevant.
Best Worst Song. Possibly EVAR: R Kelly – Real Talk. Gurl, I wiiiiiiiiiiiiish you WOOOOOOOOULD.
3 Biggest Disappointments of 2007:
1. 50 Cent – How many singles did he put out to get a buzz before the album was released? And he still got both blue-eyed R&B pop wonders to be on the tracklist. Was there anyway he could make this more buyer friendly, aside from making good music? And we haven’t even mentioned the ridiculous Kanye showdown/marketing ploy. Son took a huge ‘L’ this year, officially signifying his career’s downward decent.
2. Wu-Tang Clan – Everyone except the RZA said the album sucks. Only the 2nd most disappointing because of the predictability of it all.
3. T.I./Jay-Z – Last year was a huge year for T.I. and let’s be honest, ‘Big Things Poppin’ was the definition of underwhelming. And when a single with Wyclef is one of the bigger songs off your album, you know you made some sub par shit. Jay’s concept album/excuse-to-talk-breezy was just unnecessary. Sure the production was polished, but the Pharrell joints straight suck and does anybody really care about anything on the album other than Roc Boys and Success. What happened to all those summers, Hov?
1. Andre 3000 Album: Son killed verses this year. Prodigal rapper. If he does get around to an album in 2008, he’ll be sure to rhyme on this one.
2. Common/Q-Tip Album – 'The Standard'. Rumoured super group with the promise of lyrics to go. You get the feeling this offering promises to be a little, uh, eclectic, but if it means reviving Tip’s career, the risk will be worth it.
3. Nas Album – Regardless of the title. At least you know it’ll be better than American Gangster.
Potential Beefs for 2008
2. Dancin’ Ass Chris Brown v. Definitely Not Molested Omarion: I hate to say it, Icebox O, but my money’s on the Volume Dancer. Niche-carving is a bitch. The 90’s is dead, so you gotta bet on beige.
3. Ne-Yo, John Legend and Alicia Keys v. the Closet: These are some of my favourite singers out, and I will continue to enjoy their music as long as it stays on point. Regardless of personal life choices…
4. Lil’
5. Ashanti
posted by Roger Sign at 7:11 PM
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