Top 20 Ranking (29/04/2017)

So I wanna do this like a couple of weeks ago but I decided to hold this back knowing one song from one rapper gonna crash-landed on the Top 20 and turns out it did and now here we are. Okay the states of the charts this year, so far it has been better than last year, We finally got rid of some of the crap from last year and bring in a lot of quality from EDM, pop, and rap especially that genre because it has been a good year for this genre. There's now 7 rap songs in this top 20 for better or worse. So let's not waste time and let's do this starting with the shit tier

SHIT TIER

20. Body Like A Back Road by My Mortal Enemy

Country last year had one of the best year in recent memories, putting aside the Year-end list and the fact that they haven't embrace streaming yet is frustrating but last year was a great year mainstream and indie wise. We finally got some neo-traditional country that we knew from Indie scene with William Michael Morgan, Jon Pardi, most of Southern Family, and Sturgill Simpson got nominated for Grammy's this year and many more. Suffice to say country is at all time high at the moment.

SO WHY IN THE NINE HELL IS SAM HUNT DOING HERE!!!

i mean this isn't Ex To See or Drinkin' Too Much but it's still embarrassing especially the progress country had last year. and here Sam Hunt trying to ruined it with the dumbest song on the Hot 100 and probably the worst too.

Starts with production which is the furthest thing from country, I mean seriously between the godawful melody on the intro, those fucking liquid guitar that pulled right from The Chainsmokers trash bin, a lot of loud noises like those gang vocals and the rattling hi hat that's not remotely tacked on, bass is too overpowering the entire song, and did I mention there's a whistle on this song, isn't like this is 2012 or some shit it just there and the worst part is that none of this mattered, what matter the most are the lyrics.

And OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOh boy do I hate these lyrics let's tear some of them down shall we? (gonna save my rant about the lyrics by the end of December because I got a lot of good jokes on this one so stay tuned for that)

So I will publicly make a statement for America about this 

*ahem*

STOP THIS NONSENSE!

and that ended my statement hope you happy, ugh.

19. Issues by Julia Carmichael 

The amount of backlash I've gotten by hating this song was kinda huge especially this low in this list. Well let me just say that this is the most useless song I've ever heard. It doesn't add anything new to the chart beyond her annoying singing. The production is very stale with those jumpy strings, overpowered bass, and those kick drums is just the worst. I felt like this wants to be atmospheric but ends up being a bad minimalist. The lyrics is fine and actually paint a good picture of a troubled relationship, the problem is that it sung by the worst vocalist working today. There's a reason why she's a writer first because her tone is jumpy and all over the place not helping by her awful enunciation makes it more excruciating every listen. Also the last chorus is what I would imagine if there's an angel in hell. Look if you like this song good on you, but for me this is one in many cases where bigger artist promoting shit that shouldn't just had a cult following not in a top 20. And I hope this song's gone anytime soon

18. Tunnel Vision by maybe rapist?

I didn't hate this song because of the controversies, I don't hate this song because of the beat although the bass is clunky and there's no pattern with this hi-hats. I hate this song because Kodak Black is just the worst MC working today.

He frequently flubbed his rhyme and his tone of voice is god-awful, not to mention that these lyrics is the worst thing imaginable and even more worse if you put the context of his convicted rape. 

"Lil Kodak, They don't like to see you winnin', they wanna see you in the penitentiary"

You haven't even being 100% rapist but you still playing the race cards, screw you and good job as well because it seems to worked you jackass

"Uh I'm the shit, I need some toilet paper"

OH COME ON!!!!

I know your influence is Lil Wayne but at least be better than him not trailing his path of bad poop jokes

"I get any girl I want, any girl I want"

that line is fine but.......

thanks to The Radical Douche he discovered that the original line is this

"I get any girl I want, I don't gotta rape"

Okay I can make a lenghty paper on how that line is both bad and also very wrong but we still had some bad song to go, and speaking of bad song here's the bad tier

BAD TIER

17. XOXOXOXO by Lil Uzi Vert

So everyone seems to just okay with this song despite I can't stand it, Lil Uzi's vocals is grating especially those high note, production is your generic bargain barrel trap beats although it's way too sparse which makes it worse like holy shit I can hear there's a blank on the mix. Lil Uzi can't stay on his topic about depression and crippling loneliness as it said in the hook

"Push me to the edge, all my friends are dead"

but he just bragging about the same thing that all rapper do. the only good thing about this song is the bass which is kinda nice and sticking in my brain in a good way of course. 

16. Shape of Yoy by Ed, Edd and Eddy

Okay this song has test my patience, the lyrics is very gross, production is stale boring tropical padlumb that we've heard all year, Ed Sheeran just isn't capable with these type song and the most infuriating thing about this is that it was released at the same time as Castle On the Hill which is more energetic and anthemic with a great narrative story and they still chose the boring save bets, gross.

15. Stay by Zedd ft. Alessia Cara

This is still a shitty EDM song that has nothing going for it, generally annoying stale garbage with uninteresting lyrics and singer so why is this in the bad tier, well the verse is decent with added snap and humming that's very potent especially the second verse. Other than that this song is a waste of talents for both of them. 

Now let's go the song I didn't have any opinions on, the meh tier.

MEH TIER

14. Paris by The Chiansmokers

This is not good but I appreciate their effort to blend The 1975 sounds with a little bit of M83 and a pinch of asshole behavior and yeah Andrew is being a dick on the first verse he said that he had a partner already and still wanna negging her. It sounds save enough to played on the radio but vague enough that it rubs me the wrong way. so verdict of this song, mediocre at best.

DECENT TIER

13. Say You Won't Let Go by James Arthur

This song's cute and it would've been great if James Arthur wasn't there and could be replace with anyone else. But yeah the guitar melody is sweet and sticks in your brain, added strings is nice and the sentiment is executed well. Solid song keep it up.

GOOD TIER

12. YAH YAH YAH YAH YAH by Migos ft. huh?

Ah I still remember last year Migos only had one charting song now they're the most famous rapper trio around and made no mistake I do like this song. Offset is very energetic for these type of song and some of his punchline were connect, Quavo is the best part of this song even if he said boobies twice as a rhyme scheme. The hook is infection with Metro Boomin production which is sparse yes but sounds crisps, well executed and that melodies is just so good. But there's always a downside which is Lil Uzi Vert again not impressing much with him rapping off key.

Still a good song but not good enough.

11. Conglaturation by Pot Mahone ft. Quafo

This and I Fall Apart were the best songs on admittedly spacey yet boring Stoney and for a damn good reason. it starts out with this grimy synth and then it changed to airy synth that compliments Post Malone singing very tenderly, the hook is captivating as Post talking about his victory lap and how he struggles to found that success like he said in this line

"Work so hard, forgot to vacation"

One nitpick that I had is Quavo being out of place in this song and that does make this not great but still I would enjoy it whenever it's on the radio

GREAT TIER

10. It Ain't Me by Kygo ft. Selena Gomez

If you really sick of the sounds of pop music last year you can blame on Kygo as he's the pioneer that kicked off this little trend. But he's different in that he got a nag for brighter more restraint tropical house unlike The Chainsmokers or Calvin Harris (although he has abandoned that sound to more post-disco which is okay in my book)

Now I've been a fan since 2015 but a lot of his stuff can get old sometimes. And when I heard he's gonna recruit Selena Gomez, well at least he can make her interesting

and turns out he did.

He's finally gives Selena more room to breathe between the liquid guitar, gentle percussion, warm synth, and those watermark tropical touches. What amazed me about this song is how cheerful it is especially the chorus with a backing vocals, which have Vin Diesel? also the drop is amazing as well with it's piano and really potent chopped up vocals.

Heck the lyrics is good too, it's about a breakup and how Selena is very much wants to reminiscing those old times and forget about the worst time in a agreement and for what is worth it can worked well and this is one of them.

9. Rocka-rocka-bye by Rather Be ft. Alarm & Temperature

Welcome back Clean Bandit, the charts needed you guys and what a gift we have. If this their jab at tropical house I'd say they did it well. very textured melody behind the strings which is their staple and some good bass, the drop to this song is perfect example of balancing the chopped up vocals with the melody and the bass and man it really worked well.

Points for them to tell interesting stories of a single mother that's real and very touching. Anne Marie sold this song with her delivery of desperation but still had a glimpse of hope, also Sean Paul is Sean Paul, whatever he's doing his part is actually connect and his hype man persona is kinda amazing.

Wished it was Tears to become their follow-up hits but this is still acceptable, thumbs up.

8. Mask Off by Future

This is Future best song since Low Life and for different reason, the only reason to why this Future song is different to any other Future song about bragging and stuff, well the samples.

Yeah I know they didn't do anything to the samples, but the samples itself is so fucking amazing loop of flute which reminds me of Indonesian traditional song and since I grew up with these sort of sound, I can't denied to just enjoy it whole-heartedly. Other than that there's nothing to it in the content except his little vulnerability of buying foods with stamps. anything else is decent so let's move on.

7. That's What I Like by Bruno Senna

This song is great but I'm still waiting for Versace On the Floor to become his third single because it's marginally better than this song which is kinda a deal-breaker especially that song became a hit here before this song but whatever I'm still taking this.

6. iSpy by KYLE ft. Lil Boat

KYLE has been under my radar over the year but after his big hits I decided to checked his sophomore album SMYLE and

I WILLINGLY SUPPORT HIM TILL THE DAY I DIE!!!!

This guy is really a breath of fresh air to the rap scene, not only his tone of voice really cute but he's also had a lot of charm that hasn't been replicated since probably early Kid Cudi in that his personality is what makes his song so damn infectious

And this one is no exception although is kinda douchy but he's just being too naive that I can helped but just to say aww. Even if the lyrics is very douchy, like this one:

"Wait that means forever ever, hol' up nevermind"

"That's a real hot album homie I wonder who wrote it"

"I noticed, you think that you know shit"

But damn is he selling this line naively. As for Lil Yacthy, this is his best guest verse he did complete with The Nutshack reference and Scooby-Doo impression.

So yeah good song and hope his third album is lit.

5. Location by Khalid

Wow this is probably the sleeper hits of this year and for a damn good reason. Initially I thought this song is decent, held back by the lowkeyness of the production and that chipmunk section but then I hear this song after seeing Steven Universe episode called Mindful Education and one of the song played and it's the best thing ever, so I listen to this again and it clicked because this is the closest thing to a Steven Universe sounds has touched the top 20, let me explain.

When you thinking about Steven Universe song, you usually associate it with Stronger Than You but the background music on that show is also top notch with it's sparse beat and hints of melody that's captivating and helped you got sucked into the world. The same feeling is what I got when I listen to this song with it's plucked melodies, muted bass and sparse beats even managed to get some guitar licks here in there to make it more chill.

Yeah my reasoning for this is silly but it does sounds similar don't you think?

4. I Feel It Coming by Starboy ft. Robots

So glad to hear 80's cheesy ballads especially the ones made with Daft Punk to added house touch to the sound of this masterpiece. This is the happiest song that The Weeknd has ever made and for what is worth a great song.

He just so good at singing through this production and he also put on his Michael Jackson influence pretty well.

Honestly there's nothing that I can said that hasn't been done to death by anyone so I'll just say that this song is the best song that he's ever done, next.

3. Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers ft. Coldplay

This song is kinda tailor-made for me, from bringing Coldplay to the production which is bright and peppy even if it's a rehashed of Roses to the cute sentiment in between the lyrics that can get a little bit silly and stupid but damn if Chris Martin sincerity can pulled it off and to top it all off the very sweet guitar solo at the end even if it got drowned out by the synth.

Whenever I hear this song, there's a sense of innocent that I wanna comeback to and this prove how to do it and probs for making me thinking about Adventure Time in your song, solid efforts

2. Sign of the Times by Harry Styles

It has been interesting since One Direction separate to make songs on their own. And while Zayn goes to RnB and Soul to mixed results, Niall going to be a singer-songwriter folk singer with This Town still being one of my favorite of this year so far, And Louis is straight into EDM again to a mixed results.

But I've never imagine that Harry goes to this direction because think about it, it's a rock ballads about hardship with a 70's rock sounds from a former boy band member.

This seems very odd but he pulled it off surprising well and his range of emotion is fucking amazing, yeah the sentiment is kinda off but it followed by this line

"It'll be alright"

So he's actually kinda sympathetic to this girl and it's a decent moves. I don't expect this to sticks around but if it did I will be happy with that, great song highly recommended.

1. HUMBLE. by King Kunta

You know from the fuzzed up guitar intro, you're in for a great ride. I don't think Kendrick ever released a song that's below 2/5 and this one is no exception. 

TO ALL OF YOU RAPPERS OUT THERE, THIS IS HOW YOU DO A BRAG RAP SONG.

With it's grimy piano with a hints of synth drive by pass the beats and you have yourself a great beats to rap to, and Kendrick Lamar deserved to be cocky here because he's K. Dot, the man that hasn't made a single bad albums on his career so far. The hook is sticks in your head in a good way and these lyrics are absolute fire like this:

"Pull up on your blocks, then break it down we playing Tetris"

"Soprano C, we keep it on a high notes"

"Watch my soul speaks, you let the meds talk"

I mean it's just full of swagger and very braggadociaous but there's a controversies with this line 

"I'm so fucking sick of the photoshop ... Show me something natural like ass with some stretch marks"

Apparently this causes controversy, because I didn't see it. I only see Kendrick's liking of natural women and if you can read the subtext good on you but it's still what it is a brag rap song. He can just be called racist I still didn't care because I still bumping my head to this so you know what Kendrick you still deserved better and hopefully you can take the #1 next week

Well that was my list and it tallied up a score of 66/100 and I got the chart ranking here so:

100 - Masterpiece

99-80 - Great

79-60 - Good

59-40 - Meh

39-20 - Bad

19-1 - Shit

0 - Hell

so this was a very good week and hopefully the rest of this year can keep up, I'm SGWHO and American Boy is the greatest song ever written, see you next time.