Last-minute whistle stops

[koganbot]

Well, I'm a bit late on these, but here's a guy whom I almost overlooked, though I've had his album for about eight months. The single, "ABC's," is on my extended year-end list; the album is on the borderline for my P&J, sounding a little too "nice," though that's obviously not a thought-through evaluation.

K'naan ft. Chubb Rock "ABC's"

"K'NAAN - ABC's ft. Chubb Rock" (Watch on YouTube)

And since we were just talking about Kid Creole And The Coconuts over on Lex's lj, here is Coati Mundi's "Bundas Bom," a b-side that will also make my extended list.

Comments

[koganbot]

And here's Demi, in case you've forgotten:

[koganbot]

Demi Lovato "Remember December"

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

"Bundas Bom" literally just missed my Top 10 list -- finished #11, bumped at the last minute by "There Goes My Baby" by Charlie Wilson (biggest "adult r&b" song of the year, by the way, according to Billboard.) Anyway, "Bundas Bom" is technically a B-side (one of two) of a 12-inch called "No More Blues," which Ben Ratliff at the Times put in his own Top 10 singles list this weekend.

And I voted for the K'Naan album, you may have noticed -- decided, after a while, that resisting his niceness is just dumb. (Had liked his previous album The Dusty Foot Philosopher, too, but like this one a lot more.)

[koganbot]

It's informative to see that the teens haven't yet taken over adult r&b, though I'm sure they will next year.

In regard to K'naan and Coati Mundi and Demi Lovato, I just submitted my P&J, and... well, I'm going to keep you in suspense as to whether or not 2009 is the Triumph Of Niceness, since I won't post until I send Rob my comments.

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

Well, I will say that the "nice-rap" album I included on my 2008 ballot -- The Knux's Remind Me In 3 Days -- was definitely a mistake; if I could file that ballot over again, I would probably vote instead for Ashlee or Taylor (or Lady Gaga, though I covered my ass on that omission this year.) But a point in my favor is that, where the Knux was a late- year release and perhaps I just didn't have enough time to decide I was overrating it, I've been able to live with and re-play the K'Naan album all this year. So I'm definitely more confident with that choice. (Same goes for nice-rapper Kid Sister, in a way, though her album changed along the way.)

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

And this year, I almost certainly would have liked the New Boyz album more (and maybe a couple other ones I'm not thinking of right now) if they were nicer. ("Not nice" in hip-hop is way more a tired cliche by now -- for the past decade-and-a-half or so, at least -- than "nice," anyway.)