Grantland, one of my favorite sites for pop culture commentary, recently had their editors each select their own, personal, top song of 2014. I liked this list because there is quite a variety, and it looks like each editor picked something that they personally liked, even if it wasn't critically acclaimed or popular.
There is also a great mix of genres, which is a challenge for me. I don't listen to much folk rock and very little mixtapes, so I can only hope to appreciate them. I also think the Grantland staff has a streak of hipster, more than once they selected songs that seemed pretty obscure.
Also these are not ranked in any way. You can review the list for yourself here.
Rembert Browne's selection: Drake, "We Made It"
So, starting right off the bat, we run into my problem: I don't really listen to a lot of rap, and what I do listen to certainly isn't from mix tapes (authentic or not). Having said that, I can tell that it is cool; the flow is good; the mix is nice. There are also a lot of interesting elements. My personal favorite is the call out to turn everything down, and then the backing track is literally turned down. The execution is great. I'm less certain about the Seth Rogan/Jason Sudekis sample, but I think it works.
One thing that I am confused about is whether or not this is a true, non-label released mix tape. It is hosted on soundcloud, but the production is very professional. This isn't something that was slapped together for free. Or maybe it was? Is production that easy these days? I feel like this is a part of the genre I don't understand yet.
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