9. Roc Marciano: “Wheat 40’s” (2020)
A cascade of sly punchlines, wordplay and unlikely juxtaposition (“I need therapy and a speedboat”), this song from the 2020 album “Mt. Marci” demonstrates Marciano’s economy of language and easy evocation, all while maintaining his character’s Mafioso frigidity: “Ma, I’m just a hooligan/I make this kind of rap cool again/She say I’m way cooler than Max Julian/You ain’t gotta ask who he is, we the loopiest/My character in the movie script is truly at the nucleus.” (Listen on YouTube) COSCARELLI
10. Ice Spice: “No Clarity” (2021)
It’s been less than two years since the Bronx rapper Ice Spice released this lite-drill revision of Zedd’s EDM anthem “Clarity.” All the elements for success were already there — the patient rapping, the raw emotional content, the as-if kiss-offs. Here, a tragedy in three acts: “You woulda thought that I missed you/But you was a thot, it’s a issue/Your bro was the one that I went to.” (Listen on YouTube) CARAMANICA
What the world means to me,
Lindsay
*As Caramanica notes in his essay, “As for the 50th anniversary, well, it is a framing of convenience. The date refers to Aug. 11, 1973, when DJ Kool Herc — in the rec room of the apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Ave. in the Bronx — reportedly first mixed two copies of the same album into one seamless breakbeat. That is, of course, one way to think about hip-hop’s big-bang moment, but by no means the only one.”
The Amplifier Playlist
Listen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.
“50 Rappers, 50 Stories (Remix)” track list
Track 1: Goodie Mob featuring Outkast, “Black Ice (Sky High)”
Track 2: E-40, “Practice Lookin’ Hard”
Track 3: dead prez, “Tallahassee Days”
Track 4: Cam’ron featuring UGK, Juelz Santana, Ludacris and Trina, “What Means the World to You (Remix)”
Track 5: Lil B and Soulja Boy Tell ’Em, “Cooking Dance”
Track 6: Paul Wall & Chamillionaire, “N Luv Wit My Money”
Track 7: Azealia Banks, “Anna Wintour”
Track 8: Trippie Redd featuring 6ix9ine, “Poles1469”
Track 9: Roc Marciano, “Wheat 40’s”
Track 10: Ice Spice, “No Clarity”