THE 08 BREAKDOWN, PART 1

Riddims, Recession and Retirement

Well 2008 certainly has been an eventful year: grime turned electro, dubstep went wonky and hip hop went Romanian (you'll see what I mean later). I present you with my usual thematized top picks and a couple of duds from the year that saw Alton Ellis do his final rocksteady, a song about a watch sweep the nation and the recession turn everyone nutso.


Retirement

Retiring, or rather unretiring, is the new black, as we saw Wiley step out from his so-called retirement and back in to the game with his chartbusting 'Wearing my Rolex'. Meanwhile Jamaican star Mr. Vegas announced the end of his career, as he went to spend more time with God:

"Thank everybody weh believe inna mi and help mi fi do 11 years inna music even when everybody else a try stop mi. But my main thing is to be closer to God Almighty and spend more time with my kids ". (from The Gleaner)

Grace Jones also re-donned her crazy costume and graced the world with her amazing stage presence once again. After a nearly 20 year hiatus, her album Hurricane certainly caused a, eh-hem, storm - it was just too damn good. All hail the 'Queen Bitch Jungle Mother of Jew York' ( her words not mine yeah).

So who's stepping out of retirement in 2009? None other than Ms. Dy-na-mi-te-ee, who took a little time out to squeeze out some offspring and crash an F1 car into a wall live on a TV show but is back on the mic in 09. I am really quite excited about this comeback, you can check out the radio rip of the new single 'Bad Gyal' over at First Up! .

Wiley - Wearing my rolex (heatwave refix)
Mr. Vegas - Must come a road





My favourite riddims of 2008

This year saw some big riddims hit the dancehalls, and some huge digi stuff, like the Pull Up and Portmore Empire riddims. They give any of last year's a decent run for their money...I think my picks were:



Mission Riddim:
Stephen & Damian Marley - The Mission
Mavado - I'm On the Rock (Jay-Z Remix)

Creepa Riddim :
Elephant Man - Gully Creepa
Kardinal Offishal - Bad like we bad
Tifa - Dem nuh ready

Shoot Out Riddim:
Mykal Roze & Damian Marley - Shoot Out
Demarco - Duppy Know Who fi Frighten (and the dubstep remix by Schlachthofbronx)



Hip Hop 411

Common released another great record, Universal Mind Control, and Q-Tip put in a sterling effort with The Renaissance but prize goes to the obvious choice of the sizzurp master, Lil Wayne, for his masterful Tha Carter III .

Kanye had the cheek to put out the cheesiest vocoded record of late (oh wait, do i hear you scream T-Pain?) and T.I. sampled that Romanian boy band that drove you mad in 2004 and that still drives you mad now, even if T.I. and Rihanna are doing their thing on top of it. I think probably what they're saying in Romanian is actually 'ha ha you suckers'.

N.E.R.D - Everybody Nose
Common - Universal Mind Control
T.I. feat. Kanye, Jay-Z & Lil Wayne - Swagger Like Us
John Legend feat. Andre 3000 - Green Light



'Black man in the white house'

I can't really write a post about 2008 without mentioning it, can I? And seems a few people couldn't make albums without doing the same. And what a bleeding godsend for the hip hop community that the prez's name rhymes with the christian name (err) of the world's most wanted.

Cocoa Tea - Barack Obama
Damian Marley - Barack Obama
Mavado - We need Barack
Sizzla - Black Man in the White House



'Money no change we'

Er yeah right Movado, look what money did to us this year. Lil Wayne told us about how much money he had (well, strictly no change there then) and P Diddy reminded us that gas prices were 'too muthafuckin high' and pleaded with his Saudi brothers and sisters to fork out for his private jet. And then there's Busta and his 'Arab Money', which was pretty much almost as shit as Timbaland and Magoo's 'Indian Flute', with just that extra added socio-economical element. Genius.

Lil Wayne - A Milli (MRK1 dubstep remix)
Mavado - Money Changer


Watch out for the rest of the breakdown comin' atcha next week....