Pitchfork’s Top 100 Tracks of 2011: #10-#1
Pitchfork Media, arguably the most significant of mainstream indie tastemakers, are out again with their annual top 100 tracks of the year. I must not subscribe to the same podcasts as Pitchfork (read: I don’t subscribe to any podcasts), because I have heard maybe 30% of these tracks. That said, I usually like a lot of what they put in their top ten. Let’s have a listen to what they deem to be the best of 2011 and see if we (read: I) agree with their choices.
10. DJ Khaled – I’m On One (feat. Drake, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne)
It’s somewhat arresting that in an economic climate of high unemployment and low consumer confidence and a political climate marked by fear and malaise on both sides of the aisle that a track like this could be so popular. Top 40 Hip Hop has for the past decade or so been dominated by in-the-club dreck that focuses primarily on what’s in the rapper’s glass or how many zeroes are located to the left of the decimal in his bank account and those concerns are well represented here. Perhaps Drake, who is known for his self-analysis if not necessarily for his self-awareness, recognizes how socially tin-eared this all must sound because he offers something of an apology in the line “my excuse is that I’m young.” The problem is that people far younger than him have demonstrated (especially this year) their ability to be concerned with things beyond drinking and smoking. But perhaps the real key to all this is his admonition to “get it while you here, boy / cause all that hype don’t feel the same next year, boy.” Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, indeed. (Continued)
