I’LL TAKE YOU ON ft. Charlie Wilson
Off their most recent album since reuniting, BROCKHAMPTON is joined by R&B legend Charlie Wilson for an upbeat, production heavy track that sounds directly influenced by Wilson’s classic sound.
Number One - Pharrell Williams ft. Kanye West
The product of two of the best producers of all time, this 2006 hit aged beautifully thanks in large part to Kanye sounding like he laid his own vocal track over an already finished song. Perfectly disjointed with Ye nonstop ad libbing and talking over P’s vocals until he gets to shine on his own classic verse with nonstop references to fashion and their dominance of the charts.
Black Gold - Flying Lotus ft. ThunderCat
Underground legend Flying Lotus taps bass and anime aficionado ThunderCat for this synthy, futuristic soundscape created for the Netflix Original Yasuke, based off the legend of the “Black Samurai” who fought under the Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga in the 16th century. Lotus’s dark dystopian sound mixes with ThunderCat’s falsetto vocals for an epic, scaling grand sound that is always expanding out as the song progresses.
Steal My Sunshine - LEN
A 1999 hit from LEN, who went on to be seen a One Hit Wonder Steal My Sunshine gives an upbeat setting to a song commonly interpreted about regret and depression. After seemingly being used in the credits of every early 2000s indie animation I would watch as a kid I completely forgot it’s existence until hearing this song in passing again 15 years later, maybe proving they are just a One Hit Wonder.
Bad Bad News - Leon Bridges
A modern day Sam Cooke, Leon Bridges flexes his vocal chops over a funky jazz line with some great background horns and keyboard progressions. A man with tons of talent and only upside looks to continue his upward ascent since gaining a more prominent following after Barack Obama named this track to his list of 2018’s best songs.