Lost in the (Billy) Woods: Ray Garraty’s Year in Hip Hop
Some years, you want to check more new music. Other years, you don’t. 2022 was one of the latter. As always, music journalists race to name the Next Big Thing, but when you go check it and it turns out Not a Big Thing at all. And the next big thing, you just walk past it.
In the rush to discover something else, people don’t properly follow an artist they discovered a month ago. Yet, often, the artists they gave up mature, get better or even reinvent themselves. Nobody pays enough attention to those artists. We have fewer and fewer listeners and more and more streaming platform passengers. Thus, this year it seemed that nobody properly listened to Louie Ray, Bandgang Lonnie Bands, Chief Keef, even though they created their best music right NOW. For most listeners, they belong to past years.
That is why I was dreading the 2022 end of the year lists. I was sure that we’d get two types of lists. The first would be hype lists, full of Hot New Artists nobody will remember after January 1. The other would be those created by and for a highbrow, white, middle-class public who wants its rap to be “smart.” Thus, we get thousands of lists full of billy woods and the like, which is only good to show your college professor how brainy your music tastes are.
Anyway, 2022 had plenty of good hip hop music. Probably the best music this year was the one we didn’t get to listen to. Boyz Ent, a label holding Rio Da Yung Og catalogue, had some managerial trouble, and despite the promises from the CEO we got only two new songs by Rio (not counting his EPs with Boog and Wayne616). Which is a shame. On to the next one!
Best releases of the year
Louie Ray — My Signature (Still Grinding)
Kookei — Mr. Incredible (H$G)
Bandgang Lonnie Bands x ShredGang Mone — Shottas (TF Distribution)
Wayne616 — Grease Files (Still Grinding)
Z Money — Back 2 The Blender (4EverPaidRecords)
Best tracks
Roc Marciano — Bubble Bath
Kookei — Chris Brown
Z Money — Bounce Back
BandGang Lonnie Bands & ShredGang Mone — 3 Kids
Cashclick Boog x Rio Da Yung OG — Sneak the Balls in
Rio Da Yung OG — Professional Shit Talker
Louie Ray — Back Home
Chief Keef — Bitch Where
Best production
Sav: Kookei — Chris Brown
???: BandGang Lonnie Bands & ShredGang Mone—Greatest Bome Back
???: BandGang Lonnie Bands & ShredGang Mone —3 Kids
Fre$co: Cashclick Boog x Rio Da Yung OG — Sneak the Balls in
???: Louie Ray — Crazy 22
Best produced albums
Louie Ray — My Signature
Wayne616 – Grease Files
Non rap releases
Apogeion — Astrolatria I: Initiatio
Blood Chalice — The Blasphemous Psalms Of Cannibalism
Ignorance of the year
Bizarre — He Got a Gun
ShredGang Mone’s verse on “3 Kids”
Bizarre, of D12 fame, was long ago discarded as a washed up Eminem sidekick by ‘serious’ rap fans. But he steadily releases new music, of the weirdest and goofiest type. Imagine the worst B-movie, and Bizarre will surpass it with over-the-top amount of ignorance.
Mone on his verse claims he robs rappers, and ironically, his partner Lonnie Bands got his chain took this year. One has to wonder if it was Mone’s job.
Ray Garraty
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Everyone sending you their Alfred hate, my take is I like Alfred maybe 70% of the time as a character in the DC world where literally everyone is a weird as hell, mild-moderately offensive stereotype. If he existed irl though I would hate his guts just like I would hate pretty much every single member of the extended Batfamily. Maybe some of the pets get a pass, Batcow is on thin ice
I do seem to be the hub for alfred hate this week I should really tone it down this level of negativity isn't really good - but yeah I get where your coming from I think like I said just for me personally it's bc I dont see alfred as a character as much as he's a easy don't think about it explainer for writers to not have to worry about the little things like Alfreds been dead since 2018 and I know alot of people joke that they keep forgetting about that bc you know he's still showing up in comics and dc will bring him back eventually but I also put it to you it's bc he had so little character presents like it doesn't feel like anything has changed since he died
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being on the ground floor of a ship is so fun bc like wdym everyone calls them the ship name a group of like 5 of us started using because people who didn’t them were using tretty and we wanted something else. like wdym everyone calls them h-money now too. incredible
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