MOG

I take extremely long hiatuses. This happens when you're a full-time student and run a radio station's financial goings-on. But, I still have a passion for music and writing about it. As we approach the end of the year, I'd like to do a list of my own.

Sunday, I drove 5 and half hours from my apartment in Blacksburg back to my place of origin in Chesapeake, VA. School has been extremely involved this year, and coming home for a respite certaintly didn't hurt.  On the drive back, I heard several songs from this year which will be remembered in our pop histories. It's where WB-the article, not the person-got the start.

5 Songs that don't suck that will be put in our pop histories that don't suck or sound interesting or maybe they won't go into the history books

1.Estelle f. Kanye West-"American Boy" Before 'Ye decided to let you know how he really felt, he reminded you about his swagger. While Winehouse was becoming a parody of herself and Adele and Duffy were trying to be each other, Estelle was subtlely injecting herself into American pop. It's a simple song, really: U.K. singer Estelle wants to see America, and Ye is her guide. She's never seen New York, really wants to see L-A. Ye delivers two of his best guest-verse lines, talking about how "who killing them in the U.K.?/ You, K", and his trademark swagger with "look at this peacoat/and tell me that boy is broke." OK, this is my favorite single.

2.Usher f. Young Jeezy "Love In this Club" No one's quite sure what to make of Usher these days. Like Mariah Carey, I kinda forgot he had a new album coming out. It's not that he's losing relevancy, but what other singles came off this album? Compare it to Confessions, and it stands as very bland. Nonetheless, "Love in this Club" makes it to the list for two reasons. One is Usher's adlib at the beginning, where he goes "Yeaaaaaaaaah man". It's the best adlib of the year, and makes all of Usher's verses seem irrelevant. Enter reason number two, Jeezy. His guest verse is pretty damn entertaining, with references to "baggin' ya like some groceries" and having "a fresh pair of nikes on".

3. T.I.-"Whatever You Like" Saying T.I. was going to land on this list was more than predictable. TIP's newest offering, Paper Trail, is the Atlanta rapper's latest before going to jail. "Whatever You Like" has had the most traction of any of his singles, meriting a political parody by some Atlanta middle-schoolers and Weird Al. The song itself is one of those songs you like, but don't want to. There's no substance to it, as it's just T.I. talking about buying something for a lady. T.I. is "rap-singing", and I guess it's...entertaining. "Stacks on deck, patron on ice, you can have whatever you like" and "I want your body/I need your body/when you're with me you won't need nobody" make up the core of the song's body and could just be repeated. On a loop, and it would still be just as good.

4.Kanye West-"Love Lockdown" When Kanye first premiered this song on MTV, I had no idea what to think. There wasn't any rapping, and it just sounded...bizarre. After much production and re-tooling, the web bit. People have gradually warmed up to it , especially with the release of 808s and Heartbreak. The tribal drums, the Antares, "you lose", all build together to form the most cathartic single of the year (sorry Jazmine Sullivan).

5.Lil' Wayne-"A Milli" One way to get here: have the beat everyone raps over. Hell, I'm pretty sure I rapped over this in my sleep. Weezy gets one of the simplest beats ever made-just "A MILLI A MILLI A MILLI" over and over, and then drops a chart smash. Really, he just needed the beat and to say "MOTHERFUCKER I'M ILL" and it still woulda smashed radio.