Sliktron Favs 2014

2014 is done, but the music lives on. Check out what the Sliktron staff listened to year round. 

@RenaissanceSlik

Favorite Album of The Year: 

Isaiah Rashad - Cilvia Demo

This album might have been one of the most slept on projects of 2014. I can best describe Mississippi's Isaiah Rashad as a fusion between Big KRIT's content and southern dialect with Kendrick Lamar aggression and storytelling capabilities. Cilvia Demo premiered Rashad's strengths lyrically with songs like "Modest" & "Banana", relatability and transparency with tracks like "Hereditary" & "Heavenly Father" (Listen to HF right now). Put "listen to Cilvia Demo" on your to-do list on 2015!  

Favorite Song Of The Year:
Lil Wayne - Krazy

According to Spotify I played this song the most this year. At the brink (well, at the time) of Lil Wayne's Carter 5 catching fire, I found hope in Tune once again after hearing this song. Other than the loose hook, Dr. Carter brought me back to 2009 with this all bars formatted single like what he pulled up with "A Milli". Lets hope the Poppa Birdman & Wayne find an agreement with the Carter 5 so we can see what else Lil Wayne has to offer in 2015.

Favorite Mixtape of The Year:
Mick Jenkins - Water[s]

"YOU WERE NEVER READY FOR THE FLO!" Discovering Mick Jenkins this year was refreshing. Pun intended. Jenkins sophomore mixtape is what happens when you purify hip hop, removing all the toxins and harmful messages to get to the nutrition of social consciousness, creativity, and lyricism. PEEP.

Favorite Local Project of The Year:
A.R. - Foot work Phenomenon

A.R. personifies the new sound of Jigga city. Yea I said it. A perfect blend of what BR hip hop is known for with something BR hip hop NEEDS to be known for.

Favorite Non Hip Hop Album

D'Angelo And The Vanguard - Black Messiah

 If you live for the funk, you'll live for this album. It's fucking D'Angelo.

@TheRadioShaq

Favorite Album of The Year:
YG’s My Krazy Life 

Snubbed of a Grammy nomination, YG’s My Krazy Life was definitely one of the most talked about 

albums of the 2014. Loaded with dope features from the likes of heavy weights like Drake, and Kendrick Lamar, My Krazy Life painted the image of what life was like growing up in Compton, or Bompton, as YG would say. Tracks like “My Nigga”, “Who do you love?”, and “My Nigga remix” swept the charts, while tracks like “BPT”, “I just wanna party”, and “Meet The Flockers” swept the streets, perfect blend for a successful album. Personally, my friends, and I used My Krazy Life as a summer soundtrack, and it didn’t disappoint, as I played it to the point of becoming played out. But now after some months off of constant rotation, I can go back and play certain tracks, and still thoroughly enjoy them. 

Favorite Mixtape of The Year:
Childish Gambino’s STN MTN 

Looking for a mixtape that BANGS start to finish? STN MTN is definitely that. Childish surprised his fans with a complete bomb in this project, and definitely kept the momentum from Because The Internet going. I’m still playing this tape to this day honestly, and I’ll probably be bumping it for awhile. 

Favorite Song of The Year:
Young Jeezy feat Jay Z – Seen It All 

Once I heard the story of Hov crying while writing/recording “Seen It All” the song took on a whole new meaning. The story became more real, the verse became more meaningful, everything about the record came to life for me. What this record did for Jeezy’s album was enormous. Not only did you get a Jay Z feature, but both artist bodied their verses, and the song ripped the streets apart. It was tough making this call for favorite song of the year, but I’m happy with my choice. Can’t go wrong with a Jigga assisted track as your favorite song of the year. 

Favorite Local Project of The Year:
Mid City AB’s Letter To New Orleans 

A Classic. Not much more to say about this project that we haven’t said on Sliktron already this year. The single most important local piece of art outside of Exhibit Be in 2014. 

Favorite Non Hip Hop Album of 2014: Ed Sheeran’s X

What a complete piece of work X was. Everyone knew that following up Plus for Ed Sheeran would be extremely difficult, but the young vocalist stepped up to the challenge, and delivered a Grammy 

nominated album for his fans.

@Unortho_Stylo

Favorite mixtape this year: RetcH - Poloo Sporting Goods.

Being a fan of Retchy P since Bitches & Bleep, he has been proving himself to be a force lately & besides the many strong featured verses he has on songs like the one on Action Bronson's Flip Ya, this was the project that proved to me RetcH is capable of some raw rhymes & creative story-telling. Some notable songs are Special Jim, (it had me like damn) Marmalade Sky, Burgundy  Windbreaker (superb stories in both), & Graceful Jewelry Removal (it was just raw & real grimey.) Thelonious Martin also produced the whole thing which is a big plus.


Favorite Album this year: Freddie Gibbs - Pinata



This was a hard decision between this album & KRIT's Cadillactica, but I expected Cadillactica to a great album already. Pinata caught me completely caught off-guard with just how well Gangsta Gibbs sounded over Madlib's production. If you listen to Gangsta Gibbs you know how street his lyrics can be & I praise the man for not laying those street raps over typical trap beats. A few notable songs are Thuggin, Real,  Pinata, & Robes. Some notable featured artist are Domo Genesis, Scarface, & Raekwon.


Favorite song this year: Big KRIT - Mt. Olympus

Because like KRIT said "Now they wanna hear a country nigga rap." That line alone lets you know that this entire song is about to be a statement. In this song KRIT let people see an aggressive rap side of him many did not know existed & it dropped jaws (I know mine was on the floor.) The production was hectic, busy, & just added on to KRIT's aggression.

Favorite non-rap project: Corbin aka Spooky Black aka Lil Spook - Black Silk

At first glance, Spooky Black's low quality music video for Without u just seems like a gimmick since it's a white-kid, with a du-rag on, occasionally walking in the snow, in terrible quality. But, when the beat drops & he starts singing, it demands attention. It is the shock value that had me downloading his mixtape & listening to it's wavy sounds. When the world gets hip to Corbin (Spooky Black) he will be another added to the list of crooners like The Weeknd & Frank Ocean. Some notable tracks are Without U, Forest Sounds, Remember Me, & Remember You