First Impressions Review: The Life of Pablo by Kanye West

The most important thing to remember when thinking about TLOP and the insane lead up to its release is the one thing that’s remained constant throughout the rapper’s whole career: Kanye West is full of contradictions. It might be infuriating, but it’s true: The moment you think you can generalize something about Kanye, he’ll swerve. How…

My Ten Favorite Songs of the Decade So Far

10. Jessi J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj – “Bang Bang” I would call this my “guilty pleasure” selection, but, as Colton and I have repeatedly noted, there should be no guilt in the pleasure of a finely-crafted pop number. The Max Martin-produced “Bang Bang” is probably my favorite pop radio staple this decade, with a sizzling beat,…

Ranking Potential 2016 Super Bowl Halftime Performers

Billboard.com currently has a poll running for readers to vote on who they want to play at the next Super Bowl. They’ve selected fifteen potential artists, most of whom would be semi-reasonable selections. I’ve decided to rank them in terms of which ones I think would be the most sensible choices, with the second factor being which ones would put…

Mixtape: Bad Songs by Good Artists

Sometimes, even our biggest heroes falter. Below is a list of bad songs by our favorite artists. Whether they’re disappointing, dull, or downright disastrous, these twenty tracks remind us of that lesson Billy Wilder taught us so many years ago. As always, we’ve included a Spotify playlist so you can listen as you read. Enjoy! (Or,…

Dan’s Top 100 Everything: #28 Kanye West

The first Kanye song I heard was back in 2005, several months after the release of The College Dropout. “Through the Wire” on a compilation of Grammy nominees. Shortly afterwards, I read an article about Kanye’s mercurial personality. I became intrigued and checked out the rest of the album. I enjoyed it, but not enough to…

Mixtape: Favorite Non-Singles

In the fourth entry of our ongoing Mixtape series — in which one or more writers picks about twenty songs from under a single umbrella — we’re digging deep into some of our favorite non-singles from well-known artists. As always, we’ve included a Spotify playlist to listen to as you read. Someday’s Gone – All-American…