Next week, Nick’s Picks will reveal the best of 2015 after a year of great music from artists in several different genres. But before we get to the gems of this year’s music, let us take moment to reflect on some of the low points from the past twelve months.
Worst Artist: Meek Mill
Meek Mill’s album Dreams Worth More Than Money is actually very good. He’s very talented with a one-of-a-kind flow. Unfortunately, whoever is in charge of his management and public relations has no control over how Meek composes himself.
Meek’s decision to go after Drake for allegedly using a ghostwriter went as well as the NFL going after Tom Brady for Deflategate. Drake, with his platform on Apple Music, went hard on the offensive with not only “Charged Up,” which was brutal enough to silence Meek then and there, but then “Back to Back,” which eviscerated Meek. Meek had it pretty good: a critically and commercially acclaimed album, freedom after a year long stint in prison and a beautiful girlfriend.
To Meek: If the good gets going, don’t attack the guy who can destroy you in a few lines. As a Philadelphian, this is a disappointment for our only artist repping the city to get demolished like he’s any of our four sports teams. This year has been hard enough for our city.
Worst Song: The Weeknd – “The Hills”
The Weeknd’s breakthrough best-selling album The Beauty Behind the Madness was a mixed bag. Most of the songs were middle-of-the-road Weeknd songs. Songs like “Losers” and “Tell Your Friends” were strong, and “Can’t Feel My Face” is a new high for the artist and one of the best tracks. Yet, the most apparent moment from this album is the achingly bad and massively popular song, “The Hills.” This song was inescapable when it should have played at most second fiddle to “Face.” Abel Tesafaye’s voice sounds like a whimpering child drowned out by the wood shredder in “Fargo.” The lyrical content is so grimy and gross that it’s surprising we all haven’t had to take multiple showers a day because this song is on the radio so goddamn much. Good thing Eminem jumped on the remix because this song needed to feel even grosser.
Worst Album: Carnage – Papi Gordo
There was no reason to listen to this album. I had no intention to ever listen to this album. This was the most generic piece of EDM garbage. It was almost interesting to include rappers like Migos, ILoveMakonnen and Ty Dolla $ign, but even that was a failure. EDM is the worst when it’s uninventive and repeats the run of the mill build up-drop formula. Ignore Carnage. Listen to the most inventive EDM of this year from Jack U and Hudson Mohawke.
Biggest Disappointment: Action Bronson – Mr. Wonderful
Action Bronson is probably the most lovable character in hip-hop right now. Describe a figure more worthy of your attention than ginger-bearded Albanian former chef who sounds like Ghostface Killah and hosts his own cooking show for Vice. Bronson has delivered some amazing one liners and mixtapes over the past few years. Mr. Wonderful, his debut album, had extraordinary expectations to be a high-production version of what we came to love. Bronson half-delivered. “Baby Blue” and “Terry” sounded like classic Bronson, and new twists like “Actin Crazy,” were exciting. Unfortunately, during the second half, the rapper decided to get experimental and lost track of any structure or Bronson touch. The Queens rapper can still be trusted to deliver a great verse, but unfortunately not over psychedelic guitar riffs.
The No Show: Kanye West
Everyone has commented on the lack of new music from Frank Ocean, but Frank hasn’t given us too many hints besides an errant Tumblr post here or there. The real no-show is Kanye. On midnight of New Year’s, Kanye dropped the beautiful lullaby to his daughter North, “Only One” with Paul McCartney. Yes, that Paul McCartney. He dropped the massive hard-hitting single “All Day” in theatrical fashion at the BRIT awards. He premiered two yet to be released singles, “Wolves” with Vic Mensa and Sia and “Fade” with Post Malone and Ty Dolla $ign at his fashion shows. He started with the album name So Help Me God and then changed it to Swish, yet months later the album is nowhere to be found.
The worst part is, he intends to surprise release the album, and there are so many conflicting reports. Seth Rogen hears it in a limo, one of Kanye’s producers says they’re wrapping up mixing, and then Kanye himself says he’s too focused on his minimalist desert-toned fashion line so it’s another year away. Who knows if we’ll ever see this album or if it will even be good.
Nick Dye
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