2010 = slim pickings for music. And so I did what I always do when it’s a crap year and start listening to rap music again, mainly because you can always find something that’s fun. This year Rick Ross was the man of the year, and his Teflon Don was the best album. I missed his show at Hammersmith but my friend Jaimie Hodgson told me that when he played “B.M.F (Blowin’ Money Fast)”, the crowd was the wildest crowd he’d ever seen.
2. Gucci Mane started the year by being released from prison and then promptly released a billion mixtapes (best one was the Burrprint 2 in HD). He followed that with album called The Appeal: Georgia’s Most Wanted which was solid B-. He ended the year by being committed to a mental institution and on release got an ice cream cone with lightning bolts coming out of it on his face.
3. Wocka Flocka Flame is Gucci Mane’s right hand man and the big star on Gucci’s 1017 Brick Squad Records label. His first big hit was called “Oh Let’s Do it” and on his first album Flockavelli he took the repetition and the blunt violent overtones of that song and times it
4. One of my favourite hardcore bands of all time, Integrity, released their new album this year. The Blackest Curse was like if Slayer was still mean. In March I travel to Los Angeles with them to play the Scion Rock Festival as I’ve been hired to be their semi-official booking agent. I have no idea what I’m doing but it sees easy…
5. Dodgy politics aside, Burzum’s first album since Varg Vikerenes was released from jail for murder turned out really good. Belus has got the frosty majesty of his early albums but there’s melody and reflection as well as the obligatory hatred and anger.