Hello everyone! This is The Chart Critic stepping in for his first article on theodysseyonline (or on any website, but just ignore that), and I am here to breakdown the Billboard music charts and news stories for all of you music fans out there. In order to break down the charts, I believe we have three simple topics to cover:
#1: All About Albums - A review of the highest debuting album on the Billboard 200 Chart
#2: Top Tracks - My top songs of the week from the Billboard Hot 100 Chart
#3: Rant. - A tirade about recent news in music that has been mentioned by the Billboard website
So, let us get started with Breaking Down Billboard for the week of December 3rd, 2016.
All About Albums: A Tribe Called Quest's "We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service"
A Tribe Called Quest, one of the most influential and revered acts in Hip-Hop history, released their first project together since 1998 on November 11th. Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Jarobi White, and the late great Phife Dawg came together to create two discs featuring eight songs each. Frequent Collaborators Consequence and Busta Rhymes also make a number of appearances, as do artists such as Andre 3000, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, and Anderson Paak in the form of a feature.
The album kicks off with a great pair of songs in "The Space Program" and "We The People...," and it does not really slow down from there. What makes this album a great one in my opinion is that it never misses, as I listened through all sixteen tracks on three separate occasions and never felt the need to skip a song. Some songs stuck out to me more, like "Kids...," "The Killing Season," "Lost Somebody," "Ego," and "The Donald," but every song struck me as creative in their own way, and I never once felt like ATCQ or a collaborator was not giving their full effort on a piece (by the way, "The Donald" is not about Donald Trump, it's about Phife Dawg, who went by the nickname "Don Juice"). The album flows well, every artist involved does their part or more, and the project is socially aware and presents an excellent tribute to Phife Dawg. A lot of people wondered if A Tribe Called Quest could still deliver with a project nearly two decades after their last one, and if you ask me, they most certainly did. In fact, I think they delivered with one of the best albums of 2016.
What I would like to do with each album that I review is to name one song that I would choose if I had to try and convince someone to give the artist and album involved a listen. Essentially, I am picking my favorite track, but also the one I think defines the artist and the album the best. For this project, I could pick a number of songs, but I'd have to go with "We The People..." ATCQ apparently agrees with me too, as that track is the lead single off of the album and has a music video to go along with it that you can watch and listen to on YouTube. The timing of this could song is great for both Hip-Hop and America, and once you hear the hook, I would bet that you would agree.
Top Tracks: My Favorite Songs Of The Week
What I would like to do with the Top Tracks portion of the Billboard Breakdown is to present my favorite songs from the week's Hot 100 Chart. In order to do this, I make sure that I have listened to each song on the chart, and then I break it all down in a way where I can find my Top 20 songs. I like to do this with the Hot 100 because it keeps me listening to all genres of music and what and who is currently popular within them. So, without further adieu, here are my favorite songs from the week of December 3rd, 2016:
#1 - "Bad Things" (Machine Gun Kelly x Camila Cabello)
For whatever reason, I just can't get enough of this unique pairing
#2 - "Heathens" (twenty one pilots)
Their AMA performance of this song completely revitalized my love for it
#3 - "Love Me Now" (John Legend)
What can I say? This dude can write a love song
#4 - "Hallelujah" (Pentatonix)
This remake has taken on new meaning with the passing of Leonard Cohen, but regardless, I'll always be amazed at how Pentatonix can create so many sounds by using just five voices
#5 - "Don't Wanna Know" (Maroon 5 ft. Kendrick Lamar)
A very underrated song and collaboration in my opinion
#6 - "Closer" (The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey)
I guess I'm just not ready to give up on this smash hit
#7 - "This Town" (Niall Horan)
I've loved this debut solo track from Niall since it was released
#8 - "24K Magic" (Bruno Mars)
Bruno is gonna Bruno, and I'm a huge fan of that
#9 - "All Time Low" (Jon Bellion)
One of my favorites to hit the charts in the past month or so
#10 - "Song For Another Time" (Old Dominion)
One of the most creative songs I've heard all year
#11 - "May We All" (Florida Georgia Line ft. Tim McGraw)
I'll be darned if I don't really enjoy this song every time it comes on the radio
#12 - "Wanna Be That Song" (Brett Eldredge)
Never mind the fact that the music video takes place in Wrigley Field, this song is another example of an excellent love song hidden in Country music
#13 - "Mercy" (Shawn Mendes)
It may not differ too much from Mendes' other singles, but I really like the passion in his voice on this one
#14 - "Say You Won't Let Go" (James Arthur)
It's grown on me more and more since it debuted on the chart
#15 - "Capsize" (Frenship ft. Emily Warren)
One of my favorite tracks of 2016, and a hidden gem on the Hot 100
#16 - "We The People..." (A Tribe Called Quest)
See the album review above :)
#17 - "My Way" (Calvin Harris)
This song has begun to drop fast, but I still love the vibes I get from the hook
#18 - "What They Want" (Russ)
The minimal beat and Russ' attitude in this song make it one of my favorite rap songs out right now
#19 - "Me And Your Mama" (Childish Gambino)
This song is a fricken' experience, and it completely blew me away and made me a fan of Gambino's venture towards psychedelic rock
#20 - "A Guy With A Girl" (Blake Shelton)
Not too different of a sound from Blake, but the "ain't she beautiful?" line gets me every time
Rant.: Drake's "More Life" Project
The rant section of these Billboard Breakdown's is where I take a recent news story in music and give my reaction in the form of once sentence. By keeping it to one sentence, I challenged myself to get my viewpoint across quickly. This week, we're talking about the recent announcement that Drake will be releasing a new project titled More Life by the end of 2016. Here's my thought:
"Drake should not release More Life in 2016 because his most recent album, Views, is still fresh in the minds of music fans everywhere and was the #1 album in the United States for nearly a quarter of the year, produced his first Hot 100 #1 as a lead artist ("One Dance"), and included 20 tracks that spanned over 80 minutes total, which combines to give off the feeling that another project just seven months after Views would only overexpose Drake and his music while simultaneously decreasing the lasting effect an incredibly successful album like Views should have."
That's all the Chart Critic has for this week! Check back next week to see a new album review, a new Top 20 song list, and another quick rant. Happy holidays!
