The 2009 mixtapes

Every year, I put together a mixtape of some of my favorite hip-hop, then push it on my friends like a crack dealer. What can I say? I like sharing good hip-hop, especially with people who otherwise wouldn't listen to anything but 80s hair metal or the same playlists they made four years ago.

Here's the playlist from my main 2009 mixtape, which I will probably hand you if I see you.

Since I've been working from home, I've had a little more time to download and listen to new music, so I also managed to put together a non-hip-hop 2009 mix. There's a couple of extra hip-hop mixes thrown in at the end for good measure.

THE YEAR IN HIP-HOP: 2009

1. "New Wu" - Raekwon, featuring Ghostface Killah and Method Man

Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II" was my favorite album of the year, so this track gets the coveted lead-off spot.

2. "Broken Van (Thinking of You)" - CunninLynguists, featuring Mac Lethal

If Wu-Tang didn't get you into the album, the haunting Leon Russell sample that dominates this track won't fail.

3. "The Don Cheadle Effect" - Skyzoo

Following up a very complex track with one that's just about rhyming. Four awesome short verses here, including one taking on all of Cheadle's notable roles.

4. "American Nightmare" - BK-One, featuring Brother Ali and Scarface

Um, if you know my musical proclivities, you know that Brother Ali and Scarface on the same track will get my interest. If you've heard this song, you know why it's on here. Awesome shit.

5. "Auditorium" - Mos Def, featuring Slick Rick

6. "Stimulus Plan" - Dead Prez

7. "I Heard It Today" - Mr. Lif

The annual political section of this mix. Hard to choose the best part of this triple play. There's Mos Def lamenting the nation "going through the motions" and "dimmin' down the focus" and Slick Rick imagining himself as a soldier in Iraq, having a kid tell him "Gimme oil or get the fuck out my country!" Dead Prez tells us "It's the American way/Imperialism, have it your way/Whatever it takes/Whoever gets fucked in the process, that's OK". The most pointed comments, however, may be from Mr. Lif, with "They were willing to give people with bad credit loans/cause they knew within a few years we're out of our homes/then they can buy up all the same property they sold us/for the wealthy and maniacal, the shit was a gold rush".

8. "Whatcha Wanna Do" - DJ Quik and Kurupt

Well, I needed something light after the political stuff, and this song makes me crack up. I may have to sub this out for some copies, but any song that answers the title question with "Trying to drink, trying to smoke/and after that, I'm trying to poke" is OK by me.

9. "Popularity" - Skyzoo

10. "90210" - Wale

A couple of songs by amazing rhymers dealing with fame and what it means.

11. "Reality TV" - J Dilla featuring Black Thought

12. "White Noise" - Atmosphere

Two songs dealing with the inanity of television. Black Thought tells us "My head's so spinnin'/I'm so through with women/who watch reruns of The Real World with dinner/and Kim Kardashian, moms and Bruce Jenner." Atmopshere gets a little deeper with "Surf the shit, I'd rather watch the commercials/Program a nation of clones/Subliminal seeds, watch them grow/So tune in for next week's show/Like if it wasn't on, what the fuck would you know?"

13. "Refuse to Lose" - Dead Prez, featuring Chuck D and Avery Storm

This song refuses to get out of my head. I figured the rest of you deserve the same fate.

14. "Never Come Down (The Brownie Song)" - CunninLynguists

15. "Smoke" - J Dilla, featuring Blu

A couple of great songs that glorify smoking weed. Don't do drugs, kids.

16. "Crown Jewel" - Brother Ali

I can't believe I went this far without a song from Brother Ali's "Us" album, but the awesome horns and laid-back, laconic rhymes in this track make up for it.

17. "Fire Wood Drumstix" - J Dilla, featuring DOOM

Nothing better to break up some mixtape monotony than a quick minute-and-a-half DOOM rhyme over a J Dilla beat.

18. "Catalina" - Raekwon, featuring Lyfe Jennings

One of those old Raekwon crime joints, as Slick Rick says on the album. Great video, too, you can check it out up top.

19. "Mega" - BK-One featuring Aceyalone, Myka 9 and Abstract Rude

Always on the verge of getting edited off this album, but I just like it too much. Great beat with Brazilian flavor, great rhymes.

20. "Bad Mufucker Pt. 2" - Brother Ali

He really is.

21. "Samsonite Man" - Fashawn, featuring Blu

California's 2009 Rookie of the Year pairs with Blu, who took that award in 2007, for a track about always being on the move that speaks to me after I spent 2009 constantly headed somewhere. The "Ramblin' Man" of '09 hip-hop.

22. "Streets" - CunninLynguists, featuring Sean Price and Poison Pen

I described the sample on "Broken Van" as haunting, but the sample of Peter Skellern's "You're a Lady" on this track will not just haunt you, it will worm its way into your dreams ...

Yes, that all fits on one 80-minute CD, just barely. If I can fit them, I've cut some snippets of J Dilla instrumentals from "Jay Stay Paid" to fit in between some tracks.

THE YEAR IN NON-HIP-HOP: 2009

Here's another mixtape for you, with much less discourse. A couple notes: Yes, there are a couple tracks with rappers on them, but they're mostly rock with some rhymes, so I fit them on here. As for the Wale/Lady Gaga song, I refused to consider that hip-hop; it is straight pop, but some people will like it, so I included it. I do know that Kurt Cobain has been dead for a decade so it's a little odd to have Nirvana tracks on a Best of 2009 mix, but 1) the songs are from "Live at Reading", which was released this year; 2) "Spank Thru" has never really received a proper release before this album; and 3) this version of "Lithium", with thousands of people singing along with Kurt, gives me the fn chills, the only song this year to do so, so it gets included.

1. "Soul of a Man" - Ramblin' Jack Elliot

2. "Pat" - Built to Spill

3. "Way Down" - N.A.S.A., featuring Barbie, RZA and John Frusciante

4. "Say Please" - Monsters of Folk

5. "I You We" - Circulatory System

6. "Lithium" (Live) - Nirvana

7. "Cannibal Resource" - Dirty Projectors

8. "I Can Be a Frog" - Flaming Lips, featuring Karen O

9. "Chillin'" - Wale featuring Lady Gaga

10. "Ghost of Karelia" - Mastodon

11. "Ahead of the Curve" - Monsters of Folk

12. "Got Nuffin" - Spoon

13. "Death Don't Have No Mercy" - Ramblin' Jack Elliot

14. "Daylight" - Matt & Kim, featuring De La Soul

15. "Life's a Dream" - Built to Spill

16. "Horseshoes and Handgrenades" - Green Day

17. "Temecula Sunrise" - Dirty Projectors

18. "Map of the World" - Monsters of Folk

19. "Spank Thru" (Live) - Nirvana

20. "Evil" - The Flaming Lips

THE ANDREW ADDENDUMS

Andrew is my best friend from high school and the person who has been the longest fan of my mixtapes, since I used to make them on actual cassette tapes for our car stereos back in the mid-90s. He loves hip-hop, but doesn't spend near the time I do following album releases and listening to new stuff and he's always asking me about what's good, so I made him a couple mixes I will also detail here.

Here's the problem with Andrew, though (and yes, he will read this. I don't care, he knows it). He's been Berkeley-ized, even before he moved to Berkeley. He doesn't want to listen to misogynistic, violent, overly foul-mouthed rap anymore, no matter how fun it is. So I tailor his mixes a bit differently. I call it the "Dinner Party Test" - if Andrew's got some granola-eating, hemp-wearing Sierra Club members over, will he be embarrassed by the song? If so, I try (kinda) to avoid it. He also has slightly different tastes than me generally; for instance, while I didn't like K'Naan's album much, I know he would, so I've included songs from there.

However, I also refuse to blindly accept this change in my friend, remembering us riding around NC, rapping along to Biggie, Wu-Tang and some just plain rude shit. Therefore, I made him two extra mixes, one soft and one a tad harder. I will bring him back to the dark side. You've been warned, Heather.

Andrew mix I - Perfectly OK for a dinner party - 1. "Supermagic", Mos Def 2. "Hiphop" - N.A.S.A., featuring KRS-ONE, Fatlip and Slim Kid Tre 3. "I Come Prepared" - K'Naan, featuring Damien Marley 4. "Therapy" - Alchemist, featuring Evidence, Blu, Talib Kweli and Kid Cudi 5. "Henrietta Longbottom" - Felt 6. "Nothing But Strangeness" - CunninLynguists 7. "La La La" - De La Soul 8. "Fresh Air" - Brother Ali 9. "The Mayor" - N.A.S.A. featuring The Cool Kids, Ghostface Killah, Scarface and DJ AM 10. "Untitled(LovedU)2" - Blu 11. "ABC's" - K'Naana featuring Chubb Rock 12. "Here I Am" - BK-One featuring Phonte, Brother Ali and The Grouch 13. "Don't Leave (When Winter Comes) - CunninLynguists featuring Slug 14. "TV in the Radio" - Wale featuring K'Naan 15. "Sunny CA" - Fashawn featuring Co$$ and Mistah F.A.B. 16. "Felt Chewed UP" - Felt 17. "Freshfest" - Skyzoo featuring Wale 18. "No Hay Nada Mas" - Mos Def 19. "Life as a Shorty" - Fashawn featuring J Mitchell 20. "Take a Minute" - K'Naan 21. "Move" - CunninLynguists 22. "The National Anthem" - Lupe Fiasco

Andrew Mix II - Fuck the hippies - 1. "Gun Harmonizing" - Royce the 59 featuring Crooked I 2. "Evil Deeds" - Wu Tang Clan 3. "Prepare for War" - Saigon 4. "Our Way" - Fashawn featuring Evidence 5. "Ill Figures" - Wu Tang Clan 6. "Shake This" - Royce the 59 7. "Spit" - Saigon 8. "We Will Rob You" - Raekwon featuring Slick Rick, Gza and Masta Killah 9. "Dirty Game" - Cormega 10. "Cocaine" - CunninLynguists 11. "Radiant Jewels" - Wu Tang Clan 12. "Hot Shyt" - Wale featuring Peedi Peedi, Black Thought, Tu Phace and Chris Young 13. "Survival Skills" - KRS-One and Buckshot, featuring DJ Revolution 14. "Blue Balls" - BK-One featuring Blueprint 15. "Mean Streets" - Raekwon featuring Inspektah Deck and Ghostface 16. "Deathmurdermayhem" - Felt 17. "Alphabet Soup" - Skyzoo 18. "The True & Living" - BK-One featuring Raekwon and I Self Devine 19. "NYPD" - Dead Prez 20. "Connection" - KRS-ONE and Buckshot featuring Smiff N Wessun 21 "Running Wild" - CunninLynguists featuring E-40 and Evidence 22. "Mega Fresh X" - Cormega featuring Red Alert, Parrish Smith, Grand Puba, KRS-ONE and Big Daddy Kane