Staff Picks and Good Shit for the Week of October 17

Today marks the day that many observe as a religious holiday, 10/17 Day aka Squadsday aka Gucci Mane Appreciation Day. While there are lots of opposite and polarizing views about Gucci Mane, his influence over the hip-hop music we listen to today is undeniable. Without him there is no Young Thug, no Future, and no Mike Will. It's hard to imagine a world without that much happiness in it, and so it's appropriate that we celebrate October 17th by paying homage to Gucci Mane. With that said, here's what our editors were listening to this week (spoiler: nobody was listening to Gucci Mane):

It's hard to define what exactly a person needs to have in order to be classified as a potential star. It's like defining what it means to be cool, in that once you break down the specific parts involved, those parts lose their power because they become known. Jazz Cartier has a lot of this mysterious star quality in his video for "Switch", because whether it's the hair, or the expensive-looking clothes with expensive-looking holes in them, or the fact that he's smoking (which has always been cool), you can't look away. This gorgeous video gives you a look into Jazz's busy life, which involves him hanging out with his friends in an alleyway, going to the park at nightfall to terrorize an empty baseball diamond, and attending loft parties that are filled with beautiful women that Jazz can lay around and be disinterested in. Oh, and the second half of this song makes me want to break stuff.

Slava Pastuk, Canadian Editor
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This week, I’ve been coming home from hard days at the bloggin’ mines and burning through the fourth season of The Walking Dead alone in my apartment (yes, all bloggers live sad, lonely lives). Watching that show for a few hours makes you hyper aware of surrounding sounds and movements, which is a very badass way of saying that it makes me pee in my pants a little because I am a very scared child. So usually after I’m done watching Rick and company check what’s behind every single closed door in America, I need a nice palate cleanser before I go to bed. And it’s usually this new song from Bully. It makes me dance the zombies out of my head while I am cleaning off the pee. They can feel free to stick that on an album cover: “Bully are the best pee-cleaning band around today.” - Noisey

Dan Ozzi, Editor
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Do you like rap music that is ten years old? From Chicago? From groups that counted Twista among their ranks? OK, looks like most of you have moved on to someone whoever ended up writing about Taylor Swift, which is a bummer for you, because Legit Ballaz were dope. Twista has always been a patron of Chicago hip-hop, and even to this day works with up-and-coming artists to give 'em a bit of his fast-rappin' old-head shine.

Drew Millard, Features Editor
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I went to the Def Jam 30th Anniversary show last night and all irritating "real hip hop" digs aside, it was a great time. Reminded me how much I loved early Redman, and how his Whut? thee Album is an indelible classic. Here is arguably the best track on the LP. Once Hurricane G comes in with that "Yoyo Redman! What the fuck…" you know it's going to get real. Sick shit.

Fred Pessaro, Editor-in-Chief
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If there were more artists following in Sam Cooke's footsteps—sonically, not personality-wise—the world would be a better place. Especially as SoundCloud has become inundated with electro-R&B acts. Leon Bridges, clearly a disciple of Cooke, is bringing back raw talent and organic vocals. I discovered his track "Coming Home" this week and I've had it on repeat since.

Marissa Muller, Guest Editor
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There are still people who say that Young Thug is not a good rapper. To them, I submit "Givenchy," the lead song and my favorite song off the almost irreproachable Rich Gang: Tha Tour mixtape. Here, Young Thug blacks out. Like actually to the point where he is just yelping sounds and it's unclear if those sounds mean anything to anyone but him. But he also has a kind of rapid-fire delivery that shows he can handle any beat if he feels like it and a kind of musical quality that very, very few rappers do. The part where he says "I know all you want to do is have fun" sounds so genuine. The part where he says "she ain't know what time it was 'til I bought her first clock" is absurd but brilliant. Same with "split that money up eight ways like I'm an octopus." This whole thing is basically one long verse of Young Thug rapping at a million miles an hour, and each line is far more brilliant than whatever your favorite punchline rapper has been coming up with lately. And then he sings. And it is beautiful. The end.

Kyle Kramer, Editor
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As a 27-year-old white dude, it's my turn to talk about how much I love Taylor Swift's new single, "Out of the Woods." Unfortunately, we can't embed it because it's only available on iTunes (but you can stream it at this sweet Tumblr called Sunkissed Flaw), but I've been listening to it pretty much on repeat since it released earlier this week. I fucking love it. "Out of the Woods" is about how we as humans just want our lives to work out in certain ways sometimes, but that just never really happens. We force things. We think we know best. But we don't. And we don't know why. And that's okay. This is everything I want from a Taylor Swift song: corny, cheeky, shamelessly earnest—all while being a beautiful pop song that's catchy as hell. She makes it okay to be basic. And really, at the heart of this very strange life, aren't we all just a little bit basic?

Eric Sunderman, Managing Editor
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