Staff Picks and Good Shit for the Week of February 21

A scene from the greatest music video of all time.

Welcome to Noisey’s Staff Picks. It is currently negative a million degrees and it’s h rd to us e the kebrd proprly bc ause our fin gers aer so fck ing cold. Anyway, here’s the stuff keeping us warm this week.

Mid-to-late 2002 rap stars never die, they just get weirder. Here's Rich Boy, whose "Throw Some D's" and "Drop" will remain indelible bits of the rap canon until the sun swallows the earth and dragons from outer space settle on Mars for a hellish existence we cannot yet imagine, rapping over a trance song that he produced. Rich Boy is neither rich, nor is he a boy these days. But when he raps, "Bow my head every night and pray," you realize he doesn't need to be either, because he's a grown-ass man.

Drew Millard, Features Editor
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All I have listened to this week is Drake's new album, which I think is great. You can read my much more thorough opinions about it

here

. This is a song where Drake pretends to call his mom on the phone and talks to her about dating the trainer at her gym and also his dad. It is the only part of the album where things get really real, and it is great. Wow, Drake is so cool.

Kyle Kramer, Editor
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I actually only listened to "Preach" this week but I don't want to seem basic by picking a Drake song for my staff pick. This song is still tight though and makes me feel like I have butterflies in my tummy. Not for a nervous reason, but for a whimsical one, as if the first act of A Midsummer Night's Dream is playing out in my headphones. But seriously though, how bout that Drake album?

Slava Pastuk, Noisey Canada Editor
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You know that thing where you hear a young band that just hits all the right spots and the next thing you know you're playing the ever living shit out of their record and wondering where they have been all this time but the fact is that they are young and from Denmark so you never would have heard them before? Well that, for this.

Fred Pessaro, Editor-in-Chief
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I'm really glad to see that Funerus is going to be releasing new material soon. After bassist and vocalist Jill McEntee was waylaid by a serious medical issue several years ago, all went quiet in the Funerus camp, and the project's future seemed uncertain. She's clearly feeling a whole lot better now, though, and sounds stronger than ever. Now comprised of Jill and her husband, John (of Incantation renown), Funerus has just posted a teaser track from a new seven-inch for Dark Descent. If you're in the mood for pummeling, old school death metal, "The Black Plague" definitely hits the spot.

Kim Kelly, Contributing Editor
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I'm actually still listening to Drake. Just like last week, but I guess I did take a #DrakeBreak to listen to Elefant. WHO? Yeah, no one remembers them cos they were kind of cheesy, but I've been writing a lot about the NYC "scene" back in the early 2000s and they were knocking around on the periphery except no one took them seriously because the lead singer loved himself THAT MUCH. That being said "Bokkie" is a really perfect track, even if it's probably definitely written about a model. When I went to Coachella for the first time back in 2004 (for a story I was writing about the International Noisy Conspiracy of all people!) I stood side of stage during Elefant's set and said Blue Steel singer pulled me onstage, along with a bunch of other girls to sing the "Bah bah bah" bits in this song. I was already sweating, because, you know it's the desert, but also because he didn't know I'm pretty much tone deaf. Good times.

Kim Taylor Bennett, Style Editor
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It's been a big couple weeks for fans of Kanye West. First, he performed at the Grammys, which was sweet. Then, he ran on stage during the Grammys and ranted a bit and then expanded on said rant after the Grammys, which was sweet. Then he released his new shoe line last week and previewed his new song, "Wolves." Then he held a concert in the middle of Manhattan, which was very cold but still sweet. Then he did an interview with Style.com, in which he said he wants to be the "Steve Jobs of the Gap," which was sweet. Then he performed a medley of hits on SNL's 40th Anniversary, and his voice was basically gone, but it was still sweet. Then Big Sean's album leaked, which features a song called "All Your Fault" in which he and Kanye spit back and forth, which is surprisingly sweet. And then this morning, he rambled on the Breakfast Club about his new album and eating dinner with Taylor Swift, which was sweet. God, Kanye is so sweet.

Eric Sundermann, Managing Editor

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Let me just come clean here. This is not a song or an album

per se

. Sure maybe it’s not “music,” by “society’s” “standards.” You got me with your “rules” there, pal. But I’ve watched it more times than you’ve probably listened to some garbage new single from that buzz band you pretend to like to be a part of the cultural dialogue. This is a skit where Thomas Lennon (

The State

cast member-turned-millionaire-Hollywood-producer-and-good-for-him) plays the game “Sock or Hat?” It is a brilliant piece of comedic acting and makes me miss

The State

even more than I already did.

Dan Ozzi, Editor
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