Best Of 2013: Paul Casey

Music: Singles:

1. The-Dream, “Slow It Down”
“Slow It Down” is the most joyful song of the year and the best. There is nothing this year that more perfectly expresses the desire to be a part of the world and the place that music has in that. “I’m just trying to dance with my baby…” The nod to Michael, the way Fabolous drops the nod to “Feelin’ On Yo Booty,” and the chorus all make this a great song. What makes this the best song of the year, though, is the way the second verse builds and hits you with every molecule of what it feels like to experience this kind of musical joy with someone you love. “Always with your baby I’ll never sell out. . . ” The backing vocals kick up and he goes high. There is nothing this year in any genre that has the power of that one line.

2. The Weeknd featuring Drake, “Live For”
It was very hard to choose between this and “Belong To The World” but I figured that “Live For” probably works better out of context. The only guest appearance on Kiss Land comes from Drake. And he nails it. “Roll up in that thing, got hoes like Prince, but they know I’m King” does give me a chuckle, especially seeing as Drake is the nephew of Prince’s best buddy Larry Graham. Destined to be a classic on par with “Crew Love,” “Live For” expresses much the same spirit as “Slow It Down.” Performed live it is a fucking beast and you don’t quite get the meaning of the thing until you are in a crowd who mean every word.

3. Justin Timberlake featuring Jay-Z, “Suit & Tie”
Everything I already said. So sexy. So badass. It makes moving this human frame the best artistic performance you can hope for. Possibly the most heavyweight guest rap ever?

4. R. Kelly, “Genius”
Yeah, Black Panties is influenced by the positive developments in R&B in the last few years, but it is unmistakably Kells. It is hard to think of anyone being able to deliver the chorus like Robert. “I’m blessed with the insight to please your body. Tonight you’re lying with a sex genius.” I kind of believe him. It is a beautiful song. R. Kelly does that flip from ridiculous to moving like no other.

5. Drake, “Hold On We’re Going Home”
A well-deserved hit! It reached #1 in the US R&B charts and #4 on both the US and UK charts. A resolutely positive song on an album that is quite gloomy. With that Disco flair for 2013. “Cause you’re a good girl and you know it. You act so different around me. Cause you’re a good girl and you know it. I know exactly who you could be. Just hold on we’re going home.” Featuring Drake’s buddies Majid Jordan who put serious sauce on the production and backing vocals.

5. Robin Thicke, “Blurred Lines”
An embarrassing video aside, the negative reaction towards this song baffles me. It is not an exception, lyrically, to the vast majority of R&B, Soul, and Funk. If you include Rap, it is the tamest, least offensive sentiment that could be imagined. You act like a good person but you want to be bad. An inhibited, anxious person is freed through music. It is not intended as an all-encompassing moral framework with which to treat all women (or sexual partners). It is a call from the performer to the listener, to those who feel like this, to those who feel trapped and apart from human interaction, that there are other options. Many things in R&B can come across inappropriate, creepy, or problematic especially when removed from the spirit of the performance. The spirit of this track and its connection to similar songs through the history of R&B is as a motivator for something good that a person wants to do but cannot.

Those who are aware of R&B know that “Blurred Lines” is straight from the book of Leon Ware and Marvin Gaye. The tone, the sentiment, the music on Blurred Lines comes from that time. If the argument is to be had as far as how damaging this kind of music is to people and to how people act and think, then one should know that picking on Robin Thicke means absolutely zero. Both T.I. and Pharrell (those two other guys in the video) have expressed more objectionable thoughts on record and yet are apparently not a problem. Robin Thicke is not your problem either, the genre is. So let’s talk about that instead of picking and choosing easy targets noone cares enough about to defend.

Robin Thicke is a goofball but he has some fair talent. Check out his verse on “Pregnant” or “Sex Therapy,” which as far as I can hear is entirely about why consent is the most important thing. He doesn’t represent any odious subculture; he represents the history and development of R&B. If that is a problem—and it might be for you—then kindly address your issues to how and why the genre has developed in the way that it has. If you want to get outraged about something sinister have a listen to The Delfonics’ “Ready or Not.”

The album Blurred Lines is a good 1970s tinged listen in the style of Kelly’s Write Me Back and if it was not for such a packed year, it would have made the top ten.

6. Lady Gaga featuring R. Kelly, “Do What U Want”
I have enjoyed Lady Gaga as a personality for a while but apart from a few choice tracks—“Telephone” in particular!—I have not really warmed to her albums. ARTPOP is the first LP of hers I have fully enjoyed. This track is a big reason why. The live performance above should explain why. It is fully OUT THERE. Nice production and just about the right hybrid of R&B and Dance.

7. Daft Punk featuring Panda Bear, “Doin’ It Right”
Random Access Memories caused some confusion for people who did not know that Disco Funk was a thing. Those who had never heard Chic were unprepared for a different kind of Electronic Funk. This is my favorite on the album and features Panda Bear from Animal Collective. Like most of the songs on this list, a song about liberating yourself from your anxieties and physical shortcomings.

8. Phoenix featuring R. Kelly, “Trying To Be Cool (Remix)”
I’m not sure if I am happy that so many soggy and snobby Indie heads are suddenly realizing that R. Kelly is a talent. Here’s the important thing to remember, you people who only pay attention to music that is scrunched up and inhibited in the shape of Morrissey’s left butt cheek: this is not an exception. This is another example of why R. Kelly is the greatest hit maker of his generation and why the Remix is always better than the original.

9. The Lonely Island, “3-Way “
A little bit of a cheat seeing as this was released in 2011, but as The Wack Album only came out this year it seems OK to include it. Very silly, obviously, but like “Dick in a Box” and “Motherlover” it doubles as a damn fine example of the genre. It is the Spinal Tap trick. You get laughs AND you make good music. I am also of the opinion that without lovely Andy Samberg, JT might not have returned to music.

Games
Music: Albums
Music: Singles
Television

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