1. Beyonce – "Formation"
I’ve really made things hard for myself by choosing "Formation" at number one, ‘cos finding something to say about this one that hasn’t already been covered might be damn near impossible.
Let’s give this a spin though.
In my social media feed, I notice some people turn their noses up at Beyonce for some reason, dismissing her as some sort of manufactured product. I’ma tell you something though – I don’t care if 500 people conceptualised, co-wrote and produced this song, then another 600 directed and styled the video. At the end of the day, Beyonce has made the decision to use her enormous platform to drop a protest song. Any further criticism can be handled by the heel of her albino alligators.
No artist in 60 years of pop music with a reach comparable to that of Beyonce has given us something this powerful. Did Madonna ever do some shit like this? Michael Jackson gave us “They Don’t Care About Us,” but he was a freakish white dude by that stage. This is Beyonce, at the peak of her powers, drowning a fucking cop car. Striding out to take over the Super Bowl halftime show, flanked by Black Panther-styled dancers to tell the next generation they just might be a black Bill Gates in the making.
Coupled with the video, "Formation" is the most powerful pop song we’re likely to see for a long time. But beyond the verbals and visuals, this song slaps. Mike WiLL Made It killed this shit. The hook (via Swae Lee) is a piece of swagged-out genius.
The next challenge is finding something new to write about it when we do our year-end lists, cos I know damn well nothing over the next six months is going to match "Formation."
2. SG Lewis / Dornik – “All Night”
3. Terrace Martin – “Valdez off Crenshaw”
4. Anderson .Paak – “The Waters”
5. DJ Quik / Problem – “A New Nite/Rosecrans Grove”
6. Funkadelic / Ice Cube / Kendrick Lamar – “Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You”
7. Nao – “Fool To Love”
8. Kanye West / Ty Dolla $ign – “Real Friends”
9. YG – “Still Brazy”
10. Rihanna – “Kiss it Better”