Put Me On: February 2021
Happy Black History Month! Here are some of my favorite songs this month.
About This Month’s Playlist:
February may be the shortest month of the year but don’t worry, I’ve still got an absolutely packed playlist for you. We start out with a mix of hyperpop and electronic music before steadily easing across the diaspora: from dancehall to early 2000’s hip-hop and R&B to more recent fixes. In the middle, there’s a clear strain of rock - classic, modern, we love a range. Towards the end it gets more into hip-hop, lots of production from Pi’erre Bourne, a bit of YBN Nahmir, and even a bonus SoundCloud track at the very end. This month’s artists include everyone from Duck Sauce to The Byrds to Rina Sawayama to JPEGMAFIA. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.
I’ll admit, I’ve never been the biggest country fan in the world, but I’m always willing to be swayed - and this month it was Willie Jones who did the swaying. His most recent album, Right Now, is just…fun. He blends references to hip-hop and R&B across the project in a way that feels natural - whether it’s lyrical interpolations or a quick switch up in his syrupy, confident voice. “Country Soul” in particular serves as the project’s opening track, and it introduces Willie to listeners both as a pleasant, fun-loving person and as a wildly talented artist. He even addresses his ability to weave between genres on the song: “Sometimes I go bump me some Tim McGraw, sometimes I feel like T.I….When I’m in love I need my Marvin Gaye / When I want rock I let my Aerosmith play.” And listen, I respect that.
There’s not a month that goes by that I don’t fall down the rabbithole of some subgenre of electronic music and let it bump in the background while I mindlessly work along to it. One of my absolute favorite regional subgenres is gqom, which hails from Durban, South Africa. DJ Lag was one of the pioneers of gqom - and his songs, most of which are easily over five minutes, combine a slow building bass with claps, echoey voices, and all sorts of unique sounds that really make each song feel like its own experience. I first heard DJ Lag’s “Trip To New York” during a set at a Boiler Room show back in 2019, and I dived deeper with this BBCRadio 1 Essential Mix. “Khonkolo” incorporates so many different layers and orchestrates such a dramatic buildup that by the time you finish it, you’re listening to something totally different than what you started.
To be honest with you, this month’s playlist could really just be this song over and over again. A friend sent it to me one evening and from the first note I heard, I was absolutely gutted. This is easily one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard in my life. Celeste, a British singer who’s only 26 at the time of this writing, somehow manages to transport you back in time, like a modern day Billie Holiday. This songs comes off her debut album, Not Your Muse, and each song on it is equally as beautiful as this one. Everything about this song - the mournful lyrics, the range of her voice, the simple, yet moving piano - all of it together makes a song that sounds like it belongs in the background of a movie scene. If there’s one song that you listen to from this list, please, please let it be this one.
“Magic Carpet Ride,” Steppenwolf
I went back through my classic rock playlist a lot this month, and fell in love once again with this gem. Every time I listen to it, I play the opening over again at least two or three times, because the way John Kay’s voice cuts through that initial guitar solo and starts his verse immediately gets me going. In fact, it’s the prominence of the guitar throughout the entire song, evenly matched with the bass in the background that always made me (and the rest of the country, because it peaked at #3 on the Hot 100 back in 1968) keep coming back to this one. Sure, it may or may not be about drugs but hey, it was ‘60s.
“Gravity,” Brent Faiyaz, DJ Dahi, & Tyler, The Creator
First of all, Brent Faiyaz was #6 on my list of top projects of 2020 for Fuck The World, and he’s about to be right back on my list for this year if he keeps this up! Secondly, Brent Faiyaz is from my hometown so you already know how excited I am. Besides that, this song just feels like you’re falling into a trance. Even though it’s Brent’s song - he croons through the entire first half as well as on the chorus - the beat, produced by DJ Dahi, sounds like distinctly Flower Boy-era Tyler, The Creator (specifically like “Glitter”) and his deep voice provides a welcome contrast to the airy mood of the track.
“Candy,” Foxy Brown Feat. Kelis
Every so often, this song comes back into my life and every time it does, I’m elated. Amazingly, I remember exactly where I was when this song first popped back up onto my radar again - in the Men’s section of the Top Shop in SoHo in August 2017. The only reason I remember the exact time and place is because of how sharply the whistle in the instrumental cut through my consciousness in that moment. Besides the fact that Foxy Brown could rap her ass off - her dynamic lyrics are complimented by a melodic chorus. And quite frankly, this song is catchy and really just fun as hell every time I listen.
“Feelings,” Shordie Shordie Feat. Rico Nasty (Bonus: Not On Streaming)
The amount of artists from Maryland in this month’s newsletter is just…such a beautiful thing. Anywayyyyy, Shordie Shordie and Rico Nasty came together for this smoooooth lil' Baltimore/DMV crossover (yes, they’re different) that has yet to be put on Spotify or Apple Music at the time of this writing. Shordie Shordie, former member of Baltimore trio Peso Da Mafia (famous for their hit “Money Man”), as well as newly minted solo artist (with his hit “Bitchuary”) - has a way of approaching melody that combines his raspy voice and distinct regional inflection with the subtle guitar riff. The song is accentuated by Rico coming in with a much higher pitch halfway through. Rico Nasty has more range than a lot of artists today - she can go from screaming on a punk-influenced track like “Smack A Bitch,” to taking on a lighter, breathless singsong-y voice like on “Gucci Down (Remix).” In this case, she goes for the latter - appearing halfway through the track for a welcome, upbeat change in tone.
Well, that’s it for February. Check out the full playlist with alllll my favorites of the month on Spotify or Apple Music and if you’re really looking for some surprises, you can follow me on SoundCloud.
This newsletter is completely free to read, but each month I’ll highlight a different community organization, and feel free to donate if you so choose. This month, I encourage you to check out the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization founded by social justice activist and attorney Bryan Stevenson, and is dedicated to ending mass incarceration in the United States, an issue which disproportionately affects Black people in this country.
See you next month!
Tia
Thank you for pulling through with the Feb playlist. My favourites off this list are "Gravity", "Candy", "Strange" and "Khonkolo". Extra thank you for putting me onto Celeste!!