October 2009 Archives

What would C.L. Smooth have done without Pete Rock? Common without No I.D.? Hip-hop started with the break beats and since the very beginning, the man on the 1s and 2s has had the power to make or break whatever the emcee is doing on the mic. In 2009, if there's any producer who looks to respect and uphold that fundamental symbiosis above all else, it's a guy called Exile. And if we were to make a list of the freshest, most vital beatsmiths working today, without a doubt he'd be near the top of the pile.

Photo by Victoria Ramirez for ATG.

A visit to an enormous, expensive football stadium.

The soul stirring hip-hopper from Michigan checks in with ATG before Austin, Texas stop of fall tour.

ATG on the hip-hop crime rate.

Many would agree, perhaps reluctantly, that Pitchfork.com is easily the most influential, most read, most loathed publication for the largest share of music-loving, online-dwelling twentysomethings of this generation. It's a demographic of which your friendly editors are card-carrying members, as are, we expect, many of you. We frequently, occasionally vehemently, disagree with P4k, but it is a hate/love relationship, and we eagerly discuss the site amongst friends just as frequently as we curse it.

Today the online magazine capped off its months-long exploration of the Decade In Music by revealing selections for the top 20 albums of the decade - the final entry in a week-long countdown from 500. If you've spent any time on indie music blogs or forums in the past 10 years, this one is a fairly predictable bunch. (The earlier entries are chock-full of poorly sequenced formative touchstones and one-off obscurities.) Nevertheless, there are some bold declarations, and one vindication of a Wallabee-shoe loving, coke-game-chronicling rapper/ friend to the ladies who happens to be a peerless storyteller and is responsible for the name of this very site.

What follows is a run-down in two (very different) parts.

ATG sizes it all up.