This is the first Frank Ocean song I heard and it instantly got me hooked to his work.
It comes from his first major release, the mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra.
It combines heavy bass and drums with a synth organ to great effect during the verses, while the instrumentation gets embellished with some keys during the choruses.
Ocean delivers his lines in a chilled out style for the most part, but pushes the boat out in the bridge and final chorus.
There is something so relaxing about Ocean's songs in general and I'd urge anyone who likes contemporary R&B to check out Nostalgia, Ultra as well as his stunning debut album, channel Orange.
Through all my guitar nerdiness I had heard of renowned shredder Michael Keene and how his band The Faceless were amazing, but I hadn't bothered to check out the band until very recently.
I'm glad that I stopped watching Michael Keene tearing it up at product demos at NAMM and actually watched a video by The Faceless.
This is some high level technical death metal; after the lengthy circus music-themed intro, the song breaks down into some ferocious riffing, blast beats and guttural vocals.
The musicianship in this band is at a very high level - some of the guitar work here is incredibly hard to pull off at these sorts of tempos. Bassist Evan Brewer is a somewhat of a modern age bass master - not only does he keep up with the guitarists in this band - he has a solo album that is written and played with just his bass and some effects pedals, which is a masterpiece in my opinion.
And then there's the drumming - to keep time at this speed and lock in so tightly with two highly skilled guitarists (Michael Keene and Wes Hauch are top notch shredders), is very impressive.
This song demonstrates the wide range of techniques in both the vocals (Keene handles clean singing, whilst lead singer Geoffrey Ficco brings the brutality), and instrumentation (Keene and Hauch show their worth in the solo section of this song).
The blend of synth organs, strings and Keene's vocals in the quieter passages give the faster and more brutal parts such an impact.
The album this comes from, Autotheism, is excellent.
"Who the fuck you think you fuckin with I'm the fuckin bawz!!!"
What a way to open a song.
Rick Ross' most famous song, from his debut album Port Of Miami, is a straight up club banger.
Ross delivers his lines in that slow deliberate style that he has become known for, and the beat is very minimalistic, but I feel that it gives more of an impact to Ross' bars.
This song is one massive drug-reference; the official video says it all.
That said I've posted the explicit version below, because I find it silly to censor a song like this.
As far as best rap groups of all time go Bone Thugs are up there with legends like Run-D.M.C., N.W.A. and Public Enemy.
This is Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's biggest song, and also their most distinctive. If you listen to the album it comes from - the masterpiece that is E. 1999 Eternal - it sounds very different to the rest of the material. The beat is soft and a medium tempo and there is a classic catchy chorus.
Bone's signature smooth, but rapid flow is ever-present and this contrasts so nicely against the beat.
Very few rappers can match the pace of Bone Thugs - especially Krayzie Bone.
This song is dedicated to Bone Thugs' mentor and manager of sorts, Eazy-E.
I think it is fitting that such a legendary rapper has such an amazing song written for him.
Big Boi, T.I. and Ludacris - to me that is Southern rap royalty right there!
Big Boi samples his own song - Shutterbug from his debut solo album Sir Lucious Left Foot The Son Of Chico Dusty - to great effect.
This song is slower and the beat has a chopped and screwed feel to it - altogether it sounds heavier and more menacing.
T.I. drops some clever bars with such a sick flow then Big Boi comes in with a second verse that shows of all his witty lines and clear punchy delivery.
Ludacris finishes the song off nicely and arguably Atlanta's three biggest rappers come together to produce one of the strongest tracks from Big Boi's second album Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors.
The album might get overlooked because everybody is waiting for the next full OutKast album, but my word, Big Boi's solo stuff is some of the best Southern rap being put out at the moment.
Children Of Bodom are one of the best modern melodic death metal bands around.
The level of skill that the band possess is high - guitarists Alexi Laiho and Roope Latvala are two of the best shredders on the planet at the moment.
This song comes from their 2005 album Are You Dead Yet?
It starts with a thumping guitar and bass riff which continues all the way through the intro as the drums and keys layer over it. I'm not too fond of Alexi's voice, but just listen to the instrumentation in this song to fully appreciate what Children Of Bodom are about.
The riffs incorporate advanced guitar techniques such as sweep picking and whammy divebombs and harmonics.
The solo section of this song is stunning - Alexi and Roope rip through their solos and then we hear a power metal styled keyboard passage.
Everything about this song is heavy - the bass does such a good job of filling out the guitar riffs and the drumming is relentless.
For any metal fans who don't appreciate European metal bands, COB are a great band to start listening to.
