DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE SONGS OF 2016

Similarly to how it went down for 2015, this year’s list of The Kitchen‘s favorite songs or singles is pretty much what I picked for my Village Voice Pazz N Jop Music Critics Poll ballot.

Unlike last year though, I didn’t really have a true, standout favorite song this year. While I definitely really loved Young M.A‘s “OOOUUU”, if I absolutely had to pick a favorite song, I’d have to go with YG‘s “FDT” (“F-ck Donald Trump” ICUOENO) featuring Nipsey Hussle instead for what should be obvious reasons.

While we’re on the subject of “FDT”, the standout music trend for us was the fact that 2016 was a year marked by the very welcome return of great Black protest music inspired, on the plus side, by The Black Lives Matter movement and, on the negative side, by the ongoing state-sanctioned police violence against Black bodies that led to the formation of the BLM movement in the first place and the outrageous, racist, sexist, nativist, xenophobic and Islamophobic presidential campaign conducted by Donald Trump. They say troubled times creates or inspire great art and 2016 certainly proved the point. Songs like Vic Mensa‘s angry but powerfully moving “16 Shots” or Common‘s brilliantly eloquent “Letter to the Free” gave me goosebumps or stilled my heart every time I played them. Even Macklemore‘s contentious “White Privilege II” (that clunky middle section was way too heavy on the self-congratulatory promotion and others have issue with the entire song itself, I do not though) had a part to play in the dialogue. This is one time though that I wish that troubled times-great art adage were not the case. I’ll take Black lives saved over Black art protesting those lives lost, any day.

For those who wanna chirp off about why there’s no “Broccoli”, “Black Beatles”, Beyonce etc. on the list, keep in mind this is our favorite singles, not the ‘top’ or ‘best’ ones, regardless of how those terms are defined or used. No disrespect to the aforementioned songs, I like them and probably any other ‘noteworthy’ songs for the year you might throw out for consideration fine, they just weren’t our personal faves or, believe it or not, I might have just plain missed them no matter how big a hit they may have been last year. So take that in, stay mad or kick rocks and go check another year-end list elsewhere. Anyway, here go…

FAVORITE SONGS OF 2016:

01. YG – FDT feat. Nipsey Hussle
02. Black Thought – Making A Murderer feat. Styles P
03. Danny Brown – Really Doe feat. Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul and Earl Sweatshirt
04. J. Cole – False Prophets
05. Common – Letter to the Free feat. Bilal
06. Desiigner – Panda
07. Drake – One Dance feat. Wizkid & Kyla
08. Vic Mensa – 16 Shots
09. Nas & Erykah Badu – This Bitter Land
10. The Weeknd – I Feel It Coming feat. Daft Punk
11. Young M.A – OOOUUU

Honorable Mentions:
Chance The Rapper – No Problem feat. 2 Chainz & Lil Wayne
Denzel Curry – Knotty Head feat. Rick Ross
Dubb Santora – Money Came feat. 2Cz
Lil Uzi Vert – Do What I Want
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – White Privilege II
NxWorries (Anderson Paak & Knxwledge) – Lyk Dis
Radiohead – SPECTRE
Tona – Red Eye feat. Fixaveli
Usher – No Limit feat. Young Thug
Yo Gotti – Down in the DM

(note: links in the song titles go to posts on The Kitchen blog about the songs, the artist or the full lengths they are from. Soundcloud playlist above or alternatively, here’s a playlist of these songs on TIDAL also.)

Previously on The Kitchen:

DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE SONGS OF 2015

DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2015

Picking our Top 10 favorite albums this year was tough! It was an especially good year for music. Many of the Honorable Mentions below could have made it into Top 10 (the same Top 10 I submitted for my Village Voice Pazz & Jop ballot) if I was in a different mood. Truth be told though, those first 8 titles are pretty much a lock and, unlike last year, this list is in rough order of how much liked the albums although after the first four, the order for the rest of the albums is kind of interchangeable.

If you missed any of these last year, click away on your favorite streaming site, they’re all worth your time and attention. And on the flip side, if I missed or overlooked albums you think we might have dig based on these picks, let us know in the comments. As much music as there is out there (and how behind we perpetually were with the messages sent to us with more), we’re always down to hear music we don’t already know about that we might be into.

FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2015:

01. Scarface – Deeply Rooted
02. Raury – All We Need
03. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
04. The Internet – Ego Death
05. Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment – Surf
06. Justin Bieber – Purpose
07. Planet Asia – Zapco Exp EP
08. Badbadnotgood & Ghostface Killah – Sour Soul
09. Jill Scott – Woman
10. Aleya – Carbon Copy Trip

Honorable Mentions:
Azari & III – Rarities from the Extremities
Beach House – Depression Cherry
Big K.R.I.T. – It’s Better This Way (mixtape)
Clear Soul Forces – Fab 5ive
Dornik – Dornik
Drake – If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late
Earl Sweatshirt – I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside: An Album by Earl Sweatshirt
Foreign Exchange – Tales From The Land Of Milk And Honey
The Game – The Documentary 2 & 2.5
Jack Ü – Skrillex & Diplo present Jack Ü
Jeezy – Church In These Streets
Talib Kweli – F-ck the Money (Mixtape)
Teedra Moses – Cognac and Conversation
Peaches – Rub
Puff Daddy & the Family – MMM
Jay Rock – 90059
Rick Ross – Black Market
St. Germain – St. Germain
SepTO – God Mind
Spek Won – Sofa King Amazing
Jazmine Sullivan – Reality Show
Tame Impala – Currents
Bryson Tiller – Trapsoul
Tona – Carpe Diem
Tyler the Creator – Cherry Bomb
Yo Gotti – Concealed

(note: links in album titles go to streams on The Kitchen blog, Tumblr or other sites)

Related:

Check out our Favorite Songs & Singles of 2015 list HERE.

DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE SONGS OF 2015

The 2015 list of favorite songs or singles at The Kitchen is kind of in rough order and not much different from what I picked for my Pazz N Jop ballot. Jidenna‘s “Classic Man” was most definitely my favorite song of the year without a doubt although The Weeknd‘s “Can’t Feel My Face” gave it a good run for it’s money for that #1 slot! Some great music overall this year though with no signs of it slowing down as we head into 2016.

FAVORITE SONGS OF 2015:

01. Jidenna – Classic Man
02. The Weeknd – Can’t Feel My Face
03. Jay Rock – Gumbo
04. Fetty Wap – Trap Queen
05. Jack Ü – Where Are Ü Now feat. Justin Bieber
06. Rihanna – B-tch Better Have My Money
07. The Game – Everybody on the Floor feat. Migos
08. Major Lazer & DJ Snake – Lean On feat. MØ
09. Raz Fresco – Cortez Nikes feat. Chuck Inglish
10. Alessia Cara – Here

Honorable Mentions:
Justin Bieber – Sorry
Drake – Back To Back
Flying Lotus – Coronus, The Terminator
Major Lazer – Wave feat. Kali Uchis

(note: links in song titles go to posts on The Kitchen blog or Tumblr about the songs, the artist or the full lengths they are from or alternatively, check out a playlist of these songs on TIDAL HERE.)

Related:

Check out our Favorite Albums of 2015 list HERE.

[Playlist] Different Kitchen – March ’15 RDIO Picks Volume 2

01. Kanye West – All Day
02. Raury – God’s Whisper
03. Action Bronson – Baby Blue (feat. Chance The Rapper)
04. Fashawn – Something to Believe In (feat. Nas & Aloe Blacc)
05. Christina Milian – Rebel
06. Cashmere Cat – Adore
07. George Maple – Where You End and I Begin
08. Major Lazer – Lean On (feat. MØ & DJ Snake)
09. Jack Ü, Skrillex, Diplo – Where Are Ü Now (feat. Justin Bieber)
10. Basement Jaxx – Jus Be Free With Your Body (Vibe Mix)
11. George Maple – Talk Talk (Moon Boots Remix)
12. Dej Loaf – We Be On It
13. DTMD – You
17. Best Coast – California Nights
18. Colleen Green – I Want to Grow Up
19. Tame Impala – Let It Happen
20. Blur – Go Out
21. Gray – Cut It Up High Priest
22. Machinedrum – Eyesdontlie (DJ Shadow Remix)
23. Big Sean – Outro
24. Estelle and Jussie Smollett – Conqueror
25. Wale – The Matrimony (feat. Usher)
26. Alabama Shakes – Gimme All Your Love
27. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – The Right Stuff
28. TV On The Radio – Test Pilot (Chilly Gonzales Re-Make)
29. Patrick Watson – Love Songs For Robots

Related:

[Playlist] Different Kitchen – March ’15 Picks from RDIO

Follow Different Kitchen on RDIO HERE

[Playlist] Different Kitchen – March ’15 Picks from RDIO

1. Jack Ü – Take Ü There feat. Kiesza (Missy Elliott Remix)
2. Tove Lo – Talking Body (Remix)
3. Big Sean – One Man Can Change The World
4. Karen O – Rapt (TRZTN Remix)
5. Skrillex and Diplo present Jack Ü – Febreze (feat. 2 Chainz)
6. Seoul – The Line
7. MNEK – The Rhythm
8. Gorgon City – Coming Home
9. Vic Mensa – Down On My Luck
10. Big Sean – Blessings
11. Drake – You & The 6
12. Kendrick Lamar – The Blacker The Berry
13. Gabriel Garzon-Montano – Everything Is Everything
14. THEESatisfaction – EarthEE
15. Wiz Khalifa, Iggy Azalea – Go Hard or Go Home
16. Kid Ink, Tyga, Wale, YG, Rich Homie Quan – Ride Out
17. Chris Brown & Tyga – Remember Me
18. Diggy – Ain’t Bout To Do (feat. French Montana)
19. Lil’ Flip – Bestfriend
20. Shawn Desman – Victoria
21. Ty Dolla $ign – Drop That Kitty (feat. Charli XCX and Tinashe)
22. Madonna – Iconic feat. Chance the Rapper & Mike Tyson
23. The Jacka – From The Bay
24. Migos – One Time
25. Lil Durk – Decline (feat. Chief Keef)
26. Dej Loaf – We Be On It
27. Tech N9ne – Dyin’ Flyin’ (feat. Krizz Kaliko)
28. J Dilla – Get Dat Nug
29. Machinedrum – Eyesdontlie (DJ Shadow Remix)
30. Viet Cong – Death
31. Metz – Acetate
32. Blur – Go Out
33. Florence + The Machine – What Kind Of Man
34. Best Coast – California Nights
35. Twin Shadow – I’m Ready
36. Hot Chip – Huarache Lights
37. Hudson Mohawke – Forever 1 (feat. Olivier Daysoul & Dorian Concept)
38. Yelawolf – Whiskey In A Bottle
39. Barrington Levy – Murderer (In Dub) (Remastered)
40. Róisín Murphy – Gone Fishing
41. Gabriel Garzon-Montano – 6 8
42. Drake – Jungle
43. Big Sean – Win Some, Lose Some
44. Action Bronson – Terry
45. Badbadnotgood feat. Ghostface Killah – Sour Soul
46. Big Sean – Outro
47. Darondo – Didn’t I
48. Patrick Watson – Love Songs For Robots

Also look for Florence + The Machine headlining Bestival in Toronto, June 12-13

Previously on The Kitchen:

– Different Kitchen – February ’15 Playlist Picks

Follow Different Kitchen on RDIO HERE.