Songs I Never Get Tired of Hearing - R&B and Hip-Hop Edition

There's great excitement when you find a new song you love.  If you're like me, you may listen to it repetitively, bordering on obessively.  However, some songs sadly lose their appeal after the 182nd listen.  It's very disheartening when a song you really loved is picked up by the radio and becomes a hit which causes you to grow tired of it.  However, this post is not about those poor, forgotten songs.  This one is for all those songs that I am still excited to hear even when it's the 900th time.

"Twisted" 
Keith Sweat with Kut Klose & Pretty Russ

My idea for this post came when I heard this song (on Pandora maybe?) and felt a jolt of excitement.  I have a vivid memory of hearing this song for the first time.  It was spring break 2008 and I was in Savannah, GA, riding a shuttle back to the hotel when this song came on over the radio.  I was enraptured.  Thankfully I remembered enough of the lyrics to google it when I got back to a computer and could then listen to it on YouTube repetitively.  Keith Sweat’s voice is just perfection.  I was a little late to the party as this song came out in 1996 but better late than never.  I suppose some people could find it cheesy but I just find it amazing. 

 

"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

The first time I remember hearing this song was watching Remember the Titans.  The football players sing along to it in the locker room (when Sunshine kisses Bertier) and it plays in the end credits too, I believe.  It’s been featured in other movies as well such as Stepmom and Guardians of the Galaxy.  It just makes me really happy.  I love duets in general and I like themes of "I will overcome whatever is in my way" and I like fun, upbeat music.  So it's basically perfection to me.  In fact, if asked to choose a favorite song, I'd probably choose this one.

I know there are other renditions of this song but no one can tell me that they compare to this one.  Diana Ross, you're great and all, but Marvin & Tammi were the best.  I will say that Michael McDonald's version is also quite good as I love his voice.  This song was also a gateway for me into other Marvin & Tammi duets (“Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” “You’re All I Need to Get By”) and straight Marvin (“Let’s Get It On,” “Sexual Healing,” “What’s Going On,” “I Want You”) and that was for sure life-changing.  In my mind, there are few artists who had the talent and soul that Marvin had.

Crooked Smile

J. Cole feat. TLC

Every time this song comes up on shuffle, I have to listen to it and rap along.  The chorus with TLC is so upbeat and catchy and starts the song off well.  J. Cole’s rap is so great in this.  He starts off with encouraging women to love themselves and being sympathetic to how much their looks are judged.  As the verses go on, he goes into race relations while the video makes a statement on his feelings about the war on drugs.  The lyrics are meaningful, the hook is catchy, his rap has a great flow, it's the best of modern hip-hop.

Heaven

Emeli Sandé

The instrumental intro to this song is maybe my favorite ever.  I like the rest of the song a lot too but the beginning has so many layers and is so sonically rich.  I don’t know how it was done and I don’t need to; I just want to live in that moment.  If you haven't heard of Emeli and you're into R&B, I highly recommend her debut album Our Version of Events.

Shake Ya Tailfeather

Nelly, P. Diddy, Murphy Lee

Does it get any better?  Nelly and Diddy are both such feel-good rappers and Murphy Lee makes a good addition.  All I can say about this song is it's extremely catchy and fun and yes, it makes me want to shake my tailfeather.  I also like when an artist references one of their other songs like Nelly does when he raps, “I’m still a sucker for corn rows, you know I’ll never change that” referencing his lyrics in “E.I.”

God Bless the Norwegian Gangsters

A couple years ago, I was browsing Netflix, aka my boyfriend, looking for something interesting to occupy my time and I stumbled across this show.

No, it was more than a show. It was an experience.

Lilyhammer was it's name.

It's a Netflix original show about a gangster who provides information to the authorities in exchange for being put into the witness protection program. The catch? He wants them to send him to Lillehammer, Norway, a town with which he's been a little obsessed since the Olympics took place there in 1994.

I am a great lover of the quirky and unusual. There was this guy on campus back in college who wore these glasses with enormously thick lenses and drove this adult sized tricycle everywhere. I loved him. Whenever my non-friend Logan and I would eat lunch at the Union, we'd sit by the windows and people watch whilst ironing out the details of our future world domination. And Trike man was one of my faves.

Then there's my kitchen chairs. I was in a second-hand/antique shop (my favorite kind of shop) in Odessa, NE one day when I spotted them. They were rounded in all the best places and upholstered with this insane bright turquoise vinyl-type stuff. So I got them, because I need that kind of thing in my life. Like a fish needs water, I need weird stuff. It makes my world go round.

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So natch, Lilyhammer and I were a perfect fit. Frank Tagliano/Johnny Henriksen earned a spot in my heart. But the best part of this show, is the fact that it's bi-lingual. Frank/Johnny understands Norwegian, but doesn't often speak it. The Norwegians all understand English, but rarely speak it. So this rag-tag band of Norwegian gangsters (because you didn't actually think Frank would change his proverbial spots, did you?) engage in banter while I read the subtitles and laugh.

Why?

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Because, as it turns out, and exactly like you would probably suspect, the juxtaposition of Norwegian "Lovey dovey touchy feely" culture and the badass "we run this town/laws are for chumps" attitude makes for great entertainment.

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Also as a bonus, I can now speak Norwenglish. Sort of.

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Blonde & Violet

Sometimes I give the appearance of not really thinking before I act.  And while sometimes it's the case that I feel I should immediately realize whatever idea just came to me, a lot of times I have been thinking but haven't necessarily clued everyone else in.

Case in point: I went with a friend a couple of years back to watch her get her barbell piercing on her ear redone.  Internally, I'm thinking how I really like my tragus piercing and how I'd like to have something done on my other ear but not quite the same thing.  So while we're at the tattoo parlor, I mention to the piercer that I think I might want to get my daith pierced, surprising my friend since she knew nothing of my thought process.  And 20 minutes or so later, we both had some new holes in our ears (or in her case, old holes remade).

And now I have done it again.  After considering it for months, I finally went for it and had some of the underside of my hair dyed purple. And you know what?  I love it.  In some ways, it's more intense than I was expecting, but in others it's even cooler than I imagined.  And depending on how my hair lies, it's not actually that dramatic.  Most people at work didn't even notice (or didn't say if they did). 

Here's the thing: hair color, piercings, they're not forever.  If you get sick of your hair, you can dye it back or cut it all off.  If you dislike a piercing, you take it out and deal with a little scar tissue.  If it's something that could negatively impact your life or others, then maybe that's a risk not worth taking.  But if your work dress code isn't against it and the inner you has a little purple in her hair, then why not?

Love Your Barista, Love Your Life

I don't know if I've ever met a barista I really disliked.  I mean, it's hard to hate someone who's made you a delectable coffee drink especially when you know they probably started working at 5am or some other ridiculously early hour.  Plus, most of them just seem really cool.  Maybe it's all just an act or an illusion, but it totally works.

I mean, I know I'm capable of making my own coffee (and I sometimes do).  And yes, I know it's kind of ridiculous how much they charge for beverages.  But here's the reality: whatever I make at home is never going to compare to the wonders that the barista can create.  Plus I just really love coffee shops.  They almost all have great atmospheres and great energy.  I tell myself that I get the most schoolwork done in them although that may be a lie I tell myself in order to justify my addiction.

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Regardless, each coffee shop and barista has a small piece of my heart.  I don't go to just one coffee shop because while I do love being a regular at places, I can't bear to commit myself to just one.  First, there's my former office building's Starbucks.  I miss seeing the baristas' faces and hearing about their lives but don't worry, we will meet again.  Nothing compares to a grande Starbucks iced coffee with skim milk and classic syrup in the summertime.  Then, there's the coffee shop just a few blocks away that has the coolest female barista who works the weekday morning shift.  You are just so chill.  Then there's the newish place I haven't been to in a while.  But don't think that means that I don't have a crush on the barista there because I totally do.  I'm not even really sure if he's straight but barista love knows no bounds.  There's the coffee shop that I go to for the awesome atmosphere more than the drinks.  And there's the place I frequented when I lived in my old apartment.  I still stop by occasionally for my favorite pumpkin drink that they'll make me year-round.  Finally, there's a local chain that makes the most delicious drinks and just might be my favorite in town.

They all have their perks, their drawbacks, their idiosyncrasies and I love them all.  And there's still so many left to discover.