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"War On Christmas," Talib Kweli (Javotti)

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talibkweli.jpgLong-running hip-hop artist Kweli dropped this joint for 2023, which addresses a war on the holiday that is much different than the one that is frequently claimed to exist in right-wing media.  It's worth hearing, and worth reflecting upon as well.

Can't say I'm familiar with either of these hip-hop artists, but here's a collaboration between the two of them. This is the "official video," and I can only find streaming audio on Spotify.

We've had Robbie's work here before, and for 2022 he dropped this hip-hop holiday video that keys off the classic "Visit From St. Nicholas" for its story line. Doesn't seem to have any independent audio available, though.

hyphenatesnow.jpgHad this duo last year with a hip-hop rendition of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," and for 2022 they're back with a similar take on "Let It Snow." Solid soulful take, fine singing, and the rap interlude doesn't overwhelm the carol. Turns out this is an EP with these two songs plus instrumental versions of "Carol of the Bells," "Jingle Bells," and "Deck the Halls." Check this out for yourself.

gucciIcy.jpgGucci Mane is a mainstay of hip-hop Christmas music, and he's back for 2021 with another collection of jams. A lot of the tunes on this album don't remind me at all of Christmas or even seem to allude to the holiday, making this a tough sell at a Christmas-oriented site such as this one. Opening song "Street Ni66a Christmas" at least doesn't have that problem, nor does "All I Want For Christmas," though this one is about getting firearms for the holiday, and "Like the Grinch" at least alludes to a popular holiday entertainment. The rest is fine for the non-holiday period if you're a hip-hop fan or at least a Gucci Mane fan, although he only claims credit for six of 17 songs here; the rest are credited to Enchanting, BigWalkDog, Big Scarr, BiC Fizzle and Hotboy Wes.

Can't recall whether anybody ever did the hip-hop thing on a version of Brenda Lee's classic, but here in 2021 somebody definitely did. Autumn's voice is very nice and it makes you want to hear more from her alone. Meanwhile, this production is available on streaming and through Amazon and iTunes.

Christmas EveL, Stray Kids (JYP)

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straykids.jpgAlways wonder where the cultural appropriation police are when it comes to K-pop, given their songs basically straddle American R'nB and hip-hop and most people couldn't really determine which is which when the songs come on the radio. This year's Pacific Rim contribution to holiday fun is this 2021 EP from Stray Kids, four original songs that are a pastiche of modern sounds with grabs of particular Christmas carols and cliches thrown in for seasoning. The songs "24 to 25" and "Winter Falls" are the more playlist-friendly tunes here, with the title song and "DOMINO" throwing down hip-hop style attitude with the tinsel. Check it out.

A Different Christmas, Bryson Tiller (RCA)

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tiller.jpgTiller is a hip-hop artist of some renown, having had several hit albums in the past decade including Trapsoul. For 2021 he applies his skill set to a Christmas EP, seven tunes totaling 18 minutes, five of which are original holiday songs. As you might expect, the full hip-hop production toolbox is employed here, including copious use of auto-tune, as you'll find from the first song, "Be Mine This Christmas," followed by a brief transitional number called "Cold December Interlude," leading into the slow jam "Presents" featuring Kiana Lede. I'm assuming the pick to click off this collection is "Lonely Christmas (featuring Justin Bieber & Poo Bear)," which is pretty catchy in a hit radio sort of way, and that's followed by "Ain't a Lonely Christmas Song (featuring Tayla Parx)," the featured singer pretty much owning the show on this one. Rounding out the collection is a short hip-hopified "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and an almost old-fashioned take on "Winter Wonderland" featuring Halo. All told, a listenable hip-hop collection with a few playlist contenders for you eclectic collectors out there.

The Holiday Special, BOOG3YM3N (self-issued)

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boog13men.jpgHip-hoppers from Duluth, MN pop out a holiday-oriented EP for 2021. Two short songs buffer between two normal-length numbers and don't add much to the holiday concept. One of them, sadly, has a great title that goes to waste: "Die Hard Is Definitely a Christmas Movie (Interlude)," as it's almost entirely instrumental. That leaves the songs "BOOG3YM3N Holiday Special" and "Nightmare Before Christmas," both of which are about what you'd expect for a hip-hop collection but not much more. Check them for yourself on Bandcamp.

popcaroler.jpgThis is a souvenir of a 2020 livestreamed show sponsored by this English record label, after which the album was offered for download. It's all modern hit radio synth-pop-rock, and is considerably fattened up by a number of non-holiday songs. But it's a benefit album with proceeds going to the Trussell Trust, so feel free to grab the whole thing or go song by song. Meanwhile, I'll concentrate on the most holiday-oriented tunes. Caroline Polachek starts things off by repurposing a previous song of hers, "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings," as "So Cold," with a few retinseled lyrics. Hannah Diamond's "Where Are You Christmas is a suitably upbeat holiday number, A.G. Cook's "Oracle Icicle" is a bit more obscure lyrically, and Kane West (not Kanye) offers something called "Tryptich," which as you might guess is a three-part number. I couldn't associate the first part with anything, the third part is "What Child Is This/Greensleeves," and the middle part is a cover of a-ha's "Take On Me" with synthesized dog woofs doing the melody; a little something to follow the Singing Dogs' "Jingle Bells" on your playlists. "White Xmas" by umru & Silver Sphere is not the famous carol but a vaguely hip-hop confection, while jonny gorgeous' "Blue Xmas" is a vocordered-up version of the well-known song, and Himera does something similar with Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." Holly Waxwing turns all the synths loose on a cover of Riuchi Sakamoto's instrumental "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" from the movie of the same name, six impala offers the clattery "FARAWAY199XMAS," and there are instrumentals from A.G. Cook, "Glasswurx," and Kai Whiston, "S.N.O.W." In an odd touch, the collection contains an EP's worth of hip-hop holiday tuneage from Aaron Cartier; makes one wonder why it didn't get a separate release. Cartier offers "Wishlist," "Cartier Christmas," "Got Da Bag," "Let It Snow" (not the popular carol), "I Really Like Christmas," and "Christmas Time Christmas Time." I'll let you decide about the half-dozen non-holiday tunes on this collection, but as for me, I like Polichek and Diamond's tunes, and it might be worth someone's while to drop "Tryptich" into an audio editor and extract the "Take on Me" part to mash up with the Singing Dogs. Grab this from Bandcamp.

bigfreedia.jpgAnybody with a cable TV subscription has probably encountered this artist when scrolling past the program listings for Fuse TV, but she's (preferred pronoun) originally famous as a performer of the formerly underground hip-hop form called "bounce." For 2020 we get this EP of original tunes in the form, featuring assists from Flo Milli on "Better Be" and Maxine Jones on "Heatin Up the Holidays." "Nutcracker" is more of a slow jam rap, "Boy Toy Shop" is pretty much what you would expect regarding the output of one particular holiday workshop, and "Smoked Out Santa" mentions grinding up and smoking Christmas trees to the tune of the same-named carol; not sure if this is effective, but it appears to work for Santa, at least according to the song. I feel like this is more for Big Freedia completists, but if it makes you giggle, go for it. Note that three of five songs have the "explicit" label before you drop any of them into your holiday playlists. While working on this post, I unearthed 2020's "Funky Christmas" by Too Many Zooz that features Big Freedia, as well as another EP from 2016, A Very Big Freedia Christmas, more of the same with "So Frosty," "Santa Is a Gay Man," "Jingle Bell Rock," and "Twas the Night." Plus there's "Make It Jingle" from the soundtrack to 2016's movie "Office Christmas Party." So there's enough out there to have yourself a bounce Christmas if you like.

"Carol of the Bells," The Hyphenate (Doubt Me)

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hyphencarol.jpgThe artist identifies as a "recording artist/producer/motivational speaker," and his previous recorded output is in the hip-hop field. For 2020 he gives us an instrumental of the classic carol in that style, which is well done and you should check it out.

"Puppy for Hanukkah," Daveed Diggs (Disney)

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daveeddiggs.jpgDiggs is probably best known for playing Lafayette in the musical "Hamilton," but he's also been a singer, rapper, producer and songwriter. For 2020 he throws out this Hanukkah jam which will certainly liven up your holiday mixes with its mashup of traditional Yiddish melodies and hip-hop beat. Apparently Diggs' mom is Jewish and the story is inspired by his childhood. Cool tune.

Holiday, Lil Nas X (Columbia)

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lilnasx.jpgThe current record holder for longest time at the top of the Billboard singles charts (19 weeks) with "Old Town Road" gives us a Christmas tune for 2020. It's fairly listenable as long as you're not offended by a few explicit lyrics, and it's kind of like his big hit but without the country music cues. Check it out for yourself. (There's a clean version at Amazon, too.)

loverenaissance.jpgLove Renaissance is actually a hip-hop record label (correct name LVRN) based in Atlanta, GA, and this 2020 holiday EP features members of the label roster on six repurposed Christmas tunes. Artists 6LACK and Summer Walker start things off with "Ghetto Christmas," a modernized take on James Brown's "Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto," Young Rog & Shelley FKA DRAM take on Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad," OMB Bloodbath & Westside Boogie do a slightly profane version of "12 Days of Bhristmas" (that's how they spelled it, and don't think spellcheck didn't yell at me), Summer Walker does a slow-jam "Santa Baby," Eli Derby does a mellow take on Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas," and Shelley FKA DRAM returns on a fairly traditional reading of "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)." Kitty Ca$h contributes a few short song intros that are indexed as individual cuts. All told, a listenable, if short, collection of holiday tunes in a modern style. Grab it from Amazon by clicking the cover.

East Atlanta Santa 3, Gucci Mane (Atlanta)

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guccimane.jpgThis dropped right before Christmas 2019, and not being much of a hip-hop maven, it took a bit of research to discover that this is the rapper's fourth Christmas collection, after East Atlanta Santa in 2014, East Atlanta Santa 2: The Night GuWop Stole X-Mas in 2015, and The Return of East Atlanta Santa in 2016. I judge hip-hop based on whether a song or an album gets my attention without my having to know anything historical about the artist, and that's where Gucci loses me; there's a bunch of things that clearly link back to other recordings he's made or his personal history. I'll point out a few songs from this that stuck out to me, like "Jingle Bales Intro," the dancehall-reggae influenced "Drummer," the ballad "Snow" that rides over top of a wildly mutated sample of a Boyz 2 Men song, "Slide," and "Time Flies By." You might also like the "12 Days of Christmas," which is transmuted into the world of drug dealing, and even hip-hop can't resist throwing in a kid-sung number, "WWGD Outro," even though it, and the rest of the album, is wildly explicit -- something I won't hold against it or I'd have to delete at least half the punk rock entries from this site. (There's a clean version.)

ghostcave.jpgEven though the Santastic series of Christmas mash-up collections has officially ended, I occasionally end up at the website to see if anything's new, and it turns out the home page is promoting hip-hoppers Ghost Cave, who have an album out in 2019 plus two Christmas singles, the one in the title plus "We Three Kings" featuring Scott Burland. They're more dolorous synth-pop to my ears than hip-hop, but they're a pair of interesting Christmas noises nonetheless, so check them out.

"Loneliest Time of Year," Mabel (Polydor)

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mabel.jpgMabel is Neneh Cherry's daughter, and this 2019 single is a very cool midtempo hip-hop pop ballad full of the holiday angst suggested by the title. Unlike a lot of stuff in the genre, this is a solid musical composition with a great melody and could be covered credibly in any number of genres. I could do without the vocoder trills, though, that particular audio fillip is completely played out to my ears.

crimsonholiday.jpgNo idea where this particular DJ comes from (check here), but this is a fine mid-tempo hip-hop single featuring female voices, in this case Chelsi Om'nira. I like the "crimson holiday" premise, even if the only connection I can find is a seasonal gift shop in Santa Monica, CA featuring the works of local artisans. Considering the rap portion includes talk of walking around the mall, it appears to be all of a piece. Check this 2019 single out.

This is pretty much self-explanatory, no? A rap battle between Santa and the Grinch. I'm no taste-tipper regarding hip-hop, but I'm pretty sure rap battles went out with the cassette Walkman, so it's a little weird to encounter one in the year 2019. Nevertheless, here it is, and I'm happy to make it available for your holiday entertainment. There's independent audio on Amazon, too.

The Gift: A Christmas Compilation, 116 (Reach)

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thegift.jpgI have no idea who "116" is, let alone any of the folks who are co-billed on this 2019 holiday hip-hop recording. But I wanted to make sure folks got to hear this because it's very listenable. Four of the 12 songs appear to be original to this project, "Thanking You," "All Is Bright," "Nothin' But You," and "Real Love." All of these are mid-tempo or slower modern R'nB. The rest of the tunes are all remakes-remodels of familiar carols, some with tweaked titles, like "O'Come," ""Joy," "What a Time," "Noel," and "Angels." The other songs are "Silent Night, "This Christmas," and "We Three Kings." Those of you who hold hip-hop at arm's length would do well to give this a chance.

"It's Christmas Time," Macklemore (Bendo)

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macklemore.jpgThe popular hip-hop star just dropped this single for 2019, and it's pretty cool to these jaded old rock 'n roll ears. No big surprises content-wise, just an upbeat rhyming tribute to holiday anticipation that won't frighten the horses. It's pretty hooky too, definitely radio-friendly.

"You're My Christmas Wish," Myoa (self-issued)

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Myoa.jpgFrom Houston via England and West Africa, this 2019 single by Myoa is a really nice hip-hop holiday number with her sweet vocals and a bit of rapping from guest Rukus. It's a typical longing for love lyric, but then Rukus interjects a bit of the holiday's darker side before turning toward a hopeful outcome. Check it out.

Well, anything I might say about this item would be superfluous. It's damn entertaining, and as one of my Facebook friends would say, it's the "featuring Kool-Aid Man" part of the credits that makes it art. Enjoy it as it is, or track it down to Amazon to put it in your playlists.

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The modern hip-hop singer dropped this EP fairly late in the season, and the title song is really interesting, if a bit long at 5:29. It starts as a medium-tempo ballad and swings into a rap, but picks up with the singing again at a more upbeat tempo. This is definitely good for the more eclectic playlists out there. She fills out the EP with versions of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" that are both straight contemporary jazz readings of these standard tunes, although 'Christmas' has a lengthy overblown improvised intro. I'd stick with the A-side for sure.
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The hip-hop band known for "Black Beatles" dropped a couple of Christmas singles for 2018, also credited to Swae Lee and Ear Drummers. They include the slow jam "Christmas at Swae's," which is a sad take on the missing lover holiday tune, and "Nothing," which is a jumping shout telling his girl not to "share your wishlist." This is good stuff. There are clean and explicit versions for those who need to know.

Yuletide Bangers, Jonwayne (self-issued)

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bangerz.jpgThis 17-cut collection of hip-hop cut-and-pastes comes to us from LA rapper and producer Jonwayne, and while it's more like the Santastic series of mashups than rap, it's not quite in the same classification as those collections in terms of yielding individual cuts that stand up in the same way as regular songs in your holiday mixes. Still, the songs, most less than two minutes long, have their moments, as they throw all sorts of obvious holiday totems, from whole songs like "This Christmas," "Christmas Time Is Here," and "Wonderful Christmastime," to snippets of TV and movies from "A Christmas Story" to "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," into the digital kitchen blender. I envision these tunes being used as bumpers in podcasts or inside playlists and mixtapes, or as soundtrack incidental music for holiday videos. From 2018.

snoopboyz.jpgAbout two decades ago we had the album Christmas On Death Row, from which we got Snoop's original version of this song. Fast forward to this year and Snoop roped Philly favorites Boyz II Men into helping him perform a new version of this for a "Showtime at the Apollo" Christmas show this year. And since this is the modern age, it ain't no thang to split off the audio and put it up to stream or download, so go on ahead now.

Merry Christmess, Jumbled (self-issued)

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Jumbled is a DJ from Baltimore who compiled this 2017 collection of holiday songs built out of beats and samples by himself and other collaborators. Some of these items are just motifs, which might be an aid to podcasters and mixmasters looking to create something of their own. Among the full song performances, you might like the hip-hop stylings of "Just Another Holiday" by Reason, Darko the Super's "Stealing Shit on Christmas Eve" and "Another Very Darko Christmas," Che Rock's "38 Winters," JBerd's dis of "Mall Santa," and ALYX Ryon's "Chestnuts." Check it out on Bandcamp.
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EDM DJ and music mogul Diplo keeps his string of Christmas albums intact with this 2017 entry into the canon. "Know No Better" by Major Lazer (and a cast of thousands, judging by the credits) kick things off in fine style with this uptempo jam, Party Favor performs "WAWA," which has nothing to do with the Philadelphia-area convenience stores but is a riff on "Jingle Bells," Foodman contributes "Island Christmas," a fairly languid instrumental with a modern take on reggae, and "Tropical Holiday" by LIZ & Hoodboi is a slow jam vocal about partying equatorial style. Aquadrop gives us the EDM version of "Feliz Navidad" we're all waiting for, "Smash the House" by Rrotik does the same for "Deck the Halls," Tre Oh Fie deconstructs "O Holy Night" in the fast-tempo "O Litty Night," and DJ Douggpound turns "We Three Kings" into "We Three Bings," but they do it by singing the "bing" syllable, not by sampling vintage Crosby. KiWi crosses EDM with K-pop on "What's In the Present Box," and SpydaT.E.K. offers "TEKK the Halls Up," another slightly more straightforward version of "Deck the Halls." This is for younger people than your favorite reindeer, but there are at least a couple of tunes here I'd consider for a playlist.

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