Neighborhood | 5ive Songs

1. DMX, “Hood Blues”

Ft. Westside Gunn, Benny The Butcher & Conway The Machine

💿 Exodus • 🏷 Def Jam • 📅 2021

The world lost a musical icon in 2021 with the passing of gruff-voiced, East Coast rapper 🎙 DMX on April 9, 2021.  Simmons was ‘rough around the edges,’ but the sheer talent and influence he brought to the game, as well as his tremendous faith, is undeniable.  He’s on fire on the song 🎵 “Hood Blues,” a highlight from his 2021 posthumous album, 💿 Exodus, named after his youngest son.

The production is marvelous, a product of 🎛 Avenue Beatz and 🎛 Swizz Beatz.  Creating the jazzy backdrop is a sample of “Shady Blues” (🎙 Lee Mason).   Of course, beyond the picturesque production, the highlight are the performers.  🎙 Westside Gunn shines on the first verse, asserting, “Pray five times a day, get on the wave, nigga.” 🎙 Benny The Butcher follows on the second verse, with a number of clever lines. 🎙 Conway The Machine gets to work on the third verse, quoting Nas: “‘Cause Nas said a G at night wasn’t good enough, and he was right.” Finally, the ‘man of the hour’ arrives to close things out on the fourth verse, asserting, “I done Punk’d more niggas than Ashton Kutcher (C’mon, c’mon).” Woo!  He also memorably states on the outro, “I’m not fifty years old for nothing.”

Also appears on 🔽:

🔗 🎧 Blues: 3BOPS No. 31 (2021)

🔗 🎧 40 Best Songs of 2021 (So Far)

2. Megan Thee Stallion “Girls in the Hood”

💿 Good News • 🏷 300 Entertainment • 📅 2020

“Fuck bein’ good, I’m a bad bitch…” 🎵 “Girls in the Hood” (💿 Good News) marks another successful banger from the ever-unapologetic, 🏆 Grammy-winning rapper, 🎙 Megan Thee Stallion. “Girls in the Hood” is short but sweet, featuring fine production work from 🎛 Illadaproducer and 🎛 Scott Storch, including some old-school hip-hop cues coupled with a modern, hard-hitting beat.

The biggest reason for the success of “Girls in the Hood” is Megan, who serves up plenty of aggressive lyrics. Continuing to be a self-described “bad bitch,” she’s sexed up and assertive AF about what she does to her men (“I’ma make him eat me out while I’m watchin’ anime”). There is no shortage of colorful one-liners.  The catchy chorus serves as the centerpiece.

3. Troye Sivan, “Suburbia”

💿 Blue Neighbourhood • 🏷 Capitol • 📅 2015

🎵 “Suburbia” is arguably the crowning achievement of 💿 Blue Neighbourhood, the debut studio album by South African/Australian pop artist, 🎙 Troye Sivan. Throughout Blue Neighbourhood, Sivan shows us an authentic peek into his world.  By the time we reach “Surburbia,” the ‘blue neighbourhood’ seems to have an optimistic spin, something that couldn’t be said earlier.

“Yeah, there’s so much history in these streets,” Sivan sings, regarding where he came from and grew up.

“There’s so much history in my head
The people I’ve left
The ones I’ve kept...can’t replace my blood
Yeah, it seems I’m never letting go of suburbia.”

Even though the neighborhood has had its dark moments in Sivan/the protagonist’s life, he’ll never forget it – he can’t.

4. Tech N9ne, “Hood Go Crazy”

Ft. 2 Chainz & B.o.B.

💿 Special Effects • 🏷 Strange Music • 📅 2015

“This the type of shit to make the hood go crazy / On the interstate doin’ 180 / She said ‘do it for me, baby’ / Took a double shot and then we all went crazy.” 🎙 Tech N9ne is awesome – that goes without saying.  That said, the Midwest rapper scored a hit with 🎵 “Hood Go Crazy” from his 2015 album, 💿 Special Effects.  Nino didn’t do it all by himself either.  He enlists 🎙 2 Chainz and 🎙 B.o.B. for the assist on this 🎛 Freak van Workum-produced banger.  It’s B.o.B. who drops the aforementioned, totally infectious hook.

With hot production and a killer hook by B.o.B., that leave Tech N9ne and 2 Chainz to drop the verses.  N9ne is electrifying, wowing with a quick-paced flow and sharp, confident, party/sex-laden rhymes. As for the artist formerly known as Tity Boi, well, he’s true to self – outlandish as ever.  “With a ring, married to the game, had ‘em throwin’ rice,” Chainz raps on the third verse, continuing, “Wait a minute, put my thing in her, I’m tryna knock up / I’m tryna put a singer in her so I can do a banger with her.” Don’t ever change 2 Chainz – don’t ever change! “Hood Go Crazy” ranks among the most memorable songs of the Tech N9ne catalog.

5. Green Day, “Jesus of Suburbia”

💿 American Idiot • 🏷 Reprise • 📅 2004

“I’m the son of rage and love / The Jesus of Suburbia / From the bible of ‘none of the above.’” So, if I’m interpreting this correctly, the guy in the aforementioned lyrical excerpt is a deity of the suburbs? Okay… Anyways, few associate 🏆 Grammy-winning rock band 🎙 Green Day with Jesus, who is mentioned on this standout from the 2004 masterpiece, 💿 American Idiot. 🎵 “Jesus of Suburbia” makes religious references, but not in the most “Christian way possible.” Sift through the lyrics of this conceptual rock song and it’s definitely NOT biblical!

Over its course and many parts, it’s clear that the protagonist is rebellious and could care less about moral and spiritual authority.  This ‘Jesus of Suburbia’ is on his own path and controls his own destiny.

“Everyone is so full of shit
Born and raised by hypocrites
Hearts recycled but never saved
From the cradle to the grave.”