My Name Alone Can’t Be Denied

Mike Jones “Cuttin’ (Remix)” – Is there another artist in contemporary pop music who is as consistently on-message as Mike Jones? Virtually every lyric on Who Is Mike Jones reiterates one of maybe ten key talking points:

1) His name is Mike Jones. (MIKE JONES!!!)
2) The name of his album is Who Is Mike Jones?
3) His cell phone number is/was 281-330-8004, you can feel free to call him.
4) Thanks to his skills as a hustler, he is about to become a superstar.
5) Formerly disinterested women want to get with him now that he is famous.
6) As a result, he does not trust scandalous hoes.
However, he does enjoy the following:
7) Swanging.
8) Woodgrain steering wheels.
9) Purple drank.
10) Princess cut diamonds.

Where others might see a lack of versatility and lyrical creativity, I see an artist who has intentionally or not created a hip hop equivalent of De Stijl, yielding compelling results from a highly stylized set of essential elements and limitations. And if you cannot appreciate that, I don’t know how you’re going to argue with that ska backing track and the yodelling sample. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

August Darnell “Christmas On Riverside Drive” – Sleigh rides, roasting chesnuts, drinking cider from a wooden cane, hanging out with his girlfriend in uptown Manhattan – it’s not hard to understand why Mr. Darnell opted for Christmas in NYC rather than San Bernardino. This is a perfect song for Christmas parties, which is why I’m getting this out of the way early in the month in case any of you will be hosting or DJing one. (Click here to buy it from Ze Records.)