I fucking hate nationalism. I have always hated it, and I will die hating it. Consequently, I fucking hate fascists. So as our country goes all the way to the goddamned right, and we legitimize the Presidency of a racist, sexist, violent, homophobic, belligerent, authoritarian, lying, fascist piece of shit who is going to wage a cold-blooded and ethnocentric war on the working class, I would like to say – Shout to YG and Nip for making the world’s first antifa banger.

Yeah yeah, I know, it’s not a lyrical masterpiece, and ordinarily that’s a dealbreaker. But if you threaten to kill fascists, you gain a lot of points in my book. I’m glad that someone caught on to Trump’s bullshit quickly, and I’m sad we didn’t do enough to stop it early on. No matter what happens, and no matter how many times the Feds censor the guy, remember three words closing out this year:

FUCK DONALD TRUMP

Just as B.o.B caught hell for summarizing and endorsing the fascist, hateful, and ignorant trash that was 2016, Power Struggle gets points for preaching the opposite. The MC of the group, Nomi, best summarized what we’re all thinking this year with regards to mass state violence and how it targets people of color, with probably my favorite anthemic hook of the past couple years:

Indict!
Convict!
Send those killer cops to jail!
The whole damn system is
Guilty as hell!

While I don’t agree with everything he says (Nomi is, as far as I can tell, a Marxist-Leninist, and I’m a syndicalist), his most recent offering This Mic Kills Fascists (shoutout to Woody Guthrie) contained thoughtful, poignant lyricism about worker’s struggle backed by great production. I highly recommend you check him out.

Yes I know, the single dropped in 2015, but the album version dropped in 2016. That out the way, this song wormed it’s way into my heart. When I first heard it, I thought “Huh. Anthrax kinda sounds like Crush 40 right now. That’s weird.” Then as I thought about it, I realized “Wait a minute! I love Crush 40!” And thus my love of this song was born.

I can’t BS, every time I hear this song I get pumped. The crushing guitar work on this along with Belladonna’s seemingly un-ageable vocals feels like the soundtrack to a kick ass action scene. I go back to how hype I got as a kid playing the Sonic Adventure games and getting to those action packed final boss segments. I start imagining giant robots in space blowing shit up. That’s how fucking hype I get!
Charlie Benante’s skin work is pretty damn cool too. He sounds like he’s hitting those things like his immortal soul’s on the line.

What I really think brings the whole thing together is that slow bit at the end, sounding like a heavenly chorus. You’re pounded with sheer awesomeness, and then given the chance to exhale, to breathe out. It’s a great song, by a great band, and deserves the honor of being the best metal song I heard all year.

I joke with my friends about weebs. I feel like when they see this on my year-end list, they’re going to call me a hypocrite. Truth is, I really don’t give a damn, this is so worth it. A common critique of Babymetal is that it’s poseur music and that no proper metalhead likes them. Setting aside how this is a no true scotsman (and in my experience, not true), it misses the actual functioning point of the group.

It’s not J-pop fans invading metal, it’s metal being introduced to J-pop. In this case, really good speed metal introduced to J-pop. Listen to this. Listen to it and tell me you aren’t amped. It’s like if Venom made an anime opening theme (only y'know, with less Satan). If you’re on the fence, I get it, it’s a weird act, but I can’t recommend seeing these girls live enough, or checking out the absolutely amazing music they put out. I’m glad they dropped a second album this year, and I’m glad it produced some of the best guitar work I heard in 2016.

I’m gonna make a total ass of myself right now: I can’t help but air guitar to that opening riff that mirrors the chorus. I can’t lie, I love everything about this, and I’m still amazed that the overplay on the radio hasn’t killed this song for me. The beautiful reverb laid bare across the track, the aforementioned guitar work, the creative use of rattling cymbals, the emotion Rihanna delivers this with… it’s all so exquisite.

Whenever I hear this song I can’t help but think of a tearjerking love story. I can see people crying to and about one-another, longing to correct their naive mistakes, walls getting pounded on in frustration, loss and redemption, the whole nine yards. This song belongs in a damn drama film, I swear to Christ.

If you’d told me that De La Soul was gonna drop the best rock song of this year… honestly, given the rest of the shit that happened in 2016 I’d be inclined to believe you. I don’t know how this song came about but it’s badass. Getting Justin Hawkins of The Darkness on a rap song is incredible enough, but having him shred for four minutes is a whole other thing altogether. Not to mention all the braggadocio of the emcees involved. The song is made to convey that DLS is performing in some packed arena backed by a full rock band, and damn it feels like it. If you like hard rock, if you like hip-hop, if you like loud shit, I recommend this with all my being.

I hear a lot about the potential of a J. Cole/Kendrick tape, and I’d like to propose that Big Sean make a collab tape with K. Dot instead. Firstly to piss off all the No Features (my little nickname for Cole stans). Secondly because working with Kendrick seems to bring out actual lyrical ability in Big Sean. Thirdly because Sean’s aspirations of skill seem to make Kendrick break out the lyrical miracles and shake up the game.

Honestly, I almost feel bad for Sean Don that he had to be so eclipsed by all this. The awesome production, Betty Wright’s vocals, Kendrick deciding to get metaphysical in three different voices… poor bastard didn’t stand a chance. But that’s OK because this track is awesome and I hope we get to hear way more collabs from Sean and Kendrick if it means bringing the best out of both of them.

Y'know that scene in The Hangover where Mike Tyson punches Zack Galifianakis in the face, then Ed Helms goes “I’m just saying, he’s still got it”? Y'know that scene? That’s how I felt listening to this. It’s amazing that even over 20 years in the game hasn’t been able to shed Esco’s lyrical prowess, or his knowledge of just how immense his impact as a rapper has been. Then you combine a massive solo track with a Lauryn Hill sample and a wisely restrained Khaled, hell you’ve got one of the best tracks of the year!

Some of you may have heard the little diss song that the nerdcore community made for Alex Trebek this year. (In the event you didn’t.) For those of you unfamiliar with the nerdcore scene, Sammus is quite the big deal there. Along with Adam WarRock and Mega Ran, she’s probably the most covered artist in the scene.

She turned 30 this year, and decided to make a badass rap song about it, while name dropping a rail shooter from my childhood and spitting straight up solar flares like her last name was Shinhan. The album itself is a great project that I don’t feel I had the chops to properly review, so I’ll give it and this song the following: It’s a great album, by a great rapper, about badass black feminism and some of the best lyrics I hear all year.