| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |
60. Big Sean ft. Nicki Minaj & Juicy J “MILF”
Instead of approaching "MILF" as a sequel to "Dance(A$$)(Remix)," Sean and Nicki sorta took the route of Tommy Boy & Black Sheep, casting the same chemistry partners in a different scenario. The result is probably the weirdest love song of the year, describing the complexities of falling for a MILF. We thought the kids were singing "Man on my mama," but Rap Genius reveals it's "Man, not my mama." When the kids aren't looking, Big Sean eats their snacks. When Seany's not looking, they're peeping through the keyhole. It's implied that Nicki Minaj plays the part of the 50-something MILF on welfare with fake teeth, an interesting twist that would fit more typically in a bizarre Sundance Festival film than within modern hiphop.https://soundcloud.com/hot-hhc-band/big-sean-ft-nicki-minaj-juicy
59. Ariana Grande featuring Mac Miller “The Way”
For some reason, "the song on the summer" seemed to have been emphasized through internet and radio marketing more so than in previous summers, and "The Way" def wins for top 5 summer 2013 jams, beating out "Blurred Lines" by a long shot. Thicke's and Pharrell's interpolation of "Got To Give It Up" didn't add as much sweetness (and dopeness, frankly) as Ariana's triple-thick frosting spread over the "Still Not A Playa" cupcake. By the time April showers turned to July thundershowers, "The Way" became inescapable and familiar enough to remove her Mariah similarities from the equation, embodying the jam entirely, and significantly upping the ante from Thalia and Fat Joe's interpolation ten years prior.https://soundcloud.com/macmillersongs/ariana-grande-the-way-ft-mac
58. Krill “Never a Joke”
Apart from having one of the catchiest earworm-basslines of the year, "Never a Joke" derives from the LP that spawned this historic blurb from our staff writers: When your path crosses Krill getting wasted in the gutter, they won't shout expletives at you or ask for change. They might not even want your attention. But if you give them 3 minutes, you'll be in on the joke. Despite its endearing wit, this record's enormity never quits. Bummer slack. Stay in bed for a week. Some of those caterwauls might be hiccups. - Staff writers.57. Cultes des Ghoules “The Passion of a Sorcereess”
The song title suggests witchcraft, but we're hearing Satanic stews a-brewin'. Right when “Sorceress” hits the throttle within its first minute, the rhythm section and guitars quickly lose any sense of synchronicity, suggesting stumblingly drunk raw power. Halfway through, Fred Phelps (or someone) condemns the heathens just before a monstrously thrashy riff brings it home for 4 or 5 minutes, only occasionally joined by Cultes' vocalist, scream-laughing while shoveling the non-believer souls into the eternal incinerator.56. Jay-Z featuring Rick Ross “Fuckwithmeyouknowigotit”
We're happy to announce this as the first Hot Mix since 2009 with no Drake. Praise the Lord. (Unless you wanna count the cliched Drake-influenced bassline in this surprisingly chill banger.)
55. Vanessa Paradis “Love Song”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QdWxKDdx_4
54. Action Bronson & Party Supplies “Contemporary Man”
A less adventurous pairing of DJ & Rapper might have split this into 5 or 6 separate jams. Leave it to Party Supplies to make good on his chosen DJ name, serving up mostly familiar samples from more unexpectedly uncovered areas of 80s MTV than Puff Daddy's first solo record...- “Sledgehammer”: Officially certified monster sample. Who knew?
- “Sussudio”: Always reliable as one of the all time so-bad-it's-good ironic bangers, but sounding way more enormous in this context, only slightly chopped & screwed. (Sounds like he lowered the turntable speed a bit.)
- “Jack & Diane”: Sampled tastefully enough to make up for Jessica Simpson's abysmal “I Think I'm In Love” almost entirely. Almost.
- “Another Day in Paradise”: The biggest surprise of all, since we've never liked this song, but now we sneak it onto our Spotify playlists when no one's looking. That's the positive power of Party Supplies. Guilty pleasures don't exist? Pshh.
- The fifth sample: Not sure what song this is, but Bronson's double-tracked once-sung refrain sets up the pins nicely for the mini-verse of dopeness that follows.
- The last sample: A weird finale, but sometimes serious ragers come to strange conclusions. Hey, that's party life.
https://soundcloud.com/jukeboxdc/09-action-bronson-party
53. Nelly featuring Nicki Minaj & Pharrell “Get Like Me”
Throwing some Minaj into the mixture was a nice touch, but not enough to launch “Get Like Me” into its well deserved placement within the Top 40 stratosphere. Most fans of Pharrell who've been awaiting some sort of Neptunes resurgence probably expected it to sound like this song, as opposed to his two genuine summer 2013 megahits. Under normal circumstances (if Top 40 radio hadn't completely turned to shit over the past 2-3 years), “Get Like Me” could have easily fit into heavy rotation. Unfortunately, Nelly and Pharrell shot for an era of nostalgia that wasn't marketable in 2013, with a beat that was dope as hell, albeit less than immediate. There's always next summer.https://soundcloud.com/jaifrigginlala/nelly-get-like-me-ft-nicki
52. My Bloody Valentine “If I Am”
The past few years have been rough times for the most mysterious rock stars. Since Loveless, Kevin Shields remained elusive as his records grew more legendary, only intensified as the years progressed without a follow up. By the time it was finally released, MBV arrived long after legend-debunking trolls began fueling an age of anti-mystique, discouraging mystery and legend, suddenly placing every article and interview piece very close by to anyone with access to Google searches. The intensely layered guitar jings and effects pedal filtering transcends past the debunkers, preserving the mystique required for their sparkly brand of spacewarp. We're also guessing the last 15 seconds of this song are everything that precedes played backwards.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ0axgeNbWU
51. Daft Punk featuring Pharrell “Get Lucky (Radio Edit)”
Ten years on, the phenomenon of the unclassifiable indie/R&B/hiphop crossover continues, following a decent lineage of songs that typically place at #1 on Spin Magazine's favorite singles of the year: “Hey Ya,” “Feel Good Inc,” “Crazy,” “Paper Planes,” and “Fuck You.” This time around, it only makes sense for EDM to fall somewhere into this crossover equation, nicely laying down the red carpet just in time for “Get Lucky” to take the world by storm. After quickly getting suckered into its brilliant marketing campaign, many of us assumed throughout May and June that “Get Lucky” was the bees knees of summer jams. While this assumption failed to hold water, it's still dope enough to qualify as “essential summer 2013” (far more so than “Blurred Lines” or “Applause”) and the best song from a slightly disappointing albeit decent record. (LP version is about 2 minutes too long. Radio edit wins.) P.S. “Song of the summer” seems to have turned into an annoying internet marketing phrase. Expect an attempt to repeat of this next year with similar-sounding dancey stuff.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhd5_JeRQYI
| Hot Mix 2013 on Spotify |
| #100 - 91 | #90 - 81 | #80 - 71 | #70 - 61 | #60 - 51 |
| #50 - 41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - 21 | #20 - 11 | #10 - 1 |
This might have placed much higher had it not been for the awkwardly inserted dubstep-flavored coda section. While this portion of the song might have worked wonderfully as its own separate thing, it kinda kills the dopeness of the initially established beat that starts “Female$ Welcomed,” where Jame$ explains the issues with his side bitch, main bitch and main ho all collectively deciding at once that they ain't feelin' him no mo. Rough times for the hood rich.
The vaguely familiar goth-keyboard intro explodes into a monstrous orgy of delay pedals and wah-fills. Their song titles and artwork suggest Sungod may be similarly obsessed with the same big-bang space-time theories that fueled the themes of their progressive psych forefathers, circa 1970 (albeit with less nonsensical spoken word passages). Their LP Contackt probably looks just as dope synched along with the final 23 minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey as “Echoes” ever did.
Lil B's recent adventures include maintaining his 2012 announcement of a long promised 
An album chock-fulla “Tunnel Vision”-caliber dopeness might not have surpassed JT's last 2 LPs, but probably would have been more widely appreciated. Unfortunately, Timbaland confirmed what we had all been dreading: He's lost the midas touch, a big part of what made the two volumes of 20/20 Experience such a disappointingly labored bumout with (mostly) lackluster beats to showcase “Jut Timb” bending over backwards for widespread acceptance. If he's so concerned about getting everyone to like him, and if his SNL skits are (probably) his most appreciated recent performances, it might be in his best interests to consider joining the SNL cast as a weekly employee. We highly doubt anyone would complain. (He's already funnier than Andy Samberg without really trying.)
While the music suggests a heavy sadness, vocal strain towards the end of this song reveals frustration and urgency. Long after the point when hope is lost, you'll do anything for closure, but it's just not gonna happen. So just keep drinking until another opportunity arrives. That's the best most of us can do these days. She sounds like the singer from The Sundays, except we're pretty sure we like Little Big League a lot better. The guitar tones are pretty massive too, reminiscent of Ringo Deathstarr's recent output. (That's a good thing.)
We got into the habit of calling these guys “Cave from Chicago.” In a year with no new output from Beak>, Cave's new record can safely secure its title as “best kraut-influenced release of the year.” We decided upon “Shikaakwa” as the standout mostly due to tasteful inclusion of flute, a very tricky instrument to include in this type of music. It's like playing minesweeper... One wrong step and you may turn into Aqualung, "Colour My World," or (even worse) Firefall.
As it turns out, we're huge suckers for the little “Cousin Brucie”/“CBS-FM” tags inserted by Party Supplies. It's probably our favorite element within Blue Chips 2. (Is that lame?) We're not sure of the source for this otherwise outstanding soul-sample, but the Eddie Hazel singed guitar shred at the end raises some suspicions. All throughout BC2, Action Bronson remains as fun and playful as ever, completely justifying the blessing that covers his Son-of-Ghostface vocal chords.
The mammoth mutant cyclops continues smashing mountains to bits, but he's learned to enunciate his English slightly better than on last year's “Sucker” b/w “Mummy” 7-inch, a record that turned out to be the “preview” for what was to follow. “Pond Rot” is when cyclops takes a nap next to the pond and has nightmares. It includes (probably) the most massive riffs on Cali X's self-titled, and (arguably) among the most intimidating of an entire year's worth of giants.