The You Wildin' Top Sixty Songs of 2008: 39-37

39) The Foreign Exchange featuring Darien Brockington and Muhsinah- Something to Behold
Comprised of Nicolay and Phonte (yes, Little Brother's lyrical monster Phonte), the Foreign Exchange is almost definitely the best neo-soul side project in the history of North Carolina. Their sophomore release, Leave it All Behind, is an eleven track collection of space-age, bottom heavy, tracks accompanied by electric organs and soaring vocals. It was one of YW's resident urban culture aficionado the Stratetician's favourite albums of the year. When compiling this list, he suggested the stellar penultimate track Something to Behold. I got excited about this song before I even heard it, because I thought that featured artist Darien Brockington was the dude from Hootie and the Blowfish. Turns out I was thinking about Darius Rucker, but the song is still cool. I especially like the way that the generally upbeat song completely changes mood in the bridge.

38) Katy Perry- I Kissed a Girl
Katy Perry's smash, I Kissed a Girl is well produced, catchy, and has surprisingly clever lyrics. More impressive, however, is the crossover appeal that this song possesses. It is a pop song, and sounds like it is intended for 10-13 year old female audiences, but any straight man, gay women (perhaps not, if they wanted to look at its negative sociological implications), or just fun loving folks throughout the social sphere can appreciate the sentiment of this track. Personally, I am enough of a simple, beer pong playing, college party loving broman to promote Perry's message to the fullest extent. Ladies, listen to shorty, and make out with each other.
Also, dub Cockney thug Rusko made an incredible remix of this song. I don't think it is out yet, but a snippet is the first track on his myspace

37) The Roots featuring Wale and Chrisette Michelle- Rising Up
This is the real hip hop track of real hip hop tracks. I don't necessarily mean that in a good way. All that talk about hip hop being dead is a bit tired these days- especially when the Roots are still pumping out good albums, Southern cats have by-in-large stepped their lyrical games up, producers are as good as they have ever been, and there are so many promising new rappers on the radar (Wale very much included). That being acknowledged, the arrangement of this song is peculiar, the instrumentation is refreshingly organic, and Chrisette Michelle has lovely tonality. Besides, Wale and Black Thought are ridiculous. Also, maybe it is because I grew up on Rawkus and Okay Player, but I get sentimental when I hear mentions of b-girls.