The Middle of Nowhere #15: Best of 2023
The Middle of Nowhere awards the best of the best in music, film, and a lil bit of wrasslin'
Let’s spare ourselves the neat recapping of 2023, what it all meant. There was far too much going on to foolishly attempt to contextualize the year. Regional Mexican music held insane real estate in popular music as their American pop counterparts floundered in an identity crisis. The line between writerly, indie-country and meathead, keg-tipping jams blurred significantly. The biggest country song was a Tracy Chapman cover. While some folks were sitting around the campfire, the dance music delved deeper into the euphoric escapism that makes the genre so addicting. Even as yesteryear’s interesting rappers followed the trend of industrialization, there were plenty who revitalized old approaches or invented something in the margins.
The music was fresh, cool, and interesting. As to avoid the redundancy of writing about records covered in publications ad nauseam, I’m going to talk about songs/albums that may not receive the year end consideration. Full list will be at the end. 2023’s The Good & The Ugly Pop song list will be out soon after this.
ZAYALLCAPS
I joke frequently about the kind of friendly nepotism that is involved with writing about your friends. It’s shaky grounds, to have relationships with people who make music while in the business of publicizing it. Sometimes, you don’t have meaningful thoughts on the art or, worse, you aren’t feeling it at all.
This isn’t a problem with ZAYALLCAPS. In the personal sense, we are wired similarly. There is a hyper-fixation on the details and the setting the music creates. But Zay is a special artist because he’s able to absorb, digest, and reconvert ideas in rapid succession. His album Balling Out of Spite is a freakish hybrid of Static Major harmonies, Larry David lyrical mundanities, 2007 T-Pain digitizing, and skinny jeans, jerking era tempo textural manipulation. That’s only a few flourishes in a highly defined palette that circles Phonte and Toro y Moi.
Take “WANNABE,” glitchy and metallic in its sheen, with his vocals in an echo chamber with the autotune and reverb. Then he uproots the song to a slow crawl, and indulges in ’91 Jodeci harmonies as a bridge and layers them as a glaze atop the slurred hook. This all risks being extremely disorienting and uneven. But there is an unholy matrimony when Zay marries Screw-isms and late 00s-early 2010s electro-pop. He is music’s logical step forward from Child Rebel Soldier.
That’s just one record in the diverse tangents Zay explores. “Accordion” is a thrilling offshoot of hip-hop’s fascination with drill, an enrapturing showcase in how regionalism exists on the internet. “All My Life” with Kwame Adu is a pure marriage of the contemplative and the Dipset era triumph. “ALL LUV” and “Pro Clubz” are stadium status pop songs with the right budget. His ability to do everything doesn’t come from calloused efforts to market to everyone. It’s all in service to his singular identity and makes him one of the most interesting artists working today.
OT7Quanny
Does it not get boring circulating between the same names for the best rapper in the world? Your neo-traditionalists are going to try and convince you it’s Boldy James (still a solid choice but y’all have to be honest about some of these records man) or anyone even vaguely resembling a Griselda/Alchemist type beat. Those who listen to a total of 13 rappers will deploy the dreaded “Big 3” of J. Cole (boring), Drake (hilarious but also boring), and Kendrick Lamar (he barely even goes here). The hyper-online may still try and throw Babytron at you if you aren’t looking.
If you want to differ from the Veeze crowd— a completely valid and strong choice nonetheless— try OT7 Quanny. The gem I devoured in 2023 was “New Money,” what would happen if Philadelphia was smothered in volcanic ash and he was still on the corner. Anyone with a sliver of believability could rap about violence and drugs, it’s Quanny’s imagination that elevates the tried and true material. Instead of dwelling on the untrustworthy in the streets, he ponders why the hell Bishop was running around like that in Juice, “Fuck was wrong with Quincy?” A headshot isn’t just brains on the cement, his face is a bowl of spaghetti. For Quanny, it’s all in the details and he thrives amongst his contemporaries in that department.
Rae Sremmurd
It seems like people are out on Rae Sremmurd. Dropping a triple album and then vanishing for 5 years didn’t help matters. But in exchange for their absence, we received their most engaging album. Rather than fixating on recreating undeniable ear-worms that populated their first two albums or dividing Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi’s in their 3rd, their 4th album was a matrimony of their newfound interests.
Sremm 4 Life is a weird album. Their lead single “Tanisha (Pump That)” is downtrodden and bizarrely structured, intercut with DJ scratches and abrupt hooks. It still has that undeniable catchiness but its tempo and movement are halted in favor of strange architecture. Records that have real potential as hits are padded by intriguing retro rap flourishes; take the break beat on “Flaunt It” or the Miami bass on my song of the summer “Sexy.”
It’s an uneven album for sure. The rage excursion on “ADHD Anthem” was a little tacky. “Not So Bad (Leans Gone Cold)” is comically bad as an attempt at sample drill. But Sremm 4 Life doesn’t strike me as nefarious or inherently trend chasing the way so many mainstream coded from rising and established artists do. After almost a decade of churning hits for themselves and others, it struck me as Swae and Jxmmi moving away from that hyper-efficiency to try a little bit of everything, no matter how it sounds. If people are truly over Rae Sremmurd, it’s beautiful to see them create without the added stress of expectations.
B. Cool-Aid- Leather Blvd
I love a record that sounds like home. I know, in the meta analysis of criticism, that I’m supposed to be looking out for the cutting edge music, the truly fresh and original. A lot of the best music this year fit in that idea, reintroducing the familiar to the uninitiated and stitching new color in its fabric.
B. Cool-Aid provided that in really subtle ways. It signals a lot of base level ideas; you can smell the neck bones in the collards, you can feel the old corduroy seats only your uncle or your granddad could sit in, you see how the country infiltrates the inner city with its greenery. But there’s iPhones in those brown leather jackets. This isn’t your 70s Curtis Mayfield South, though that is here. ‘Ratchet Night’ is just as prominent as spoken word on jazzy drums. You’ll hear just as much Young Thug and Future croons to the Al Green and Isley Brothers ballads.
Leather Blvd. highlights what I’ve always loved about Pink Siifu as an artist. Rather than regurgitating Southern cliches and only negotiating with pure absolutes, he captures places like Birmingham, Alabama with a soft tact that doesn’t erase the fullness of Southern humanity. It’s the closest we have to rekindling the kind of warm intimacy we received during D’Angelo’s peak reign from ’95-’00. Leather Blvd. is another crucial step towards unlocking the full multi-dimensionality of Southern life.
My Favorite Color- “Bald N—“
I’m worried about being bald. My pops is bald. My grandpa on my mom’s side was bald. The trend suggests baldness in my future. I often touch the top of my head where a bald spot could spread. I can’t imagine inciting the wrath of someone like My Favorite Color without a follicle of hair on my head.
There’s a legit case that this is the best diss song in… decades? It’s not “Story of Adidon,” the chatty patty extravaganza where Pusha T’s big punchline is exposing how Drake has a kid he wasn’t telling people about. It’s not any of the thin subliminals Drake has been pumping out on his Real Rap™ songs. It’s not even “Back to Back,” a great diss that doesn’t age as well when Meek Mill might actually be slow— see the picture with him and the french fries in the pool. It shares a lot of its strengths with Young Dolph’s “Play Wit Yo Bitch,” trivializing the mere existence of your rival by attacking their big ass craniums and the brand they’ve built. My Favorite Color is in esteemed territory with Dolph and Justin Timberlake for the best diss songs ever.
jaydes- Ghetto Cupid
It’s easy to view jaydes in the same light XXXTentacion was back in 2017. Both had natural instincts for melody and how that talent could interweave in rap, pop, and emo all the same. But this always struck me as a neat compartmentalization of interests and washed away regional context. As real as the Kodak Black and Rod Wave effect is in Florida, the kids are super online and they know how to assimilate the tangible with the digital.
Ghetto Cupid works really well as a clear intersection of teenage angst, internet niches and textures, and Floridian humidity. Witchybitchy is plain cut plugg but the chords have a sour, citrus-y aspect to it that can only be derived from living in central-southern Florida. As much as Misery and Rose want to be by-the-numbers grunge, jaydes has a filtration in his layered vocals that recalls the countless anime edits that polluted YouTube and Instagram in the 2017 hypebeast era. Ghetto Cupid distills what makes jaydes such an interesting artist, someone who can interweave real life interactions and hours of back and forth texting and DM hopping with the same degree of dramatic wait. It all shares the same environment and it can’t be ignored in creating art.
Usher- “GLU”
I remember when Silk Sonic came out, there were many skeptics. Plenty raised an eyebrow, that Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak were merely singing Philly Soul karaoke jams, that these songs were refined specifically for a Vegas Residency. As much as I thoroughly enjoyed the album in 2021, it’s hard not to understand the complaints. It’s an album of well studied, expensive re-rock, so carefully imitated, it is faceless.
“GLU” is the kind of record Bruno and Paak could only dream of making. While not the hyper efficient pop ear worm records like “Smokin Out The Window” are, it makes up for it in spades with its lavish extravagance. It’s Usher’s falsetto that takes it to the next level, how it straddles the electric guitar lick and the hefty drums. If music must be expensive and wax away the texture in its mixing, it must have the proper distinctive layers to accompany it. Usher achieved that with “GLU.”
Subiibabii
I wrote about the re-rock machines in modern media for my blurb about Tisakorean at Passion of the Weiss. There’s plenty of self described artists who force-feed the 80s until you puke up a slurry of jherri curl juice, neon lights, and —. There isn’t anything wrong with rocking the stylings of the past. It’s a byproduct of the game. But the trick is in contorting the past in an effort to introduce the present and future. Subiibabii is instrumental in bridging this gap.
Subiibabii raps in pop star hooks through the filter of New Boyz era futurism and I <3 Boobies wrist bands. Rather than merely bite Cali Swag District for the sake of aesthetic, Subii understands the value of getting in and out with a hook you’ll sing all day. He won’t follow the old guard in indulging in bad verses detracts from the dancing either. He’ll congest these horny, bite-sized excerpts a dozen times in the span of a minute. Whether it’s in the spirit of effective algorithm manipulation or in hopes to spin as many of this buggy, hyperactive whore anthems, it’s catchy as hell. 20 seconds into “Sassy Lifestyle,” you’re halfway into a Cat Daddy and declaring it Sassy Season. Even his wordier hooks about plowing through his lineup of hoes have these unreal melodies that linger for days (“South”).
Navy Blue- Ways of Knowing
I never knew you could heal with a piece of music. I always found immense comfort in art, how I could cozy myself into an artist’s perspective or a world they created. Some of my favorite albums are largely vessels for familiarity and beauty when life becomes disorienting, losing sight of the beauty around me. Cilvia Demo, Trap Muzik, any of my favorite R&B records, it transports me to a safer place, one that reflects the life I live in the greatest moments. It’s easy to be comforted, to never confront the pain and grief. Ways of Knowing taught me how to live with it, and how I don’t have to settle for mere moments of relief.
At some point, these kinds of therapy raps can run tired, especially if it feels like the record has all the answers for life’s complexities. But I couldn’t turn my head up at an artist who reflected my own grief in 2022. With the loss that I faced losing mom, my granddads, and my best friend in late ’21, Ways of Knowing was crucial in soundtracking the steps towards peace, knowing someone was doing it the same way I was. I really tried to keep the list as Critical as possible throughout the year but this was the truest reflection of my year.
Best Albums, 2023
1. Navy Blue- Ways of Knowing
2. MIKE- Burning Desire
3. Veeze- Ganger
4. Zach Bryan- S/T
5. Jim Legxacy- Homeless N-- Pop Music
6. ZAYALLCAPS- BALLING OUT OF SPITE
7. Tisakorean- Let Me Update My Status
8. Niontay- Dontay's Inferno
9. Chris Stapleton- Higher
10. Mitski- The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We
11. Cleo Sol- Gold
12. lostrushi- Sisterhood
13. Lunchbox- New Jazz
14. B.Cool Aid (Pink Siifu x Ahwlee)- Leather Blvd
15. Kelela- Raven
16. Maxo- Even God Has a Sense of Humor
17. Brent Faiyaz- Larger Than Life
18. Jalen Ngonda- Come Around and Love Me
19. Olivia Rodrigo- Guts
20. jaydes- Ghetto Cupid
21. Peso Pluma- GÉNESIS
22. Liv.e- Girl in the Half Pearl
23. Diddy- The Love Album
24. HiTech- DÉTWAT
25. El Cousteau- Dirty Harry
26. Sexyy Red- Hood Hottest Princess
27. Fuerza Regida- Pa las Baby's Y Belikeada
28. Grupo Frontera- El Comienzo
29. Babyface Ray- Summer's Mine
30. Rylo Rodriguez- Been One
Best Songs, 2023
Navy Blue x Venna x Liv.e- Embers
Jim Legxacy- Miley’s Riddim
ZAYALLCAPS- Wannabe
Anycia- So What
Niontay- Thank Allah
Earl Sweatshirt- Making the Band
Sexyy Red- Skeeyee
Veeze- GOMD
Rae Sremmurd- Sexy
MIKE x Venna x Liv.e- U Think Maybe?
B. Cool Aid- Cnt Go Back
Hurri Haran- Beyonce
Duwap Kaine- Shopping Spree
Fall Out Boy- Love From The Other Side
OT7Quanny- New Money
Olivia Rodrigo- Vampire
Mitski- My Love Mine All Mine
Swami Sound x CVMILLE- Back in the Day (Soulecta Dub)
Tisakorean- How You Gone Do Dat
King Krule- Seaforth
Zach Bryan- Summertime’s Close
Diddy x Jeremih x Kalan.frfr x K-Ci- Stay Pt. 2
Usher- GLU
Doja Cat- Agora Hills
Subiibabii- She a Thot
Brent Faiyaz x A$AP Rocky x N3WYRKLA- Outside All Night
Cleo Sol- Please Don’t End It All
Lil Yachty- Strike (Holster)
Pi’erre Bourne- NY in June
Yeat- Already Rich
Tyla x Ayra Starr- Girl Next Door
Lunchbox- Matter
Kelela- Happy Ending
Baby Keem x Kendrick Lamar- The Hillbillies
El Cousteau- U & Me
Fuerza Regida- Mi Vecindario
Maxo- Who Gives Me Breath
Babyface Ray- Life Full of Lies
T-Pain- Don’t Stop Believin’
FLEE- Nobody Cuffin
Luh Tyler- Change My Wayz
Grupo Frontera- Un x100to
Drake x Sexyy Red x SZA- Rich Baby Daddy
Bktherula x NBA Youngboy- Crazy Girl P2
EBK Young Joc- Affiliations
Asake- Awodi
Chris Stapleton- Loving You on My Mind
PinkPantheress- Mosquito
Jalen Ngonda- Lost
Young Nudy- Passion Fruit
Top 5 Films of 2023
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
May December
Asteroid City
Anyone But You
Top 10 First Watches of 2023
Chinatown
Miami Vice
Oldboy
Speed Racer
Chungking Express
Killers of the Flower Moon
Parasite
TÁR
Oppenheimer
Bloodsport
Top 5 Wrasslin Matches
Hangman Adam Page vs Swerve Strickland (Texas Death Match)
Bad Bunny vs Damian Priest
GUNTHER vs Drew McIntyre vs Sheamus
Takuya Nomura vs Fuminori Abe
Bryan Danielson vs Ricky Starks (Strap Match)