Can we add to the detritus that are the overabundant and excessive year-end music lists?

Yes we can!

Speaking of... Although it didn't make our year-end list, this was an important song and not just because all of the editors here voted for "That One." I know much of it was irritating and maybe a tad cultish, but still, it was important. (By the way, will.i.am released a follow-up song following the election. If you can believe it, this one was cheesier, more self-congratulatory, and even more irritating).

With that, it's now time for The First Annual Pun Spot Year End Compilation. The list below are the editors' favorite songs of the past year. Eligibility is limited to songs that were released as singles in 2008. So although there were a few songs that were prominent in 2008 (many of them featured on this blog), we chose not to include them. (I'm looking at you Marvin Gaye.)

1. Estelle - American Boy (feat. Kanye West)
2. Jay-Z - Brooklyn (Go Hard) (feat. Santogold)
3. Lil Wayne - A Milli
4. M.I.A. - Paper Planes
5. Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
6. Kanye West - Love Lockdown
7. Usher - Love in This Club (feat. Young Jeezy)
8. Lil Wayne - Lollipop
9. Jay-Z - Jockin' Jay-Z
10. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
11. T.I. - Swagger Like Us (feat. Kanye West, Jay-Z & Lil Wayne)
12. Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)
13. Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes
14. N.E.R.D - Everyone Nose (remix feat. Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco & Pusha T)
15. Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl
16. Young Jeezy - Put On (feat. Kanye West)
17. Gnarls Barkley - Going On
18. Kanye West - Heartless
19. Chris Brown - Forever
20. Lloyd - Girls Around The World (feat. Lil Wayne)
21. The Roots - Rising Up (feat. Chrisette Michelle & Wale)

A few notes:

• Why 21 songs? Initially we were going with 20, but numbers 19, 20, and 21 were tied, so there you go.
  
• Kanye West and Lil Wayne dominate this chart with a total of 10 appearances between the two (I count "Swagger Like Us" two times).
  
• Jay-Z didn't do too bad either with three appearances on the list.
  
• Much disagreement between the editors (and perhaps some flaws with our scoring system) led some songs to rank much lower than expected (e.g., "Paper Planes" was ranked as 1 or 2 by three of the editors while it didn't even make the list of the fourth editor's top 20).
  
• Notable artists missing from the list: Vampire Weekend, Rhianna, and Ne-Yo. All of these artists had a tremendous year by any standard, yet they don't meet the exacting standards of our committee. Harsh.
  

Thanks everyone for a really good first year for the blog. Thanks to the editors and all the writers for putting in the time to contribute. And thanks to the readers (all 5 of you).

Puff puff pass

The Cool Kids dropped this remix to Maroon 5's hit from a few years ago. They changed the meaning of the lyrics (slightly).

Maroon 5 - Harder to Breathe (The Cool Kids Remix)

(Thanks to All Things Go for the free download.)

The Iron(y) Giant

Some of you may remember my last post on Lily Allen. (If you do, then I would be genuinely surprised.) Regardless, it seems that she has a tendency of saying the exact opposite of what she means in her songs.

Lily Allen - The Fear



Reminds me a lot of the live action version of Alice in Wonderland (circa 1985).

Good song, good video, good night.

Stimulus Package

N.E.R.D has a plan to lift us out of this recession

N.E.R.D - Sooner or Later



If it were only that easy. One guy is arrested, some good Microsoft product placement, and all of a sudden... recession over. Bust out of the vodka because we got a party going on! Which is not to say I don't like the song. I do. Juxtaposes slow R&B melodies with almost discordant melancholy and then breaks into pure rock guitar riffs. Typical of many other N.E.R.D songs.

Which brings up one of my other recession songs from everyone's favorite economist Young Jeezy - Put On.

Space Center Houston

N.A.S.A. - Gifted (feat. Kanye West, Santogold & Lykke Li)



N.A.S.A.'s album drops in February. It looks to be pretty sweet. Check out the track list and guest artists.

If you're interested in learning more about N.A.S.A. (and not NASA), check out their MySpace page.

Part 3 in a 20 part series on the world of hip hop intersecting with the world of shoes

See if you can name all the celebs, athletes, artists in the video

adidas - Originals 2009



And Wale is back with a pretty dope single

Wale - Nike Boots



Also for your reference:
Part 1
Part 2

Does it in his sleep

Siiiiiick song / vid by Jay-Z (feat Santogold) off the Notorious soundtrack.

Blog post 'bout a blog post

Common, like Pun, thinks he's got jokes.

His blog is purty simple, even relative to Kanye's gibberish (which is rumored to be ghost-written anyhow. Chump).

Aw, and B decides to tell us how much she loves Jay-Z:

Beyonce - Roc



===

EDITOR'S NOTE: Pun does have jokes. And they are hilarious.

Think of these stories during the next pledge drive

So NPR has become a pretty good source of hip hop news. Or at least a source.

(1) News item from this weekend on Emily Wells, an artist fusing classical music with hip hop. Andrea Seabrook does a pretty good job of interviewing Wells on how she thought of blending the two genres together and how she can genuinely cover a rap song (Wells has a cover of Biggie's "Juicy" on her album). Overall, the music's alright. I do appreciate people experimenting with different forms, but I still love the original.

The Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy



(2) News item from yesterday on a new documentary on the rise and fall of Wu-Tang Clan. So strange to hear people on NPR talking about the RZA, the GZA, Ol Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Ghostface Killah, the Method Man, Raekwon the Chef, the Masta Killa. Also strange to know that most of these guys are going to be 40 in the next couple of years. One of my favorite Wu songs below.

Wu-Tang Clan - Da Mystery of Chessboxin

(Ir)relevant

Grammy award nominees announced today. (Thanks to Daily Cherez for the news.)

Pun Spot favorite artists Coldplay, Lil Wayne, and M.I.A. get some Grammy love. Even Ne-Yo received a few nominations.

It's a little confusing how this Grammy business works. The "Paper Planes" single was released in February 2008, but the album Kala was released in August 2007. Apparently the single date counts. Who knew?

And by that logic, "Love Lockdown" was eligible but excluded. Someone may be a little upset.



Also in the tradition of every other music blog out there, I'm looking to compile a roundup of the year's best videos / music. Please send in your suggestions.

This post was not written by Pun

Love me a good remix. Unfortunately, this is not one of them:



Oh, and then there's Com-Ye's pass at a slow-jam (don't play this in front of the family).

Common - Punch Drunk Love (feat. Kanye West) (registration required)



Lastly, here's what happens when creepy Belgian guy does Fifty: