This feature highlights a hand-picked selection of some of the bigger tracks of the week. We have chosen a few of the tracks that landed within our top 10 most played, focusing on those that stood out, and left room for discussion.
Once again, this particular feature is cataloging the most POPULAR songs on the site, for some of the more overlooked tracks, check out Underrated Audio.
This edition of Top Tracks features Chris Brown, Tyga, Ty Dolla $ign and more. Take a look at the list in the gallery above, and feel free to let us know your own favorite tracks in the comments.
Ty Dolla $ign- "Lord Knows" (Feat. Dom Kennedy & Rick Ross)
Ty Dolla $ign is an underrated producer. His D.R.U.G.S. beat-making team seemed to have fewer and fewer credits on his last couple of projects, but it's great to see them return in a big way for $ign Language. Ty himself takes the reins on "Lord Knows", going for a dark, but still very sticky beat with plenty of clap snares. The result has the same slinky paranoia of, well, "Paranoid", encapsulating Ty's best qualities to a T.
Tyga- Erryday
Tyga's able to apply his style to plenty of different production styles while always sounding like himself. "Hookah" gradually became one of the surprise hits of the summer, and while the sunny club track fits him perfectly, he can also take on a darker trap anthem like "Erryday" to similar success. Unlike "Hookah", T-Raww attacks this one solo, and it's all the better for it, supplying both a catchy hook and some unrelenting verses.
G-Unit- Ahhh Shit
G-Unit- Ahhh Shit
50 Cent and co. aren't generally known to get political on tracks, but they wouldn't be the first ones inspired to take a stand following the murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson earlier this month. The crew sound newly reinvigorated here, taking on a menacing instrumental from TM88 (which owes something to Boi 1da and Vinylz' "Chi-Raq"). The aggressive track takes aim at police brutality in general, referencing Brown's shooting; "why the fuck would you call them cops/ Your hands up, you still gettin' shot".
T.I.- New National Anthem (Feat. Skylar Grey)
Much like G-Unit (and J. Cole for that matter), T.I. decided to make a protest song this week, and despite the heavy subject matter, this one sounds perfect for the radio (ironically Tip begins the song by declaring the very opposite). Teaming with Eminem collaborator Skylar Grey, T.I. delivers a track that sonically sounds pretty close to an Em hit, only rather than sticking to internal struggles he opens things up for change.
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Chris Brown- X
Chris Brown has had a long and sporadic rollout for X, but the scattered moments have all been strong. Unfortunately, his incarceration meant that the label couldn't pull the trigger on a release date during "Loyal"'s peak, but it happened pretty soon after his release anyway. The title track is the most recent single from the album, and it seems destined for pop radio play, with swooping hooks and beat drops abound.