Hip-hop is a sport where its competitors are constantly searching for the perfect beat. Something so undeniably hot that every rapper within earshot wants to get on board to spit his (or her) own 16. Sometimes the original rhyme slinger calls in a select chosen few for an official remix (i.e. Craig Mack’s “Flavor in Ya Ear”). Other times an overzealous MC (or two…hundred) gets his Ice Cube on and starts jackin’ for beats.
We saw it in 2002 with the Clipse’s “Grindin’,” then again in 2004 with Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot” (both produced by Pharrell the Neptunes). A few years later, Rich Boy’s 2007 single “Throw Some D’s” became the beat du jour, and Kanye West blessed the Polow Da Don-helmed track with his own remix. Who can forget Lil Wayne’s 2008 gem, “A Milli,” which was lyrically raped by a who’s who of MCs and thrust producer Bangladesh into the limelight.
In 2009, though, it seems like it wasn’t just one track that was gettin’ over-jacked but several. Every time I went scouring the Internet for music for XXLMag.com’s Bangers section over the past few months, I kept coming across remixes—both official and unofficial—for the same damn beats. The results were mixed, as some versions were good while others I’d much sooner forget.
Below are the nine tracks of ’09 that seemed to blow MC’s minds. Which producer do you think made the hottest track out of the bunch? And which MC do you think beat up the beat the best? Oh, you thought I was going to list every remix that came out per track? Pffft! Think again, but the homies over at TSS recently posted a compilation of all the “I Wanna Rock” remixes. Surprisingly, that’s actually one of the tracks I wouldn’t wanna rock. —Anslem Samuel
Jay-Z’s “D.O.A. (Death of AutoTune)” [Prod. by No ID]
Wacka Flocka Flame’s “O Let’s Do It” [Prod. by Don Beatz]
Snoop Dogg’s “I Wanna Rock” [Prod. by Scoop Deville]
Drake’s “Forever” [Prod. by Boi-1da]
Diddy’s Dirty Money’s “Angels” [Prod. by Diddy]
Jay Electronica’s “Exhibit C” [Prod. by Just Blaze]
Sade’s “Soldier of Love” [Prod. by Sade & Mike Pela]
Drake’s “Successful” [Prod. by 40]
Clipse’s “Kinda Like a Big Deal [Prod. by DJ Khalil]
