“Collard Greens” & “Shabba” Are The Bangers of the Year (2013 RefinedHype Awards) Posted by Lucas G. on 12/18/13 | Filed under Top Stories, Opinion, Debates, RefinedHype Awards

It's that time of the year when everyone does their "Best of the Year" lists, but how many of those can you really read? So around these parts we do things a little different. Ladies and gentlemen and intelligent animals with the ability to read things on the interwebs, welcome to the 2013 RefinedHype Awards!  Here are the rules. First, this isn't a democracy, it's more like a benevolent dictatorship. I chose the nominees after careful consideration drinking. But instead of whining that your favorite rapper/song/whatever didn't make it in, I'm allowing write in votes. Whoever gets the most votes wins that category, even if y'all override my nominations with a write-in vote. Period. I'll announce all the winners on Wednesday, December 18. And I'll be explaining the criteria and nominees for each category every time. Got it? Good

RefinedHype is a place for the nerdiest of rap nerds to get their rap nerdery on. For many of you, RefinedHype is your haven away from all the stuff you can find on the radio and a slew of other blogs. We might have our backpacks on tight (I know mine is glued on) but that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy a good punch-a-kitten banger. Sometimes even the nerds want to get turnt up with an ignant, wild, ostentatious banger; there is a time and place for every type of hip-hop. Still, even in our bangers we expect some sort of dopeness, and these songs from 2013 gave us just what we needed. It’s time to pick a winner 2013's Banger of the Year.

The guidelines are simple. The songs can be (and are often) radio or club friendly and make you wanna go absolutely crazy every time they are on. No matter how big of a backpacker you are, when one of the right banger comes on you throw caution and common sense to the wind, sacrificing all your stringent hip-hop values and regulations so that you can get turnt up with the best of ‘em. There are different kinds of bangers, some make you want to fight, some make you want to drink, but as long as you wanna be reckless, the banger has done its job. It helps to have a super quotable line or two, but as long as the song is from 2013, and makes you want to punch a million kittens right in their adorable faces, the song works.

The nominees....

UPDATE: The voting is closed. Scroll to the bottom for the winner(s). 

The Game - Ali Bomaye ft. 2 Chainz, Rick Ross

It wasn’t until "Grand Theft Auto" dropped that I came to appreciate this song; nothing like running over people and robbing banks to a surprisingly dope and energetic 2 Chainz. What really makes this song is Black Metaphor’s production. I have heard Florence and The Machine sampled more times than I can count, but I don’t think I have ever heard it so hard. I should hate everything about this (including the video cameos from the fat guy who yells and French Montana) but damn it if I don’t go nuts for this song. Usually Kanye is the only one who can make me like Ross, but I dig him here. Don’t know what it is exactly but this song just works, and it bangs.

Ace Hood – “Bugatti” ft. Future, Rick Ross

Ace Hood isn’t what I would consider a superstar or even a really popular emcee, but the man can make a banger now and then and this just might be his biggest hit. I didn’t really appreciate this song until I went to a show and in between acts they played it. When that first drop happens on the hook everybody went nuts. I never ever go to clubs but I’d have to imagine it would have that same effect; it was pretty cool and very fun to see a hundreds of people going berserk and even I couldn’t pull out my elitist card. Everyone hails "started from the bottom" as the most quoted line, but I think “I woke up in a new Bugatti" might have it beat. I like never listen to this song, but even I have been known to yell the hook at random points. It doesn’t matter if I have listened to the song recently or not; it’s branded into my brain. Future takes a lot of flak, but this is when his hook is just perfect. Props to Mike WiLL Made It on that beat too; it hits perfectly at the perfect times.

SchoolBoy Q - Collard Greens ft. Kendrick Lamar

I had been sleeping on this song, but recently fell in love with it. Just last night I was blasting it while and pulled into a parking spot right in front of 7-11. As some guy was leaving, he heard it and immediately started to go nuts and for a brief moment two strangers bonded over one of the craziest beats of the year. A song that can make some random guy in the parking lot stop what he is doing and turn up is a shoo-in for Banger of the Year. THC and Gwen Bunn beat is stellar. It has all the feeling of an aggressive trap beat, but it really isn’t one. A lot of times I lose interest in the trap heavy stuff because it is just too static. This one gets me going like a trap beat, but it has a more unique, electronic vibe to it which keeps me invested all the way through; as does SchoolBoy's cool cadence. It isn't your typical banger, but the energy on this track gives this song definite banger status. Plus Kendrick rapping in Spanish, and Macklemore in the video. Oh and that blonde girl…

Nathan Interjection: Lucas and I debated this one, things got a little heated. I mean it really got out of hand fast. So I have to interject here. There's no way we can have a Banger of the Year discussion without ScHoolboy, but for me there's also no way that "Collard Greens" bangs harder than either "Yay Yay" or, fittingly, "Banger". "Collards Greens' parties with Macklemore, "Banger" would knock out Macklemore and steal his socks (figuratively speaking). I sold crack for three weeks this year just because I listened to "Yay Yay" so many times. I agree with every other nominee here, but I'm adding "Banger" because this is my fucking site and I can do whatever the fuck I want and if you disagree you can suck an infinite amount of dicks. (See what listening to "Banger" does to my demeanor?)

 

Run The Jewels- Banana Clipper ft. Big Boi

Unlike some of these other nominees you won't hear "Banana Clipper" on the radio or in the club, because it would make people stop what they are doing and fight, but it makes you wanna go bananas (pun intended) just like any other banger. It’s nice to find a song I can keep my backpack on but still rage.  If you aren’t aptly prepared this song just might melt your face off and if you have a heart condition or are pregnant, I recommend staying away. Usually, either the beat drives it or the emcee but here both El-P and Killer Mike are at their craziest and it makes for one of the most frenzied, relentless, and enjoyable listens of the year. This song is proof that not all bangers need a trap beat or some lyrics that verge on comical.

MAYDAY! Last One Standing ft. Tech N9ne

Some of the best bangers in the history of bangerdom are not hip-hop at all; think Crazy Train or Welcome To The Jungle.  Sometimes the metal heads can get just as buck if not bucker than the likes of Crime Mob. That is what makes Mayday’s “Last One Standing” so effective. Sure Wrekonize’s AK-47-like flow is high-octane, but the live band, almost rock instrumentals give the song a different banger vibe; that anthemic clapping really gets my blood boiling. The lyrics are perfect for the banger status too. Some songs have more of a get wasted banger vibe, but this is all about beating the living shit out of anyone and everyone in your way.  What really takes this song over the edge is that guest spot from Tech. Just when you think the song is winding down he rips through like thunder. Those first few bars give me the chills every time. There are few emcees who are capable of just eviscerating a beat; like any rapper can kill it in their own way, but Tech can take a beat, choke the life out of it, then beat it and curb stomp it after running it over with an 18 wheeler. Also Kimbo Slice, man is a human banger; dudes lullaby is Knuck If You Buck.

ASAP Ferg x ASAP Mob "Shabba" 

Nathan Interjection: Yeah, more Nathan interjections - I'm really enjoying referring to myself in the third person. Full disclosure, I've listened to "Shabba" more times than "Rap God" this year, and I don't even feel remotely bad about it. I literally couldn't finish listening to Ferg's "Trap Lord" album all the way through, but in small doses - especially when that small dose has a beat, hook and Rocky guest verse like this - there was almost nothing better bangier in 2013. When someone mentions their dick size in the first line you know you're in for some ignorant brilliance. 

So there you have it, hopefully no kittens have been punched and no felonies have been committed while reading this (RefinedHype is not responsible for your random acts of fuckery inspired by these bangers). Internally, this one was quite the heated discussion so I am excited to see what y’all think. So who is it gonna be?!

And The Winner Is....."Collard Greens" & "Shabba"

In what was the most unexpectedly heated category of all the awards, we finally have a winner...or do we? With 68 votes, my pick, "Collard Greens" has tied for first with Nathan's pick "Shabba". Honestly, I don't really know what we do here. Do we leave it a tie? Do another round of voting? Have Nathan and I fight to the death? I really wasn't prepared for this. Stay tuned...more controversy surely to come. For the record I feel I won the argument; "Collard Greens" supposedly a "party song" tied a song that is considered a real banger by Nathan's strict old-fashioned, definition, so technically I won the argument, but in a tie nobody wins and I simply can't stand for that.

Nathan S. Interjection: We couldn't have scripted this any better, and yes, I promise I didn't doctor the voting at all. Well then, we have our first ever tied. I think the only real solution is to do a "Shabba" x "Collard Greens" mash up, and that will be the Banger of the Year. DJs and producers, you have your mission. 

Other Categories:

Booty of the Year
Non Hip-Hop Song of the Year
General Awesomeness of the Year
Producer Of The Year
Crew of the Year
Banger of the Year
Song of the Year
Rapper of the Year
Album of the Year

*Word to Krispy Kreme/Froggy Fresh on the art work for this year's RefinedHype Awards. Why is James cryin?