Coda 2014: So, A Musical Fight Night.

Sia and Maggie Ziegler performing hits from Sia's 2014 album at Coachella, 2016.

Before I get to really dissecting the music of 2014, I'd like to quietly introduce the year with a hidden Bon Iver gem from Wish I Was Here, a 2014 Zac Braff film:



Just take that beautiful song in. You will see it again a few more times in the Codas to come. So, take note of its magic. And now, the main event:

When I first had the idea for a "bowl" five months ago, it was simply a way to discern who released the best noise album of 2010. Over the last few months though, it has evolved to encompass a wide range of musical exploits. Most recently, I used it to power rank a series of strange musical developments. But for this blog, I'd like to go back to the original concept of the "bowl": to clear a "muddled battlefield" of musician's competing for our ears.

And I'd like to return to the concept on its grandest scale yet. This is simply Bowl 2014 - a full-length competition to ascertain which music dominated our lives the most for an entire year. Let the games begin.

Albums Make a Play for the Money, Power, and Glory of 2014

The many covers of FKA twigs' LP1.

I want to begin with the heavyweight of the musical world: the album. The album is the musician's best shot at spawning radio play, while simultaneously making a ton of money and making an artistic statement. In nearly every case, the strength of an album is judged by its ability to do all three of these things. Allow me to use J. Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive as an example.

2014 Forest Hills Drive is heralded as one of the best conscious rap albums of the decade. You won't have to travel deep into the corners of the music world to find folks raving about how J. Cole went platinum with zero features. This makes it a prime example of a successful album. Forest Hills Drive didn't just go platinum - it went triple platinum, selling over 3,000,000 copies. It also spawned four singles, all of which placed inside Billboard's Hip-Hop Top 45. Audiences who weren't familiar with Cole most certainly heard his music on the radio in 2014. Lastly, Forest Hills Drive established J. Cole as a more than capable storyteller. The project told stories of class, race, and growing up in the South, especially putting Charlotte on the musical map. By every metric it was a wildly successful album. 

2014 Forest Hills Drive.

Yet, 2014 Forest Hills Drive is largely an outlier. 2014 was anything but the Year of the Album. Very few full-length projects really stand out. Albums were not the highlight of the year for hip-hop. Indie rock, with a few exceptions, continued its steady decline. Electronica stalled after a phenomenal year in 2013. Art-pop had fallen off from its heights of two years earlier. Somehow it sounded like Perfume Genius, St. Vincent, Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, and Caribou all released the same album within twelve months of each other. (I know this is an over-exaggeration, but still the similarities are shocking.) Then there are albums that, despite having their niches and critical acclaim, would be forgotten in any other year - namely, Benji by Sun Kil Moon.

There were, of course, still phenomenal albums released in 2014. FKA twigs' LP1 is a special R&B reprieve from the commercialization of such a lovely genre. The same can be said about D'Angelo's return with Black Messiah. In no uncertain terms, Lost in the Dream by the War on Drugs is the best indie rock album of the year. If I scroll through my Spotify albums and my Google Doc of notes about 2014 music looking for any rock album that can compete with it, I am unfailingly left empty-handed. The War on Drugs outdid themselves and every other rocker.  

The best album of 2014 however is undoubtedly Run the Jewels 2. You don't have to take my word for it. It was named either the best album of the year or a top ten album of the year by Complex, Stereogum, A.V. Club, SPIN, The Guardian, The Wire, Entertainment Weekly, Vulture, Consequence of Sound, Pitchfork, Billboard, and Rolling Stone Magazine. When the album begins and Killer Mike screams, "You finna look at history being made in this mothafucka!" he, evidently, was not lying.

El-P and Killer Mike, once again, proved they were the best collaborators in hip-hop, if not in all of music. RTJ2 is in many ways a classic hip-hop record. Its production is simple but modern in its heart-thumping base and schizophrenic 808s. Its verses are combative, while its lyrics are socially relevant and emotionally driven. While picking a single line (or even a few) to prove the worth of RTJ2 is nearly impossible, I would like to highlight Killer Mike's verse on "Early." In the verse, Mike - a black man from Atlanta - raps about being arrested for smoking weed and then watching his wife get killed by the police as she protests his arrest:

Witness with the camera phone on

Saw the copper pull a gun and

Put it on my gorgeous queen

As I peered out the window

I could see my other kinfolk

And hear my little boy as he screamed

As he ran towards the copper begged him not to hurt his mama

Cause he had her face down on the ground

And I'd be much too weak to ever speak what I seen

But my life changed with that sound

El-P goes on to rap his own poignant verse, delivered between a haunting hook about being trapped in a life outside of your control. And while I could dissect El-P's verse line for line, I'll leave you with this one simple quote: It ain't a game if the shit don't pause.

Run the Jewels snatched the crown for best album of the year, and in doing so, they brought all of music up with them. But not enough to win our ear drums entirely.

My ten picks of album "deep cuts" from 2014.

Mixtapes Take Us On a Tour of Trap

When Future changed the course of rap music in 2012, I wonder if he knew how quickly his brand of trap would take over the world. Did he imagine that within two years it would rise to be the most groundbreaking hip-hop form of the decade? Did he have the foresight to see the culture of "trapping" permeate every sector of pop culture? Was he aware that he was reinvigorating Atlanta as a musical Mecca, while simultaneously curating the sound of tomorrow?

Probably. Future seems like a smart guy. But, I guarantee he didn't see the class of trappers swelling behind him, a class that would soon turn a sub-genre into the hallmark of the world's most listened to genre. He didn't see it coming, because no one did. Thanks to Future, auto-tune was no longer relegated to Lil Wayne and T-Pain - it was a tool for the masses, and they used it. And the trap mixtapes they made with it were revolutionary. 

Atlanta's very own, Migos, 2014.

After breaking on to the scene in 2013, with a little help from a Drake remix, Migos was ready to have the country's spotlight. Although it would still be a few years before everybody in the world could recognize their music, 2014 saw the definitive glow-up of the family trio. "Fight Night," the lead single off of their mixtape No Label 2, was the first song by Migos to break on to the Billboard Hot 100 without the help of an already bonafide star. And the mixtape, a whopping 25 songs long, proved that the triplet had more to show (and more to prove). 

Speaking of having something to prove, why don't we take a peak inside a prison cell to see how trap god, Gucci Mane, is doing. Oh, he's doing well? That's a surprise. Oh, he's still making music? That's even better. Oh, he's making a lot of music, you say. Well how much? Wait, really? You can't be serious. 15 mixtapes?! That's - that's 232 songs.

Yup. You read that right. Gucci Mane released 232 songs in a calendar year, from inside a prison cell. As Gucci Mane once said, "Anything is possible if Gucci can do it."

While Gucci was churning out mixtapes at the rate Carole King churned out number one hits, two kids from Mississippi via Atlanta, broke on to the music scene with a Billboard Top 20 smash hit: Rae Sremmurd's "No Type." Though the duo - whose name is Ear Drummers, backwards - wouldn't go on to release their debut album until the next year, the trap brothers were already stars by the end of 2014. "No Type" made trap stars out of literal children, while taking a newly redefined sub-genre and floating it into the mainstream.

Atlanta's very own, Rae Sremmurd, 2014.

Now, for the sake of parity, I should mention that auto-tuned trap - Future trap, as it were - was not just coming from the great state of Georgia. Fetty Wap nearly stole the genre for New Jersey by becoming a national one-eyed icon in twelve months flat (though we'll get to him later); and Kanye West disciple, Travis Scott, released one of the best trap mixtapes of the year, Days Before Rodeo. Both were forward pioneers for this form of trap, setting themselves and the genre up for half of a decade of domination.

But, if we're being honest - if we're being really honest - what makes 2014 so great for trap and mixtape culture has nothing to do with Migos, or Fetty Wap, or Rae Sremmurd, or Travis Scott. It doesn't even have to do with Gucci Mane's 15 mixtapes or the beginning of Future's amazing mixtape trilogy with Monster. No, what makes 2014 so special for mixtape culture has to do with three men: Birdman, Rich Homie Quan, and Young Thug. Otherwise known as Rich Gang.

With one incomprehensible chorus, Young Thug rocketed himself (and his partner, Rich Homie Quan) to the forefront of music. While Birdman (who brought them together as Rich Gang) was already washed, and Quan already had a smash hit ("Type of Way"), "Lifestyle" made a star out of Young Thug. And the mixtape that followed was a tour de force.

In fact, it was Tha Tour de force. Rich Gang: Tha Tour Pt. 1 is - dare I say - the best collaborative trap project of the last decade. The case has been made that it's the best hip-hop project of the last decade, straight up. Quan and Thugger's ability to play off of each other for over an hour doesn't sound like two veterans joining forces, it sounds like two men with everything to prove changing the course of music.

What Tha Tour did for trap and mixtape culture is actually impossible to define. To this day, it can't be found on Apple Music or Spotify. It's relegated to free sites on the Internet, like Datpiff and SoundCloud. But that hasn't diminished its God-tier status. "Imma Ride," the 12th track on the tape, has been streamed on SoundCloud alone more than 34,000,000 times. In fact, being "marginalized" to the mixtape class may have immortalized the project, instead of impeding it. It allowed unfettered production and lyrical composition to Rich Gang, while giving audiences one of the greatest hip-hop projects ever for free. (The second year in a row, after Chance the Rapper's Acid Rap.) "Givenchy" is still top-tier Young Thug, "Flava" is still just as much fun today as it was in 2014, and the chemistry that Thugger and Quan exhibit on every track is still unrivaled in the world of trap.

Rich Gang: Tha Tour Pt. 1.

Haters will call it mumble rap. But history will remember Tha Tour as trap's Declaration of Independence. And, you know what, I think Future did see that coming. In April of 2014, Future gave an interview to The Guardian, in which he prophesied: "At the end of the day it's not about me. It's about where I'm taking it. I just want to be an inspiration. I'm a rock star, I'm Future Hendrix." You certainly were an inspiration, Future. You helped bring up an entire class of mixtape rock stars.

Radio Takes Us to Church

Now, I can't completely wrap my head around what I'm about to write, but because I'm already a few months late on this blog, here it goes: Radio wins...

Bruno Mars in his video for "Uptown Funk," 2014.

If you had to listen to anything in 2014, it wouldn't be the albums (as I've established), hell, it wouldn't even be the online mixtapes. It would be the radio. 2014 was, and I don't say this lightly, an ungodly year for radio. 

The top three Billboard songs of 2014 were all released the year prior ("Happy," "Dark Horse," and "All of Me" respectively), blessing listeners with a great deal of awesome yearly turn-over. But, if that weren't enough (which it isn't), 2014 itself was something to be reckoned with. The rise of Iggy Azalea, though it feels like forever ago, was actually just five years ago. 2014 was the year Ziggy Iggs had four singles in the Billboard Hot 100, two of which ended the year in the Top 10. 

2014 was also the year Bruno Mars released "Uptown Funk" to widespread acclaim (and also some notoriety. He was sued in 2017 for copyright infringement by Sugar Hill Records.) However you slice up Bruno's musical stylings - as totally innovative and original or a copy-cat with a bag of cheap tricks - there's no denying that "Uptown Funk" is a bop. 

While Bruno was dancing in the streets though, the rest of the country turned its attention to a budding star: Fetty Wap. (I told you we'd get back to him.) With as much gusto as any one-hit wonder (of which, Fetty is not), Fetty Wap was able to take a blossoming genre and launch it into the stratosphere of mainstream pop culture. "Trap Queen" is, not only the best banger of the year, but possibly the best banger of the last decade. It's gone platinum seven times. It holds a revered spot on Billboard's Top 200 All-Time chart. It is, in fact, one of the most successful songs of all time. 

"Trap Queen" is a classic example of a "sleeper hit." Although it came out and spread through the trap underground in 2014, it didn't hit mainstream popularity until 2015. And while "Trap Queen" is one of the most successful songs of the decade, it is not in fact the most successful sleeper hit of the year. That honor would go to Hozier's "Take Me to Church." Originally released in September of 2013, it didn't peak at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 until December of 2014. A mix of viral hits like "Fancy" and "I Don't Fuck With You" and sleeper hits like "Trap Queen" and "Take Me to Church" make 2014 a spectacular year for radio.

And yet all of these hits pale in comparison to the year had by radio-darling, Taylor Swift. With the release of 1989, Taylor shifted from a country sound to a pop sound and, in doing so, launched herself from stardom to superstardom. 1989, an album with a tracklist of only 13 songs, spawned 7 singles, 3 of which ended the year in Billboard's Top 100. I've been hyper-critical of Tay-Tay over the years (while harboring a guilty pleasure for her songs), but I feel no shame about my unadulterated adoration of 1989. It is a case-study in radio pop perfectly pressed on to vinyl. It is by far the best pop album of 2014. It is, dare I say, one of the five best pop albums of the last decade. And radio of 2014, the winner of this mega-Bowl, would be nothing without 1989.

My ten picks of radio hits from 2014.

Disney Freezes Out the Competition

You know how I just said that radio won the 2014 Bowl? Well, that's not entirely true. I mean, it's pretty true, but not completely true. There's a small hitch in crowning radio the winner, and that's Frozen, Disney's once-in-a-generation smash-hit musical. In essentially every single way, 2014 was the year of Frozen.

"Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" 

Maybe you're like me and Frozen was never really your thing, you never really understood the hype, and you still don't think it's culturally significant. Well I hate to say it but we're wrong. We are so very, very wrong. Frozen was, not only, the best selling soundtrack of the century - it was the first soundtrack to go #1 since Titanic - but it was the best selling album of the year. Yeah, you read that correctly. It outsold every movie soundtrack of the last 16 years and every single album of 2014. It spent more time at #1 on the Billboard than Adele's 21. Let that sink in.

And because I can't help myself, here are the film and its soundtrack's accolades: The film was awarded an Annie Award, a BAFTA, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar for best animated picture. "Let It Go," the lead single from the soundtrack, was not only the fifth best selling song of the year, it won a Critics' Choice Movie Award and an Oscar, while bringing Disney two more Grammys. By January of 2014, Frozen was already being adapted for Broadway, and now five years later, Frozen 2 is finally hitting theaters.

Sure, I would love to pretend that 2014 was the year of Bon Iver gems or trap mixtapes or, even, Taylor Swift. But it wasn't. Yes, radio is officially the winner of Bowl 2014, but the unofficial winner - the force that dominated so much of radio - is Frozen, a hallmark in the soundtrack of a generation. 𝄌

1989 by Taylor Swift, Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels, & Lost in the Dream by the War on Drugs.

Author's note: You can find my 20 essential tracks of 2014 on Spotify if you search for Coda 2014. They are in a playlist in the order listed.