Long-running hip-hop artist Kweli dropped this joint for 2023, which addresses a war on the holiday that is much different than the one that is frequently claimed to exist in right-wing media. It's worth hearing, and worth reflecting upon as well.
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Can't say I'm familiar with either of these hip-hop artists, but here's a collaboration between the two of them. This is the "official video," and I can only find streaming audio on Spotify.
We've had Robbie's work here before, and for 2022 he dropped this hip-hop holiday video that keys off the classic "Visit From St. Nicholas" for its story line. Doesn't seem to have any independent audio available, though.
Had this duo last year with a hip-hop rendition of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," and for 2022 they're back with a similar take on "Let It Snow." Solid soulful take, fine singing, and the rap interlude doesn't overwhelm the carol. Turns out this is an EP with these two songs plus instrumental versions of "Carol of the Bells," "Jingle Bells," and "Deck the Halls." Check this out for yourself.
Gucci Mane is a mainstay of hip-hop Christmas music, and he's back for 2021 with another collection of jams. A lot of the tunes on this album don't remind me at all of Christmas or even seem to allude to the holiday, making this a tough sell at a Christmas-oriented site such as this one. Opening song "Street Ni66a Christmas" at least doesn't have that problem, nor does "All I Want For Christmas," though this one is about getting firearms for the holiday, and "Like the Grinch" at least alludes to a popular holiday entertainment. The rest is fine for the non-holiday period if you're a hip-hop fan or at least a Gucci Mane fan, although he only claims credit for six of 17 songs here; the rest are credited to Enchanting, BigWalkDog, Big Scarr, BiC Fizzle and Hotboy Wes.
Can't recall whether anybody ever did the hip-hop thing on a version of Brenda Lee's classic, but here in 2021 somebody definitely did. Autumn's voice is very nice and it makes you want to hear more from her alone. Meanwhile, this production is available on streaming and through Amazon and iTunes.
Always wonder where the cultural appropriation police are when it comes to K-pop, given their songs basically straddle American R'nB and hip-hop and most people couldn't really determine which is which when the songs come on the radio. This year's Pacific Rim contribution to holiday fun is this 2021 EP from Stray Kids, four original songs that are a pastiche of modern sounds with grabs of particular Christmas carols and cliches thrown in for seasoning. The songs "24 to 25" and "Winter Falls" are the more playlist-friendly tunes here, with the title song and "DOMINO" throwing down hip-hop style attitude with the tinsel. Check it out.
Tiller is a hip-hop artist of some renown, having had several hit albums in the past decade including Trapsoul. For 2021 he applies his skill set to a Christmas EP, seven tunes totaling 18 minutes, five of which are original holiday songs. As you might expect, the full hip-hop production toolbox is employed here, including copious use of auto-tune, as you'll find from the first song, "Be Mine This Christmas," followed by a brief transitional number called "Cold December Interlude," leading into the slow jam "Presents" featuring Kiana Lede. I'm assuming the pick to click off this collection is "Lonely Christmas (featuring Justin Bieber & Poo Bear)," which is pretty catchy in a hit radio sort of way, and that's followed by "Ain't a Lonely Christmas Song (featuring Tayla Parx)," the featured singer pretty much owning the show on this one. Rounding out the collection is a short hip-hopified "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and an almost old-fashioned take on "Winter Wonderland" featuring Halo. All told, a listenable hip-hop collection with a few playlist contenders for you eclectic collectors out there.
Hip-hoppers from Duluth, MN pop out a holiday-oriented EP for 2021. Two short songs buffer between two normal-length numbers and don't add much to the holiday concept. One of them, sadly, has a great title that goes to waste: "Die Hard Is Definitely a Christmas Movie (Interlude)," as it's almost entirely instrumental. That leaves the songs "BOOG3YM3N Holiday Special" and "Nightmare Before Christmas," both of which are about what you'd expect for a hip-hop collection but not much more. Check them for yourself on Bandcamp.
This is a souvenir of a 2020 livestreamed show sponsored by this English record label, after which the album was offered for download. It's all modern hit radio synth-pop-rock, and is considerably fattened up by a number of non-holiday songs. But it's a benefit album with proceeds going to the Trussell Trust, so feel free to grab the whole thing or go song by song. Meanwhile, I'll concentrate on the most holiday-oriented tunes. Caroline Polachek starts things off by repurposing a previous song of hers, "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings," as "So Cold," with a few retinseled lyrics. Hannah Diamond's "Where Are You Christmas is a suitably upbeat holiday number, A.G. Cook's "Oracle Icicle" is a bit more obscure lyrically, and Kane West (not Kanye) offers something called "Tryptich," which as you might guess is a three-part number. I couldn't associate the first part with anything, the third part is "What Child Is This/Greensleeves," and the middle part is a cover of a-ha's "Take On Me" with synthesized dog woofs doing the melody; a little something to follow the Singing Dogs' "Jingle Bells" on your playlists. "White Xmas" by umru & Silver Sphere is not the famous carol but a vaguely hip-hop confection, while jonny gorgeous' "Blue Xmas" is a vocordered-up version of the well-known song, and Himera does something similar with Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." Holly Waxwing turns all the synths loose on a cover of Riuchi Sakamoto's instrumental "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" from the movie of the same name, six impala offers the clattery "FARAWAY199XMAS," and there are instrumentals from A.G. Cook, "Glasswurx," and Kai Whiston, "S.N.O.W." In an odd touch, the collection contains an EP's worth of hip-hop holiday tuneage from Aaron Cartier; makes one wonder why it didn't get a separate release. Cartier offers "Wishlist," "Cartier Christmas," "Got Da Bag," "Let It Snow" (not the popular carol), "I Really Like Christmas," and "Christmas Time Christmas Time." I'll let you decide about the half-dozen non-holiday tunes on this collection, but as for me, I like Polichek and Diamond's tunes, and it might be worth someone's while to drop "Tryptich" into an audio editor and extract the "Take on Me" part to mash up with the Singing Dogs. Grab this from Bandcamp.
Anybody with a cable TV subscription has probably encountered this artist when scrolling past the program listings for Fuse TV, but she's (preferred pronoun) originally famous as a performer of the formerly underground hip-hop form called "bounce." For 2020 we get this EP of original tunes in the form, featuring assists from Flo Milli on "Better Be" and Maxine Jones on "Heatin Up the Holidays." "Nutcracker" is more of a slow jam rap, "Boy Toy Shop" is pretty much what you would expect regarding the output of one particular holiday workshop, and "Smoked Out Santa" mentions grinding up and smoking Christmas trees to the tune of the same-named carol; not sure if this is effective, but it appears to work for Santa, at least according to the song. I feel like this is more for Big Freedia completists, but if it makes you giggle, go for it. Note that three of five songs have the "explicit" label before you drop any of them into your holiday playlists. While working on this post, I unearthed 2020's "Funky Christmas" by Too Many Zooz that features Big Freedia, as well as another EP from 2016, A Very Big Freedia Christmas, more of the same with "So Frosty," "Santa Is a Gay Man," "Jingle Bell Rock," and "Twas the Night." Plus there's "Make It Jingle" from the soundtrack to 2016's movie "Office Christmas Party." So there's enough out there to have yourself a bounce Christmas if you like.
The artist identifies as a "recording artist/producer/motivational speaker," and his previous recorded output is in the hip-hop field. For 2020 he gives us an instrumental of the classic carol in that style, which is well done and you should check it out.
Diggs is probably best known for playing Lafayette in the musical "Hamilton," but he's also been a singer, rapper, producer and songwriter. For 2020 he throws out this Hanukkah jam which will certainly liven up your holiday mixes with its mashup of traditional Yiddish melodies and hip-hop beat. Apparently Diggs' mom is Jewish and the story is inspired by his childhood. Cool tune.
The current record holder for longest time at the top of the Billboard singles charts (19 weeks) with "Old Town Road" gives us a Christmas tune for 2020. It's fairly listenable as long as you're not offended by a few explicit lyrics, and it's kind of like his big hit but without the country music cues. Check it out for yourself. (There's a clean version at Amazon, too.)
Love Renaissance is actually a hip-hop record label (correct name LVRN) based in Atlanta, GA, and this 2020 holiday EP features members of the label roster on six repurposed Christmas tunes. Artists 6LACK and Summer Walker start things off with "Ghetto Christmas," a modernized take on James Brown's "Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto," Young Rog & Shelley FKA DRAM take on Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad," OMB Bloodbath & Westside Boogie do a slightly profane version of "12 Days of Bhristmas" (that's how they spelled it, and don't think spellcheck didn't yell at me), Summer Walker does a slow-jam "Santa Baby," Eli Derby does a mellow take on Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas," and Shelley FKA DRAM returns on a fairly traditional reading of "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)." Kitty Ca$h contributes a few short song intros that are indexed as individual cuts. All told, a listenable, if short, collection of holiday tunes in a modern style. Grab it from Amazon by clicking the cover.
