This list is amazing. So much fun, and it would be far easier for me to just list the songs that haven't blown me away than those that have. Is it homogeneous? Yes. Are there a few transitions that should have been switched around to make it flow a little better? Perhaps. But I'm 12 songs in, and I'm thinking you should be very proud of this list.
Well, that was a bit of a slog near the end, but I feel enlightened now. Also, that Tribe song reminds me of Soul Food by Goodie Mob, which I intend to use on a DI list eventually. How can black people make songs about food and have it kick so much ass?
The songs were all awesome. I did feel, however, that you cheated a bit. Two HBE songs in a row? A D'Angelo song followed by a song with a prominent D'Angelo sample? These transitions are creative, but they take away from the legitimacy of the project, you know? You have all of these great obscure artists here, and we like to assume that you know dozens more.
As far as flow goes, I feel it was a success, but I don't think it's perfect. Some songs I felt could work better elsewhere. Won't give any examples now, as it's not terribly relevant; you totally get an A for Africa anyway.
The first half's definitely stronger than the second, I think. "Ham 'N Eggs" is fantastic; the fact that I'm veggie cracks me up during the song even more, especially when the script flips and one of them answers, "Yes." The homogeneity is one of those things...I had to sacrifice massive diversity for the theme of the list, more or less.
As for the "cheating," I was waiting for somebody to call me out on the HBE stuff. Also, Mos Def appears on three of four straight tracks at the end there. And, those points I will take; the D'Angelo/K'naan stuff perhaps needs a bit more explanation, but you are welcome to think it's still cheating. The D'Angelo bit comes at about the halfway point, so if I were one who liked to break down my lists into portions, it would've been there, right in between the two songs. It was meant as a two-song midway/central point (where the aesthetic explanation below is crystallized into one flash point, essentially). Plus, if you loop the playlist around, the K'naan/Koola Lobitos songs would do the exact same thing. This, of course, was done purposely in order to showcase one of hip-hop's main aesthetic characteristics, sampling and re-utilization of previous music, along with the cyclical nature of African music, generally. So, for me, it doesn't take away from the legitimacy of the project...perhaps in DI land it does, but in terms of African-influenced musics, that
is its validity. That was my theoretical reasoning for it, at least. Whether or not it came off that way is another story, but there you have it.
And, I'm not going to lie, a lot of the intertextual stuff is more for me...inside joke type stuff, I guess, like in the Fashawn song, he raps, "You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge," which is an infamous N.W.A. line (not from "Express Yourself," obviously, but from
Straight Outta Compton), or the Talib sample from "Definition" being the hook for the Fashawn song.
Thanks for your thoughts and comments, Travis! They're always much appreciated, and the fact that you think the flow was good is a huge complement in and of itself, coming from a master such as yourself. Most of all though, I'm really glad you enjoyed the list.
) and my ears didn't deceive me, i knew i could hear Wayne Coyne in the twelth track there. wasn't into the first four songs of disc 2 (i think Stadium Arcadium is one of the worst albums of last decade) but from Opeth to YYYs it was fantastic. i'm also very 
