billboard BREAKDOWN - hot 100 - june 27, 2020
There are weeks where Billboard BREAKDOWN isn’t fun, and where paradoxically I don’t want to rage at anything. Especially not now, in a time period where you’d think we’d be focusing on bigger things, where even the next bigger story is getting to those topics, that in five years will actually be remembered in the long term instead of what’s on top this week. And I’ll give them this: if they think Billboard is not going to respond to this very bad look in the near future so this loophole winds up closed…
Actually, let’s not dance around this any more: the top ten, where at #1, for the first time in his loathsome career, 6ix9ine went to #1 with ‘TROLLZ’ alongside Nicki Minaj. And there’s a limit to how much I’ll defend Billboard’s stupid systems - queue up the last several episodes of me tearing into them - and maybe they appreciate the traffic garnered by the constant turnover, but let’s not mince words: they got this #1 by gaming the system and they did it the old-fashioned way: buying singles. Yeah, on-demand streaming is not why ‘TROLLZ’ did well - it’s actually plummeting over on Spotify - and since the radio isn’t touching it, it’s basically on sales and YouTube, jury-rigged through alternate versions and merch bundles. In short, 6ix9ine learned the lesson of getting blocked by ‘Stuck With U’, and Nicki went along for the ride because apparently working with a one-dimensional snitching child abuser who is a dead man walking for a number one is worth the cost of her dignity and legacy. She does know that when future music historians write about her that this momentary chart success and her career at large will have an asterisk next to it in the way many of her peers won’t, right? Again, she’s not going to get a #1 on her own, because if Billboard was looking for a convenient excuse to end the merch bundle gamesmanship once and for all… well, they have it. And I know her fans are going to say ‘a #1 is a #1, bitch you’re just hating, I’m going to buy another copy just to spite you’ - which means they can’t dodge responsibility for this; they enabled all of this, they can’t plead ignorance about the soon-to-be-irrelevant shitstain she worked with, and if they really cared beyond the cheap stat pad, they’d recognize just how much worse this looks for her in the bigger picture. But speaking of that, once we skip over ‘ROCKSTAR’ by DaBaby and Roddy Ricch momentarily down to #2 - it’s strong and gaining in all categories, it’ll be back to #1 likely next week - we have ‘The Bigger Picture’ by Lil Baby. I’ll talk more about this later on, but while it’s not really built to last thanks to really only having streaming and YouTube, I guarantee it’ll hold its spot a little better - and frankly is a much better song than our other top ten debut. I’ll go through the rest pretty quick: ‘Savage’ by Megan Thee Stallion and Beyonce falls to #4 as it looks like it’s hit its peak, ‘Blinding Lights’ by The Weeknd even moreso, especially on the radio as it falls to #5, which pushes back ‘Say So’ by Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj to #6 as it’s just in freefall. I can say the same for ‘Intentions’ by Justin Bieber and Quavo falling back to #7 - it looks like its radio momentum has finally run out - which means the step back for ‘Roses (Imanbek Remix)’ by SAINt JHN to #8 is likely temporary, especially given its radio strength. On a similar note, ‘Rain On Me’ by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande actually picked up a spot to #9, mostly thanks to a great radio run and not losing much in other channels, and finally we have ‘The Box’ by Roddy Ricch which at #10 is just making its expected exit.
On that note, losers and dropouts, and we had two big ones that have clinched their year-end list spots, for better with ‘Dance Monkey’ by Tones & I, for worse with ‘My Oh My’ by Camila Cabello and DaBaby - also took out ‘Catch’ by Brett Young, ‘That Way’ by Lil Uzi Vert, ‘Turks’ by NAV, Gunna and Travis Scott and ‘OUT WEST’ by JACKBOYS and Young Thug to boot, the latter likely falling short of any year-end list position. Our losers don’t have much of a pattern, though - off the debut, ‘Otherside of America’ by Meek Mill tumbled to 87 and as predicted ‘Deep End Freestyle’ by Sleepy Hollow slid to 94, and off the meagre gains ‘July’ by Noah Cyrus and Leon Bridges went to 99. Outside fo that… ‘I Hope You’re Happy Now’ by Carly Pearce and Lee Brice went to 41 and ‘Does To Me’ by Luke Combs and Eric Church went to 42 - both have year-end list shots - and then ‘After A Few’ by Travis Denning at 48 and ‘In Your Eyes’ by The Weeknd and Doja Cat at 67 look to be falling short. Outside of those… ‘Chicago Freestyle’ by Drake slid to 62, ‘X’ by the Jonas Brothers and Karol G fell to 80, ‘Ride It’ by DJ Regard dropped to 82, ‘Drinking Alone’ by Carrie Underwood stalled out at 88, and ‘Righteous’ by the late Juice WRLD continues to fall at 89.
Now for our gains - we didn’t have any returning entries this week - it’s hard to determine whether there’s much to like here. Yes, ‘Watermelon Sugar’ by Harry Styles is continuing up to 19, and ‘Bluebird’ by Miranda Lambert is somehow becoming her biggest hit in years at 33 - they couldn’t have pushed some of her cuts from The Weight Of These Wings as hard as they are this, really - and ‘Don’t Rush’ by Young T & Bugsey ft. Headie One has surprising momentum at 56. Oh, and ‘Emotionally Scarred’ by Lil Baby continues to do alright at 37 and ‘ily’ by surf mesa and Emilee got a nice boost to 72. On the other hand, while I don’t mind ‘21’ by Polo G picking up to 84 off the return, I’m not happy ‘Mamacita’ by the Black Eyed Peas, Ozuna and J.Rey Soul is up to 73 off the debut - can 2020 not be the year we bring back the Black Eyed Peas, especially given how flat awful their new album is?
Anyway, we got a pretty diverse list of new arrivals here, so let’s start with…
100. ‘Need Me’ by J.I. - honest question: why is this only charting now? J.I. is a New York rapper who released this back in August of 2019 and he seems to have slowly picked up some traction… but for the life of me I’m a little baffled why. The hollowed keys off the sharper snares does drive more of a catchy hook, but J.I. is not exactly a galvanizing presence behind the microphone - he sounds thin and weedy, which doesn’t flatter the pettiness of the song that’s trying to both be hard in not taking your girl because her pussy smells bad and try to sound sensitive in winning some girl over. It’s an odd juxtaposition and it makes the song fall kind of flat for me, more undercooked projection than reality. That said, that hook might have more staying power than I’d prefer, so… I’m not even going to try and predict where this’ll wind up.
96. ‘The Man Who Loves You The Most’ by Zac Brown Band - hey look, folks, it’s the clean-up job! Frankly, I’m a bit surprised it took this long - given how disastrous the second half of 2019 was for Zac Brown, but I get a pandemic will give you an excuse to keep out of the limelight, so now back with a new single… and look, while there are problems with this, this is the sort of course correction that I’m happy we could get here. I might not be wild about that faint drum machine shuffle driving the percussion for most of the song and the reverb is a bit too thick around Zac Brown’s vocals for most of the song and the acoustics feel almost uncomfortably close on most of the song and I’m normally not fond of the ‘I loved you first’ brand of father songs and this absolutely falls into that with Brown playing that father who’ll always be the man that loves her the most… but I’ll admit I’m a sucker for richer harmonies and this sounds more organic and textured than we’ve heard from this group in a long time, especially when the fiddles slip in. In other words… definitely not their best, but very far from their worst, and I think that averages to positive - I’ll take it.
92. ‘Done’ by Chris Janson - insert cheap joke about his career… nah, I’m actually kidding, Janson’s actually had way more staying power than I would have ever expected given he started with ‘Buy Me A Boat’. Now this is a song from his album Real Friends from last year… and honestly, I found myself liking this more than I thought I would. Percussion is perhaps a bit heavy, but it comes from an actual drum kit and the echoing rollick of liquid guitar plays off the organ pretty well, and I think Janson’s got a solid amount of likable presence. But when I dig into the lyrics, it might feel a bit oversold - it’s a connection that Janson wants to see through to the end until it’s done, and there’s a dogged determination that falls on the thin line between charming and a bit pushy. Again, the song is breezy enough to work, but I can see how someone might find it a bit overbearing, so while I think this is decent enough, I don’t think I could call it great, just saying.
83. ‘Do It’ by Chloe x Halle - I kind of talked around this song when I reviewed Chloe x Halle’s second album Ungodly Hour last week in On The Pulse - seriously, go check that episode out, it didn’t get nearly the attention it should have - and I’ll admit it’s not quite one of my favourites from the album, albeit being pretty good. The wispy and watery keys from Scott Storch that translate into a blend of snaps onto the clicking trap beat with the highs a little too loud, that can feel a little clunky opposite their cooing delivery - it’s just a bit more mechanical and hemmed in than it should feel, especially for a song that’s all about the sleek pull-up to the party. Again, I know it’s one of those songs that’s just not really for me, but I get what it’s doing - fine enough, I don’t mind it.
81. ‘Savage Love (Laxed - Siren Beat)’ by Jawsh 685 & Jason Derulo - let’s be honest: how many of you really noticed that Jason Derulo has been away for a few years now - as in this is his first charting single in the states since 2017? Yeah, he’s bounced back with producer Jawsh 685 with a lot of breathy falsetto, almost entirely thanks to how he built a presence on Tiktok. And with this new song… I’m not sure how to take it, per se. The flip of the synth horns off the bouncy groove and acoustics is almost disturbingly catchy, and Derulo complaining about how this girl keeps using him as she bounces back and forth with her ex but he’s caught feelings… it’s not bad by any means, and I daresay if it wasn’t for Derulo throwing in the screamed adlibs at the end I could even say I might like it, but I also know exactly how this can become an industrial-grade annoying simp anthem in record time, so keep that in mind.
65. ‘Tommy Lee’ by Tyla Yaweh & Post Malone - okay, what is with otherwise name artists working with people I’ve never heard of before this week? I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised that Post Malone might work to elevate a peer he’s been touring with for a while, but if this song proves anything with its ugly trap beat and wonky acoustic rollick, it shows Post Malone has presence and firepower that Tyla Yaweh just does not have to the same degree. Yeah, the hook is modestly catchy, but it’s not like Tyla Yaweh’s flexing is attractive as he treats his girls like an ‘option’ if they don’t talk or get out of pocket, and the rest of the bragging is really undercooked. Honestly, this kind of reminds me of what Travis Scott was trying with JACKBOYS - there’s just not enough distinctive personality to launch out of the main artist’s shadow, especially when the song is mediocre as it is.
59. ‘Snow On Tha Bluff’ by J. Cole - I’ll be blunt here: this is not a song that should have been released. The forms and conventions of ‘rap beef’ in terms of discussing progressive tactics in modern protests, especially given J. Cole’s consistently dicey attitude towards women and his understated conservative-leaning streak, it’s the wrong platform and it absolutely got out of hand from both sides. And it’s an entirely an issue with lens and framing: instead of broadly speaking on the protests when called out, your first response when called out is an attempt at tone policing targeting indie rapper Noname’s hard-left pivot in recent years - which if you knew came with backlash and a lot of work even as he assumes it’s privilege - and at a time when her tactics are actually showing results? I called J. Cole hip-hop’s centrist in discussions of ‘MIDDLE CHILD’ and it comes through here, to the point where I’m not surprised he’s feigning ignorance in discussions of capitalism and socialism… when his entire brand has been based upon woke intellectualism, so I guess we see where that limit strikes. The frustrating thing is that he does loop things back in the end in highlighting how money isn’t making him happy, so maybe she’s got more of a point than he wants to admit and just wanted the message to be delivered more gently… but his approach to it feels off, especially given the gender and class dynamics surrounding expectations placed on black women, and the time and place. I think everyone admits this should have stayed in DMs, even Noname’s pretty great response that she now regrets, but this song was a lot more revealing of Cole’s insecurities, even despite the nice haze of production and good flows. I still don’t like it, but let’s fight the real enemy here.
54. ‘Shotta Flow 5’ by NLE Choppa - at this point, this just seems desperate. And what is there even to say about NLE Choppa delivering a fifth ‘Shotta Flow’, just an extended verse against some blown out pianos and clunky percussion? And here he just sounds all the more homocidal, where his opening line is ‘I whip the pack like Ike and Tina’, he calls all his targets lesbians, tells your dead homie to go fuck himself and if he comes back he’ll kill him again, fucks a girl to the point of blood, and then a stream of murders that makes me feel like we’re now on the cusp of shock tactics or even horrorcore. So fine, we’ve got a kid who is so wildly over the top in his menace, maybe there’s an appeal there… if he was a good rapper. And that’s what frustrating about this - he can’t stay on beat, his flow switch-ups are clunky, and if he’s trying to sound unstable or weird, the production doesn’t match it whatsoever, so it just sounds incompetent. So yeah, just no - next!
52. ‘Go!’ by Kid LAROI & Juice WRLD - and back to our relative unknowns with a connection to a much bigger name - although in this case it’s kind of sad because Juice WRLD is now gone and The Kid LAROI is stuck without that mentorship they apparently had. He’s an Australian trap rapper, he’s had some minor viral success of his own, and now with this collab… how am I repeating a lot of what I said with Tyla Yaweh and Post Malone? The cheap sounding trap beat playing off a wonky guitar, Kid LAROI owning a lot of his style and content to Juice WRLD, where this song is just a sour kissoff to a girl who maybe knows them too well and it gets overwrought and kind of alarming really fast… outside of a hook that’s pretty repetitive and guaranteed to stick in my brain here, there’s just not a lot to like here or identify as all that distinctive. It’ll probably serve as a springboard for Kid LAROI… but I dunno, I’m not sure if there’s enough here to last.
51. ‘Make It Rain’ by Pop Smoke ft. Rowdy Rebel - and now we have another larger name who has passed on with a less-recognized name next to him, only this time it’s attached to that Pop Smoke posthumous album that has been sounding like a more questionable idea with every song I’ve heard. Now to his credit, this is a bit better than some of the other songs I’ve heard - Pop Smoke’s flow is a little more stable, and even if it’s just hazy flexing and gunplay, he can deliver it well. And then there’s Rowdy Rebel’s verse - for those of you who don’t know, he was among the group who got locked up with Bobby Shmurda and recorded his verse over a collect call, and I thought his verse was fine enough. If anything, what kind of underwhelms me here might be the production - normally what I’ve found most distinctive about Pop Smoke’s work was his knack for big, suffocating mixes, and with the weedy cycle of tones behind the percussion, it just doesn’t feel as dense or punchy. In other words… I still won’t say I’ve been truly blown away by a Pop Smoke song, but I hear more of what could have been a formula to work, that’s all.
3. ‘The Bigger Picture’ by Lil Baby - I’ll be very honest: I did not see this coming from Lil Baby. Actually, let me rephrase that: I would see snippets of him talking about his comeup and taking responsibility and growing up across My Turn and it was a bit encouraging… but it always felt drowned out by the flexing and everything else we’ve come to expect from Lil Baby. So when he makes a political song in the sound and style that would speak to the kids today, I get why it works - and it’s focused and on-topic and not only does he bring his conscious worries and fears to the forefront for himself and his family and his community, but also highlights a demand for systemic change that rises above his real life gangsta experiences. He recognizes his agency and power, and while his delivery is still kind of flat and the song isn’t quite the political agitation I’d prefer - it tries to play the middle ground a bit too much, it’s not as revolutionary as, say, Run The Jewels - but his flow is as tight as it’s ever been, the cascading keys behind the trap beat builds in subtle ways, and this will get to the kids in a way a lot of other hip-hop won’t. And I’m not about to deny there’s a different sort of populism that comes with this specifically coming from Lil Baby - because it shows you don’t need to be a Kendrick or J. Cole to make this statement and drive change. Honestly, I like that this has, as of now, become his biggest hit - because it’s a great song and a powerful moment - salute.
1. ‘TROLLZ’ by 6ix9ine & Nicki Minaj - I mean, after ‘The Bigger Picture’, do I even have to talk about this? It’s not worse than ‘FEFE’, given this has a groove and 6ix9ine actually ramps up some presence on the second half of his verse - which feels incredibly out of place opposite the very restrained, minimalist beat and melody - and I would say Nicki’s verse is probably the best part of this, in that she actually seems like she’s trying… but she’s referencing the pandemic, trying to argue 6ix9ine’s status as a snitch, calling herself a chart-topper, and saying all the other women rapping are just gimmicks or copying her, all of which is a serious stretch alongside some particularly graphic references to eating pussy… and then referring to Cookie Monster. Again, it’s gross, but it’s looking for that reaction, it wants to be hated, whereas I’m just looking at 6ix9ine once again shedding all personality on the hook and I’m left thinking, ‘this kid’s time is running out, Lucian won’t have much use for him outside this year’. And for Nicki… she might say she’s never chased corny, which might be true - it just caught up with her.
So yeah, ‘TROLLZ’ is the worst of the week, but not by a huge margin, because ‘Shotta Flow 5’ by NLE Choppa is right behind it, just more incompetent than gross as the Dishonourable Mention. Now for the best… Honourable Mention I’m going to give to the Zac Brown Band for ‘The Man That Loves You The Most’ despite its real flaws, but that’s more because the best is going to ‘The Bigger Picture’ from Lil Baby, what a face turn at the best possible time. Next week… the fallout.