Welcome back to another Top 40 Review where we look at the more recent songs to enter the Hot 100’s Top 40. Summer’s almost over, kids are going back to school, and we anxiously wait for the holidays. Also, it’s the 17th anniversary of 9/11. I don’t remember much from that day, but what I did remember was being 7 years old at the time and seeing the adults with their eyes glued to the TV screen and not understanding what was happening until I was older. Anyways, let’s start the review.
LINK TO BILLBOARD HOT 100 OF SEPTEMBER 15, 2018
#39. Normal-Eminem: Since I already reviewed the entirety of Eminem’s Kamikaze about a week ago (check it out if you haven’t), I’m going to summarize my thoughts on these tracks in one or two sentences. First, there’s Normal, a tired, cliched toxic relationship song that Eminem has done to death and has nothing interesting or new to bring to the table along with bad production. I give it a D.
#34. Eastside-Benny Blanco, Halsey, & Khalid: Well, here’s a song that exists. Eastside by Benny Blanco with Khalid and Halsey. It’s a very typical love song with desaturated production and both Halsey and Khalid having no chemistry as they sing about getting back together after a long time. The song isn’t bad, but it feels like radio filler. It’s a low C for me.
#32. Trip-Ella Mai: Looks like Mark was wrong about this song not sticking around. After Boo’d Up became a success, Ella Mai followed that up with Trip. I like the piano work of the song, though I would’ve used some better drums to go along with it. Could DJ Mustard not do better than this? The singing is fine and so is the writing, where Ella Mai is tripping off being loved, whatever that means. It’s no Boo’d Up, but it’s still a good enough song. I give it a low B.
#30. BEBE-6ix9ine ft Anuel AA: UUUUUUUUUUUUGH!! So this Skittle-haired clown has another song on the charts and… *sighs*. This is BEBE, which is 6ix9ine’s collaboration with Puerto Rican artist Anuel AA and the whole thing is in Spanish like we’re gonna forget about the fact that it’s about having sex with another man’s girlfriend. Delightful. Also, we can’t forget about the shitty Auto-Tuned singing and cheap reggaeton production that features a music box. Fuck this song. It’s getting an F easily.
#24. Not Alike-Eminem ft Royce da 5’9: Not Alike, a better version of Look Alive with Eminem and Royce bringing the bars, shots thrown at Machine Gun Kelly, and a dope ass beat switch-up at the end. I give it a B.
#23. Greatest-Eminem: Greatest is one of the better tracks off of Kamikaze with one of Mike Will Made-It’s better beats and Marshall calling himself the greatest and shitting on everyone else. The chorus is the weakest part of the song, but it doesn’t diminish its quality. I give it a B.
#20. Natural-Imagine Dragons: And now for the latest single from Imagine Dragons called Natural. This has been already used as an anthem for college football on ESPN and add this to the list of underwhelming Imagine Dragons songs. People have compared this to Believer and I can see it. It has all the same issues: gutless production, Dan Reynolds screeching his ass off in the chorus, and motivational lyrics so vague, you’d thought it was written by a marketing committee. This is more background music for commercials and movie/TV trailers and Imagine Dragons are so much better than this. This is a low D.
#16. Kamikaze-Eminem: We’ve now reached the title track from Kamikaze and it’s one of the weaker songs from the album as Em responds to the criticisms of Revival like a sore loser with sloppy production and mentioning Fack a lot. This is not a good song and it’s getting an F from me.
#12. Fall-Eminem: Homophobic line aimed at Tyler The Creator aside, Eminem takes shots at everyone from Joe Budden to Charlemagne Tha God to even that fuckboy Akademiks (seriously, fuck Akademiks) and inspiring rappers like Kendrick, J Cole, Big Sean, Logic, and Hopsin all over a perfectly average that is Fall. I give it a C.
#9. The Ringer-Eminem: The Ringer is the intro track and Eminem comes through the gate roaring, dissing a lot of today’s mainstream rap and going after people who wrote him off when he released Revival. Even if he is using some of the modern flows and sounds bitter with all of the shit he’s gotten after the last album, this is still a good track. I give this song a B.
#6. Lucky You-Eminem ft Joyner Lucas: The highest charting single from the album, we have Eminem and Joyner Lucas collaborating for Lucky You, a song where both rappers bring the bars commenting on fame over one banging beat. It’s one of the best songs off of Kamikaze and I’m glad this is the highest-charting song that Joyner Lucas is on instead of that song with Chris Brown. I give it an A.
BEST
Lucky You
HONORABLE MENTION
Not Alike
WORST
BEBE
DISHONORABLE MENTION
Kamikaze
And that was another Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 Review. Stay tuned next month when I do another. This week, it’s the Worst Songs of 1964 list.
Peace!!
Nerd With An Afro 
I’ve closely followed the Latin and reggaeton music scene, I’ve literally never heard of Anuel AA. And after that song with 6ix9ine, I don’t think I’ll be seeking out his music any time soon.
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Also is it me or is that since May
there was an album bomb in the charts that you have to rate starting from Post Malone and recently Eminem
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With 9/11, it’s more personal for me and my family since we live on Long Island not that far out of Manhattan. Unlike you, I don’t have any memory of what happened that day since I was only 2 years old so I’ve gone from what my family tells me. I didn’t really know about 9/11 till fourth grade seven years after. My dad tells me he was home that morning with my mom out doing errands. My sister was at school just starting sixth grade. I was sitting in my high chair in front of the TV with the news on and when the second plane crashed my dad took me out of the living room to my room. My mom told me my great-grandma called her and told her not to watch what’s happening and said that she never thought she would live long enough to see her country under attack like this. My sister told me her school didn’t tell them about what happened until the end of the school day. And since my dad works as a podiatrist at hospitals in the city, he was called into one of the hospitals in Manhattan to treat people who escaped from the World Trade Center. He recalled being stopped by police on the highway since all transportation was closed off so they had to escort him to the hospital. I didn’t lose anyone close in my family on 9/11 but my dad lost someone he knew in the Towers. My 10th grade history teacher mentioned a story of one of his friends who was supposed to be on one of the two planes from Boston that crashed into the Twin Towers calling her mom saying she noticed a group of guys crowding around and acting weird and didn’t feel comfortable boarding and her mom said she didn’t have to go on the flight so she didn’t. There were many people from my area on Long Island who lost their lives in the attacks and we still have many survivors and first responders here who are dealing with the health effects of breathing in all that toxic dust and debris of the destruction including many who’ve died from those effects. As someone who was too young to remember, I still have this disbelief when I see all the footage and photos of the attacks and can’t believe that the attacks happened. Every time I go into Manhattan and look at Lower Manhattan and the new One World Trade Center building, I always imagine the Twin Towers being there and what happened on 9/11. It’s amazing how they were able to rebuild from all that destruction. I haven’t been to the 9/11 memorial and museum cause it’s just too painful for all of us to go. And because I don’t remember a pre-9/11 world, I always find it weird to think how people could get through airport security very easily back in those days. It’s important that we never forget what happened that day so we never deal with anything like this again especially with the younger people who weren’t alive on 9/11 and are now starting to graduate high school and enter college.
What do you think of my 2005 lists and my WTF lyrics suggestions for Its Goin Down and Grillz? And do you think you can review A Star is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody when they come out in the fall? I think it’d be cool to see you review movies outside of superhero and action movies especially musical ones.
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1) Your 2005 lists were good. No disagreements from me.
2) Your suggestions for Random WTF Lyrics have been considered. If I have something to say about them, they’ll be mentioned in the upcoming post.
3) I would be down to review a non-Disney musical movie, even though I don’t watch a lot of those films. So in terms of me reviewing those two movies? It’s possible.
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Forgot to mention that in BEBE they’re calling the girl a devil multiple times.
Whats your problem with DJ Akademiks
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Simply put, he’s an annoying clown with troll-like tendencies.
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