http://versesfromtheabstract.wordpress.com

its possibly a little hip-hop biased...and i decided to only include one song per artist otherwise it would pretty much have been the tracklisting of Ready to Die...

Top songs:
Aim-Good Disease feat. Stephen Jones
Its all about those soft trumpets and his awesome voice, brilliant chillout music.
Amy Winehouse-I heard Love is Blind
Winehouse at her lyrical peak, this song makes me laugh every time. The light guitar works perfectly with her voice and delivery.
Death Cab For Cutie-The New Year
It's taken me maybe 100 listens and 6 years to work out how good this song is. Amazing
Fleet Foxes-Meadowlarks
Its all about the voice on this. They will own Glastonbury
Jack Johnson-Banana Pancakes
In Between Dreams is pretty much essential beach music...and he has the knack of writing simple but quite beautiful lyrics.
Jay-Z-22 Two's
Ridiclously good.
Justin Timberlake-Take it from here
Is it sad that this is one of my all time favourite songs? He needs some Neptunes production on his third album because thats what made Justified what it is, a classic pop/r&b album. Take it from here combines chilled, brilliant guitar with Tmberlakes soft, smooth voice. Brilliant
Kanye West-Diamonds from Sierra Leone (remix) feat. Jay-Z
Both merk this song. Late Registration is an amazing album.
Mos Def-Do it now feat. Busta Rhymes
The only track on Black on Both Sides to rival Mathematics. The sparring between them is like a more militant version of Q-Tip/Phife Dawg, great prodcution by Mr. Khaliylas well.
Nas-The World Is Yours
My current favourite on Illmatic.
Notorious B.I.G.-Machine Gun Funk
The best rapper of all time. Only Jay-Z and Nas can come close.
A Tribe Called Quest-Electric Relaxation
Q-Tip might be playing glasto!!!
Zero 7-Destiny
Amazing song. Amazing lyrics. Brilliant.

Top albums:
The Notorious B.I.G.-Ready to die
Jay-Z-Reasonable Doubt
Zero 7-Simple Things
Kanye West-Late Registration
Frank Turner-Love, Ire and Song

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All the talk was about Chris Brown/Rihanna's absence but there were some great performances...vids and mp3 below...

Estelle & Kanye-American Boy, the crowd are so placid, but still good!

Al Green, Timberlake, Boyz II Men and Keith Urban-Lets Stay Together

JT is surprisingly awesome on this! although Al Green's voice outshines him
Radiohead-15 Step

Gwyneth is on it! Brilliant.
Coldplay & Jay-Z-Lost?/viva la vida.

So good! Always preferred the acoustic version and the Jay-Z version to the album version!
And saving the best 'til last...
M.I.A., Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne, Kanye West, T.I.-Paper Planes, Swagger Like Us

M.I.A. is such a legend, apparently her baby was due on the night! Such a wicked performance. Jay does best! Anyone else think T.I. looks a bit out of place? His verse is my favourite on the song, but he was worst on the night.

And here is the album version of the brilliant 15 step.
Radiohead-15 Step

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After Justified (in all its Neptunes goodness), it would have been very difficult for justin timberlake to make a better album. The first album has so many stand out tracks; senorita, like i love you, take it from here, rock your body, right for me, lets take a ride, worthy of are all great pop songs. When the Timbaland produced Futuresex/love sounds (the name already puts a downer on it) came out i didnt like it, it was trying too hard to keep up with the times, all electro when he suits more chilled beats i think. anyways, when my love came put i changed my mind, what an amazing song, and then the next couple of singles were good, so i may have another listen to the album and see if my mind is changed. anyway, the new album is definitely suited to being remixed, and it has been many times, to great effect. here are a few examples
Justin Timberlake-My Love (RUF Dubstep Remix)
i dont like dubstep as a genre, but this is good
Justin Timberlake-Lovestoned (Justice Remix)
its justice, need i say more?
Justin Timberlake-My love feat. LCD Soundsystem (Diplo Remix)
Diplo mashes up my love with someone great.

seeing as Timberlake bums Timbaland so much, it looks probable that his 3rd album will get the Timbaland treatment, and probably feature Nelly Furtado...but it wont be out for a while
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This is the pretty highly anticipated Madonna and Justin Timberlake collaboration from her upcoming album. I quite like it, i thought that it would only be good with a good producer, and Timbaland produced it, so its good. he does have the ability to give mediocre artists good songs (e.g. 50 cent-ayo technlogy, nelly furtado-promiscuous girl). Even the vocals are dominated by Timberlake. I would post the album artwork, but it is sick and wrong. Madonna is 50ish, she thinks shes 20, enough said.

4 Minutes (feat. Justin Timberlake and Timbaland)-Madonna
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