Out of My Head: Five Songs I Listened to This Weekend

New York, stand up (for once).

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Two—count 'em, TWO—vintage New York rappers whose biggest hits predate Drake's entire career have crept into this week's songs column, on some Throwback Monday shit. Shouts out to Sheek Louch and Lil Mama, the latter having been unfairly maligned all these years just for having attempted to save the world from Alicia Keys at the 2009 VMAs.

Justin Charity is a staff writer for Complex. Follow him @brothernumpsa.

Lil Mama "Sausage"

Released: May 5, 2015

Listen, I hate New York trash can lid rap as much as the next Young Thug fan, but why is everyone hating on this song and its amazing new video? How is a 2015 Lil Mama single just as instantly, awesomely polarizing as Iggy Azalea's "Fancy"? "Sausage" is an excellent medley of old and new hip-hop, and spliced with a bizarre sex ed PSA, no less. She said, "I cut you off if you fake and you hating," clearly referring to all the hashtag roasters on Twitter.

Young Thug "Hey I"

Released: May 25, 2015

Is Young Thug's "Hey I" my favorite new major league rap song since Shy Glizzy's "Funeral," or at least since Kendrick's "You Ain't Gotta Lie"? Possibly. Does it have the densest quotability ratio of any Young Thug song that's been released to date? Almost certainly, since Thugger goes so far and bizarre as to explain his taste in Starburst flavors after having shouted out Eddie Griffin, Crime Mob, and Miguel. In any case, "I think she ready for a kiddy/She told me she gon' make me miss her" is some dark, romantic shit.

Cousin Stizz "No Bells"

Released: May 26, 2015

I would hate to be standing on a dark unfamiliar corner only for a truck to pull up on me while blasting "No Bells," or blasting anything else for that matter. But this song especially.  

Sheek Louch "Memory Lane"

Released: May 28, 2015

The difference between when Kiss or Fab do this versus Sheek doing it here is that Kiss and Fab sound like they're proving a point, while Sheek is just fucking around with a younger man's mic.

Little Simz "Don't Ruin It"

Released: May 28, 2015

Finally, the nicest Simz cut I've heard since she dropped "Mandarin Oranges Part 2" a year ago. Here Simz, a grime artist, is rapping over an 808 warp that sounds conspicuously North American—indeed, the credits reveal that "Don't Ruin It" was produced by Prezident Jeff and Chef Byer of Toronto and Deezy of Chicago.

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