Favorite Things of 2022, Part 1: Music
Some of my favorite good things of 2022. Favorite books coming next.
Ever needed to do something but dreaded it because you know it’s going to be a disappointment? Of course you have.
This is how I felt heading into the theater to see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Ryan Coogler and co. had an impossible task given the production challenges and much more tragically, the death of Chadwick Boseman. Josh Larsen and I discuss the movie, my general impressions, and the OT/NT theme of royalty on the Think Christian Podcast here or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Favorite Music of 2022
I thought 2022 was a strong year for hip-hop. Given the amount of gun violence in our nation and local communities, I cannot stomach artists who gloat about violence. The good thing is that many artists are making honest, earnest, and creative work. My favorites are not necessarily what I listen to the most but what I found especially noteworthy.
Kendrick Lamar’s Mr Morale and the Big Steppers was certainly the most discussed release in 2022. It didn’t make the cut for me, partly because it’s emotional vulnerability and its profanity are not really cut out for multiple listens. I do think Lamar’s interest in stewarding his platform to seek a sense of healing is commendable, which I discuss here.
Enough throat-clearing, here are the top albums for me in 2022:
Lupe Fiasco - Drill Music in Zion
A return to form for an all-time great. Plus Lupe has been teaching at MIT this year. Standout songs: “Ghoti,” “Autoboto,” “Ms. Mural.”
Stormzy - This is What I Mean It
Both Kendrick and Stormy are the biggest rappers of their respective domains—US and UK—and both make compelling music rooted in the overlap between the sacred and the profane. They explore their pasts, lusts, and pains from a Christian-influenced grammar. I’m partial to Stormzy’s 2022 offering over Kendrick’s. Where Kendrick is explosive, revealing, and shocking, Stormzy leans a bit more meditative, joyful, hopeful. There’s some neat sacramental angles on This is What I Mean It, too. Check out “Water” (wait for that beat switch at 6:26), “Sampha’s Plea,” and “Fire + Water.”
Saba - Few Good Things
I’ll share more about this on an upcoming Think Christian podcast, but Saba delivers an album that is playful and deep and paranoid and grateful. Few Good Things will resonate with those who attend to the wisdom of Ecclesiastes 8:15: “So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.”
Saba explores how the presence and absence of money complicates the experience of the good things in life. On “Fearmonger,” he raps “once you make money you’ll be more afraid than us all.” On “an interlude called circle,” my favorite song of the album, Saba captures the shadow side of money, success, making it out:
Chillin' on the, uh, yeah, everything was perfect
All the small things about bein' broke I never got to notice
I took everything for granted when the moment was slow motion
Got into a fender bender, whip so broken, it was totaled
Not to sound like I don't appreciate what they pay me
But all of the days in the basement, we tryin' to recreate it
A playful soundscape, dexterous deliveries, and a fascinating exploration of the black male relationship to money, provision, and fear all make Few Good Things worth a spin.
What did you enjoy listening to this year?
Peace,
Claude