XLR8R's Best of 2012

Yooooooooooo. Year-end lists suck. Superlatives suck. Everything sucks. No, I'm just kidding. It's been the wildest year—so dark and so bright at the exact same time. I saw more things than ever before, watched so many of my peers take strides that I couldn't imagine in my wildest dreams, and somehow, it all felt completely normal. I feel like Forrest Gump every day. Anyways, this year has been so exciting and inspiring, but in many ways, it was the year of strength, holding on, and not being afraid of anything. I'm looking forward to an amazing 2013. Be safe for New Years. Don't do too many drugs and wrap it up if you find a pretty lady. **Best shows:** Björk at the Hall of Science, Queens NYC **Best records (in no particular order):** - Kendrick Lamar *Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City* - Deftones *Koi No Yokan* - Frank Ocean *Channel Orange* - TNGHT *TNGHT* - Benjamin Damage and Doc Daneeka *They!Live* - Gaslamp Killer *Breakthrough* - El-P *Cancer for Cure* - Killer Mike *R.A.P. Music* - Para One *Passion* - Jam City *Classical Curves* **Best tracks:** - All of Andre 3000's guest verses - Les Sins "Fetch" - Presk "Akola (Original Mix)" - Kanye West "Mercy" - L-Vis 1990 "Videodrone" I can't remember cuz I'm on a deadline and I spilled beer on my DJing laptop and I can't look back. I suck. **Here's some stuff that mattered to me:** - Arthur King's French boogie mix - Danny Brown and Fool's Gold taking their time to develop an artist right - Moving to Chinatown - Going to Japan, Berlin (for the first time), Korea, Barcelona, New Zealand, and the Dominican Republic - Being in LA for three months and really being inspired by the whole thing going on there (Do Over, Low End, Mike B, Body High, etc.) - Jean-Paul Goude exhibit in Paris - Yayoi Kusama exhibit in NYC - Seeing La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona - Finishing my studio - Making my first record and releasing it - Becoming a hypeman for the Boiler Room - Becoming an advice columnist for *XLR8R* - Feeling like I have an actual career and I'm not gonna work at a restaurant and quit in three years - Being inspired by more stuff that wasn't music than ever before. **New shit that will make the next step in 2013:** - Kilo Kish - Color Film - Flatbush Zombies - Zebra Katz - Rood - Andrea Balency - Salva **What I'm looking forward to:** - Hudson Mohawke literally ruling the world - Machinedrum in general always killing it - Hamburgers - The gym - New York taking over *Column 16*