Lamont's Lists

10. Love Life S2  (HBO Max) - Love Life should be a show that serves as a minor distraction. An unassuming romcom to get you through a long weekend of binging when you're not in the mood to watch anything heavy. But it turns out to be far more funny, poignant and insightful than it purports to be, making for a series that exceeds expectations on multiple levels. Even more impressively, thanks to an amazing cast led by William Jackson Harper, S2 managed to improve upon an already amazing freshman season, ensuring that it would be the only series to make my Top 10 two years in a row. 9. Hacks (HBO Max) - Jean Smart crushes this role as past-her-prime comic Deborah Vance, a Joan Rivers type figure who still packs a punch with her dry wit and biting sarcasm. Smart and emerging star Hannah Einbinder, anchor a series that is astute and funny as hell, but also a little sad at times. All of Deborah's money (and she has a lot of it thanks to years spent on her grind) can't buy con...

Hello folks, below is my Top 10 Albums list for 2021. Truth be told, this was the first time in a while that I struggled to get to a list of 10 albums to include. It’s not that 2021 was a bad year for hip hop, it's just that most of the great music came in the form of singles, rather than as part of cohesive, feature-length albums. Is the album as an art form dying? Who's to say, but the new generation does seem to have moved away from it as the cornerstone of artistic achievement. That said, I find it interesting that my top 10 consists more or less of records that deploy a "traditional" beats/rhymes approach to songcraft, rather than the digitized/melody driven style that dominates the current charts. My favorites also seem to be more low-key, contemplative and melancholy than in recent years. Perhaps reflective of my (or should I say, our collective) state of mind in what was a year filled with optimism tempered by looming anxieties. Either way, it still makes for ...

Well I can at least say that 2021 was better than 2020. I mean, not much better, but there was that brief period in late spring when things kinda got back to normal right? After a slow start, the music of 2021 also bounced back nicely, with so many excellent songs appearing - from superstars, upstarts, and veterans alike - that it was hard to trim this list down to just my 75 favorites.  What were my top observations? I'm glad you asked. For starters, it was good to see the heavy hitters come back strong, with new offerings from Drake, Kanye and J. Cole that more or less lived up to the hype. But alas, Kendrick remained (mostly) elusive. Lil Baby continued his impressive run, appearing on like a thousand features. As did super producer Hit-Boy, who's string of dope beats has undeniably separated him from the pack. And I managed to enjoy the youth movement also (Polo, Tecca, Gunna and all the Lils) who continue to push hip hop into strange territories we could have never imagine...

 Beats, Rhymes and Love. 💘 Happy Valentine's Day. Enjoy. 10.  '03 Bonnie & Clyde  – Jay-Z Ft. Beyonce - " All I need in this life of sin..."  Jay and Bey have given us a few to choose from over the years. This one always spoke to me. 9.  Make Me Better  – Fabolous Ft. Ne-Yo - It makes sense that Fabo, so slick with the verbs, would craft an elite ode to his better half. The assist from Ne-yo is essential however. 8.  Vivrant Thing  – Q-Tip - Grab your partner and get your 2 step on. This one bangs. 7.   Now That We Found Love  – Heavy D & The Boyz - Hev, always a deceptively clever wordsmith, was a true ladies man. Here he flips Third World's classic effortlessly. 6.  I'll Be There For You  – Method Man Ft. Mary J Blige - Meth & Mary. Undisputed classic. 5.   The Light  - Common - Common's Like Water For Chocolate gem is a career highlight. A love letter to Erykah Badu, produced by J Dilla, that never ge...

Like many people I spent a lot of time watching TV in 2020. As such, I wanted to start a new tradition by documenting my top shows of the year to go along with my best albums list. Like with music, there was so much TV to consume that I couldn't get through it all (so don't @me fans of Lovecraft Country , Normal People and The Mandalorian ...I'm getting to those, I promise). But of the many that I did manage to finish, below are my favorites. Enjoy. 1. The Queen's Gambit (Netflix) The Queen's Gambit is a flat out masterpiece. Cinematic, engrossing and stunning to look at. Never has chess seemed so intense, a great testimony to the performance by Anya Taylor-Joy, who spends a lot of time by herself - commanding the screen in every moment in every way. 2. The Last Dance (ESPN) This docuseries was a meme-generating life saver that came near the start of the pandemic lockdown. It was also a source of many entertaining text exchanges among my friends. Filled with juicy...