Another year is in the books, and we here at Hush Comics couldn’t pass at the chance to rank our favorites of this year’s releases in all types of mediums. Some of the winners will surprise you; heck, some of the results surprised us. The results are completely subjective, and therefore were chosen with infallible logic. We would love to hear your opinions on what we have chosen, or if you thought we missed anything. This should be a fun review before we gear up for 2015.
Click on the link to take you to the “Best of 2014” homepage.
Another year is in the books, and we here at Hush Comics couldn’t pass at the chance to rank our favorites of this year’s releases in all types of mediums. Some of the winners will surprise you; heck, some of the results surprised us. The results are completely subjective, and therefore were chosen with infallible logic. We would love to hear your opinions on what we have chosen, or if you thought we missed anything. This should be a fun review before we gear up for 2015.
Click on the link to take you to the “Best of 2014” homepage.
Album of the Year
Childish Gambino’s Stone Mountain/Kauai
Kiesza’s Sound of a Woman
Pharoahe Monch’s P.T.S.D.
The Root’s …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin
Sam Smith’s In the Lonely Hour
WINNER – Pharoahe Monch: P.T.S.D.
If you’ve been following Hush Comics’ “Diggin’ Through the Crates” articles, then there is no surprise when I tell you that we are BIG fans of this man. Forget for a moment that he frequents our site for his comic book wisdom, Pharoahe Monch is is the most powerful poet of this generation. His latest record, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a compilation that touches on ground-level socio-political issues like drug addiction (“Broken Again” and gun violence “Damage,” but also exudes excellence through bravado on “Bad M.F.” There is not a rapper alive that can touch Pharoahe lyrically, and P.T.S.D. is just a friendly reminder. – Sherif
Second Place – Childish Gambino: STNMTN-Kauai
Yes everybody, Childish Gambino is still weird, but we love him for it. Being a fan of both Camp and because the internet, I was quite excited to hear this combo album-ish mixtape… thingy. I don’t know exactly what Gambino hopes or desires from his craft, but STNMTN-Kauai was a pleasant mix of his first two albums. Yes, it was filled with melodies and soothing sounds, but it was also filled with genuine rap lyrics. Is Gambino finding a happy medium, or will the experiments continue? STNMTN had me grooving and bumping my shoulders side to side, and Kauai made my heart full believing I was getting a small glimpse into Gambino’s thoughts and feelings. There was also a genius to the album’s marketing when he released STNMTN for free, and Kauai as a cheap EP on iTunes. No matter what side of the album I was listening to, one thing was clear, this music made me feel good, even the weird tracks with Jaden Smith. – Evan
Third Place – The Roots: …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin
Since joining Jimmy Fallon, the Legendary Roots Crew has been relatively quiet on the music scene. After an odd collaboration album with Elvis Costello in 2013, The Roots continued their departure from their signature Hip-Hop sound with a concept album called …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin. In this album, all bets are off, and it’s likely you won’t even recognize these as the same Roots that you grew up with. To me, that is the allure of &TYSYC. Clocking in less than 35 minutes in total length, the album is best treated much better as a continuous experience (much like Childish Gambino’s because the internet was last year) than a full-length Hip-Hop album. Even if The Roots’ play is limited to xylophone remixes of pop songs on the Tonight Show, And Then You Shoot Your Cousin is proof that they still reign supreme as artists. – Sherif
RUNNER UP – Sam Smith: In the Lonely Hour
Are you a sad, lonely man? Do you wish there was an artist and an album out there that spoke upon your problems? Are you ready to feel all the feelings? Of course you are! Well, in that case, Sam Smith’s new album, In the Lonely Hour, is perfect for you and your emotions. Lots of albums come out every year, some of them are decent, many of them suck, and very few of them are ones to remember. Sam Smith is one of those albums to remember. Throughout all 16 tracks, I never felt like skipping any of the song, not once. Probably one of the things I appreciated most about this album was how it felt real. It felt like the truth and Sam Smith genuinely was expressing his thoughts and feelings. A lot of new artist try to make a huge statement upon their arrival by creating a crazy club hit with lots of sounds and intense lyrics. However, his breakout hit “Stay with Me,” was not flashy in the least bit. It was not over the top or extravagant. It was simply Sam Smith. – Evan
RUNNER UP – Kiesza: Sound of A Woman
Mix 90’s House with Hip-Hop and you get this amazing album. The music video for her first single, “Hideaway,” has been out for a few months now, but her song is just now starting to hit the radio (at least on our state’s stations) . Listening to this album brought me back to all the good things I remember about the music of the 90’s and you can tell how heavily she was influenced by it; from En Vogue to Haddaway, she has a little something for everyone. I never actually realized I didn’t know the words to “What is Love” until I listened to her cover for it. My experience from it was solely form Night at the Roxbury and the morning announcements at our high school. The greatest song on this album is definitely “Piano” and everyone reading this should listen to that song if they were only going to pick one try out. – Robert
Lyric: “Yea, the flow so absurd/It’s C.G. boy, king of the black nerds/I gotta get my Urkel on/ I won’t stop until i see an afro at Comic-Con/And not just Samurai.”
Character Reference/Meaning:
Childish Gambino is back with “DTC” to prove once again that nerds cannot fit into a one size fits all mask and cape. In this week’s song, “Run This Town (Bambi Remix)” he is out to spread a message to everybody out there that has ever experienced any sort of bullying simply for being who they are. If you have ever been teased or made fun of because you don’t fit into the stereotypes of your race or culture, or like to express yourself differently, this song is for you. Gambino talks about his experiences with such matters, just because he likes to wear pink clothing, yellow hats, and rainbow colored items people use to call him hurtful things and basically tried to destroy him just because of his style. He talks a lot about how this happens to black kids, while at the same time addressing various stereotypes. If you are a young black man who prefers a power ring to a dime bag, or likes to hit the skate park after school while listening to Coldplay and recite every syllable and letter, then you are made to believe that you should be ashamed of who you are.
Gambino said no to all of this, and tells us that we have dealt with haters like this for too long. It is well known that Childish Gambino is a huge nerd. With his #donald4spiderman campaign, various comic book references in music, TV, and comedy, and overall praise of nerd culture, Gambino is at the top of my list to wear that nerd crown. Even back in 2012 Gambino made a cameo appearance in an Image Comics series called TheLi’l Depressed Boy. In issue #10, Gambino can be seen performing a concert, which inspires the main characters to get out and experience the world. The series is said to mirror Childish Gambino’s first studio album Camp. Although it is exciting to see Gambino represented in a comic book, the chosen lyric for this “DTC” reminds us that African-Americans are still vastly underrepresented in the nerd community, both in character and fandom. It may not be a surprise to most, but there are not very many black superheroes in the mainstream. Sure, we have had some: John Stewart, Storm, Black Panther, Bishop, Static Shock, Luke Cage, Falcon, and Blade. But beyond that, there aren’t an abundant amount of characters compared to white heroes – who always seem to be at the top of the comic book totem poll.
The same can be said for people who attend comic conventions around the world. Thing is, black people want to be represented at comic conventions beyond cosplay. And a majority of the time, at a majority of the conventions, that representation is not present. As the years have gone on and progressed, I believe this image and concept of the “black nerd” has been skewed and misunderstood. When people think of black nerd, they automatically think of Urkel. However, that is rarely the case nowadays. Black nerds are as diverse in their interests and styles as Iron Man is with his suits or armor. Urkel can no longer be the poster boy for black nerds. In fact I’m not so sure there even can be a go to black nerd for today, but if there had to be one, Gambino is a front runner. Currently Gambino is on the “Deep Web Tour” promoting and performing his latest album, because the internet. I know one thing, this black nerd is going to be in that crowd when he comes to Denver, CO. on April 29th. If there is one thing to take away from this article, I would say this, be who you are and love yourself because of that. It doesn’t matter if you are white, black, brown, purple, orange, green or whatever, in the end we all want to be represented and we all want to be able to embrace what we love and be embraced by those around us. Because for every person who is willing to put you down for being you, I’m sure there has to be two people who that you are pretty cool for not giving a crap what the others think. And if not, then scratch all three in the face and make it known that they just got beat up by a nerd. So stay nerdy, stay proud, and be open to new experiences, because you never know if that person sitting next to you on the bus stop is also on their way to the comic book shop.
Album: EP (mixtape released March 8, 2011) EP was released 8 Days before his official first studio album Camp. You can download it free here.
Lyric: “I didn’t know he had it in him/ Couldn’t see me as Spider-Man, but now I’m spittin’ Venom/ Now you payin’ attention, pick your fuckin’ face up/ When I wanna be a superhero, I just wake up.”
Character Reference/Meaning:
Who brought us the topic for today’s “Diggin’ Through the Crates?” Well It’s just your friendly neighborhood rapper, Childish Gambino a.k.a. Donald Glover. Donald Glover is everywhere; he is one of the stars of NBC’s Community, he is a rising rap star, He has done stand-up comedy on Comedy Central, and he wrote for NBC’s 30 Rock, this kid can do everything. Why couldn’t he be Spider-Man on top of that? I’m all for it! In fact, so were many other people. In news of a Spider-Man reboot back in 2010, a fan of Childish Gambino’s suggested that he would be a great candidate to play Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man.
This news hit the Twitter-verse by storm with people retweeting #donald4spiderman after encouragement from Childish himself. Even Stan Lee, the godfather of comics said he believed Glover would be a great choice to play Peter Parker and should be allowed to audition for the part. Ultimately, he did was not given the role; however, a year after the campaign the new Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man introduced Miles Morales who just happens to be African-American and Latino…and look suspiciously just like Donald Glover. Writer Brian Michael Bendis told popular media that he had developed the concept for Miles Morales before the #donald4spiderman campaign yet he did give him credit for his overall appearance. Also, just another little Easter Egg, in the first episode of Season 2 of Community, Troy (played by Donald Glover) is seen hopping out of bed sporting his Spider-Man full body pajamas and stretching very hero like, possible campaign advertising, I think so! After seeing this Community episode, Bendis said, “I saw him in the costume and thought, ‘I would like to read that book.’” So basically when you are reading the new Ultimate Spider-Man you are reading Miles Morales a.k.a. Donald Glover a.k.a. Childish Gambino. Sadly, Gambino did not get the role of Peter Parker, but based on the new Amazing Spider-Man 2 trailer, I have no doubts it’ll be a fantastic film. Who’ knows, since we couldn’t see him as Spider-Man, maybe we could see him as Venom.
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