It’s a bit odd to have a best-of-the-year list not even four months into said year, but we’ll give Rolling Stone a pass, because, hey, I flipped through all 44 pages of Rolling Stone’s “Best of Rock 2008” this morning. It’s cool to hate it, but I’ve always liked Rolling Stone – I’ve had a subscription since I was 10, and I don’t think I’ve ever taken a plane ride without one in hand.

There’s some dumb things in the list – RS’s love affair with U2 continues, and they suggest a pair of $1,500 headphones – but for the most part, it’s a pretty fun read. A few loose local connections too:

• Radiohead named as “Best Festival Band” – As we may have mentioned before, Radiohead’s playing a festival in our little city in August, so, um … yay for us!
• Amoeba Records is named “Best Record Stores” – OK, yes, it is the one in L.A., but the one on Haight is still pretty damn cool.
• The Stranger will be estatic too – Baltimore is named “Best Scene”. I’ll go with that one. I’m no expert on Charm City (who dreamed that name up, by the way?), the music scene is pretty cool. It has a pretty heavy connection with the neighboring scene in Philly, and between Diplo and Hollertronics, Spank Rock (and Bangers and Cash), Amanda Blank and others in the family, there’s some pretty creative shit coming out of there. Hooray for sweaty hipsters!

Other highlights include best music blogs (The Stranger Dance better be in there next year, or I’ll have Jann Wenner’s balls); Flosstradamus as best DJs; an Uncle Corey-approved group, Chicago-based The Cool Kids as one of the best indie hip-hop groups; best reunion, which mercifully wasn’t Stone Temple Pilots (Led Zeppelin!); and Lil’ Wayne named best MC. The Stranger and I have talked about whether Wayne should actually call himself “Favorite Rapper Alive” because really, he’s a totally likable dude and it seems like that likability gets translated into inflated MC prowess by people. Probably does, but who really cares, right?

MP3s:

In which your intrepid blogger attempts to teach you about music he actually knows almost nothing about (Shhhh, don’t tell anyone).

Blender Magazine wrote about Baile Funk back in 2005 and the headline really says all you need to know about the music: “Coke. Guns. Booty. Beats.”

You may have heard about Baile Funk during the last year or two from a number of places, though most like through Diplo, the Philly DJ/Producer/Arbiter Of What’s Cool responsible for beats on both M.I.A. albums (including the stellar “Paper Planes” on Kala), as well as her mixtape Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1.

As an art form, well, it’s not much of one – as a scene, cultural expression and party music, however, it’s a king hell throw down. Born in the favelas – or shanty towns – that line the hillsides above Rio De Janeiro, Baile Funk is simple and to the point. It’s generally nothing more than a sample of an old 808 drum-heavy Miami Bass (DJ Magic Mike, Gucci Crew II, 2 Live Crew) sometimes combined with a local drum or horn line and a Brazilian MC rapping, oftentimes screaming, over it in Portuguese. There’s little musicality to it, virtually no melody and it can be a bit grating if you’re not in the right mood, but that shit moves you.

The music also has a fascinating story behind it, detailed in the Blender story above. It started – as most ghetto-born music does – with people making due with what they had: turntables, records and four-track mixers. Sample a break off a record, add something familiar and make like the folks on the records they listened to do, and start rapping. The drug lords that controlled the favelas basically took the music to the masses by throwing huge parties to blow off steam, so the lyrics were often about drugs, violence and guns – Southern Hemisphere gangsta rap.

When Baile Funk made its way to the U.S. – largely thanks to Diplo – it had an immediate impact, influencing the Philly and Baltimore hip-hop scenes, particularly the new wave of Baltimore Club and Diplo’s Hollertronix crew: Spank Rock, Blaqstarr, Amanda Blank and others.

I don’t know much more about Baile Funk than what’s in the Blender story and a few interviews with Diplo, but I love musical cross-pollination – one style influencing another, one city shaping a sound for another – especially when it happens from thousands of miles away. Take a listen.

(Also, catch Diplo live in San Francisco Thursday, March 27.)

mp3s:

Bonde Do Role – Bondallica
Bonde Do Role – Solta O Frango
De Falla – Popozuda Rock ‘n Roll