Atlanta MC Bobby Ray's debut album can be filed next to those by Wale and Kid Cudi: He's a left-of-center rap hero whose skills lag somewhere several miles south of his hipster bona fides. The guest list is formidably diverse: Janelle Monáe, T.I., Eminem, Rivers Cuomo, Paramore's Hayley Williams. The beats are quirky and peppy. (Check out Dr. Luke's power-pop-rap hybrid, "Magic.") B.o.B's got a Georgia drawl and tasty flow, but his witless boasts — "I sing just like Aretha/So respect me like I'm Caesar"; "When I'm up on the stage, they sangin'/But as soon as I step off, they hatin'" — leave you wondering what on Earth the bloggers are fussing about.

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.