Exercising none of the production restraint that made Usher's "Climax" spring's best quiet-storm jam, Diplo achieves awesomeness the opposite way on this six-song set. He throws synthesizer tantrums full of chest-beating bass lines and calls in pottymouthed MCs like Nicky Da B, who helped turn "Express Yourself" into a NSFW YouTube classic.

Listen to "Express Yourself":

Related
• Photos: Random Notes

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.