Atlanta's Waka Flocka Flame — the name comes partly from a Fozzie Bear catchphrase — has charisma enough for a dozen MCs. Which is good, since his skills are negligible. On his debut, Waka reduces hip-hop to a carnival-barker routine, blasting out exclamations ("Yay!" "Bang!") over bristling beats by producer Lex Luger. Waka barely bothers to write rhymes, but Flockaveli is hypnotic, focusing attention on the details beneath the bombast. In songs like "Bustin' at 'Em," you hang on every twist of Waka's raised voice while waiting — for a second or two at most — for the next "Bow!" to come crashing down.

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“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.