TIME TO SETTLE THE DEBATE ONCE AND FOR ALL!
If you were lucky enough to witness GOOD Fridays’ you know how special Kanye West’s Coachella performance might be tonight. At the height of his career, fresh off of the Taylor Swift controversy Kanye slowly made his way back into the public eye with a series of weekly posse cuts that featured well… everybody.
G.O.O.D. Friday was a rap nerd’s dream; 6-minute jams featuring Kanye West, Lloyd Banks, and an RZA feature?! Saying it out loud still feels surreal, but it happened and we’re here to do the tough job of ranking them from best to worst.
15. RUNAWAY REMIX
What can we say? It’s a remix, it was cool. Moving along…
Who Had Best Verse: N/A
14. POWER REMIX
Another remix. Dope JAY feature. Let’s keep it going…
Who Had Best Verse: JAY-Z
13. DON’T LOOK DOWN
With this being one of the few Kanye/Lupe collabs we were lucky to get before their careers moved into different directions it’s a glimpse of a bright future that never was. Even so, it’s still got playlist privileges and we wouldn’t be mad if Kanye decided to perform this one at Coachella.
Who Had Best Verse: Lupe Fiasco
12. G.O.O.D. FRIDAY
The self-titled G.O.O.D. Friday track was a gem and provided us with a preview of what’s to come. And honestly, we welcome any Yeezy song that features Uncle Charlie. ANY. SONG.
Who Had Best Verse: Big Sean
11. TAKE ONE FOR THE TEAM
Loved the concept, and the beat was crazy but not much else was memorable from this joint. Overall Take One was a solid song but it doesn’t get much rotation compared to the ones in the top 10 and you’ll see why shortly.
Who Had Best Verse: Pusha T
10. DON’T STOP NOW
We may never get that CRS album w/ Ye, Pharrell, and Lupe but whenever they got together it was pure magic and that’s what we get on “Don’t Stop Now”
Who Had Best Verse: Lupe Fiasco
9. CHRISTMAS IN HARLEM
When it dropped, this was the perfect Christmas joint even if you’re weren’t in Harlem. Hit-Boy killed it of course, and it marked one of the rare occasions where we got to see Kanye on a track w/ Teyana Taylor (who brought an amazing vibe to this record). Ye came through with the vintage braggadocious energy that’s made him a staple in our lives. Cyhi did his thing as usual.
8. LOOKING FOR TROUBLE
This joint is special for a lot of reasons. Mainly because we might not ever see a J. Cole/Kanye West collaboration again and b/c Cole came with the fire as fans waited for his album to drop.
Who Had Best Verse: J. Cole
7. CHAIN HEAVY
Chain Heavy is a personal favorite, mainly because Ye came with the bars on this one. It’s not quite strong enough to make the top five but it’s top ten for sure. Talib & Consequence came through and closed the song out nicely, but between the fire production and Ye’s pen, Chain Heavy is easily in the top 7.
Q-Tip on the beat *Kanye West Voice*
Who Had Best Verse: Yeezy
6. LORD LORD LORD
At a time where not many people could get Mos Def out of whatever seclusion he was in to pen a verse Ye did, and the effort wasn’t wasted! Mos starts it off perfectly with his laidback, nonchalant flow and sets the stage perfectly for Ye/Swizz to come through. And You can’t mention ‘Lord Lord Lord’ without talking about Uncle Charlie taking us to church on the hook. Easily a classic.
Who Had Best Verse: Yeezy
5. MONSTER
Everybody spazzed on Monster. Not much needs to said outside of that. Flawless production, and one of the few tracks to actually make MBDTF. After Monster dropped it was safe to say that Nick Minaj had arrived, and Kanye West’s genius was reaffirmed yet again.
Who Had Best Verse: Nicki Minaj
4. SO APPALLED
For many hip-hop heads, this was their first introduction to Cyhi Tha Prynce and it epitomizes the sound Ye was bringing to us on Dark Twisted Fantasy. The verse from RZA at the end really brings the track together.
Who Had Best Verse: Cyhi
3. CHRISITAN DIOR DENIM FLOW
Christian Dior Denim Flow is the best posse cut of the 15 G.O.O.D. Friday records. Who would’ve thought that a Lloyd Banks/Cudi/Ryan Leslie/John Legend song would ever happen or let alone sound this good! pun intended. If you need one go-to record to sum up the whole of What G.O.O.D. Friday was to fans this is the record you should check out.
Who Had Best Verse: Lloyd Banks
2. DEVIL IN A NEW DRESS
Listen… I don’t know what strain Ross had when he wrote his verse but it had him FLOATING. This is possibly one of Kanye West’s best songs and Bink! came through with the fire beat. It would be the best song of the GOOD Friday series if it wasn’t for #1.
Who Had Best Verse: Rick Ross
1. THE JOY
The Joy is the best song to come from the GOOD Friday series. We got a classic Jay Z verse, a Curtis Mayfield hook, Pete Rock drums, Syl Johnson adlibs, and two of the best f*cking Kanye verses in his catalog. Don’t @ us.
Who Had Best Verse: Yeezy
-Snobhop