Benoit...Balls's posts - Portuguese uPOST

I’ve been making personal year-end countdowns for nearly a decade now. With the amount of music I listen to, it just seems like the right thing to do, if even just for my own closure to see what I liked the most.

If I had to wager a guess, I’d say that the last four years of my life have boiled down to two essential activities: working and lounging around listening to music. I own many platforms to do so, because I am a glutton for blowing wads of cash on many mediums of entertainment.

Pictured: A bottle of Willett Family Estate 3-year Rye Whiskey (quite possibly my favorite beverage on Earth, outside of chocolate almond milk and cream soda)

As this year draws to a close, I’ve noticed one thing about the music released throughout it: R&B and Soul made a tremendous comeback.

In no order of importance:

Tissues a plenty

I was seven at the time, and up until then I primarily watched cartoons, NASCAR races, and baseball. Basketball was as foreign of a sport as cricket could have been to a white kid who only had Venezuelan and Brazilian neighbor friends, and basic cable.

Before I delve into his body of work, and everything else that goes along with the man, I will be up front with all of you: I am a Kanye stan. It's not as hard for me to admit that, as it is for thousands of anonymous internet keyboard jockeys; but it's the truth, and it has to be established.

This weekend the 2015 NASCAR season has its unofficial start as the Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) will run the Unlimited, an annual short exhibition/warm-up race in Daytona as a kickoff to Speedweeks. Now, while I'm giddy at the thought that I get to see cars on the track for the first time in three months, I can't help…

Jeff Gordon was destined to be a villain.

I started out the year very optimistically, believing that 2014 may somehow outdo 2013 in terms of quantity and quality. Now, as the year is coming to a close, I realize that there was a lot of music released this year and a majority of it was pretty awful.

Last night before I went to sleep, a friend of mine texted me saying: "UNF MADE DEADSPIN!!!" My first reaction was, "Oh no, we did something stupid."

I present to you...

In recent weeks, I've missed a decent bit of work because of a pretty bad back injury and needing to take my personal days before the holiday rush in fear of losing them with the next fiscal year. During that time, I've fixed things around the house, helped my parents reorganize their closets (frighteningly), and…

There is an unholy amount of candy in my house right now.

Run The Jewels makes no sense on paper. Killer Mike and El-P look about as different as they sound, as do their lives and their upbringing.

10. Madden NFL 2001 - Mainly because it was basically only one song from Xzibit, who is not enough to carry a video game soundtrack by his lonesome.

Every producer, in any genre, has a signature sound. Creating that sound, and making it work throughout an entire career, is something that only a few people can say that they've mastered.

If you've listened to any hip-hop radio stations, been to a bar or club, or been on the internet in the last year, or so, you've probably noticed a growing trend in the genre. As of late, a multitude of rappers have made their way through the clutter of countless mixtapes by trying to perfect a new delivery: the…

Yes, this is totally a ripoff of the list Pitchfork put out, but I figured I'll do my own because why the hell not?