Hey Young World,

This is the June 2024 edition of 1520’s Record Report, our series of monthly articles in which we recommend things we’re currently into.

We’ve picked the name Record Report in honor of Hip Hop magazine The Source, which’s album review section went under that name and, when we were growing up, told us what was worth copping and what wasn’t. In our own small way, we hope to do the same.

2004 ‘til Infinity

This year, every edition of 1520’s Record Report will include a recommendation of an album, a movie or a video game that came out 20 years ago, in 2004, a year that is very close to our hearts and whose pop culture fundamentally shaped who we (and many other Millennials) are today.

Central Cee - CC Freestyle (Song)

One of the reasons we love Hip Hop is because it always refused to stick to the rules. For those in the know, it is therefore no surprise that the best rap song of the year so far is not even proper song, but a (since deleted and subsequently bootlegged) video of a freestyle over a classic 00s Grime riddim (with the ill Whitney Houston sample), recorded in a living room while one of Central Cee’s homies makes him a tea. Goosebumps.

Dead Boy Detectives (TV Series)

We don’t have too much to say about this new-ish Netflix original, except that is fucking weird, man. It’s start a bit rough, but it is worth it.

2004 ‘Til Infinity: Good Charlotte - The Chronicles of Life & Death

Last weekend, while listening to my Good Charlotte Spotify playlist in the car, it struck me that I have been listening to them continuously for 20 years. Their third album, ‘The Chronicles Of Life & Death’, which was a sonic departure from their previous work, definitely played a big role in cementing their place in my personal canon. Although I love their more traditional, perfectly executed (and in the case of ‘The Young And The Hopeless’, hugely successful) pop punk records just as much, I will always have an extra special place in my heart for this albums, because it’s the record on which they decided to take a a lot of big swings. In hindsight, those swings ensured their longevity beyond being a band carried by pop punk nostalgia. A classic.

One Love,

Marius | 1520