Holiday hip-hop was missing its third king—then came “Christmas In Harlem”
What do you give to the rap fan who has everything?
Music Features Christmas in Harlem
If you want to hear someone rap about Santa Claus, you have a surprising number of options. During Dipset’s late-’00s “flood the market” era, Jim Jones released A Dipset X-Mas, which featured five chintzy tracks from the Harlem hip-hop collective about Christmas, alongside five chintzy tracks about non-Christmas shopping and marijuana. A decade earlier, Suge Knight’s Death Row Records was on a similarly carefree streak, and released Christmas On Death Row, which features a couple of decent hip-hop holiday tracks (Tha Dogg Pound’s “I Wish,” Snoop Dogg’s James Brown riff “Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto”), and a frankly shocking quantity of unaltered, straight-faced classics, like “White Christmas” and “Frosty The Snowman.”
All of these are better performed by artists who aren’t named Danny Boy or 6 Feet Deep. Other Christmas-themed rap albums, like the Ying Yang Twins’ four-track The Ying And The Yang Of The Holidays, should never be listened to by anyone.
If you scope back a decade before that, to the early and mid-’80s, there were a suite of Christmas rap tracks, by people like Cut Master D.C. (“Santa’s Beat Box”), Derek B (“Chillin’ With Santa”), and Kurtis Blow (“Christmas Rappin’”). All of these old-school tracks are fun, in their way, as can be the themed albums released later, but they all suffer from one of two tendencies. Hip-hop Christmas songs either sound nothing like a Christmas song, or they revel too delightedly in naughtiness and frankly unfunny “Christmas spirit” subversion.
A track like “Ludacrismas,” by Ludacris, suffers from both problems at once, as it’s both a trunk-rattling beat and a sequence of loud punchlines about gold front teeth and Cadillacs. (Somewhere in there is a message about income inequality, but Luda can’t decide between delivering a message and delivering a banger, so fails at both.) Eazy-E’s “Merry Muthafuckin’ Xmas,” often discussed as a crown jewel in the pantheon of great Christmas hip-hop songs, is almost indecipherable from other peak Eazy-E tracks, and revels in such Christmas traditions as watching Eazy-E have sex with your mom. It is, in other words, a solid Eazy-E track, but a very poor Christmas one.
Run-DMC’s “Christmas In Hollis” set the standard
So if you’re serious about the Christmas hip-hop canon, its population is rather small, despite the surprising quantity of possible entrants. There are three great hip-hop Christmas tracks. The first is 1987’s “Christmas In Hollis,” by Run-DMC, which merges a persistent sleigh bell, interpolated Christmas carols, and a sneering, sinister horn line into the sort of infectious rap-along the group had then perfected. It was released during the group’s critical and commercial peak, just one year after the release of Raising Hell.
Outkast’s “Player’s Ball” helped pave the way
The second great Christmas rap song came a decade later, and is the original version of “Player’s Ball,” which Outkast initially recorded for A LaFace Family Christmas, before making it slightly less Christmas-related in order to fit in on 1996’s ATLiens. That the track was transformed by merely tweaking the hook and removing the sleigh bells, implies that it is less holiday-focused than something like “Christmas In Hollis,” but that’d be denying how much better the track’s analog funk works in its holiday incarnation. It’s also fun to think about mid-’90s Andre and Big Boi conceding to make a single for their label’s Christmas compilation but then delivering a song about an intergalactic celebration of “players” that merely happens to occur alongside Christmas.
Which brings us to the third and most recent introduction to the Christmas hip-hop canon: Kanye West (now legally just Ye)’s “Christmas In Harlem,” from 2010. There are several versions of the track available, but the essential one is the original, which emerged on the internet the Friday before Christmas, when most people were winding down their work for the year and already shuffling between holiday parties.
The track stomps along at a few BPMs slower than the other versions that have made the rounds, but most importantly, this version stretches on past six minutes, with verse after verse from various Yeezy accomplices like Pusha-T, Cyhi The Prynce, and a young Big Sean, as well as a visit from hip-hop’s most noted Christmas fan: Dipset’s Jim Jones, who just loves this Christmas shit, apparently.
Perhaps most remarkably, “Christmas In Harlem” manages something Jim Jones never could, and ropes in Dipset member Cam’ron, one of hip-hop’s great eccentrics, for a holiday-themed verse. Cam’ron’s recorded output can be maddeningly inconsistent, but Yeezy’s always had an innate understanding of the MC’s gifts, doing journeyman production work for him early on and reuniting on tracks like Late Registration’s “Gone” and the Purple Haze standout “Dip-Set Forever.” Here his verse is saved for last, with a hushed cadence to the delivery so that his words hang off the beat like meat from a spare rib. It ends with the ever-thoughtful MC wishing a happy Hanukkah to his Jewish lawyers, before strings swoop in to punctuate the verse, adding the sort of musical emphasis West likes to orchestrate for his favorite collaborators.
Seven MCs capture the party spirit
All of the seven MCs on “Christmas In Harlem” are game, goofy, and quietly joyous; even Pusha adds a holiday twinkle to his memories of selling heroin. But what ties it all together is Hit-Boy’s swooning production, dodging the jokey club-ready tone of so many other holiday rap tracks and aiming instead for the wistful, faintly melancholy tone of “White Christmas” or “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.” He builds the track with samples of Marvin Gaye and Shuggie Otis, splitting the difference between crackling vinyl and a crackling fireplace, with slowly swelling strings providing not just a nostalgic swoon to the whole affair but also a welcome musical density for such a long posse cut.
Viewed historically, it serves as something of a coming-out party for the producer. He had made the rounds in mid-tier hip-hop production for a few years before “Christmas In Harlem,” but this track marked his first of many collaborations with West. The next year, the two would drop “Niggas In Paris,” after which Hit-Boy would provide the beats for tracks like “Goldie,” “Backseat Freestyle,” and “Trophies.”
“Christmas In Harlem” doesn’t slot neatly into the producer’s oeuvre—his defining sound is far from the tone here, but then, so is most of hip-hop’s. This singular quality is the point: No one in hip-hop had ever before embraced the sentimentality prevalent in Christmas music, and, five years later, no one has since. If credit belongs to anyone in particular, then, it’s not Hit-Boy, whose musicality sells the track, or Cam’ron, who gets top billing on the single cover and provides its most memorable moment: It’s Ye, whose curatorial taste brought them together in the first place, and whose dense, genre-devouring vision of hip-hop is so expansive and confident that why wouldn’t it also include traditional Christmas music.
There’s something inevitable about West releasing hip-hop’s crown holiday jewel at the end of 2010. In late August of that year, he unexpectedly released a remix of his summer-conquering single “Power,” and declared that every Friday from then until the end of the year he’d release another new track. The very next week he dropped the aptly named “Monster”; the series went on to premiere other tracks from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, as well as album-quality B-sides like “Lord Lord Lord,” glimpses into other projects like Watch The Throne and Child Rebel Soldiers, and one-off riffs, like the Justin Bieber-Raekwon remix or the Q-Tip and Consequence reunion “Chain Heavy.” (West’s devotion to his heroes knows no bounds.) Midway through this stretch, he found time to release one of the great post-millennial rap albums, but the free Friday series rolled on afterward, the vaults still overflowing.
By using a Christmas song to conclude the series, on one hand, West was cementing his legacy: one final addition to the canon, one final three swishing through the net. On the other hand, he was just doing what the rest of us try to do at the end of the year—pencil in a moment for stillness, for unabashed nostalgia, for joy, not to mention for goofing off, complaining about shopping, and giving something, free of expectation, that will hopefully make someone else happy.
On all of these fronts, “Christmas In Harlem” is a success. But you also get the feeling, listening to the music then-Kanye West released in 2010, that “Christmas In Harlem” was something more, like a gift to himself. The clue is there in the title. What, after all, do you give to the rap fan who has everything? The answer may be nothing more or less than a shiny new Cam’ron verse.
51 Comments
“Christmas In Harlem” really is a great song and like the author says, it’s kind of fun to hear artists like Pusha T give up the coke raps for a moment and talk about turning their Jeeps into snowmobiles (and for once, snow isn’t cocaine.)Also, the MBDTF era may stand as Kanye’s best, as far as his output. Most of the GOOD Fridays songs were killer and expansive genre-wise. This and “See Me Now” were nice throwbacks to the “College Dropout” days when Kanye was happier and not swinging for the fences with every track (not that there’s anything wrong with making big songs).
YUGHH!
Yes but they could of learnt their verses for the video.
The video they posted isn’t even the official version, not does it contain any of the rappers featured on the official one.Here’s the real one: https://www.youtube.com/wat…
mbdtf is the best thing kanye ever made. not my fave stuff, but his best, easily
Watch out for weird sped-up versions of this with verses missing if you look it up on youtube.
Mrs. Claus wore it better.
Can’t really disagree here, this song took a running jump into my permanent Christmas rotation almost instantaneously.
Winter is Yeezy season!
While “Family Business” may not be a traditional holiday or Christmas song, it’s the Kanye song that IMO perfectly encapsulates the feeling of the holidays.
It’s also the only Thanksgiving holiday song I know of. How many good Thanksgiving songs are there? I submit that there are none. But this is the one.
Arlo Guthrie would like a word with you
Never forget the aptly titled “Thanksgiving Song” by Adam Sandler. They played that on the radio every November so it’s a classic in my mind.
1- this song is wack as hell with a lot of bum MC’s and a whole lot of struggle bars.
2- the greatest rap Christmas song is RTJ’s “A Christmas Fucking Miracle”.
You think Kanye, Pusha, and Cyhi are bums? You’re nuts.
Note the words “a lot”- Jim Jones and Vado are bums, I love Cam’ron but its been years since he was nice, and yes Cyhi is hot garbage.
I don’t really like Cyhi either, but his verse on “So Appalled” is great
damn another broken heart :/
no
I love “A Christmas Fucking Miracle,” probably my favorite track of RTJ1. It’s not especially Christmas’y once you get past the sleigh bells.
Writes article about song, posts video to the wrong version of the song.
well they posted the link to the right one, at leastbut yeah, that was pretty, uh. that happened
I’m playing “A Christmas Fucking Miracle” by RTJ every shift I have on the radio between now and Christmas.
Eventually that Best Buy is going to fire you.
“Player’s Ball” was on Southernplayalistic, not ATLiens.
I seriously never know that “Player’s Ball” was originally a Christmas song. Never expected to learn rap trivia from the AVC.
If “Christmas Rappin” isn’t one of your three, then GTFO.
If only there was some sort of way to read about what songs they are referencing.
There is, and I read it, and I stand by my statement.So, nyah.
I remember Run called his verse on “Christmas in Hollis” one of—if not the best—rhyme he’s ever written. He may be right.
“It’s Christmas time in Hollis, Queens.
Mom’s in the kitchen cooking collared greens.”
I think that was DMC’s verse.
Doh.
Besides being one of my favorite Christmas songs of all time, it helped me discover its main sample, Clarence Carter’s Back Door Santa.
It’s the gift that keeps on giving!
Can we get a fucking Kanye filter for browsers already?
no
“Eazy-E’s “Merry Muthafuckin’ Xmas,” often discussed as a crown jewel in the pantheon of great Christmas hip-hop songs, is almost indecipherable from other peak Eazy-E tracks, and revels in such Christmas traditions as watching Eazy-E have sex with your mom. It is, in other words, a solid Eazy-E track, but a very poor Christmas one.”These two sentences, even with “indecipherable” in place of “indistinguishable”, have brightened my day. Congratulations AV Club, you have prevented another workplace homicide!
I love this song so much, it gets some heavy repeats around Xmas time. I’ll even play it a few times during the year, sometimes you just want those good ass Christmas vibes.
just a phenomenal song, but don’t forget that kanye also has an entire wintery album with some excellent christmassy standouts; “robocop” is a perennial fave
While the verses are sub par, I still hold “Santa Claus Came Straight to the Ghetto” in high regard just for hearing Nate Dogg sing the hook…
It’ll never get consideration as a Christmas classic from Serious Rap Connoisseurs, but MC Chris’ “Evergreen” is fun as fuck. (His “Christmas Vacation” is also fun, but somewhat lazy.)
Player’s Ball was not on ATLiens. Just so you know.
The best Christmas rap song is clearly Quad City DJs’ “What You Want for Christmas.”https://www.youtube.com/wat…
The 1987 anthology Christmas Rap bears mentioning. Profile Records put this out to at least nominally spin some more money out of novelty Christmastime hip-hop songs. “Christmas in Hollis” was initially released on the Special Olympics-supporting A Very Special Christmas anthology LP where it shared space with songs from Sting, Madonna and Bon Jovi. At least half the songs here are forgettable, and the rest aren’t outright jams except for “Hollis”. Folks with a smattering of golden-age hip-hop memories will recognize the voices of Dana Dane, Sweet Tee and King Sun. Derek B was at the time the rare British M.C. to release work stateside. The Showboys never technically became famous but the rhythm track for their not-on-this-LP song “Drag Rap” became the unofficial basis for much of the Southern crunk movement in the 90s. Perhaps the worst offering here is from the Beastie Boys-cash-in act, The Surf MC’s. (Coz you know, they’re from California, get it? Boss angle, right? Say, who are those fellows in the Raiders gear? Whatever…)In the years since this LP’s release, Profile Records coasted off the success of Run-DMC and a handful of other acts until the label was bought out by Arista/BMG at the behest of Clive Davis in 1999. By 2014 some forward-thinking completists apparently decided to license the release from the Sony archives for a special vinyl release.Here’s the text from the re-release:Leading off with the Run-DMC smash, “Christmas In Hollis,” this classic Christmas compilation features some of the hottest rap artists of the era, celebrating the holidays, hip-hop style. Highlights include Dana Dane’s “Dana Dane Is Coming To Town,” Sweet Tee’s “Let The Jingle Bells Rock” and even the Surf M.C.s’ “A Surf M.C. New Year,” adding a California surfer (and, ahem, Beastie Boys rip-off) twist to the proceedings. Not to be overlooked is the classic front and back cover artwork, featuring a gift-wrapped B-Boy. It remains an essential, evergreen (pun intended) holiday album to this day. This special Get On Down edition will be run in a colored vinyl pressing with red and green copies randomly distributed.A1 -Run-D.M.C.* Christmas In Hollis 2:57
A2 -Sweet Tee Let The Jingle Bells Rock 3:57
A3 -Dana Dane Dana Dane Is Coming To Town 3:44
A4 -Spyder-D Ghetto Santa 3:36
A5 -King Sun – D Moët* Christmas In The City 5:17
B1 -Derek B Chillin’ With Santa 4:54
B2 -Disco Four He’s Santa Claus 3:27
B3 -Showboys, The That’s What I Want For Christmas 5:58
B4 -Surf M.C.’s* A Surf M.C. New Year 4:36
I think RTJ needs recognition.(And if someone already posted it: Sorry. Couldn’t see it. Kinja is still broken.)
God, I love “Christmas in Harlem.” You could almost slate it into My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and amplify an already great set of songs.
No mention of RTJ’s “A Christmas Fucking Miracle”? Or Chance and Jeremih’s Christmas EP’s?
The Chance/Jeremih mixtapes are so underrated. I’m waiting for a couple of those songs to pop up in some black network sitcom or Netflix movie during the holidays so they’ll finally get attention they deserve (“All the Way” and “Snowed In” were made to be in some cute Christmas rom-com).
Player’s Ball is not a Christmas song.
How can anyone forget Dana Dane Is Coming To Town using Chuck Brown’s We Need Some Money?
D-ricious.