The Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival has been bestowed to eventual Best Picture nominees and one winner six times in the 21st century. That list includes 2009’s Precious, Winter’s Bone from 2010, 2012’s Beasts of the Southern Wild and 2014’s Whiplash, 2020’s Minari, and the victorious CODA of 2021. There’s plenty that never came close to Oscar’s radar such as Like Crazy or The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Nanny.
Atropia seems destined to fall into the latter grouping. The satire from Hailey Gailes unexpectedly took Park City’s top award. Alia Shawkat (known by many from Arrested Development), Callum Turner, Chloë Sevigny, and Tim Heidecker headline. The surprise nature of the Jury designation is due to subpar reviews. Rotten Tomatoes stands at 42% with a 46 Metacritic. That reaction is unlikely to allow this into the Academy’s consciousness. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…
We’ve reached the top 40 of my personal favorite 90 hip hop singles of the 1990s decade! If you missed my posts covering numbers 90-41, you can scroll through the blog or click the music tab to find them (and feel free to look back at my series on top 90 1990s R&B tracks while you’re at it)…
Let’s get rolling:
40. “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem” by DMX (1998)
DMX had a signature hit from his debut album with this hard hitting anthem.
39. “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” by Digable Planets (1992)
This Grammy winning, jazz fused track gave Digable Planets a mainstream smash.
38. “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio (1995)
By far the greatest hip hop song that featured Michelle Pfeiffer in its video, Coolio scored his biggest success with this track from the Dangerous Minds soundtrack.
37. “Shook Ones (Part II)” by Mobb Deep (1994)
The lead single from the duo’s The Infamous album is a career highlight. The beat was later used in the climactic rap battle scene in Eminem’s 8 Mile movie.
36. “One More Chance” by The Notorious B.I.G. (1995)
The Biggie hit actually knocked Michael Jackson from the #1 singles chart. It features both Faith Evans and Mary J. Blige on backing vocals.
35. “I Get Around” by 2Pac (1993)
‘Pac had a playa’s anthem for the ages with assists from Shock G and Money-B from Digital Underground.
34. “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” by Ol Dirty Bastard (1995)
ODB had his greatest track with this entry from his debut solo album. Years later, it would play over the opening credits to Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up.
33. “Tennessee” by Arrested Development (1992)
The eclectic hip hop group had a classic here which crossed over to massive mainstream airplay.
32. “Elevators (Me & You)” by Outkast (1996)
Probably the best rap duo of all time, this is the Atlanta’s group’s first single off their second LP ATLiens.
31. “Gin and Juice” by Snoop Dogg (1994)
The Dogg’s second single from Doggystyle informed the universe that his mind was on his money and… you know the rest.
We’ll have a break in the action and resume my top 3rd of the list later this week. Until then!
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