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J Bogart
@jonathanbogart.net
760 followers 210 following 1.8K posts
Library worker, researcher and writer about culture from the first third of the 20th century, depressive. https://jonathanbogart.net
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J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 19d
I'll be participating in this challenge for the next 50 days, mute or follow the hashtag according to your preference. For now my writeups will live only on Bluesky, accompanied by a screenshot of the title card from the music video (or just a regular screenshot if there isn't a title card). Enjoy!
jonathanbogart.net J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 19d
#TheTwen2ie5 Day 1

50. Yailin La Mas Viral, “Bing Bong”
(Dominican Republic, Nov 6 2024)
prod. Puyalo Pantera & Yailin La Mas Viral

youtu.be/YpoUzo-CflQ
Music video title card. On a background of an out of focus woman with her hands raised in dark rain are the words: BING BONG YAILIN LA MAS VIRAL Parental advisory explicit content 50. Yailin La Mas Viral, “Bing Bong” (Dominican Republic, Nov 6 2024) prod. Puyalo Pantera & Yailin La Mas Viral We begin with a mission statement, or in the Tumblr vernacular, with rent-lowering gunshots, telling those who can’t hang to clear out now. This list is going to be full of songs by, about, and for women of color shaking extravagant amounts of ass, with videos even more monomaniacally focused on the same. Welcome to the post-dancehall world: racialized vulgarity is in, bourgeois auteurism is out. Art is a broad category that has always included sexual titillation, and Puritans, whether of the left or right, are welcome to kick rocks about it. Taxonomically this is a dembow song, although it’s almost post-dembow, a series of giddy sounds in echoey space (is that one break actually just the sound of cheeks clapping?) while Yailin delivers the genre’s usual sexual provocation in a teasing tone. She’s a 23-year-old single mother (her daughter’s coo is one of the sounds in the mix) who has been in in the fast-paced Dominican dembow spotlight since she was eighteen, when I first noticed her among a crowd of young women then entering the field (La Perversa, La Ross Maria, Rosaly Rubio, Arlene MC, Tokischa), but the sproingy, addictive “Bing Bong” has been her biggest pan-American hit yet. YouTube: 264M views | Spotify: 146M streams | TikTok: 851K vids
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jonathanbogart.net
J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 49m
immediate vote for the Afro-Latin roots conjunto on the bassis of that hissy ride, although the two hyphenated Brit offerings are compelling. but some much better zydeco records than MTT were in the qualifying window -- if i hadn't chosen an all-african/latin/caribn slate, i might have nommed one
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J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 1h
i'm biased here (Brenda is my nom, and still leads the pack for me), but my bonus is hovering between Francky's repurposing of George Clinton and Frankie/Jamie's masc-diva repurposing of Gary Numan
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J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 1h
titanic struggle between the Congolese and Ghanaian bandleaders for me, I think Mr. Frimpong edges it on the basis of that popping funk bass
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jonathanbogart.net
J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 3h
the Isleys adapted to the 80s ten times better than their contemporary JB, but the PPP massive already missed their chance to advance the superior "Between the Sheets," so I'm going with the futurist Doug E. and (more importantly) S. Rick
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J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 4h
Clarence & Jackson attempt a higher-energy Ebony & Ivory to even cornier results, MJG solid but with kind of bland hooks, Taffy with some low-nutrition italo disco bliss, and Whitney's imperishable classic, a triumph of brilliant performance over shallow, vacuous material
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J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 4h
it goes against the grain to vote for the only song I already knew from the group, but DeBarge takes it: the calypso rhythms trump Diane Warren's platitudes and gearshift key change
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jonathanbogart.net
J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 5h
Brenda (Fassie) & the Big Dudes are my final nom. Not fancying their chances here, as I chose a sentimental favorite song instead of optimizing for thrill power, but SA township bubblegum is worth digging into
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J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 6h
One of the ten or so most important records across the history of the blog, even if it didn't feel like it at the time.

bilboslaptop.blogspot.com/2025/10/j-ba...
J BALVIN, “GINZA”
17th Oct, 2015 Wiki  |  Video I haven't been mentioning here whether or how these songs have intersected with my previous critical attention...
bilboslaptop.blogspot.com
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jonathanbogart.net
J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 19h
#TheTwen2ie5 Day 19

31. Sarafina the Great, “Showtime (Décalé Dokafèlè)”
(USA [Côte d’Ivoire], Jan 10 2025)
prod. DJ Sara

youtu.be/bjE5k_M2zZI
Music video title card. A highly saturated purple-and-red shot of Sarafina in a bodysuit holding a stack of bills in a dim location with a polarized view of a city skyline behind her. Over top, in a 3D golden font, are the words: DOKAFELE SARAFINA 31. Sarafina the Great, “Showtime (Décalé Dokafèlè)” (USA [Côte d’Ivoire], Jan 10 2025) prod. DJ Sara Back at #43, I talked about not really being able to latch onto coupé-décalé; maybe I was just waiting for the right figure. Sarafina Côyinor was born in Côte d’Ivoire, but she has spent a lot of time in the U.S., and you can hear it in her highly American rapping, featuring very trap thematics and the kind of coolly uninflected vocal style that has been fashionable in the States for years now. But her beats (which she also creates, under the name DJ Sara) are full of West African flavor, from the stuttering coupé-décalé rhythms to the highlife guitar figures and recursive structures. She’s only been releasing music since last December, and has already had a mini-scandal where her music briefly vanished from streaming services after she publicly cut ties with a manager, but indie décalé fans have been calling her the future of the genre almost from her first release. I haven’t been vibing as much with her most recent songs, which lean more heavily on the US side of her hybrid aesthetic, but this, her third single (of only five to date), is magical: threatening, funny, reflective, boastful, and compulsively danceable. YouTube: 168K views | Spotify: 49K streams | TikTok: 33 vids
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J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 23h
as someone who thinks way too much about decades, being represented by noel is the cruelest truth
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Reposted by J Bogart
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VoidBurger 𝑓 (AKA Jess) @voidburger.com · 1d
Rarely, Noel is completely right on this one
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J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 1d
was going to say oh but Petty only makes sense in the context of Bruce, and then i realized, no your Bruce (quite obviously) was Strummer
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J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 1d
always thought weller was your bruce
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jonathanbogart.net
J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 1d
#TheTwen2ie5 Day 18

32. Créol x Anis Lou, “Tchoubou Tchoubou”
(Gabon, Aug 19 2023)
prod. Edgar Yonkeu

youtu.be/fv-R4nX5ezY
Music video title card. A medium shot of the bodies of two Black women (Créol and Anis Lou) from sternum to upper thigh in abbreviated, colorful clothing. The background is wide pink, blue and white vertical stripes. Over top, in extremely chromed-out lettering, are the words: CREOL ANIS LOU TCHOUBOU TCHOUBOU DIRECTED BY CHEN ZEN 32. Créol x Anis Lou, “Tchoubou Tchoubou” (Gabon, Aug 19 2023) prod. Edgar Yonkeu Speaking of special favorites! Self-described Gabonese “bad gyal” Créol has been a mainstay of my lists and listening far in excess of her importance in the broader Afro Francophone scene. Of course, if I went only by “importance,” I wouldn’t listen to Gabonese pop at all, since their pop industry is tiny compared to Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, and the Congos. But she’s been a semi-guilty pleasure of mine ever since her 2018 song “V.I.P. (Very Important Pussy)” — by the title of which you may be able to glean that she’s one of the few African pop performers to approach the routine slackness of Caribbean dancehall. This song represents her doing a favor for her friend, model and influencer Anis Lou, introducing her as a singer: it was produced for the souvenir album for the Belgian LBV Festival in 2023, which didn’t hit streaming services until this year, so for two years it only existed as a YouTube video on the channel for Créol’s production company and as a regionally popular TikTok dance. It’s a fun, flirty dance song with soukous guitar over a trap-dancehall beat; the title/chorus is yet another way to say shake your ass. YouTube: 1.2M views | Spotify: 2K streams | TikTok: 10K vids
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J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 2d
#TheTwen2ie5 Day 17

33. Chelsea Dinorath, “Fall”
(Angola, Dec 8 2023)
prod. Xixi Beats

youtu.be/7p8R-2T4pUc
Music video title card. A shot from above of a concrete patio, painted blue on the left but untreated and cracked on the right, with stone trim. Chairs and tables are set up on the extreme right, and a collection of dancers in black, with Chelsea Dinorath in the center in purple, are in the center of the frame looking up at the camera. Over top, in a pale transparent yellow, are the words: BANGER BOYZ APRESENTA Chelsea Dinorath Fall 33. Chelsea Dinorath, “Fall” (Angola, Dec 8 2023) prod. Xixi Beats Most of us, I think, probably have our special favorite second- or third-tier pop artists, ones who aren’t setting any charts ablaze but who consistently put out rewarding music even if no one else particularly notices it. Sometimes I feel like that’s all I have, indeed that most of my list is composed of those artists. But Chelsea Dinorath in particular is one of the most prominent, in part because I’ve been following her career from its inception in 2019, when she was 18 and sang my favorite kizomba of the year, possibly of the decade, “Retrato Perfeito,” sung in a combination of Angolan Portuguese and boarding-school English. A lot of the attraction of that song was in the pulsing, creative soundscape devised by producer Xixi Beats, who Chelsea has been working closely with ever since. Four years later, he produced this spacy, slow-burn amapiano as a showcase for her now much stronger, more soulful delivery. Primarily in English with bits in Nigerian Pidgin and Portuguese, it’s a quietly gorgeous portrait of the emptiness and dislocation that follow on the heels of a painful breakup; Chelsea’s voice, floating over the throbbing beat, is among the most beautiful in Angolan music, and I’m always excited to see what she’s doing next. YouTube: 807K views | Spotify: 476K streams | TikTok: 660 vids
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Reposted by J Bogart
natepatrin.bsky.social
Nate Patrin @natepatrin.bsky.social · 2d
the comments on this video about being grateful for Dilla introducing them to this weird old band are a good reminder that one of the core aspects of hip-hop was (and still is) the selector, and the best selectors turn you on to something you haven't heard before
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jonathanbogart.net
J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 3d
on a 45-minute walk this afternoon i passed three different groups doing some filming, one with a tripod and camera, one with a phone as they skated, one with an old-fashioned handheld camcorder. guess it’s student film season
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jonathanbogart.net
J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 3d
got my vote! although my bonus also went to this group, it's just too stacked
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jonathanbogart.net
J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 3d
i listen to too much rap ivorienne nowadays to not throw a vote to one of the first continental African hip-hop crews, i'll trust that Mantronix doesn't need my help
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jonathanbogart.net
J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 3d
had to listen to the Street Mix of Mind Games in order to appreciate the brilliance of the Underground Mix, so apologies to the third Australian indigenous rock group in a row i've ignored, you would have taken it on first impressions alone
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jonathanbogart.net
J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 3d
everything except Half Pint is overlong, even Katie bringing 80s album sprawl to a tune that begs to have been a 45 on Specialty in 1958, but she brought the biggest smile to my face so she takes it
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J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 3d
and i'm ending up giving my vote to Diana's Supremes cosplay over Alexander's fogged-up window or either of the "we have American R&B at home" chancers
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jonathanbogart.net
J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 3d
finished the playlist by listening to the Marsalis brothers intentionally for the first time last night, and the mention of President Eisenhower in Branford's "Scenes from the City" really gives away just how much they're historical reenactors, trumped in relevance by elders like Miles and Dizzy
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jonathanbogart.net
J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 3d
the Diana video in the youtube playlist appears to be region-locked, so i wonder if this one works on the other side of the Atlantic:

youtu.be/lspNn8ZBAsI
Diana Ross - Chain Reaction (Official Video)
YouTube video by DianaRossVEVO
youtu.be
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jonathanbogart.net
J Bogart @jonathanbogart.net · 3d
this could have gone any one of three ways for me (sorry, Jermaine), but learning (or re-learning, it's been a bit) that FYC had a Madness phase before they broke America with their Prince phase just ekes it out on charm points
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