This is a documentation of my five favorite things in five different categories. I don’t want you to confuse this for a list of the five best things in five categories. Things like nostalgia, where I was at in my life when I encountered these things, and what they mean to me on a personal level are all included in these rankings.  These are the five things that mean the most to me in each of these categories.

Albums:

1. “The Greatest Story Ever Told” – The Lawrence Arms

This is my favorite album. I heard it the first time when I was 16. I listened to it weekly for years. I don’t do that anymore, but every few months I listen to it for about a week straight. I went out of my way to read a Russian fantastic realism novel because of this album. I’ve read the liner notes a hundred times. I have tattoos because of this album. Chris McCaughan is a God damn genius.

2. “College Dropout” – Kanye West

I hated rap as a teenager. I gradually began to like it during my first two years of college, and this was the first album that I really fell in love with. It’s been eight years, and I still get excited when I hear the opening bars of “All Falls Down.” I know it’s not Kanye’s best album, but it’s still my favorite Kanye album.

3. “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” – Bright Eyes

There is no better album to listen to on a cold, crisp fall or winter morning. This is probably the album that I’ve listened to the most times in my life. I quit using iTunes a long time ago so I can’t really check those stats. “Lua” is a masterpiece. This is the kind of album you can listen to while you sit in silence, drink some coffee, and have a conversation with yourself. It’s beautiful.

4. “Four One Five Two” – Sundowner

I found this album at a pretty fragile time in my life. It was mid-march in 2007. I was in college, and I was really sad. I don’t remember why. I bought it the day it came out. I was on campus, and I called the closest record store to see if they had a copy. I skipped class to walk down there and buy it. I listened to it for months. “A Midsummer Night’s Classic” is one of my favorite songs I’ve heard in my entire life. No matter what was happening, this album always put a smile on my face. Listening to this while the seasons changed walking around campus were some of the happiest times I’ve ever experienced. You know those moments where everything just seems perfect? That’s how I felt then.

5. “Good Kidd M.A.A.D City” – Kendrick Lamar

This is probably the best album on this list. For anyone that doesn’t know, each track is a chapter in a running narrative of a story about growing up in Compton. It’s incredible. Kendrick walked out with this album, flopped his dick on the table, and let everyone know he was here. For probably 3 months this was the only album I listened to in my car. Every drive to work, every time I went to the grocery store, every time I went anywhere, I rode with Kendrick. “To Pimp a Butterfly” had much larger artistic ambitions. It’s better, but GKMC really hit me in a special place.