
In this special magazine-style feature article, I celebrate the 10th consecutive year of counting down my favorite music with an extended look back at all the music that defined 2012 for me. Inside, a summary of the year’s most memorable songs by season, followed by original reviews of my top 40 albums of 2012.

With the 2012 presidential election upon us, it’s time to recollect the reasons why we voted for Barack Obama in 2008, add up his accomplishments as President of the United States, and make the case for 4 more years.

I was browsing my own website and I ran across this short spoken word piece by Maggie Estep that aired on MTV back in 1993 as part of a series called “Free Your Mind”, presumably named after the En Vogue song of the same name. It inspired me to write out some thoughts I had about it and the era it came from.