Generally, the bickering and babbling that coincides with ranking the year’s best LPs tend to blur the focus on the overall picture.

While some albums directly catered to personal preferences more immensely than others, all the selections emerged amongst the year’s best in regards to quality, visibility and of course, durability. Behold fifteen albums deserving of all the accolades and praises heaped upon them throughout the course of 2008. And their value will only solidify going in to 2009.

No order. No bias. Just noteworthy Hip-Hop.

Nas – Untitled

“From the brooding opening piano loop of “Queens Get The Money” to the uplifting snares on “Black President,” Nas channels his inner Walt Whitman as he explores the Black Diaspora. Lyrically though, his wordplay and delivery are sharp as ever as if all the attention to the title made Nas put extra effort and focus into his words…“ — From “America” – Review Of Nas’ Untitled Album

BONUS – Get familiar with Nas & DJ Green Lantern – The Nigger Tape Read the rest of this entry »

October

T-Pain’s Vocoder tried to take over the game and we helped VH1 recognize game. 1520 Sedgwick Ave. flew totally under the rap industries radar. Common got some of that Bill Gates Money. ?uestlove stopped by and told a few stories, while we wished McGruder would tell us some more. Letterman went in on McCain. We looked at the elephant in the room and David Allen Grier gave out wise words to close out the month.

R.I.P. Johnny J & Rudy Ray Read the rest of this entry »

Pic Property of Rap-Up

More than anything else on Christmas Eve, I wanted to walk out of the home of the Golden State Warriors able to affirm everything Wayne has boasted from being the best rapper alive to the embodiment of music itself. I’ve seen Jay-Z in his prime, Big Daddy Kane years past his but still raw as ever, and James Taylor rock an arena with a guitar and microphone. I know what great is. Don’t get me wrong, Weezy did his thing but as a whole the show failed from trying to do too much. With such a broad audience it would be hard to please everyone, but put it this way the Bald Bull looking motherfucker in front of me was up and buck through “The Block Is Hot” but in the heat of all the teenage screams he was fast alseep. True story. Read the rest of this entry »

Radio rip for now but you know the CDQ is coming.

Far too much fuckery to try to reel off quotes. Skillz pretty much covered Read the rest of this entry »

TSS has the pleasure of claiming one of the most colorful comment boards on the Interweb. The discussions are often lively, seldom rude, sometimes incredibly insightful and always entertaining.

On the post for our first “SMH 2008″ nominee, “It’s So Cold In The D,” we indulged in some of the funniest comments, providing the material. But one comment stood out, and, in fact, placed it’s author in the pantheon of TSS’s Fresh Most Respected.

Ladies and gentlemen, Black Canseco, the winner for Co-Star Of The Year by ruling the comments section with the following… Read the rest of this entry »

July

Mos Def had the best week ever and Nas blessed the leak of his album. We collectively were down to our last 5 cigs as we defined what classic meant to us and wondered where the new ones were. We reminisced over L Boogie and jammed out to “Yacht Rock”. Jesse and The New Yorker went after Obama, but Luda and Nas had his back. Rakim’s influence was examined and Soulja Slim was remembered. Rocsi & Terrence made 106 & Park worth talking about for a hot second and signs of the recession started popping up. CNN shined a light Read the rest of this entry »

Presented to you by TSS, Fly Society and North Tower Media

There’s nothing like a long drive, cruising along to some 17.5 and puffing an L. It’s quite relaxing, even with Cannon (or Shawty Redd) bumpin’ violently in the back. It’s also quite dumb—considering my track record at least. Read the rest of this entry »

Featuring Kaye Fox & No ID on the beat. Chicago: The Photo Album coming soon.

Audio – Mikkey Halsted Feat. Kaye Fox – Karma (Prod. by No ID)

We’ll make this a two-for-one & add in this new video from Statik Selektah after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

Intro By Jesse H.

Being avid music followers, we all revel in our snobbery whether we admit it or not. We all love great music, but by the time Joey Nobody throws on “Lollipop” at a party, we can only shake our heads and mumble about how we predicted the songs meteoric rise six months prior. Because turning your nose up and handing out late passes doesn’t make you all that popular.

When faced with a late bloomer touting old songs as new, we can instead retreat to the sanctuary of our headphones where we can crank up the volume on releases that we know won’t face the risk of overexposure. It’s those selections that we proudly present to you as: Pillow Talk 2008 (Get it? Sleeper picks… sleepers sleep on pillows? Umm, moving on).

The Most Slept-On Hip-Hop Albums Of 2008

Words By K1NG, MZ, LC Weber, Patrick M. & TC

AkrobatikAbsoluteValue

The Boston Hip-Hop scene may have lost some of it’s integrity since the Benzino Tea Party, but the gruff-voiced Akrobatik made a convincing attempt to return it back to the essence with Absolute Value. Holding his own over Illmind, J Dilla, and 9th Wonder undertones while kicking the truth to the young black youth on “Front Steps Pt. II (Tough Love)” gave the world living proof Ak had the “it” factor. Few albums of the year matched the level of cohesion the project embodied for Absolute Value was indeed a maximal achievement from a underrated lyricist. Read the rest of this entry »

Week One is done. Same for Week Two as the Karmaloop money has been spent. The winner for Week Three has been emailed so that one is pretty much done as well.

So that brings us all to this, Week Four.

And believe, we saved the best (or at least the most) for last.

Tees from the homies @ Hoodman, including the ones cats were raving over from the Eddie Huang interview.

And, tees from Mighty Healthy. Read the rest of this entry »

Spied @ Nigel’s

So this guy decided to analyze who was better between King James and Kobe Bryant.

I want to start a “Things Bored People Do” category for acts of stupidity like this. Read the rest of this entry »

Curren$y gives another glimpse into his upcoming This Ain’t No Mixtape project.

Really, this was posted just to update you to the fact that episode two of Mythblazers WILL be debuting tomorrow (No Detox), barring any more unforeseen occurrences. Yeah, we’re roughly a week behind but we’re perfectionists & wanted to make sure it was 100% proper. Watch for the hook!

Previously Posted — Curren$y Previews This Ain’t No Mixtape

April

Crooked I finished out his Hip-Hop Weekly in grand fashion, as he set a template numerous emcees have co-opted for their own means. We looked into the art of sampling and whether a magicians producer’s tricks should ever be revealed to the crowd. Jay-Z sent another kidney shot to the music industry when he signed to Live Nation, as well as a blow to the psyche of anyone who thought they still had a shot at B. He also looked out for Sean Bell’s fam. Rick Ross’ “Speedin” video was broken down like game film after a tough loss. Nas was called out, Big Boi did ballet, & 50 kicked his baby moms & kid to the curb. Jean retired (sorta). Read the rest of this entry »

“I am most conscious about my moods. Sometimes you have to be careful what type of mood and what type of lyrics you put in your songs.” – B.O.B.

B.O.B. is a fresh breath, not just in Hip-Hop but for music period. His lyrics are deep and thorough. He has the ability of painting a vivid picture in your head with verses bound to take you on a rollercoaster ride.

In 2006 his first record, “Cloud 9,” garnered the attention of industry taste-maker TJ Chapman of TJ’s DJs, who agreed to co-manage the young artist. It’s been nothing but notches on B.O.B’s belt ever since.

In 2007 he signed with Rebel Rock/Atlantic, and Grand Hustle was recently added to the mix as well. He appeared on city billboards as the face of LRG, his recent single “Created A Monster” was featured in the latest Nintendo DS commercial and he’s preparing to release his debut album The Adventures Of Bobby Ray in summer 2009. His portfolio is impressive for an artist with no album in stores and no major singles on air.

Conquering his fans with countless YouTube videos of performances, studio sessions, and behind the scenes clips, B.O.B. is pure entertainment. His songs are stories and his charisma is enchanting. I had a chance to catch up with B.O.B. for a thorough phone interview a few days before his fantastic Unplugged show at Sugarhill in Atlanta. Check out what Bobby Ray had to say about his adventures in music so far. You won’t be disappointed.

TSS: Let me just rewind back to when you were younger before talking about the now. Even though your popularity grew exponentially in the past year, you are not a new artist. You have been making music…your own music since you were younger. Matter of fact you sold a beat when you were 14 years old. Why did it take so long for you to breakthrough? Or was it just about timing?

B.o.B.: It took so long for me to break through because I’m not really a conformist type of person. I’m not really looking to perform or fit in. It wasn’t that I was trying to be different, but over the years I have been slowly what I could be. It’s crazy because I used to be an engineer and people used to come over the house and record. The hype would be all about them and then eventually people starting taking more and more notice of the music I was making. Then I set out to just be B.O.B. and I performed at an open mic one night, slowly branding myself. People got to know me more and not just what I do in the industry.

TSS: What is your brand? Is there another way to describe you…besides exceptional?

B.o.B.: (Laughing) I leave the door open so that I can do a lot of things. Like with the “AutoTune” video. I want to do different things; whether it’s comical or serious or whatever it may be. I just want to be me, and I don’t want to limit it to just music.

TSS: In your latest song “I’ll Be In The Sky” you say “Nowadays folk would rather rap than go to school/cause they feel that if they black they gotta have it too.” It’s a real quote. A lot of people start rapping because of the stereotype of what rappers should be. How did you know rapping or making music was more for you than school or any other profession?

B.o.B.: School is not designed for the thinking…Wait, let me rephrase that. I just knew what i wanted to do…(both laughing) and I just knew that school was definitely not the road I wanted to go down in order to do that. I express myself…my intelligence creatively. I could have done math and algebra; I understood it well, but it was boring as hell to me. I couldn’t see myself spending the rest of my life with numbers. I’m going so deep in life in doing music and understanding the art of it all. I got to a fork in the road where I had to decide between music and school, and didn’t hesitate to chose music.

TSS: “I’ll Be In The Sky” makes reference to committing suicide in order to cope with things, thinking that will make it better. When i first heard the song, it reminded me a lot of a Billy Talent song called “There’s Nothing To Lose” where they talk about a similar concept. Music is a way of expression, but also relation, because people can relate to what you say. How do you think lyrics as honest as these affect young kids who are often put in those situations? Read the rest of this entry »

Words By K1NG

It’s a shame when albums go slept on by the masses and only gets its shine on the blog circuit and other internet outlets, but what’s even worse is when an amazing artist gets left out of critical mentions by both blogs and mainstream media alike. I don’t know why it took so long to speak on this album, however I figure that it’s better to be late speaking on it rather than never speaking on it.

Raphael Saadiq has been around the music business for twenty years, starting off with his work as a member of Tony! Toni! Toné! and has been making quality music ever since. His newest addition to his catalogue, The Way I See It, doesn’t break that trend of substantial musical output, providing water for the dry well of male R&B with a splash of creative energy that hopefully will continue to flow in the coming years. Read the rest of this entry »