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 »

Hate em’ or love em’, they’re back. After years of titillating/boring Hip-Hop fans with beefs, pot shots, slaps, and gossip, G-Unit has finally released a full length follow up to 2003′s Beg For Mercy. Those who’ve tired of the Unit’s pervasive presence in Hip-Hop’s gossip rags, should brace themselves for another summer+ of 50 and friends. They’ve backed up the chatter though, by creating an appealing album in Terminate On Sight. Read the rest of this entry »

“Yeah I gotta knife for tough nigga
9 for a hard nigga,
Don’t make empty the chamber
Even if I’m locked in the cell block
Ya falling in shell shock,
When I open ya head with the banger
I cause a riot in the yard, and make a mess in the mess hall
Like I just blew trial and I ain’t got nuthin’ left god
What’s today’s mathematics? Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Drew Ricketts

Enter a record-label sponsored listening party and expect a few standard perquisites plus a few more extravagant items that seem superfluous. On the standard list: free alcohol to grease up those good reviews (i.e. “The music reverberated while every head in the room bopped in a trance”); gift bags full of swag extras, promotional t-shirts, magazines you will never see again, posters; finger foods. G-Unit had their premiums in line but that air of domination, of kingdom beset the whole place in a strange fog.

For instance, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and various DJs stood behind the gift table with their hangers-on reciting the lyrics to every song. It was almost a performance in that sense, a lip-synced aggressive set supported by ten hype men in a small room. On one side stood Miss Info and a bevy of insiders. The other side had steaming hot mini burgers and a table with a bar. Lloyd Banks detached himself from the spectacle, allowing Tony Yayo to cue the songs in sequence and then, eventually, in any order he saw fit due to his inebriation. He held an empty (sponsored) champagne bottle in his right hand and a lit blunt and the microphone in the other. A Louis Vuitton headband corralled the sweat beads developing on Yayo’s forehead. His shades concealed what must have been bloodshot pupils. Gully.

The Southside Queens Crew was in full effect, stripping away most of the glamor in favor of heralding murder, darkness and merciless acts. And it works, in all honesty. Although their “message” is not gibing with the Hip-Hop of today, their ornery gun talk fits well with what they established a fan base touting (like Miss Info mentioned to us, “This album is for the fans of Sabrina’s Baby Boy, not Curtis“). As far as entourages and surrounding characters go, this was an impressive event. Two blond young ladies sat adjacent a dark-haired, olive-skinned man in a suit. When I inquired why he was there saying “You look different than the other patrons,” he responded with “I’m a sponsor.” Got it. Read the rest of this entry »