In no particular order, sort of:
1. Elzhi - The Preface
Hands down. Classic. 5 stars. The whole Enchilada. This album will go down in history. Probably a sleeper too. Not to say anyone is going to underestimate the man's skill or anything, just guessing I won't see it on a lot of top 5 lists. Just know like they say at the end of Guessing Game "and by the way, Elzhi, That Niggas Better than You! Elzhi's better than you. He's better than you." lmao.
2. 88 Keys - The Death of Adam / Cold Case Files
Fuck it, the mixtape was classic, and so was the album. Mixtape was better than 90% of albums this year. I love music that I can relate to. Sadly both these gems had a lot of the skirt chasing stories of my past. I felt like there were some tracks I woulda traded from the tape to the album, and I was annoyed as hell that 88 keys won't rap without his altered voice but at least it wasn't auto-tune. I love albums that tell a whole story and actually succeed.
3. Solange Knowles - Sol-Angel & the Hadley St Dreams
Surprised the hell outta me. This album bangs.
4. The Roots - Rising Down
One of my favorite albums to drive fast with. Uptempo but dark and moody. Very different from the other roots albums. Killer.
5. Nas - Untitled
I kinda bump the Mixtape more than the album, but this was still a classic. I love it when artist touch on subjects that are kinda uncomfortable to talk about but need to be brought up. Like Kanye USED to with his self conscious shit. Now you can't tell him nothin. You can't even tell him he can't sing. lol.
6. Jake One - White Van Music
Not on here because he rep'd Seattle so damn hard. But on here because he spent like 2 years making a DAMN good album. The Truth was one of the best singles of the year. The release party was off the hook too.
7. Ne-Yo - Year of the Gentleman
I really enjoy this like I enjoy Kingdom Come. Not all the tracks are the best, but the content is mature and none of this "shake your junk" shit that happens too much. Hip-Hop needed this album. It just happened to be an R&B album.
8. Murs - Murs for President
Not up to par for a man who's last couple albums have been classics, but still a great album. The Hip-Hop version of Ne-Yo's joint?
9. Ludacris - Theater of the Mind
A great rebound album from Luda. The last one screamed 'gimmie a grammy' to me, and I wasn't feelin the whole runaway love stuff. He got it, so now he's back to his old self.
10. Common - UMC / Q-tip - The Renaissance
These albums were both so damn short. I had to count them as 1.
Honorable Mentions:
NERD - Seeing Sounds
Blu & Mainframe - Johnson & Johnson
Ok. A few bad ones:
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter 3
It had a few good joints, a few ok ones and a few bad ones, but it shouldn't be on ANYBODY's top 10 list.
T.I. - Paper Trail
Why does it seem I hear a lot of people saying this is T.I.'s Best Album? Did you guys ever listen to KING? Or for that matter ANY of his albums before that (except Ti. vs T.I.P.)
Ray J - All I Feel
You like to Trick? Really? See ya later Alligator. lmfao.
Bun B - II Trill
Rest in Peace PIMP C, but this was one of the worst albums I ever attempted to listen to all the way through a couple times just because I love Bun that much.
G-Unit - T.O.S.
More like P.O.S. - This goes under the Carter 3 definition but just a little bit worse. A few good tracks, not a lot of decent ones, a whole lot of bad ones. yyyyeeaaaaaNOOOO (c) Jim Carrey.
Kanye West - 808 & Heartbreaks
Give Kanye some singing lessons, Turn the autotune down just a tiny bit, change a few songs around and you've got a classic album. Don't do that, you've got a close but no cigar album. It didn't bug me as it bugged a lot of people I know that Yeezy can't sing. Cause this album definitely wasn't bad just wasn't that good.
There it is, folks. MINE. Agree? Disagree? Change? Way off Base? Mostly on Point? cuz it is fuck me, dwag, than you know its fuck you (c) DMX
EDIT:
Forgot to include probably the WORST album (no Trilla) of the year.
The Game- L.A.X.
I know it's a crowd favorite but this album was GARBAGE. MY LIFE was probably one of the worst songs I've heard in a long time. I fucked with the Dope Boys joint. Gotta love Beatles Samples.
December 23, 2008
DrewDown's Best 10 Albums of the Year & a few bad ones
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4 comments:
Like I said. DREWDOWNS top 10. lol. This is mine, but I remember this thought being echoed by several of my friends.
I'll give it a new spin in the new year just because I love you, but I tried a couple times and when I popped it in the car, I was highly disappointed. I don't even smoke weed and I broke up buds on it.
Paper Trail disapointed you!? That album is one of the tightest this year!! Co sign Elzhi, Murs & Jake One...where's prodigy product of the 80's or HNIC 2?
You know. I just don't see it in Paper Trail. A hot single and a decent diss record (dope video) and a bunch of the same songs over and over again doesn't make a hot album. SLU lots it's flavor after the hype and a few plays and nothing else much impressed me on the album.
As far as prodigy's loony bin ass. I don't even check for his shit. I'll take a listen to some mobb deep, and maybe if I hear something good I'll check the albums out, but P isn't someone I generally fux with if for no other reason than he talks so much shit about almost anyone for no damn reason. Blood Money wasn't that good so I'd rather they just crawled back to whatever hole Jay-Z buried them in and stay there. + this god damn HNIC phrase is getting way too played out. I dunno if they started it or they jacked it and claimed it, but I'm tired of it. Everyone's the god damn HNIC of something, whos the HNIC of HNIC's?
I digress...
I also know Clipse put out the We got it for cheap playclothes album or mixtape that I downloaded and I heard it's the best since wgifc vol. 2, but I haven't took the time to listen to it yet. I'm a fan of them big time, even though they talk about crack non stop. They do it oh so well. lol
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