I haven’t been in the bloggy blog mood lately, but I’m gonna try and fight thru these doldrums. It helps me to read some other weblogs to get my fire back up [ll]. In this case I didn’t have to look any further than my homie Combat Jack over at the X-spot. CJ dropped a best of 2009 list and naturally he forgot to name some of the seminal joints that made 2009 so fux’n dope. No Cudi? No Mos Def?!?
I should have expected CJ to front on Kid Cudi because that shit is too futuristic for most music heads, but to hold off on Brooklyn’s own Black Dante when he is among the top 5 emcees in the game right now? I just hope Combat Jack isn’t getting payola from the Thornton brothers because if he is he better cash that check quick. The Clipse money ain’t that long after all.
I can’t put a mixtape in the best album list even tho’ mixtapes by Sean Price and Raekwon were better than most of the albums dropped this year. The only problem with mixtapes is that they don’t have to go thru all the politricks that albums have to in order to be released, particularly sample clearance issues. For this reason I can’t let mixtapes exist on the same list as albums.
So here’s the best 2009 albums list you will read anywhere on the internets…
DOOM – ‘Born Like This’
This would be in the top five list of albums even if it dropped 10 years from now. This album kicked down the door for old man rap that allowed Jay-Z and Raekwon to flourish later in the year. Musically and lyrically it was the most retro-futuristic album I listened to in a long time. DOOM reigned supreme in 2009.
‘Gazillion Ear’
‘That’s That’
‘Yessir’ featuring Raekwon
Raekwon – ‘Only Built 4 Cuban Links 2’
Raekwon is one of my favorite artists of all time. What he managed to do with this CD was no small feat. He captured the essence and the energy of the first ‘Cuban Linx’ album but he also managed to make this new music sound current and very 2009 instead of outdated and out of place.
‘House Of Flying Daggers’ featuring Inspectah Deck, Ghostface and Method Man
Mos Def – ‘Ecstatic’
This was a slept on masterpiece. I wish thgat more of the people that LOVED this album would have spoken early and often about it. Mos Def is the most important artist in Hip-Hop right now because of his overall talent and ability to translate that talent into any medium. Mos Def makes Hip-Hop possible for artists like Kanye West, Kid Cudi and Drake. Maybe that’s a reason for some of you to h8 Mos, but at the end of the day he is the rap messiah.
‘Casa Bey’
‘Revelations’
Eminem – ‘Relapse’
Guess who’s bizzack?
Kid Cudi – Man On The Moon: The End Of Days’
I fux with Kid Cudi. He helped KanYe craft a classic with the ‘808s and Heartbreak’ CD and now he released his own near classic album. As soon as I get another video camera I will resume my kid Cudi fanboy video series inspired by the songs from MOTM. You won’t want to miss that.
‘Alive’
‘Enter Galactic’
‘Simple As’
50 Cent – ‘Before I Self Destruct’
I am not going to lie and say that I gave this album its just due when I first listened to it because I didn’t. I’m just not into 50 Cent anymore. The shelf life of the 50 Cent character wore out mad quick for me, but when I listened to this album on the second and third spins I finally got it. I got it musically, and I got it lyrically. The 50 Cent album is Black man therapy for anger management. Instead of going out into the world and punching people in the face you are supposed to listen to this album. And it works too.
SlaughterHouse – ‘Slaughterhouse’
SH was Hip-Hop’s return to highly lyrical boom bap rap. Not too many people got it, and of those who fux with this type of rap even less bought the actual CD. I thought this was a great project for Hip-Hop, but then again I swore up and down that Asher Roth was a great project for summer vacay frat pack rap. I just wish SlaughterHouse had done Asher Roth numbers.
Method Man and Redman – ‘Blackout 2’
More old man rap for the win.
‘4 Minutes 2 Lockdown’ featuring Raekwon and Ghostface
Wale – ‘Attention Deficit’
I liked the Wale album on tracks where he was alone. I think all the guest features on this album would make most listeners ask who the hell is Wale? Is he a rapper, or does he have a talk show where other rappers and singers come to sit on his couch and perform so he can compile that shit onto an album? I believe Wale is better than that, but then again, what the fux do I know?
‘Triumph’
‘Prescription’
Jay-Z – ‘Blueprint 18’
I absolutely h8’d the idea of naming this album ‘Blueprint’. It’s lazy. But so is Jay-Z. This album at least gave us lazer beam rap. I predict this genre will be uber-popular in the next decade as the Jay-Z acolytes start to propagate and record their own rap songs.
‘Ghetto Techno’
