Quote:
Originally Posted by peter12
Thanks, Ro. I'll check some of those out for sure.
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Cool! I highly recommend the first four albums from the second list. I think I've made it known that I'm loving the Kanye album, but Metaform, Flying Lotus, & Zo! & Tigallo are all fantastic efforts and worthy on a list that spans all genres IMO.
As for the hip hop stuff, it's Black Milk's year. He handled most of the production on Elzhi's record (on my list) as well as a couple of other artists (Guilty Simpson...a few others), put out two collab/mixtape type albums that are both solid (Caltroit with Bishop Lamont & The Set Up with Fat Ray), and dropped a banger of a sophomore LP.
The Grip Grand record sort of came out of nowhere for me- it's upbeat with some great lyricism. The Roots are The Roots- every album takes a minute to absorb, as it has a subtle shift in sound texture (somewhat of a rare feat for a hip hop group), but once it does you realize how damn good it is. Nas dropped his best LP in a handful of years, and the beats on the Nicolay & Kay record are beautifully done. Most of the others (Akrobatik, Pacewon, Jake One) are throwback style hip hop- just solid head-nodding beats, and dope rhymes.
Re: The Royce 5'9" inclusion- although none of those releases are official albums (Street Hop is coming early 2009- executive produced by DJ Premier!!...I haven't been this excited for a record for a while), he drops so much material and the majority of it is so good that I had to include him.