I think this is the second straight year I've put Statik's album as my #10, but then again it sort of makes sense seeing as they are both kinda similar. If anything, I'd say that this years' album was worse because it didn't have AZ, Cormega, G. Rap, etc. It did have a great roster though and some decent production by Statik Selektah.
I was excited for the eMC album on the strength of Masta Ace's work in recent years which includes two great albums and a couple classic songs. However, Ace only played a moderate role in what was a disappointing album for me. There were a couple good tracks like "Traffic" with Little brother, but this album was sort of boring in general.
This was the first Heltah Skeltah album in a decade and I can't say that I was disappointed. There seemed to be a good stretch of songs kind of in the middle that were pretty low-budget musically but there was some really good shit on here. Even after a decade, Rock and Ruck are still one of, if not the, most entertaining duos on the mic.
After the classic Soul Survivor was followed by the lackluster sequel, I wasn't sure what to expect from this album which didn't carry the title, but was the same idea as the Soul Survivor series. Overall, this was a quality album although many of the songs were pretty old and the production fell short of what I've come to expect from Pete Rock.
Even though I'm not one of those guys who hates on mainstream rap and whatnot I've never been able to get into Ludacris's music. That was until this album came out, which was less Southern sounding than some of his other albums with beats by DJ Premier and 9th Wonder among others. Ludacris isn't a mind blowing lyricist but he is a funny and talented rapper, and I think with the right beats and concepts that he could make even better albums than this.
Black Milk has come a long way since his first couple albums, both in regards to his beats and rhymes. I really wasn't sold on him as a producer until this year, when he dropped this and did the beat for GZA's "7 Pounds" plus probably some other stuff. Also, I never took him to be much of a rapper until this dropped and he went toe to toe with Royce da 5'9" and a bunch of other veteran rappers. This album had two of the years best tracks but was pretty inconsistent, with only 4-5 legitimately good songs which is why I could only give it 3.5 props.
I gotta admit, I thought this was gonna suck ass. I mean Q-Tip kind of lost me when he tried to become a sex symbol and made that lousy Amplified album, and when I heard he was making another album at age 40 something I thought it would be terrible. Luckily, I was wrong. Tip's production wouldn't have sounded out of place on one of those Dilla helmed Tribe albums from the mid-90's, which in 2008 is a very good thing. Plus, his raps are still on some trippy, abstract shit. My only knock on this album is that it sometimes borders on gay and alternative when he ventures away from the boom bap sounding stuff.
Although there were some questionable moments on this album, there is too much to like to drop it much further down. Game isn't the greatest rapper but he is generally very good at picking beats for his albums. Even without Dr. Dre, his albums have very solid production, including this one. All three singles off of this have genuinely good beats which is hard to find in mainstream releases, let alone mainstream rap of this ilk (not the Kanye or Lupe brand). You've got to like Nas, Raekwon, Luda, Common, and Ice Cube guest rapping, too.
Termanology has some weaknesses as a rapper but its easy to overlook them when he's cosigned by some of the games best producers. The production credits for this reads like an all time best producers list with beats from Premo, Alchemist, Pete Rock, Easy Mo Bee, Havoc, and Nottz. Replace Term with a better rapper and you'd have a classic, but you won't see me complaining.
Before this album, I knew Jake One as the guy who did some of the best tracks on De La Soul's "The Grind Date" plus some G-Unit stuff. Point is, I knew the guy could make beats, but I was pretty blown away by his work on this his first album. Like most good producer-albums, this had an impressive roster of MCs including M.O.P., Freeway, Young Buck, Posdnous, Prodigy, MF Doom, and many more. While some of his beats are sort of lacking in rhythm (I'm not sure how else to say this, maybe he just straight loops stuff too much), they all have a raw, dirty quality which gives him sort of a signature sound. His work with drums and samples throughout the album is excellent and he is even able to craft some of these beats without samples which is perhaps even more impressive. Lyrically, this album has a lot to offer as well. I already told you about "Glow" with Royce and Ezhi, but I was also impressed with Freeway's rapping on this. Watch out for Free and Jake One in the future for sure. Between the authentic production and emceeing to complement it, no other 2008 album was this good.
Download "Hero"
