PropsOverHere Presents: The Best of 2012 Awards

In 2006, Nas made an album called Hip Hop is Dead, and he was right. 90's rappers were losing their touch, Jay-Z was retired, Eminem was AWOL, and there was a dearth of young, talented rappers to fill the void. Hell, even that Nas album kinda sucked. It was a hip hop landscape that allowed "Laffy Taffy" to hit #1 on the rap charts (seriously, that happened, look it up). Well, six years later it pleases me to say that hip hop is fuckin back, baby! There was so much good rap music put out this year that it was almost overwhelming. This is what it must have been like to not have been 4 years old in 1994. In case you were sleeping on hip hop's renaissance, here are my choices for this year's best.

Rookie of the Year
The Nominees:
Kendrick Lamar- The west coast wordsmith with the funny voice made a huge splash in 2012, dropping the critically acclaimed debut album good kid, m.A.A.d. city and appearing on singles from everyone from A$AP Rocky to Pac Div to fucking Dido.

Joey Bada$$- Joey made a name for himself this year with the excellent 1999 mixtape, which is perhaps made more impressive by the fact that the 17-year-old Brooklynite probably doesn't even remember the year 1999.

2 Chainz- The artist formerly known as Titty Boi exploded on the scene as a solo artist in 2012. Something of a new-age Bun B, 2 Chainz appeared on tracks by Rick Ross, Game, A$AP Rocky, Kanye West, Curren$y, and Big K.R.I.T. just to name a few. He also dropped a solo album which, albeit not very good at all, featured memorable moments such as "No Lie", "Birthday Song", and "I'm Different".   

A$AP Rocky- This guy probably should have been on last year's ballot but I didn't really buy into the hype until 2012, so I'm making up for it here. I still can't decide whether or not A$AP Rocky is a good rapper, but that hasn't stopped me from enjoying his music.
And the winner is...Kendrick Lamar
K Dot edges out the competition based on the strength of his album and contributions to others, however it should be noted how strong the competition was for this year's ROY, and how encouraging that is for the future of hip-hop.

Guest Verse of the Year (The Bun B Award)
The Nominees:
Andre 3000 on Rick Ross's "Sixteen"

Best Line: "I'm in my room/Drawin' LL Cool J album covers with Crayolas on construction paper/I'm tryna fuck my neighbor/I'm tryna hook my waves up/I'm tryna pull my grades up/To get them saddle lace-ups"

Ghostface Killah on Kanye West and Pusha T's "New God Flow"

Best Line: "Six hundred cuban cigar is the big tub/Medallion on, Dove soap on the fresh cut/With soap suds on the Mac-11/My big lion hasn't ate since 12/And it's after 7"

Drake on A$AP Rocky's "Fuckin’ Problems"

Best Line: "Then just, drop down and getcha eagle on/Or, we can stare up at the stars and put the Beatles on"

Action Bronson on A$AP Rocky's "1 Train"

Best Line: "Red roses drop on boxes very often/Confetti torture, drinking Henny like I'm Kenny Lofton"

And the winner is...Andre 3000 on "Sixteen"

It seems like every year that Three Stacks drops a verse if only to serve as a reminder that he's one of the most talented cats to ever pick up a microphone. Trying to list the "best line" off this epic verse is almost insulting to how brilliant it is as a whole. I think I ran it back like 10x the first time I heard this song.

Duet of the Year
The Nominees:
"No Lie" by 2 Chainz & Drake

The radio-friendly duo of 2 Chainz and Drake keep it real over a certified banger from Mike Will on what was one of the bigger singles of 2012. 2 Chainz provides his signature energy and hilarious punchlines ("All I get is cheese/Like I'm takin' pictures") while the oft-sappy Drake reminds us that he, too, doesn't luh deez hoes ("She can have a Grammy, I'll still treat her ass like a nominee").

"Hip Hop" by Scarface and Nas

Two rap legends go in over incredible J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League production in an "I Used To Love H.E.R."-style ode to hip-hop. Scarface reflects on the ups and downs of his long rap career ("I'm doin drugs tryna feel you/I'm killin' me tryna kill you/I built my whole life around ya/I thought I found it all when I found ya") but the real highlight is Nas' advisory verse directed at up-and-comers that is rife with rap-related double-entendres ("Her Vibe covers keep you warm/But the Source to her heart is love/Word up, right on/You know how girls are/She love when you lickin' on her World Star/Kissin' on her Belly/Trick on her and Onyx"). 

"Accident Murderers" by Nas & Rick Ross

Nas and Rozay collaborate on this track directed at the cowardly killers in the hood. Both emcees come correct as last year's producer of the year, No I.D., provides an organ-sampling backdrop reminiscent his work on Jay and Nas' "Success".  Nas provides storytelling and imagery as only he can ("Side of his mouth toothpick, one eyebrow raised/Got into it with dude who's tryna live out his old wild out days.") while Rick Ross drops one of his stronger verses in a while, distinguishing himself from said "accident murderers" ("Memoirs of a rich ni**a/Sweat suits, gold chains, old drug dealers/New benz, chrome rims, a fo sho killa/You ni**as accidental, choppers in back of the limo").

"Poetic Justice" by Kendrick Lamar & Drake
Kendrick and Drake wax poetic about females over a brilliant Janet Jackson sample in what was the highlight of one of the year's better albums. Neither verse stands out, but Kendrick and Drake get bonus points for their lyrical cohesiveness on this. And this beat is just fucking amazing.
Honorable Mention: "Pouches of Tuna" by Action Bronson & Roc Marciano, "Birthday Song" by 2 Chainz & Kanye West, "Bitch, I Deserve You" by Action Bronson & Evidence, "The Recipe" by Kendrick Lamar & Dr. Dre, "Capitol" by Curren$y & 2 Chainz.
And the winner is..."Hip Hop" by Scarface and Nas
You're not going to find a much better duo than Scarface and Nas (see: Nasir's "Favor for a Favor" and Face's "In Between Us") to do a song called "Hip Hop". Say what you will about DJ Khaled, but that dude knows what's up. Just look at how giddy he was about putting this song together as opposed to, say, "All I Do Is Win". J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League uses the beginning of rockers Mott's "She Does It" for this chilling piano beat that sets the tone perfectly for Scarface and Nas' angry, heartfelt verses. Oh, and DJ Premier does the scratches. Yeah this song's pretty good. 

Mixtape of the Year
The Nominees:
1999 by Joey Bada$$

A friend of mine put me on to this mixtape a while back and I listened to it pretty much nonstop this summer. Joey and the PRO ERA crew do their part on the mic, but the jazzy, boom-bap production from the likes of Lord Finesse, MF Doom, and J Dilla (who, in death, still has more fresh material than MF Doom) make this not only one of the best mixtapes of the year, but some of the best hip-hop of the year period. 

Rare Chandeliers by Action Bronson & The Alchemist

Thanks to the assistance of super producer The Alchemist, this may well be the most refined, cohesive work of Action Bronson's career to date. Throw in appearances by Roc Marciano, Evidence, Sean Price, and others and you've got yourself some classic material. 

Cigarette Boats by Curren$y & Harry Fraud

Like the aforementioned Bronson/Alchemist combo, Spitta and Harry Fraud have complimentary styles that come together on this short but sweet mixtape. Roll one up to this. 

The Soul Tape 2 by Fabolous

Fab enlists the help of J.Cole, Troy Ave, Pusha T, Wale, & Joe Budden in what was his best effort in some time. I guess sometimes the sequel is better than the original.
Honorable Mention: Blue Chips by Action Bronson, Rich Forever by Rick Ross, On The House by Slaughterhouse, Priest Andretti by Curren$y

And the winner is...1999 by Joey Bada$$
Leave it to a kid that was born in 1995 to make a mixtape that sounds like it was made in 1995, in the best way possible of course. Joey Bada$$'s introduction to the hip hop world showcases this incredibly promising emcee over production by up-and-comer Chuck Strangers and the much improved Statik Selektah that hearkens back to the heyday of the Diggin In The Crates crew. If you don't believe me, theres a beat on this by Lord Finesse, of the real D.I.T.C., that blends in seamlessly with the rest of the tape. If you haven't already, go download this immediately.

Verse of the Year
The Nominees:
Nas on "Hip Hop"

Best Line: "I doubt I'll ever be the same, uh/Hallowed be thy name/Give me strength so I don't do this dame like Orenthal James."

Andre 3000 on "Sixteen"

Best Line: "I'm in my room/Drawin' LL Cool J album covers with Crayolas on construction paper/I'm tryna fuck my neighbor/I'm tryna hook my waves up/I'm tryna pull my grades up/To get them saddle lace-ups"

Joell Ortiz on "Can’t Stop The Prophet"

Best Line: "Out my window I can clearly see the body of a brotha/Funny cars stay ridin' by, I know they're probably undercover/Tryna figure out who caused the Henny sippin' and the candle lightin'/The reminiscin' of the night you and you're man was fightin'."

Joe Budden on "Hammer Dance"

Best Line: "Just a real ni**a/Straight from my mother's stomach/Ain't enough cloth for all of us to be cut from it."

And the winner is...Joell Ortiz on "Can't Stop The Prophet"

This loose freestyle over an old Pete Rock beat may have flown under the radar but, whooo boy, this shit is a monster. Joell begins the verse by saying "Brought my gloves in the booth, I'ma fuck this beat up" and more than delivers, dropping an incredibly intricate verse that features some of the best fast-rapping since Big Pun's infamous "Dead in the middle of Little Italy" line on "Twinz '98". 

Producer of the Year
The Nominees:
Hit-Boy

As I noted in one of my few tweets, Hit-Boy was able to leverage the success of the epic banger "Ni**as in Paris" to become the in-demand producer of 2012. As it turns out, "Ni**as In Paris" was only the beginning. His 2012 resume includes Kanye, Big Sean, and Jay-Z's smash hit "Clique", A$AP Rocky's "Goldie" and "1 Train", and Kendrick Lamar's "Backseat Freestyle".  This kid might just fuck around and become one of the all-time great producers. 

J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League

J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League was the early favorite for this award thanks to their strong work on Curren$y's Stoned Immaculate, Rick Ross's Give Forgives, I Don't, and that Nas and Scarface jawn. Best known for their production on Rozay's "Maybach Music" series, it seems as though Ross only enlists their help when he wants to draw in all the real hip-hop heads that he alienated with "B.M.F." and all the subsequent songs that sounded just like it. I must admit, it works. 

Harry Fraud

Twenty twelve was a big year for "la musica de Harry Fraud", who made a name for himself as one of the best young producers in hip-hop thanks to his work with Action Bronson ("Bird on a Wire"), Smoke Dza, French Montana ("I'ma Coke Boy"), and Curren$y (Cigarette Boats). Plus, Harry Fraud has to one of the better stage names of the last few years, with the trend moving towards utter ridiculousness  Two of the rookie of the year nominees have dollar signs in their name for fucks sake. 

Mike Will

While I normally prefer more traditional, sample-based producers, it's hard to argue against Mike Will's track record of bangers in 2012. Between "Marble Floors", "No Lie", and Juicy J's anthemic "Bandz A Make Her Dance", if it's on the radio 50x a day, chances are "Mike Will made it". 

Honorable Mention: Young Chop, Alchemist, Party Supplies, Boi-1da, AraabMuzik

And the winner is...Hit-Boy

With respect to all of these producers who were all prolific this year, this wasn't really a contest. Hit-Boy is just on another level right now, and is quickly approaching the realms of Timbaland, Pharrell, Kanye, and other transcendent super producers. 

Beat of the Year
The Nominees:
"Mercy" produced by Lifted & Kanye West

In typical Kanye West fashion, he followed up his massive hit "Ni**as In Paris" with the similarly simplistic melody, heavy bass line, and knocking percussion of "Mercy", effectively changing the way big hip-hop records should sound. 

"The Recipe" produced by Dr. Dre

After several botched attempts at a proper single to Detox, Dr. Dre finally nailed it in 2012...on a Kendrick Lamar song. The clever sample of Twin Sister's "Meet The Frownies" and the crisp, hard-hitting breakbeat make this perhaps Dre's best production since 2001.

"Dope Bitch" produced by The-Dream

Radio killer The-Dream uses the classic Melvin Bliss drums (as heard on classics such as "O.P.P.", "Code of the Streets", and "Mighty Healthy") and an infectious piano riff on his hit single featuring Pusha T. Every time I hear this, I have to do all I can to resist breaking out in the running man (it's my only move, still). Fabolous also hopped on this beat on one of the year's better freestyles. 

"Fuckin' Problems" produced by Noah "40" Shebib

With no Drake album, 2012 was a rather quiet year for 40 except for this A$AP Rocky banger. Much like "Mercy", "Fuckin' Problems" uses a simple, four-note melody and a heavy bass line to compose one of the club's hottest tracks in 2012.

Honorable Mention: "Clique" produced by Hit-Boy, "I Don't Like" produced by Young Chop, "Showtime" produced by Jahlil Beats, "In The A" produced by DJ Toomp

And the winner is..."Mercy" produced by Lifted & Kanye West

Much like "Ni**as In Paris", this beat was originally made by a lesser-known producer (Lifted) and then modified and cleaned up by Kanye, who added the dancehall sample and presumably the Scarface-esque part that kicks in for his verse. I guess he's at that Marley Marl/Dr. Dre/Diddy stage in his career where he can do that kinda shit. Must be nice. 

Album of the Year
The Nominees:
Cruel Summer by G.O.O.D. Music

Following the release of "Mercy", "Cold", "New God Flow", and finally "Clique", I was expecting this to be the best album evar. As it turns out, those songs made up like half the album, and were the best songs by a decent margin. Still another quality release from Kanye and the good folks over at G.O.O.D. Music. 

good kid, m.A.A.d. city by Kendrick Lamar
I know this got five mics in The Source and everyone on the internets went all gaga over it--and it is definitely a good album--but let's cool it with the "modern day hip-hop masterpiece" nonsense. Just because Kendrick uses big words and metaphors doesn't make him the west coast Nas, and no one even reads The Source anymore. Still, good album.  

Life Is Good by Nas
After a series of underwhelming solo albums, Nas finally hit the mark with Life Is Good. Maybe utilizing only one feature (Rick Ross) a la Illmatic had something to do with it, as did his tackling of more relevant  challenging subject matter such as fatherhood and divorce, but the biggest difference between this and, say, Untitled, was the production. Beat making legends Salaam Remi and NO I.D. carry the bulk of the production, crafting a mix of jazzy, soulful instrumentals ("Cherry Wine", "Stay") and more traditional, Queensbridge boom-bap shit ("Nasty", "Loco-Motive") that fit Nas like a glove.
Long Live A$AP by A$AP Rocky
I wasn't a fan of A$AP's much anticipated mixtape, Live.Love.A$AP, and wasn't sure my traditionalist tastes and east coast bias would ever really allow me to enjoy his music, outside of a song here and there. That said, I was feeling this shit from the first listen. The title track sets the tone for one of the most unique and entertaining albums of the year. 

Honorable Mention: The Stoned Immaculate by Curren$y, The Final Adventure by Murs & 9th Wonder, Jesus Piece by Game, God Forgives, I Don’t by Rick Ross, Mic Tyson by Sean Price

And the winner is...Cruel Summer by G.O.O.D. Music
The four singles, "In The Morning", and "To The World" were among the best songs of the year, and it was definitely the album I listened to the most. Still, I worry that this will go down in history as Watch The Throne's retarded half-brother, and the fact that it has similar album art but in silver rather than gold won't help.

Song of the Year
The Nominees:
"Hip Hop" by DJ Khaled featuring Nas & Scarface

I've already spoken ad nauseum about this track, which should say something given that this is a best-of-the-year awards post. 

"Mercy" by Kanye West featuring Big Sean, Pusha T, & 2 Chainz

The G.O.O.D. Music posse cut was one of the most popular singles of the year and really put 2 Chainz on the map. 

"Dreams and Nightmares" by Meek Mill

Even though I'm a proud Philadelphian, I must admit I find Meek Mill's relentless, screaming delivery mostly tiresome. However, this song is fucking incredible and gets bonus points for being the best album intro in at least a decade.         

"The Recipe" by Kendrick Lamar featuring Dr. Dre

K Dot was the lucky beneficiary of rare post-2004 Dr. Dre brilliance on what is something of the 2012 "California Love". 

Honorable Mention: "Sixteen" by Rick Ross featuring Andre 3000, "Poetic Justice" by Kendrick Lamar featuring Drake, "Clique" by Kanye West featuring Big Sean & Jay-Z, "Swimming Pools" by Kendrick Lamar, "Chasin' Paper" by Curren$y, "Funeral For A Killer" by Murs & 9th Wonder, "Dear Moleskine" by Jay Electronica
And the winner is..."The Recipe" by Kendrick Lamar featuring Dr. Dre
This could have easily been a four-way tie, but what a cop out that would have been. Could you imagine if they pulled that shit at a real award show? Or better yet, could you imagine Kanye's reaction to such a debacle? Never mind what I said before, this has to happen!

Artist of the Year
The Nominees:
2 Chainz

Like I said earlier, 2 Chainz's debut album Based on a T.R.U. Story pretty much sucked, so it says a lot about how prolific he was in 2012 that he still manages to be a finalist for this. This guy was literally everywhere this year. I hear at least three new 2 Chainz verses every time I tune into Shade 45.

Action Bronson
Bronsolino followed up his rookie of the year campaign with a great 2012 that included two of the years best mixtapes (Blue Chips and Rare Chandeliers) and a shit load of stellar guest spots. 

Curren$y
Downloading mixtapes is usually a fruitless endeavor that ends up filling up my trashcan with half-assed rap music, but that's rarely the case with Spitta. He made the list last year on the strength of three mixtapes: Weekend at Bernie's, Verde Terrace, and Covert Coup, and he did it again this year with Priest Andretti and Cigarette Boats. Also, he made a real album this year that was decidedly higher quality than the mixtapes, so there's that. 

Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar performed the rare feat of making the jump from an awkward, underground act to a bonafide superstar in less than a year's time. Wiz Khalifa had a similar career trajectory a few years back, and he fucking sucks now. I'd like to believe that the more talented and versatile K Dot has more staying power.
Honorable Mention: Rick Ross, Nas, Pusha T
And the winner is...2 Chainz
Who am I kidding, 2 Chainz fucking ran shit in 2012. "2 Chaaaaiiiiinzz".

Props to all of this year's winners, nominees, and everyone else that put out good shit in 2012. See you all again next year.