Str8HipHip

Jay-Z – American Gangster: This “conceptual” piece by Jay-Z embodied what we miss from Jigga’s prior releases that probably ended with Life & Times Vol. 3. As he grew his music got better, but his fan base broadened and we became less in-touch with the raw Shawn Carter/Jay-Z. American Gangster meshed together what he was missing between the classics Reasonable Doubt & Life & Times Vol. 1. The middle ground between Shawn Carter and Jay-Z was met well here with a story that the most diehard Jay fans could understand. Musically the tracks were soulful, melodic and most of all creative. The producers really reached to make the sound that epitomized this master piece and they succeeded. There’s nothing we can really say that is bad about this album besides that it ended too soon. Best album of 2007 and if things in Hip Hop keep going the way they are the best album of 2008.

Jay-Z - Roc Boys

Jay-Z ft. Beanie Segal - Ignorant Shit

Jay-Z ft. Lil Wanye - Hello Brooklyn 2

2. Common – Finding Forever: Not many artists can say they are as consistent as Common (well maybe Jay-Z), but Common if anything has gotten better with age and has garnered the love of more mainstream Hip Hop fans with every new release. Finding Forever is no different. His refined underground/neo-soul/R&B style has made Common the new standard for “easy listening rap.” He’s conscience, easy to understand and creative. With production by Kanye West, Will.I.Am and others to back his raw flow. Common made one of the most complete albums of the year and one of his most successful. In a year that didn’t see much in the way of albums sales, Common is one of the few artists that can say he’s sold more albums than ringtones and he wears that badge with honor.

Common - Forever Begins

Common - Misunderstood

Common - Black Maybe

3. Freeway – Free At Last: Yeah Freeway dropped this year and he dropped a banger! Why did you miss it? Well a certain “American Gangster” dropped a few weeks before Free did and pretty much took all the air out of the very, very light promo that Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella did for Free At Last… Either way,  if your ears weren’t open you missed something special. Freeway took his time and crafted another banger that actually filled in the missing links that made his debut just “good” and not “great.” On Free At Last we hear the signature sounds of JR Rotem, Needlz & Cool & Dre as new backdrops to Freeways unorthodox flow. And instead of rockin’ with State P(roperty); Free holla’d at Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Scarface, Rick Ross, Marsha Ambrosius & Dre (Cool & Dre) for assistance with hooks and rhymes. Oh yeah… Free At Last was executive produced by Jay-Z & 50 Cent, so it had two of the best creative ears in the game behind it to make it a stellar piece for 2007.

Freeway ft. Jay Z - Big Spender (Produced by Dame Grease)

Freeway ft. 50 Cent - Take It To The Top

Freeway ft. Busta Rhymes & Jadakiss - Walk Wit Me

4. Talib Kweli – Eardrum: Eardrum came and went, but it did make a mark as one of this year’s most notable releases. Talib took his time and put together an album that made us think Hip Hop wasn’t in such bad shape as it really was. With production from Hi Tek, Kanye West, Will.I.Am, Pete Rock, Just Blaze & others  Eardrum was a sonically sounding masterpiece. Oh yes, Talib also got the North, South (UGK), East & West (Madlib), R&B (Musiq, Raheem Devaughn & Lyfe Jennings), Hip Hop & even Pop (Justin Timberlake) all together… Eardrum was probably one of the only albums this year that we could all find something we liked on it.

Talib Kweli ft. Justin Timberlake - The Nature

Talib Kweli ft. Ne-Yo & Jean Grae - Hot Thing (Remix)

5. UGK – Underground Kings: UGK as a group has been a staple of Hip Hop since the late 80's. They were amongst the first Texas artists to really get love from NY back when Keith Murray & Redman were the hottest out and solidified their place in history when they stood by Jay-Z on “Big Pimpin” (One of Jay’s biggest records to date). Fast-forward to 2007 Pimp C is out of jail, both Pimp C & Bun B dropped solo albums and UGK is ready to drop a group effort. They don’t just drop any old album though, they drop a double banger. 21 cuts and a star studded lineup of the old and new faces. Not straying too far away from their original sound, UGK kept it trill as ever and you could tell on their lead single “International Players Anthem” featuring Outkast. They let everyone know that they didn’t miss a step. Overall the album was one of the most well produced and well written efforts by anyone in 2007 and they really showed that time apart couldn’t mess with that chemistry Pimp C & Bun B shared through every release since 1988.  R.I.P Pimp C.

UGK - ft. Outkast - International Player's Anthem (Remix)

UGK ft. TI - Hit The Block

UGK ft. Dizzee Rascal & Pimpin Ken -Two Type Of Bitches

6. DJ Khaled – We The Best & Rich Boy – Rich Boy (TIE): DJ Khaled isn’t really a deejay and he’s not really a producer and we’ve established that he has one of the most annoying voices and personalities in Hip Hop, but he sure does know how to get niggas organized to put out a banger! We The Best is just that; “the best.” Khaled took the best from the East, West, North & South and made these niggas sound good together like no other "deejay." With production from Nate Danjahandz, Cool & Dre, The Runner and of course himself; this album was a diamond in the rough that shined even though it came out on Koch. The first single “We Takin’ Over” was a radio smash and the follow-up “I’m So Hood” was just as hard and successful. Overall We The Best was one of the best of 2007 hands down!

We been checkin’ for Rich Boy since 2005 and now that he’s here we’re lovin’ it! With an album produced pretty much entirely by Polow Da Don it banged out for a good portion of early 2007. Rich Boy’s “Throw Some D’s” was an instant riders’ classic and the remix with everyone on it made it even better. This Alabama native did his thing in 2008 and didn’t look back.  

Dj Khaled ft. Akon , Fat Joe,T.I, Lil Wayne, Baby, Rick Ross - We Takin Over

Rich Boy ft. Keri Hilson & Polow Da Don - Good Things

DJ Khaled ft. T-Pain, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Lil Wayne, Fat Joe, Birdman, Rick Ross - I'm So Hood (Remix)

Rich Boy - Boy Looka Here

DJ Khaled ft. Ja Rule, Jadakiss & Fat Joe - New York Part 2

Rich Boy ft. Andre 3000,Jim Jones,Lil Flip, Murphy Lee, Lil Jon & The Game - Throw Some D's (remix)

7. Pharoahe Monch – Desire: Off the scene for almost eight years and he didn’t lose one bit of hunger, ability or talent for this rappin’ stuff. Pharoahe Monch took us to unheard of dimensions on this album. We can see why he titled the album Desire because he hasn’t lost it for the music. Creatively this album takes the listener into Munch’s world. He’s like a rapping robot calculating each rap and stepping up and changing up his flow at each turn. Songs like “What It Is,” “When The Gun Draws” & “Trilogy” make Pharoahe one of the most consistently creative people in the game. Not to mention he got some of the hardest beats from The Alchemist, Mr. Porter & The Hitmen as backdrops to his insanity… This album makes the list off artistic merit alone. We already know Monch can rap, but this time he let us know it for real.

Pharoahe Monch - Gun Draws

Pharoahe Monch - What It Is

8. Beanie Segal – The Solution: It dropped in early December, but was worth a look because it was beans at his best. Lyrically Segal took it to another level of raw and uncut while stepping up the production all around on this one. With an undeniable flow and creative way of spitting in retrospective that we only can compare to Biggie (RIP); Segal has pretty much sealed his place in the confines of Hip Hop history with this release. Go get it and see for yourself.

Beanie Sigel ft. R Kelly - All The Above

Beanie Sigel - What They Gonna Say To Me

Beanie Sigel ft. Diddy, Ghostface Killah & Peedi Crakk - Pass The Patron

Young Buck – Buck The World: Buck’s album was tagged as the saving grace for the G-Unit camp in 2007, but it fell short of being that and was lost in the mix of a beef between his boss (50 Cent) and Cam’Ron around the time of its release. Nonetheless Buck The World was one of the best crafted efforts of 2007. It scored points with us for creativity and production and Buck has grown lyrically since his 2004 debut as well. “Get Buck,” “Buck The World,” & “U Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” all highlight Buck’s growth as an artist. Overall this album is arguably the best solo album the mainstream South put out this year.

Young Buck - Get Buck (Produced by Polow Da Don)

Young Buck - Buck The World

10. 50 Cent – Curtis & Kanye West – Graduation (TIE): The two most anticipated albums of 2007... They got us to go out and buy 1.6 million CDs in one week. A lofty record breaking feat for Universal Music Group and an accomplishment for the “old music industry model” as we know it. These two releases were built more on hype rather than music and the weeks to follow after their release proved it, with sharp dips in sales. They only made this list because of the numbers they did not the how "great" the albums were.

50 Cent made an arguably better album for his #3 than The Massacre, but again he over did it with the amount of music and song selection on the record. 50 knows the numbers game, but for an artist who sold 12 million off an album that was as raw as beef in a still mooing cow (Get Rich Or Die Trying); 50 fell short again. Too much filler and less of what his fans want. Not to say that he shouldn't evolve with the change in his bank account and zip code, but we don’t need 50 Cent trying to remake the greatness of songs like “In The Club” or “21 Questions” on like 8-9 albums cuts. 50 did give us his best on songs like “I’ll Still Kill” and “Curtis 187,”  which made this record one of our favorites regardless of the filler.

Now on to Mr. West... From his debut to now his shining light has been his creativity and desire for perfection. Well… He fell a bit short of perfection on this album, but it’s arguably better than his second album. What killed this release was his cocky attitude and notions that he is one of the best rappers alive. NEWSFLASH KANYE! You still suck at rapping, but in an age of retarded slowed down hooks & flows and Soulja Boy "Crank Dat" & "Booty Meat," you probably are one of the top rappers in the mainstream. Not to say that you can’t flow or ain’t got something to say, but you're just not a good lyricist. People get caught up in the "message" and neglect the facts sometimes... Any hoots... Overall Graduation was a darker side of Kanye West and a lot more cohesive than his previous releases. On the production end Kanye reached out to the best; Timbaland, DJ Toomp, Nottz and of course his in house help that’s gotten him through these last two releases. Less filler tracks and a great selection of features is what made this album one of the best of 2007. Oh yeah and it did sell close to one million the first week too, that's always a plus.

In essence both 50 and Kanye did their thing, but we think if they had separate release dates people would see these albums for more than just the hype that surrounded them. It’s hard to compare two albums that you’re basically forced to buy and say you like because MTV told you to or just because you hate the other artist.

It’s just not fair…

50 Cent - Fully Loaded Clip

Kanye West ft. T-Pain - Good Life

50 Cent ft. Akon - I'll Still Kill

Kanye West ft. Lil Wayne - Barry Bonds

50 Cent - Man Down (Unsensored)

Kanye West - Champion