Hmm let's see...
Top 5 Albums
Random - Mega Ran 9
Gift of Gab - Escape 2 Mars
Sol.illaquists of Sound - No More Heroes
DOOM - Born Like This
K'Naan - Troubadour
Top 5 Tracks
"Splash Woman" - Random
"Don't Leave (When Winter Comes)" - CunninLynguists
"Light Years" - Gift of Gab
"15 Minutes Away" - K'Naan
"Me-Time (With the Pulmonary Palmpsest)" - Busdriver
Favorite EMCEE (Based on 2009 Work)
Gift of Gab
His work just continues to get better and better, Escape 2 Mars is certainly a top contender for best hip hop album of the year and just goes to show his ascension into legendary status as a wordsmith.
Favorite Producer (Based On 2009 Work)
KNO from CunninLynguists. While I'm saddened by his departure from EMCEEING, his beats are just as smooth and funky as ever before. It would be nice for him to get behind the mic again though.
Biggest Letdown
I'm going to cheat and say it's a tie between Relapse by Eminem and The Ecstatic by Mos Def.
Relapse certainly did live up to it's name though, however it's Em relapsing into bad habits and stupid shock lyrics. I liked him so much more when he channeled his frustration and anger into more heartfelt lyrics present on The Eminem Show but it seems he's been drifting away from that in recent years.
The Ecstatic was certainly not a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, but it was not what I was expecting from the man who released Black On Both Sides.
Best Debut
I really don't know much of anything new that came out this year except for Blackrok's debut album, however that's more of a collaboration so I'm not sure if that counts. I suppose Asher Roth's debut album Asleep In the Bread Isle was alright, but I don't listen to it on a regular basis.
Favorite Line Or Verse
"As I pass mars, mass stars, planets all ajar in the solar system.
See me float farther out of the galaxy. I realize there are more. How far does it go.
I wonder if there are no endings, beginnings. Yesterday is just tomorrow.
Seen another sun, another earth, another mars. So far into space, wonder will I see the father,
Learn the mysteries that were written by the author. If it doesn't end, where's it from, where'd it start though.
Does it have direction or is all of this is all for nothing just a bunch of molecules who have lost our way.
To my left thought I saw a flying saucer."
- Gift of Gab - "Light Years"
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