And the best rap album of 2007...
 

turns out to be Return Of The Mac, by Prodigy. Let's face it, nothing really came close to this one did it. Whether Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, Ghostface, Kanye, El-P, Lil Wayne, whoever, there was nothing quite so awesome as this one mixtape. If you haven't heard it I suggest checking it out pronto, for you've missed undoubtedly one of the best rap records to be released in the last 2 years.

Busdriver-Roadkillovercoat was an excellent release, and sounded different to a lot of mainstream rap.

None Shall Pass grows on you a whole hell of a lot. And my extreme fanboism for Ian Bavitz pushes it ahead. Citronella=Rap song of the year

Ya i still only have the Promo rip version and i love it. All of the songs are very good.

Besides Keep Off The Lawn. I didn't really like EL-p's guest spots. Rob Sonic had a nice production though(Dark Heart News).

The undisputed truth was pretty good. I dont think I would say best though.

To me it's a very close tie between Lupe Fiasco's The Cool and Chamillionaire's Ulimate Victory

I'm a sucker for concept albums.....Lupe Fiasco has three different character's that he talks about and tells the story of on The Cool. The Cool, Streets and Game. The Cool is a zombie brought back from the dead with a rotting right hand but everything else looks normal. Streets is his girl and she represents the actually streets I guess. I'm still listening to it to find out exactly. The game is a ****ing smoking skull how cool is that ****. He also has plans to make a comic with these three characters. He also has a song about a friggin' hamburger that he gave a personality to demonstrate how we are eating unhealthy with all the fast food and **** in our nation. Lupe doesn't get enough credit for how deep is lyrics/albums are.

On Ultimate Victory, anyone that makes bill collecting sound hot definitely needs an award for something. Ultimate Victory is another sound album from Chamillionaire..almost every track on that album could be a hit single. I love how he dips into social issues on the news segment tracks.

I think Twista deserves an honorable mention. Adrenaline Rush is a pretty good album overall but it has gotten over looked also.

I really did like Kanye West's album this year. it was nothing like anything i've heard in a while. so i enjoyed that.

None Shall Pass.



Second place goes to The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!

I would have to go with Outlandish - Closer Than Veins.

Really good songs like Callin' U, Kom Igen, Just Me

i didn't really like much of anything this year.

busdriver was the only thing that stood out.

every artists new album turned out worse then theyre last.
though i still have some more guys to check out, like the cool kids, so mebbe something will surprise me

Well check out Prodigy's Return Of The Mac. Because it's sure as hell miles better than ANYTHING Mobb Deep have done for 10 years.

oh come on , how can you say that? give me some examples of artists that you think their new album was worse than their last

lupe fiasco, aesop rock, jay-z. Kanye was okay, i think it was highly overrated, or maybe im just not able to listen to him easily because im constantly aware of how big a douche he is :-/

im not trying to be a negative nancy, hell, im more then open to suggestions

Graduation was and is highly overrated, it's high up on so many magazine's lists and the people that are hyping it are more than just rap fans lately. I don't understand why everyone champions Kanye.

i think how crappy commerical rap has been lately is whats making graduation look so original.

When anybody uses a different technique then recycling the same line over and over again they say its magnificent.

If it wasn't for all this "ringtone rap" being spoon-fed to everybody nobody would give as much credit to kanye as they have been.

I agree that there's been a trend where it's become incumbent to include certain albums very high up on any end of year list in spite of knowledge of probably more deserving ones. Graduation is one of those albums - it is, however, still imo one of the better albums of 2007 (if not quite top 20 material) simply because the mixes are as good as they are. Kanye's a horrid lyricist, tho.

I wouldn't even say it's top 100 material, mixes alone really aren't enough to warrant that.

I guess to each their own but I don't understand how you can downplay The Cool and American Gangster.

I'm not a big fan of aesop rock so I can't speak for them but as far as lupe fiasco and jay-z go. I think they made improvements on their last albums , especially The Cool.

I thought you were into socially conscious hip hop and all that.
The Cool tackles immigration, obesity in america brought on by the fast food industry, the lives of middle eastern kids that are trained from a young age to become soldiers. There are many other issues as well , I just need to listen to it a couple more times to spot them. I can listen to any lupe fiasco album more than once and always find something new that I missed the last time. He does tend to go over the heads of average people. That's most likely the reason he doesn't sell as much as he should be selling. The Cool is pure genius to me.

I also think that all the credit Kayne gets for Graduation is well deserved. His major downfall is his lyrical skills but his production value is top notch....regardless if you think it's just mixes and doesn't warrant such high recognition.

Oh come on... what bs is "I thought you were into socially conscious rap"as if i haven't shown off my love for public enemy or pharaoh monch enough.

Like i said, i think kanye is okay but people treat him as the next martin luther king..

I think what i like most about kanye, isnt actually kanye, but the people around him. Common, mos def, etc who make him better. I'm not negating on his production skills, his work for common is awesome.

But i dont listen to rap for the beats, i focus mainly on the lyrics and kanye's are so forced and so obvious.. [insert mundane line about george bush not liking black people here]
And ANYBODY who works with t-pain on ANYTHING is just garbage...

As for the cool, ill try to get in another listen, looking at it from your perspective.
As for Jay-Z, no thanks could not care less.

Pharoahe Monch's Desire is my vote for AOTY so far. That said I still have to give quite a few albums a more thorough listen.

see this is where you and I differ....I listen to rap first and foremost for the beats/production then secondly I listen for lyrics. Lately I've been listening to the lyrics a bit more and concentrating on them. I think for the most part, you just don't like Kanye West as a person. I agree with you on his lyrics though.

T-pain isn't that bad but I hate how everyone loves the way he sings when he's just using a mouth sythesizer that was made popular by roger something I always forget his last name.

As far as Jay-Z goes hate him or love him but you can't deny he's a commercial success through and through. I really liked American Gangster because of the samples that he used. They sounded straight out of the Superfly Soundtrack.

Denying he is a commercial success would be ludicrous. I can't imagine anybody on earth would think to do something like that. The guy has had as many number 1 albums as Elvis freakin' Presley.



Next topic - I find it humorous that you listen to rap music first and foremost for the beats and production. That seems to embody that whole idea of not quite getting the point.

None Shall Pass>>>Bazooka Tooth

Britney Spears has sold more albums than King Crimson...Doesn't mean she's better. Jay-Z has acceptable lyrics and a pretty good flow. I don't know if he produces his albums, but their production is mediocre.

I think it's pretty humourous that you just told someone how they should be listening to music, and because they aren't primarily focused on one facet of the music that you think is important, they are missing the point. You know DJ'ing is one of the main elements of Hip-Hop culture right? By telling someone they're missing the point of Hip-Hop because they focus more on the production instead of the MC'ing, you've pretty much shown you know nothing.

My memory isn't the best, but im pretty sure i could dig up some posts of yours talking about how its his worst album.

None shall pass is easily his weakest album lyrically, its incredibly average. What put him above the other emo rappers beforehand wasn't in the album

Bringing back blockhead couldn't even save it.

But rap didn't always need a DJ. In the very early beginning, it was MAINLY about freestylen, or spoken word ****. Thats what makes it so easily accessible-you didn't need history in a musical instrument, you just needed to keep up the rhythm by yourself.

I mean, freestyling is one of the definitive ways to show your a better rapper then someone else, and thats all talk :)

But i think you make a good point, nobody should tell anyone else how to enjoy their music. Something im guilty of myself

But now you're almost comparing apples and oranges. You're comparing a very primitive version of one art form to a modern one in which DJ'ing and MC'ing co-exist and feed off of one another. Yes at one time the two may not have been together, but you know, I'm sure, as well as I do that they are both joined now in Hip-Hop music. DJ'ing and MC'ing are the two building blocks of the genre and to say paying attention to one and not the other is missing the point is flat out wrong.

Also another thing....listen to rapper's delight? in the origins of hip hop.....yeah it was mostly about freestylin' but djs were always there in the background. At parties while the dj was playing random music....someone in the audience would just jump on stage and start freestylin'.


I do listen to lyrics but I like to listen to the production/beats first...it's just something I do in all aspects of music. I listen to the musical instruments, the arrangements, the notes and detailed techniques. When I listen to a song the second time then I pay a bit more attention to lyrics of the song.

That's what I used to think. Read some more of my recent posts about Aesop.