January 30, 2008 | Tags: none

You know how long it took me to truly decide on this? I've been listening to CD's from last year for the past month or so debating. I've had my top 3 locked forever. The rest is what was hard to figure out. Finally after much internal debate, here it is…Brillyance's top 10 albums of last year

10. Evidence "The Weatherman LP"- Truthfully, I didn't really know what to expect from an Evidence solo joint. Dilated Peoples is the most hip hop hip hip hop group left, however, Evidence is the youngest member of the crew. With him being the youngest member, you could attribute Dilated's focus to its older statesman. Ev could have just been the little homie along for the ride as much as we knew. Well we now we know. Ev's solo joint is solid, solid production, solid lyrics, and this time more personal. Ev's intention was to give people a better understanding of who he truly is, and after listening to "The Weatherman LP" you definately get a better understanding of the Venice emcee. You still get that Dilated feel from the album, even without the Babu/Beat Junkies solo track. This album would have been higher on my list, but while it was good, it was mind blowing. When you come with as many tracks as this album did, (21) you're bound to have some songs that are simply OK (Down in New York City). The weather report skits fit the album...but weren't really necessary.

9. Talib Kweli "EarDRUM"-People have come to expect alot from Kweli. With tracks like "Get By", you can't really blame them. After much waiting, "EarDrum" finally dropped in 2008. Was it worth the wait? With as many push backs as this album had, that's debatable. Was it good? Definitely. Kweli's album ranks above Evidence's because the tracks on this album are defiantly stronger than Ev's. Kweli got one of the best verses I've ever heard from Pimp C on "Country Cousins". Kwe and Jean ripped "Say Something" apart. Kweli's album doesn't have as many tracks as Ev's, but it has more songs, and suffers from the same problem Ev's album did, and that's what holds it back at 9.

8. Somobe "The Great Communication"-I don't know how many times I gotta say this...stop sleeping on these cats. Nobody can convince me this album doesn't belong in this spot. Great sample free beats, dope lyrics...what more does it take? The album starts off with no intro, it goes right into "Building", which will convince anyone with any doubts to definitely leave the album on. Other tracks like "Where I'm Supposed To Be" and "We need a Love Song" definitely stand out. If you can make it to the end of the album without cutting it off because you don't remember seeing a Somobe video on MTV, you'll get to the strongest track on the album "You Can't Risk That". While I originally would have proclaimed this album 4.5 or 4.75 area, after listening to it now, I'd give it a 4. I believe with the beats, Somobe is definitely where they need to be, but Jon D (the emcee) seems to go easy on his listeners. Hip hop is often compared to punk rock, and I believe GREAT hip hop does have a lot in common with punk rock. This right here is GOOD hip hop. Somobe is only a couple steps away from dropping an album I could debate is in the top 5 of its release year. The cohesiveness of this album keep it above spots 9, and 10.

7.CunninLynguists "Dirty Acres"- The south catches a lot of flak for the garbage music that comes from the region, as if garbage music doesn't come from every region. I believe this is mainly due to the fact that the masses are lazy, and don't want to seek out the good, they just take whatever TV gives them. I felt I had to give this album a listen after all the acclaim it was getting. The acclaim was well deserved. "Dirty Acres" chokes the shit out of all doubters of the south. after listening to the album, you get the feeling that the collective know as CunninLynguists seek to make good hip hop music, but refuse to attempt to hide their southern roots. They remind me of the Dungeon Family before Dungeon Family attempted to make a Dungeon Family album. "Dirty Acres" contains what would have put "The Great Communication" up like 4 spots, which is why it's ranked above it, yet it lacks a lot of what the #8 album has, which is why it remains at 7.

6. Jay Z "American Gangster"- Originally, I really didn't want to list this album at all. It was hard for me to overlook Jay's gimmi....I mean concept attempt. The reasoning for the album really seemed like a cheap way to attempt to recreate Reasonable Doubt, and I was feeling this before Ms. Ewing pointed it out to a lot of ya'll. However, after listening to it a million times (not because I love it, but to try and ignore my bias), I have to admit, it is a good album. It reflects the life and views of a group of people SOOOO many rappers attempt to speak for. Hundreds of millions of legal dollars away from these people, Jay can still spit their life a lot better than a lot who of rappers who may actually still be there. "American Gangster" isn't classic, or near it, but it is good. It lacks the lyrics to be ranked any higher than six, and isn't necessarily lyrically better than the albums under it, however, it is a more complete album then the ones below it.

So Jay's not in the top 5? This from the person who came out and said Jay was way better than Big? How is this possible? Who in the hell dropped better albums than Jay?

5.Lupe Fiasco "The Cool"-Lupe had a lot of hype coming into this album. Dropping one of the best debut albums in a long while, what could he possibly do next? First of all, while I have this album ranked 5, lyrically, it's either 3 or 2. Lupe is probably the best lyricist out right now, mainstream, underground, indie, whatever. Lupe is also one of the most creative concept wise, with tracks like "Dumb it Down", and "Gotta Eat", you can't knock his creativity. So, what holds the album back? TOO MANY THROWAWAY TRACKS. Really, if he would have cut this album down to the best 9 song album with the intro (ala Illmatic) it would have been the best album of the year, and one of the best albums of all time, however he didn't. Tracks like "Go Baby" keep this album back at 5.

4. Common "Finding Forever"-Normally when in album drops you either like it or don't like it off top. If you don't like it, you don't like it. If you like it, you may not like it later. With "Finding Forever" I found myself originally not huge on it, but as I've listened to it more recently I found this is REALLY a good album. Sure, Kanye almost killed "Southside" (in a bad way) and Com makes several Hollywood references, but how can you not respect an album with "The People" "The Game", "Black Maybe", and "Misunderstood"? All of these songs would have been one of the top 3 songs on any other album this year. It's a shame Com doesn't get the respect he deserves. If he died, he'd be proclaimed the greatest of all time hands down. As long as he's alive he just continues to drop great albums. The only reason I don't have this album higher is because the top is crowded. Any other year, this album probably would have been 3 or 2, this year however it's stuck at 4.

Chi-town back to back at 5 and 4...didn't another Chi-town emcee drop an album this year? Is he gonna be #1? Will Chi get three in a row with 'Ye at 3 or does he become the first loser at #2?

3. Pharoahe Monch "Desire"- The top 3 was the easy part of this list. I wanted to put this album higher, but I couldn't decide why it would be. Truthfully, I have a hard time coming up with enough detail to explain why this album is good enough to be my number 3. I'll tell you one thing, I have an even harder time finding flaws in this album. Maybe Pharoahe sings too much..I don't know. This is the GREAT hip hop I talked about earlier. This is work out music. This is, "fuck a B, I'm gonna get that A" music. This is "Fuck you pig, do what you gonna do" music. It seems like Monch took all the time off to create this album, and the result was worth the wait. The lyrics on this album are either ranked 1 or 2 of the year in my mind. I guess what holds this back is the production. It fits Pharoahe's lyrics and flow right, however, it's not as good as Pharoahe's Lyric's and flow. I try and be a strictly lyrics dude, but in all reality the production does matter. if all this music was acapella, this would be number 1 or 2, however, it's not.

2. Blu and Exile "Below The Heavens"-I have to admit, I'm a late adopter to this album. Who could've guessed a racist would not only promote a nigga, but also help another nigga find what they were looking for at the same time? (What up Shake..j/k) This album is the total package. Blu is a representation of everybody from L.A. who doesn't gang bang or wear BAPES. Blu is Murs with far stronger lyrics, and Exile is likely to pop up a lot more after helping craft this album. This album goes from reflecting on Blu's first to pondering the existence of heaven. Is the album perfect? No, but it’s amazing and its flaws are small and insignificant. The worse tracks on this album are still good, just not on par with everything else on the disc. The only true reason I have this album at number 2 is because of what else dropped this year.

1. Brother Ali “The Undisputed Truth”-People can say the term classic is tossed around too frequently all they like. Catch this….CLASSIC. I said it when the album dropped, this site said it, I’m saying it now. Classic. Nobody brought it like Ali did on this album this year. Nobody brought it like this last year. This album would have been #1 for a couple years straight. The lyrics, the flow, the emotion, the production, it’s all there without a shadow of a doubt. No wonder people like Rakim himself were praising this album. Ali tackles subjects such as relationships, politics, religion, race, all without getting too preachy, yet without being delicate about it. Ali pulls no punches and holds no hands. If you haven’t heard this album, stop sleeping, if you have heard it and you don’t like it, don’t worry, I’m sure PM Dawn will be back soon (what up Bambu!). Aspiring emcees, this is what you aim for, strong and solid. That’s it. That’s my top 10 for last year. Honorable mentions go out to

El-P “I’ll sleep when You’re Dead”
Devin The Dude “Waiting to Inhale”
Kanye West “Graduation”
Planet Asia “Jewelry Box Sessions”
Ghostface Killah “Big Doe Rehab”
Bambu “I Scream Bars for the Children”

Song of the Year
Lupe Fiasco “Dumb it Down”

Best R&B CD
Chrisette Michele “I Am”

Biggest Disappointment

Little Brother “Get Back”- I was really surprised so many people liked this CD. When I heard 9th wasn’t fucking with LB’s, I wasn’t nervous at all. Khrysis has made his fair share of bangers before. Justus League has a good amount of dope producers. However….none of them showed up. The funny thing is, the production wasn’t my main problem with this CD. Phonte is still dope, and Pooh definitely stepped his game up. So lyrics aren’t the problem either. I don’t know, I think the problem was the direction. I know they said they wanted to go somewhere different, and I know they say if you try to put an artist in a box you’re bound to get disappointed…yet here I am surprised I’m disappointed. I don’t think 9th’s production not being present is the problem, because although the other JL producers didn’t step up in his absence I know they could have, I think his input overall is what’s missing. He may not write rhymes, but I’m sure he had some say in the songs that were made other than the sample that would be used on the beat. “Get Back” wasn’t necessarily whack, it just didn’t live up to my expectations. That’s why I have it as biggest disappointment instead of the Wu album like HHDX…cuz I didn’t really expect the Wu album to be good.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

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