The Best (and Worst) of 2010: Part 2 of 3

Now that I got the worst of what the year had to offer, it's time to focus much more positively.  This part will key in on basically every award except the really big ones (album, MC, and song of the year).

Last post, I asked how bad was 2010.  This time, I think it's better to ask how good 2010 actually was.  I always think a good measuring stick for this is using the previous year or two to compare to.  It's unfair to try and make comparisons from today to say, 1995, when hip hop was still in its glory days.  I get that the genre will never be what it used to be and I think a lot of people out there would agree with me.  Just as rock had its late 60's and 70's, hip hop will always look to the 90's when it wants to remember the best of times.  That doesn't mean that 2010 or any year after will always necessarily be a bad year for hip hop music either, though.

So now its time to ask, how high was the bar set for hip hop after 2009?  Well, from most of what I heard in that particular year, not very high.  Yes, Raekwon's Only Built for Cuban Linx pt. 2 was a major highlight of 2009 and deserves just about every critical acclaim its received.  We also saw the debut of Kid CuDi, which was a good offering, and Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind ft. Alicia Keys" was maybe his best single he ever released.  Drake also made noise with his So Far Gone mixtape, which subsequently turned him into the mega star he is today.  However, take these things out the equation, and you'll realize pretty quickly that 2009 was a very weak year for hip hop.  This too came after arguably one of hip hop's best years of the entire first decade in 2008.

2010 certainly had a lot of promise at the beginning with albums expected from Lupe Fiasco, Game, Pharoahe Monch, Bun B., Drake, Eminem, Nas & Damian Marley, T.I., Big Boi, KiD CuDi, and Kanye West.  Would the albums live up to the high expectations put on them?  Further, would any of them even see the light of day?  Big Boi's Sir Lucious Left Foot for instance, had been promised almost every year since OutKast's last album, Idlewild, in 2006.  Who would emerge as hip hop's newest stars as well this year?  And what direction would they be taking?

I'm saving my final thoughts of 2010 for the next post, but for now, I think it's time to reveal my year-end awards for just about everything.  3, 2, 1. . .

Best Mixtape: K.R.I.T. Wuz Here - Big K.R.I.T.


Why: This was honestly one of the hardest awards I had to decide on.  Let me start by saying that 2010 was, in my opinion, an unbelievable year for mixtapes.  I spent more time this year than any previous listening to mixtape material and it wasn't because I was just trying to get a jump on who the next great one would be, but that the stuff was just so damn good.  I must have changed who I'd give this award to about 50 times in the past few weeks.  Wiz Khalifa's Kush & Oj was great, as was Royce Da' 5'9's Bar Exam III and Wale's More About Nothing.

It ended up though, really coming down to K.R.I.T.'s tape and J. Cole's Friday Night Lights.  I felt that both tapes were incredibly consistent throughout and that if they were even released as albums, I would still have been impressed.  Both had excellent production throughout and each artist spit probably some of their best verses they've done to date.  K.R.I.T. had more guest appearances, but Cole also gets points for being able to carry his tape almost entirely by himself.  What separated the two for me however, was that K.R.I.T. produced his own beats for his tape.  I usually don't hold that against artists if they don't produce their material, but in this case, the two tapes were so equally matched that I had to use it as a way to put one ahead of the other.  Regardless, I would download both of these immediately if you haven't already because they are both great.  K.R.I.T. edges Cole just by a hair, though.

*Note: I have seen on multiple websites (Wikipedia for one) that says K.R.I.T.'s tape was actually his debut studio album.  However, I found it highly unlikely for it to be released only by web or iTunes and available for a free LEGAL download.  That is almost always an indication of a mixtape and I'm not the only one to give K.R.I.T. this honor, so in my eyes at least, it was a tape, not an album.

Honorable mentions: Kush & Oj - Wiz Khalifa, More About Nothing - Wale, Friday Night Lights - J.Cole, Bar Exam III - Royce Da' 5'9, Royal Flush - CyHi Da Prince.

Best Song from a Mixtape: "Higher" from Friday Night Lights - J.Cole

Why: I think most people would find it hard to argue that Cole didn't deserve this award for one of his tracks from Friday Night Lights.  However, I noticed that the song that was the most talked about was probably his single "Blow Up".  It's a great cut, don't get me wrong, I felt though, that the next song on the tracklist was even better.  "Higher" is a great song for three reasons.  For one it's extremely catchy.  The three-set piano chord that was used in the beat is genius.  You can't help but tap your foot, or whatever you do when you hear something like that, from the beginning of the song.

The lyrics here are also very good, which shouldn't really come as a surprise from Cole.  True, it's not groundbreaking material here, since the song is about Cole trying to get with a girl.  Still, I was impressed with the wordplay he used, especially the lines, "Had a crush on way back, I wasn’t VIP then/But I was plotting on you, I really wish I had got to know you/Before we grew up and I blew up with these benjamins," and then later "Well if its phony your only cause I can get you ins/Too late for turning back, f-ck it we continuing/Get your ass in that position i love to bend you in".  Cole does a terrific job on his delivery on this as well, tailoring his flow to the beat almost perfectly.  One of my favorite songs of the entire year, and for good reason.

Honorable mentions: "The Kid Frankie" - Wiz Khalifa, "The Soup" - Wale, "Glass House ft. Wiz Khalifa & Curren$y" - Big K.R.I.T., "On Fire ft. Crooked I" - Royce Da' 5'9

Best Song With a Featured Artist from a Mixtape: "Spotlight ft. Killa Kyleon" from Kush & Oj - Wiz Khalifa

Why: Okay, okay so this one could definitely be argued.  My Pittsburgh bias might even show a little here, but screw it, this remains my favorite Wiz song for good reason.  The lyrics aren't spectacular (Wiz's best line might be about another dude trying to hack into his twitter) and its not very creative.  That being said, the beat for this is just nasty.  It's easily one of the best produced songs I've ever heard Wiz on and I thought it fit his style extremely well.  Another song that's really catchy and the hook is also well done.

Still, the award is for "Featured Artist" and that's where "Spotlight" earns the honor I'm giving it.  Killa Kyleon gives his best Rick Ross impression and it sounds terrific.  His delivery also complements the beat, and Wiz's verse, very well.  This is just one of those songs I couldn't stop playing when I first heard it.  I still love listening to it today, even six months after Kush & Oj's release, telling me that it still retains its freshness factor, which is huge.  There's a lot of reasons to get Kush & Oj, this being one of the biggest.

Honorable mentions: "On Fire ft. Crooked I" - Royce Da' 5'9, "The Cool Breeze ft. Wiz Khalifa" - Wale, "Glass House ft. Curren$y & Wiz Khalifa" - Big K.R.I.T., "Take Aim. . .Bang! ft. Freddie Gibbs" - The Kid Daytona.

Best Verse of 2010: Jay-Z's verse on "So Appalled"

Why: Another award I had a lot of trouble deciding on.  There were some absolutely insane verses this year.  Big Boi, Nas, and Lupe Fiasco all had verses that I considered for this award.  In fact, before Kanye's album, Nas's third verse on "Strong Will Continue" remained my favorite for the award.  Key word there was "before".  'Ye's album was stock full of lyrical goodies. "Dark Fantasy" and "Gorgeous" had some of 'Ye's best lyrical content I've ever heard from him and Nicki Minaj did a tremendous job on her verse of "Monster" later in the album.

Still, as much as Kanye aspires to be as great or better than his mentor, Hova held on and more to his title this year as being one of hip hop's greatest in the game today.  I personally believe that Jay actually had a better year, at least lyrically, this year than he did in '09.  His verses on "Lights Up", "Power Remix" and "Monster" all got consideration for this award.  If you pick any one of those three, trust me, I won't call you out for it; they were all better than anything he dropped in the year previous.

However, his verse on "So Appalled" was a little bit above the rest.  I loved his lines "Dark knight feelin'/Die you be a hero/Or live long enough to see yourself become a villan," and, "went from the favorite/To the most hated/But would you rather be underpaid or overrated?".  The best line from the entire verse though, had to be his response to MC Hammer.  Hammer had tried to dis on Hova earlier in the year, so Jay responded with, "The hammer went and broke so you know I'm more focused/I lost 30 mill so spent another 30/Cause unlike hammer 30 million can't hurt me." Pure genius.

Honorable mentions: "Super Lupe Rap" - Lupe Fiasco, "Strong Will Continue" - Nas & Damian Marley, "Monster" - (Nicki Minaj's verse), "General Patton" - Big Boi.


Comeback of the Year: Kanye West

Why: I'll keep this short because I think it's pretty obvious why 'Ye gets this.  Yes, he had the VMA fiasco a year before, but I give him the award mostly based on his return to rap.  808's and Heartbreak made me, and a lot of other people, question Kanye's identity of being an actual rapper and I had serious doubts about his album when 'Ye announced he'd be back to rapping.  Leave it to 'Ye though, to release his best work he's ever done in My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, topping many critic's year end lists.  Kanye also released a ton of high quality material with his G.O.O.D. Friday series, most of which didn't even make the album (only three songs actually did if you were wondering).  West made me a believer again of his rapping abilities, and that took a lot.

Honorable mentions: Big Boi, Lloyd Banks

Artist Who Won't Win Any Awards from Me, but Still Deserves Props: Eminem

Why: Look, Em has enough Grammy nominations and awards already, so I don't think he'd really care that I won't give him an award (although if he did, that would be f-cking awesome because he'd know who I was).  When I went over the major awards, I realized that Shady's Recovery just didn't have a place there.  It was a good album and the most successful commercially of the year for any music genre, but it wasn't great.  There were some really bad fillers contained there and I'm still wondering what the old Shady would think of the new one.  I can tell you that Stan wouldn't be worshiping this version of Eminem.

Yet, I still want to give the man some credit.  Eminem surprised me by changing his mentality and somehow finding a way to make it sound pretty good, for the most part.  He also is proving those who believe hip hop is dying as a prevalent form of music, wrong.  His album sold over three million copies and he earned the most Grammy nominations for an artist, ever.  Eminem also didn't drop off much lyrically on Recovery, letting loose some brilliant verses on "No Love ft. Lil Wayne" and "Going Through Changes".  Mathers has a chance to reverse his reputation, if he hasn't already, and still make it something that produces great music.  I also congratulate Mathers for coming clean and making music his focus to try and help his sobriety.  That couldn't have been easy, and then to come back and continue to write music?  That's pretty amazing.