2010 was a phenomenal year in hip-hop, in my opinion the best overall since the early 2000s. We saw certain established artists continue to maintain their relevance while others made formidable comebacks, and at the same time the underground and up-and-coming artists continued to grow and thrive as well. I chose 15 LPs that stood out the most, (it was hard to make a list this short – I trimmed it from a list of about 50 new albums that I’ve listened to this year) and I made my selections judging from lyrical quality, musical quality, replay value and originality. If you didn’t check out any of these albums, consider this your notification that you're missing out! Drop a comment and let me know what you agree with, disagree with, or what should’ve been included that I left off.
15. Thank Me Later-Drake
14. From the Westside with Love-Dom Kennedy
13. Dirty Money Painting-Dru B Shinin’
12. Live from the Tape Deck-Skyzoo & Illmind
11. Death of a Pop Star-David Banner & 9th Wonder
10. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy-Kanye West
9. Trill OG-Bun B
8. Leftback-Little Brother
7. Don’t Mention It-Pac Div
6. Revolutions Per Minute-Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek are Reflection Eternal
5. Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty-Big Boi
4. Recovery-Eminem
3. K.R.I.T. Wuz Here-Big K.R.I.T.
2. Friday Night Lights-J. Cole
1. How I Got Over-The Roots
Honorable mentions (these two were really really close to making the list): Teflon Don-Rick Ross, Stimulus Package-Jake One & Freeway
Other “cross-genre” honorable mentions: Distant Relatives-Damian Marley & Nas, Nothing-N.E.R.D.
Non hip-hop top 15 of 2010 coming soon…
