Let the rant begin (I apologies in advance for grammar errors. I figured this was a rant, so didn't bother proofreading. And as Kanye said, "My grammar may be wrong, but my thinking is right."): Making this list was quite difficult and didn't realize how much good music that came out in 2011 when I scrolled back to my itunes. I could have easily made this list into 50 albums, but wanted to keep it simple. For me, the mixtape game this year was very impressive over the mainstream. With the works from Weeknd, Oceam KDot, Tiron, and Krit, you can't argue with that list. Well to start off, The Weeknd has been my absolute favorite artist out right now. As his trilogy has come to a full circle, The Weeknd hasn't disappointed me. HofB, Thurs and EofS are a genius collection of experimental R&B. Weeknd has created his own unique style where his name is becoming a verb in the music world. Although HofB seem to most catchy of the three, EofS is the definitely his best work critically. The production is best from the trilogy and Weeknd's voice sounded more genuine. The lyrics were more realistic even when he talked about sex, drugs and partying. He really focused on the back end of those activities making relatable to the listener. Abel also reduced a mass amount of edits onto his voice, which was definietly more appealing and authentic. Kendrick Lemar is also another unique rapper that is making his mark in the rap game. I'm loving the mellow production with his flow over the jazzy, electronic influenced beats. He's only 24, yet has a lot to say. He's a great storyteller with a tons of substance in his lines. Section 80 was an awesome listen being only a mixtape. Another young rapper, Big Krit, has been creating noise as well. For his interviews, this man seems very likeable and very down to earth. Return of 4Eva focuses on many different subjects throughout this mixtape. He's very lyrical even on the most stereotypically topics. I find it very impressive as well that he produced all of the tracks himself. The beats are not the greatest, but definitely dope that compliments his flow. Another R&B sensation Frank Ocean has also been my personally favorite. Lets just say Ocean really knows how to write a song very well. Camp had a love hate relationship in the hip-hop. I happen to be on the love end of the album. He's so real and doesn't care what you think of him. He's soft, but so what? He still delivers great technical rap. Gambino is an actor and a comedian developing tons of punchlines and amazing wordplay throughout the album. #6 is Freddie Gibbs. This gentleman has made technicality. His flow goes smoothly hard on every beat. He's straight gangster and may talk about similar content to other gangster rappers, but definitely takes a much different angle. You can really feel a true ghetto hustle with Gibbs. Elzhi did justice with illmatic on his latest tape, elmatic. Taking a classic album was a ballsy task, but Elzhi does it very nicely. He made a legendary hip-hop album and made it his own thanks to Will Sessions. They did a great job with the new live arrangements of illmatic's beats. Although Undun didn't get much mainstream record sale craze, it did get a lot of respect in the music industry. Undun is definitely a masterpiece. The Roots has never came out with a bad record. Being a concept, Undun is one of the few records out where you have to listen to it in it's entirety and the story is genius. I was a big U-N-I fan and getting solo album from Thurz was a great listen. He really went back to hip-hop roots with LA Riot. He made the past feel revelvant with all LA subjects he talks about. He really touched on many conscious topics and used a creative approach on talking about the LA culture. It was a pure west coast vibe with many different beats that goes hard, smooth and everything in the middle. The whole album was well put together and you can definitely feel the RIOT! I'm loving the Badbadnotgood trio. Although the tracks are just reinterpretations of Nas, Gangstarr, Flying Lotus etc. they really made it their own with their unique jazz sounds. It's really pure jazz and you can really feel their BANDmemship (yeah i made up a word) between them. On Oneirology, you can really feel what the CunninLynguists were trying to accomplish. You can get a good sense of the different types of dreams they portray mainly from Kno's beats. Best album from the trio thus far. XXX, I love the high and lows of this album and how personal he gets. He's a very weird 30 year old, but it works for him and appeals to me. I was never a hard Saigon fan before the Greatest Story Every Told, but his debut studio album was bannas. He's pretty much a veteran in the game and album definitely showed that. It also helped that Just Blaze production was on 90% of the album. But I loved that classic Kanye hoped on track 11. Well the top 13 seem to be the most important and I'm getting lazy. Check out the others, your ears won't be disappointed.
