Drake's album was such a grower for me. when it just came out i didn't like half of the tracks, but now i like everything except for "From Time" which is really fucking boring, mostly because of Jhene Aiko.

yeah the similarity between their names is just a coincidence.

this vid tho - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A29xjvbYk4U

haha :)

Talib Kweli Says Drake Is The Most Important Rapper Of 2013
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/i...apper-of-2013/

wow, Talib basically said that Kanye is the greatest rap artist of all time.

Not exactly, I think we read that quote in the opposite direction, you read it as "even Kanye West" as to Talib was implying that Ye is even better than Tupac or Biggie, whereas I'm reading it that same use of the word even as to imply, fuck it even this lesser but popular artist.

We both could be totally wrong, though interestingly, one of my favorite tracks on Prisoner of Conscious



So I must admit I'm a bit disappointed to read that...

anyway, blessed new year to y'all.

82 pages in one year, not bad.

happy new year brothers!

may 2014 be full of great music and quality hip-hop. ;)

Cocaine Piñata (the Freddie Gibbs x Madlib collab album) is coming out February 4th.

that's my most anticipated album in the world at the moment.

"Guests on the album include Raekwon, Earl Sweatshirt, Danny Brown, Domo Genesis, Joey Bada$$, Ab Soul, BJ The Chicago Kid, Meech of Flatbush Zombies, Casey Veggies, Mac Miller, Polyester the Saint, G-Wiz".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwC5ePDNkp0 - fucking love this, so fucking dope.

1. A$AP Rocky - Long.Live.A$AP
Rocky killed it this year. This album came out in January, and I still listen to it weekly. Dude is really amazing to me. And he's still young! But the beat selection is huge too. I love all the chopped 'n screwed style slowness. I'm super excited for the A$AP Mob album coming this year.
"LVL" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR5dwQNizVU

2. Kanye West Yeezus
Was tough deciding between this and Rocky, but ultimately I listened to Rocky more even if this is the more impressive album. I love when artists throw a curve-ball and Kanye's been doing that for several albums now. I've said it before, but this sounds to me like Kanye fronting the band Suicide. Which is awesome.
"Send It Up" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYzG4nIuT7I

3. Spring Breakers (soundtrack)
This album will forever remind me of the Summer of 2013. My wife and I were just recent homeowners, and this is the soundtrack to mowing lawns for the first time, painting rooms, and getting in the few trips to the beach we could. A mix of Skrillex & Cliff Martinez doing scores, some Southern hip hop and bits of electropop. (Sadly missing the Britney song though!) Even though a lot of this material was culled from previously released albums, it just works so well as a cohesive whole.
"Son of Scary Monsters" Cliff Martinez & Skrillex - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mie6FzZkFNs

4. Jay-Z - Magna Carta… Holy Grail
I love HOVA. We all know that. This one didn't get much praise, but I really enjoyed it and listened to it a hell of a lot. It's more of a club (or cruising) album than a deep thoughts album. But it seems like even when Jay doesn't have a whole lot on his mind, he still sounds great saying whatever it is that comes out.
"Picasso Baby" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI7ZWuAkVOc

5. Eminem - The Marhsall Mathers LP 2
This was a real nice surprise! Basically the most consistent release from Em in years. I'll put this above Relapse and Recovery. He just sounds like he's really really hungry on this one. Like he's got something to prove.
"Rap God" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbGs_qK2PQA

6. Ghostface Killah - Twelve Reasons To Die
OMG! Ok, so Ghost hires a live band to create something sounding like the score to an Italian Giallo film and then writes a concept album about his own origin. Unreal. This guy will never slow down!
"An Unexpected Call" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P9F1Tq63w4

7. Drake - Nothing Was The Same
Man, this guy can't seem to make a bad album. But what's cool about NWTS is just how focused it is. It's like Drake really got comfortable with making an ALBUM instead of just an awesome collection of songs. It's crazy to me the progression he's made in a relatively short period of time.
"Tuscan Leather" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U8FzehonsE


8. Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap
Chance is that guy who came out of NOWHERE this year. His voice can turn folks off, but once you get used to it he's just incredible to try to follow his syllables. Chance is definitely one to keep an eye on seeing as how this was a freebie mixtape. He's going places for sure.
"Favorite Song" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mtA9GvpzwU

9. Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience
If you are a JT fan there's no way this album could have let you down. It's a crazy sprawling work that gives the production plenty of room to breathe, move around and then morph into something else. I couldn't say the same about Vol 2, but this first set is untouchable.
"Strawberry Bubblegum" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRXCfOYnSZM

10. Lil Wayne - I Am Not A Human Being II
What a mess! Weezy made a play towards getting focused again this year (see also: Dedication 5) but couldn't quite do it. So basically I love half of this record and could do without the other half. But the half I loved, well that kept me coming back to it all year... even more so than albums I heard that I'd call "better albums."
"Trippy" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lto2J6ymAOM


...PS

some albums that were close contenders were Chelsea Light Moving's S/t album, Danny Brown's OLD, Tyler's WOLF and Earl Sweatshirt's DORIS. Oh and Joey Bada$$ and Tha Underachiverz made great mixtapes. As was the NY Renaissance mixtape assembled by Peter Rosenberg. These just happened to be the ones I listened to most though. I also didn't buy a ton of albums this year w/ the house and all. I probably listened to Pandora more than albums. Oh, biggest disappointment for me was Flaming Lips' THE TERROR which I found shockingly boring. And I think if I had picked up Neil Young's CELLAR DOOR set, that would have probably landed on here. Shrug.

yay, waking up early in the morning to NR's list. great post. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=korlItQ0Yy0

so happy that i found this vid.

love N.E.R.D.

Severian's Top Ten Hip Hop albums of 2013:

1. Kanye West - Yeezus
2. Ghostface Killah - 12 Reasons to Die
3. A$AP Rocky - Long.Live.A$AP
4. Pusha T - My Name is My Name
5. Black Milk - No Poison, No Paradise
6. Doley Bernays - Just in Case
7. Killah Priest - Psychic World of Walter Reed
8. Underachievers - Indigoism
9. Earl Sweatshirt - Doris
10. Hieroglyphics - the Kitchen

Honorable Mention:
Slum Village - Evolution
Drake - Nothing Was the Same (the pussy synthy shit finally started to grow on me a little)
Deltron 3030 - Event II
Tree - Sunday School II: When Church Gets Out
Rick Ross/MMG - Self-Made 3
Talib Kweli - Prisoner of Conscious

*This is NOT my full best of the year list. Just the hip-hop. Also, I'm allowing mixtapes in the album list. It's my list, so fuck you if you don't like it ;)

For a cross-genre list of my top albums (which does, admittedly, contain several of these albums, stay tuned. I think I'm starting a blog, because I realized that I bought and loved so many albums this year that it would be far too much work to arrange them all just for a simple post. I might go balls out, because right now it's 50 albums long.

Stay tuned!!

Sorry louder and noisereduction, all respect due, but I must tip my hat to Severian because his list is much more familiar to my own for 2013 which I've already posted.

Hahaha.. Me and MC Tree G been having a sick reasoning session on Twitter. Irie. Dude was having guilt trips about the Sunday School titles, I had to big them up because I'm a Sunday School teacher and I particularly was into those mixtapes because of those titles and themes, but I also respect his perspective, that's why I love that MC Tree music, its mature rap for grown folks. Dude is flipping the script in 2014 for his mama, but he definitely appreciated my big ups.. Aside from a grip of replies (at 1:25 AM chicago time) dude favorited and retweeted all my tweets on his page. Irie. I love equality in music, and I love the internet for giving us so many opportunities to connect with the artists and musicians we love. I've chatted with a lot of my favorite bands through the internet, which is cool because you can't always make it to the shows (though I've been blessed to talk with many of them there too)

y'all can find me @Habte_Sabroso by the way

that's really cool suchfrends.

I don't twitter (or facebook, myspace or wahtever the kids do) but that is really nice that you got to communicate directly w/ him like that.

http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/0...ler-than-most/

if you guys wanted Del to make a new album in 2014 and release it for free... done.

What?! Explain! I'm literally driving to work right now! Haha SERIOUSLY

yup. Del just threw a brand new album up on his soundcloud for free stream & download. :)

kinda liking the new Pixies single...

http://pitchfork.com/news/53476-pixi...p-share-video/

i think i fuck with this dude KYLE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1pQVUS1Hro

he's like a dorkier/quirkier Drake knock-off. his album is titled "Beautiful Loser". priceless!

Tree loves twitter. I think he lives there.

Thanks for liking my list more than the others! Reading that comment will surely be the high point of my week.

Oh! I forgot to find room for E-40! Aren't you the one who reps him like mad every once in a while here, only to have nobody respond? Well, I know how frustrating that can be (BLACK MILK's up the alley of any Kanye fan and DOLEY BERNAYS is going for $Rocky's jugular!) so I deliberately bought a bunch of his albums on iTunes.

I wouldn't be able to say what my fav would be, though, since he released like five albums this year! But, the Block Brochure vol's 5/6/7 deserves to be on my list. At least in the honorable mentions.

Yeah, I'm new to Twitter, I'm like Bart Simpson, "I must only use my powers to annoy." BUT on the real, I had a serious conversation now with my favorite author since I was a kid about his new paintings, and have the confessions with MC Tree. I didn't realize Twitter was legit? I always figured it was like bands/artists myspaces/facebooks (e.g. run by friends as webmasters).. I would have been trolling on twitter YEARS AGO. Its tailor made for my kind of meme saturated snark and trolling. I essentially just troll bomb peoples' otherwise serious attempts at conversation! Its fucking fantastic yo ;)

I didn't put E-40 on my top-10, even though he did put out like a triple album this year, but I didn't even get to chop it up yet, too much new music in 2013. I'm glad my rep made your week, glad some of us are still nice to each other on SYG like the old days, snarky but friendly. I agree that Vol5/6/7 should at least squeeze into number 10 on the best of 2013 list, even if just on the sheer principle that E-40 put out a fucking triple album, that is both relevant and good, is actually creative and not just some rehash of all his old shit, AND has new artists on it?? 40-fonzerelli got mad game in rap music, probably the most underrated legend of hip hop and rap music, I mean honestly, and sincerely, whose discography is more extensive or relevant across FOUR DECADES OF RAP MUSIC!! (1980s with The Click, 1990s solo and with Tupac and B-legit, 2000s with the hyphy movement which was probably a high-water mark in popularity, and now the 2010s with this sick MOB music.) Fuck. Dude is legit yo!

Number 1 of 2014:



http://kweliclub.com/products/gravitas-album

Kool Keith said he got a new album coming out this year, MC Tree said that same thing about a new mix-tape (too bad the dude is still unsigned, needs to drop a legit record)..

no Acid Rap? :(

listening to The Blueprint again for the millionth time.

"i'm like a dog - i never speak, but i understand".

you can really hear Jay's voice crackin' on Song Cry.

Yeah, I really had a hot/cold response to the Denzel Curry album. I mean, the beats go hard, and his rhymes are pretty excellent, but I found that when I was consciously listening to him, I was unimpressed. This is probably due to some bias I'm not aware of, either against the more traditional approach to "rap" and the gangsta lyrical themes, or to fucking Florida... I don't know. BUT, when I had my iPod on shuffle, and I started digging a track that I couldn't quite name, I found that it was often Curry (if not, it was either Joey Bada$$ or Underachievers... This is how I came to truly appreciate Indigoism, btw.)

So I don't know. He definitely deserved to be in my honorable mention. But then again, Bada$$ does even more so. Shit. Did I really just put Drake above Joey, E-40, and Denzel Curry?

I might need to make a redux version.

Read an interesting article in (don't judge me) Source yesterday, in which an editorial was written on their best hip hop albums of all time list, made god knows when, and completely obsolete now.

Anyway, it was mostly about Illmatic, which I assume was #1, and how it essentially created a shadow so great that neither hip hop as a genre, not Nas himself has yet climbed out of. ( Interesting to imagine that Illmatic may have killed Nas's career; or at least greatly diminished his chances of making music that sounded "authentic" when compared to it.)

ANYWAY... It also said that Jay-Z had "only hinted" at his skill level once or twice on Reasonable Doubt, and that he did not even really begin his career as a hip hop icon until Blueprint was released. They mentioned "Song Cry" specifically as a then-high point for Jay.

It must have been an old list. I was only reading it out of boredom, and if I ever saw the list I don't remember when or where. But the fact that Kanye West was not mentioned, and that Lil Wayne and even Eminem were absent from the editorial tells me it must have been an early 00's affair. I'm guessing it placed Illmatic and Reasonable Doubt at 1 and 2, and that the author was just doing some navel gazing, nostalgic musing about those decisions in hindsight.

To me, Reasonable Doubt is a cherished gem, and is far better than anything other than the black album, and possibly Blueprint. But to say he was barely showing signs of the artist he became seems like a backward statement. Over his next several records, he was lucky to catch 1/4 an album's worth of the quality of work showcased on RD.

Nas... Well... Bad has had a harder time of it. I'm not sure even Illmatic can save his ass in retrospect. Magma Carta Holy Grail may have been "meh" as hell, but people still rocked it like crazy all over the cities, meaning the urban youth still relates to his music, for some fucking reason. Also, the album has at least a few killer tracks. The rest, except for that bullshit love story "cliche cliche cliche" song with Beyoncé, are totally tolerable.

Anyway, I'm done with my shit now, so I'll wrap this up.

BTW, I'm glad someone threw Ghostface at #1, and resisted the urge to forget about him completely, or pretend that his album was of comparable quality to MMLP2. I would have kept him at #1, but Kanye just owned my year completely. It would have been a lie to not put him on top of every list imaginable.

ouch dood.

All in good fun, man. I honestly respect the hell out of everyone in this little family. I didn't mean to dis your choices. You're free to make whatever calls you want on your list, man. And I didn't even listen to MMLP2 all the way through.

I'm actually glad you included Wayne, because I thought IANAHB2 was a better album than many people realized, or gave it credit for.

No offense. Nothing but respect. For all y'all. Sorry if I sounded brash, I just thought the respect thing went without saying. :)

it's all good sev. Respect all around for sure.

Yeah, IANAHB2 is a weird little mess of an album, but it is better than it gets credit for. The problem is it's too long. There's too much. But if a handful of tracks were trimmed (say that stupid "my dick is a gun" song for example) then it could have been condensed into a much tighter (maybe a dozen or so tracks?) album. I actually really really liked the first IAMNAHB - and that one was def more lean. This one ... I'm still baffled why "Hot Revolver" landed on this one, when it was a promo single from 3 records ago. Weird.

Pusha is back to working with the Neptunes on his next album. i'm excited cuz even though MNIMN had a decent amount of filler, Pusha still proved that when he's focused he can be the best rapper out, period.

Sweet Serenade, 40 Acres, Suicide and the song with 2 Chainz and Big Sean are terrible, but everything else is on point. he even outshined Kendrick on Nosetalgia.

i know that DOOM just dropped an album last year, but it wasn't satisfying. :( i miss him.

we need DOOM!

What? A new DOOM album, from 2013? Wtf?

nah louder forgets what year it is now. he's talking about Keys To The Kuffs, 2012.

yeah, still need to get used to 2014 hehe.

hey.. we've been through this before, but what are y'all fav DOOM albums?

mine is Madvillainy. in my opinion, a 10/10 and one of the best rap albums ever.

followed by MM.. FOOD and Born Like This.

the mid-late 00's were such great years to be a DOOM fan. now not so much.

we have been thru this ;)

but that's cool.

My favorite DOOM album is Take Me To Your Leader (King Geedorah). Such a gritty, weird album. With all the sci-fi shiz. I think it's my fav because I was such a fan of the Doomsday/Monsta Island era. I mean "Phazers," "No Snakes Alive," "Anti-Matter," it's just such an insane record. And doesn't seem to get the praise it should.


2nd fav... depends on which day you ask me. THat's the best thing about his discography. So many records w/ completely diff feels.