Friday, December 18, 2009

What a year!  I’ve really enjoyed writing for Side One: Track one for 2009, and this may not be the last you see of me.  I’ll try to keep writing the occasional one-off for John in the coming year.

As far as the year in hip hop releases, the first few months dragged on without many good releases and it seemed as though a well-written, well-produced hip hop album would never come out.  I even worried that 2009 would drag on and on without a good album and I’d have to rely on my rather sweet stash of excellent releases that came out last year.  Luckily though, things picked up during the summer, and I now present to you the very best hip hop of 2009:

By the way, none my choices involve any rapper that upholds violence, money, or objectifies women in favor social progress or original ideas.  They may have their chops as wordsmiths in tact, but they do nothing to forward the message that hip hop is capable of making. 

Thanks for reading!

Leah's Top Hip Hop Of 2009

10)  Solillaquists Of Sound - No More Heroes

This Orlando-based quartet brought tears to my eyes with their touching first-person tribute to  Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Bulletproof.  Well, they would have if I hadn't had my tear ducts removed surgically back in '96 (I'll miss you, BoysIIMen).  The concept album features songs that in part may be hip hop, but they've borrowed bits and pieces from jazz, rock, and soul to create an LP more focused on great music than fitting into a genre.  Each song recalls outstanding figures from years gone by and makes a call to action for the current generation to put on their shoes and get to marchin’.  The energy of No More Heroes is striking, fervent, and eager.

:Solillaquists Of Sound - Bulletproof:


09)  Sojourn – Sojournalism: The Summer Articles

As a member of the revered San Diego group Future Shock, Soujourn has contributed much to the art of the underground on the west side, and his fluid collaborations and network come together in a diverse and showy display on his first and only solo release in 14 years, Sojournalism: The Summer Articles.  The time it’s taken him to make this album is part of why the outcome sounds so jam-packed with lyrics and ideas.  At times he wanders and indulges himself in some off-the-wall digressions, but the album as a whole is about the journey of an artist through life, and the obstacles both narrow and big-picture they are forced to face.

:Sojourn - All Things Considered:


08)  The Grouch and Eligh - Say G&E!

Eligh and Grouch, both members of the Cali underground Living Legends, come together on Say G&E! with a wildly disparate sound but end up producing a startlingly balanced and eclectic record.  Grouch, with his laid back delivery is all message and Eligh, the rapid-fire counterpart is all high concept.  They make the dichotomy work, and the amazing beats and cameos by Slug, Gift of Gab, and Flying Lotus, among others, doesn’t hurt.

:The Grouch And Eligh - Push On (Push Up):


07)  Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy

It’s tough to think of Speech Therapy as Speech Debelle’s debut album.  Her wordplay and technique are advanced, but her open vulnerability contradicts the seeming maturity of her music.  Any artist that’s been through the critical wringer once isn’t likely to open up like Speech has on this album.  Her individual style is well complemented by a live band behind her called the Therapists, making for a smooth, mellow, and quietly personal release.

:Speech Debelle - Better Days (Featuring Micachu):


06)  Ancient Astronauts - We Are to Answer

This German DJ duo Kabanjak and Dogu billed their album as "a musical trip through the cosmos returning back to Earth with spacey flutes, intergalactic lyrics and earthy drum beats".  They got it pretty dam close to sounding like a space trip, with dense complex beats that engulf at first listen.  With an orchestral and sound that traverses from funky to far-east in a matter of beats these two from Cologne brought in hip hoppers that tracks put up tremendously energetic performances.

:Ancient Astronauts - Risin High (With Raashan Ahmad):


05)  K’Naan - Troubadour

This was one of the few early 2009 releases that gave me hope for the rest of the year.  K’Naan is well known as a Amolian-born Canadian rapper whose background is rougher than 50 Cent’s (he has lyrics about it on his first album), but this album transcends everything about his past and brings his incisive, emotional lyrics to a new level.  Troubadour proves that you don’t have to be boring to be a conscious rapper.  Above all, the album is fun: energetic and powerful with hoppy beats and an overwhelming jubilation.

:K'Naan - ABCs:


04)  Abstract Rude - Rejuvenation

Rejuvenation is a fourteen-sided die of Abstract Rude’s techniques.  Each track showcases another of his well-honed skills; they all add up to a great album.  Well, actually, they add up to a really good album that could be a great album if it had better production.  I’m not talking about sound quality - Vitamin D’s beats are as polished as a katana sword, but they lack a certain vitality and punchiness that would push Rejuvenation to the next level.

:Abstract Rude - Thynk Eye Can (Haiku D'etat Mix):


03)  Fashawn - Boy Meets World

As Fashawn puts it in his debut album, he’s "writing lyrics you can feel like Braille."  The album about growing up out of hard times to become a rapper has been done so many times that is has become a classic trope in hip hop. However, rarely have I heard it done so well.  Fashawn approaches each common theme with a fresh rhyme and his words and flow, while following the path laid by other rapper, skip and jump along in their own unique way.  Paired with the excellent mixing and production by Exile (Joanna Newsom sample FTW!) this album is close to perfect.  The only thing keeping Fashawn from taking the #1 spot this year is that he sometimes strays too close to the cheesy sap of the teenage years (When She Calls), and of course, the phenomenal artists that beat him.

:Fashawn - The Ecology:


02)  DOOM - Born Like This

Comparisons between Doom (aka MF DOOM) and other rappers have always been futile.  Doom seems to lack the constraints that other people follow, like staying on one general topic, using clear pronouns, or showing their faces.  The  nature of Doom’s music is such that he will never produce an album that’s easy to follow and keep pace with; he will always throw you off with sentence fragments, non-sequitors and absolute craziness in the lyrical domain.  On Born Like This he seems to have embraced his darker, more inconsistent side and you’ll feel yourself following him and his usual anachronistic samples into the abyss.

:DOOM - Absolutely:


01)  BK-One and Benzilla - Radio Do Canibal

While Ryhmesayers has released a number of good albums from its artists this year (Brother Ali, Slug, and POS), these solo albums have nothing on the technique that brings many of those same artists together on the sole-source concept album called Radio do Canibal.  Sampling only from Brazilian source music, BK-One (the DJ for Brother Ali) weaves a tapestry of hip hop and funk that literally has no weak spot.  Every track rocks or slow burns in its own way and each seems researched and deliberately matched with its MCs to form an atmosphere of international communication.  I picture BK-One in a lab coat hovering over beakers, but I assume it came together more organically than that.  Regardless of the creative process that went into this album, the one thing that cannot be denied is its repeatability - you can put this album on repeat for days and never tire of it.  Coming in at #1 on my year end list, this album will surely become an underground classic, especially with cameos from such larger-than-life figures as the Rhymesayers artists mentioned above, as well as I Self Divine, Raekwon, Aceyalone, Abstract Rude, Scarface, and many others.

:BK-One And Benzilla - Mega (Featuring Aceyalone, Mkya 9 And Abstract Rude):


Honorable Mentions:

Dysposable Heroes - Genius Vs. Genius
Smooth Current - Maintain The Focus
Sojourn - Sojournalism
Exile - Radio
Move.Meant - Meant to Move
Antipop Consortium - Fluorescent Black
 

- Leah Manners -

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