best rap album so far this year?

I haven't heard a solid album. The Mike Jones is OK but not outstanding, the 50 album seems weak outside of the singles.

LOLOLOLOLOL.

chief kamachi and the juju mob - black candles

dutch rap?!? my curiosity is seriously piqued.

i sound like such a backpacker. mainstream rap was better than indie rap for three years running, but i think undie-hop's having a good showing in 05. but i'm hoping the ying yang twins full-length delivers.

If 13 + God still counts as rap, then that's my other vote...

I liked "Turning Lane" and "grandma" and "Back Then" and a couple other songs too. I think its a weird album because he tells people who clearly already own his album to buy the album and there are lots of verses i'd heard before but i still like it. it certainly doesn't deserve the pretty much unanimous beating its taking from critics.

PS I also liked the Pimp C album a lot, and Quasimoto.

I've seen Edan mentioned quite a bit but no comparisons. So what is it like?

it's a very consistent and engaging record, nothing really so great to make you jump out of your seat but it hangs together very nicely (which might be partially to do with the fact that it's so short, which is definitely not a bad thing).

though i do like the subtitle, farm fresh, mike jones, dalek, edan, and a few others that haven't been mentioned here (blueprint for instance)

anyway: mannie fresh, common, southern smoke 16 (or maybe 17?...i dont have it on hand) if you count mixtapes (i do), the beans record is about 2/3 good, mike jones is ass, i have heard a clutch of good mixtapes (slim thug, that one from big boi's new label) as per but albumswise this has been kind of a shit year so far.

Here's a pic of him.

http://www.humblemagnificent.com/pics/edanstills/1.jpg

Self named "The Humble Maginificent"

And His Website. http://www.humblemagnificent.com

but we all agree the best albums this year will be the Ghostface & Doom releases (collab album, DangerDoom, solo Ghost).

and Common really sounds fresh with Kanye but I haven't listened to it enough (yet).

*to other music

and you know what album is good? b.g. - heart of tha streetz

Yeah, I just checked the CD and it does say 2004. but i could've sworn it came out this year (and that the leak was from 2004). Maybe I got it mixed up with Sage's 'Healthy Distrust' leaking in november and not coming out til february. Nevermind.

which third of the beans (thats beanie sigel) album is bad?

i only listened to the first half of the common album because it got really warped from being left in my left in my car and i thought leaving it under some dictionarys would help. but i found it mildly intolerable.

The single off of the Mike Jones album is TERRIBLE.

Trina's voice and tracks have WAY more life and energy in them than any other hip-hop I've heard this year. I was not expecting much, but I'm blown away. It is the only hip-hop album this year where I start dancing around my living room. No other hip-hop album I've heard this year is so fucking *catchy*, period. No other hip-hop album I've heard this year rocks so hard. And give or take Mannnie's, no other one has made me laugh so much. I love that Trina wants her and Oprah to make a sandwhich out of Genwine on her birthday. She deserves it!

Playing Slim Thug now. Ho fucking hum, for the most part. Oppressive hard-guy thug tedium. Humorless and stodgy, as near as I can tell. I kind of hate the guy's voice. The Latin/Mantronix beats in the Bun B track I Ain't Heard Of That (Remix)" sound totally awesome, though.

I should play Missy's album more. I always take her for granted, which is wrong.

whatever.

Also, I didn't know Paul Wall was white when I first heard him. And I also think the whole "Gasp, white people RAPPING!?!?!?111wtfomg" articles that have come in his wake are very 1999. And he's very, very competent and articulate from what I gather.

Slim Thug is hella humorless. Sadly, Pharrell has the best TWO lines on that record: "Looks like my wrist been dipped in diamond fondue" and "That bbbbrrrtt make your chest look just like some pizza."

Pitbull's got a new EP coming out that will probably make my top something if it doesn't suck.

There's definitely stuff I liked on the Missy. Seemed more or less on par with most of her other albums, which I've always liked but never loved. I'm still really waiting for her best-of CD, hopefully soon.

(I know nothing about Trina being a battered wife, or anything else about her life for that matter. I don't pay attention to celebrity's lives, at all, though if she *is* a battered wife, that's very sad, obviously. I think I heard Lil Wayne is her boyfriend; that made me smile. I think they'd be a cute couple. I hope he's not the batterer.)

Sure, there's a clump of tracks I skip in the last third, but "Can't Stop", "Lose Control", "Irresistable Delicious", "Partytime" (the beat, not the hook), "Bad Man" (even though M.I.A. kinda sucks on it)...there's a bunch of hot shit on it. Even the "forgettable" tracks are pretty good.

Also, the original version of "State To State" (with Bun B) is a million times better than the released one with Freeway, it's banging.

I also didn't know he was white, but that was when I first heard him on screw tapes a few years ago... His name sounds great screwed... "Pawwwwwwl Waaaawwwwwwlll." Plus he had the advantage of only having a one verse out of like 6 on a song.

Are people not liking the Missy as much as when it came out? I remember thinking it was weird that it left me sort of cold but everyone else seemed to think it was her best.

I think for the most part it got kind of mixed reviews from the start. From looking at MetaCritic, the consensus seemed to be: A return-to-form after the disappointing "This is Not a Test", but not as good as her earlier work. (Which is kind of ironic, considering that the initial reaction to "This is Not a Test" was actually more positive than the initial reaction to "The Cookbook" - but I guess people soured on that one after a while.)

finally ddrake and i have some common ground.

was there a thread on this?

paul wall is great too but i can't listen to it for more than a few tracks at a time. sittin' sideways is my favorite of the h-town singles this year, even over still tippin'.

http://www.ytcracker.com/nes/

Z-ro too.

Devin needs to drop an album this year.

(Speaking of regional sounds, I still might take Rod Lee's Baltimore club *Vol. 5: The Official* over Trina, so if that counts as a rap record, I guess that might be second place instead. And Fannypack and MIA still beat Mannie if they count, but I don't think they do here.)

Funny, I love the album but I didn't get that sense from it. I haven't heard it in awhile though.

(Feels good to vote for a record that sounds so New Orleans this year, too, obviously.)

Xhuxk, if you want I'll send you the Hot 8 Brass Band record or something?

xp