We had quite the year in hip hop with debatable ups (Kanye's masterpiece of an album) and debatable lows (Lil' Wayne's popularity with every rap fan who considers Get Rich or Die Tryin' to be old school.....and the ones who saw the movie before knowing it was an album title as well). Critics loved and hated each, and perhaps the overall theme of the year was surprises. From Officer Ricky Ross to the election of Barack Obama, the disappointing Roots album and the exceptional T.I. album, we spent the year learning something new every day. Who knew after three mixtape from the kingpins of coke rap we would be fed a garbage album that would actually lead to the departure of one of the members (who last I checked was doing tracks with DJ Premier....did Clipse really lose?). And to top it off we had Joe Budden magnificantly head the internal investigation unit by taking 15 minutes to give a comprehensive history of hip hop and then answer the question of who killed it. If this was an album, it would be album of the year, but instead that title goes to........
Nas - Untitled
For better or worse, this year was about change. History books will most likely contain entire chapters dedicated to events that happened this year, events that a nation of people made happen. It's safe to say that many of us learned a lot this year, more than we usually learn in one year. We as a nation learned together, about race from Obama's post-"God damn America" speech, about the economy from the stock crash, and like it or not, the environment from the continuing discussions about doing more for the earth. In short we got educated this year. Nas contributed to that education. Some might call Untitled preachy, but the very idea of why it's now called Untitled is the subject to intriging discussion. Musically it provided a gateway to tomorrow's rap, a proof of growth in an industry that has long been labeled immature and simple. Mysognistic raps with a drum beat and bass line still exist, but powerful speeches with orchestral backdrops have brought us to the next level (Show BIZZZZ A.G.).
Lil Wayne rose to power and along the way appeared on every other artists records, if for nothing else to help boost sales. Remember teenagers buy the most albums, they got expendable cash for frisbees instead of taking the easier route with zshare.
On a side note...who cares about album credits anymore anyways? You got ghost producers, production "teams", and DJs who feel the need to shout out every person on the track, themselves, the producer, themselves, the engineer, themselves, every other person in the room, themselves, some random dude on the block, and themselves, ON AN ALBUM TRACK. The tradeoff for paying $5 was the DJ shouting all over the mixtape, now they got albums, no wonder no one buys CDs anymore. What a digression from Baby's baby.
In a year that saw intelligence raised up above that Republican that Tina Fey played so brilliantly, the mainstream rap scene was on the complete flip, honoring someone with questionable mental stability, tight jeans, and even a fucked up drug problem. At least cocaine makes sense. There's no denying 3 million sold and everyone killed A Milli (other than Wayne) including Chris Brown.
Speaking of A Milli, the internet gave hip hop so many more outlets and opportunities for young artists to come up (what up Sonic). Freeway is still getting Def Jam-ed so he took to the net to promote himself with 30 tracks in 30 days. Up-and-coming Wale hyped and then released The Mixtape About Nothing, all through the net. Blogs became the news source for hip hop with up-to-the-minute information about how no one on the corner has swagger like Puff. Entire beefs have started, grown, and been resolved on YouTube. Every rapper that really raps let us know and the studio MCs seemed to shy away from the "freestyle cams". Must be tough to spit on the spot, especially when your ghostwriter isn't around (where's Gillie Da Kid?). Perhaps the best consequence of the internet is Slaughterhouse, the Voltron group of Joe Budden, Royce Da 5'9'', Joell Ortiz, and Crooked I. Look at that line-up again and think about whether or that could have ever happened 15 years ago. Two tracks from this group certainly isn't enough but neither was 3 verses from 3 Stacks in 07, and we got the same from him 08.
Kanye tried something different and rather than get all into an album that's still being digested and reviewed I'll just say this.....it worked.
Looking ahead it's clear that 2009 will bring us more surprises, but hopefully also some consistently good music as there were times during 2008 when I found myself bumping some yesterday shit waiting for something hot to drop (and as usual I missed a ton of shit that I'm just discovering now that everyone has their Top 10 lists going.....how the fuck did I miss out on Elzhi's joint?). The theme for 2009 needs to be keeping an open mind. Progression is essential and even though sometimes it's not in good ways (auto-tune), it can have it's shining moments (auto-tune has many.....you know EVERY hot hook this year had that shit on it). The radio will always be the radio and the undergroud will always be the underground but when Murs gets on MTV it's a sign that people really are listening, and it's the people who ultimately will decide who stays around and who doesn't.
Plus you know it's a good year when Wu-Tang drops fire.......
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
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