[EscoStar]

Chea!

1. Distant Relatives - NaS & Damian Marley
2. Authenticity - The Foreign Exchange
3. Wake Up! - John Legend & The Roots
4. The Sea - Corinne Bailey Rae
5. The Archandroid - Janelle Monae
6. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West
7. Plastic Beach - Gorillaz
8. TSOL - Shad
9. Cosmogramma - Flying Lotus
10. The Lady Killer - Cee-Lo

Everything Else (no order)
Shadows - JK Soul
Airtight's Revenge - Bilal
The Outsiders Are Back- Kings Go Forth
You Need This Music - Nottz
Death Is Silent - Kno
Apollo Kids - Ghostface
Escapism - SoulChef
SunStorm - Zo!
Self-Reliance - Mindsone
Album of the Year - Black Milk
Nothing - N.E.R.D
Compass - Jamie Lidell
New Amerykah Pt. 2 (Return of the Ankh) - Erykah Badu
III - Budos Band
Let Freedom Reign - Chrisette Michele
The Recipe - Amiri
Almost Famous - Spectac & Amiri
Walk Alone - PJ Morton
How I Got Over - The Roots
Wayout - Lenny Hamilton Jr.
Somewhere Beyond The Moon - ShinSight Trio
Making Sound - Eric Lau
Chamber Music Society - Esperanza Spalding
Street Bangerz Vol 3 - Gramatik
Madlib Medicine Show No. 7: High Jazz - Madlib
Revolutions Per Minute - Reflection Eternal
Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty - Big Boi
Love Beats - Foner
Midway - Freddie Joachim
I Learned My Lesson - Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings
Suite For Ma Dukes - Miguel Atwood-Ferguson
Good Things - Aloe Blacc
Lost Where I Belong - Andreya Triana
The Love & War Masterpeace - Raheem Devaughn
Recovery - Eminem
The Good Sun - Homeboy Sandman
The Ballad of Purple Saint James - YahZarah
Before Taxes - yU
In Search of Stoney Jackson - Strong Arm Steady & Madlib
Stimulus Package - Freeway & Jake One
I'm New Here - Gil Scott-Heron
Fornever - Murs & 9th Wonder
Leftback - Little Brother
Wu-Massacre - Meth, Ghost, & Rae
100 Proof (The Hangover) - Statik Selektah
There Is Love In You - Four Tet
How It Should Sound Vol 1 & 2 - Damu Da Fudgemunk
The Adventures of Bobby Ray - B.O.B
Thank Me Later - Drake
MSTRD - TiRon
Ode To Illmatic - Fas
TheGodleeBarnes - Blu
Odd Spring - Oddisee
No Need For Sense - Michael Uzowuru
The Mellowest Trip - Afro Butterfly
W.ants W.orld W.omen - Dwele
The Bar Exam 3 - Royce Da 5'9
Pilot Talk - Curren$y
Pilot Talk 2 - Curren$y
Villa Manifesto - Slum Village
Thanks Dilla - e4an holt
Muffins - Stevo
Streetlights - Kurupt
Season of the Assassin - Vinnie Paz

 

[EscoStar]

No love for Talib kweli in this thread...

There are at least 5 hip-hop albums better than the Reflection Eternal album this year, that being said RPM isn't as bad as people say it is.

 

[EscoStar]

i know most of the people will not agree but big boi's album still the best hip-hop album of the year for me (Yeah kanye, sorry)

our lists are fuckin similar!

I think I'm pretty much set for my top 10, unless something blows me away in the next month and a half

 

[EscoStar]

Have you heard the Kanye album yet?

I have indeed, and it has earned its rightful spot up there.

 

[EscoStar]

Oh shit, this will sound like a joke but it isn't(!). I actually missed it because I only looked at the very top of your list for it!

Shame you didn't like it more, but oh well. I don't really know how this album will be received by the, if you like, 'big' music fans on here.

Have you heard it yet? Its quite amazing, and I might like it more based on replay value which constantly rearranges the order of my list as I'm sure of others.

Not sure what you mean by "big music fans" exactly, but its got something for everyone, and little things that could irritate/displease some. I'll leave it at that

 

[EscoStar]

The fuck? 

Have you outgrown us?

lol, funny cause I was just having a conversation about my buddies the other day about whether or not you can "outgrow Hip-Hop". I think we ended with "it remains to be seen."

On a related note, would you guys say this was a strong year in Hip-Hop?

 

[EscoStar]

Not in general. The only bad thing about the Kanye album for me is that I don't really see where another album of that quality is coming from in the genre.

If I did a list of my 20 favourite albums of this year it would contain three hip hop albums, or four if you want to count Cosmogramma. That's not too bad, but the genre does not excite me all that much at the moment. I won't deny that I have very specific tastes though and can't just gobble up everything hip hop-related. I'm especially hyped for Big K.R.I.T.'s debut right now, hopefully next year.

I'd say it was better than last year slightly, but not strong necessarily. In Hip-Hop it seems we're all waiting for the 1994 or the 2000 type of year, several classics coming from all sorts of places. And following the patterns of those years, the bulk of the quality will have to come from the up and comers. I wonder if it will ever happen.

 

[EscoStar]

I think Kanye has become a cornball and it shines through in his music.

If you mean what I think you mean there, then I'd have to agree. But I still like the music. Its just that he's surrounded it with some of the most unnecessary and contrived collaborations just for the sake of it, while also adding things that just don't need to be there.

What happened to the days when he would go and get Nas on a track like "We Major", or Jay-Z to rap on "Never Let You Down"? Instead now we get Rick Ross to come in on a song that is otherwise brilliant. I don't care how well he fared or whatever, he just doesn't fit the built up moment at all and I don't care what he has to say. Nor do I care what social commentary Fergie is trying to make in "All Of The Lights" lol, but its there and now I can't play that song all the way through.

Regardless, its still a very good album to me but I can see where you're coming from Dutch.

 

[EscoStar]

Well I constantly see people being abused by big music fans for liking pop music, so I guess so. It upsets me but it seems to be the way.

What I was directly saying though was that you have a very strong, resistant approach to music if you switch a track like that off halfway through because an artist you dislike is featured. It's not something I could contemplate doing. For example, I love Shine Blockas despite the appeal of Gucci Mane baffling me.

Perhaps I should have worded it better, cause I gave off the impression that I switch "All Of The Lights" simply because I don't like Fergie and pop music lol. The reasoning is a little bit more than that, its just that whatever she does on the track is not aurally pleasing at all to me, and really does ruin the experience of an otherwise brilliant song. Whichever box this is of people being resistant to pop, I'm far from that actually, a lot of music I listen to was definitely Pop at a certain time. Nevertheless, I think its justifiable to switch a track if you don't like what a certain artist did on it, the contrary however,  is not, like you said. (the contrary being if you don't like a certain artist)

 

[EscoStar]

*snip*

What a glorious collection of music! Glad to see the Sharon Jones album in your favorites, you should also check out the Kings Go Forth album if you liked that. Or maybe you did and I missed it in that plethora.

 

[EscoStar]

decided to update my post (first page) with a top 5 because i was bored 
i only have like 8 favorites from 2010 (not a diss...that's actually a pretty good ratio considering the amount of 2010 albums i've heard)
hopefully i'll be able to complete it by the end of the year

how come you haven't heard many albums from this year man? is it that not much interests you or you're just lazy? 

 

[EscoStar]

well there was a few reasons but i've really had some cool discoveries and i took my time with them
just overall listening to music at a slower rate and still digging through the 80s and 90s
it's been the gift that keeps on giving
and even though i haven't heard much from 2010 i still feel pretty complete with what i've got
i really love the albums i've heard...the kanye album was just major

I know what you mean, I listen to mostly old music too (the 70's is a goldmine). This is probably the first year where I actively looked for newer stuff, and good timing I guess cause this year has been really good. Great to see you back on 365AAY btw