Top Hip Hop Albums of 2012

The time has finally come for my year end list for hip hop albums. But before I actually tell you what albums were my favorite this year let me ramble a bit. First and foremost, this was an AMAZING year for hiphop albums. I forced myself to only include 15 (top 10 and 5 honorable mentions) and that was very difficult to do, especially when it came to the last 2 or 3 and the order (OH THE ORDER) 1 and 2 have stayed the same for a while but besides that every album has changed at least 4 times since early December. Now, the question is how did I choose the list, well, I used my ears. Yup. That is the secret.  There were some amazing albums that did not make it because for one reason or another, mostly it didn't "speak to me" as much as the others. This year was filled with albums that kept me awake at night replaying them either in my mind or actually replaying them and each of the albums still gets routine play now. A few words before I get to the list, I apologize if it feels like the writing is rushed and a little incoherent, I promise though that the list itself was not rushed at all and lots and lots of thought and time was spent creating it. I hope you enjoy the list, and maybe find an album or two that you did not know about. So here it goes.

HONORABLE MENTIONS 

Oh No Ohnommite
Using the Dolemite soundtrack as his source, Oh No created an album filled front to back with bangers, and who did he have on the vocals? Just some of the dopest MCs out from all over, such as Evidence, Guilty Simpson, Roc Marciano (first of many appearances on this list), DOOM, and a slew of others.

Koncept Awaken 
Brown Bag AllStar member, Koncept reached a whole new level this year and this album is the pinnacle. It lived in my car stereo for a couple of months (which is not an easy thing to do) only coming out for other albums on this list. The production (handled mostly by J57 and Audible Doctor) work perfectly with Koncept's flow creating song after song that get stuck in your head.

P.O.S. We Don't Even Live Here
With each release P.O.S. gets better and better. He has always been able to get great production (often by members of Doomtree) but he keeps growing as an MC, blending punk and rap to near perfection, both in sound, ideology and feel. From beginning to end We Don't Even Live Here has you up on your feet and paying attention.

Rusty Redenbacher Lower
On the first track/intro Rusty Redenbacher says, "Don't tell them it's just a rap album," and those words sum up Lower to perfection. Best way I can describe it is saying if it if David Bowie created a hip hop album, by that I mean it is very much infleunced by Bowie but still Rusty, just like Love Below was influenced by Prince.

Guilty Simpson & Apollo Brown Dice Game
Apollo Brown had one hell of a year this year and it seems Guilty Simpson can do no wrong lately, so you put the two together and you end up with this top notch album. I constantly find myself going back to this album and just zoning out. Has the perfect mixture of in your face and laid back.

Now onto the top 10...

10. Roc Marciano Reloaded
It seems like everything Roc Marciano touches turns to gold this year, seriously, every verse he spit was dope and a good portion of albums on this list features at least one appearance by Roc. But this album was his shining beacon, maybe shining isn't the right word, because this is anything but a light album. Picture a bunch of short films with a common lead character, each one darkly lit and cold, that is what the tracks on Reloaded feel like, mini films, one of the best albums to listen to while walking around in the cold, makes you feel you are right there and living the songs with Marciano.

9. Agartha Audio & Taiyamo Denku Quadrofiendia
Love this album, and think I summed it up perfectly in my review "Quadrofiendia is that rare collab album that lets each artist really explore what they love and put their stamp on it without one artist dominating the discussion (think Madvillainy, yes I know that may sound crazy to some of you, but the comparison is apt.) Each time you find something new and different to really enjoy about this album, sometimes you find yourself getting lost in the production, other times the lyrics are the stars, then eventually you will hear it all together and realize just what this album is, so put on your headphones, or turn your speakers up and let this monster really live."

8. Billy Woods History Will Absolve Me
I struggled so much as to where to put this album (really did with all of them but this one especially) because it might be one of the top two BEST albums of the year, everything is near perfect on it, Billy Woods kills it from front to back, the features are great and used correctly (not too many.) When I listen to it, it sucks me in and doesn't let me go, almost too much. When I get done experiencing it I am exhausted, and why it happens to this album and not others I do not know, I just feel I need a break after it, maybe it is the content, or how closely I feel I need to pay attention to it, not a bad thing at all. This album is a beast and you need to experience it too.

7. Mega Ran Language Arts Volume 1, 2, & 3
Another year, another slew of incredible releases from Random aka Mega Ran. The star of them though was his EP trilogy Language Arts (which is also a video game and soon to be a comic.) The story of Langauge Arts is set up perfectly with the first volume (which I reviewed here) then volume 2 adds to it while revealing depths of the life of the main character then volume 3 kicks the ass of the other two and wraps up the story beautifully. I feel the need to compliment Random for including one track on each EP dedicated to a literary classic.

6. PremRock Mark's Wild Years
Tom Waits + Hip Hop = Mark's Wild Years. Now if that seems like an odd combination to you, well, you are wrong, for a variety of reasons mainly that Waits is pretty damn close to being hip hop himself (not the genre but the ideas of the lifestyle) the second is that PremRock put some serious thought and love into this album and made it for the fan of Waits or for someone who has never heard him. This album sucked me in and lived in my mind for a long damn time. This is a tribute album done right, not to mention an album done right.

5. Myka 9 & Factor Sovereign Soul
I've been a fan of Myka 9 for a while now but more of a casual fan, this year though, something clicked and his music really has been taking over my listening habits, and the star of that is his collab with Factor, Sovereign Soul. He does such a great job of blending "traditional" hip hop with just about every genre and he is one of the few MCs who when they rap double time understands that you still have to enunciate, the best description of his style (and seems even more obvious over Factor's beats) was said to me on twitter (my apologies I do not know who it was who said it) but compared his vocals to Miles Davis's trumpet. Put this album on and you will not stop moving and will probably ignore most other stuff.

4. Ka Grief Pedigree
Confession time...I did not hear Ka until this album dropped (besides features on other albums.) First time I heard the album I enjoyed it, got the overall feel and vibe of it. But I didn't really fall in love with it until around the 3rd or 4th listen...and then it got put on repeat for a while. It has everything you can ask for, especially if you are craving "that New York sound." Lyrically Ka is in top form and a beast (really every person on this list is amazing at what they do) and the beat selection and the change in pace of said beats is great, never get too comfortable in a speed or exact sound. When you put it together, you get one of the best albums of the year.

3. House Shoes Let It Go
Ok, let us ignore the fact that this is basically House Shoes debut album because he has been around and creating music for longer than many of today's "hot MCs" have been alive. I imagine this album as being the near perfect radio station, or at least radio show, diverse sounds, great music, dope MCs and singers, sprinkling in some friendly chatter. Shoes does an outstanding job on the beats and you can tell he made sure to get the right artist on each track. This album can stay on repeat and at no time does it get boring, and somehow I am still thrown for a loop when certain songs come on, beginning to end you will vibe to this album and keep asking for more.

2. Brother Ali & Jake One Mourning in America, Dreaming in Color 
After hearing the Ant would not be producing the newest Ali album I was a little worried, but once I found out it was Jake One and remembering how Ali sounded over his beats (particularly "The Truth") I was excited, but I was not prepared for what was coming. Mourning in American, Dreaming in Color exceeded my expectations. It seems Jake One brought out the best of Ali (also his trip to Mecca played a large part) because this album is easily the best of his career (for those who do not know I am a HUGE Ali fan.) I could ramble on for a very long time about this album, how there are no skippable tracks, he touches on actual relevant topics, tells stories, etc, but it comes down to the fact that Ali, with help from Jake One created an incredible album, that belongs right up there with the best releases in the Rhymesayers catalog and personally see it being called the C word in a few years.

1. Open Mike Eagle & Awkward 4NML HSPTL
For the second year in a row, Open Mike Eagle lands at the top spot on my year end list. Where as Rappers Die of Natural Causes walked the fine line between artsy and boom bap, or however you want to describe the thin line that album walks, 4NML HSPTL decided to jump off the cliff and jump right into the deep end, I like to think of it as what James Joyce did between Portrait of An Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses (also is comparable to the latter based on the fact that it is even better when you have the annotated version, which Mike Eagle created on his site, really he did, check it here.) Let me not forget the sonic paintings that Awkward created that allowed Eagle to go wherever he wanted and not have it sound forced or out of place. Rarely am I really awestruck by an album, but this album does it, I will stop with what sounds like over the top praise (it is not over the top) and just say 4NML HSPTL is a borderline masterpiece and my favorite album released this year, regardless of genre.

I hope you enjoy this and learned about an album or maybe just liked a phrase, I am interested in what others think of the list, what do you feel I missed, will gladly respond, but lets keep this civil and thank you for reading. Lets see what 2013 brings.