December 31, 2009

On To The Next One...


I plan on being occupied tonight for New Year's Eve, but I should have something published tomorrow to keep you two busy.

With 2009 coming to a close, I'm left thinking that this year was actually a halfway decent one for hip hop fanatics. The music on the radio steadily becomes worse with each passing year, but the artists that actually care about their output continue to release worthy albums that kept our chosen genre alive.

Although I've mentioned in the past that I traffic in lists, I'm not going to do an official Best Of 2009 post, mainly because, due to the nature of my blog, I've only listened to a handful of 2009 releases, a mere fraction of the projects that my blogging brethren have tackled. And besides, I mostly listen to older shit anyway. But I invite the readers to list their favorite 2009 releases in the comments below.

For the record, my favorite album released in 2009 was Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...Pt. II, mainly because I looked forward to it for so many years that, once I finally had it in my grubby hands, I couldn't stop playing it, even though I truly believe that it pales in comparison to the original and only a handful of the tracks will stand up to the test of time. ("House Of Flying Daggers" is easily one of the best songs of this or any year, though.) However, the album I loved the most in 2009 was actually a 2008 release: Q-Tip's The Renaissance. I also dug Diamond District's In The Ruff, 7 Rings Of Saturn by The Vultures, "Intermission" (DJ Muggs featuring The Rza, Rev. William Burke, Planet Asia, and B-Real - for some reason, Prince Rakeem's line about "flying cars" does it for me), and most of the Slaughterhouse record (even some of the Joe Budden parts). There is other stuff that I liked, but I'll be damned if I can come up with album titles or song names at the moment.

For those of you who are intrigued,the album review that pissed me off the most was the one for Asher Roth's Asleep In The Bread Aisle: from the dumbass title all the way down to the weak-as-fuck songs, that project was the epitome of squandered potential.

There are a number of fourth-quarter 2009 releases that I haven't even gotten to yet, so expect a good number of My Gut Reaction posts in 2010, as I attempt to play catch-up.

Stay tuned, and be sure to leave your comments/suggestions/complaints below.

Happy New Year!

-Max

12 comments:

  1. your blog is the reason why i wake up every morning - thanks max!

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  2. Max do you fucks with Jay Electronica?

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  3. Best Albums of 2009

    1) Arctic Monkeys- Humbug
    2) Raekwon- OB4CL II
    2) M&M- Relapse
    3) XX- XX
    4) Mos Def- The Ecstatic
    5) Ghostface Killah Ghostdini Wizard Of Poetry In Emerald City

    Worst album of 2009= Before I Self Destruct

    Biggest Dissapointent of 2009= Wale- Attention Deficit

    2009 was a pretty terrible year for Rap.

    2010 belongs to Lupe Fiasco's Lasers & Dr.Dre's Detox.

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  4. Personally, I liked:

    -Diamond District - In The Ruff
    -k-os - Yes!
    -P.O.S. - Never Better
    -Tanya Morgan - Brooklynati
    -K'Naan - Troubadour
    -Hilltop Hoods - State of The Art

    Those albums got the most play for me this year. This still a lot I haven't check out yet, though.

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  5. Happy New Year Max,

    keep spreading your unique point of view on hiphop =)

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  6. Nobody liked Cormegas Born and Raised? Better than OBFCL2 in my opinion.

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  7. My fav albums of the 09 that i really love (and there are quite a few):

    1 by far: Fashawn - Boy meets World (MAX!!! CHECK THAT ALBUM for the love of basketball goddamn!!!)
    2: Diamond District - In the Ruff
    3: Finale - Pipe Dream and a Promise
    4: Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey Vol.1 + 2
    (how come you dont have a single Cunninlynguists album reviewed, Max? Stop sleepin!)
    5: Bi-Polar Bear: Today i found happy
    6: Flying Lotus - LA (usin Max '08 trick here)
    7: Raekwon - OB4CL2 (though i like only 14 out of 24)
    8: J. Dilla - Jay stay paid
    9: Dynas - The Apartment

    Looking forward to new records from Slum Village, Reflection Eternal, Black Milk and the Nas & Marley Project...

    Peace and happy new year - FLX

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  8. asher roth has no potential at all let alone the squandered kind

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  9. There were alot of good releases in 09. Boy meets world, In the ruff, OB4CLII, Never Better, Brooklynati, both strange journey volumes, i thought kid cudis album was very good, a pipe dream and a promise, the list goes on. A great year for music in my opinion.

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  10. Where the hell is the DOOM love??

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  11. Tame One-Acid Tab Vocab was great.
    And, of course, Raes OB4CL.
    But I think Mos Def was the best in 2009, this year belongs 2 him, 4sure.

    Plus, some of worth listening albums:
    DOOM - Born Like This
    Strong Arm Steady - In Search Of Stoney Jackson
    Souls Of Mischief - Montezuma's Revenge
    The FakeHunters - Blue Soul
    The Large Professor - The LP
    Declaime - Muzikillmind
    Apathy - Wanna Snuggle
    Grand Puba - Retroactive
    Blakroc - Blackroc

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