Depending on how you approach the scene, 2007 could be viewed as both a year heavily seeded with solid hip hop/rap albums or one that is very weak. XXL’s Byron Crawford recently culled his favorites of the year thus far, as did About’s Rizoh, both similar in criticisms and interests. Throwing another voice into the mix I thought it to be worthwhile to put some thought to both of these lists as well as sum up a few ideas of my own.

Byron Crawford (The Half Year In Rap) (Rap Albums of the Half-Year):
Black Milk - Popular Demand
Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth
El-P - I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead
Evidence - The Weatherman LP
KRS-One & Marley Marl - Hip Hop Lives
Pharoahe Monch - Desire
Phat Kat - Carte Blanche
Prodigy - Return of the Mac
Redman - Red Gone Wild
Talib Kweli - Ear Drum

Rizoh (Half-Time Report: 10 Best Hip Hop Albums of 2007):
10. Black Milk - Popular Demand
9. Hell Razah - Renaissance Child
8. El-P - I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead
7. Joel Ortiz - The Briick: Bodega Chronicles
6. Evidence - Weatherman LP
5. Devin the Dude - Waiting to Inhale
4. Pharoahe Monch - Desire
3. Prodigy - Return of the Mac
2. Sean Price - Jesus Price Superstar
1. Brother Ali - Undisputed Truth

As far as criticisms, I haven’t been able to completely get behind the highly acclaimed Prodigy album, Return of the Mac, one which is highly regarded on both lists. The album doesn’t hold as much substance as it could and many lyrics fail to excite. Such a lyric comes with the monotonous title track, “I’ve got eleven Mac-11s, thirty right 38s, nine 9s, ten 10s, the shit don’t end.” To the same extent Devin the Dude and Sean Price didn’t appeal to me at all, with Crawford maintaining a similar position, mentioning of the albums “Say what you will about so-called black radio, which is pretty much the music its listeners deserve, but damnit if the Internets haven’t been guilty of promoting their share of not particularly worthwhile rap music.”

Another interesting catch on the lists is the inclusion of elder statesmen KRS-One, Marley Marl and Redman. While the KRS-One & Marley Marl album Hip Hop Lives is solid, it really makes me want to hear nothing more than another “Step Into a World.” It seems all KRS-One has rapped about on his past few albums is his place in the hierarchy within the hip hop community. No more so an example of this than the track on Hip Hop Lives entitled “I Was There.” “When Hot 97 started, I was there. When Rap City got started, I was there. When KDAY got started, I was there. When Jive Records got started, I was there. When Yo! MTV Raps started, I was there,” the song goes on like this for three more verses. While I’m in no way attempting to discredit the words laid down in the track, I want to know what KRS-One and Marley Marl are doing to ensure that hip hop doesn’t retract itself into a stagnant art form; continually reminding us about how it used to be isn’t forward thinking. And at such a point in time tracks like this are closer to a couple of old friends sitting on the front porch remembering the good ol’ days rather than a couple of legends utilizing their tremendous talents and voices by creating an innovative record. To a similar degree Redman’s Red Gone Wild plays on the exact same level his other albums; skits, Brick City, rhymes about weed, etc…they’re all there. Plain and simple, Redman is funny and good to listen to sometimes, but his music is entirely interchangeable within itself and it shows little progression since he started.

My tastes, I believe, lean towards what one of Crawford’s readers disparagingly called “Backpack College Shit.” Acts that I’m presuming are included under such a description are Brother Ali and El-P, who from such a comment mustn’t appeal to fans soley interested in street-level lyrics (which doesn’t make sense anyways, given the history behind these MCs). I’m in absolute agreeance with Crawford who contends “There’s been three or four pretty good rap albums so far this year, but El-P’s I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead is the only one I’m still listening to on a regular basis months after the fact.” Or maybe it’s a black and white thing; is backpack college rap white? If so, Crawford questionably remarks “Indeed, there’s definitely a rock-ish element to ISWYD, but it doesn’t take being a cracka-ass cracka to appreciate what El-P has done here, just a smart person.” Maybe not the words I would have chosen to express the sentiment though.

Another album that finds a spot on on both lists is Pharoahe Monch’s Desire, an album that wholeheartidly surprised me when I first heard it and still sounds great. Pitchfork just recently described Desire as one of the most overlooked records of 2007, “this long-delayed sophomore album is a best-of-both-worlds record that combines a backpacker’s sense of social justice and overclocked verbiage with a mainstream star’s outsized charisma and furious delivery.” One track that stood out to me was Monch’s version of Public Enemy’s “Welcome to the Terrordome.” That being said there is a striking similarity between this song and the Shaft in Africa sampled “Show Me What You Got” released by Jay-Z last year. The difference between the two however is that Monch is overtly recognizing Public Enemy for the brilliance of the group’s message while Jay-Z’s lustfully played down the group’s “Show ‘Em What You Got” to help further his come-back album.

Stemming from the DJ Drama arrest many more mix-tapes have left the street corner and have gone online; in doing so an alternate medium has been born by a new breed of hustler looking to expand their audience and notoriety. In such a market Lil’ Wayne’s Da Drought 3 takes prize as the best mix-tape of the year (rap album too if it weren’t for El-P). The Village Voice’s Tom Breihan recalls of the double album, “Wayne seems to hit a new plateau every couple of months, and he’s completely disappeared off into his own world by now. On track after track here, he continues with the same rhyme-scheme over entire verses, pulling out random non-sequitor pop-culture references like he was the early-90s Beastie Boys if they could actually rap consistently.” There are running jokes and looping poetics that flow all throughout Da Drought 3, all of which prove Wayne to not simply own just the corner but now the entire block.

Though I don’t always agree with the thoughts of the collective crew at Pitchfork, thus far this year the site has cast light on Pharoahe Monch, Dizzee Rascal, Lil’ Wayne and El-P as the artists who have delivered the best in hip hop/rap. I agree with all of their selections, adding only Brother Ali and Aesop Rock’s All Day to the mix. The year is young though, and it’s far too soon to pronounce 2007 a flop by any means in terms of the genre. While I may not be looking forward to all of these releases, there’s no better proof that the second half has the opportunity to be strong than to cite just a few of the names returning with new albums: Common, 50 Cent, Kanye West, Eminem, Dr. Dre (think so?), Lupe Fiasco, Wu-Tang Clan and Aesop Rock.

(As a note: Metacritic doesn’t list a single hip hop/rap album in its top 30 albums of the year)

1. El-P - I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead
El-P “Smithereens (Stop Cryin’)”

2. Lil’ Wayne - Da Drought 3
Lil’ Wayne “Crazy Freestyle”
Lil’ Wayne “Sky’s The Limit”

3. Pharoahe Monch - Desire
Pharoahe Monch “Welcome to the Terrordome”

4. Aesop Rock - All Day

5. Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth
Brother Ali “Uncle Sam Goddamn”

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