Best Of 2008: Top 25 Albums (Entries 25-21)

Previous Midwest Broadcast Best of 2008 Posts:
Non-Hip-Hop Albums
Top 15 Mixtapes

Intro: Well, it’s officially Christmas, so I suppose it’s time for me to begin writing this series. With 2009 around the corner, it’s been more fun than I expected — albeit far more tasking, too — revisiting the seemingly endless number of albums that dropped in the past year. Narrowing this list down to a top 25 was arduous, hence the plethora of honorable mentions. In all honesty, I’ve already changed the order of this list about 10 times in the past thirty minutes. From about #20 and on, the rankings are not terribly clear-cut. Still, these albums were my favorites of 2008, and I urge you to check them out if you have not yet done so. Maybe you could even buy an album or two (GASP!). Without further adieu, entries 25-21 for the best albums of 2008, plus the honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions: Kidz In The Hall, The In Crowd; Torae, Daily Conversation; Madlib, WLIB AM: King Of The Wigflip; Vast Aire, Deuces Wild; Termanology, Politics As Usual; Pacewon & Mr. Green, The Only Color That Matters Is Green; DJ Revolution, King Of The Decks (Review)


25. Lil’ Wayne: Tha Cater III
Lil' Wayne makes this list reluctantly. But Weezy F. Baby managed to sell like three trillion copies when other rappers were struggling to move records in their hometown, so he had to be doing something right. Whatever, quite a few of the songs on The Carter III were kind of ill. But that “Phone Home” bullshit nearly ruined the entire album for me. Key Tracks: “3 Peat,” “Mr. Carter ft. Jay-Z,” “A Milli,” “Dr. Carter,” “Let The Beat Build”

24. C.R.A.C. Knuckles: The Piece Talks (Review)
2007’s rookie of the year and one of my favorite rappers, Blu, teamed up with Detroit producer/emcee Ta’Raach to release an “I-don’t-give-a-fuck-album,” of sorts. It was dangerously haphazardly put together (tons of random interludes, little cohesion, absolutely no commercial appeal), but maybe that is also why it was so cool. Ta’Raach’s minimalist boom-bap beats were ideal for Blu, especially since lots of his raps on this album sound more like on-the-spot freestyles than thought-out written verses. If only Blu could have done all the rapping, then we would have been working with something. Key Tracks: “Love Don’t,” “Respect,” “Go!”

23. Heltah Skeltah: D.I.R.T. (Da Incredible Rap Team) (Review)
When D.I.R.T. was released in late September, I was legitimately impressed. I even prematurely assumed it would end the year in the top five or ten best albums of the year. However, once the initial excitement wore off, I don’t think I’ve re-listened to a single song of the album until recently. What I now realize is that I was generalizing the notion that I thoroughly enjoy about four songs off the album to a faulty belief that the entire album is spectacular. It wasn’t. While Ruck and Rock are uncompromising in making street battle rhymes, their shtick eventually grows weary. And while the production was terrific on a few of the songs, the rest of the album was relatively average. But due to the strength of the best tracks on D.I.R.T., Heltah Skeltah still crack the top 25 of 2008. Key Tracks: “The Art Of Disrespekinazation,” “Twinz,” “D.I.R.T. (Another Boot Camp Clik Yeah Song)”

22. Kanser: Future Retro Legacy
If some Minneapolis rap veterans release an album in 2008, will anyone pay attention? I wish more people knew about Kanser. Maybe they do, but I just have not met them yet. Either way, this trio put out the one of the best "everyman albums" of the year. These guys seem almost too down to earth, referencing brushing their teeth and sarcasticly dissing their fellow homies, Twin Cities hip-hop group Big Quarters. But what really helped Future Retro Legacy succeed was the production. One of the best things about being in underground hip-hop seems to be that sampling is much less restricted than in the mainstream. Artists don’t have to worry about clearing samples, with allows for better production on albums, from start to finish. Such was the case for this album. Key Tracks: “Pleasant,” “Coming Out Again (The Sunshine Song),” “Save The Day,” “Legacy”

21. Fat Ray & Black Milk: The Set Up
To be concise, Black Milk dominated this album. In all honesty, Fat Ray is a halfway decent rapper. He’ll spit some pretty nice battle rap punchlines, or some bright metaphors from time to time, but nothing that makes your jaw drop. But Black Milk’s production on The Set Up had me drooling. It was perhaps his best work of the year, and that’s saying something, because Black Milk completely owned 2008. As you continue to read this series, you’ll see a pattern developing regarding that fact. Key Tracks: “Bad Man ft. Guilty Simpson,” “Not U,” Get Focus ft. Phat Kat & Elzhi,” “Ugly”