Best of 2008: Top 25 Albums (Entries 5-1)

Previous Midwest Broadcast Best of 2008 Posts:
Non-Hip-Hop Albums
Top 15 Mixtapes
Top 25 Albums (Entries 25-21 + Honorable Mentions)
Top 25 Albums (Entries 20-16)
Top 25 Albums (Entries 15-11)
Top 25 Albums (Entries 10-6)

Intro: Happy New Year, everyone! I realize I'm a day late with this, so I'll avoid any rambling prose. Here you have it, the final 5 entries in my best albums of 2008. I'll post the overall list without commentary later today so it's easier to analyze the entire thing at once. Let me know what you think! Drop a comment or an email.

5. The Roots: Rising Down (Review)
Critics dismissed The Roots’ latest effort, the politically charged Rising Down, as a so-so album because they were “too angry.” Well damn right they’re angry! The planet has experienced recent events such as the Sean Bell verdict, a historic economic recession, global warming, behind-the-scenes governmental scandals, and much more. Naturally, The Roots had quite a bit to get off their chest on Rising Down, but it worked. Black Thought sounded as spirited and pissed off as ever, delivering some of the strongest individual verses of the year. ?uestlove and the rest of the band’s production was dark, yet crisp and immaculate. Lastly, the impressive slew of guest verses, from Mos Def dropping a show-stealer on “Rising Down” to Common and Wale spitting incredible sixteens on their respective tracks, didn’t water down the album, but helped bolster its scope. Rising Down exhibited The Roots in top-notch form. Key Tracks: “Rising Down ft. Mos Def & Styles P,” “75 Bars (Black's Reconstruction),” “Get Busy ft. Dice Raw & Peedi Peedi,” “The Show ft. Common & Dice Raw,” “Rising Up ft. Wale & Chrisette Michelle”

4. Nas: Untitled
It seemed as if the pomp surrounding the release of Untitled exceeded its actual reception. What got lost among some was the fact that, regardless of the album title, Nas skillfully delivered on a promise to provide his honest, “uncensored,” critique of race in America. Untitled featured Nas at arguably his most focused since his landmark classic debut album, Illmatic. And this time, unlike several of his other albums, the beat selection did not damper the overall quality of the release. “Queens Get The Money” was one of the most breathtaking tracks of 2008. “Hero ft. Keri Hilson” was one of the best singles of the year, and Nas’ third verse on that track couldn’t have been a better assessment of the corporate oversight dominating the logistics of Untitled’s release. “Sly Fox” was a ruthless attack on the biased and questionable practices of Fox News. “Fried Chicken ft. Busta Rhymes” and “Project Roach” were thought-provoking metaphor-fests. But what prevailed over all the individually strong tracks was the fusion of each track to form an uncompromising and complete album. Key Tracks: “Queens Get The Money,” “Hero ft. Keri Hilson,” “Sly Fox,” “Y'all My Niggas”

3. Black Milk: Tronic (Review)
If comparisons to J Dilla’s neo-soul sampling style had held back Black Milk’s ability to individualize himself as a premier modern producer, then Tronic effectively dismissed those appraisals. With Black Milk utilizing a unique combination of live studio instrumentation and sampling, Tronic was easily one of the best, and most originally produced, hip-hop albums of the year. Not to mention Black Milk drastically stepping his rap game up a notch, as well. Other artists beware: Black Milk is paving his own path in hip-hop — but he’s years ahead of the rest of the competition. Key Tracks: “Long Story Short ft. Dwele,” “Losing Out ft. Royce Da 5'9",” “The Matrix ft. Pharoahe Monch, Sean Price, & DJ Premier,” “Try,” “Bond 4 Life ft. Melanie Rutherford”

2. Atmosphere: When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold (Review)
This album was not as big a change from previous Atmosphere efforts as is commonly put forth. Slug is still telling amazing stories, and Ant is still making amazing beats. Maybe it was the fancy booklet and children’s storybook that came with the CD, or maybe it was the strangely optimistic title. Still, Atmosphere knew exactly what they were doing when crafting Lemons: making an enjoyable, relatable, hip-hop album. No one ever — I mean ever — has rapped better about people whose lives suck than Slug, whether his stories are semi-autobiographical or third-person narratives. His stories blend perfectly when coupled with Ant’s thick and melodic production, this time primarily using instrumentation in place of Ant’s sampling that listeners have grown accustomed to. Lemons, though not an entire reinvention of Atmosphere’s sound, was a great change of pace from the underground hip-hop legends and an album that shone brighter than most in 2008. Key Tracks: “Shoulda Known,” “Puppets,” “Painting,” “Yesterday,” “Guarantees,” “The Waitress,” “In Her Music Box”

1. Q-Tip: The Renaissance
And what a renaissance it was. After listening to this endlessly upon its release, I have yet to develop a real complaint about the album. Q-Tip’s rapping was introspective, reflecting on the rap game, his place in hip-hop history, and his past and present colleagues, especially J Dilla. The production was classic, almost all done by Q-Tip himself, except for the spectacular “Move,” which was brought out of the J Dilla posthumous vaults. Some of the album seemed foreign — Q-Tip being the only rapper on the album, for example — but in the end, this is classic Q-Tip material, reminiscent of his Midnight Marauders days. There really was no other choice for best album of 2008. Key Tracks: “Johnny is Dead,” “Won't Trade,” “Gettin' Up,” “Move,” “Dance On Glass,” “Life Is Better ft. Norah Jones,” “Shaka”