2009 in hip hop review.
Okay, following the advice of a few of my readers and my own idea presented for solicitation of such advice, I waited until year's end (or until the last Tuesday of the month year, so no more music is releasing) and I will NOW make my 2009 post for the time capsule that is the internets...
Let us understand that by the time you read this, 10 of the 12 months' releases will have been filled in, but as I TYPE this, I am expecting the ugliest of clusterfucks. I base this SOLELY on what I recall having been released to this point in the year (10/26/2009, 8:42am EST). To be totally honest, I am describable as angered right now just thinking about it, but I will let it ride. I committed to the project, so I will do it to completion.
January
We get the not-so-good-soundtrack to a not-so-good movie, Notorious. I won't even get into why I didn't see the movie, but know that it has a lot to do with the fact that it featured people portraying people who were NOT dead in the movie. Could these mofos not show up and act as themselves?
Wait, I guess I DID get into it, but that has nothing to do with this list, so let me stop.
OJ Da Juiceman (AYE!!!) FURTHER ruined the month with The Otha Side of the Trap.
Damn, this does not look good, not even a little bit.
February
The Lonely Island surprises us with the hilariously entertaining Incredibad, and Joe Budden releases Padded Room, which was not bad at all as we ramped up to Slaughterhouse. On the same day came Project Pat's Real Recognize Real and Grandmaster Flash with The Bridge - Concept of a Culture.
March
Lil Romeo released Get Low, two weeks later Gorilla Zoe released Don't Feed the Animals [a title I will take as metaphoric to "don't buy this shit"] and Capone N Noreaga released Channel 10, which I downloaded and listened to one time if that, I think.
One week after that gave us Jim Jones' Pray IV Reign,Not very Slim not quite a Thug dropped Boss of All Bosses and Hell Rell released Get in Line or Get Lined Up.
The month closed on releases from Bow Wow, with New Jack City II, Flo Rida withKill Da Wabbit R.O.O.T.S. and UGK with UGK 4 Life. I am not going to pretend that the UGK album was exactly that good just because Pimp C is dead and we won't get any more albums out of them... It was DECENT, but not great. This whole month was not good in the very least.
April
Classified failed to explain why we should care about Self Explanatory and it failed to chart, while Jadakiss released The Last Kiss and the only reason I remember anything about it is because of my seething hatred of the single with SwizzKeys Beatz and OJ Da Juiceman, in which Juice admits to being s "flamer," which I am to understand is an increasing problem down in Atlanta. Also dropping on that day was Mims' Guilt.
Next came Asher Roth's overhyped Asleep in the Bread Aisle, which I CHEERED the flop of and Rick Ross' Deeper Than Rap, which I never even bothered listening to -- downloaded it, burned copies to give to Preston and Phillip, and deleted it. Typing that last sentence has reminded me to send that Asher Roth to the recycle bin as well.
The month closed on Hell Rell's Hard as Hell, Mike Jones' The Voice and Tech N9ne's Sickology 101.
Another phail month.
May
Starts with Skull Gang's Skull Gang, DJ Paul's Scale-A-Thon and Gucci Mane's Murder Was the Case. Hear those crickets chirping?
The chirping got louder with Cam'ron releasing Crime Pays, Haystack's The Natural II and Paul Wall's Fast Life. More crickets.
The monotony was broken the next week with Eminem's Relapse, Busta Rhymes' Back on my BS, Guru's Guru 8.0: Lost and Found and Method Man & Redman's Blackout II, but undermining that were releases from Sheek Louch with Live on D-Block, Freeway with Philadelphia Freeway 2 and DJ Drama's Gangsta Grillz: The Album (Vol. 2)
Lil Flip and Gudda Gudda released Certified, which surprisingly failed to chart.
[Phlip note - who said you can't read sarcasm into internets postings?]
14 releases, 1 purchase and 2 downloads, one of which was deleted... Phail.
June
Things are looking up as the month started on J Dilla's Jay Stay Paid and AZ's Legendary, one of which I purchased to make sure Dilla's mama is correctly compensated, and one which I downloaded and actually kept and still listen to sometimes.
Breaking the tone were D-Block's No Security and Pastor Troy's Ready for War.
Now there was a time where I liked Pastor Troy, but that is surely in the past now.
Someone named Busdriver released Jhelli Beam and the crickets were back.
Mos Def dropped the disappointing The Ecstatic and Kurupt & DJ Quik also released Blaqout on this date as well, which only earned my attention because Quik was involved... I still have the downloaded copy.
One week later,2Pac weed/urn carrier Outlawz member Hussein Fatal releases Born Legendary but neglects to mention on what planet his legend was confirmed, so his album did not chart. Also released that day was L.E.G.A.C.Y.'s Suicide Music, which I listened to on my way to work this morning (10/26/2009) and happen to LOVE, Juicy J's Hustle Til I Die and Street Sweepers Social Club released Street Sweepers Social Club.
After that came releases from Fast Life Yungstaz zestily-titled Jamboree, Willie Northpole's Tha Connect, dead prez & DJ Green Lantern's Pulse of the People, Soul Assassins' Intermission, Grand Puba's Retroactive, U-God''s Dopium and Sa-Ra Creative Partners' Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love for one day that saw ONE album chart. The fact that the album includes a song called "Swag Surfin" is depressing until one considers that Def Jam likely bought several of them themselves.
The month closed on Maino's If Tomorrow Comes...I will slap the shit out of Young Berg again and Ace Hood's Ruthless.
July
The Alchemist drops Chemical Warfare and Gucci Mane (who looks like he stinks) released Writing on the Wall on the same day, followed by Krizz Kaliko's (who?) Genius, La Coka Nostra's A Brand You Can Trust, Twista's Category F5 and Yukmouth's The West Coast Don.
The month closed on Fabolous with Loso's Way and Lord Infamous, T-Rock & II Tone's Blood Money.
I am beginning to wonder if even the artists think that this shit is actually worth the money, time and effort, seriously.
August
Dorrough releases Dorrough Music to start off the month.
Slaughterhouse (Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Crooked I and Royce Da 5'9") releases Slaughterhouse, and my opinion of hip hop in 2009 is greatly fixed. I loved it so much that I bought it and reviewed it right here on my blog.
Killer Mike closed the year with Underground Atlanta.
September
Big release date here, Jay-Z and Raekwon released Blueprint 3 and Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II on the same day, much to the delight of Stans the world over. Neither were GREAT albums, but both good enough for what they are.
Forgotten in the buildup was Insane Clown Posse with Bang! Boom! Pow!, a sad attempt at stealing money from the confused Black Eye Peas fans.
Forgotten in the jet wash BEHIND them were Kid Cudi with Man on the Moon: End of Day, N.O.R.E. with S.O.R.E., New Boyz with Skinny Jeanz and a Mic, Lil Boosie's Superbad: The Return of Boosie Bad Azz, Trick Daddy's Finally Famous: Born a Thug, Still a Thug and KRS-One and Buckshot's Survival Skills.
The month closed on Mack 10's Soft White, Ghostface Killah's Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City, Playaz Circle's Flight 360: The Takeoff, Warren G's The G Files and Skyzoo's The Salvation.
Damn... 14 releases, 1 purchase (Skyzoo, for the record), 4 downloads and one of those I was not expecting to like... For being such a pseudo huge month, I was less than impressed with this on the whole.
October
Fat Joe opens with J.O.S.E. 2 on the same day as Jim Jones and Webstar releasedChicken Noodle Soup for the Coon Soul The Rooftop. No one gave a mad assfuck about either release.
Next came Kottonmouth Kings (damn, these dudes ain't dead yet?) with Hidden Stash 420 and the month closed on Triple C's release of Custom Cars & Cycles and Tech N9ne's K.O.D.
Best of October to me was Royce Da 5'9" and Street Hop, and that does little to save this month from being one enormous brick, which does not surprise me one little bitty bit.
November
Hell Rell releases Live from Hell and Ol' Dirty's estate handlers released Message to the Other Side, which is an unfortunately ironic title to me, given that he is ded and all. Wale released Attention: Deficit, 50 Cent FINALLY released Before I Self Destruct (but probably shouldn't have, as he focused more on creating a circus than a fucking album) and Rakim released The Seventh Seal. The month closed on Birdman's Priceless and some nobody named BlackRoc with BlackRoc, a smashingly GRIPPING title to say the least. So gripping, in fact, that I never knew who he was before researching for this post and will not EVER think of him again after typing this sentence.
December
Juvenile gives us Confident and Cocky, Snoop Dogg releases Malice n Wonderland much to the detriment of his own diminishing name, Timbaland released Shock Value II and no one noticed, Gucci Mane releases The State vs. Radric Davis, much to the detriment of hip hop on the whole, B.G. released Too Hood to be Hollywood, Clipse finally released Til The Casket Drops. Young Money Entertainment continued their inexplicable hold on the market with We Are Young Money and Hurricane Chris released Unleashed -- 9 months AFTER his lead single for the stupidest move of the month. On the whole, the month of December was largely forgettable.
I know this post seems early in that it comes on the 28th of December when there is one more Tuesday in the month, and nothing I found indicated that anything released on that day (tomorrow).
At the end of this all, I am chalking this up as a wholly disa-fucking-pointing year as it relates to hip hop. Here I am in a year where one of my favorite albums of the year (Slaughterhouse) is swept under the damned rug, and one of the surprisingly entertaining ones (The Lonely Island) doesn't even PRETEND to wholly be a real hip hop album with the full on backing of a viral internet spread and free promo on NBC/Saturday Night Live, but STILL didn't score a plaque... On the in-between, though? Disappointments and sorely heavy handed misses occur, much to the point where even pseudo-legends release albums and no one bothers to give a shit (Snoop Dogg anyone?).
101 releases, 17 taken in and actually kept. The saddest thing about that 16.83% is that even of the 17 I copped and kept, only (maybe) 5 of those were retail purchases.
I have taken the time to chronicle and "review," if you might, 20 years of hip hop over the course of this year, handling the 90's and now the current decade due to end in 3 days here. I say with utter clarity that 2009 was the worst year in the history of hip hop, simple as that. 2009 was a boil on hip hop's ass, and we all know how fucking annoying boils can be. A bold statement, that, I know. In the cycle of "destroy to rebuild," I am praying for something better to happen in 2010, but sadly it is not looking any better for the foreseeable future from where I can see.
Sometimes, I really do wish that I could lend more of my attention to other genres as I do or have done with hip hop, but the fact remains that one will latch and remain on that which they are most comfortable with.
Let us understand that by the time you read this, 10 of the 12 months' releases will have been filled in, but as I TYPE this, I am expecting the ugliest of clusterfucks. I base this SOLELY on what I recall having been released to this point in the year (10/26/2009, 8:42am EST). To be totally honest, I am describable as angered right now just thinking about it, but I will let it ride. I committed to the project, so I will do it to completion.
January
We get the not-so-good-soundtrack to a not-so-good movie, Notorious. I won't even get into why I didn't see the movie, but know that it has a lot to do with the fact that it featured people portraying people who were NOT dead in the movie. Could these mofos not show up and act as themselves?
Wait, I guess I DID get into it, but that has nothing to do with this list, so let me stop.
OJ Da Juiceman (AYE!!!) FURTHER ruined the month with The Otha Side of the Trap.
Damn, this does not look good, not even a little bit.
February
The Lonely Island surprises us with the hilariously entertaining Incredibad, and Joe Budden releases Padded Room, which was not bad at all as we ramped up to Slaughterhouse. On the same day came Project Pat's Real Recognize Real and Grandmaster Flash with The Bridge - Concept of a Culture.
March
Lil Romeo released Get Low, two weeks later Gorilla Zoe released Don't Feed the Animals [a title I will take as metaphoric to "don't buy this shit"] and Capone N Noreaga released Channel 10, which I downloaded and listened to one time if that, I think.
One week after that gave us Jim Jones' Pray IV Reign,
The month closed on releases from Bow Wow, with New Jack City II, Flo Rida with
April
Classified failed to explain why we should care about Self Explanatory and it failed to chart, while Jadakiss released The Last Kiss and the only reason I remember anything about it is because of my seething hatred of the single with Swizz
Next came Asher Roth's overhyped Asleep in the Bread Aisle, which I CHEERED the flop of and Rick Ross' Deeper Than Rap, which I never even bothered listening to -- downloaded it, burned copies to give to Preston and Phillip, and deleted it. Typing that last sentence has reminded me to send that Asher Roth to the recycle bin as well.
The month closed on Hell Rell's Hard as Hell, Mike Jones' The Voice and Tech N9ne's Sickology 101.
Another phail month.
May
Starts with Skull Gang's Skull Gang, DJ Paul's Scale-A-Thon and Gucci Mane's Murder Was the Case. Hear those crickets chirping?
The chirping got louder with Cam'ron releasing Crime Pays, Haystack's The Natural II and Paul Wall's Fast Life. More crickets.
The monotony was broken the next week with Eminem's Relapse, Busta Rhymes' Back on my BS, Guru's Guru 8.0: Lost and Found and Method Man & Redman's Blackout II, but undermining that were releases from Sheek Louch with Live on D-Block, Freeway with Philadelphia Freeway 2 and DJ Drama's Gangsta Grillz: The Album (Vol. 2)
Lil Flip and Gudda Gudda released Certified, which surprisingly failed to chart.
[Phlip note - who said you can't read sarcasm into internets postings?]
14 releases, 1 purchase and 2 downloads, one of which was deleted... Phail.
June
Things are looking up as the month started on J Dilla's Jay Stay Paid and AZ's Legendary, one of which I purchased to make sure Dilla's mama is correctly compensated, and one which I downloaded and actually kept and still listen to sometimes.
Breaking the tone were D-Block's No Security and Pastor Troy's Ready for War.
Now there was a time where I liked Pastor Troy, but that is surely in the past now.
Someone named Busdriver released Jhelli Beam and the crickets were back.
Mos Def dropped the disappointing The Ecstatic and Kurupt & DJ Quik also released Blaqout on this date as well, which only earned my attention because Quik was involved... I still have the downloaded copy.
One week later,
After that came releases from Fast Life Yungstaz zestily-titled Jamboree, Willie Northpole's Tha Connect, dead prez & DJ Green Lantern's Pulse of the People, Soul Assassins' Intermission, Grand Puba's Retroactive, U-God''s Dopium and Sa-Ra Creative Partners' Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love for one day that saw ONE album chart. The fact that the album includes a song called "Swag Surfin" is depressing until one considers that Def Jam likely bought several of them themselves.
The month closed on Maino's If Tomorrow Comes...
July
The Alchemist drops Chemical Warfare and Gucci Mane (who looks like he stinks) released Writing on the Wall on the same day, followed by Krizz Kaliko's (who?) Genius, La Coka Nostra's A Brand You Can Trust, Twista's Category F5 and Yukmouth's The West Coast Don.
The month closed on Fabolous with Loso's Way and Lord Infamous, T-Rock & II Tone's Blood Money.
I am beginning to wonder if even the artists think that this shit is actually worth the money, time and effort, seriously.
August
Dorrough releases Dorrough Music to start off the month.
Slaughterhouse (Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Crooked I and Royce Da 5'9") releases Slaughterhouse, and my opinion of hip hop in 2009 is greatly fixed. I loved it so much that I bought it and reviewed it right here on my blog.
Killer Mike closed the year with Underground Atlanta.
September
Big release date here, Jay-Z and Raekwon released Blueprint 3 and Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II on the same day, much to the delight of Stans the world over. Neither were GREAT albums, but both good enough for what they are.
Forgotten in the buildup was Insane Clown Posse with Bang! Boom! Pow!, a sad attempt at stealing money from the confused Black Eye Peas fans.
Forgotten in the jet wash BEHIND them were Kid Cudi with Man on the Moon: End of Day, N.O.R.E. with S.O.R.E., New Boyz with Skinny Jeanz and a Mic, Lil Boosie's Superbad: The Return of Boosie Bad Azz, Trick Daddy's Finally Famous: Born a Thug, Still a Thug and KRS-One and Buckshot's Survival Skills.
The month closed on Mack 10's Soft White, Ghostface Killah's Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City, Playaz Circle's Flight 360: The Takeoff, Warren G's The G Files and Skyzoo's The Salvation.
Damn... 14 releases, 1 purchase (Skyzoo, for the record), 4 downloads and one of those I was not expecting to like... For being such a pseudo huge month, I was less than impressed with this on the whole.
October
Fat Joe opens with J.O.S.E. 2 on the same day as Jim Jones and Webstar released
Next came Kottonmouth Kings (damn, these dudes ain't dead yet?) with Hidden Stash 420 and the month closed on Triple C's release of Custom Cars & Cycles and Tech N9ne's K.O.D.
Best of October to me was Royce Da 5'9" and Street Hop, and that does little to save this month from being one enormous brick, which does not surprise me one little bitty bit.
November
Hell Rell releases Live from Hell and Ol' Dirty's estate handlers released Message to the Other Side, which is an unfortunately ironic title to me, given that he is ded and all. Wale released Attention: Deficit, 50 Cent FINALLY released Before I Self Destruct (but probably shouldn't have, as he focused more on creating a circus than a fucking album) and Rakim released The Seventh Seal. The month closed on Birdman's Priceless and some nobody named BlackRoc with BlackRoc, a smashingly GRIPPING title to say the least. So gripping, in fact, that I never knew who he was before researching for this post and will not EVER think of him again after typing this sentence.
December
Juvenile gives us Confident and Cocky, Snoop Dogg releases Malice n Wonderland much to the detriment of his own diminishing name, Timbaland released Shock Value II and no one noticed, Gucci Mane releases The State vs. Radric Davis, much to the detriment of hip hop on the whole, B.G. released Too Hood to be Hollywood, Clipse finally released Til The Casket Drops. Young Money Entertainment continued their inexplicable hold on the market with We Are Young Money and Hurricane Chris released Unleashed -- 9 months AFTER his lead single for the stupidest move of the month. On the whole, the month of December was largely forgettable.
I know this post seems early in that it comes on the 28th of December when there is one more Tuesday in the month, and nothing I found indicated that anything released on that day (tomorrow).
At the end of this all, I am chalking this up as a wholly disa-fucking-pointing year as it relates to hip hop. Here I am in a year where one of my favorite albums of the year (Slaughterhouse) is swept under the damned rug, and one of the surprisingly entertaining ones (The Lonely Island) doesn't even PRETEND to wholly be a real hip hop album with the full on backing of a viral internet spread and free promo on NBC/Saturday Night Live, but STILL didn't score a plaque... On the in-between, though? Disappointments and sorely heavy handed misses occur, much to the point where even pseudo-legends release albums and no one bothers to give a shit (Snoop Dogg anyone?).
101 releases, 17 taken in and actually kept. The saddest thing about that 16.83% is that even of the 17 I copped and kept, only (maybe) 5 of those were retail purchases.
I have taken the time to chronicle and "review," if you might, 20 years of hip hop over the course of this year, handling the 90's and now the current decade due to end in 3 days here. I say with utter clarity that 2009 was the worst year in the history of hip hop, simple as that. 2009 was a boil on hip hop's ass, and we all know how fucking annoying boils can be. A bold statement, that, I know. In the cycle of "destroy to rebuild," I am praying for something better to happen in 2010, but sadly it is not looking any better for the foreseeable future from where I can see.
Sometimes, I really do wish that I could lend more of my attention to other genres as I do or have done with hip hop, but the fact remains that one will latch and remain on that which they are most comfortable with.
Comments
#2 I've found it easier over the last few years to start listening to other genres based on what I look for in my Hip Hop. Aggression, guitars, percussion, somewhat weighty lyrics, etc. Alternative rock & some pop music fills the void when I can no longer stand the marriage of uber mediocrity & extreme nigganometry.
#3Lonely Island is the shit. Hands down.
#4Rappers must have forgotten that we don't owe them anything. We do them a favor by paying their bills & feeding their multitude of children. Somethings clearly lost in the translation, as if I'm supposed to buy whatever horse shit they slap onto a CD. No Dice. I'm not buying any records in '10, unless it's worth my money & time as well.