Top 5 Hip Hop Artists of 2010

[Guru]

Okay, so some of my friends and I got into a pretty heated argument about who the top 5 hip hop artists are this year.

 

Who are your top five hip hop artists of 2010? (Not based on sales but content)

 

List them, in order, and state your opinion on why they belong there.

 

I'll post mine later.

Edited November 16, 2010 by Guru™

[Flash]

1. Kanye West

2. Big Sean

3. Pusha T

4. Wiz Khalifa

5. Kid Cudi (saved himself with MOTM 2)

 

Gotta mention Curren$y though. I really liked Pilot Talk. Part 2 comes out in a couple weeks I think.

[JYD]

1. Kanye West

2. Drake

3. J.Cole

4. Wiz Khalifa

5. Fabolous

 

It's tough to narrow it to just five, but those how I would say of the best five artists JUST this year.

[kadillak]

1) Kanye West

 

Outworked everyone in hip-hop this year. Free weekly tracks with dream collabos for the fans. He put together a contender for the album of the year in "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy". Unreal production. A short movie. G.O.O.D. Music is growing. Oh, and he's working with guys like Pete Rock, Q-Tip, and Jay-Z for his duo album with Hov called "Watch The Throne". Very impressive.

 

2) Nas

 

"Distant Relatives". Just delivered positive message after positive message, and "Patience" is a contender for song of the year. Also, there's a small chance he drops Lost Tapes 2 some time in December. I believe there was a release date set for early December, but I think the label moved it back and Nas got angry, so idk if it has a legitimate chance of coming out any time soon.

 

3) Jay-Z

 

Nothing solo, but he has killed it on the features this year. He turned in the best verse on Drake's feature-heavy "Thank Me Later" album. He has an outstanding verse on Rick Ross's "Free Mason". Good verse for "Hot Toddy" on Usher's album. He's turned in two or three solid verses for Kanye's weekly drops. A solid verse on Jay Elec's "Shiny Suit Theory". Doing work on "Watch The Throne". Put out a book -- "Decoded". Oh, and his Roc Nation label is growing well and just signed the most coveted unsigned rapper in Jay Electronica. If he successfully promotes Jay E and J. Cole and gets real hip-hop back on the radio, Jay-Z will be a lot of people's heros.

 

4) J. Cole

 

Put a J. Cole post on your blog and watch the comment numbers blow up in minutes. Put a link to his new mixtape the day it comes out and watch your site's servers get overloaded. Friday Night Lights was one of the most anticipated mixtapes the internet has seen in a few years, and it didn't disappoint as it is easily a contender for mixtape of the year.

He's got unreal buzz for someone who hasn't put out a debut album yet. Cosigns from his boss, Nas, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, etc. Held his own with Talib, Mos, and Jay Elec on "Just Begun". Murdered B.o.B on "Gladiators". Outdid Kanye West, Big Sean, and Pusha T on "Looking For Trouble". Despite the disappointment of him not releasing his debut this year, Cole has kept his buzz and continues to build his fan base without selling out.

 

5) Talib Kweli

 

Almost put Joe Budden instead. Can't go wrong with either. Did some great work on "Revolutions Per Minute" with Hitek. "Ballad of the Black Gold" and "Just Begun" are two songs that are still in heavy rotation on my iPod even several months after the release. Talib could have done better on the album, but he still did his thing and I liked the project a lot. Additionally, he's been jumping in on some interesting tracks. He dropped a solid verse on Nelly's "Go" track. Solid verse on Kanye's "Chain Heavy" track. "Papers Please" was a good track. I also wanna say he stepped out of his zone and collaborated with someone like Gucci Mane or something. Dunno how that verse went, but he did some hard work this year and dropped some really good verses this year.

 

I'll put in an explanation today or tomorrow. That's just based off of content from this year. Overall, my top 5 artists would be probably Blu, Nas, Jay Elec, Lupe, and Ye.

Edited November 17, 2010 by kadillak

[JYD]

No way Nas is the 2nd best MC just this year. Eminem has been better then him.

 

I forgot Em in my list, he's got to be in the top 5 because Recovery is a top 3 hip hop album of the year.

[kadillak]

Went back and edited with explanations.

 

Meh, Eminem hasn't impressed me this year. He's worked very hard jumping on everyone's projects -- I'll give him that. I liked "Recovery" for a little while, but I don't ever play any tracks from it anymore. "Space Bound" was cool. A lot of the album seemed really corny, and it just got old very quickly. Him yelling into the features has gotten more annoying than Lil Wayne on autotune. I'll say this...he did a good job on "All She Wrote" with T.I., the two Bad Meets Evil tracks with Royce that leaked were solid, and the track with Dr. Dre sounds promising. Been a GREAT week for Em. Plus we haven't heard that track with Banks yet and supposedly he's dropping a mini-album or a re-release in December as a follow-up to Recovery. If that turns out well, he can easily bump up in there. JMO.

[Guru]

1. Kanye - Simply killed everyone this year. Anyone that doesn't have him at one needs a reality check.

2. Eminem - Recovery was a great album. Lyrically still one of the best to ever do it imo. Great comeback from a wack Relapse album.

3. J. Cole - He went in on everything he put his name on this year. FNL is imo the mixtape of the year. Can't wait for Cole World.

4. Wiz Khalifa - This guy is trouble. A lot of his songs on Kush and OJ and his other work simply sound different from everyone else that is putting out music right now. I may be a little biased here because I simply love to smoke to his songs but w/e he deserves it.

5. Joe Budden - Mood Muzik 4, need I say more?

[fish7718]

1. Kanye - Simply killed everyone this year. Anyone that doesn't have him at one needs a reality check.

2. Eminem - Recovery was a great album. Lyrically still one of the best to ever do it imo. Great comeback from a wack Relapse album.

3. J. Cole - He went in on everything he put his name on this year. FNL is imo the mixtape of the year. Can't wait for Cole World.

4. Wiz Khalifa - This guy is trouble. A lot of his songs on Kush and OJ and his other work simply sound different from everyone else that is putting out music right now. I may be a little biased here because I simply love to smoke to his songs but w/e he deserves it.

5. Joe Budden - Mood Muzik 4, need I say more?

This sounds like a good list

Edited November 17, 2010 by STATCity

[Guru]

1. Kanye West

2. Drake

3. J.Cole

4. Wiz Khalifa

5. Fabolous

 

It's tough to narrow it to just five, but those how I would say of the best five artists JUST this year.

Ahhh I was hoping someone did it. You put Fab at 5, this is what my disagreement was about with my friend. I felt like he was over hyping TINC2 like crazy. There is no way imo if you listen to MM4 and TINC2 that you can say TINC2 is better. I also felt that his verses on Start it up and Dueces were not that great. I'm guessing he would be bumped off your list if you put Em in there though so I don't know.

[Nitro]

No way Nas is the 2nd best MC just this year. Eminem has been better then him.

 

Ha...Eminem has made more music, especially radio-friendly music, than Nas this year. There is a difference between quantity and quality. If you feel Recovery is better than Distant Relatives, cool, that's your opinion. But Recovery had a LOT more fluff than Distant Relatives did, and there was little in terms of variety or creativity. What Nas and Damian did was revolutionary, and pretty much each track is real solid, with a few songs that IMO contend for song-of-the-year (I LOVE As We Enter, Strong Will Continue, and My Generation).

[Sun Tzu]

1. Kanye West - Done huge things this year.

2. Eminem - I've actually liked all his songs this year.

3. J. Cole - Dope mixtape - FNL.

4. Wiz Khalifa - Underrated IMO, he had some great tracks this year.

5. Drake - Hasn't been too bad this year, some good songs.

[JYD]

Ahhh I was hoping someone did it. You put Fab at 5, this is what my disagreement was about with my friend. I felt like he was over hyping TINC2 like crazy. There is no way imo if you listen to MM4 and TINC2 that you can say TINC2 is better. I also felt that his verses on Start it up and Dueces were not that great. I'm guessing he would be bumped off your list if you put Em in there though so I don't know.

If I had to take someone off my list to put Eminem in there, it'd be Fab. But TINC2 > MM4. I found MM4 boring as [expletive] tbh.

 

Ha...Eminem has made more music, especially radio-friendly music, than Nas this year. There is a difference between quantity and quality. If you feel Recovery is better than Distant Relatives, cool, that's your opinion. But Recovery had a LOT more fluff than Distant Relatives did, and there was little in terms of variety or creativity. What Nas and Damian did was revolutionary, and pretty much each track is real solid, with a few songs that IMO contend for song-of-the-year (I LOVE As We Enter, Strong Will Continue, and My Generation).

Eminem's Recovery could be argued as the album of the year; and I'm not even a big Em fan. No one really cared or has talked about Distant Relatives in a while. I actually bought Distant Relatives and although I enjoyed it, calling it revolutionary is quite a stretch.

[Guru]

If I had to take someone off my list to put Eminem in there, it'd be Fab. But TINC2 > MM4. I found MM4 boring as [expletive] tbh.

Not enough corny punch lines for you? Gotchaaa

[Nitro]

Eminem's Recovery could be argued as the album of the year; and I'm not even a big Em fan. No one really cared or has talked about Distant Relatives in a while. I actually bought Distant Relatives and although I enjoyed it, calling it revolutionary is quite a stretch.

 

It doesn't matter if THE MEDIA hasn't cared for or talked about Distant Relatives in awhile. Distant Relatives has no club bangers or radio hits, which is why it is easily forgotten. It's hard to move past Recovery when 'Love The Way You Lie' is on like every 5th song, at least here in the NY/NJ area. I am sure maybe half of casual rap fans have never heard of guys like Immortal Technique or MF Doom (who get 0 mainstream hype), yet I think they are worlds ahead of guys like Rick Ross in the rap department.

 

As for Distant Relatives being revolutionary, there has never really been any high-profile rap and reggae stars hook up and create an album with a blend of the styles. Much like Guru (the rapper) did with mixing jazz and rap, Nas brought something totally new to the game. Even if you don't love it, Distant Relatives was something very unique and different, opening the doors for future collab's.

[Guru]

Post your top 5 or gtfo Nitro

Lol jk, but seriously I am curious/intrigued to see your top 5.

[Nitro]

Post your top 5 or gtfo Nitro

Lol jk, but seriously I am curious/intrigued to see your top 5.

 

I haven't listened to the entire new Kanye album, and still haven't listened to all of the new Roots album yet, so I'll post mine in another day or two. I'll be posting mine based on quality over who "blew up" or whatever.

[JYD]

It doesn't matter if THE MEDIA hasn't cared for or talked about Distant Relatives in awhile. Distant Relatives has no club bangers or radio hits, which is why it is easily forgotten. It's hard to move past Recovery when 'Love The Way You Lie' is on like every 5th song, at least here in the NY/NJ area. I am sure maybe half of casual rap fans have never heard of guys like Immortal Technique or MF Doom (who get 0 mainstream hype), yet I think they are worlds ahead of guys like Rick Ross in the rap department.

 

As for Distant Relatives being revolutionary, there has never really been any high-profile rap and reggae stars hook up and create an album with a blend of the styles. Much like Guru (the rapper) did with mixing jazz and rap, Nas brought something totally new to the game. Even if you don't love it, Distant Relatives was something very unique and different, opening the doors for future collab's.

I agree with much of what you said. But at the end of the day Distant Relatives has not been as influential as you claim it is. I hope it is in the future, but that has yet to be seen.

 

It wasn't a flop either, somewhere in between. It was good - but that album was simply NOT great. I enjoyed it, it had a lot of great messages, but I do not think Nas is a top 5 MC this year only.

 

 

A great sleeper in this discussion is Lloyd Banks...his album just leaked, and I'm listening to it as I type, lol...It's pretty good so far. He's the only one in G-Unit with any talent, so he's close to a top 5 MC of this year too.

[Nitro]

I agree with much of what you said. But at the end of the day Distant Relatives has not been as influential as you claim it is. I hope it is in the future, but that has yet to be seen.

 

It wasn't a flop either, somewhere in between. It was good - but that album was simply NOT great. I enjoyed it, it had a lot of great messages, but I do not think Nas is a top 5 MC this year only.

 

5-6 months isn't anywhere near long enough to see how influential the album really was. But I don't think anyone can argue that it is something TOTALLY unique from anything any rapper with recognition has done. Just because only a very small number of rappers after Run DMC did that song with Aerosmith did rap/rock collab's doesn't mean it wasn't revolutionary.

 

And I disagree, I did think Distant Relatives was great. It was IMO Nas' best work, top to bottom, since Stillmatic. I am not a reggae fan, which is why it isn't something I can keep on rotation constantly like some other albums, but it was still great.

 

A great sleeper in this discussion is Lloyd Banks...his album just leaked, and I'm listening to it as I type, lol...It's pretty good so far. He's the only one in G-Unit with any talent, so he's close to a top 5 MC of this year too.

 

How does him being the only rapper in G-Unit with talent make him close to a top 5 MC this year?

[Real Deal]

I feel like a little too much weight is being shifted over to who is doing different things, and not enough about who is still going hard, period. Did you guys actually like Weezy's "revolutionary" music, when he decided to throw rap and rock into a box and shake it up? That [expletive] was garbage.

 

It's cool to hear something different, but there's a reason why old hip-hop never dies. People complain about how rap needs to rise from the dead again...and a lot of it is directed to those current artists that go away from the trend, rather than stick with it.

 

I always hear people say they want the old Eminem back, especially when he released Relapse (which sucked). Now, suddenly, they are looking for something different from him? He gets pounced on when he tries to sing, got criticized when he would take shots at people in his music, called a homophobe, called sexist, called out for piggybacking artists, and it never seems to satisfy anyone.

 

Going, "Oh wow, that's something new, that's cool," it just doesn't make much sense when some of your favorite music was all produced a long time ago, duplicated over and over again by other rappers.

[BasX]

I've only really enjoyed Shad and Distant Relatives, haven't heard Kanye or Cudi's yet.

[Nitro]

I feel like a little too much weight is being shifted over to who is doing different things, and not enough about who is still going hard, period. Did you guys actually like Weezy's "revolutionary" music, when he decided to throw rap and rock into a box and shake it up? That [expletive] was garbage.

 

It's cool to hear something different, but there's a reason why old hip-hop never dies. People complain about how rap needs to rise from the dead again...and a lot of it is directed to those current artists that go away from the trend, rather than stick with it.

 

However, Nas is still going hard, just with a different style. His flow/rhymes are still tight, but with Damian he used subject matter that everyone can relate to (one of the benefits of that style of music over selling crack, making it rain, etc..), and used the reggae type production. If creativity was pushed to the side, and rappers were to spit over the same type of beats with the same subject matter, the industry would suck.

 

Bottom line is if someone goes outside the box, the end-result better be well-done. Not necessarily something everyone will love, but something that is well-done. I think when rappers try and go outside the box, they are completely out of their comfort zone and don't know how to make it all come together. Nas has been an elite MC for nearly 20 years, and over the last decade or so has been experimenting with more mature subject matter. I think a huge reason for his recent solo flops have been production-oriented more than anything else. Damian is one of the best at what he does on the mic as well as with the production, and he's closer to a rap-reggae artist than simply reggae. When you put them together, one is proficient at what the other may not be, and they are both doing what made them famous to begin with, so the end-result is very well-done. Not everyone will love it, but it's still good music.

 

I always hear people say they want the old Eminem back, especially when he released Relapse (which sucked). Now, suddenly, they are looking for something different from him? He gets pounced on when he tries to sing, got criticized when he would take shots at people in his music, called a homophobe, called sexist, called out for piggybacking artists, and it never seems to satisfy anyone.

 

The thing is old Eminem WAS different, and is precisely what made him famous. IMO his new stuff goes too far away from what made him great. With Nas, it's a different situation because his flow is the same, delivery is the same (for the most part), and his subject matter remains insightful and poetic. With Em, the only thing that's really the same from when he was at his best is his name, jabs at figures in the media, and vulgar jokes. Otherwise, he's like a totally different MC, and if you didn't know him he'd sound like 3-4 different MC's over the course of his career.

[Riot]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4f/Big-boi-sir-lucious-left-foot-the-son-of-chico-dusty-HQ.jpg

[JYD]

Lloyd Banks being the only GUNIT member with talent and being a top 5 mc this year have no relation at all; that's not what I was saying...sorry for not making that clear lol.

[Real Deal]

The thing is old Eminem WAS different, and is precisely what made him famous. IMO his new stuff goes too far away from what made him great. With Nas, it's a different situation because his flow is the same, delivery is the same (for the most part), and his subject matter remains insightful and poetic. With Em, the only thing that's really the same from when he was at his best is his name, jabs at figures in the media, and vulgar jokes. Otherwise, he's like a totally different MC, and if you didn't know him he'd sound like 3-4 different MC's over the course of his career.

Relapse was different, Recovery reminded me more of the old Em. Are you wanting him to go back and talk about his daughter and his mom, how he grew up? I mean, you want him to head into...what direction?

 

It's really like I was saying...other rappers are bad for standing ground and not changing, Em gets slapped for changing. Then Em starts to go back to the way he was, and it's not good enough.

 

I'm not so sure what everyone is wanting him to do. Recovery was great.

[bloo]

Joe Budden, Eminem, Nas, Talib Kweli, Jermaine Cole.