Top 10 Albums of 2009

This was bound to happen sooner or later - but not too late. Here is, in my opinion, the top 10 best hip-hop albums of this year with an extremely brief explanation.

1. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... II - I already mentioned this album in the top 10 of the decade. This album really stuck to me. Awesome production, lyrics and cameos, what more could I ask for?

2. Wale - Back to the Feature - This was easily my summer album. So many summer jams. Amazing production by 9th Wonder on the bulk of the mixtape, also less mainstream lyricism than in Wale's Attention Deficit.

3. Slaughterhouse - Slaughterhouse - One of the harder albums of '09. Royce, Joell Ortiz, Buddens and Crooked I all kill it on this collaboration. This supergroup collaborated to promote their solo careers further, in doing so they put out a real serious album.

4. Mos Def - The Ecstatic - This album is simply awesome. The beats are smooth as butter and the lyrics and flow are wonderful.

5. Jay-Z - Blueprint 3 - Probably one of the "core hip-hop fans" biggest let down of the year. B3 takes a whole new approach compared to other Jay albums. Admittedly I am not all ears for the entire album, but Jigga knows what he is talking about.

6. Large Professor - The LP - Its like stepping into a time machine. This album brings old school style to modern day hip-hop successfully. Large Professor was one of New York's most renowned producers in the 90s, don't sleep on this album.

7. Wu-Tang Clan - Chamber Music - Although this album was no officially released under the Wu-Tang title, I'm going to consider it a Wu release. Most of the Clan have an appearance along with some classic guest spots. Better than 8 Diagrams to say the least.

8. UGK - UGK 4 Life - Bun B and Pimp C are UGK, and this album is a posthumous release since Pimp C died in December of 2007. Bun took the direction of the album the way it should be - classic UGK, who can hate on that?

9. BlakRoc - BlakRoc - A nice collaboration between blues rock group the Black Keys and some of the game's top hip-hop artists like Mos Def, RZA, M.O.P., Q-Tip and more. Keeping the tradition of collaborations alive this decade, this is easily the best collab of 2009.

10. Eminem - Relapse - This was one of this years most anticipated albums, and it did fairly well. I'm more into older Em - Encore did not really do it for me. The album was produced entirely by Dr. Dre - basically Eminem picked beats out of Dre's extensive catalogue. The album was solid none the less, maybe not to everyones expectations.