2004 in Hip-hop

[Lord Nibbler]

2004 was, IMO, a bit of a mixed year. There were some good albums released, but there was also a lot of disappointment. These are the albums I bought/heard this year:

February:

Kanye West - College Dropout

Kanye was everywhere, managing to chart with songs about selfishness and Jesus. No mean feat. Certainly the mainstream album of the year.

March:

Cee Lo – Cee Lo Green The Soul Machine

Better than The Love Below.

Madvillain - Madvillainy

Possibly the best album released this year. Madlib provided the perfect backdrop for Doom's (or should that be Viktor Vaughan's) irreverent raps.

April:

Ghostface – The Pretty Toney Album

Decent overall, with one of the hottest singles of the year with the Jadakiss collabo Run.

D12 - D12 World

Predictably lame. The only suprising thing about the album is that My Band wasn't the worst single of the year (Just Lose It) and that How Come was possibly the best thing Em came out with all year.

June:

Beastie Boys – To The 5 Boroughs

Got a lot of critical acclaim. I still don't see the appeal. Old school rhymes don't sound as good in annoying voices.

Jadakiss – Kiss of Death

Disappointingly full of radio friendly club hits and an ill-advised, uninformed attempt to jump on the Bush-bashing bandwagon.

Lloyd Banks – The Hunger For More

Another case of punchline-emcee-unable-to-transfer-mixtape-appeal-to-album syndrome.

July:

The Roots – The Tipping Point

They might have been pandering to mainstream a little with the production, but it was still head and tails above most. And I appreciated Boom a lot more after listening to San Andreas' Playback FM.

September:

Jedi Mind Tricks – Legacy of Blood

Great production, as is to be expected. Unfortunately, Vinnie Paz isn't Canibus. For every dope line we get about important matters, we get at least five uncomfortable lines about his hatred for 'faggots'.

November:

Eminem – Encore

Em continued down the slippery slope he's been on pretty since he hooked up with 50. Maybe two songs worth a listen.

Nas - Street's Disciple

Solid, but with too much filler. Could have trimmed it down Blueprint 2.1-style to a near-classic single disc.

December:

Xzibit – Weapons of Mass Destruction

Nothing new, but a solid album. The title is misleading; there's very little in the way of political rap on the album. Then again, I'd rather he stick to what he does best than make the same mistake Jada did.

Overall, it wasn't a great year for rap. Granted I haven't heard the Kweli or Mos Def albums yet, and I did discover MF Doom, but a lot of the big name players disappointed and the radio was full of God-awful 'crunk'.

Your thoughts on 2K4?

Edited December 26, 2004 by Jimmy the Exploder

[StevenRichardsRules]

I don't mind Encore. It's okay, nothing special.

[SlickNick187]

I thought 2004 was okay. ANother good year for underground rap fans IMO. K-os, MF Doom, and Masta Ace really had great albums. In the mainstream it wasn't as good, but Nas, Xzibit, Kanye, Ghostface, Mos Def, and Kweli came through. Encore was really bad and I hope Em does beter next time around. I hope for better next year.

[Big Hydro]

If you ask me, I think it was a hit and miss year. We got some great albums Nas's Street Disciple, Kanye's College Drop Out, The Alchemist's 1st Infantry, Twista's Overnight Celebrity, and Talib's Beautiful Struggle along with a few other ones. Then we got straight ass albums like Eminem's Encore, which while bad still had some good tracks on it (Yellow Brick Road, Toy Soldiers, etc) and some more dissapointing albums like you mentioned Jada's album. I really didn't see anything great come out of the underground, with a few exceptions like Apathy's Where's Your Album? and that Jedi Mind Tricks album. Hopefull 2005 will be good with releases from Lil E (son of Eazy E) and Dr. Dre's Dextox. Unfortunately we're all going to have to go through the releases of the new 50 Cent and Game.

[Michael]

Personally I think Nas is gonna become THE big player in 2005. I've been watching this guy for a long time and he is pretty awesome.

[Guest BacknBlackHoez]

very bad year IMO.

i liked Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter & B.G. - Life After Cash Money, also....

[StevenRichardsRules]

K-os is awesome. I think he's the sh*t!

[Big Tuna]

My favorite Hip-Hop album of the year was Kyprios' Say Something. To The 5 Buroughs was pretty good too.

I can't say much about the rest of that list. I either haven't heard of the CDs, or didn't like the singles off them.

[fineintent]

Extremely poor year for hip hop IMO. It's basically been the rise and rise of gangsta posturing with the success of the painfully average G-Unit crew. Hip Hop is in poor condition, as Chuck D said in one of his Live Journals there aren't enough rappers who are actually saying something - everyone just wants to rap about how much they have etc.

Good albums from Nas, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, the Beastie Boys and The Roots though.

[Guest Heyyyy]

I think this year was quite good for Hip Hop,however Mos Def and Talib Kwelis albums were seen as let downs, Eminems was a massive let down, however next year is going to be better, new Immortal Technique, Beanie Sigel, Game, Dre, Black Rob and Outkast so I think next year could be good however Shady/Aftermath/G-Unit are running it next year theyve got everything planned Game,50,Stat Quo,Dre,Tony Yayo, Banks,D12 solo albums its theirs next year.

[Guest BacknBlackHoez]

ill prolly check out Dre's album, but Game, 50, Banks, Quo, Yayo & D12 are sorry, i wont be checkin them out at all.

[Driver The Naniwa]

Talib Kweli's "Beautiful Struggle Mixtape Vol. 2">any album released in 2004!!!

Kweli's Beautiful Struggle album was a big letdown for me, as was Mos Def's album.

Kanye's album was great. Definitly deserved to be 5 mic's in the Source but whatever.

Streets Disciple was a tremendous album as well. Another one that, i feel, should've been a 5 mic album but it wasn't. Fuck Source magazine! :thumbsup:

TI, Ludacris, Eminem, and Jada were others that released albums i was looking forward too but ended up disapointed with.

2004 was an alright year for Hip-Hop. Alot of albums flopped but it seems to me that 2005 will be better. Hopefully.

[Guest BacknBlackHoez]

Ja's album was solid, as was Yukmouth's United Ghetto's Of America vol. 2

Edited December 27, 2004 by BacknBlackHoez

[Driver The Naniwa]

Ja's album was solid, as was Yukmouth's United Ghetto's Of America vol. 2

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[Guest BacknBlackHoez]

My "2 Look For" In 2005

Tech N9ne - Everlasting The Religion

Yukmouth - Million Dollar Mouthpiece

Beanie Sigel - The B.Coming

Krayzie Bone - Gemini (Good vs. Evil)

Kanye West - Late Registration

Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury

Mac Dre (r.i.p) & Da Unda Dogg - 15 Years Deep

and there may be a Brotha Lynch Hung album somewhere in 2005.

Edited December 27, 2004 by BacknBlackHoez

[Guest Heyyyy]

To add to your list is Saigon-Letter to Black America, that album is going to be entirely produced by Just Blaze its going to be mad mate. Also Im not really looking forward to them Shady/Aftermath/G-Unit but its known that next years going to be there year if only Rocafella/Def Jam could get their act together.

[Psicosis]

Talib Kweli's "Beautiful Struggle Mixtape Vol. 2">any album released in 2004!!!

Kweli's Beautiful Struggle album was a big letdown for me, as was Mos Def's album.

Edited December 28, 2004 by Psicosis

[Guest killacam2006]

what about Cam'ron - purple haze it was classic

[Guest BacknBlackHoez]

cam'ron is garbage, IMO.

[Lord Nibbler]

what about Cam'ron - purple haze it was classic

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