10-WALE-Attention Deficit (Allido)
As we mentioned in former posts, we have shortened our Albums of the year to an historic minimum of 30; leaving the rest of noteworthy releases for our Honorary Mentions section, divided by genre. We begin with the black sounds, on a year that hasn’t been too kind to either R&B or hip-hop artists. There were, however, a few notable exceptions: A few members of the Wu-Tang Clan getting back into shape; the endless beats arsenal of both Madlib and The late J. Dilla kept on being released; a couple of female R&B singers brought some freshness to a rather stagnated genre, so uncertain of its ways that has adopted as common practice the endless delaying of release dates for every album that lacked of immediate commercial appeal – recent works by Eve; Missy Elliott; The Roots; Big Boi from Outkast; Lil Wayne; Lupe Fiasco and many others felt victim of this annoying habit. On a more positive note, Electrik Red, a brand new girl band backed by The Dream and “Tricky” Stewart , released the album The Pussycat Dolls, Rihanna or even Beyonce would have killed for. Sadly, It got completely ignored.
9-KERI HILSON-In A Perfect World (Interscope)
8-DAM FUNK-Toeachizone (Stones Throw)
7-AMERIE-In Love And War (Def Jam)
6-METHOD MAN AND REDMAN-Blackout 2 (Def Jam)
5-MADLIB-Beat Conducta Vols. 5-6 (Stones Throw)
4-DJ QUIK/KURUPT-Blaqkout (Mad Science)
3-DOOM-Born Like This (Lex)
2-J DILLA-Jay Stay Paid (Nature Sounds)
1-ELECTRIK RED-How To Be A Lady Pt. 1 (Def Jam)