Top Ten Albums of 2008

Musically speaking, 2008 was sort of a middling year for me. It certainly wasn’t without ANY albums that were pleasing to my ear, but going through my mental catalog of those 366 days didn’t yield the results of the past few years; while I could easily identify albums and artists I enjoyed, I was hard pressed to come up with my usual list of records that RULED MY WORLD. As a result, I’ve narrowed my list down to ten entries (down from the usual 20). And while there were other albums not included here that held my attention during the Year of the Rat, I couldn’t necessarily put my official stamp on them as ‘Best Albums’.

‘But Sean,’ you may be protesting with a bit too much bass in your voice, ‘it’s not the end of the year anymore; we’re almost a month into 2009 already. What gives?’ And to that I say, ‘SIT YOUR FIVE DOLLAR ASS DOWN BEFORE I MAKE CHANGE.’ This was a list that was so meticulously crafted, so plentiful with insightful analysis, and so thoughtfully arranged that y’all weren’t READY for it in the ’08…I HAD to push it back for you non-believers…*

*Ok, the truth of the matter is that I got pretty busy towards the end of December and kept putting it off. Then my laptop crashed. And then it crashed again. And then it crashed AGAIN. I’m sorry for the delay, and I promise that this won’t happen next year…maybe.

Aaron McGruder: Beyond the Boondocks (Okayplayer)

Much like the cast of characters that make up his acclaimed comic strip The Boondocks, Aaron McGruder is a man unafraid to speak his mind. Whether addressing America’s racial stereotypes, the absurdity of its government, or the idiosyncrasies of its culture in general, McGruder’s smart and sardonic commentary earned him a legion of followers. Huey and Riley Freeman, characters that respectively represented a culture’s skeptical worldview and near-deification of hip-hop music, resonated with audiences leading to the development of an animated series on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.

Blu’s Rookie Year: Johnson&Jonson Up To Bat (Okayplayer)

Has any other emerging artist in hip-hop had a rookie year as chockfull of material and schizophrenic artistic direction as Blu? While the LA-based rapper seemingly scored the most points with the underground hip-hop head demographic with his collaborative debut with producer Exile, Below the Heavens, he’s since been cranking out albums at an alarmingly rapid pace – his release with Ta’Raach as C.R.A.C., The Piece Talks hit stores months later, and now his latest project with producer Mainframe, known as Johnson&Jonson collectively, is set to be released. The self-titled Johnson&Jonson record drops on September 23, just a year and one month after the whole album cycle began.

Tanya Morgan Take it to The Bridge: Interview (Okayplayer)

With their latest release, The Bridge EP, garnering the group more attention than ever before, and their recent addition as opening act for indie hip-hop legends Hieroglyphics, it looks like another one of our own is on the cusp of breaking into a new sphere of success. Tanya Morgan is on the grind, having come a long way since the trio first linked up through Okayplayer’s message boards.

An hour before they were set to rock the stage at the Social in Orlando, FL, I caught up with group members Donwill and Von Pea (third member Illyas is holding it down on the homefront for this outing), and here’s how it all went down…

Skillz – His Dreams Are In His Backpack: Interview (Okayplayer)

Skillz is something of an anomaly in hip-hop – he’s managed to maintain a healthy music career over the better part of two decades, and yet in many respects, his new album The Million Dollar Backpack is akin to a release from an up-and-coming artist.

“I realize that there’s a lot of people who have no idea who I am,” the VA-native explains on the way back from editing the video for his single “So Far, So Good” featuring Common. “I get complacent sometimes and think, ‘oh, people know me, people know this song,’ but the truth is a little different.”