The year's almost over! Apart of the annual tradition, I took the liberty of asking my fellow counterparts a survey of what they thought were the Top 5 Albums of the 2012 year. I was overwhelmed (in a good way) with the responses I received. Some did not only submit albums... but they also submitted songs AND mixtapes. This year was definitely a great year for music. I must say.. this list is more diverse than last year's. Check out the responses after the jump!:
Descendent MC
@DescendentMC
Top 5 albums of 2012
1.
2.
3. Nas- Life Is Good
4. Sean Price - Mic Tyson
5. Add-2 - Save.Our.Souls
Top Songs of 2012
3. Ab-Soul - "Nothing Something"
4. Big K.R.I.T.- "1986"
5. Kendrick Lamar - "Good Kid"
___________________________________________________________
Shard B.
@Kid_Fn_Frankie
Top 5 Albums (Mixtapes included) of 2012
1.
2.
3. Curren$y- Stoned Immaculate
4. Big Sean- Detroit
5. Slaughterhouse- Welcome To Our House
_______________________________________________________________________ Daq
@PapaTitti
Top 5 albums (mixtapes included) of 2012
1.
2.
3. Schoolboy Q- Habits & Contradictions
4. Ab-Soul- Control System
5. Moruf & Iman Omari- Euphoria (The Tape)
__________________________________________________________________
Vercetti
@iMajerle
Top 5 Albums (Mixtapes included) of 20121.
2.
3. Baby Face Killa- Freddie Gibbs
4. 4 Eva in a Day- Big K.R.I.T.
5. TM 103: Young Jeezy
________________________________________________________ Justin
@Music_Live_Life
Top 5 Albums (Mixtapes included) of 2012
1.
2.
3. T.I. - Trouble Man
4. Young Jeezy- It’s Tha World
5. Big Sean- Detroit (OH GOD!)
_______________________________________________________________________
Loaf
@DevyDev_
Honorable Mentions of 2012
11. #The1st28- Currensy & Styles P 10. Urban Farmer- Berner
9. Gorilla Zoe World- Gorilla Zoe
8. The black bar mitzvah- Rick Ross
7. Cabin Fever 2- Wiz Khalifa
6. Sex, Drugs & Video Games- David Banner
5. 4EvanaDay- Big Krit:
Released early in the year this tape was bumped by Hip-Hop purist and served as something to hold us over til Live from the Underground came out. In my opinion, he could’ve put this out as an album. Me & My Old School was the track that stood out to me on this one.
When news dropped that this tape was coming out, people got excited. The internet was a buzz with news and people stopped doing what they were doing to go get it. I didn’t see the hype as I waited a day or two to download it and then a day or two to listen to it. But when I did, I was actually surprised at what I heard. It was a nice tape with some good songs, besides the obvious that everyone listens to, my favorite track off the tape was “Use to Be feat. Jordanne”. As I feel like all artist should have that one track that admits raw emotion. Overall, this was a good tape.
This is the mixtape that started 2012 off with a bang. Everybody under the known hood sun was playing this, and it even coined the term “you wasn’t wit me shootin in thegym” jokes that we’ve heard a million times. People seemed to genuinely like this mixtape although it was a lack of music that was out at that time. Either way this tape deserves to be up there on this list because of the impact it had in 2012.
2.
While it always seems like Jay comes through when we miss him the most. Now his mixtapes are those of old where you can bump practically all of the tracks .. The one's that you can play continuously are usually club hits. Two minutes after it's release I saw people tweeting "I go to work .. I do my job .. I gets it in .. I go hard" .. granted most people are unemployed. Either way .. He came back through at the end of the year with something to hold us over until his next album hits the shelf.
1.
.
What more can I say about this album. It was a a return back to the old Sean after many felt like he got too comercial on his debut album over a year ago, & boy did he come out the gate swinging, the first track on the mixtape is also my track of the year, Higher was nothing more than a hit amongst rap enthuists. From there it just seems like every song just flows into the other one. With Common, Jeezy & Snoop [Lion] serving as skits and man other stars lending their helping bars, this mixtapes couldve easily passed as an album.
R & B Albums of 2012
10. Ora- Rita Ora
9. Looking for Love- Usher
8. Kaleidoscope Dream- Miguel
7. The MF Life- Melanie Fiona
6. Girl on Fire- Alicia Keys
5. Chapter V- Trey Songz
4. R.E.D.- Neyo
3. Insomnia- Sammie
2.
1.
Hip Hop/ Rap Albums of 2012
15. Quality Street Music- DJ Drama
14. Strange Clouds- B.O.B
13. God Forgives, I don’t- Rick Ross
12. Vicious Lies & Dangerous Rumors- Big Boi
11. Live from the Underground- Big. K.R.I.T
10. Trouble Man (Heavy is the Head)- T.I.
9. Kiss the Ring- DJ Khaled
8. O.N.I.F.C.- Wiz Khalifa
7. Based on a T.R.U. Story- 2 Chainz
6. Food and Liquor II (The Great American Rap Album, Part 1)- Lupe Fiasco
5. Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City- Kendrick Lamar
4. Jesus Piece- The Game
3. Cruel Summer- G.O.O.D. Music
2.
1.
_____________________________________________________________________
S-Class
www.sclasstakeover.com
Top 5 Albums of 2012
Tie for 1.
really no explanation needed. Most complete albums of 2012. Both classic storytelling.
2. The Game- Jesus Piece: def has potential to be #1. Game's best album IMO. The theme of the album is great but loses focus with tracks like Celebration & I remember
3. Slaughterhouse- Welcome To Our House/God Forgives I Don't: SH album is slightly better due to lyrical content but lacks the production somewhat that Ross had. Ross album was definitely a banger but after Sixteen track the album starts to take a nose dive. Way too many repetitive & filler tracks.
4. G.O.O.D. Music- Cruel Summer: 2 reasons this album wasn't higher. 1) To the world track throws off the entire feel of the album. 2) At least 6 of the tracks from the album Kanye leaked months before the album released. Then only gives us 6 extra tracks we've never heard before.
5. Meek Mill- Dreams & Nightmares/T.I.- Trouble Man: Another tie again. Actually TI album is better. Production, lyrical content, ESP the storytelling & theme of the album. TI best album since Paper Trail IMO, but there's no way Meek could be left off the list. Overhyped debut album but a decent debut. Starts off the album solid with the intro & keeps up with the theme of the album but tracks like Amen, Believe It sound like filler tracks that belong a mixtape.
Honorable Mentions of 2012:
______________________________________________________________
Junie La
@TooSoonJunes
Top 5 albums of 2012 (No Particular Order)
Big KRIT - Live From The Underground
Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, Maad City
Rapsody - The Idea of Beautiful
Honorable Mentions of 2012
The Game - Jesus Piece
Big Boi - Vicious Lies and Rumors
Alley Boy - Wolf In Sheep's Clothing
Top Mixtapes of 2012
________________________________________________________
Fife
@MrKingKong0307
Top 5 Albums (Mixtapes Included) of 2012
1.
2.
3. Meek Mill - Dreamchasers 2
4. MGK(Machine Gun Kelly) - Lace Up
5. GOOD Music - Cruel Summer
Top Songs of 2012
3. Trinidad James - All Gold Everything
4. Chief Keef - I Don't Like
5. Skillz - 2012 Wrap
Jerm
@AcedizzyFlow
Top 5 Albums of 2012
1.
2.
3. Frank Ocean- Channel Orange
4. Rapsody- The Idea of Beautiful
5. Big K.R.I.T- Live from the Underground
_______________________________________________________________ Dolcezza
And last, but not least,... MY LIST. Again, I did not have a specific order. They all give me a different feel.. a different mood. It took me longer than usual to narrow this down, so I had to break this into 2 parts. With that being said... here are
MY top albums of 2012...
Frank’s voice. ANY track. Captures the attention. Honestly, this was the ONLY album I purchased (physically) this year. I couldn’t wait to hear it.. especially after hearing “Sweet Life”. Sure, people were stunned to find out he was referring to a man (in most cases) once revealing he was a homosexual, but that didn’t take away from the music. It was pure. It was raw. It was heart felt.. in every way imaginable. You can’t beat that.
Sn: I have an ENTIRE video from start to finish created for ‘Super Rich Kids’.. my fav track on the album. Oh how I wish I could share with this man…
After “Brand New Guy” on Asap Rocky’s mixtape.. most ppl were wondering who is Schoolboy Q? That was just the buzz he needed for this album because as the people asked.. he released this and delivered. You can rock this from start to finish. Q’s cali flow and hardcore, but catchy, lyrics leave you fully engaged in the songs. The new release from this TDE artist proved.. they ain’t nothin’ to fxck wit.
God Forgives, I Don’t-Rick Ross:
This intro… This album. IMO.. Ross has never dropped what one would call a “bad” album. But this one here… he put his “drawls” in it. I can’t find the words to describe it. The 3 Kings track alone was a CLASSIC. Feel good album. Even if you weren’t in the tropics.. it felt like it. This album put(s) me in a good place.
Kaleidoscope Dream- Miguel:
I wasn’t really what folks would call a Miguel “fan”. I didn’t listen to his first CD.. and wasn’t really sold on his music completely. It wasn’t until I heard this album. This guys voice is remarkable as if he croons so effortlessly. I call this my “levitating” album. The Euphoric feeling I get while listening to it is addictive. He did a GREAT job with piecing this one together. You can play it all the way through.
Jesus Piece- The Game:
At first.. after hearing his “Holy Water” track (well 30 seconds of it) before the album dropped.. I was convinced.. I was NOT going to have any parts of this album. It was going in a direction that I wasn’t with (which will seem crazy once you see the next album below). Then… he kept releasing more tracks.. more tracks that had SAMPLES (the key to a piece of my heart). I mean Great samples. I was lured in right away. Although, they were not on Jesus Piece…I felt it might be alluding to what I could expect on the album. I was right. This album is so great in a sense of.. it’s not what you expect. No blasphemy every 5 seconds… but actual dope lyrics… dope beats.. and featured artists that could only bring the album up a notch than what it already was. “Ali Bomaye” was enough to not make me need to hear the rest of the album.. but know it was DOPE. I DID listen to the rest of the album.. but you get what I was saying. The Game put in work on this one.
OF Tape Vol. 2- Odd Future:
My guilty pleasure. I was roaming down South Beach one day when one of the record company reps dropped this off in the sneaker store I was in (days before its actual release). I picked it up and ripped the packaging by accident smh (don’t ask) so the guy said I could have it lol. I had already been listening to Odd Future prior to this album, but I never heard them like this. I prob played this album to the point of no return. All the elements were there that made the deranged, uncensored lyrics come into fruition with dope elements in whole. Don’t judge me. This is one of my faves lol.
Cruel Summer- GOOD Music:
I was SO disappointed with this album. Reason being… Half the tracks were released months before the damn album dropped. You can’t have that many songs released and then come out with a 11 track album -_-. It was such a let down (looking forward to NEW music wise). The album book didn’t feature ALL good music artists which was ridiculously weird and then all the good music artists weren’t even featured on the album! Ahhhh it was so many things wrong. However… and this is a huge however… you couldn’t deny the tracks, whether you heard them over and over again 3 months in advance. Mercy can still come on the radio til this day and you’ll sing every word like it’s the hottest thing out. I’m not sure about effort when making this album…. But the outcome was good. Good enough to make this list lol. If I didn’t hear half the album before.. I would have had so many great things to say aside from Kwon and ‘Them murdering “The Morning"..
Life is Good- Nasir Jones.
The album cover. The lyrics. A song like “Cherry Wine”. The man’s honesty is respected at an all time high. It’s like he was saying.. this is who I am whole heartedly.. vulnerable and all… take it or leave it. And ppl TOOK it. This album was great. You can always count on Nas to take you back to a feel segment of YO! MTV raps.. but with these lyrics so frank, it was an album you couldn’t stray from.
The Stoned Immaculate- Curren$y.
Spitta is one of my faves. The quality of the tunes is just pure dope shit. This album deserved more recognition and success than it received. Classic shit. Top 5 Mixtapes of 2012
This had the potential to be an album. Ross has a way of just delivering music man. This tape got great reviews.. and I fully concurred.
3. French Montana- Mac & Cheese 3:
I’ve been a French fan for a while now. Although, he has become more mainstream.. I thought I’d give this tape a try. No opinion necessarily formulated yet.. but just as a oh French dropped a new one? Lemme check it out type of vibe. I was totally surprised from what I thought would just be turn up and ratchet music (listen to ‘och cinco’)..it was the complete opposite. I mean sure it had its bangers.. but the quality of the elements to this album were pretty good: catchy lyrics, features, beats etc. If this is just a teaser to what his album will be like.. I may just have to check that out too.
4. Wiz Khalifa- Taylor Allderice:
Dat Piff was jammed for hours once this dropped. The anticipation was crazy high.. and man oh man did Wiz deliver. I was hoping it wasn’t going to be trash.. and he didn’t let me down. It was a taste of the old wiz we all miss.. and the transition point where we still rocked with him.. but knew he was about to convert over. I really enjoyed this one.
5. Dom Kennedy- The Yellow Tape:
Dom has the type of flow where it’s not difficult at all to learn the lyrics.. and quite personable once you realize what he’s saying. He’s like the homie around the way.. that you’re routing for. Not necessarily because he WANTS to be a rapper.. but he’s just funny as hell.. can freestyle off anything.. and is cool to kick it with. I was impressed with the yellow tape. This guy right here is on his way.
*Honorable Mention.. Jeremih- Late Nights w/ Jeremih:
Another impressive tape. I randomly came across this one and gave it a listen. This DEFINITELY should have gotten A LOT more attention than it received. It’s worthy of it. Check it out in your spare time if you can.
Until Next year... xoxo. I'll leave you with this:
Previous Post: The Votes are In: Top 5 Albums of 2011?
No comments:
Post a Comment