Josh Spoon

Top 5 Hip Hop Albums of 2011

This year has been a great year of music releases, unfortunately my head was down working on a concept album of Back to the Future. Here are the top 5 Hip Hop Albums of 2011.

#5. Pharoahe Monch - W.A.R. (We Are Renegades)

I sadly found out about Monch this year. He’s been around for a while. I’ve since listened to his back catalog. This album is dripping with revolutiontionary statements poverty, discrimination and man-kind. Many songs have a live feel as well as traditionally hip hop.

Don’t miss:

• “Clap” (One Day)
• “Black Hand Side”
• “Let My People Go”
• Actually, they are all good
   

#4 Kanye West & Jay-Z - Watch the Throne

Everyone knows about this album. I didn’t really like this album at first. But I grew to appreciate the spastic selection of music for the tracks in this album from classic hip hop to dubstep. There are some cool lines in the album.

“…The girl in all Leparod. Who was rubbing the wood like KiKi Shepard.”
- Kanye West “No Church in the Wild” 

“I mad Jesus walk so I’m never going to hell.” 
- Kanye West “otis” 

“Psycho, I’m liable to be go Michael; Take your pick, Jackson, Tyson, Jordan, Game 6”

- Jay-Z “

Don’t miss:

• New Day
• Ni**as in Paris
• Otis
• Who Gon Stop Me

#3 Josh Spoon - Beats to the Future

You better believe I put myself in the mix. I worked hard on this album and staying true to expression the scenes Back to the Future thru beats. If you haven’t already listened, you should. I think this is my Reasonable Doubt. The grooves of the tracks range from my electro-Hip Hop feel to more classic type beats influenced by golden age Hip Hop tracks.

Don’t miss:

• Intro
• Save the Clock Tower
• Jail Bird Joey
• Oh Mama
• Jord Engel
• No Place Like Home

# 2 Danny Brown - XXX

Man, this album hit me in the face with a 2x4. I saw him and Pharoahe at a SXSW event that Just Blaze put on. I thought this dude was awesome, one side of his head shaved and wearing a David Bowie Aladdin Sane t-shirt. Crazy lines and mad flavor, little too much misogyny for me but that’s his thing. The album takes you through parts of his live up to the age of 30, the Detroit scene and other craziness. It is truly talking about the other side of the streets may rappers don’t talk about much these days, a lot of story telling of what’s going on in the daily life of people in area. 

Don’t miss:

• XXX - Danny Brown - “I used to turn these drugs, now these drugs turn my life,”
• Die Like a Rockstar
• Fields
• Scrap or Die
• 30

#1 (MF) DOOM - Operation Doomsday: Lunchbox 

This album was really release in 1999 but this is in on a technicality, because of the Lunchbox re-release. Also, DOOM is the man, he’s like the Hip Hop Ronald Reagan. You compare all emcees off him and you can speak ill of him even if he helped trade drugs for guns. ;)

Beside Kanye West, DOOM opened my eyes to production and emceeing. His lines are crazy layered gems. I still listen to this album and learn things about what he is rhyming about. 

This album is nothing like what was going on or is really going on. All the skit cuts, loose beats, raw rhymes and beats. You know this album wasn’t produced by Bob Rock or something. This is a hustlers album. RJD2 said that this album was recorded with a Shure SM58 head in DOOM’s hands. RAW!!!

Don’t miss:

• Doomsday
• Rhymes Like Dimes
• Hey!
• Gas Drawls

That’s it. Stay safe for the remaining days of 2011.

@joshspoon