Happy new year/decade everyone.

I’m a bit late making a “Best of the Noughties” post. By now there have been so many that I think it would be pointless for me to make a list with Discovery, Voodoo, Sound Of Silver, a few others and call it a day. So I figured I’d ramble a bit about my favorite subject: rap.

A few days ago my man Sean C wrote on twitter that Get Rich Or Die Tryin, The College Dropout and The Blueprint were the best rap albums of the decade. “Those albums changed things,” he said. You can’t really argue with that, frankly. I’m going to surprise a few people by saying 50′s debut was probably the closest thing to a flawless album. You see, we’ve grown accustomed to cherishing The Blueprint because it was the first big-name rap album in years that was actually consistent and mature. After years of major label albums that sounded like compilations with their obligatory contributions from hot producers of the moment, Jay brought it back to samples, brought it back to a unifying sound and introduced us to two whippersnapper producers named Kanye West and Just Blaze. But The Blueprint had its flaws. “Hola Hovito” is generally acknowledged as the album’s weak link and really, “All I Need” wasn’t great and “Jigga That N***a” sounded out of place. That didn’t stop me from praising the album, and as far as I’m concerned, my beat juggle on “Jigga” was the reason why Kanye hired me that fateful day in London. Now let’s talk about Mr. West. The College Dropout was a masterpiece, an even bigger breath of fresh air than Jay’s album because of what Kanye himself represented: a sincere, self-conscious, complex, funny and intelligent rapper with seemingly endless creativity. The everyman honesty of “All Falls Down” juxtaposed with the daring message of “Jesus Walks”, delivered by this preppy dude in pastel colors, ushered in a complete paradigm shift. Still, the album weighed in on the lengthy side with too many skits and the sore thumb that is “Breathe In Breathe Out”, and as a rapper Kanye wasn’t quite on par yet. This brings us to Get Rich. 50 Cent is not lyrical. The album didn’t have much depth. But as I look back now, I’m baffled by its strength. It’s not my personal favorite, but…. find me a weak song on there! Each one was an anthem. And sonically, in terms of mixing and mastering, they raised the bar, which only made it more accomplished and untouchable. Bravo, bad guy.

(more…)