Tuesday, December 19, 2006
You Know It's That Time of the Year...
Skillz watching "Best Year Ever" and the "Big in '06" awards while doing research for "Rap Up '06"??
When Skillz drop his annual year Rap Up joint:
"06 Rap Up" [MP3: YSI | zshare stream/download]
On the web: website | MySpace | Previous post on Skillz | Buy: From Where???
, Confessions of a Ghostwriter & I Ain't Mad No MoreRelated:
Me and some "hip hop" bloggers choose the year's best albums. To explain my choices: the mandate was to pick albums released between Nov '05 - Nov '06 so a lot of late-released album weren't eligble for voting. Believe me, if I was doing the list now Nas and Jeezy would probably be on there.
On top of that, I wasn't as impressed with a lot of blogger/crtical faves (Roots, Clipse, Ghostface etc.) as others while there were some exceptional mixtapes released which I felt deserved recognition. I think in the current internet age where pre-release versions of albums are often better than the official versions that make it to retail or artists seem to do their best work on "street albums" where they are free of label contraints of having to make "hit records" or Business Affairs depts and record execs who cock-block on the side-artist clearances, only talking about standard albums seems basically irrelevant. It also doesn't take into account the amazing work real DJ/Producers (or "mixtape artists" as Green Lantern calls them) like Green, Mick Boogie and Clinton Sparks are doing in elevating mixtapes beyond being just a bunch of exclusives strung together. MP3 DJ's: watch your backs! Hip Hop ain't dead - it's just evolving. Stay tuned: 2007 should be interesting....
