This is pretty much the only thing I’ve been listening to since it dropped on Friday. I think So Far Gone is as good, if not better than Drake’s last mixtape Comeback Season. I can really hear his growth as an artist, and his singing is pretty catchy. Actually, So Far Gone is damn near a classic by mixtape standards. Of course, that’s just my personal, professional opinion (and I do mean professional). But I’m not going to get into a long review, because honestly, I’m fuxing tired and I have some other ish to do tonight. So, I’m just gonna post some sandwiches and keep it moving.

But yeah, this mixtape is dope.

In Case You Missed It: Drake – So Far Gone (Mixtape)

Ok, it took us a little while to get this out. I was busy trying to catch up on emails and getting accustomed to saying 2009, but me and the crew over at Ozone finally posted our annual year end awards. I’m sure we’ll piss a couple rappers off with this but that’s pretty much the norm.

OzoneMag.com: 2008 Year End Awards

I put up the wrong polls the other day for best albums, mixtapes, and songs of 2008. But here are the final polls from bloggers across the net, and the top albums of 2008 went like this:

(1) Q-Tip – The Renaissance
(2) Nas – Untitled
(3) Black Milk – Tronic
(4) T.I. – Paper Trail
(5) Roots, The – Rising Down
(6) Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III
(7) Elzhi – The Preface
(8) Jake One – White Van Music
(10) 88 Keys – The Death of Adam

See all the 2008 polls @: HipHopCritic.com

Shouts out to my blog homies Riz, Zilla and Ivan for putting this all together.

You can view my 2008 picks here.

2008 wasn’t a bad year in hip-hop, but I’m expecting a lot more from 2009.

I’m a little late with this, but I was determined not to blog yesterday. But every year my dude Rizoh asks bloggers around the net to send in votes for the best hip-hop albums of 2008. He compiles the lists and from that, we pretty much have a list of the best sh!t in hip-hop over the last year. This year included best albums, mixtapes and songs, along with the most disappointing albums of 2008. I sent in my picks, but none of the sh!t I liked really made the list. Luckily, I have my own blog, so I can voice my opinions and post my own favs (click the link to view the list Riz compiled, and hit the jump to view my fav picks).

Update: My bad, ya’ll. That link to the Rap Up isn’t the compiled list, it’s Rizoh’s own personal list. The compiled list will be up later. Yeah, I’m still in vaca mode. I apologize.

The Best Rap Albums, Mixtapes, & Songs of 2008 (via The Rap Up)

My picks after the jump.

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I’m putting together my lists for best albums, mixtapes, and songs of 2008, so I can submit my votes for the end of the year picks posted over at my dude Rizoh’s blog. I’ve been sitting here for about an hour or so trying to think back through the year, trying to make sure I didn’t forget anything. Now, don’t think just because I put up a pic of Shawty Lo’s album that I’m considering Units in the City as one of the year’s best…I’m actually putting it up as one of the year’s worst, right along with that sh!t Rocko put out, and that album Gucci Mane dropped, where he looks pregnant on the cover. I know there were probably albums worse than those, especially from indie artists that think they can rap, but actually suck azz, but none of those albums come to mind right now (thank God).

Anyways, I want to ask my readers, what are your favorite albums of 2008? And what do you guys think are the worst? I just want to make sure I don’t forget anything when I’m done with my list, and I value my readers’ opinions (well, some of yall’s). And I think I’m going to post the worst albums of 2008, just because I think it’d be funny, and I like to make fun of people like that.

Now, if you all would kindly leave your picks for best & worst albums of 2008, I’ll post my picks once I’m done with my list (probably later on this week).

(I’ll probably ask you guys the same thing about best mixtapes and albums, so you all can go ahead and start thinking about that, too).

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the new Common album came out today and it sucks. I mean, it doesn’t suck really bad, but it sucks a little. It’s easily the worst Common album since Electric Circus. Actually, I hated Electric Circus so much when it came out, I think I erased that album completely from my memory banks, and I have no idea what it sounds like anymore. So, I can’t really compare the two, but if I had to take a guess, I’d say Universal Mind Control is closer to EC than Finding Forever, and it’s hard to believe this is the same artist that dropped Be just three years ago.

Since Kanye was somewhere making auto-tune music, the Neptunes produced most of the tracks on UMC, but I hope Common didn’t pay Pharrell for any of those beats. He would have been better off letting Soulja Boy handle the production, because most of the beats on here are bookey. Common even raps like he doesn’t like the beats.

I do like “Change” and that joint with Cee-Lo (“Make My Day”) a little bit, but that’s about it. From what I heard, this CD was available for just $0.99 today, but it’s highly debatable if it was worth $1 (times are hard). Honestly, I would have copped some nuggets from Wendy’s or something. Sh!t, Common’s the #14 richest rapper of 2008, he’s good.

3 chicken sandwiches, that’s all I can give it:

Ludacris’ new album Theater of the Mind is in stores today too. I forgot to mention that when I was rambling about Kanye’s joint. Cop that Luda today, too. (You happy, AdotB?).

I think Kanye’s 808 & Heartbreak album drops today. I’m not really sure, I’ve been having trouble keeping up with album release dates lately, prolly because I don’t have much of an interest in going to Best Buy and coppin’ albums anymore. But I am going to go get this Kanye album (not today, but I’ll prolly go later this week, like the shopping day after Thanksgiving or something).

A lot of people aren’t really feeling Kanye and his autotune sangin’, but I’m not one of those people. Sh!!!!!t, I kinda like the album. (“Street Lights” is my jam right now). Man, 808 is ridin’ to me, and you know that nucca Ye is good for a quoteable or two. This is gonna be my road trip soundtrack on my way home for Thanksgiving.

Rating:

Kanye performing on David Letterman after the jump.

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Ya’ll need to check this 88-Keys album. Hot sh!t.

88 Keys: The Death of Adam

Vibe.com Review: 88-Keys: The Death of Adam

Video: 88-Keys – True Feelings

I know this isn’t the official album cover but I refuse to post this. Anyways, I listened to Nelly’s latest CD and I don’t even have any words for it, just gonna rate it.

I saw Tyler Perry’s A Family That Preys the other day and I can sum this movie review up simply:

SANAA LATHAN. SANAA LATHAN. SANAA LATHAN.

Nah, I’m bullshitting. Check the review after the jump.

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I thought about doing a live review for the Jeezy album, but I never got around to it. I have a little bit of time this evening, so there’s no better time to do my first ever live blogging album review then now. Basically, I’m gonna listen to the CD track for track and blog my thoughts on it. At the end, I’ll give it my usual chicken sandwich rating (ya’ll know how much I love them chicken sammiches). I skimmed through the album earlier this morning but this will technically be my first time listening straight thru. Here goes:

“56 Bars (Intro)” -Tip’s back working with DJ Toomp I see. That was a good move. Braggadocios rhymes, yeah, yeah, swag, swag, swag, heard it all before. I can tell he’s writing down his rhymes again tho. Damn, he named all the best rappers he could think of…nice! That’s probably the best 56 bars I’ve heard from T.I. in a long time. Nice start to the album.

“Dead & Gone” ft. Justin Timberlake - Seriously, the Justin Timberlake feature is f*cking random, what he couldn’t get Trey Songz? This is no “My Love.” The old T.I. is dead and gone. Soooooooo, is he T.I.P. or T.I. now? I’m confused. Either way, he spits some real shit on this one.

“Every Chance I Get” - Another DJ Toomp track, he should have done a whole album with just Toomp beats. Not sure if these songs are in the right order. Did he just name all of his kids? That nucca got a lot of kids. StreetCred.com shout!!! (Adam Aziz, I see you). Angry T.I., a la this track, raps better than smooth T.I., a la “Get Away.” Shit talking at the end of the song. Wait a minute, doesn’t Big Kuntry’s album come out on September 30th too? They doing that nucca dirty. Dope track tho.

“I’m Illy” - Damn, this beat is ill. I wonder if Scott Storch sold it for the low low since he’s broke? Wow, T.I.’s going in. Did he hire a ghost writer? Yo, he might have stumbled across Weezy’s rhyme book. Someone might wanna investigate that. I used to think T.I. was more swagger than lyrics, I might be changing my stance on that.

“Live Your Life” ft. Rihanna - Heard this one already, kinda like it. Rihanna’s catchy on the hook. I swear, lyrically, T.I.’s on some other shit on this album. I think this one’s gonna go hard in the club. Rihanna breakdown? Didn’t hear this part before. Rihanna can get it too (just wanted to throw that out there).

“My Life, Your Entertainment” ft. Usher - I heard the batteries charging up, must be a Drumma Boy track. I see Tip had a lot to get off his chest. Not really feeling Usher on this one. Really, he coulda got Trey Songz. T.I. rapping about how people live their lives vicariously through his life. Usher…kinda rapping/scatting about the same thing, I guess. I don’t know. Coulda done without Ursher on this one. Still cool tho.

“No Matter What” - Heard this one plenty of times. Great track. Nuff said.

“On Top of the World” ft. Ludacris & B.o.B.  - This is the shit that leaked the other day. I kinda like this one too. My nucca B.o.B. is on here! I got a feeling Luda’s gonna out rap Tip on this. Yeah, Luda killed him on his own shit. Not a great Luda and Tip song, but it’s better than that other shit they did together a few weeks ago. Halfway through, this album is already better than T.I. vs. T.I.P.

“Porn Star” - One of those “Why You Wanna” or “Chillin’ Wit My Bitch” type tracks. Shoulda known it was gonna come sooner or later. He’s always good for one or two of these.

“Ready For Whatever” - Angry T.I. again. This must be a Drumma Boy track too, I hear the charging and the nucca saying “yeeeeahh boy” in the background. Real shit on this one. Tip talking about the whole gun charge situation. Props for him even addressing that shit like this on the album.

“Slide Show” ft. John Legend - How come every time a rapper wants to kick knowledge and talk about life, they put John Legend on the hook? *See Rich Boy’s album.* Kanye produced track. It’s not great, but pretty good nonetheless.

“Swagger Like Us” - I think they’re gonna take this song off the album. I don’t know. I’ll just skip this one for right now.

“Swing Ya Rag” ft. Swizz Beatz - They were prolly trying to recreate that “Bring Em Out” magic. Didn’t quite do that, but this song is still ok. Not really sure what’s up with all these rappers and their obsessions with louie bags and rags tho. Swizz sounds like he’s kinda tired on the hook. Prolly shoulda went to Starbucks before he got in the booth.

“What Up, What’s Happenin” - The Shawty Lo “Ether.” I think Tip ended L-O’s career with this one. Prolly my favorite song on the album.

“Whatever You Like” - Already know what it is with this record. I still say it’s still trickin’ even if you got it, but what do I know.

“You Ain’t Missin’ Nothing” - One of those songs for nuccas locked down in jail. You ain’t missin’ nothing?!?!? Bullshit. I know Tip is trying to give cats in jail something to live for, but nuccas in jail are missing everything.

Ok, that’s it. I know the songs aren’t in order but whatever, this CD is still a banger no matter what order you listen to them in. Definitely album of the year thus far. T.I. made up for that last album and he went in on the mic on quite a few of these tracks. I can’t give it 5 chicken sandwiches but I’m gonna give it a 4.5. And yeah, I’m gonna cop it on September 30th (Big Kuntry’s album…prolly not), and you should to.