BEST ALBUMS OF 2010

I’ve seen a lot of lists recapping the flood of releases in 2010 and attempting to rank them would be next to impossible for me, but I have assembled a list of 2010 Albums that you should have bought and if you haven’t, you need to get them right away. Some most notable omissions from my list are albums that had huge buzz and sold big numbers; Kanye West, Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Eminem. Kanye dropped one of the most imaginative albums easily, but when I tried to roll it in my mixes I found that I really didn’t have a use for much of the album. It’s dope to listen to while you clean house, but too far out there for any practical use. If you haven’t kept up with any of my reviews or comments over the year; Drake over-saturated the market in 2010 and had me absolutely hating his voice. His album may have done well, but I didn’t think it was that great. He should focus on singing and abandon rap or at least stay the hell out my ear for 4-6 months. Nicki Minaj had a huge amount of buzz and even had me rooting for her as this generation’s Slick Rick, but her album is horrible except for one song (Did It On Em). Eminem can’t seem to do shit without including whining about problems he brought on himself. Listening to an addict cry about the pain and problems addiction brought him just isn’t entertaining to me. Diddy-Dirty Money dropped their “Last Train To Paris” album with a grip of noise and an astounding list of people touting its greatness, but I am not on that list in the least. I would pick Keri Hilson’s album over that Diddy-Dirty Money album. Feel free to fire away with your comments and tell me I’m an idiot, but these were the best albums of 2010 (in alphabetical order by artist name):

BIG BOI “SIR LUCIOUS LEFT FOOT THE SON OF CHICO DUSTY”
BUN-B “TRILL O.G”
JEREMIH “ALL ABOUT YOU”
KEITH SWEAT “RIDIN SOLO”
LLOYD BANKS “H.F.M. 2”
MARQUES HOUSTON “MATTRESS MUSIC”
NE-YO “LIBRA SCALES”
SHEEK LOUCH “DONNIE G: DON GORILLA”
SLIM THUG “THAT THUGGA SHOW”
TANK “NOW OR NEVER”
T.I. “NO MERCY”
TREY SONGZ “PASSION, PAIN, & PLEASURE”
YELAWOLF “TRUNK MUZIK 0-60”

Yes, I heard the albums from Rick Ross, the Roots, Ghostface Killah, DJ Premier, Brother Lynch Hung, B.o.B., Shad, Cannibus…but didn’t think they were better than any of those listed above. Some artists dropped what they called ‘mixtapes’ that were actually more like full albums minus all the typical work put into the press, publicity, marketing, promotion of a full album. Without including any of the mixtapes I dropped with artists in 2010 I would highly recommend these: Noah Jones “Cinematic”, J Cole “Friday Night Lights”, Tum Tum “Purp KoBain”, Wiz Khalifa “Kush and Orange Juice”, Big Sean “Finally Famous 3”, and Na'tee “Guess Who’s Coming 2 Dinner”.

Keith Sweat "Ridin Solo"

Keith Sweat finally releases a new album and I don't think anybody even knows he was working on a new album. I've noticed that R&B artists and their managers/labels are falling way behind the curve in marketing and promotions. They really need to step up their game, but that's a whole other blog. "Ridin Solo" is Keith Sweat's first album release since the Christmas in Love back in 2007 and he's still the shit! If you are not familiar with Keith Sweat (its been a long time for him lol) this album is for the grown and sexy moments - not something you're going to ride around bumpin out the trunk or kickin it with ya boys playin X-Box. You play Keith Sweat for one reason: SEX. The first track is Famous which is hot but I couldn't understand why Keith Sweat would roll with auto-tune. I guess just trying to keep up with trends in music. Full Time Lover is nice but not a real standout for me. I think it was the snare that turned me off. Test Drive (featuring Joe) is a definite highlight. Speaking of snares - the snare hit reminded me of the one the SOS Band used for like every song they ever did. The title track Ridin Solo is one of the weakest songs on the entire album, but don't get it twisted - this entire album is fire. This is probably one of the top 5 R&B albums of 2010 - at least so far. Genius Girl has a fly as hell hook. Real simple, but so damn smooth. Do Wrong Tonight is okay, but if I'm skipping any tracks this is the first one I jump past. Hood Sex is cool until you hit the 2:34 mark and the wack rappin ruins it. A sure sign of wack rapper coming in to ruin a song is when you hear the "hey, hey, hey". Its All About You starts off real slow but once it kicks in and you hear the classic Keith Sweat sound the song becomes one of the favorites of the album. Im The One You Want is going to spark some memories with the rip from The System "Happy" kicking it off. Live In Person is dope but I would love to remix this one with more effort put into the production. Let me find an acapella for this and it's on! The beginning of Its a Shame where Keith is on the phone talking to some girl-comes a cross a little creepy. I couldn't figure out why they edited the word "shit" out of the first verse. If you don't want to have any explicit language in a song then don't write it into the lyrics. The last song of the album is Tropical and it does have a nice mellow island flavor to it - right up until he comes in with the inevitable Ja'fakin. Its Keith Sweat dammit! I KNOW he could have gotten a legitimate island talent to rip that piece of the song. Overall there are 12 tracks on the album and you could hit play on track one and never pick up the needle - just let the full album ride. Check it out for yourself: Keith Sweat "Ridin Solo"