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”.

TANK “NOW OR NEVER”

There has been an absolute flood of dope Hip-Hop albums this quarter from some huge names in the game, but this new Tank “Now or Never” album CANNOT be overlooked. This is the album you need to go with all the Hip-Hop or actually to provide your grown folks opportunity to get ya’ Swurv on. Tank delivers easily the sexiest R&B to wrap up 2010 with an album that will take you from the club to your whip to the house and finally to the bedroom. The album almost moves in that order. “Sex Music” is a hot single that works in the club and is the perfect song to bang in your whip with your girl ridin’ shotgun. By the time “Celebration” starts playing she should know damn well what’s in store as soon as you get her home.

So now you get her home and hit play on “Emergency” while you pour some drinks, slip her out of her clothes… Tank has provided the “Player’s Guide” playbook in perfect sequence. “Emergency” is just fly as hell with Tank crooning over a light piano and strings laced beat. “Sex Music” is getting a lot of attention and rightfully so, but “Emergency” is definitely a highlight from the album. Now if you don’t have your woman stretched out naked by now, hurry up – because “Scream” is the real sex joint and starts with the line “Look me in the eyes, while I make love to you girl…” and only gets better and better as it builds. “Scream” is definitely one of my favorite tracks and will definitely be in the mix on my “RATED SEX” mixtape series.

“Keep It 100” is a hot song with a message we have all wanted to say and don’t worry, it will fit nice in the sequence of events played out to this point. If anything it will have your woman gripping you tighter (unless you been cheatin and she knows it). Then as if Tank wasn’t already delivering enough sultry music for the night, Chris Brown jumps in the mix with the song “Foreplay” and pushes the sexy up another notch. I’m trying to tell you, Tank’s “Player’s Guide” (should have been the album title) playbook is genius. Try the whole sequence out for yourself and see what happens.

When “Can I (the intro)” starts you know damn well you have definitely hit the point of Tank’s album where he takes it to his well-known sex music vibe. That little intro is like a cue point and then the full “Can I” kicks in and it’s a wrap! If you aren’t sexin’ by this point you are a failure. I don’t know what else to tell you.

“Amazing” is just that – amazing. This song is so fly I can’t think of another word to describe it other than just using the song’s title. “Amazing” is definitely another song that will be on my “RATED SEX” mixtape series. If you love the woman you’re with then “You Mean That Much” is going to be a serious winner in the sequence up to this point. If you don’t…hell, just fake it and use it to your advantage. She’ll believe you when she hears the words of “You Mean That Much”.

Finally we come to the final song “I Can’t Make You Love Me” which is a great song to wrap it up and stroll out the room to take a shower and leave her laying there soaking in everything that just happened. If you left the club alone and missed out on the “Player’s Guide” sequence then you might just want to go home and turn off all the lights and use “I Can’t Make You Love Me” as your theme music for how you failed to bring that woman home with you in the first place. It works either way.

I had a lot of fun with this “Now or Never” record as you can tell from the “Player’s Guide” sequence and I highly recommend you try it for yourself. All jokes aside – this album is a must-have. I love Hip-Hop and I am thrilled that we have had such a massive library of honestly dope Hip-Hop this quarter, but everyone needs some real R&B in your catalog and Tank delivers the perfect record to fit that need. If you ain’t got it – you need to get it awready!