We finally got around to finalising our list of our favourite albums of the last year. There are too many honourable mentions to go through, but the quality of the music over the last 12 months is clear in this very list. Let’s hope it continues throughout the next 12 months. For now though, here’s our top 10 albums of 2011.
10. Serengeti’s Family & Friends
Last year, we included Serengeti’s “Flutes” on our Tracks of the Year list. There was something about Geti King’s delivery over some low-key production that just clicked with us. Long gone are the days of strange alter ego, Kenny, as Serengeti gives us a more personal and relatable album that we knew he had in him.
9. The Roots’ Undun
The Roots have been in the hip-hop game for more than two decades now, and they have consistently released great music with a formula different than many hip-hop acts. Undun is their first venture into the concept album territory, and The Roots pull it off brilliantly. Undun is the story of a fictional character, Redford Stephens who lives on the streets and is involved in crime. At first, the album seems counterproductive letting the audience know what happens to the character on Sleep, the second track, but instead it allows the album to flow much better. Undun is a cinematic experience which you have to sit down and listen to. At only 39 minutes long, Undun is not the lengthiest album, but is one that is very tough to digest.
8. People Under The Stairs’ Highlighter
I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably keep saying it about People Under The Stairs albums – quantity over quality is never good. It’s something that the P subscribe to and it ultimately means I end up skipping most of the album on repeat listening. However, here are signs that they’re starting to address that, not in reducing the number of tracks, but just delivering more quality. In what is arguably their best album since O.S.T., the LA duo give you that party rap while nailing the top-knotch production we’ve come to expect.
7. Common’s The Dreamer, The Believer
Common went back to his hip-hop roots for The Dreamer, The Believer, enlisting long time friend No I.D to handle the production. The album is put together much better than some previous work no doubt helped by having No I.D handling the production. Common is at his best on this album with both tracks that are serious and “conscious” as he mentions in his book One Day It’ll All Make Sense, and the more cliched ones as well. Common goes from having Maya Angelou featured on a track to the raw braggadocio found on Sweet. This balance Common finds makes The Dreamer, The Believer one of his best pieces of work.
6. Blue Scholars’ Cinemetropolis
Cinemetropolis is the Blue Scholars most ambitious work to date. The production found on this album is much different than found on Bayani or Blue Scholars, but more of an evolution from the Oof! EP. Geo also has evolved and each track is dedicated to someone or something or someplace who has served as an inspiration to the Blue Scholars. The album represents a different direction that what they have done in the past, but it is much more fun to listen too. Yet even with this the Blue Scholars are still at their best when spewing information on tracks like Oscar Barnack Oscar Grant, about police brutality.
5. J-Live’s S.P.T.A.
Roughly a year ago J-Live released the teaser for S.P.T.A., called Undivided Attention where he earned the nickname the Triple Threat. So I guess I should introduce him as, DJ J-Live, MC J-Live & Producer J-Live. On Undivided he played around with this concept of a split personality. Having all three hold a conversation with each other between and during tracks, even teasing a little tension between the three. As a teaser it worked, a little too well. That’s the only real complaint with the long awaited S.P.T.A. is that he doesn’t take it as far as he should have. Other than that, this is a brilliant album that hits hard when it wants to while also delivering high on the quotables.
4. Ugly Duckling’s Moving At Breakneck Speed
After the more personal 2009 release, Audacity, Ugly Duckling’s fifth album could be considered a step back in exploration but in actuality, Ugly Duckling released that could easily be described as their best. Young Einstein provides his unique backdrop for Andy Cooper and Dizzy Dustin to throw simile after simile at each other. Easily one of their most accessible albums, this one is incredibly hard to hate. If you know people who haven’t listened to the Californian trio, this is one of many great places to start.
3. Awon & Kameleon Beats’ Concentration Gradient
Concentration Gradient is Awon & Kameleon Beats follow up album to the Love Supersedes LP. Awon builds on his story telling on this album as we get songs on a variety of topics both serious and fun. Tracks like Black In America really make you think about politics and the state of some in America. Kameleon Beats takes the production found on previous work and one ups it. The jazzy, soulful sample filled beats really compliment Awon really well. Through it all though, we as listeners get a pretty clear picture of what Awon & Kameleon Beats stand for and its nice to know that artists are willing to speak what they feel even if that might alienate a part of the audience.
2. Ghostpoet’s Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam
There’s a reason Ghostpoet was nominated for the Mercury Prize this year. His stunning debut album had concepts galore, great production, Poet’s unique delivery and most of all, it was confidently done to the highest degree of quality. This nomination saw cliché-free hip-hop make a mainstream impact in the UK and although he didn’t take home the prize the nomination, he opened up the airwaves to something more progressive. His album dropped just a few weeks before The Streets decided to call it a day after a decade of being the UK’s best export in cliché-free hip-hop. The stage is now set for Ghostpoet to dominate the next decade.
1. Cunninglynguists’ Onierology
Oneirology, the fifth album by the CunningLynguists, is a bold, concept based album. A dream-like state is created by the cover art and is enhanced by the track titles and the verses in each track. Kno builds a nightmarish, melancholy album with very emotional and melodic bass lines accompanied by stirring guitar riffs and darkly colored samples. Natti and Deacon along with the guest features come in and assume the role of murder or HIV itself on tracks like “Murder (Act II).” This is a very brilliant concept where instead of rapping about murders, Natti assumes the role of murder. Together the trio takes each individual verse and the production to spawn a dream state. Each listen of the album is a journey through the process of dreaming, and the final destination matters little to this album.
