Hey there! Not that great of a year for Hip Hop. Too much Ying for my Yang...but hey, I'm not the first and last word in RAP am I? Feel free to disagree with this because in the words of MILK, I don't care.

Best CD's of 2005!

1) Kanye West "Late Registration"
***He really didn't have to push the envelope like he did. He already had the "super star' status why not dumb it down for the general public? Kanye West is a genius...his lp is political, listener friendly and DOPE! That is hard to do. When "top 40" rap is good its better for the entire genre and music as a whole. Keep on keeping on...

2) Danger Doom 'The Mouse And The Mask"
***MF Doom, Danger Mouse & Adult Swim...that's 3 the hard way. This project had a built in audience and other peeps seemed to gravitate to it as well. More Doom & Danger in 2006 please!

3) Common "Be"
***The thinking mans emcee. This is my favorite Common album since "Resurrection" He has it all and I REALLY hope he has much commercial success. Not everyone listening to the radio is a dipshit.

4) Edan "Beauty And The Beat"
***Fisch turned me onto this guy. "Fumbling Over Words The Rhyme" is a MANDATORY listen! The samples and music on this disc are 5 years in the future. Ok, 10 years in the future. A DOPE lp.

5) Game "The Documentary"
***I didn't buy into the hype on this dude right away BUT after hearing a few tracks I picked the CD up and YES...Compton is in the building. He reminds me a lot of Jeru The Damaja in the sense that he better not leave his hot producers (Dre, West, Just Blaze).

6) Atmosphere "You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having"
***The king of MPLS put out another solid LP. I didn't like this one as much as "Seven's Travels" but Ant is still killing it with the tracks so yeah, Vibe to it.

7) Little Brother "The Minstrel Show"
***LB was shunned by BET and was called out for "being too smart for TV" when their video for "Lovin It" dropped, Hell, that is reason enough to pick this CD up. The production has a feel to it and it sounds lovely. The cover to this is classic as well.

8) Fort Minor "The Rising Tide"
***I'm not a Linkin Park fan. With that being said, Mike Shinoda gets props over here. S.O.B. should blow up in 2006 with this dudes backing. Great LP.

9) Slug & Murs "Felt 2"
***Ant's best tracks by far landed on this LP. Slug & Murs have great chemistry. I didn't expect much from this CD and it ended up being one of my favs this year.

10) Blueprint "1988"
***B.P. produced and wrote the words for this one. A throwback to Hip Hop's glory days...and he doesn't sound like a throwback. This was refreshing.

Single(s) Of The Year

Mark: Kanye West "Golddigger"
Elektra: Gorillaz 'Feel Good Inc."

The Group that should just go away...

The Black Eyed Peas (My Humps is EMBARRASING as much as that pic of Fergie wetting herself on stage).

Reasons that 2006 should be promising...

OutKast- Idlewild
Madlib & MF Doom- Madvillian 2
Aceyalone & RJD2- Magnificent City
Soul Position- Untitled
Ghostface & MF Doom- Swift & Changeable
Pharrell Williams- In My Mind
Percee P- Perseverance
The Roots- Game Theory
Dangerdoom- 2?
Madlib- The Beat Konducta Vol 1 & 2
Dilated Peoples- 20/20
People Under The Stairs- Stepfather
Ugly Duckling- Bang For The Buck

My "2005 Best Of The Movies" review will be hitting tomorrow...PEACE-DAGO!