Hip Hop Album of the Year
I don't want it to look like I'm saying these aren't all really dope albums, but come on. Even in a weak year, some of these albums shouldn't be top 10. 2010 was easily the worst year in hip hop that I've witnessed first-hand, and possibly the worst year ever, since the only years that were arguably worse were during hip hop's infancy.
- Hell Razah - Heaven Razah
- Homeboy Sandman - The Good Sun
- IDE & Skavenger - Addicted to the Vision
- Qwel & Maker - Owl
- Ron Contour & Factor - Saffron
- Super Chron Flight Brothers - Cape Verde
Mainstream Hip Hop Album of the Year
I drew the line at "if it made the Billboard 100 and most hip hop fans know who the artist is, it's mainstream." Mainstream hip hop still sucks and all of these guys are capable of putting out better material, but I guess it was better than 2009. All of these albums are better than Deeper Than Rap, which was the third best mainstream album last year. I haven't had the Ghostface album long enough to know whether it really deserves a nomination, but the next choice was The Roots, which didn't have a chance at winning, so I'll keep the hope alive for Apollo Kids while I give it another week to sink in.
- Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot The Son Of Chico Dusty
- Freeway & Jake One - The Stimulus Package
- Ghostface Killah - Apollo Kids
- Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
- Nas & Damian Marley - Distant Relatives
- Reflection Eternal - Revolutions Per Minute
Instrumental Hip Hop Album of the Year
It was a shitty year for instrumental hip hop too. If I made a list of my top 25 instrumental albums, nothing from 2010 would get a second thought. There were some good albums, but nothing that really stood out to me.
- Clutchy Hopkins - The Story Teller
- Maker - Maker vs. Now-Again
- Oddissee - Traveling Man
- Paul White - Paul White & The Purple Brain
- RJD2 - Inversions of The Colossus
- Rob Swift - The Architect
Hip Hop EP of the Year
At least there were some good EPs in 2010. Last year I couldn't even make an EP category.
- Blueprint - Blueprint Who
- Cymarshall Law - Creator's Kid
- Digital Underground - The Greenlight
- Freeform Logistics and Lawrence ThreeOne - Overgrowth
- J-Live - Undivided Attention
- Moka Only - Isn't Over
Mixtape of the Year
I'm still not a big fan of mixtapes, but in a year without the usual number of dope albums, I'll take any dope releases I can get.
- Blacastan - Masters of Reality
- Donwill - Laura's Tape
- JFK - The Ninja Face
- Nuthouse - Camden High & Rising
- Ras Kass - A.D.I.D.A.S.
- The Are & Brokn.Englsh - ARE x B.E.
Emcee of the Year
If there's one thing I won't complain about in hip hop this year, the dopest emcees out there came though. Aside from Illustrate of Grey Matter, all of these emcees have either been in or close to the top 10 over the past few years.
- Cymarshall Law
- Hell Razah
- Homeboy Sandman
- Illustrate
- John Robinson
- Qwel
Producer of the Year
I'll just ask the question for you. Where's Kanye/Kno/Ski/other producer who had a decent year but didn't come close to his best work? I think production is the main reason why hip hop was so weak in 2010, but if those were the best producers of the year, I would have probably given up on hip hop.
- The Beatnikz
- Factor
- Ide
- Maker
- Mr. Brady
- Necro
Rookie of the Year
There were some really dope debut albums, but to be completely honest, I can't picture any of these artists having a significant impact on hip hop, mainstream or underground. It's not a knock on their skills, but with the way the industry is, I don't see it happening.
- Blacastan
- D.Dove
- Freeform Logistics and Lawrence OneThree
- Grey Matter
- Iron Braydz
- Spear of the Nation
Jazz Album of the Year
Jazz was pretty much the same as it was last year. It wasn't a great year, but it was good enough.
- Bedrock - Plastic Temptation
- Chicago Underground Duo - Boca Negra
- Hamid Drake & Bindu - Reggaeology
- John Zorn - The Goddess (Music For The Ancient Of Days)
- Marco Benevento - Between the Needles and Nightfall
- The Dreamers - Ipos: Book of Angels Vol. 14
R&B Album of the Year
R&B was the most surprisingly good genre of 2010. It was difficult to narrow it down to six albums.
R.I.P. to Solomon Burke, one of the most under-appreciated vocalists in music, who passed away in October. He capped off his career which spanned over 50 years with two great albums in 2010.
- Aloe Blacc - Good Things
- Corinne Bailey Rae - The Sea
- Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
- Lady Daisey - In My Pocket
- Shawn Lee - Sing A Song
- Solomon Burke - Nothing's Impossible
Electronic Album of the Year
I thought all of this dubstep and other similar subgenres of electronic music was just a fad, but it as strong as ever, and it doesn't appear that it's going to be on a downslope any time soon. Personally, I'm kind of getting sick of it.
- Bonobo - Black Sands
- Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
- Four Tet - There is Love in You
- Free The Robots - Ctrl Alt Delete
- Lorn - Nothing Else
- Tobacco - Maniac Meat
Pop Album of the Year
This isn't what most people would expect as a list of pop albums. I have two Italian vocal pop albums on the list. It's better than nominating Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.
- Ellie Goulding - Lights
- Husky Rescue - Ship of Light
- Mike Patton - Mondo Cane
- Shugo Tokumaru - Port Entropy
- Simona Molinari - Croce E Delizia
- The School - Loveless Unbeliever
Folk Album of the Year
There were plenty of good folk albums. I could come up with another six albums that would be better than a lot of these other lists.
- First Aid Kit - The Big Black and the Blue
- Frazey Ford - Obadiah
- Jaymay - Long Walk to Never
- Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me
- Strand of Oaks - Pope Killdragon
- The Tallest Man on Earth - The Wild Hunt
Rock Album of the Year
Maybe I'm just out of tune with today's rock, but the albums that are heavily praised never seem to click with me.
- The Black Keys - Brothers
- Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
- Erland and the Carnival - Erland and the Carnival
- Gonjasufi - A Sufi and a Killer
- Grinderman - Grinderman 2
- Jeremy Messersmith - The Reluctant Graveyard
Metal Album of the Year
HINT: If you're looking for 2010 metal recommendations, you're probably better off looking somewhere else.
- Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit
- Black Label Society - Order of the Black
- Burzum - Belus
- Ihsahn - After
- Melvins - The Bride Screamed Bloody Murder
- Shining - Blackjazz
Blues Album of the Year
It was a decent year for blues. There weren't as many stand-out albums as there were in 2009, but 2009 was one of my favorite years in the history of blues.
- Eric Bibb - Booker’s Guitar
- Gary Moore - Guitar Mind Trip
- Guitar Shorty - Bare Knuckle
- Lee Ritenour - 6 String Theory
- Otis Taylor - Clovis People Vol.3
- The Holmes Brothers - Feed My Soul
Country Album of the Year
I still have no credibility for critiquing country albums, but at least this year the nominees are actually country albums.
- Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig
- Hank Williams III - Rebel Within
- Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain't No Grave
- Merle Haggard - I Am What I Am
- Patty Griffin - Downtown Church
- Ray Wylie Hubbard - A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is no C)
Reggae Album of the Year
I don't like to put albums in two different categories, but Distant Relatives was pretty evenly split between reggae and hip hop. Plus, if I didn't put it here I would have had to nominate an album that I thought sucked because I only listened to one other reggae album this year.
- Apple Gabriel - Teach Them Right
- Chezidek - Judgement Time
- Earl Zero - And God Said to Man
- Ginjah - Never Lost My Way
- Nas & Damian Marley - Distant Relatives
- Pablo Moses - The Rebirth
