best of 2005 part 1: hip hop

1. Late Registration by Kanye West 9 rappers out of 10 fall victim to the dreaded sophomore slump: I don't know what it is about hip hop that causes this, maybe something to do with the preponderance of guest spots and filler skits. Though Kanye's second album included those, he saved himself by pulling in Jon Brion as co-producer, who gleefully added oboes and harpsichords to whatever soul samples Kanye could speed up. "We Major" will stand as my favorite hip hop track of the year: Nas's verse, the extended hook, and the sheer breadth and depth of this song were more complex than anything else I heard in 2005.
2. Be by Common Kanye's going to do a double on this list. Hip hop truly lacks much in the way of cohesive albums, the kind we often see in the rock world. This, however, was a perfect piece of conscious hip hop all the way through. Kanye laced all the beats but one on this, lending it a wholeness of tone that's generally unmatched in a scene where producer proliferation is the status quo. Common hasn't been this good, or this uplifting, on the mic since the late 1990s, and he manages to rhyme about a whole wealth of experience: love, politics, crime, food. I feel like ol' CS should retire after this; it's kind of like Brett Favre's huge game at the end of last season, followed by this year's immense Packer suckage.
3. Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 by Young Jeezy 2005 was a banner year for Southern hip hop, and for my scrilla, Jeezy led the charge. Not only that, he also set the standard for the so-called "trap-hop" that's been so prevalent recently (cf. Juelz Santana, Cam'ron, the Clipse). Little did I know you could make an album entirely about slangin' coke that would seriously bump without tedium, all while not being named Jay-Z. Truly, Hov passes the (crack cooking) torch to Jeezy on "Go Crazy," my number one banger of 2005. And damn, it feels good to be a trapper.
4. Beauty & The Beat by Edan Southern rap might have been poppin' off, but the underground scene was a bit lacking in 2005. Really, there were only a handful of indie albums that were worth more than a cursory listen. Edan, however, takes the number 4 spot thanks to his incredibly psychedelic sound collage styliez. This isn't your average backpack bumper. It's more like if the Dead were from the Bronx instead of San Francisco. The noise shimmers and washes around, while the beat still locks in just enough to keep you from floating into lysergic voids. His rhymes aren't the best, but he throws in just enough good puns and such (especially on the killer "Rock & Roll") to keep interest.
5. Run The Road compilation I'm still waiting for the grime scene to cross the pond. Really, this is so different from American hip hop that it should be put into a "world" music category, and yet the sentiment is the same. Kano and Wylie are two of the most interesting MCs I heard this year, and would sound as good rapping over a Dipset beat, just like I could see the Game (possibly) flowing over a rhythm by Lethal B. Get some fucking collabos on, with the quickness!
Honorable Mention: DangerDoom's The Mouse & The Mask, Gnarls Barkley, the Game freestyles, Mike Jones, Cam'ron, Juelz Santana (occasionally), Bun B's prolific cameos, 50 Cent (only "Just A Touch"), mixtapes with dead rappers, Joe Budden mixtape cuts, David Banner's Certified, the Clipse, Three 6 Mafia's "Stay Fly," GLC