Bloggerhouse & WYDU Present the Decade In Review: Favorite Tracks 06-08

As we wrap up our review of the double zero zero's and get ready to say goodbye to 2009 (we are always a little late around here), we cover the last three years, 2006-2008. These past three years will probably go down in history as the year of the blogs. Let's face it you, you are reading this, so you had some help in this. Good and bad, the blogs and online in general became the new "streets". We were influential on many fronts and many artists, hell, we even coined the term Blogger rapper. Cats like Drake, Mickey Factz, Blu, Kid Cudi, all got major pushes from the bloggers (I'm sorry, except for Blu). The whole explosion made it easy for artists to promote their music, which in turn made for more bedroom rappers, which in turn made for a lot more music, which in turn made for a lot of mediocre music. You get the picture. Like I said, it's good and bad on all fronts.

We could debate it all day, and being an old school myself at heart, I have mixed views on it. I have more music from '08 and '09 than I do than the rest of the decade combined. I got so far behind on listening to music this year, that I might as well just gave up trying to keep up. But all that digging is worth it, you never know when you might run into that Archetype, which I found in '07, or Poorly Drawn People which was another group that I discovered thanks to the internet these last few years. Yes, the game is forever changed, and 06-08 are hold a great key to that whole change. Whether it's good or bad is something that I have a feeling will be debated even ten years from now. Until then though, we look back and find some great music was released in the time period, especially '07, which is in the running for my favorite year in hip hop.

WYDU's Favorite Tracks of 2006
http://usershare.net/1wagla61655f

01 Royce Da 5'9 - Ding!
02 Pete Rock & Grap Luva - Revenge
03 Busta Rhymes - You Can't Hold The Torch (Feat. Q-Tip & Chauncey Black)
04 Cunninlynguists - Beautiful Girl
05 J Dilla - E=MC2 Featuring Common
06 Rhymefest - Dynomite (Going Postal)
07 Obie Trice - Wanna Know
08 Oh No feat Pos - Smile a Lil Bit
09 Nas - The N
10 J Dilla - Love Featuring Pharoahe Monch
11 AZ - The Format
12 Jay-Z - Lost Ones
13 J Dilla - So Far To Go (Featuring Common & D'Angelo)
14 Lone Catalyst - One's We Miss
15 Ghostface - You Know I'm No Good
16 eMC - Four Brothers
17 Little Brother - Life of the Party
18 Blaq Poet - Bang Dis
19 Termanology - Watch How It Go Down
20 Krs-One - When I'm On The Mic

The funny thing is, I'm looking at this list of songs (which first appeared back in Jan of 2007) and nothing really sticks out to me today. I mean, yeah, obviously I liked this collection of songs and still do, only a few really stick out as "personal classics". One such track would be Busta's "You Can't Hold The Torch". One of my guilty pleasures of 2006 was Busta's "The Big Bang", and this track was one of the main reasons. I remember playing it over and over, as the Native Tongue like vibes, mellowly played through the speakers. The oft-forgotten eMC track, "4 Brothers", comes in toward the end, but I think it'd probably be higher today. The beat is simple, yet infectious and all four emcees do their thing. With the year '06 being the first year I heard of Rhymefest, with all the "Jesus Walks" (fake) drama, he demonstrated why he should be considered one of the best emcees of the decade with "Dynomite (Going Postal)". For me, Nas always released his best music that wasn't on the album. That happened again when he dropped "The N", a track that sees Nas being the Nas we all know and love over a loud, horn filled track. The Oh No/Pos collaboration brings out the best in both artists. Oh No's beat sounds like something that could have been on "De La Soul is Dead", and Pos drops some insightful lines, demonstrating why De La and Pos are my favorites in the hip hop culture. Then of course we have three tracks from J Dilla's "The Shining" album, which I obviously loved. Dilla always brought out the best in Common IMO, and it shows with "E=MC2", a track that I played constantly that year. There is also "So Far To Go", which is on some "Electric Circus"/Soulaquarians vibe, but it works well. Pharaohe Monch and Dilla connect on "Love", a bouncy groovy song that gets the head noddin', and Monch rides the beat with ease and brings a smile to the hardest hardrock. No excuses for the "You Know I'm No Good" track, except it was before we all knew that Amy Winehouse was a boozing, crack head that she has exposed herself as being. I love the beat and Ghost sounds right at home over the whole thing. The top track of the year in my opinion though, was the Primo assisted "Ding!" from Royce. It's tracks like this that make me pray each night before bed that we'll get a Primo PRODUCED album from Royce. Maybe next year?

The Best of 2007
http://usershare.net/fm2i7rm21bj3
http://rapidshare.com/files/333335610/Bloggerhouse___WYDU_Presents_the_Best_of_2007.rar (Back Up Link)

01 Marco Polo feat Masta Ace - Nostalgia
02 Nas - Can`t Forget About You
03 Cunninlynguists (feat. Phonte & Witchdoctor) - Yellow Lines
04 Blue & Exile - So(ul) Amazin (Steel Blazin')
05 Royce Da 5'9 - Hit 'Em
06 eMC- What It Stand For
07 Evidence - Mr. Slow Flow
08 Kanye West feat T-Pain - Good Life
09 Blu & Exile - Simply Amazin'
10 Buff1 - Pretty Baby
11 Juggaknots - Leon Phelps
12 Marco Polo feat O.C. - Marquee
13 Archetype - Keep It Comin'
14 Blu & Exile - No Greater Love
15 Common - The Game
16 The Smile Rays feat Akrobatic - Smilin' On You
17 Blue Scholars - Still Got Love
18 Atmosphere - Sunshine
19 Archetype - I'll Be Honored
20 Blue Scholars - Second Chapter

The year 2007 was obviously dominated by a select few albums, all of which had two and even three tracks on the original list that appeared in Jan of 2008. First, there was my personal classic and probably my favorite album that I received as a promo the whole decade. Archetype, a duo from Kansas, had two tracks on the final list. Both "Keep It Comin'" and "I'll Be Honored", are great tracks that shine the light on the group's talents. Blue Scholars got a lot of play from in me in '07 and that shows, since even the album's "intro" made the list in the form of "Second Chapter". "Still Got Love" was a great topic from the duo, since I've dealt with my share of "snakes", I still got love for ya! Then of course the number one album of the year, "Below The Heavens", from Blu & Exile had a whopping three tracks. "So(ul) Amazing", "Simply Amazin", and "No Greater Love", exemplify why "Below The Heavens" is among my favorite albums of the year (now if I could only find a copy of it somewhere). A couple tracks that actually came from 2006 show up as well. The first, Nas with "Can't Forget About You" actually did drop as a single in 2007, and that's when I really got into it, so it stays. Juggaknots dropped "Use Your Confusion" in October of 2006. My dumbass didn't listen to it until late December/early January, so I'm making an exception and putting the dope track, "Leon Phelps" in with the collection. In the end, there are soooo many great songs in this top 20, that I'm not sure it'd change much if I was to reorder it. Of course the number would still remain "Nostalgia", from Marco Polo's "Port Authority" LP featuring none other than Masta Ace. This song would be in the top three of my favorite tracks of 2007. Classic....

The Best of 2008
http://usershare.net/h5v63rnqiwmp

01 The P Brothers - Outta Control (ft. Roc Marciano)
02 1773 - Sounds of Life
03 Ludacris - MVP
04 Has Lo - The Quiet Things
05 The Grouch - Artsy
06 Tha Connection - Take It Higher (Revamped)
07 Baje One - Mission Statement
08 Shawn Jackson - Fix Ya Face
09 Castor Pollux - 1979
10 Praverb - The King
11 eMC - Leak It Out
12 Amad Jamal - Goin' Postal
13 DJ K.O. - Ladder of Success (feat. Phonte, Wordsworth, K-Hill, Masta Ace)
14 Fat Joe - That White
15 Jake One - Kissin The Curb (feat. Bishop Lamont and Busta Rhymes)
16 All Natural - The All
17 Mr. Green & Pacewon - Children Sing
18 Black Milk - Hold It Down
19 Zilla Rocca - Flow God Zilla
20 Storm Davis feat. Ams Uno & Prolyphic - Fatbackburners

It what seems like yesterday, our 2008 year end appeared last January 13th (so at least I'm not too far behind last year's pace) in which we dropped our top 25. All these tracks should be fairly fresh in everyone's subconscious and of course the list contains my own tastes directly influencing it. Artists like Has-Lo who remains on the up and up, but not yet on the radar's of a lot of the spoon feed rap consumers popped up with his somber "The Quiet Things". Another WYDU favorite in Storm Davis dropped "Fatbackburners", a fuzzy guitar inspired track that makes me want to punch a whole through a wall. The same vibe is also found on Zilla Rocca's "Flow God Zilla", that uses the same energy as the previously mentioned track. Cator Pollux, yet another WYDU favorite, made himself known with the extremely ill "1979", a track that I play almost weekly to this day. All Natural's "The All" was another "holier than thou, fire and brimstone, smack a hooker in the snot box" type of track as well. Even more mainstream artists such as Ludacris got their music on the illustrious WYDU list with the Primo beat on "M.V.P". Jake One enlisted Busta and Bishop Lamont for "Kiss the Curb", but it was the beat that stole the show, or at least matched Busta's intensity. The best track of the year went to The P Brothers and "Outta Control", which featured Roc Marcio. Straight up hip hop in all it's goodness, the bass line and drums get my headin' noddin' every time I hear it.

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Bloggerhouse & WYDU Present the Decade In Review: Trav's Favorite Albums of 2006-2008

As we come close to wrapping up the decade end list and to get warmed for the year end lists we have lined up, we'll be checking out the albums that dropped for 06-08, straight from the Wake Your Daughter Up archives. We'll see what I was (and wasn't) thinking as we go back through history of our last three year end issues.


Catch all the Decade Review posts here:
Tracks 2000-2002
http://www.wydublog.com/2009/12/bloggerhouse-wydu-presents-decade-in.html
Tracks 2003-2005
http://whentheyreminisce.com/?p=2715
Tracks 2006-2008
Coming This Week.....

Albums 2000-2002
http://whentheyreminisce.com/?p=2572
Albums 2002-2005
http://whentheyreminisce.com/?p=2902

The Best of 2006

Part One: http://www.wydublog.com/2007/01/travs-year-end-list-wydu-panties.html
Part Two: http://www.wydublog.com/2007/01/top-50-songs-of-2006-and-wydu-panties.html



10. Ghostface - More Fish

Not one, but two albums from Ghost this year. When I heard about this, I was very hesitant. How was he going to come with two good albums. How would he have the matrial to put out two good albums? At first I thought it was a bonafied mixtape, but when I sat down and listened to it, I was very suprised. I'm not saying this is better in quality than Fishscales, but I enjoyed this release more than the first one. "You Know I'm No Good" is one of those songs I played over and over when I first heard it.


9. Asamov (The AB's) - And Now.....

Yeah, I know this dropped in 05', but it's my list so I'll post what albums I please. I didn't pick this up until the spring after hearing "The Lawn" rant about this. The music is right up my alley. It's kind of laxed, but still encompasses all the raw aspects of Hip Hop.





8. Lone Catalyst - Good Music

This was a group in the past that I always heard getting a lot of praise, but I couldn't really get with their music. This album changed that for me. This album was in the Top 5 for most of the year for me. There is some great music on here, "One's We Miss" is a great song.




7. Boss Hog Barbarians - Every Hog Has It's Day

Remember me saying I enjoy the more "grown" music these days? This is the exception. Pure ignorance and bliss in all it's glory. If you read this blog much, you know J-Zone is one of my personal favorites and Celph Titled adds a nice touch and some funk and 808 making this a fun album to pick up some booty to.





6. Jay Dee - Donuts

I remember hearing this before it's official release, before Jay's death and not really liking it much. I'm not much on instrumentals, unless I just want something to fall asleep to. I gave it a few more listens and before I knew it, I had beats stuck in my head, leading me to play this more and more, even if it wasn't until August that I really had it in major rotation. There is some INCREDIBLE stuff on this.


5. Tanay Morgan - Moonlighting

Another group I was introduced to through "The Lawn". I was already familiar with Von Pea then after hearing a pre-release mixtape, I was fairly amped for the release. The actual album made more of an impact than I could ever imagine though. Coupled with a great sense of humor in their lyrics and some jazzy smooth beats, this album was just an enjoyable listening experience all the way around.

4. Exile - Dirty Science

Took a listen to this based on Polarity's advice. We don't always have the same tastes, but he was right about this one. Exile is one half of the group Emanon, who had an top 5 album for me last year and is somewhat of an up & coming producer (see "Pearly Gates" on the last Mobb Deep album). This is a producer album with many different artists like Slum Village (a track that had been floating around for sometime, but still pretty dope), Aloe Blacc and even Ghostface.



3. Oh No - Exodus In Unheard Rhythms

Yet, another producer based album, but one of the more original albums I've heard in sometime. The beats are based on the music of Galt McDermont, which adds cohesiveness that many DJ/Producer albums lack. Great songs from Pos of De La, Buckshot & Wise Intelligent.



2. J Dilla - The Shining

Why this isn't getting more attention than it is is kind of odd to me. This is Dilla's swan song, and while it might not have been finished by Dilla himself, this is still some great music. I played the shit out of this LP with the first half of it being as good as any album that's been released since 2000.




1. Cunninlynguists - A Piece of Strange

It's becoming more and more rare for me, but every so often an album comes along that I won't put down for a week straight. It will be all I listen to. Since 2000, only a handful of albums would fall into that category of "Classic" in my book (Masta Ace - Long Hot Summer & Disposable Arts, Binary Star - Masters Of The Universe, Little Brother - The Listening, Foreign Exchange - Connected) and this one would fall into that list as well. I can't even begin to start bragging about this album. The concept, the music, the audio imagery it presents, it's all just a masterful piece of work that shouldn't be overlooked. Hell, even the cover art is dope as fuck.

Well now, as we look back at this list, obviously there are a couple head scratchers. As much as I like the Dilla's "The Shining" to this day, it's obvious that "Donuts" should be ahead of it, both in my opinion and a "consensus" list. In fact, if we look at the overall quality of the year, "Donuts" should probably be the album of the year, although it's difficult for me to not have "A Piece of Strange" as my favorite for that year.

And yes, where is "Game Theory"? The Roots album was one of those that I didn't truly appreciate until after the year was over. It's easily a top five release as well.

Top 10 of 2006 (General View)
1. J Dilla - Donuts
2. The Roots - Game Theory
3. Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor
4. Nas - Hip Hop Is Dead
5. J Dilla - The Shining
6. Ghostface - Fishscale
7. Cunninlynguists - A Piece of Strange
8. Ghostface - More Fish
9. Tanya Morgan - Moonlighting
10. Oh No - Exodus In Unheard Rhythms

Trav's Updated 2006 Top 10
1. Cunninlynguists - A Piece of Strange
2. J Dilla - Donuts
3. Juggaknots - Use Your Confusion
4. J Dilla - The Shining
5. Oh No - Exodus In Unheard Rhythms
6. Exile - Dirty Science
7. Boss Hog Barbarian - Every Hog Has It's Day
8. Tanya Moran - Moonlighting
9. The Roots - Game Theory
10. Louis Logic & JJ Brown - Misery Loves Company
(tie) Ghostface - More Fish

The Best of 2007

The year 2007 wasn't all that long ago, but I'd go out on a limb and say that '07 was in the running with '00 and '03 for the best year of the decade for hip hop. My man Eric and were totally going back and forth supplying each other with "must hear albums". And a lot of them were just that, MUST HEAR.

I'm not going to change anything on this one. For one, I got so wrapped up in the music I was finding on music, I didn't care or follow what anyone else was listening to, except the few people and blogs that had the same tastes as I did. Their are a few "surprises" in here, such as the Archetype album, "Bleed For Them". An album that I still play on a weekly basis. Same with The Smile Rays "Party Place", which if you've been reading WYDU very long, will know consists of Batsauce, Daisey and my man Paten Locke. If anything, "Party Place" has moved up in my favorites.

My top 40 list appeared as an end blurb to our WYDU Awards that year, so nothing written, but here it is.....

Original Post: http://www.wydublog.com/2008/01/year-end-list-to-end-all-year-end-lists.html

The Best of 2007

(as it appeared in Jan 2008, and pretty much as it would be today...)

10. Joell Ortiz - The Brick Bodega Chronicles

9. Evidence - The Weather Report

8. Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass

7. The Smile Rays - Party Place

6. Kanye West - Graduation

5. El-P - I'll Sleep When Your Dead

4. Blue Scholars - Bayani

3. Archetype - Bleed For Them

2. Cunninlynguists - Dirty Acres

1. Blu & Exile - Below The Heavens

The Best of 2008

The year 2008 took a step down from my potential favorite year, 2007, but it still wasn't a bad year by any stretch of the means. The only thing that is really missing in here that I would have today would be Black Milk's "Tronic" album. Other than that, it's more of my more personal tastes popping up. Has-Lo, Kooley High, and Chief Chinchilla are show up that are probably not the norms. I might switch up the order a bit today, but it's still pretty much these albums that I jam today.

10. Kooley High - The Summer Session EP


















9. Shawn Jackson - First Of All......


















8. J-Zone & Chief Chinchilla - Live At The Liqua Store


















7. eMC - The Show
















6. Elzhi - The Preface


















5. Has-Lo - Fuck Has Day

















Free Donwload: http://sharebee.com/d636c37b

4. Grip Grand - Brokelore


















3. Dagha - The Divorce


















2. Nicolay & Kay - Time:Line


















1. Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, Paint That Shit Gold

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Bloggerhouse & WYDU Presents The Decade In Review: The Top Tracks of 2000-2002

It's my favorite time of the year. No, not because of the holidays. Those are great and all, and I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a happy and safe New Years. But the reason this is my favorite time of the year is all the year end lists that pop up all over the net and the blogs. This year is even more special with the end of the decade soon approaching us. I just like reading other people's opinions, and maybe pick up on something I may have missed or breezed over the first time through. We here at WYDU are busily working on our year end lists. We should have the year end extravaganza up the week of January 4th. I'm hoping to have a wide variety of people on the WYDU panel this year. If you missed last years, you can peep it. This way, with a bunch of different people weighing in you won't be dominated with just my opinions, which as we all know, can be kind of on the strange end and a bit narrow minded even if I have to say so myself.

I've actually been making tapes/cds of my favorite songs since 1990. I don't have all of them anymore, and I didn't do any from 98-00 for a few different reasons. I recall '93 being a particular great year for singles (duh) but I of course can't find that one anymore.

With the end of the decade, we are going to go through the years and posting up my favorite Albums and tracks. You can already peep my favorite albums for 2000 thru 2002 on Bloggerhouse. Today, we'll cover my favorite tracks for that time period as well as some of the favorites of the hip hop nation. It's a nice mix of popular and my own personal tastes mixed in with it.

Best of 2000
http://usershare.net/m0l3e2rnugwn

1. Reflection Eternal - The Blast
2. M.O.P. - Ante Up
3. Common - The Light
4. De La Soul & Redman - Oooh
5. Refelection Eternal - Move Something
6. OutKast - B.O.B.
7. Jay-Z - I Just Wanna Love U
8. Prodigy - Keep It Thoro
9. Binary Star - Honest Expression
10. Common - Sixth Sense
11. Masta Ace & Buckshot - Brookyn Blocks
12. De La Soul - All Good
13. Mos Def & Pharohoe Monch - Oh No
14. Porn Theater Ushers - Blah Blah Blah
15. Slum Village - Untitled
16. Eminem - The Real Slim Shady
17. Ghostface Killah - Cherchez La Ghost
18. SLum Village - Climax
19. J-Zone - Orphan Babies
20. Masta Ace - Ghetto Like

The year 2000 saw me doubling up on a some artists, such as Common, De La Soul, Slum Village and Masta Ace all had two songs apiece. Common had one of the best albums of the year with "Like Water For Chocolate" and it featured two great songs, "The Light" and "Sixth Sense". De La Soul came in with the Redman assisted "Oooh", a track that got a lot of play from me that year. The second track comes in the form of "All Good", which is a personal favorite of mine from that year, which would become some what of a theme song for me. The problem with the Slum Village album was besides the fact that it was a great overall record, there wasn't a jam that made a ton of noise that year. So we went with two of my personal favorites, although we could have put just about any track in there from that album and I would be okay with it. The two Masta Ace joints aren't even really my favorites out of his catalog, but I like them enough to include them. Another personal favorite that shows up in this collection is "Honest Expression" from Binary Star. It's a song that could very well be the track that speaks to hip hop as a whole for the whole damn decade. Not a truer word has been spoken in a hip hop song for this decade.

Top of 2001
http://usershare.net/kxliedkt3j06

1. Dilated Peoples - Worse Comes To Worse
2. Erick Sermon - Music
3. Nas - Ether
4. Jay-Z - Takeover
5. De La Soul - Baby Phat
6. OutKast - The Whole World
7. Masta Ace - Acknowledge
8. Bubba Sparxx - Ugly
9. Beatnuts - No Escapin This
10. J-Live - The Best Part
11. Jay-Z - Izzo
12. Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
13. Common - Tekzilla
14. J-Zone - Live From Pimp Palace East
15. Redman - Let's Get Dirty
16. Nas - Got Ur Self A Gun
17. Masta Ace - Don't Understand
18. Jakki The Motamouth - The Chosen One
19. Jigmastas feat Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Pharohoe Monch, Mr. Complex, Shabaam Shadeeq - Lyrical Fluctuation (DJ Spinna Remix)
20. 13 - Slow Burnin

The year 2001 features everything from classic underground hip hop tracks; 13's "Slow Burnin'" from the west coast, Jakki The Motamouth's "The Chosen One" from the heartland of the US and Jigmastas with a conglomerate of who's who from the backpacker era of the time with "Lyrical Fluctuation" (DJ Spinna Remix). It also has two of the most venomous dis tracks from the decade with Jay-Z and Nas going at each other with "Takeover" and "Ether" respectively. A surely somewhat surprising choice in "Ugly" by Bubba Sparxxx also appears. While it did get a lot of play from MTV2, which I did happen to watch a lot of since it was one of the few channels I could get on my TV, my reason was more personal. I'm a sucka for the timbaland beat, the chorus, and even Bubba makes me like the track. It also helps it was my soundtrack for whoppin' fools in Madden that year. The unreleased track, "Tekzilla" from Common appeared sometime in 2001 (or maybe earlier), and it's still one of my favorite Common tracks ever. You also have to mention the Primo produced "The Best Part" by J-Live. I probably played that song a thousand times one month.

The Best of 2002

http://usershare.net/gaxznydgkv8k

1. The Clipse - Grindin'
2. Eminem - Lose Yourself
3. The Roots - The Seed 2.0
4. Blackalicious - Make You Feel That Way
5. J-Live - Satisfied
6. Scarface - My Block
7. Methodman & Redman - How High Pt 2
8. Slum Village - Tainted
9. Ras Kass - Kiss U (Original Version)
10. Jaz-O - It's Ova
11. Royce Da 5'9 - Rock City
12. AZ - Once Again
13. The Roots - Rock You
14. Atmosphere - Godlovesugly
15. Mobb Deep feat Big Noyd - The Learning (Burn)
16. Knoc Turn'al feat Missy Elliot - The Knoc
17. Camron - Oh Boy
18. Krs-One feat Tonedeff - Clear 'Em Out
19. People Under The Stairs - Acid Raindrops
20. Edan - You Suck

The year 2002 saw kind of a weaker crop of songs. Anytime I have Cam'Ron in the mix, you know I wasn't entirely happy with it. "Oh Boy" was still an okay song that I liked a lot more then than I do now. Same goes for "The Knoc" by Knoc Turn'al. I thought Knoc was going to be the next "thing" in hip hop. Not to be I suppose. Mobb Deep had a dude for an album in 2002, but I still have a guilty pleasure for "The Burn". The Roots come with two songs. "The Seed 2.0" was a mainstream success. I didn't care for it much then, but after a friend of mine would sing it constantly at work for a year straight in 2007, the song is actually one of my favorites from that album. "Rock You" was a song that grabbed my attention when I first bought the album. It would then appear on the Madden game for that year and I heard it thousands of times from then on out. Ras Kass brings "Kiss U" a song that is directed toward the Alchemist and Jadakiss, more so Alchemist after he sold the the same beat Ras used on "Home Sweet Home" to 'Kiss for another track.

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