As hard as it may be to believe, 2012 is almost over. We’re rounding third and it’s full steam ahead into hip-hop’s fourth quarter. While several highly anticipated projects from artists such as T.I., Big Sean, Kendrick Lamar, Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky, French Montana, Kid Cudi and Wiz Khalifa are expected to carry the fourth quarter, HHSR wanted to take a quick look back at the best albums of summer 2012.
An impressive array of music was released between the start of June and the end of September (we’re including the entire months of June and September in this piece…we’re not letting a silly thing like astrological correctitude push us around). Conscious MCs, weed rappers, living legends, respected vets, new jacks, DJs, groups/labels and today’s hottest rappers in the game all made their presence felt this past season.
Sidebar: Mixtapes were left out of this discussion, although honorable mention shoutouts on the mixtape tip go to Joey Bada$$ for 1999 (lookout for this kid at the BET Hip-Hop Awards cypher, he’s the real deal Holyfield) and Rejex, Big Sean for Detroit, Curren$y for his Harry Fraud Cigarette Boats EP and Slaughterhouse for their On The House tape.
So let’s get into it: The top five albums for Summer 2012.
#5 G.O.O.D. Music- Cruel Summer
If this list was based soley on radio spins, Cruel Summer might take the top spot.
You can easily make the argument that no album had the streets rockin more than Cruel Summer. While Kanye spaced its singles out over the course of many months, the truth of the matter is many of the season’s biggest hits found their way on this album.
It would have been nice to get more than 12 tracks from the G.O.O.D. Music family, especially since a 12 track album calls for the need to put several rappers on nearly every song, which can take away from the finished product. But we all know how difficult it is to pull together a compilation project of this magnitude. And with tracks like “Mercy”, “New God Flow” and “Clique” demolishing headphones and speakers across the country, Yeezy and the crew more than made up for it.
#4 Rick Ross- God Forgives, I Don’t
As usual, Rozay left fans with and handful of really memorable songs on this record.
A lot has been said about Rick Ross and his rise to prominence in the rap game. But whatever you think of him, it’s hard to deny the imprint he’s made on the rap game. Arguably the hottest rapper out today, Ross’ fifth studio album didn’t disappoint. Rozay’s beat selection (with the help of DJ Khaled on this project, who by the way nearly made this list with his own Kiss The Ring record) is the best in the game today, and through this, he has gone a long way to defining the sound of hip-hop in the early part of this decade.
Despite a shaky start to this LP, there is a six song stretch between “Three Kings” and “Hold Me Back“ that may be unmatched in 2012, which included the hidden gem, “Ashamed”. Despite getting some help from Andre 3000 (who laid arguably the verse of the year on “Sixteen”), Jay-Z, Ne-Yo and Dr. Dre (and L.A. Reid for some reason), Ross was able to hold his own lyrically on those records.
The back end of God Forgives, I Don’t is ostensibly an EP for the ladies, mostly consisting of softer beats and singing from the likes of Drake, Maybach O (this name is still hilarious) and Usher. Ross could stand to ease up on the pillow talk; his best lane will always be rhyming about the luxuries of life, such as food, cars and having a $24,000 crapper in his house (or maybe he meant his crapper is “24k” gold…either way, it’s pretty damn funny). Lucky for him, he revisits these topics pretty regularly, and GFID is no exception, making it one of the more memorable projects of 2012.
#3 Curren$y- The Stoned Immaculate
You may catch a crook in your neck from trying to watch the Jets. No longer is Spitta flying under the radar, he’s rising to the top.
Consistency; that is the best word to describe Curren$y. From his insane number of mixtapes, to his features, to his growing list of studio albums, Spitta Andretti has always given fans exactly what they’ve come to expect; mellow, yet intricate beats and clever wordplay that is often slept on. After dropping The Stoned Immaculate in June, it’s clear he is quite comfortable raising the bar.
Spitta kicks off the album with the very solid “What It Look Like“, featuring Wale and soon thereafter gets into “Armoire“, featuring Trademark Da Skydiver and Young Roddy, “Showroom” and “No Squares“, featuring Wiz Khalifa. On this track, Curren$y informs listeners of how dedicated he is to the paper chase in a style that is uniquely Spitta:
“I chase that money down like it said somethin’ bout my mama/I chase that money down like I think it took my wallet/I chase that money down like it key scratched my Impala/I chase that money down, pile it up and climb on top it/Trill nigga mountain, at the summit counting hundreds/You try to take me from it, you gon’ plummet to the bottom/If there was a winning contest, then I done won it/Done it/Bossed up playa, I don’t do much but kick it/I’m a punter/No pun intended, I’m a stunta…”
This album flows so smoothly that before you even realize it, one of the more stellar collection of songs of the season had been assembled. Truth be told, as great as guys like Ross and Hov are at talking money, there may be nobody more creative at it today than Curren$y. “Pilot Talk” aside, the New Orleans native can be found rapping about things like marble and granite kitchen islands on The Stoned Immaculate, and “navigation, bluetooth, all kind of shit I’ll never use”, on the awesome Cigarette Boats EP.
At times, Curren$y’s content can hold him back. Money, weed, women, kicks, weed, cars, video games, money and weed make up the bulk of his rhymes on every project, The Stoned Immaculate included. However, there is more to him than just this as an artist if fans are willing to take time to find it. Spitta is also arguably the hardest working rapper in the game today. If he can expand a bit on the content of his next major record, they’ll be nothing stopping him claim the top spot on lists just like this.
#2 Lupe Fiasco- Food and Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album
“Black Panthers, Black anthems, Black blues/With Black answers from stanzas/Langston Hughes”
We told you the story of F&L2 on the Tale of the Tape, which came out last week, but despite the fact that this album is only two weeks old, there is no mistaking the impact it has had and will continue to have on the rap scene in 2012.
F&L2 will undoubtedly go down as one of the landmark records of the year, and thus, it ranks high on this list. No other emcee better illustrates the struggle of the African-American community today than Lupe. The way that he speaks of the Civil Rights Movement and the Harlem Renaissance on this album makes you want to learn more about the history of the struggle. However, Lu doesn’t stop there. His love of humanity supersedes any one individual minority group, including his own. It is for these reasons that he rhymes about things like the Pine Ridge Indian reservation, and has drawn criticism for now being famously anti-Obama.
Regardless of what you think of Lu’s political stances, you must admire the courage it takes to address these issues in this fashion. You also cannot deny the pure lyricism of Lupe, which can be found up and down Food and Liquor 2. The dopeness of this record cannot be questioned. What is up for debate, though, is whether or not F&L2 has the staying power that can make it a truly memorable project, much like Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor and Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool.
#1 Nas- Life Is Good
Welcome to middle-age, Hip-Hop. Glad we’ve made it this far.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to any hip-hop head that Life Is Good is currently in pole position as the best hip-hop album of 2012. This is a Grammy worthy album from Mr. Jones, although he probably won’t win it next February because the Grammy committee knows absolutely nothing about hip-hop. Regardless, Nas managed to put together work of art on his 11th studio album.
While we wait on the maturation of records like Lupe’s latest, it became clear early on that Life Is Good was going to have a special place in the annals of hip-hop. Life is Good is a completely balanced project, with soulful production from the likes of No I.D., The J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Salaam Remi, Buckwild and the late Heavy D (among others), and the perfect amount of features. Not so many that they overshadow Esco himself, but enough to positively contribute to the project. No feature on the LP had more of a profound impact than that of Amy Winehouse, who may have posthumously collaborated on the song of the year with “Cherry Wine”.
Nas was his typical brilliant self, using his rhymes to walk listeners through the streets of Queensbridge and painting an indelible portrait in the process, “At night, New York, eat a slice too hot/Use my tongue to tear the skin hanging from the roof of my mouth”. On the cornerstone track “You Wouldn’t Understand” featuring Victoria Monet, Nas explains his remarkable and equally unlikely run from rags to riches, thus validating his claim that “no matter what, life is good”. “You ever been on the other end of a robber’s revolver?/Not me, call me Lucky Nas Casalana/Or been shot in the medulla oblongata and survived?/I praise God with a bullet I never collided”. He continues on the verse, “But I’m the CEO of Nasty Nas Enterprises/Mastermind, made men/My success symbolizes loyalty, great friends/Dedication, hard work, routine builds character/In a world full of snakes, rats and scavengers”.
More than anything, this LP serves as a shining example of what hip-hop can become. Nas recently turned 39 years old, and as a pioneer in the game and an extremely relevant rapper today, it is up to MCs like him to lead hip-hop (which is now safely into it’s 30s as a genre) into it’s next phase. The artists are older and so is the culture, hence, we NEEDED this album. Life Is Good is the symbol for the mature hip-hop. This CD is for the 35-year-old who has been down since Run DMC in the mid ’80s, but now has a wife and three kids. Nas touches on his hood and his rough upbringing in the projects, his successes and failures, such as his failed marriage. He also rhymes about searching for love, searching for trust, and fatherhood, an issue that SO MANY people can relate to, but it hardly ever gets discussed.
Sidebar: Daughters has to be the frontrunner for best video of 2012.
The album gets better and better with each listen, a true indicator of a classic record. Leave it to “The Don” to move hip-hop forward.
Disagree with our list? Don’t hold that hostility inside of you, please speak your mind in the comment section below.