Here it is folks!!! You've waited all year for this...let's not wait any longer shall we.....TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2012...LET'S GO!
20. T.I.- Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head.....T.I.P. literally brought in 2012 with his "F**K The City Up mixtape...That managed to pacify some of his hardcore fans and keep enough of the casual listeners interested until Trouble Man came out....I should know....I was one of them.
19. Gucci Mane- Trap God.....I know many of you "purist" out there will scoff at this entry and many will wonder "Has Leeb LOST his mind" or..."Leeb this shit is pure trash bruh" or my personal favorite..."Leeb your list is invalid now son...c'mon son GUCCI MANE?!" And to that ill say this...The production is top notch...subject matter is mundane ill admit, but when you're riding down whatever street or in my case washing dishes...This mixtape is fun as hell...Trust me.
18. Fabolous- The Soul Tape 2.....Me and My guys (namely Danny Ocean) often refer to Fab as "The Sneaky Legend" meaning that he kills things on the low and many overlook him as one of the best of our generation..until you mention him and you go "OH Yeah..dammmmnnnn I Forgot about that nigga Fab"...This mixtape will remind you again....and again......and again.
17. Curren$y- The Stoned Immaculate.....After the forgettable "Weekend At Burnie's", The Hot Spitta returned with this gem...you can feel the difference with the production value and actually having a real label backing your project. Don't get me wrong I still believe independent is the way to go but come on...BLUROC? or DD123456 or whatever that Dame Dash shit is called. Anyway this album was the proper follow-up to those Pilot Talk joints...My ONLY gripe about this album is that I wish he would have saved those songs from the "Cigarette Boats" EP and included them on this set...That would have made this a supreme banger.
16. Meek Mill-Dreams and Nightmares.....Meek Mill had a good year...I can't lie...Dreamchasers 2 was crazy...his buzz was electric...and he became husband or babyfather to about 400,000 women in the tri-state area lol...With that being said I lost interest in the album after "Believe It" and didn't tune back in until "Tony Story Pt. 2"...I'm Not Meek Mill fan...but his debut was way better than I expected.
15. Wiz Khalifa- O.N.I.F.C......I was one of the many that wrote off Wiz after I heard "Rolling Papers"...I felt justified because it was sooooo Fluff..So you can imagine my initial trepidation when I was about to listen to "Taylor Allderdice"..But much to my surprise, I loved it. So much so that I felt that was more than likely gonna be the Mixtape of the Year...Then I heard O.N.I.F.C. which is pretty much the aforementioned mixtape on steroids...after continuous listens I've come to the conclusion that Allderdice is better than ONIFC...which is a shame because I think it would have sold A LOT of records.
14. Pac Div- GMB......Pac Div are easily my underground heroes. I have been following these brothers since "Church League Champions" and they haven't let me down yet. While they are not the lyrical monsters that I would like them to be...The trio does enough on this album to make it listenable...AND im giving them the Best Album Cover of 2012 award because it makes me laugh...GRANDMA DIV IS A THUG!
13. School Boy Q- Habits and Contradictions.....School BOYYYYY...Dude is quickly becoming one of my favorite rappers of our generation...His nimble flow hugs any beat I've heard him on...You might hate on him at first but give this album a couple of spins and listen to a few guest spots he's done with different artist and you'll realize that this guy is special...Watch..
12. Ab-Soul- Control System......Ab-Soul is another one to watch for in 2013 and beyond...The self proclaimed "Lyrical Genius" is truly that...many of you won't believe me now...but...Lyrics, Flow, Content are all on point...Soon enough guys...Soon enough.
11. Big Boi- Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors.....If you've been keeping count this is Big Boi's THIRD solo album....While many of us are waiting for Andre 3000's "Unicorn Oasis" (my title lol) album...PLEASE do not sleep on what Daddy Fat Sacks is doing here...This is the most progressive rap album I've heard in the past five years...Lets be clear though...this album is grower..meaning you prolly won't dig it at first..keep listening and this set will start to bloom and blossom in your brain and you'll understand and appreciate Big Boi's genius...Oh yeah.. the production is Superb.
10. Sean Price-Mic Tyson.......I have been waiting for Mic Tyson for like 3 or 4 years...or whenever "Kimbo Price" came out...Anyone one that knows me knows that Sean Price is my mans...You want PURE, no frills, smack and punch your grandmother rap music...This is it right here...and you'll love it..
9. Freddie Gibbs- Baby Face Killa....Another underground hero of mine...I've been following Mr. Gibbs since 2009 and I must say that this is his easily his most cohesive work to date. Since recently signing with Jeezy and his CTE imprint...I'm expecting his legend to grow...Jeezy found a diamond in the rough with this guy...
8. Styles P.-The World's Most Hardest MC Project.....It doesn't get much more harder than this...Its always good to hear vintage Styles spitting vintage hard bars over vintage hard beats. This album is the perfect companion piece to 2011's "Master Of Ceremonies"...Now imagine if both of those albums were in some kind of double disc jammy?....That would have been CLASSIC!
7. Killer Mike-R.A.P. Music.....The best way to describe Killer Mike to those that aren't
familiar with his work is that he is our generation's Ice Cube. With that being said expect to hear great social commentary and lyricsm...This is album is grade A fire.
6. Game-Jesus Piece.....YES he name drops...YES he uses and abuses flows...YES he raps likes artists that are featured on HIS song songs...YES This album is crack, YES this is his 2nd best produced album...YES you can bump the whole album....YES!
5. Big Sean- Detroit.....Big Sean has done alot to change my opinion of him...From the various guest spots to this stellar mixtape...Big Sean's many flows are what ultimatley what won we over..They are on dizzying display here. If Kanye isn't careful, he may have to watch his throne from the court with all the commoners.
4. Lupe Fiasco- Food and Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1.......I'm completely striking "Lasers" from the ledger lol...Lupe only has 3 albums...."Food and Liquor" , The Cool and this one...It feels like a double LP....even though its the standard length 12-16 track release...This album is a true sequel to Food and Liquor..and im going on record right now to say that Pete Rock should be ashamed of himself...embrace this as a work of art...because it is...
3. Nas-Life is Good.......Anyone that knows me KNOWS that Nas is my favorite rapper hands down...So you can safely assume that I was more than pleased with this album...the production value was FINALLY on par with Nas' lyricism and it won many people the world over...Clearly one of his most personal albums...Life is Good still sounds triumphant...and many of the Non-Nas fans (as i like to call them) had to respect this album...GO NAS GO!
2. Big K.R.I.T-4eva N a Day......."I Know Today Is Gonna Be The Best Day Of My Life", is the Hook for "Wake Up" which is 2nd after "8:04"...and before the song called "Yesterday"...Get It?...This mixtape is a concept!!!...Its pretty much one day in the life of Big K.R.I.T....I was sooooo pissed because his actual debut album couldn't even hold a candle to this jewel of a mixtape....Mixtape of the year hands down...I'm still pissed that this wasn't the album..
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. Kendrick Lamar- good Kid, M.a.a.d. City..........Concepts go a long way when creating a masterpiece....Many attempt but only few actually achieve this goal. When I heard "Section.80" I was already enthused by the fact that this dude would eventually drop a seminal record once he managed to link with Dr. Dre....... Fade in to October 22nd 2012...I pressed play and haven't put this down yet...From concept to execution...This album wins....Let's be clear this album is NOT Illmatic, Get Rich or Die Tryin, Its Dark and Hell is Hot, or The Marshall Mathers LP...but this album will be remembered as one of the great rap albums....If not now...the future will without a doubt allow you to place this album alongside those other classics....good kid, M.a.a.d City....My Album of The Year...Peace
