2006 Hip Hop: Skateboarding, Top Billing From Far Left, Expected Robots, and Dealing, Using, and Quitting Coke

Tonight I will continue my year-in-review with the first installment of the rundown of my 20 favorite albums of 2006. There’s kind of an odd mix, with some relatively obscure bands mixed with some rather mainstream bands (which, if you look at most year end lists, equals shitty bands) mixed with more hip-hop than I realized. Today, I’ll begin with the hip-hop. Let the LISTING begin!

6. Lupe Fiasco—Food & Liquor
Lupe Fiasco raps about things 90 percent of other rappers would never rap about. For example, skateboarding.
HIGHLIGHT: “Kick, Push”

"Daydreamin' featuring Jill Scott"


5. Spank Rock—YoYoYoYoYo
This album is all over the place, with the most disjointed, oddly arranged beats you’ll hear on a record this year matched with rambling lyrics that don’t really make any sense at all. Somehow, this mess comes together to form a blast of a record.
HIGHLIGHT: “Sweet Talk”

"Rick Rubin"


4. Cut Chemist—The Audience’s Listening
Besides having the most awkward title ever (they couldn’t have just gone with The Audience Is Listening?), this album barely qualifies as hip-hop. It’s really just a collection of wordless songs made by some DJ. I guess you could rap over them--as in the track "What's the Altitude"--so I’ll throw it under hip-hop. Regardless of its classification, The Audience’s Listening is a good listen.
HIGHLIGHT: “(My 1st) Big Break”

"What's the Altitude featuring Hymnal"


3. Clipse—Hell Hath No Fury
The best album this year about dealing crack, and, although I don’t know this for certain, I’m sure there was a lot of competition (hell, Spank Rock might be about slinging the rock).
HIGHLIGHT: “Trill”

"Mr. Me Too featuring Pharrell"


2. Ghostface Killah—Fishscale
I learned recently that “fishscale” is a term used to describe the highest grade cocaine since the coke glistens like fish scales. The title fits, then, because this is the year’s best album about doing coke.
HIGHLIGHT: “Be Easy”

"Back Like That"


1. The Streets—The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living
Not only the best album put out by a white British rapper this year, but also the best album about quitting coke, thus completing the entire coke pyramid of my top three hip-hop albums.
HIGHLIGHT: “All Goes Out the Window”

"Prangin' Out"