My Favorite Albums of 2011

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My Favorite Albums of 2010

Before we get too far into 2011, I wanted to write a post about my favorite albums of 2010. Initially, I planned on listing all the albums I thought were good that I came across in 2010, but that list was getting kind of long and who am I to judge what's good and what's not? So here's a list of the albums I listened to and enjoyed the most in 2010. I tend to fixate on an album if I like it a lot, so this list isn't terribly long, and it's not organized in any particular order.

Big. K.R.I.T., K.R.I.T. Wuz Here: This was a free mixtape released digitally in the summer of 2010. I discussed it previously on this blog, but basically it's much closer to a legitimate album than merely a mixtape, and was received as such, with Big K.R.I.T. ultimately getting a record deal with Def Jam based on Wuz Here's success.

Die Antwoord, $O$: Another album I discussed in the post linked above. My sense is you either love Die Antwoord or you hate them. Clearly, I fall in the former category, but I can definitely understand that these guys aren't for everyone. I still love this song and this one too.

Das Racist, Shut Up, Dude: Another free digital mixtape that has been on heavy rotation for me since I first downloaded it. From what I've read on message boards, it doesn't seem like internet rap nerds think these dudes are that technically proficient at rapping, which I don't necessarily agree with, but even if they aren't they more than make up for it with their subject matter and wordplay. Just about every time I listen to a Das Racist track I pick up on another arcane reference, and they have some classic lines, i.e. "white people's skin is their jewelry". Das Racist also released a second free mixtape in 2010, Sit Down, Man, which isn't bad by any means, but Shut Up, Dude is my favorite for tracks like this and this.

Sleigh Bells, Treats: The debut album from this Brooklyn-based "noise pop" duo, is hard as fuck. I saw them live opening for Hot Chip and my ears were ringing for at least two days afterward, which isn't that great of thing for my long-term health, I suppose. I actually think i like their "softest" song the most (who doesn't love a song with a girl singing "666"?), but the heavier songs aren't any less appealing and they sound great blasting in your car.

Yelawolf, Trunk Muzik: Yet another free digital mixtape that got, and still gets, heavy rotation from me. I discussed this in that one post along with Wuz Here and $O$, and I'm getting sick of typing, so I won't go into too much detail here. Plus, Yelawolf has been getting a lot of press lately after signing to Eminem's label and following the release of his official ablum, which is basically a re-worked Trunk Muzik.

There you have it; those are the albums that served as the majority of the soundtrack to my 2010. There were plenty of other albums from 2010 that I thought were pretty good, including, but not limited to: Sufer Bloods' Astro Coast; The Jacka & Lee Majors' The Gobots 2.0; PRGz's Hood Headlinaz Vol. 2; Kanye's My Beautiful Dark Fantasty; Mark Ronson's Record Collection; E-40's double album; Reflection Eternal's Revolutions Per Minute; Big Boi's Sir Lucious Left Foot...; Vampire Weekend's Contra and Roc Marciano's Marcberg.

Image via NH7.