If you actually are a real hip-hop fan you can see that '08 wasn't that bad of a year for Hip-Hop. I thought it was actually a good year in recent memory (2005 was a low-point in Hip-Hop for me). I feel there was plenty of real MC's and producers makin that quality rap music to keep you way from R&B-ish radio music that some how gets away with being called Hip-Hop. For every Plies, Lil Booise, Ace Hood or whatever else that was popular this year there was Reks, The Roots, Skyzoo etc. to counter it. Keep in mind I don't listen to absolutely everything. I try to do my best but I'm sure there is underground stuff that came out this year (Johnson & Jonson?) that would be worthy of this list... Well here's some of my favorites from 2008:

Favorite Hip-Hop ALBUMS of 2008

• Nas - (NI**ER), ain't even gonna comment, I'll let the music do the talking. Further solidifies Nas as one of the Greatest of all time.
• The Roots - Rising Down, ditto the Roots never made a sub-par album yet. This one is their best since Things Fall Apart (1999)
• Reks - Grey Hairs, going to be the most under-rated of '08. Finally Reks is coming out. His man Termanology gets more shine but Reks definitely got the better album
• T.I. - Paper Trail, T.I. is da King of the South!
• Kidz in the Hall - In The Crowd, I feel they are the best ones out of the "hipster movement"(Cool Kids, Mickey Factz, Knux, etc.) because they show a variation of sounds instead of having every song sound like their single "Driving Down The Block" (like The Cool Kids, every song is pretty much the same)

Honorable Mention: Termanology - Politics As Usual, Buckshot/9th Wonder - The Formula, Q-Tip - The Renaissance, Ludacris - Theatre of the Mind, eMC - The Show, Torae - Daily Conversation, Black Milk - Tronic, Bun B - II Trill, Murs - Murs For President

Best of the Rest [Compilations, Mixtapes, Internet Releases, & Alternative Hip-Hop Albums]

• Kanye West - 808's & Heartbreaks, ain't gonna lie, I really enjoy this album. I was hating on him when I first heard him with the voice-over shit. Since he been ridin T-Pain and Wayne's dick his raps be suckin. When "Love Lockdown" came out I was skeptical…. The instrumentals are incredible as Kanye always does. No other auto-tune "hip-hop" artists could make an album like this.
• Statik Selektah - Stick 2 the Script, I think this is straight-up, one of the best albums this year. Statik is really coming into his own as a producer. I don't know if I would call him the next Premo but I think he's the best producer this year.
• Wale - Mixtape About Nothing, flippin Seinfeld into a whole mixtape was a really unique idea. Shit, he even got Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the tape!! I hope he can carry his momentum into 2009.
• Joe Budden - Halfway House, people still be sleepin on Jump-off (even me) but this internet-only album is pretty good. I hope when the real album finally drops it will be even better!

Biggest Disappointment:

• Common - Universal Mind Control, after 2 of the best albums in the 2000's (Be & Finding Forever) he comes with this shit?? I really don't know what to say. [You still one of my favorites]
• The Game - L.A.X., guest appearance overload and lot of filler tracks. "Angel" was really tight and a handful of good songs ("My Life", "Letter To The King") but overall the album could of been way better.
  (Un)Honorable Mention: Lil Wayne - Carter III, ok I can't stand this guy personally but dude is putting out way too much average music to be called "the best rapper alive". "Dr. Carter" was clever but "Phone Home" is ???WTF is that crap. Even some of the more listenable songs ("Let The Beat Build", "Mr. Carter") are good but not great. Also "A Milli" was the most annoying song this year. Wayne CAN'T and won't ever make an album on par with any Hip-Hop album branded a classic (take your pick).

More snoozers from 2008: A lot goes without saying, pretty much all the B & C ( and D & F)-level South rappers, so I'll save my breath....

• AZ - Undeinable, sorry AZ you finally put of something that sucked but you are still the shit.
• G-Unit - T.O.S., what a flop, It looks like these guys are done unless 50 can rebound in '09
• Clipse/Re-Up Gang - no one has better coke rap than The Clipse but this album was wack.

Radio single of the year: T.I. f. Rihanna "LiveYour Life", a catchy Hip-Pop song w/ inspirational lyrics instead of the same money/club/woman themes. no T-Pain here. RUNNERS-UP: I can't really think of any popular songs this year that were any different that the typical T-Pain, Lil Wayne, or Akon featured track. All the same songs just different artists.

Posse-Cut of the year:

• "Slaughterhouse" Joe Budden f. Joell Ortiz, Nino Bless, Royce da 5'9'', & Crooked I, there were a few good posse songs this year but I went with this one. It's hard to figure out with MC (well besides Nino Bless) killed this track! Royce? ("Ice cold, Ice Cube flow like O'Shea
  Riding shot gun with Chris Martin my DJ
  Not the white boy, but I'm down for the Coldplay") Crooked I? ("Instrumentals get fucked on the stage, a pedophile
  Unless I dig in the crates, and fuck with somethin my age") Joell?? ("Never in a hundred years I thought I'd be a rapper, But in less than a hundred bars I knew I'd be a factor, I'm PS4 in HD and the screen is plasma You're Atari 2600 with a weak adapter") or is it Budden?? ("Nah, rewind each line each time, Speak mind and meet 9, mano e mano, When it rains it pours grab a teflon poncho")

RUNNERS-UP:

"The Matirx" Black Milk f. Pharoahe Monch, Sean Price, & DJ Premier; "Swagger Like Us" T.I. f. Kanye, Jay-Z, & Lil Wayne

Notable Producers of '08:

• Statik Selektah
• Black Milk
• Kanye West
• DJ Premier
• Jake One
• 9th Wonder
• Pete Rock
• Nottz
• JUSTICE League (reppin Tampa!)
• Drumma Boy
• Best Kept Secret
• Double-O
• Focus
  
  looking foward to 2009>>> albums from Eminem, Jadakiss, Joe Budden, Bishop Lamont, Wale, B.o.B., Jay-Z BPIII, Joell Ortiz, Naledge, Consequence, Big Boi, maybe the return of 50 Cent, LIL WAYNE/T-Pain!! (NOT!!), a Kanye West album where he does back to rapping, and maybe even DETOX + more I can't think of right now...