Top 5 Artists of 2009

What up peeps?!

Happy New Years! Twenty 10 is here and it's that time to present the 5 emcees/artists that impressed me most in Hip Hop last year! Two thousand and nine was a MONSTER year for hip hop worldwide and picking a top 15 artists, let alone a top 5, would still be extremely difficult. With this in mind I've decided to be biased and pick the artists from Australia and the USA which I was most impressed with in 2009.

At this point I've gotta mention Joe 'Mouse' Budden, who only narrowly missed out on a top 5 spot even though he had a killer 2009 too. He released a solo album as well as a killer debut album with his crew Slaughterhouse, but was pushed out of contention by fellow crew member Royce Da 5'9" this year. Anyway, whether you love the top 5 list or hate it, make sure you hit me with your opinions, comments and own lists!

#5 Hyjak N Torcha

After a 5 year break Sydney boys Hyjak, Torcha & DJ Bizzonez came back to put their stamp on the game again and to grace Oz Hip Hop with their (improved) presence! Their latest album 'Unregrettable' sounds more mature and is a vast improvement on their older works and mixtapes.

Aside from the notable production improvement, their lyrical content is deeper (make sure you check the track "What's wrong with the world") and their tracks somehow seem more organised in their latest album. They also show off their improved flow and delivery on tracks such as "Change".

The boys have also hustled extremely well to collaborate with respected artist MURS on the track "No Regrets" - the highlight of the album in my opinion. A massive step forward for these boys and a vast improvement is why they make my top 5 list and I'm glad to see Oz Hip Hop go in this direction!

My favourite tune from this album as mentioned before was the track "No Regrets" featuring MURS and they made a very interesting video for it.



#4 Wale

Wale released an album!! A proper album. Yessir. This was the deciding factor on him making my top 5 list without a doubt. The emcee from Washington D.C. first got my attention with his remix of Justice's track 'D.A.N.C.E', his love of colourful kicks and ill remixes on his mixtapes (5 to date for those who weren't counting!!).

The year 2009 started off big for Olubowale with the massive mixtape release 'Back to the feature' in April! Produced by a legend in the game, 9th Wonder, this mixtape was on replay for a good fortnight in my car and featured the likes of K'naan, Torae, Joe Budden, Skyzoo, Freeway, Beanie Seagal, Memphis Bleek, Royce Da 5'9, Bun B, Cool, Dre and many more with him.

After touring with Jigga, N.E.R.D & newbie to the game J.Cole, Wale's debut album was finally released in November last year. 'Attention Deficit disorder' was under the executive production guide of Mark Ronson and really lived up to the hype surrounding it. Much like his mixtapes, the album had a lot of guest appearances from big names and producers and his dedication and hard-work really paid off! The album was a success and one of my favourites of the year.

Tracks "Mirrors" with Bun B and "90201" were close runners up, but the track "Shades" feat Chrisette Michele was my favourite of the album.



#3 Hilltop Hoods
With the reputation of being Australia's best and most well-known hip hop group also comes a stigma of being too poppy and being called a sell-out. After the release of "The Hard Road" in 2006 however, many were claiming, that despite the album's success and popularity with the mainstream, that The Hoods had just been riding the popularity wave and that the album perhaps achieved undeserved accolade.

Now fast-forward many performances, festival appearances and 3 years later to the year 2009 - more than a decade after the group's first album release. Many hip hop heads were wondering which direction they would take their next album - more poppy or more hip hop. I thought the former and was very skeptical that I would find any real hip hop depth on the album that I would actually love. But I was wrong - the album delivered for newer fans to the crew and the genre as well as old skool hip hop heads alike.

Of course it wasn't the rawest album all year, but they delivered with a high quality hip hop album that surpassed their last album and impressed many. This and their devoted passion at every performance I have seen them in over the last few years is the reason that they get my vote and my #3 place. Best song on the album is "Classic Example" featuring one of my favourite emcees Pharoahe Monch.




#2 K'NAAN
Born and raised in Mogadishu, Somalia, K'naan was brought up in an environment full of poverty, political turmoil and civil war. When he was 12 years old his mother succeeded in obtaining a refugee visa which gave them safe voyage to the USA. Having moved to Toronto not long after, K'naan practised his English outside of school by listening to hip hop CDs - most notably Nas and Karim.

The social and political consciousness of his poetry and lyrics added to his love of African sounds and acoustic recordings make K'Naan sound like a hybrid of Mos Def and Wyclef Jean - far from an insulting comparison! His album 'Troubador' has strong African sounds resonating through it and the beats always have a very natural, earthy sound. His talent for story-telling comes through in songs like "Take a minute" and "Somalia" and he is not shy to show off his lyricism and word play in songs like "The African Way" nor his delivery on harder tracks like "ABC's")

His socially conscious lyrics delivered soulfully raw over African singing and beats on this album have impressed me no end and is why K'naan gets my #2 spot! My favourite tune from K'naan last year however was the track about his homeland 'Somalia'.



#1 Royce Da 5'9"
Tick tick tick... BOOM! The verbal spit Smith N Wesson from Detroit has come a long way since his debut album in 2002 ("Rock City") from which most can only remember the catchy, Preemo-produced hit "Boom". But 2009 was truly 5'9" 's year with a dope solo album as well as a classic release with his crew "Slaughterhouse".

Fresh off his mixtape's release in 2008 ("Bar Exam 2") Royce kicked off 2009 with the release of his crew's debut and self-titled album
"Slaughterhouse" in August. What better way to bring hip hop back to its rawer and less poppy roots, than by putting 4 of the most respected and renowned lyricists together in a super crew!

So Royce Da 5"9, Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz & Crooked I got together and made a classic collabo album! The ablum included big hits such as "The One" (link below), "Salute" with Pharoahe Monch and "Onslaught 2" with Fatman Scoop among other bangers and truly impressed even the fussiest of hip hop heads.

On top of this success Royce 'Nickel Nine' also released a solo album soon after with "Street Hop". And no, not just an album full of filler tracks and one club banger to make a bit of extra cash on the side. No. A real, legit proper dope as fuck solo album called "Street Hop". Executive production by DJ Premier and features from Phonte, Busta & Bun B as well as other Slaughterhouse members make this album one of the best of the year to my mind. Far from using leftover and scrapbook rhymes he had no other use for, Nickel Nine expertly enunciates each clever simile and excerpt of alliteration with dedicated ease.

So two dope albums in 2k9, plus he is already planning a new mixtape release in 2010 called "Bar Exam 3". It's this diligence and dedication to the game as well as being a great poster boy for lyricism that get Nickel Nine the #1 spot for 2009!! My favourite track off 'Street Hop' was the track "Count for Nothing" (below). Check it out!

And now you know!
Peace and Love,
Ingers