2011 End of the Year Wrap-Up: Albums 30-21

30.) Raekwon - Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang



Raekwon continues his hot streak with another great album sans RZA.

29.) Blueprint - Adventures in Counter Culture



The Columbus, Ohio native examines American popular cultures, with one of the most original and creative releases of the year.

28.) Blu - No York!



Blu's major label debut that never was, is one of the most polarizing releases of the year, but was also one of the more enjoyable.

27.) Death Cab for Cutie - Codes & Keys



Death Cab's latest is filled with more optimism than previous releases, and more keys.

T-26.) Yuck - Self-titled


Whoops, I accidentally forgot to add the British band Yuck to my Excel project. So I put them tied with The Black Keys as they both had a score of 67. Their grungey debut is a straight 90s throwback from the heavy guitar riffs, to the minimalistic (but effective songwriting), and to the (presumably intentional) shitty mixing.

T-26.) The Black Keys - El Camino



The Keys' latest is their poppiest release yet, but it's also one of their best.

25.) Murs - Love & Rockets Vol. 1



Murs teams up with Ski Beatz for his best release in a few years.

24.) Beirut - The Rip Tide



The baroque pop band drops one of the prettier releases of 2011.

23.) Bright Eyes - The People's Key



On Bright Eyes' rumored-to-be last album, Conor Oberst's songwriting covers religion and aliens, but I assure you it's still pretty awesome.

22.) Evidence - Cats & Dogs



Evidence's long-awaited Rhymesayers debut shows the Dilated Peoples rep at his most personal over incredible production handled mostly by Alchemist.

21.) J-Live - S.P.I.T.A. (Said Person of That Ability)



The underground vet drops some phenomenal boom bap vibes

2011 End of the Year Wrap-Up: Honorable Mentions

Yeah yeah I know it's mid-February, but as a full-time student, part time janitor and full-time baller, it's extremely hard to find the time to finish up a list of 127 Albums, EPs, and mixtapes I listened to last year.

Now after my extremely thorough rating system has been completed (at the end of January, but haven't had time to post it), I will post the lists.


Sorry Daedelus, your album was pretty cool, but you just missed our top 40.

First of all here is my criteria/rating scale:
I have taken categories and gave each of the 127 giving them each a rating of 1-10, here are the categories

• Replay Value - How often did I feel compelled to go back and listen to this album throughout the year?
• Vocal Performance - For hip hop albums this included flows, rhyme schemes, cadences, etc. For rock albums melodies, quality of vocals, harmonies, etc.
• Production - How good were the beats/ music.
• Subject Matter - Lyrical content, song topics
• Songwriting - Ability to structure a good song, includes quality of choruses/hooks and bridges
• Cohesion - How well did the album flow? Did it sound like one piece of music, or just a bunch of random track?
• Originality - How original or creative was the album?
• Gut feeling - My initial instinct on what I thought the album should rand 1-10

In addition, I also added a "Fillers" category, which took off a negative point for every song I rated 2 or less stars in my iTunes.

I also had a category called "The Big 300" which awarded a bonus point to an album for every track that was picked as the best 300 songs of 2011.

Now without further adieu, I bring you the honorable mentions list. This list includes every album that didn't quite crack my top-40, but still gathered a rating of 45 or higher (the highest rated album was 84, and the lowest was 21).

Daedelus	Bespoke
Imaginary Cities	Temporary Resident
The Weeknd	Thursday
Apollo Brown	Clouds
Frank Ocean	Nostalgia/Ultra
Blu	Jesus
Common	The Dreamer/The Believer
Freddie Gibbs	Lord Giveth, Lord Taketh Away
Red Hot Chili Peppers	I'm With You
MarQ Spekt & Kno	MacheteVision
Reks	Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme
The Cool Kids	When Fish Ride Bicycles
The Decemberists	The King is Dead
Kooks	Junk of the Heart
Ryshon Jones	Friday
St. Vincent	Strange Mercy
Wilco	The Whole Love
Bamboo Bros	American Jibaro
Danny Brown	XXX
Freeway	Statik-Free
My Morning Jacket	Circuital
Random Axe	Random Axe
Amy Winehouse	Lioness
Blu & Exile	Give Me My Flowers While I can Still Smell Them
Mac Miller	Blue Slide Park
MED	Classic
Danger Mouse	Rome
Feist	Metals
Chip Tha Ripper	Gift Raps
Patrick Stump	Soul Punk
Stalley	Lincoln Way Nights
Murs	Varsity Blues 2
Iron & Wine	Kiss Each Other Clean
Corinne Bailey Rae	The Love EP
J. Cole	Cole World
Jill Scott	The Light of the Sun
Wu-Tang Clan	Legendary Weapons
9th Wonder	The Wonder Years
Royce Da 5'9"	Success is Certain
Schoolboy Q	Setbacks
XV	Zero Heroes
Black Rob	Game Tested, Streets Approved
Florence + The Machine	Ceremonials
Gil Scott-Herron & Jamie xx	We're New Here
Hail Mary Mallon	Are You Gonna Eat That?
Pharoahe Monch	W.A.R.
Radiohead	King of Limbs
Freestyle Fellowship	The Promise
Gillian Welch	The Harrow & The Harvest
Beyonce	4
Incubus	If Not Now, When?
Lyle Horowitz	Smiles of a Summer Night
Co$$	Before I Awoke
FlamesYall	InternationYall
Grynch	Timeless
Mayer Hawthorne	Impressions
Rapper Big Pooh	Dirty Pretty Things
Bad Meets Evil	Hell: The Sequel
David Dallas	The Rose Tint
Money Making Jam Boys	The Prestigue
B.o.B	EPIC
Lupe Fiasco	Friend of the People
Nappy Roots	Nappy Dot Org