Best of 2004: Music...

Guess who's bizzack...

Time for Best of 2004 music edition. I am only one man with one opinion, but I value it. Maybe you will too... drum roll, please...

Best Albums:

1. MadVillain - "MadVillainy" - Producer MadLib and emcee MF Doom come together and make a masterpiece. This is the first album since Wu-Tang's "36 Chambers" to take the current state of hip-hop, and smash it with a hammer... Nothing else you hear this year is like it. There are similarities to the Wu's debut: the unpolished grimey production, the dirty drums, the unfiltered vocals. But that's where they end. While Wu's album changed how people made rap music, MadVillain will just be a diamond in the... well, sea of albums talking about diamonds. Best when listened to whole, the album still has tons of gems, albeit short ones. "Curls," "Meat Grinder," "Operation Lifesaver" and "All Caps" show off what the album has to offer... it's a real classic underground album.

2. Green Day - "American Idiot" - While "Dookie" will always be considered their best album, "American Idiot" will be set on the mantle next to the Sex Pistols' debut and "London Calling" as a classic punk album. Everything is incredible from start to finish, the guitars (finally more than 3 chords!), the drumming, the lyrics, right down to the vocal melodies. It came at a time when it was needed, both by the band and with the state of the world. But let's not get too crazy, it's just an album... but a damn good one. Don't call it a comeback.

3. Ghostface - "The Pretty Toney Album" - Ghost has never dropped a wack album, making him the most consistent of all the Wu-Tang. This time, Ghost goes wild and reaches back into old soul records. He just doesn't sample the records, he raps OVER them. With some tweaking, could have been his best album to date, even though "not his best" is still light years ahead of most other artists. He is in it for all the right reasons.

4. Kanye West - "College Dropout" - An asshole with a huge ego? Yup. But like a NFL wide receiver, if you don't have that attitude, and you are on a record label that showcases Jay-Z, you wouldn't get very far. This album is easily the best mainstream rap album of the year, and might be the most solid since Jay-Z dropped two classics on us. Doing all his own production, Kanye manages to throw guest raps in at the right moments, and his affiliation with Common and Talib Kweli definitely works to his benefit. After listening to this album, it's amazing record labels were turning down his demos, and even Roc-A-Fella made him pay for his own videos at first..!? damn. But, with all that outside production, can Kanye keep it up? Supposedly he keeps his best beats for himself, let's hope so.

5. Modest Mouse - "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" - Modest Mouse has been making albums for a long time. In fact, it took this, their fourth album, for them to break into mainstream radio, and boy did they capitalize. Fueled by the hit single "Float On" the band moved over 1 million units, something they probably didn't reach with their three prior albums COMBINED. They are no one-trick-pony, the album has great tunes laced throughout.

6. De La Soul - "The Grind Date" - "Tommy ain't my motha fuckin' Boy"... indeed. As soon as De La bounces from the label that made them famous, they drop their best album in the last ten years. Every beat is bangin', and they called in the right guests. Makes you easily forget about their aborted AOI: volume 3 disc.

7. Masta Killa - "No Said Date" - Back when album release dates were hard to find, because there was nothing called INTERNET, Wu-Tang albums usually had pushed back release dates, or better yet, Strawberries would throw up names like Masta Killa with a TBA or No Said Date in the date column... well, it took ten years, but it was well worth the wait for Masta Killa's debut. Just the kind of gritty album you would expect from Wu ten years ago.

8. Snow Patrol - "Final Straw" - People say they sound like Coldplay, I think they sound like a bunch of different bands, at least vocally. Musically, there isn't many bands you could call similar. They have a killer hit single and lots of tracks to back that up. If you haven't heard of them, you will sometime soon. Oh wait... nevermind.

9. Lloyd Banks - "The Hunger for More" - Usually these G-Unit/Shady/Aftermath debuts are also fire, and Banks' is no exception. A lot of good production and solid gangsta lyrics make this a very solid debut. Having Dre, Eminem and Timbaland on the boards doesn't hurt either.

10. Terror Squad - "True Story" / The Donnas - "Gold Medal" - Both albums were extremely surprising. Terror Squad has some of the best production from front to back of any rap album this year, while the Donnas advanced their sound well past their last album. Right now, Fat Joe is virtually untouchable, and the Donnas have laid the groundwork for a long-term career.

Close, but no cuban cigar:

Gwen Stefani - "Love, Angel, Music, Baby" - Title not withstanding, this is a really good CD if you like to have fun once in a while. It's like "Rock Steady" with dance songs... oh wait....

MF Doom - "MM... Food" - It isn't MadVillain, but it is the next best thing. Almost every song here is on point, but 4 instrumental skits in a row and one song that Doom isn't even on, makes this an incomplete meal. Incomplete Filet Mignon anyway.

Kill Bill Volume 2 - Soundtrack - Great collection of songs. That Shivaree song is a gem. Robert Rodriguez has some strong pipes. That isn't a gay reference, thanks.

Handsome Boy Modeling School - "White People" - Del and Deftones? Jack Johnson and Barrington Levy? RZA and Mars Volta? yeah, they are all here... and more!... Most eclectic release this year.

Air - "Talkie Walkie" - Probably the best of all the "chill" artists to drop an album this year.

Best Singles:

1. Snoop Dogg - "Drop it Like it's Hot" - Snnnnooooooppppppppp!.

2. Terror Squad - "Lean Back" - Even Roy Jones was forced to do it. I had mangers gettin' down to it. Pure heat.

3. Modest Mouse - "Float On" - If you have heard it, (you don't live under a rock do you?) you know why.

4. Franz Ferdinand - "Take me Out" - It's good.

5. Usher - "Yeah!" - Great Song, got played out quick thanks to Lil' Jon and Dave Chappelle.

Any Jadakiss single - All the songs that made it to the radio were amazing.

Biggest Disappointments/Most Overrated:

1. Snoop Dogg - "R&G: Rhythm & Gangsta - Tha Masterpiece" - First off, the guy who said "Fuck them R&B singers" sure seems like he wants to be one. Second, aside from the lead single, and the "Pulp Fiction" inspired "Oh No," this album is trash. Makes the "Doggfather" look like "Paid in Full."

2. Eminem - "Encore" - Now, there are a handfull of great songs here. "Like Toy Soldiers," "Yellow Brock Road," "Never Enough" just to name a few. But this also contains his worst songs ever recorded. "Rain Man" and "My 1st Single" are only where the problems being. After dropping 3 albums where you didn't need to press skip, this is a real let down.

3. Franz Ferdinand - Self-titled - They have a great lead-single. They have some other great songs. But for people to act like they are the next U2... this is just so overrated. I still haven't figured out what all the hype is about.

4. Velvet Revolver - "Contraband" - I hoped for the best. I got... blah. The vocals are often drowned out, and usually aren't great. Please come back STP.

5. Jadakiss - "The Kiss of Death" - Every song released to radio was amazing. The best song wasn't even included on the album. Which made this so disappointing, way too much filler yet again from the LOX. Six bangers and shit makes a great EP, not an album.

Bonus... Usher - "Confessions" - Nominated for Best Album? There's one great song, another club track, two good ballads and a pile of shit. Overrated.