Top 20 Albums and Top 30 Songs of 2011!

Peace everybody.  It's that time again for me to recap my favorite stuff from last year.  Yeah I know, I know.  We're already 20 days into 2012 you say.  Hood, you're slacking.  Well, just as I said last year, I do have my reasons (and it's not just that I'm lazy.)  Although most of the popular sites tend to do their lists in the last couple of weeks of the year, I try to wait until a few weeks into the new year in order to allow some time for the late-year releases to sink in.  In 2011 in particular, there were some really great albums released in the last few weeks of the year so that's why I hold off.  Anyway, there was a lot of great music released in 2011 and these are my lists based on stuff that I listened to.  If you thought it was really good and it's not on here, then oh well.  As DJ Premier would say, make your own list.  This will be the sixth year that I've done this now and it's something that I really enjoy doing.  More importantly though, I hope I can inspire people to check for some of this stuff if you missed out on it.  So, without further ado, here's my lists:

Top 20 Albums of 2011 (In Order)
20) Royce Da 5'9"-Success Is Certain
19) 9th Wonder-The Wonder Years
18) Pete Rock & Smif-N-Wessun-Monumental
17) Bad Meets Evil-Hell: The Sequel
16) KRS-ONE & Freddie Foxxx-Royalty Check
15) Saigon-The Greatest Story Never Told
14) Apathy-Honkey Kong
13) Random Axe-Random Axe
12) Elzhi-Elmatic
11) Wu-Tang-Legendary Weapons
10) Vast Aire-OX 2010: A Street Odyssey
  9) Raekwon-Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang
  8) Evidence-Cats & Dogs
  7) M.E.D.-Classic
  6) The Roots-Undun
  5) Phonte-Charity Starts At Home
  4) Torae-For The Record
  3) Reks-Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme
  2) Pharoahe Monch-W.A.R. (We Are Renegades)
  1) Common-The Dreamer, The Believer

Honorable Mentions: Black Milk & Danny Brown-Black & Brown, M.O.P. & Snowgoons-Sparta, Freddie Foxxx & Statik Selektah-Lyrical Workout, Edo G-A Face In The Crowd, Joell Ortiz-Free Agent

Top 30 Songs Of 2011 (In Order)
30) Vast Aire featuring Karniege-"Almighty Jose" (Produced by Kount Fif)
29) M.E.D.-"Mystical Magical" (Produced by Madlib)
28) Black Milk & Danny Brown-"LOL" (Produced by Black Milk)
27) Pete Rock & Smif-N-Wessun featuring Tyler Woods-"Monumental" (Produced by Pete Rock)
26) Random Axe-"Random Call" (Produced by Black Milk)
25) Evidence-"You" (Produced by DJ Premier)
24) Saigon-"Preacher" (Produced by Just Blaze)
23) Ghostface Killah, AZ & M.O.P.-"Legendary Weapons" (Produced by Lil' Fame & The Revelations)
22) Torae-"That Raw" (Produced by Pete Rock)
21) Raekwon featuring Black Thought-"Masters Of Our Fate" (Produced by Tommy Nova)
20) M.E.D.-"Blaxican" (Produced by Madlib)
19) KRS-ONE & Freddie Foxxx-"Just You" (Produced by Freddie Foxxx)
18) Vast Aire featuring Guilty Simpson-"The Verdict" (Produced by Ayatollah)
17) M.O.P. & Snowgoons-"Opium" (Produced by Snowgoons)
16) Raekwon featuring Nas-"Rich & Black" (Produced by Sean C. & LV)
15) Black Star-"Fix Up" (Produced by Madlib)
14) Pharoahe Monch featuring Immortal Technique-"W.A.R." (Produced by Marco Polo)
13) (tie) Edo G-"Fastlane" (Produced by DJ Premier)
13) Raekwon featuring Ghostface Killah-"Silver Rings" (Produced by Cilvaringz)
12) Phonte featuring Elzhi-"Not Here Anymore" (Produced by 9th Wonder)
11) Common featuring Nas-"Ghetto Dreams" (Produced by No I.D.)
10) Apathy-"Check To Check" (Produced by Evidence)
  9) Torae-"For The Record" (Produced by DJ Premier)
  8) Reks-"25th Hour" (Produced by DJ Premier)
  7) Evidence featuring Raekwon & Ras Kass-"The Red Carpet" (Produced by Alchemist)
  6) Royce Da 5'9"-"Second Place" (Produced by DJ Premier)
  5) Phonte-"The Good Fight" (Produced by 9th Wonder)
  4) Freddie Gibbs-"Thuggin" (Produced by Madlib)
  3) Pharoahe Monch-"Evolve" (Produced by Exile)
  2) Nas-"Nasty" (Produced by Salaam Remi)
  1) Common-"Sweet" (Produced by No I.D.)

Well, there you have it.  And just in case you missed my lists from previous years, here's a recap of my #1 albums and songs from the past five years:

2006
#1 Album: Ghostface Killah-Fishscale
#1 Song: AZ-"The Format" (Produced by DJ Premier)
2007
#1 Album: Killah Priest-The Offering
#1 Song: Pharoahe Monch-"Desire" (Produced by Alchemist)
2008
#1 Album: Elzhi-The Preface
#1 Song: Royce Da 5'9"-"Shake This" (Produced by DJ Premier)
2009
#1 Album: Raekwon-Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Part II
#1 Song: Jay Electronica-"Exhibit C" (Produced by Just Blaze)
2010
#1 Album: Celph Titled & Buckwild-Nineteen Ninety Now
#1 Song: Black Milk featuring Royce Da 5'9" & Elzhi-"Deadly Medley" (Produced by Black Milk)

Until next time, one love everybody!