The purpose of this category, 2011 Hip Hop Albums, is to make a very extensive presentation (from a quantity point of view) of this years albums. Some of them you probably listened to, but some of them you probably didn’t notice because they didn’t have enough promotion to attract your attention.  Some of them are truly extraordinary, some of them not so good. Anyway, I’ve rejected from the beginning to present crappy stuff like : Lil Wayne, Rick Rosss, SouljaBoy or other weird creatures that suck in the hip hop world.

So here it goes:

I’ll start with January 2011, and my 1st pick is Talib Kweli’s Gutter Rainbows, which dropped on the 25th.

talib kweli

Tracklist: 
1. After The Rain (produced by 88-Keys)
2. Gutter Rainbows (produced by M-Phazes)
3. So Low (produced by Shuko)
4. Cold Rain (produced by Ski Beatz)
5. Mr. International feat. Nigel Hall (produced by S1)
6. I’m On One (produced by KHRYSIS!)
7. Wait For You feat. Kendra Ross (produced by S1)
8. Ain’t Waiting feat. Outasight (produced by 6th sense)
9. Palookas feat. Sean Price (produced by Marco Polo)
10. Friends & Family (produced by E. Jones)
11. Tater Tot (produced by Nick Speed)
12. How You Love Me feat. Blaq Toven (produced by Blaq Toven)
13. Uh Oh feat. Jean Grae (produced by Oh No)
14. Self Savior feat. Chace Infinite (produced by Maurice Brown)

Fans reaction: Definitely not his best material so far, but not the worst..so we call it Enjoyable !

My opinion: A pretty interesting album, seeing the multitude of producers that he worked with. Although Kweli was never in the top charts, I think he has a great skill of keeping himself above the line and not boring his fans due to his capability to experiment and always writing intelligent verses.

You can order the album from Amazon.