The Mr. Glass Experience

With 2009 winding down I figured I would do a run down of my five favorite mixtapes from the year. These tapes are not only the best of the year, they are a model of what real hip-hop music is! 2009 featured some big names making comebacks along with newer guys shining through. It truly was a year for Hip-Hop. Without any more delay lets get started with my Mixtape Gems of 2009!

1: Mick Boogie Presents: U-N-I – Before There Was Love!

In my humble opinion this was by far the best mixtape of the entire year! It was 27 tracks of pure fire, featuring everyone from Talib Kweli to Evidence to Big Pooh. Before There Was Love is full of bass bumping west coast beats and a sweet mix of samples, with that smooth Cali flow these guys have come to be known for! Y-O & Thurzday put out one of the realest, illest, dopest tapes ever when they released this! They not only continue to surpass all others in the game with each release, they do it all without a major label backing. They have redefined the true essence of what Hip-Hop really is, these doods are no fad, they’re real ass MC’s!

2: Big Sean – UKNOWBIGSEAN

The past few years have been huge for the entire G.O.O.D. Music label. Common, Kid CuDi, Mr. Hudson, Kanye West the list goes on and on. Kanye’s label is quickly becoming one of the best rosters in Hip-Hop. However of all the artists on G.O.O.D. Music I think Detroit native  Big Sean’s second mixtape UKNOWBIGSEAN was the best project released by anyone on the label (and that’s saying a lot considering how good Man on The Moon was). Every song goes hard from start to finish. His smooth flow and lyricism shows how much the kids learned while sitting in the Shadows! The tape is a showcase of the most underrated, unknown and unheard member of the G.O.O.D. Music family! In 2010 you will KNOWBIGSEAN!

3: Mike Posner – A Matter of Time

The debut mixtape by Mike Posner was nothing more then amazing! Hosted by Don Cannon and mixed DJ Benzi, A Matter of Time is a blend of Posner’s soulful jazz-like voice, and his dope production. Posner who is a senior at Duke University is quickly becoming one of the hottest names in Hip-Hop today.  His single Drug Dealer Girl is nothing less than one of the best tracks of the year. The tape features Big Sean (see #2) as well as Eric Holljes. He released his second tape One Foot Out The Door in October, and while I don’t think it was as good as A Matter of Time, it is clear the Mike Posner is a rising star!

4: Drake – So Far Gone

Now I know a lot of people would argue that this was by far the best mixtape of 2009. However this is my list! It was one of the best, I mean the numbers don’t lie. Hell the success he has received from the tape might very well be incomparable. However I feel this was only the 4th best tape of the year. How many other artists do you know that can re-release a free mixtape as an EP and actually have it sell? Enough said!

5: B.o.B. – B.o.B. vs. Bobby Ray

No. 5 was the hardest one to decide upon, however considering how continuously dope B.o.B. has been I feel he deserved this spot over the other ones. The ATLien has blown up over the past few years. Appearing on multiple video game soundtracks, features on multiple albums and tearing up the internet, B.o.B. is  one of the true leaders of the new school! While B.o.B. might be one strange cat, rapping about aliens and singing about stars, you cant deny his talent! The heart and soul he puts into each track is apparent. He is quickly becoming one of the best storytellers in Hip-Hop!

Honorable Mentions:

The Cool Kids – Gone Fishing

Could have knocked Drake off, however the fact that Don Cannon is screaming all over every track ruined it for me!

PacDiv – Church League Champions

PacDiv continues to release dope ass music! They are definitely one of the groups to be looked out for in 2010!

Back in early 2008 I started a small blog called Hip-HopAlive! It was me trying to write about hip-hop music and my love for it. HHA! garnered a nice little following for the few months that I kept at it. I was receiving e-mails from lots of unknown up and coming artists who wanted me to review them. One of which was Colin Munroe, who has gone on to some pretty decent success. A review I did on Afrofreque, a hip-hop soul group from Houston, was actually my first piece to ever be published in any form. Sadly for some reason I decided to stop my little project. I was going through a rough time, and was still trying to figure out who I was. Later I tried starting up some other blogs, trying to emulate the things I saw on sites like 2Dopeboyz.com, all of which failed to ever be as good as the realness of Hip-HopAlive!. I ultimately quit them too, finally realizing that copying someone else ’s style wasn’t working for me. Hip-HopAlive! was my first real attempt at writing anything in a long time. I love that project for the simple fact that it re-lit the fire in me. It sparked my passion for writing once again. Since then I have changed, grown as a person and a writer. I have learned much more about the art, and have grown to love my little pathetic attempt at changing the hip-hop world. Looking back on some of the things I wrote, it makes me laugh. This was one of the first things I ever posted on the blog (many of the original posts have since been removed with only a dozen or so still remaining on the site). It’s my first attempt at ever doing a real album review, but not my last. With the new year coming up I plan on finishing what I started so long ago. I want to tap back into the magic that was Hip-HopAlive! I chose this album because it really touched me, and still remains one of my favorite of all time. It’s an album by an artist known simply as Blu. Here is my review from long ago of Blu & Exile’s Below The Heavens. Enjoy!

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