1. Ghostface Killah – The Wizard of Poetry (super-underated. if only Hov waited til ‘10 to dead autotune)
2. JPeriod & NNeka - The Madness
3. Zion I – The Takeover
4. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II
5. BlakRoc (likely candidate to be 2010’s Gnarls Barkley crossover equivalent, so enjoy it now, before it blows up and gets annoying)
6. Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy
7. B.O.B. - Shoulda Been The First Album
8. The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa (not technically hip hop, but close enough)
9. Mos Def – The Esctatic (saw mos live last year. Sucked balls. thought he’d clearly lost it, then he comes back with this record, and it’s like whoa, I guess he did lose it, but in a good way. I’ll never see him live again, but this was a DOPE record).

honorable mentions:
DOOM – Born Like This
Bike For Three!  More Heart Than Brains
J Dilla – Jay Stay Paid
Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3
Rick Ross – Deeper Than Rap (in the guilty pleasure category)
U-N-I – A Love Supreme

I still haven’t heard the full Drake, Clipse, Kid Cudi, Wale, DJ Quik & Kurupt, POS or Brother Ali albums. If I hear those in the new year and think they shoulda cracked the list, I will let you know…

-Henry