With the site having been up for over a year and a half now, I’m finding myself having to write my second end of year list. After such a great output of records in 2011 I’ve extended my list from my top ten to top twenty five, and even then it’s been difficult; with some great records having (regretably) missed off- but I had to stop somewhere!

My list aims to demonstrate the diversity of the records that I’ve enjoyed and connected with and that I’ve listened to a lot over the year. There were plenty of other records in 2011 that were been outstanding but for whatever reason I haven’t listened to and enjoyed as much as the 25 records below. (Note to angry commenters: If there are records you feel are missing from this list then quite frankly you’re wrong, not me, as this is my list! And I’m glad you enjoyed whatever album it was so much!)

That being said I’d hope that there is something here for everyone as it is a very diverse list; but if you are particularly alergic to a certain Canadian rapper, who shares his name with the word for a male duck, then I’d suggest skipping this article, as you’re only going to get angry/ dissapointed/ confused/ upset (delete as appropriate).

To end this intro I also wanted to shout out a couple of people; neither 9th Wonder or Ski Beatz made the list, despite how much I enjoyed their albums, purely because I think it’s harder to make the connection with a compilation, and I want to shout them both out for the great interviews we did earlier in the year about their respective projects.

I’d also like to shout out some up and coming rappers who have put out great breakthrough projects this year, who I’m expecting huge things from this new year and have worked with me and supported me over the past year, Actual Proof, Hollywood FLOSS, Chuuwee, ScienZe, Kenan Bell, Dom O Briggs, Half Amazin, Rarest Element, Noah Caine, Lyriciss, L.A., Doomtree, Prince Golden, G.o.D Jewels, Chane, Hosse, League Of Extraordinary G’z and LuRock (my apologies if I forgot anyone).

Finally thank you to everyone I’ve interviewed over the past year; 9th Wonder, Ski Beatz, Thurzday, TiRon & Ayomari, Evidence, Stalley, Hollywood FLOSS, Yelawolf, Chuuwee, Scroobius Pip, The Ting Tings, Sims, Lazerbeak and HOPE Wright.

So without further ado, hit the jump and check out my favourite albums of 2011…
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Last year something sat on my end-of-year list that I’d never have expected to a year before. Having admittedly never really listened to Scroobius Pip other than having heard a few guest verses and the odd single; I’d been following him on Twitter pretty much since I signed up to it, sharing his love of language and enjoying his quips (I’d recommend giving him a follow @ScroobiusPipYo). I’m not trying to put down his previous work, as I know that it’s great, however the beats didn’t really click with me for whatever reason. With the new punk/hardcore infused direction of Distraction Pieces I found myself feeling the excitement of when I first started listening to P.O.S (and the rest of Doomtree), Sage Francis and others along a similar vein.

I must also apologise again to Mr. Pip, for being a terrible journalist and taking literally months to get this transcribed and posted; at least I didn’t rush!
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Say what you want about this social media age, but without it we’d never have two completely unrelated emcees from opposite sides of the US teaming up to make collaborative albums about Star Wars… And given how great Chuuwee and Sundown’s new collaborative record The Millennium Falcon is, that would be a real shame!

Last September when Chuuwee was over in North Carolina visiting Sundown, for the first time, to wrap up (and it turns out, re-record most of) the project, I was able to Skype in to catch up with them about what they’d been working on, and to listen to the album in full, talking through the tracks one by one: gaining an insight into the making of an excellent new project, that people really aren’t anticipating enough in my opinion!

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The DMV’s Young Scolla drops a smooth new record featuring Phil Ade and Gerald Walker on guest verses…

After a little hold up, The RLES Society’s own Scolla is back for Week 3 of his weekly series #ScollasWebTour. On this smooth ladies record entitled “The Jones” Scolla enlists the help of the DMV’s own Phil Ade and Milwuakee’s Gerald Walker to speak on the women’s addiction for these young stars. Produced by fellow Detroit Native, Jerry Parker & Mixed/Co-Produced By Roscoe Wiki.

57thAve were on hand at Amobea Music in New York as Alchemist and OhNo were signing copies of their new album Vodka & Ayahuasca which I’d urge everyone to check out if they hadn’t already!

After last year’s amazing Black Star gig, Talib Kweli will be returning to the UK in March to promote his upcoming Prisoner Of Conscious album, with two exclusive shows in London and Manchester (on the 20th and 21st respectively) for the full flyer and details on how to book, hit the jump…
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Almost twenty years since their classic ’93 Til Infinity’ secured their place in the hip-hop hall of fame, Oakland’s Souls Of Mischief are still going strong, with three solo albums set to drop early this year (Tajai’s Machine Language, Opio’s Vultures Wisdom Volume 2 and Phesto’s Background Check) the Souls are set to tour Europe performing a mixture of new material and the classics this February and March. This should definitely be worth heading out to if it’s coming to a city anywhere near you…

Hit the jump for the dates…
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Joe Budden drops a great freestyle over my favourite Watch The Throne instrumental. Some excellent wordplay and truth spoken here…

The Bawse dons an incredible fur coat (surely PETA should have been onto him by now) for the upcoming visual from his Rich Forever mixtape…

To coincide with their A$AP Rocky cover story, ‘Dazed & Confused‘ put together a short documentary following A$AP Rocky and the rest of the A$AP Mob around for a couple of days while they go about their business (which mostly includes doing video and photo shoots)…

For the latest Dazed cover story, I went to NYC to meet hip hop’s golden boy, A$AP Rocky and his A$AP Mob to get the low down on his overnight success and to take a tour of the crew’s favorite local spots. After a shopping spree in Soho, the fashion fanatics braved sub zero temperatures for a photo shoot on Harlem’s legendary Rucker Park basketball court with Ari Marcopoulos before heading home to 116th Street for a soul food banquet at Amy Ruth’s. They even squeezed in an impromptu house call on one of their grannies who hadn’t seen Rocky since his videos “Peso” and “Purple Swag” blew up and landed the 24-year-old rapper with a $3 million record deal. The next day I met them and a very large Rottweiler called Brody at a crumbling mansion in New Jersey as they filmed the final scene of Rocky’s “Wassup” video. It was a wild 24 hours…

The Slaughterhouse machine are set to drop their second album, which will be executive produced by Eminem and entitled welcome to: OUR HOUSE, on March 15th. Let’s hope the date doesn’t get pushed back too far, because I can’t wait to hear this one!

Tampa’s Prince Golden sprays his raspy flow all over the thunderous beat of J Dilla’s ‘Jungle Love’ on this track from his Dilla Still Illa mixtape, which is available for download now…

One of my current favourites, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, leaks a new track from his upcoming mixtape Brokest Rich Niggas which drops next month!