Artist(s) of The Year

I did my opinon on my favorite mixtapes of 08 a few weeks ago, now I'm doing my favorite artist(s) of the year '08....

*Big Sean: I heard Big Sean on Kanye's "Can't Tell Me Nothing Mixtape" with his debut song "Gon Get'cha Some", the lyrics were a dope and new to me, then this year he dropped his first mixtape "Finaly Famous". Waiting for his 2nd installment, dated to dropped in January "U KNOW BIG SEAN"...from touring in UK to studio sessions with Pharrell, looks like Big Sean gonna have big things jumping in '09.

*Kid Cudi: I heard a song by Cudi called "Dat New New" and that he was good, his style was different and delivery was strangely dope...he blew up after dropping "Day N Nite" and did a good job on "808's & Heartbreak"...his mixtape "A Kid Named Cudi" was different. 2009 his debut album is set to release, I know it'll be dope.

*The Cool Kids-From "Black Mags" to the mixtapes, ("That's Stupid" "Cool Ass Ninjas") & their EP "The Bake Sale" The Cool Kids have grown a lot of buzz, I heard about them the end of last summer, when they did a track called "88" it had a Beastie Boys/Run DMC feel and I wanted to hear more, now over a year later The Cool Kids rocking more shows, advancing with the songs and growing bigger and bigger.

*Drake: Wheelchair Jimmy from Degrassi....My homie Cari showed me & B. Allan his 2nd mixtape "Comeback Season" last December and I was like "Wow, this is the dude from Degrassi" It's crazy cause he wasn't rapping guns or nothing, his mixtape "Comeback Season" is considered a classic in my eyes, it was original and the song topics were meaningful, I'm just waiting on "So Far Gone".

N*E*R*D: It sucks that it took 7 years for N*E*R*D to get the respect and the shine they have now. I was 9 years old when I heard their first album "In Search Of..." But anyway "Seeing Sounds" was one of the best albums this year..."Love Bomb" & "Yeah You" are my shit. They shut it down at Glow In The Dark this year also.

*Kanye West: Where do I begin...It's weird listening to "808's & Heartbreak" then listening to "College Dropout" or "Graduation", it's a big difference, Ye's my favortie artist, he's the best to me cause of his originality, and when I heard "Love LockDown" I was honestly afraid that he was gonna fall off, but he prevailed and dropped a classic to me..."Paranoid" is one of my favorite songs this year.


*T.I.:"Paper Trail" was the first album from T.I.P. that I really liked...After "Swagger Like Us" my respect level for T.I. grew. Hopefully he'll keep progressing.

*M.I.A.: I knew about this song when the album dropped in '07 but this year "Paper Planes" really put M.I.A. on the map, I didn't think people would like they did, it's good to see the "worth it" artists get their respect and love...

*Pacific Division: My cousin Dante put me up on Pac Div, I thought "Ima Fat Boy" was a pretty dope song, especially cause I could skate to it, but their songs "Gorgeous" & "Women Problems" are some of my favorite. And their mixtapes that I heard were good, they went back and rapped over the old hip hop classics...kudos to Pac Div who I met at "The Hundreds 2008 Block Party".

p,s, After I think of more people, and recap back on this year, I'll prolly add more to the list.