RHH: Top 100 West Coast Hip Hop Albums Of 2011?

Alright, here it is, the Top 100 West Coast Hip Hop Albums of 2011. Overall it was a pretty good year for West Coast Hip Hop, continually showing why we make the best music around. A few things about the list. I included albums from California, Oregon, Washington and West Coast Canada. I included Canada mainly because a lot of West Coast Canadian rappers, especially from Vancouver, have close ties with rappers from the West Coast US. If you don’t like it, simply remove the Canadians on this list and make it a Top X (however many) West Coast Hip Hop Albums of 2011. “Albums” here actually include traditional albums, “EP’s”, and “mixtapes”. These days its almost impossible to tell the difference. I only included works that include four or more separate songs. I thought four was a good cut off number. There were a few remix projects I liked that I didn’t include mainly because the remixers weren’t from the West Coast and the vocal material was old. Defining “Hip Hop” is also nearly impossible, especially regarding the West Coast, which is one of the reasons why I like it so much. Here I only include works with vocals, so no pure instrumental albums here. I listen to beat tapes with a completely different mind set. That being said, I do include albums by West Coast producers. I mainly define “Hip Hop” here as involving rapping, which itself is a controversial term these days. Choose for yourself. I was looking over my Top 150 List of 2010 a couple days ago and it would be completely different today, so this list is really only valid for today only. Also, you should really just divide the list into five different “tiers” as most of the albums can be switched with albums within 20 albums of them at any point in time. That being said, this list should give you a good idea of what I enjoyed during 2011. I also stand by my Top 10. Ngafsh brought us classic Project Blowed while Open Mike showed us the direction in which the Blowed is moving. The offbeatness of Malkovich Music and Thirsty Fish (while offbeat in very different ways) shows how “excintric” and “weird” can produce some dang good music. Blue Scholars and Paranoid Castle’s albums should really be listened to straight through while sitting down, they both hit hard. Cleen’s album is West Coast boom bap at its finest. Beltaine’s Fire’s album is everything a political rap album should be, honest and a recognition that music is still important (even though I disagree with nearly everything Lynx is spitting). Awol One and Factor pushed the limits once with a strangely quirky yet dark piece of work. Finally, Flash Bang Grenada took two generations of alternative L.A. Hip Hop, mixed it with dirty synth pop and hipster, anti-hipster and anti-anti hipster sentiments and created a masterpiece for centuries to come. I’ll probably be re-posting this list throughout the upcoming days, but please star this as it took some time. Word.

100. The Buddha - Sahtyre

99. Friends With Help - Friends With Help

98. Higher Learning 2 - Fashawn

97. B Boy Prophecies - Tabernacle MCz

96. Swan Storm - Xczircles

95. Quiet After The Storm - Aamir

94. Granite Pedigree EP - Phesto

93. I Am Lock - Locksmith

92. I Found My Backpack Pt. 2 - Mistah Fab

91. Man The Ship - Gajah

90. Veneris Nigrum - Hellfyre Club

89. The Red Album - Game

88. Feel Like A Star - Himself

87. Customized Music - BeOND

86. Only This One Counts -Neila

85. Born Again - LMNO

84. Red X Tapes - Opio & Equipto

83. Solved - MC Frontalot

82. Versus - Zumbi

81. Heroes In The Nation Of Healing - The Grouch & Zion I

80. The California EP - Scarub

79. Love And Rockets Vol. 1 - Murs

78. Optimus Rhymes Is Dead - Optimus Rhymes

77. Airport 5 - Moka Only

76. Nome De Plume - Bukue One

75. I Love Haters - Luckyiam

74. Black Up - Shabazz Palaces

73 Cracks In The Vinyl - Planet Asia & Madlib

72. Club Soda Series 1 - Factor

71. Space Cadalack - Cadalack Ron

70. Galaxy Of Dreams - Sunspot Jonz

69. The Neighbor Visitor - White Mic

68. God Is Good - Blu

67. Longmile Buggedness - Ron Contour

66. The Hierophant - Casual

65. Two Headed Dragon - Gajah & Graves33

64. Moses & Aaron - Tabernacle MCz

63. Future's Past: A Collection of Rejected Excellence - Co$$

62. The Skrill Walton EP - Illmaculate

61. Power Plant (Guerilla Kingz EP) - Freestyle Fellowship

60. New Kind of Sexy - Watsky

59. The Book Of David - DJ Quik

58. The Cliff Notes EP - L'Roneous

57. Ghetto Merchants - Slumlordz

56. Walk Into A Bar - Prometheus Brown & Bambu

55. Lava Lamp EP - Mr. Brady

54. Culture Shock - Animal Farm

53. Martian Xmas 2011 - Moka Only

52. ALR Elite - Acid Lab Records

51. Project Roach - Boac

50. The Child Star - Awol One & Nathaniel Motte