Hello ATRL members. This will be my first time participating in ATRL's Best of 2009. I decided I would shorten mine strictly to urban music/artists because that is something I KNOW I have knowledge of. Instead of mine being posted in lists, I'll just post the "number one" with a brief description of why underneath. Hope you enjoy and do comment and rate please. I'll be starting with
UBRAN Man of the Year,
URBAN Woman of the Year, and
UBRAN Rapper of the Year...
URBAN Man of the Year: Trey Songz
If there was any male artist who established himself this year, It would be Trey Songz. The talented singer released his third studio album this year that reached #3 on the Billobards 200 Albums. Trey Songz became a hit among the urban community after releasing "LOL :-)" which was seen on every Facebook and Twitter status. The up-beat song became a hit. But not only that, he came back and collabed with Drake again with his single "I Inveneted Sex" (a personal favorite of mine). All the strict parents probably hated it, but this song was definiton of Trey Songz when he slows it down. But not only that, he released a provaucative video to go along with it. Someone's making his fans happy. And he ends out 2009 with "Say Ahh" which is getting a lot of airplay and is quickly rising up the charts. This up-beat is a great song to party too. Though he had few live performances, Trey Songz delivered some great singles and a great album that gave him the title Man of the Year.
URBAN Woman of the Year: Beyonce
If you couldn't guess this one, I udnerstand why. Beyonce took over the year for women, with an album that was released last year. I believe the peak of her success came in 2009. With a great tour and performances on MTV, EMA. and BET, Beyonce made sure her name was in the mix. After delivering "Single Ladies" to the world, one might have wondered how she could follow up with a song like that. Then she releases Diva, a swagger-rific song full of bass, and to go along with it, a classic Sasha Fierce video. This was one of my personal favorites. Then she follows up with Halo, slowing it down a bit. And you can bet that there's a thousand (exaggerating) covers of it on Youtube. This did great on the charts and her success continued to rise. But Beyonce wasn't done dominating the world. She comes back with Ego featuring Kanye West. There might be some skeptisism about what the song is about exactly, but it's a good song nevertheless. But after Sweet Dreams was released, she shocked the world with Video Phone fetauring none other than Lady Gaga. This has to be the biggest collaboration of the year. And the best part was the video, which was full of guns, sexy-ness, and dancing. Though it seems many hate the video for unknown reasons, I think the video was creative and fun. Two thumbs up Beyonce. All of these wonderful singles,I Am... Tour, and TV performances have made Beyonce a true woman of 2009. Success doesn't get any better than that.
URBAN Rapper of the Year: Jay-Z
If your talking about a rapper with crowd-pleasing talent, dominance of 2009, and marrying the hot Beyonce, only one comes to mind and that is Jay-Z. Releasing his 11th studio album The Blueprint 3, Jay-Z threw Kanye West and Lil Wayne in the shadows this year. Though I'm not a fan myself, Jay-Z truly delivered this year. Before I can ever get started on singles, Jay-Z stole the spotlight this year with his AMAZING Fuse 9/11 Concert. If you missed this concert, you miss one of the best concerts you could ever. Jay-Z definaltely knows how to deliver, and make sure the crowd gets their money's worth. Now, Jay-Z started off with a risky single, DOA (Death of Autotone), which you could say was direct insults at artists like T-Pain. But this was Jay-Z's statement that autotune is becoming hip-hop and that's not how it's supposed to be. In my opinion the song wasn't all that great, but the beat was definately hot. Then Jay-Z comes back with his next single, Run This Town featuring Kanye West and Rihanna. This was one of the first things Rihnna had done since the incident and there was great anticipation for it. The song was great. Reaching #2 on Billboards, the song pleased much of the urban community and could be heard on the radio every hours (maybe even less). This song was bound for greatness and it got greatness. But Jay-Z didn't stop his road to glory. He then comes out with Empire State of Mind featuring Alicia Keys and it's just as good as Run This Town. This song displaying great vocals by Alicia and great rapping by Jay-Z reached #1. This has to be one of the best songs off of his album and I truly never expected an Alicia?Jay-Z collab. And ever since this song, it's been getting nominations everywhere, much deserved. Jay-Z truly took over 2009 with his great singles and great performances. There is no other rapper that outshined him.
URBAN Male Album of the Year: Chris Brown "Graffiti"
After the incident in February, Chris Brown was already bound to lose some friends and album sales. And it's a shame because this album is really good. A great comeback indeed. No matter what he did in the past, it's about music in the end, and Chris Brown made sure that a great album would make everyone move on. It worked for me. Chris Brown treats all his various fans on this album with a mix of pop and RnB. I think the newer pop direction he went in worked for him, and he should continue towards there. But this album includes some great songs like Crawl, Fallin Down, Pass Out, Wait and many others. This album has the perfect mix of slow, up-beat, and mid-tempo songs. Up against other artists albums like DNA (Mario) and Ready (Trey Songz), Chris Browns album beats both of theirs by a mile. No matter your opinion of him this album is excellent and you should definately take the time to listen.
Faves: Falling Down, Chase Our Love, Crawl, Wait, What I Do....
URBAN Female Album of the Year: Rihanna "Rated R"
Rihanna returns with her 4th studio album and it has to be great after the booming success of GGGB. Rihanna should call this album her diary as it is feeled with more personal songs. Though it might not be as commercial as others, it is still a great album. A lot of people instantly put the album off because of the lack of up-beat, GGGB like songs, but if you actually take the time to list it's still a good album.This album is full of quality music and keeps a balance between hip-hop, pop, and a little rock. She gives a little everything to everyone. The CD opens with Mad House, and intro that should've been a song, and closes with a beautiful ballad The Last Song. The album is an open book from beginning to end full of emotion. Rihanna put her true feelings into the songs, and though it lacks the party feel of GGGB, I still think it's an honorable mention. Also, Rated R was up against albums like Fantasy Ride and Keri Hilson's album. She was bound to win this contest.
Faves: G4L, Rockstar 101, Fire Bomb, Wait Your Turn...
URBAN Rapper Album of the Year: Kid Cudi "Man on the Moon"
Kid Cudi's debut album takes best rapper album of the year for me. Kid Cudi definately went in the right direction with alternative rap and it suits him well. This album is very personal for Kid Cudi, but he didn't make it boring like it came out of his journal form high school. Kid Cudi brought some awesome beats to the table and made his songs interesting with catchy hooks and choruses. I'm happy he didn't attempt to do all the choruses himselves. Rappers are good at making songs fail that way. Though Jay-z was the man of the year, his album had no where near as much quality as Cudi's. There are definately no fillers and he put his heart and soul into this album. Kid Cudi delivered and I can only see him skyrocketing from here. Definately a song you should listen to if your into alternative rappers like Kanye West. Though he made sure they sound nothing alike.
Faves: My World, Heart of a Lion, Alive, Mr. Solo Dolo....
URBAN Male Performance of the Year: BET Awards Jamie Foxx "Blame It"
The formula for a perfect performance includes a beginning, middle, and an end, and Jamie Foxx's performance at the BET Awards included all of these. The show was already going downhill due to the change of the show over MJ's death, but Jamie wouldn't let the energy die. He opens up his performance with a MJ tribute but incorporates it into his song. The music was all live and hype from there, and he ends with a guitar and drum duet adding some rock to spice things up. The performance was full of energy and elements that made it great. There were no flaws and that is why Jamie Foxx had the best male performance this year.
URBAN Female Performance of the Year: EMAs Beyonce "Sweet Dreams"
As stated in the best male performance, a good performance has a beginning, middle, and end. and Beyonce's had just that. She opens up on a red covering singing a slowed down version of Sweet Dreams. I kind of like the song slowed down a little. She also showed some great vocals. Beyonce goes down from there and enters the core of the song, speeding it up, and singing while hitting moves with her back-up dancers, as usual. Then the song changes a little and Beyonce stops singing and starting breaking out the moves, ending the performance strongly. My favorite thing about the performance was how well the red looked on everyone. The styling was excellent. One of her best performances.
URBAN Debut Album of the Year: Jeremih "Jeremih"
Jeremih has been one of the most supising artist on the break, Releasing his smash hit "Birthday Sex," if he continued making songs like these, he was going to be successful. Jeremih knew he was under tough competition with Trey Songz and Mario lurking around, but he didn't step down. He released an album, that in my opinion, was better than both of theirs. The album was full of variety and surprises and it wasn't just Birthday Sex. There weren't many album fillers because I liked the majority of the songs. Whoever Jeremih worked with on his first album, newcomers might want to seek help from them if they want to be successful also. Jeremih definately delivered on this album and has established himself among the current RnB names.
Faves: Raindrops, My Ride, Hatin On Me, Imma Star, Birthday Sex.....
URBAN Artists to Watch for in 2010:
Drake
Drake, you hear the name, and all you can think is, Super Star. Drake, a star Wheelchair Jimmy has gone off the wheels and been all over the rap industry. With singles like Best I Ever Had, and Forever, he's slowly putting himself among the ranks of the best rappers, and Wayne is helping him get there. Drake can sing and rap, which makes it good when no one is feautred on the track. And it adds some variety to songs. Drake has also become one of the best and he hasn't even released an album, but his EP was good. He's been nominated for many awards and I can only see him moving foward from here. We should all be prepared for a great album in 2010.
Jason Derulo
Jason Derulo is pop/RnB singer who has already reached his peak, with Whatcha Say hitting number one on Billboards. This guy has a distinctive voice and great pitch and range. I've liked many of his songs that aren't singles, Riding Solo, Test Drive, In Love with My Guitar and I'm hoping his album will be just as great. Jason has produced most of them with J.R., but hopefully he ventures out a little to give him some variety. He's also a great songwriter, and writing hits could get him noticed. I see him becoming big in 2010, rather you like it or not.