Real HipHopHead Presents: The 5 Most Disappointing Albums Of 2011

The 5 Most Disappointing Albums of 2011

2011 has been an awesome year for Hip-Hop, bringing incredible albums from veterans such as The Roots, as well as newer artists like Kendrick Lamar. But amidst all the great music, there were also some pretty big disappointments. This is a list of the top 5 Hip-Hop albums from 2011 that we had high hopes for, but didn’t quite match up to what we thought was on the way. This isn’t a list of the worst albums of the year – these are just albums that we had expected a lot more from.  Hit the jump for the list.  Please Remember: These are albums we were highly anticipating, but let us down the most. They are not the worst albums of 2011.

5. Lupe Fiasco – L.A.S.E.R.S.

On his first two albums, Lupe proved himself to be one of the greatest lyricists of the 2000s, and arguably of all time. When Lupe announced that his 3rd album would be coming out this year, we were ready for another thought-provoking record with some impressive production to match. What we got instead was 12 songs filled with radio-friendly hooks, poppy beats, and watered-down lyrics. Now, there were a few solid tracks on here (“Words I Never Said” is one of my favourites of the year), but the vast majority of this album was actually shocking for Lupe fans. The chorus and beat on “Break The Chain” still makes me cringe… Lupe is better than this, and he knows it.

4. Yelawolf – Radioactive

Yela has one of the best flows in Hip-Hop right now. His cadence and delivery leaves you dazed and confused, as he spits out some of the illest patterns filled with sharp tempo changes…Or at least he did before this album. On “Radioactive” he turns away from his hard hitting songs about cars, turning to more mellow songs about being in love, and believing in yourself. These are normally great topics to make music about, but it doesn’t fit Yelawolf’s persona at all. I’m so used to him being rough, gritty, and dirty that I can’t take him seriously when he’s rapping over soft, slow beats with corny hooks.

3. Royce Da 5’9” – Success Is Certain

We all know that Royce can spit. Why is he making us rethink that on his new album? It’s not like he’s suddenly turned completely whack and can’t spit 2 dope bars for the life of him, but his lyrics on this thing are criminally watered down compared to what we’re used to hearing on his previous albums (“Death Is Certain” for example). Plus the majority of the beats on here sound like they came from a keyboard, a computer screen, or both. Preemo laces one of the tracks on here, but even for Preemo, it’s below what he’s capable of.

2. Bad Meets Evil – Hell: The Sequel

Royce (again), with Eminem. Where to start? A lot of people really enjoyed this project, but to me, I'm not sure why.  I was expecting a BME Sequel.. It really was just a great attempt at putting Royce out to the masses.  What a way to kick that off? with watered down rhymes, and ridiculously absurd punch lines.  Em' uses that same flow where he just goes off on some wild tangent at the end as some sort of grand finale punch line.  Does anyone like that? There’s some tracks where the two MCs go back-and-forth, Awesome idea, but lines like “Nicki Minaj, I wanna stick my penis in you anus,” really ruin it for me.  This was a huge disappointment in my book.

1. Jay Electronica – Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Turn)

One problem (and it’s huge): the album didn’t come out. In mid-July, Jay Electronica announced via twitter that the album was finished. Bun B confirmed this, stating that he has heard the album in its entirety. Why then, did it not come out? Why do we not even have a release date? I can respect a perfectionist, but when the fog surrounding an album is thicker than Beyonce’s thighs, my disappointment starts to pile up. Jay Electronica is one of the greatest MCs out there right now. For him to not drop this album is like depriving us fans of oxygen. All I can say is, 2012 better be the year…