Hip Hop Album of the Year

So after listening to many new albums this year (boy, was this a good year for hip hop,) I have finally come to the decision that yU's (as in why you?) album, The Earn, takes top billing as my best hip hop album of 2011.  Keep in mind, I'm a 36-year-old white guy who no longer listens to garbage about ho's and guns.  That being said, The Earn is for grown folk.  yU, of DC's talented hip hop trio Diamond District, delivers real talk over tight, jazzy beats.  This is a great album to marinate on after a long day's work.  In fact, the video for the track, Write On, (below) provided me the motivation to create this blog.  I never thought yU could deliver in his second album the total package he presented in his solo debut, Before Taxes.  Alas I was right...this album is even better.  Forget about a sophmore jinx and cop this album.

Honorable mentions include the following albums:

DTMD: Makin' Dollas
Actual Proof: Still Hotter Than July
Median: The Sender
Gods'Illa - CPR Blendtape

Stay tuned for more as 2012 is already shaping up to pick up right where 2011 left off.  Already slated is an album from master emcee O.C. with production by Detroit's own Apollo Brown.