Cudi left ’09’s young hip-hop also-rans in the dust when his first full-length was finally released. Heads said Slug was making emo-rap a few years ago, but his shit wasn’t nearly as emotional as Cudi gets on “Soundtrack 2 My Life,” singing, “I’ve got some issues that nobody can see, and all of these emotions are pourin’ outta me,” and that’s just the beginning. Hip-hop didn’t have a good year, and there are a lot of people who’d claim this isn’t even rap music. But it sure was nice for someone to put some effort into something honest, wasn’t it?

A highlight of every year, but especially great this time around. David Ulin looks at the Beatles three, great, post–Abbey Road records; Michelle Tea follows the Gossip around Paris; Phil Elverum talks about his own music; and Joe Hagan writes about Benji Hughes’ unheard masterpiece. Oh yeah, and there’s a CD of new songs from the English Beat, the Clean, Young Marble Giants, Japan, and more.

Girl Talk
Newport Music Hall
Columbus

Holy shit, pop music really is all about sex! If you could bottle whatever it is that a Girl Talk show does to people, you would be a billionaire. I have absolutely never seen anything like the crowd reaction at this show. The parents and priests who hated Elvis Presley must have known this was coming.

Cam’ron
“Cookin’ Up”
from Crime Pays

Best ridiculous braggadocio since LL crushed you like a jelly beam: “Silencers on calibers, but do it louder bro. Sledgehammers smash his melon. I’m the black Gallagher.” Killer Cam almost made being Gallagher a good thing. Amazing.

The Roots
on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Backing everyone from Black Star (with the Dirty Projectors) to Elvis Costello to Paul Simon, ?uesto and crew always turned it out. Hell, they even made 50 look damnnear classy. Mandatory Hulu-viewing, five days a week.

Mos Def (featuring Slick Rick and the Ruler)
“Auditorium”
from The Ecstatic

From my review: “‘Auditorium’ features Mos and the creamy voice of Slick Rick over the sitar-tinged ‘Movie Finale’ from Madlib’s Beat Konducta 3&4: In India. Perhaps it’s because the beat is less frenetic, maybe it’s because he knows Slick Rick has a good chance of showing him up on his own album, but Mos is finally able to chill-out and fall deeply into the groove, throwing down two solid minutes of tight, complex verses before the Ruler, sounding like a natural in this environment, turns out an unforgettable story.” Real rap music for once, thank you gentlemen.

Ghostface vs. Beirut
“Save Me Concubine”
The Hood Internet

Mash-ups got better this year, didn’t they? The Hood Internet (dot com) was my go-to spot for indie rock–crack rap mangling and mingling. As in this case, when these tracks are really magic, the disparate elements seem like they were made for each other. Beirut never sounded so hard. Ghostface never sounded more nerdy.

Neko Case
Middle Cyclone
Anti

Songwriter of the decade? It’s hard to say which track from this album is the most emotionally devastating... maybe “Vengeance is Sleeping?” All I know is that every time I hear a sad song now, I immediately think, “This would be so much better if Neko Case was singing it.”

Kid Cudi
“Pursuit of Happiness”
GOOD

I don’t know that his collaboration with MGMT and Ratatat is the weirdest thing Cudi did this year (he also went apeshit on some dude who threw money at him), but it’s gotta be on the list. The Cleveland kid’s got two songs in one here: one’s an ironic ode to living like you like, the other’s a defiant plea for empathy. Hip-hop’s never seen someone living large quite like this.