TOP 10 MIXTAPES OF 2010

I've been looking forward to this post for a while now. The hip hop end of the music business has gone over a lot of changes these past few years, and with labels so worried about declining album sales they are controlling which songs artists are putting on their albums. In a lot of cases, if the label executives don't think a song is marketable to the general public, they won't put it on the album, no matter how good the song may be. So a lot of rappers are putting some of their best music on their mixtapes these days. There were a lot of great mixtapes this year and picking a top ten was difficult of course. Just like I did with the top top albums I asked a couple of friends to form a panel and give me their top ten lists so I could sort of "combine" them with mine. The panel included Ced (@dinkawatkins), Josh (@TheJoshOquendo), and JR (@jayAREra). My only qualification for my list is to be a signed artist, because I know a couple artists that you all aren't quite familiar with (but will be soon) that would shake this whole list up. With all of that said, I hope you enjoy yoDJaintnoDJ's top ten mixtapes of the year....

10) Big Sean- Finally Famous 3

I'm not going to lie, I wasn't too big on Big Sean, and I'm still not completely sold. But this was a solid mixtape so here he is opening up the top 10. With clever punch lines and a co sign from Kanye West, Sean had a big year. Looking forward to his debut album in 2011.

Favorite Songs: Memories, Love Song

9) Young Jeezy- Trap or Die 2

Snowman hops in at #9. A strong follow up to his classic tape "Trap or Die". This was the highlight of Jeezy's lackluster year that's got us wondering of TM103 is ever going to drop.

Favorite Songs: Ill'n, Insane

8) Rick Ross- Ashes to Ashes

By now it's no secret that I'm not the biggest Officer Ricky fan, but once again I can't deny that he makes good music. He shows off his ear for music on this one with great beat selection. A great for him to end 2010 which was a big year for him.

Favorite Songs: 9 Piece, Retrosuperfuture

7) Fabolous- TINC2

Funeral Fab comes in at number 7 with his first quarter mixtape. A lot of good material on this one, sadly I kind of feel like Fab has fallen off since then. We hear too much of the same weak punchlines from him these days.

Favorite Songs: The Wake, Love Come Down

6) Joe Budden- Mood Muzik 4

Who I think is the most underrated rapper of all time comes in at number 6 with his latest offering. Say what you want about Joey, but if you're basing his career off of "Pump It Up".....you're in imbecile.

Favorite Songs: Inseperable, Dessert 4 Thought

5) Vado- Slime Flu

SLiiiiiiiiiiiiiME! Harlem's Vado breaks into the top 5 with his debut solo mixtape. With rap up north slowly fading, we can look for Vado to change that in the upcoming years.

Favorite Songs: The Greatest, Snapped

4) Wiz Khalifa- Kush & Orange Juice

Representing my hometown Pittsburgh, PA...Wiz comes in at #4 with KushXOJ. When I first heard Wiz back in 06 I knew he would break out eventually, and this was the tape that did it for him. With party anthems from start to finish you can't help but fuck with Wiz.

Favorite Songs: Mezmorized,  Glass House

3) Wale- More About Nothing

Mr. Folarin opens up the top 3 with his follow up to the critically acclaimed "Mixtape About Nothing". Wale kind of dropped this on us as a surprise during the summer and I've been riding to it ever since. With ill sample and ill lyrics as usual, this is definitely deserving of a top 3 position.

Favorite Songs: The Trip, The War, The Cloud, The EVERYTHING.

2) J. Cole- Friday Night Lights

North Carolina's own J. Cole slides in at number 2. I really don't think I've ever heard a bad verse from Cole, and he ALWAYS has the best verse when he's a featured artist. He plays both sides of the ball (production and rapping) and is doing his thing at both of them. It wasn't too long ago that people in his own state were bashing him, and now everyone is on. Can't say I'm surprised.

Favorite Songs: 2Face, See World

1) Big K.R.I.T.- K.R.I.T. WUZ HERE

Man I could literally sit here and talk to you all day about what this mixtape has done for me. I feel like he took shit I was going through in my life and wrote a mixtape about it. I think this is the best album/mixtape of the year by far and I don't ever see it getting old. K.R.I.T. shows that southern dudes aren't all about dumbass dances, gold teeth and other stereotypical shit that the south gets. Lyrics aren't dead down here and as long as he's rapping I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Favorite Songs: Something, Children of the World, They Got Us, Good Enough, Country Shit....everything start to finish.

Honorable Mention: M.e.Z- Something Special Nothing Extra

I believe this tape is actually better than a lot of the tapes I did include in my top ten, I just decided to keep it as signed artists only so that the playing field would be even. But I feel like M.e.Z. can rap with anybody on this list and I expect big things from dude in the future. Do yourself a favor and click the link that follows this sentence to download this tape, you have my word you won't be disappointed by any means. #SomethingSpecialNothingExtra Follow his Twitter while you're at it, I've got a special post coming when he hits 500 followers. @ItsM_E_Z

There we are, after a long 2010 and 12 months worth or music, you have my top 10 mixtape list. I appreciate Ced, Josh and JR for their suggestions and input into my list and I hope you all enjoyed it. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Hit me up in the comments section and/or Twitter (@djayare) to let me know what I did right or wrong. Thanks, til next time.