Dart Adams presents The Top 50 Non Hip Hop EP's, LP's & Mixtapes Of 2008

This blog has been a long time coming, there have been a slew of excellent non Hip Hop releases both above and below ground this year that made the whole creation of this list a major headache. It's been a long and harrowing year and for that very same reason expect me to add and revise this list all the way up to December 31st if I realize I omitted something (like I did with Jamie Lidell's "Jim" back in November..duh! *slaps forehead*). I will now showcase the music of other genres (and in some case genreless music) that I've become enamored with in 2008. So without further ado or delays I present to you all "Dart Adams presents The Top 50 Non Hip Hop EP's, LP's & Mixtapes Of 2008". The Hip Hop Top 50 list MAY be delayed, folks.. Enjoy!:


If you thought 2008 has been an interesting year for just Hip Hop than you are sadly mistaken as it has provided quite a few under the radar albums from every genre imaginable. I have an affinity for music of all types, not just Hip Hop. I have so much material on my computer hard drives and external hard drives that I have a bunch of flash drives of various sizes that I use to move stuff around regularly. Due to the fact that I used three different computers this year (and one of them died) it took me a while to retrieve all of my info to do this particular blog.


I also went back to the archives of my blog month by month to trace my steps and locate a lot of the music I was listening to from earlier this year that I may have lost track of since I switched computers and got my new laptop (and neglected to change over many of my albums to my new iTunes folder in the process). Before Technorati turned bitch (fuck you very much!) I used to rely on it to get updated on what was poppin' with the more than 200 blogs that I regularly followed and I was introduced to a bunch of new music from all over the world because of it.

Thanks to blogs like Moovmnt, Turbo City, UniverSOUL Productions, The Incubator, Hyperfrank, Blackdown, Butterz, Just A Moment, Blak's Lair, Blind I For The Kids, I Bootlegged Your Mum and the Live Journal Hip Hop Community (you know who you all are) amongst many others I've been put on to a lot of artists and their music. If it wasn't for my frequent visitation to messageboards like Okayplayer and Dissensus I wouldn't realize how many people out there really appreciate this music as well and only wish that more people out there knew about these releases.

Here's the definitive list of my favorite 50 Non Hip Hop EP's, LP's and mixtapes of 2008 (as of 12/23..list is subject to change). There are a bunch of other deserving projects that aren't on this list and it's because more than likely they were bumped out by one of the projects that people haven't really caught on to yet while I've been playing it to death myself. This list contains all of my favorite releases of the glorious past year and please make it a point to visit the blogs I listed above to keep abreast of the "new shit" on the horizon. Here goes:



Erykah Badu-New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
Stacey Epps-The Awakening
Wayna-Higher Ground
Al Green-Lay It Down
Kissey Asplund-Plethora
Muhsinah-Day.Break 2.0/The Oscillations: Sine & Triangle
Flying Lotus-Los Angeles
Foreign Exchange-Leave It All Behind
Ave.To-Three Way Intersection
Jackson Conti-Sujinho
Raphael Saadiq-The Way I See It
Eric Lau- New Territories
Dwele-Sketches Of A Man
Santogold-S/T
Coldplay-Viva La Vida
Samon Kawamura-Unfold
Baby Charles-S/T
Duffy-Rockferry
Portishead-Third
Janelle Monae-Metropolis Suite 1: The Chase/The Audition
The Herbaliser-Same As It Never Was
N.E.R.D-Seeing Sounds
Ty & Kory-Raw & Bangin’ Mixtape Vol. 2
Olivier DaySoul-Kilowatt
Estelle-Shine
Jamie Lidell-Jim
Solange-Sol-Angel And The Hadley St. Dreams
Ayah-Trouble Woman Mixtape
Daedulus-Love To Make Music To
Aqeel-Inside The Mind Of An Aro-American Angel
Gnarls Barkley-The Odd Couple
Lalah Hathaway-Self Portrait
Hil St. Soul-Black Rose
Raheem DeVaughn-Love Behind The Melody
Jazzanova-Of All The Things
Brownswood Bubblers Three
Sa Ra Creative Partners-The Decadent Dimensions EP
Taiwah-In Jodi’s Bedroom EP
Jesse Boykins III-Dopamine: My Life On My Back
Zo! And Tigallo Love The 80’s
Robin Thicke-Something Else
2000 Black-A Next Set A Rockers
Ne-yo-The Year Of The Gentleman
Yahzarah-The Prelude EP
Stephanie McKay-Tell It Like It Is
Nikka Costa-Pebble To A Pearl
Blue Sky Black Death-Slow Burning Lights
John Legend-Evolver
Musiq Soulchild-Onmyradio
Anthony Hamilton-The Point Of It All
Keyshia Cole-A Different Me
Colin Muroe-Colin Munroe Is The Unsung Hero


Honorable Mentions (R&B, Dubstep, 8 Bit, Electronica, Grime & Genreless Instrumentals) (as of 12/23..list is subject to change):

J. Rawls presents The Liquid Crystal Project 1 & 2
Jennifer Hudson-S/T
Jazmine Sullivan-Fearless
Jamie Foxx-Intuition
Daru & Reggie B-Future Music
Lizz Wright-The Orchard
J. Rawls & Middle Child-Rawls & Middle
Bilal Salaam-Langue De Raisor (Razour Tounge)
Jneiro Jarel-Beyond 2morrow
00Genesis-Dream Catcher
00Genesis-Episode 3 Beats
Trim-Soulfood Vol. 3
Georgia Anne Muldrow & Dudley Perkins-Someothaship EP
Nightmares On Wax-Thought So...
Hubert Daviz-Beatnicks Tape #1
Justice-Planisphere EP
Nouveau Riche-Free Money EP
Lykke Li-Youth Novels
Tettorybad-Unite
Rita Redshoes-Golden Era
Crystal Castles-S/T
Kidkanevil-Back Off Man, I'm A Scientist
T-Pain-Thr33 Ringz
Sardonic Smirk-Backpackers Guide To The Galaxy
Little Jackie-The Stoop
J*Davey-The Beauty In Distortion/Land Of The Lost
JME-Famous?
Trim-Soulfood Vol. 3
Sway-The Signature LP
Bless Beats-A Hard Days Graft
Plastician-Beg To Differ
Low Deep-Unsung
The Streets-Everything Is Borrowed
Dot Rotten-R.I.P Young Dot
Jammer-Are You Dumb? Vol. 3
Ghetto-Freedom Of Speech
Rude Kid-Are You Ready? EP
Riko-The Truth
DJ Logan Sama-One Away Style
Wretch 32-Wretchrospective
Eskiboy-Umbrella Vol. 1
Chipmunk-Guess Who?
Made In Japan-Babyspace EP
Benga-Diary Of An Afro Warrior
Chin Chin-S/T
Think Twice-The Piano Man
Wes Felton-Distraction City
Wiley-Grime Wave
Hayzee-Next Level Beat Tape
Cupp Cave-Garbage Pail Beats
Stevo-Another Space Odyssey
I Am...Sasha Fierce-Beyonce
E=MC2-Mariah Carey
Here I Stand-Usher
Kon & Amir- Off Track Vol. 2
E-Life-Mint Condition
Brandy-Human
Chester French-She Loves Everybody EP
Mr. Chop-Lightworlds/Sounds From The Cave


Plus every UpMyAlley, One Handed Music and All City Beatstrumentals 7x7 (7" vinyl) release from 2008. Cop 'em all, you won't regret it.

One.