10. Maino feat. Roscoe Dash- "Let It Fly":
This is easily the least defendable choice on this list. For that reason, I felt compelled to include it, if only to show myself that I DO still enjoy the occasional crappy never-gonna-make-it rap song with a dope beat. So there you have it. Maino and Roscoe Dash. Hell yeah.
9. The Game feat. Lil Wayne and Tyler, The Creator- "Martians vs. Goblins":
Tyler is definitely the strong point here, but Game brings it hard too. More memorable lines in this one than almost any other rap song this year. The chorus is seriously lacking, though, so I can't put it any higher than ninth.
8. Lupe Fiasco feat. Trey Songz- "Out Of My Head":
First of three Lupe songs on the list. Nobody did melodic rap/R&B better than him this year. These types of songs might have been meant for the ladies, but they snared me too. Not in THAT way, but, you know, musically. OK I'm just gonna be quiet and move to the next song.
7. Lil Wayne feat. Rick Ross- "John":
Literally no better drug-money song than this one this year. The video was disgusting, though. Way too many rats crawling around Rick Ross' legs in that warehouse parking lot. And he's in a wheelchair. What? Brought it down a notch in my book. Also, why would you be loading up the choppers on December 31? If anyone can explain that to me, I'd be very grateful.
6. T-Pain vs. Chuckie feat. Pitbull- "It's Not You (It's Me)":
This really shouldn't count as hip-hop. It's a dance song. But iTunes classifies it as "Hip-Hop/Rap," because that's how it classified T-Pain's whole album. Thus, I can include it in this list, and not in the Dance list (coming tomorrow), where it wouldn't make the Top 10. Gotta love self-made loopholes.
5. Big K.R.I.T. feat. Ludacris and Bun B- "Country Shit (Remix)":
When I heard this song, I thought Dirty-South rap might be making a comeback. Sadly, I was wrong. We're still in the era of drug-money rap and Twitter rap, and it doesn't seem to be swinging back to the rap of my childhood anytime soon. So I'll make do with the occasional outlier, and hope it's a legitimate jam like this one is.
4. DJ Khaled feat. Rick Ross, Plies, Lil Wayne and T-Pain- "Welcome To My Hood":
Following in the glorious tradition of previous DJ Khaled-featuring-the-whole-rap-industry bangers like "We Takin' Over," "Out Here Grindin,'" and the all-time jam "I'm So Hood," we were graced this year with "Welcome To My Hood." Watching the video made me warm and fuzzy all over, especially when Plies said his boys "would've robbed Noreaga." Ah, Plies. You never fail to deliver the most brow-furrowing lines in the rap game. Also, the remix for this song is, obviously, even more legit.
3. Lupe Fiasco- "Beautiful Lasers":
And, in an abrupt change of pace, we come to the darkest song on the list. Lupe Fiasco tends to make more self-conscious music, and this one is somewhat suicidal, but regardless of its tone, if a song sounds this good, it'll get near the top of any list.
2. Chris Brown feat. Busta Rhymes and Lil Wayne- "Look At Me Now":
I've written about this song a bunch of times already, so I'm not gonna say much more about it. It was the best pure-rap song of 2011, though. Funny that it came from Chris Brown, who we normally associate with crooning. Of course, he gets shown up hardcore by both Busta and Wayne, so it's not that much of a surprise.
1. Lupe Fiasco- "Coming Up":
If you didn't see this one "coming up" at the end of the countdown (har har), you must not be very good at counting. Why this never became a radio release is one of the biggest music mysteries of 2011, in my opinion. It's beyond infectious. if you weren't blasting this song back in the spring and summer, I don't really know what you WERE listening to. Please don't tell me it was this. If more rap sounds like this in 2012, we could be in for a return to the good old days.
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