Loser – Jay-Z – In the battle for hip hop supremacy, Jay-Z just had his head handed to him by Kanye West. Magna Carta Holy Grail isn’t a bad album. It is OK, it actually includes a handful of songs I really love. But it misses out on points, nearly an hour in length it is too long, too many featured guests, too many songs are a drag. AT 16 tracks, 2 of which are snippets, it isn’t enough to sustain interest as an album. And while it will undoubtedly, indeed already has, out sold Kweezy, it isn’t as good as Kweezy. On stage, I saw Hov on New Year’s Eve and thought he was lousy, and in October at the Barclay Center opening, and thought he was lousy. I saw Kanye at Governor’s Ball and…
Winner – Kanye West – Yeezus may not sell very much, it dropped off by 80% after the first week and without the possibility of a single it will be lucky if it goes platinum. But it is head and shoulders the best hip hop album of the year. Weeks after its release it still sounds breathtakingly brilliant. Also, as I was saying, his performance at Governor’s Ball was one of the best of the year. It thumped, it hollared, the new songs not yet released were all great and the entire evening was one for the history books. Kanye is Yeezus, get over it.