As with our 2009 wrap up, this is a bit late, but that's life.
What we decided to do this year was rather than list everyone's answers to every category, I combined all the responses and made an overall list. And from the blog contributors/Fam members who hollered, it seems we all pretty much agreed. Peep the details after the jump...
Songs of the year
Kanye West - Runaway
Laws ft. Emilio Rojas and Big KRIT- Hold You Down (Remix)
Angus & Julia Stone - Yellow Brick Road
Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar
Bruno Mars - Liquor Store Blues ft Damian Marley
Miike Snow - Plastic Jungle
Travie McCoy - Billionaire ft Bruno Mars
Chris Brown & Tyga - Deuces
Kanye West - See Me Now ft. Beyonce & Charlie Wilson
Asking Alexandria - Final Episode (Let's Change The Channel)
Hip Hop Albums of the year
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (album of the year, hands down)
Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon 2
Nas & Damien Marley - Distant Relatives
Freeway and Jake One - Stimulus Package
The Roots - How I Got Over
The Roots and John Legend - Wake Up
N.E.R.D. - Nothing
Rick Ross - Teflon Don
Statik Selektah and Termanology - 1982
Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot... The Son of Chico Dusty
Celph Titled - Nineteen Ninety Now
Shad - TSOL
Kno - Death is Silent
B.o.B. - B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray
Black Milk - Album Of The Year
Drake - Thank Me Later
Eternia & MoSS - At Last
Hezekiah - Conscious Porn
Skyzoo & Illmind - Live From The Tape Deck
Yelawolf - Trunk Muzik
Cee & Bekah - The Soul Movement Originals
Albums of the year (other genres)
These are pretty much in alphabetical order as I'm going through my iTunes to see what I was feeling in 2010:
Aloe Blacc - Good Things
Angus & Julia Stone - Down The Way
The Black Keys - Brothers
British India - Avalanche
Bruno Mars - Doo Wops & Hooligans
Cee-Lo - The Lady Killa
Chromeo - Business Casual
Dead Letter Circus - This Is The Warning
Delphic - Acolyte
Ellie Goulding - Lights
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return Of The Ankh)
The Foreign Exchange - Authenticity
Jamie Lidell - Compass
Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks
Kids of 88 - Sugarpills
Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can
Miike Snow - Miike Snow
Plan B - The Defamation of Strickland Banks
RPA & The United Nations of Sound - RPA & The United Nations of Sound
Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
Tinie Tempah - Disc-Overy
Mixtapes of the year
Wiz Khalifa - Kush and OJ
Wale - More about Nothing
Laws - 5:01 Overtime
Freddie Gibbs- Str8 Killa No Filla
Emilio Rojas- Life Without Shame
Chris Brown & Tyga - Fan Of A Fan
J. Cole - Friday Night Lights
The Movement Fam - The Movement Fam LIVE @ The Evelyn Hotel (27th March 2010)
Notion - On The Corner of Notion & 9th: A Tribute to 9th Wonder
Videos of the year
Kanye West - Runaway
Erykah Badu - Window Seat
Verse of the year
Emilio Rojas - Hold You Down Remix
Nobody even came anywhere near as dope as Emilio came on this joint. Incredible.
Show of the year
These were my favourite shows in 2010, the year where I saw more shows than the last few years combined:
Alexisonfire / Norma Jean / Four Year Strong (Sound Academy, Toronto)
The Temper Trap (Festival Hall, Melbourne and Phoenix, Toronto)
Florence & The Machine (Festival Hall, Melbourne)
dead prez (The Espy, Melbourne)
Mayer Hawthorne (The Corner Hotel, Melbourne / The Bowery Ballroom, New York)
Asking Alexandria / Born of Osiris / All That Remains (Phoenix, Toronto)
Dilated Peoples (The Espy, Melbourne)
B.o.B. (Billboard, Melbourne)
Richard Ashcroft (The Palace, Melbourne)
John Mayer (Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne)
Laura Marling (Hi-Fi Bar, Melbourne)
Drake (Fox Theatre, Atlanta)
Black Milk (Revival, Toronto)
Emilio Rojas (A3C, Masquerade, Atlanta)
Duck Down (CMJ Showcase, Le Poisson Rouge, New York)
La Roux (Festival Hall, Melbourne)
Angus & Julia Stone (The Palais, Melbourne and Bell House, Brooklyn)
Paul Dempsey (CMJ, Rockwood Music Hall, New York and Ariel Hyatt's house, Brooklyn / Drake Underground, Toronto)
Newton Faulkner (The Palais, Melbourne)
British India (The Corner Hotel, Melbourne)
Urthboy (The Corner Hotel, Melbourne)
Jamie Lidell (The Corner Hotel, Melbourne)
Rookie of the year
J. Cole
Laws
Freddie Gibbs
Overachiever of the year (artist that did way beyond what was expected)
Wiz Khalifa
I just can't understand this whole phenomenon. To me, his music is nothing short of average. I've tried on numerous occasions to get into the tunes but I can't. Definitely achieved way more than expected.
Underachiever of the year (artist that was expected to do a lot but didn't)
Emilio Rojas
His latest mixtape had a damn near superstar line up (production from J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, features from B.o.B., Killa Mike, Yelawolf, etc) and was presented by Travis Barker's clothing line yet it made minimal noise. Folks will wake up in 2011.
Biggest disappointments
Drake - Thank Me Later and Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday
Both of these albums were almost unprecedented in their anticipation, yet both were average at best. The still spawned hits but definitely let folks down; or perhaps the hype was just too much for them.
Producers of the year
Kanye West (did you HEAR his album?)
Statik Selektah (he grinds damn hard and is always consistently good)
Tokyo Cigar
Statik Selectah
Buckwild
Apollo Brown
Dopest artists discovered in 2010 (whether they debuted this year or not)
I was MEGA late on a lot of aritsts, but 2010 was my year of discovery. I heard more new music in 2010 than ever before, and it honestly changed my life:
J. Cole (Cyclops' inclusion)
Laura Marling
Angus & Julia Stone
The Shins
Alexisonfire
Miike Snow
The Temper Trap
Florence & The Machine
Paul Dempsey / Something For Kate
Stone Temple Pilots
Pretty Lights
Ellie Goulding
Pixies
Passion Pit
Parkway Drive
Paramore
Panic! At The Disco
Muse
Mazzy Star
The Mars Volta
Katie Noonan / George
Joshua Radin
James Morrison
Doves
The Dillinger Escape Plan
Bertie Blackman
Beirut
Movies of the year
Stone
Buried
Unstoppable
Twelve
You Don’t know Jack
The Killer Inside Me
The Social Network
Predictions for 2011
Kanye will clean up at next years Grammys
Music will continue to get better, just as it did in 2010 after a shitty 2009
British music will absolutely kill shit. Already artists like Jessie J, Jamie Woon and James Blake are making some serious noise with their unique sounds, including the relatively new genre of post-dub step.