Long time no see, but I’m finally back! Before we delve into 1998, I’ll be doing a little housekeeping, starting with a lot of 8Ball & MJG. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the Best & Worst of 1997.

Worst Moniker: Kukoo Da Baga Bonez (The X-Ecutioners – X-Pressions): It just sounds dumber than the other nominees. Honorable Mentions: True Da Grynch Evil (Frankie Cutlass – Politics & Bullshit), Barney Rubble (Laylaw – The Lawhouse Experience, Volume 1), Godfather PT III (DJ Muggs – Soul Assassins), Mr. Sexxx (Lost Boyz – Love, Peace & Nappiness), Horny Man (The Beatnuts – Stone Crazy).

Worst Posse Record: “Painz & Stife” (Diamond D – Hatred, Passions And Infidelity): Diamond D serves up arguably the driest beat in his catalog for himself, Pete Rock, and (God bless the dead) Phife to rap over. Diamond’s verse is passable, but the beat, Pete, and Phife sound godawful. Honorable Mentions: “Iraq” (Capone-N-Noreaga – War Report): Nore and his amateur band of cronies almost lulled me to sleep with their mundane street stanzas; and the whiny violin-led backdrop was annoying as shit. “Tore Down” (Tha Alkaholiks – Likwidation): Tha Liks keep up their album tradition of making horrible posse records with The Lootpack, despite J-Ro doing all he can to break the pattern. “The Body Rock” (Busta Rhymes – When Disaster Strikes): This uninspired Flipmode (Busta and Rampage)/Bad Boy (Puff and Mase) collab was memorable only for its mediocrity.

Worst Album Title: The Album (The Firm): The most generic, placeholder album title ever. Honorable Mentions: Dominology and The World Of Dominology (both by Domino).

Worst Album Artwork: Cross Bearing (Lil’ Raskull): No Limit Records was known for its cheesy, low-quality album cover artwork. Grapetree Records was a Southern-based Christian hip-hop label that copied NLR’s album-cover style, leaving Cross Bearing a victim of the cheese. Honorable Mentions: Heaven’s Mentality (Cross Movement): The members’ four floating heads inside a transparent God head floating through the clouds looks mad corny, and I find it hard to believe that God has a receding hairline. Phenomenon (LL Cool J): The grainy artwork is bad, but it becomes embarrassingly bad considering it was released on Def Jam during the label’s glory days. And what the hell is the picture of anyway? Dominology and The World of Dominology (Domino): Virtually the same album gets two different but equally horrible album covers.

Worst Album: In Tha Beginning…There Was Rap (Various Artists): Some of hip-hop’s biggest names of the era perform underwhelming karaoke. Honorable Mentions: Overcast! (Atmosphere): If vanilla was an album. F’Real (Murs): Easily the worst mixed album of the year. The World Of Dominology (Domino): Dominology was already mediocre, but Domino doubled down and released pretty much the same album with a slightly different title. A complete waste of wax, time, and energy.

Best Moniker: Hot Nickels (Method Man on Wu-Tang Forever): It’s only right that the king of aliases delivers the dopest alias of 1997. Honorable Mentions: Jungle Brown (Camp Lo – Uptown Saturday Nights), Blaq Gold (Lil’ Raskull – Cross Bearing), Gab Gotcha (The Beatnuts – Stone Crazy).

Best Posse Record: “Beasts From The East” – Love, Peace & Nappiness (Lost Boyz): One word: Canibus. Honorable Mentions: “You & You & You” – Politics & Bullshit (Frankie Cutlass): This gets a mention for Redman’s magnificent verse alone. “L.A. L.A.” – War Report (Capone-N-Noreaga): A spirited response to Tha Dogg Pound’s “New York, New York.” Bluntz & Bakakeemis” – Da Dirty 30 (CRU): When verbal vitality carries the beat.

Best Album Title: Life After Death (The Notorious B.I.G.): The title was intended to be a play on the title of his debut, Ready to Die, but his untimely demise gave it new meaning. Honorable Mentions: One Day It’ll All Make Sense (Common), Likwidation (Tha Alkaholiks), X-pressions (The X-Ecutioners), Back In Business (EPMD), Silent Weapons For Quiet Wars (Killarmy).

Best Album Artwork: Uptown Saturday Night (Camp Lo): The homage to Ernie Barnes’ iconic Sugar Shack painting (made famous for its use on Marvin Gaye’s I Want You album cover and the ending credits for Good Times) is dope, clever, and fitting for all the seventies nostalgia that Camp Lo conjures up on the album. Honorable Mentions: The Album (The Firm): I love the tribute to Casino, one of the greatest Mafia movies ever. Scout’s Honor…By Way Of Blood (Rampage): Silly, but cleverly unique. One Day It’ll All Make Sense (Common), Life After Death (The Notorious B.I.G.).

Sleeper Album: Accept Your Own & Be Yourself (The Black Album) (No I.D.): This award could have gone to any of the candidates (see the Honorable Mentions below), but Accept Your Own is a dope album that most of you didn’t even know existed. If the other candidates are sleepers, Accept Your Own is comatose. Honorable Mentions: The Mind, Da Dirty 30, War Report, Unnecessary Roughness, Hatred, Passions And Infidelity, Back In Business.

Best Album: Uptown Saturday Night (Camp Lo): Camp Lo’s luxuriously abstract flows over Ski’s scrumptiously soulful production result in an unheralded classic. Honorable Mentions: Wu-Tang Forever (Wu-Tang Clan): Pound for pound, this may be the best hip-hop double album, ever. Yeah, I said it! Life After Death (Notorious B.I.G.) – Speaking of pounds…the carrier of a .44 Magnum in size 54 drawers boldly and brashly flaunts his polished flow and chiseled wordsmanship over great beats, which unfortunately became his swan song. The Carnival (Wyclef): A masterful musical adventure orchestrated by the genius Haitian ringmaster.

Cameo Whore: Busta Rhymes (10 cameos) – If you’ve listened to hip-hop any time in the past four decades, this should come as no surprise. I’m willing to bet his name will be called for this award again in the near future. Honorable Mentions: Puffy Daddy (8). Redman (7).

-Deedub

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