
With the end of Best of 2011 week upon us, it's time to start getting into the good shit. Each one of these beats held something special for me this year, whether they highlighted a completely different side of a rapper we all thought we knew, whether they knocked particularly hard, whether they put on a brand-new producer that the world hadn't heard before or whether they just proved that some beat-makers really never lose it. Though 2011 was dominated by knockoff Lex Luger beats, these 10 tracks all shined heavy. [...]
Here's the list...not in a strict order. Hope you get a chance to listen to them. 30. Balto – The Railyard 01 The Railyard by BaltoDan 29. Hezekiah Jones – Borrowed Heart Hezekiah jones - Borrowed Heart by ThroughMic 28. Jhameel – The Human Condition The Human Condition by jhameel 27. Lemolo – Whale Song Lemolo - Whale Song [...]

It took a while, but after some listening, Common's Ghetto Dreams single finally grew on me, and has managed to stay at the top of my "recently played" tracks on my iTunes. I guess the reason why I was on the border about this track is because I did not at all expect this roughened up Common look whatsoever. I was surprised to see him jump from his clean-cut R&B look, and releasing the smoothest tracks to this dirty heavy beat with a video of him and Nas looking like he got banned from his local barbershop and [...]