#1. Kendrick Lamar- Good Kid, m.A.A.d City

As if you didn't already know.

So let's talk about the best album of the year.  Yes yes y'all, Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, m.A.A.d City is #1, and on this album he gives us 12 reasons why.  Moving over 500,000 units making it certified gold, GKMC has already been classified as a classic hip-hop album.  Kendrick is a bomb storyteller, letting us in as he reminisces on growing up in Compton with the homies and that "crazy ass girl Sherane."

The Deluxe Edition

Each song speaks on the real.  It's one of those albums you have to listen to from beginning to end, interludes included, which shouldn't be a problem because GKMC is crack.  He starts off with "Sherane a.k.a. Master Splinter's Daughter," a trip to get some gone wrong, ending with his mom and dad leaving him a hilarious voicemail.  It transitions into "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe," which strays away from the story the album is telling but serves as one of the most popular tracks.  He then proceeds to turn up on "Backseat Freestyle,"(produced by Hit Boy) taking us back to when he was 16 living carefree.  On "The Art of Peer Pressure," we hear the prelude to the intro track and how he ended up at Sheranes'.  As you can see, as I said before, it's just better to play this from beginning to end- the story is dope.

Kendrick and Sherane

The features on the album are perfect for it.  On "Money Trees," fellow Black Hippy member Jay Rock rips his verse, getting more recognition from the song than K. Dot himself.  The song "Poetic Justice" with Drake and a sample from Janet Jackson is a certified smash, now we're just waiting on the video, which Lamar hopes Miss Jackson will appear in.  MC Eiht appears on "m.A.A.d City," hopping on one of the album's more animated tracks with ScHoolboy Q yelling throughout, and Dr. Dre, one of GKMC's executive producers, appears on "Compton," reminding us that the infamous city has been holding the rap game down.

Girrllll.

Songs not mentioned such as "good kid" (featuring and produced by Pharell and Chad Hugo), "Real" (feat. Anna Wise), and the two-song collabo "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" were just as good as the rest of the album.  And of course by now everybody and their daddy knows how hot "The Recipe" and "Swimming Pools (Drank)" tracks were this year.  K. Dot and the rest of Black Hippy are really changing the game right now, and with all the hype around them right now, 2013 is looking even better than 2012 for the group (though we may not ever get a group album).  Shoutout to Kendrick Lamar for giving us that real just in time to make the top spot in 2012, and let us hope he continues to keep his consistency and show out even more next year. Salute to the TDE gang- y'all #1!

This album is a must buy.  Go cop it if you haven't already.  Also look out for the short film Kendrick is directing for the album (!!!).  Look below for the video to "Swimming Pools (Drank)" and song snippets from each one on the album:

Kendrick Lamar- Swimming Pools (Drank)