Our Critics' Year-End Top Tens: Nic Hernandez Celebrates Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy For Overshadowing His Image

By DC9 At Night Thu., Dec. 23 2010 at 2:32 PM

In this week's paper, you may notice a piece including some of our DC9 writers' choices for best albums of the year. But, space being limited, we couldn't run all of our writers' lists. So, thanks to the power of the Internet, we're doing just that, right here.

Resident hip-hop head Nic Hernandez shares some unexpected influences in his otherwise hip-hop-heavy year-end list.

10. Twin Shadow - Forget

9. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

8. The Roots - How I Got Over

7. James Blake - Klaverwerke/CMYK EPs
Is dubstep dead? Where does electronic music go next? Listen to James Blake and you might just have the answer to both. A fusion of genres that take cues from dubstep, jazz and soul, Blake's creations are some of the most refreshing and forward-thinking compositions to date. Stay tuned for his full-length, set to drop February 7.

6. Gonjasufi - A Sufi and a Killer

5. Earl Sweatshirt - EARL
The Odd Future Camp, a collective of Los Angeles skate rat kids (none older than 22), were the most brash thing to hit hip-hop this year. Shock rap has to push some major buttons to get a response these days, but this album merits one -- just ask Earl Sweatshirt, who is currently in boot camp after his mother got to listen to this gem he recorded at age 16.

4. Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me

3. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

2. Shabazz Palaces - Shabazz Palaces/Of Light EPs

1. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Head and shoulders above every other release this year. Music good and big enough to overlook and overshadow the man's several public transgressions. Epic.