Okay okay. The Best & Worst lists are coming, slowly but surely. We’ll try to deliver one of these per weekday over the next few weeks. In between juggling my duties for Medium.Com/Cuepoint, regular HipHopSite.Com updates, and DJing, it’s been hard to find the time to do these. So let’s begin with 2014′s best major label album releases. Indie label releases up next…

10. YG – My Krazy Life – Def Jam – Initially we didn’t love YG’s Interscope debut, but as time went on it slowly grew on us. Fully produced by DJ Mustard, the album captured and subsequently resurrected the sound of the west coast, harking back to early classics from Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and the Death Row era. We’ve heard the word “classic” thrown around when discussing this album, and while we have come around from our initial opinions on it, we still believe that it more borrows from the classics rather than lives as one. Still a solid out the gate debut from the young Blood.

9. Common – Nobody’s Smiling – ARTrium / Def Jam – Truth be told, Com’s Chicago-centric Nobody’s Smiling LP was better in theory than in execution. Despite No I.D.’s sometimes too experimental production, in terms of poignancy, what he was saying about the city’s gang violence epidemic far outweighs the topics of pretty much anyone else on this list. For that alone, it deserves inclusion. Lyrically on point.

8. Rick Ross – Mastermind – MMG / Def Jam – Due to his bloated, excessive persona, Rick Ross is the rapper we love to hate, however damn if he doesn’t pick good beats. At least he did on Mastermind, while Hood Billionaire was made up of more dumbed down, baller anthems. Mastermind found the then still heavy-set Ross channeling his inner Barry White with soulful samples and lush grooves, as he describes his over-the-top lavish lifestyle. We ain’t mad at it.

7. DJ Mustard – 10 Summers – Google Play – We’re going to go out on a limb and put Google in the “major label” category, considering they probably have more money than Def Jam. Mustard’s 10 Summers was the hottest producer of the year’s answer to Dr. Dre’s 2001, even paying homage to it in the opening sketch. He accomplished what YG’s My Krazy Life couldn’t – variation – by simply extending the guest list. The all-star cast of all the biggest names in hood hits rounded out 10 Summers nicely, creating an album of anthems suited for radio and the club.

6. Childish Gambino – STN MTN / Kauai – Glassnote / Universal – While Gambino’s Because The Internet topped a lot of the industry’s 2014 year end lists, it actually was included on our 2013 year end list. We had since moved on to his brilliantly crafted STN MTN / Kauai project, which is marketed as a mixtape and an EP, but really was an album in two parts. Gambino trolling in true fashion once again.

5. Eminem – Shady XV – Shady Records / Interscope – Face it, Eminem’s scraps and leftovers are better than most people’s albums. Who knows how much of Shady XV was meant for The Marshall Mathers LP 2, but this indirect sequel featured even more mind-blowing rhymes from the original rap genius, while showing off the talents of his Shady 2.0 roster. Lyrical miracles are back, bitches.

4. The Roots – …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin – Def Jam – …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin is a highly pretentious concept album. However, it’s also good. And it is very digestible, clocking in at just over 30 minutes, marking The Roots shortest LP to date. So it doesn’t require large amounts of patience. Like any solid album, it gets better with each consecutive listen, and its theme becomes apparent the more times you hear it. Bravo.

3. Schoolboy Q – Oxymoron – TDE/Interscope – Following Kendrick’s good kid, m.a.a.d. city, Oxymoron is largely an album that seems untampered with by pesky A&R’s. Amidst Q’s cinematic tales of gangbanging and drug problems, he also impresses with his delivery, lyrical styles, and dark, subterranian production. Oxymoron is a triumph of a rap album, because it signifies a return of “underground” rap to the major label scene.

2. J. Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive – Dreamville / Columbia – The best-selling rap album of the year (650,000+) is from a semi-conscious rapper who rhymes over his own self-produced beats built around funk and soul samples and drum loops. Sorry Iggy, sorry Nicki. A change gon’ come.

1. Big K.R.I.T. – Cadillactica - K.R.I.T.’s second LP for Def Jam may be one of the lowest selling albums on this list, but it’s also quite easily the strongest. It’s probably hard to market a Southern artist that raps about important topics, produces his own beats, and makes albums that sound like they belong in the Outkast catalog. Maybe that will change next year.

Trinidad James teams with Big K.R.I.T. for some conscious rap. He writes: “I know life is not perfect and I know we get everything we deserve but the only thing that gets to me is TIMING. Rip Donovan aka “Nut” Brown middlE…..”

Mississippi’s Big K.R.I.T. has steadily been making a name for himself over the last few years, through a series of critically acclaimed self-made mixtape/street albums, which found him taking on the role of each rapper, singer, and producer. This led to a deal with Def Jam, with his 2013 debut for the label, Live From The Underground. While a solid album, K.R.I.T. had to adapt to the new rules of the major label system, such as going for commercial appeal and restrictions on the amount of samples he could use. In truth, his unfiltered mixtape releases were stronger.

Perhaps K.R.I.T. realized this, which made him try even harder one year later with his second LP for the label, Cadillactica. He has adjusted to life as an almost famous rap star, but rather than pander to the mainstream, he’s gone far off the grid. In fact, he’s created his own planet.

Cadillactica is the name of that planet, represented here in a brilliantly laid out concept album that finds K.R.I.T. adapting to the challenges presented by his new role as a Def Jam ambassador. The title itself – a mashup of the words “Cadillac” and “Galactica” is an obvious nod to Outkast albums like Southernplayalisticadillacmusic, ATLiens, and Aquemini. He also crowns himself royalty on “King Of The South,” much like a young T.I. once did some years ago. While putting himself in the same box as Outkast and going for Tip’s crown are both very bold moves, Cadillactica is light years ahead of what most anyone is currently doing in the region.

But K.R.I.T. realizes that these titles and designations ultimately mean nothing, as he addresses on “Mt. Olympus,” in the wake of Kendrick Lamar’s “Control” verse. Not one to hold his tongue, he fires off about industry double standards lamenting, “Rap battlin’ never got me out of no public housin’ / You tellin’ me I can be King of Hip-Hop / And they wouldn’t give it to Andre 3000?”

But the Outkast comparisons are just, as K.R.I.T. carries the torch for the fully realized Southern rap album, balancing out his more base hobbies with high concepts. These aren’t songs just about strippers (“Pay Attention”), speakers (“My Sub, Pt. 3 (Big Bang)”), or cars (“Do You Love Me”), as he delivers well thought out extended metaphors for each. Arguably the best of these is “Soul Food” with Raphael Saadiq, which at surface value is an ode to grits and collard greens, but in actuality is a deeper exploration of broken home life. In essence, K.R.I.T.’s got the market cornered on intelligent rap think pieces with a Southern country drawl.

And just when K.R.I.T. may be getting too heavy handed, he balances things out with 808 trunk rattlers like the title track “Cadillactica,” “King Of The South” or the incredible Best Buy bonus track “Let It Show.” Yet he doesn’t waste his breath, dropping thought-provoking rhymes over bass heavy beats.

With Cadillactica, K.R.I.T. has accomplished what just about every rapper in the world has wanted to. That is, balancing out underground and commercial sounds without sacrificing his integrity to do so. With much of Cadillactica produced by K.R.I.T. himself, he has proven to be an independent force in hip-hop, never in need of “hot” guests or producers. King of the South? Seems likely, but that designation may only be remembered in time.

K.R.I.T. joins The Roots and Raphael Saadiq up at The Tonight Show for this performance of “Soul Food” from his Cadillactica LP. We didn’t forget about reviewing this album, keep your eyes peeled.

From Big K.R.I.T.’s Cadillactica LP, available now.

Part three of K.R.I.T.’s The Making Of Cadillactica. The album is in stores now.

Part one of Big K.R.I.T.’s Pay Attention Tour documentary.

Best Buy’s bonus track from Big K.R.I.T.’s Cadillactica, which is in stores now.

Big K.R.I.T. will be releasing his sophomore album Cadillactica everywhere 11.10.14. Directed By Matt Swinsky.

Big K.R.I.T.’s second album for Def Jam, Cadillactica, hits November 11th. Stream the entire thing below, courtesy of NPR.

Looks like K.R.I.T. is going after that crown…Cadillactica due November 4th.

From the November 11th release of Cadillactica on Def Jam.

Big K.R.I.T speaks on his new album, Cadillactica, as well as on Spike Lee, J.Cole and Kendrick. He busts a freestyle as well.

One more from K.R.I.T.’s Cadillactica due Nov. 11th.

Lead single to Big K.R.I.T.’s sophomore LP for Def Jam, Cadillactica. You’ll need to log-in to Spotify to hear it.