Shady XV available now.

Off that ShadyXV.

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.

While Rick Ross builds the Maybach Music Group powerhouse by releasing new content almost daily from his stable of artists, it feels like there is definitely a lack of quality control. For Ross it’s a numbers game that finds him throwing anything and everything at the wall, in hopes that something will stick. And something usually does. Eminem has taken a different approach than Ross or many other big time rappers with label deals, by instead building his house slowly, brick-by-brick.

Shady XV celebrates the 15th anniversary of his Shady Records imprint, as a double-disc effort that is half new material and half a collection of greatest hits. The label’s storied history plays differently than Eminem’s own greatest hits collection, Curtain Call, as it revisits many of the classic singles from the rest of the roster, his lone selection only being “Lose Yourself.” This comes in the form of the original song, along with a completely different version of the song that is dope to experience, but would hardly have fit the theme of 8 Mile.

The real meat of this project is on its first disc, where a clear amount of care is taken in cultivating tracks for the set, even stronger than the previous Shady Records compilation The Re-Up. This is for two reasons, the first and most obvious that the Shady 2.0 team is a stronger stable of artists than its earlier incarnation. However the other reason is that there is a clear amount of care taken here in the construction of this album, as well as in pointing the trajectory of the artists themselves.

This is of course is thanks to Em, who still remains the brightest star on the roster and arguably is the most technically amazing rapper in the entire game. He picks up where The Marshall Mathers LP 2 left off, with ridiculously penned rhymes on each “Shady XV” (complete with Cappadonna “Winter Warz” acapella reference), “Right For Me,” and “Vegas” (with Royce as Bad Meets Evil). Aside from making the lyrical miracles cool again, he does dial back a bit for substance heavy tracks like the excellent “Guts Over Fear” with Sia, and the broken relationship anthem “Die Alone.”

There’s a clear degree of time taken to hone everyone’s skills in the right direction, as posse cuts like “Psychopath Killer – perhaps best representative of the label’s vision ever – and “Detroit Vs. Everybody,” which also invites fellow Motown outsiders Big Sean and Danny Brown, the latter who is a shoe-in for Shady Records 3.0. However Yelawolf really shines on “Till It’s Gone” as does Slaughterhouse on the DJ Premier produced “Ya’ll Ready Know,” both which show that Em’s assistance is not needed every time.

With a strong unit of artists representing the imprint, Shady Records modern philosophy seems to court success, however not at the cost of sacrificing the artist’s integrity. It will be interesting to see where they go next. Here’s to another XV.

Behind the scenes at the Shady XV cypher.

Great video and concept for Em’s “Guts Over Fear,” from the Shady XV compilation.

66 tracks of Shady Records classics, mixed by Whoo-Kid. The Shady XV compilation is available today.

Mom’s spaghetti! There’s an unreleased version of Eminem’s classic 2002 8 Mile theme, “Lose Yourself,” that is included on Shady XV as a bonus track. Look for the compilation November 25th.

Shady XV hits November 25th. Bonus here’s a preview of the video for Em’s “Guts Over Fear” with Sia, which lands Monday.

Eminem speaks on the original demo version of “Lose Yourself,” which is included on the Nov. 25th Shady XV compilation.

Produced by Statik Selektah, from Shady XV compilation, due November 25th.

Eminem reveals the tracklist to his new Shady XV 15th anniversary compilation, hitting November 24th. New music from Eminem, Slaughterhouse, Bad Meets Evil, Yelawolf, D12, Big Sean, Danny Brown, plus a second disc of greatest label hits.

Disc 1

1. Eminem – Shady XV
2. Slaughterhouse – Psychopath Killer (Feat. Eminem & Yelawolf)
3. Eminem – Die Alone (Feat. Kobe)
4. Bad Meets Evil – Vegas
5. Slaughterhouse – Y’all Ready Know
6. Eminem – Guts Over Fear (Feat. Sia)
7. Yelawolf – Down
8. D12 – Bane
9. Eminem – Fine Line
10. Skylar Grey, Eminem & Yelawolf – Twisted
11. Eminem – Right For Me
12. Eminem, Royce Da 5’9″, Big Sean, Danny Brown, DeJ Loaf & Trick Trick – Detroit Vs. Everybody

Disc 2

1. 50 Cent – I Get Money
2. D12 – Purple Pills
3. Eminem – Lose Yourself
4. Obie Trice, Kuniva, Bobby Creekwater, Ca$his & Stat Quo – Cry Now (Shady Remix)
5. Yelawolf – Let’s Roll (Feat. Kid Rock)
6. Slaughterhouse – Hammer Dance
7. 50 Cent – P.I.M.P.
8. Eminem, 50 Cent, Ca$his, Lloyd Banks – You Don’t Know
9. D12 – My Band
10. Obie Trice – Wanna Know
11. 50 Cent – Wanksta
12. Obie Trice – The Setup (Feat. Nate Dogg)
13. 50 Cent – In Da Club
14. D12 – Fight Music
15. Yelawolf -Pop The Trunk
16. Eminem – Lose Yourself (Original Demo Version) (Bonus Track)

Here is the official art for Eminem’s Shady XV compilation album, due November 24th.

Via Instagram, Em frame-by-frame does a reveal of his label’s 15th anniversary compilation, Shady XV, due November 24th.