Following our reveal of the best major label hip-hop albums of 2014 earlier in the week, we now present our favorite indie LP’s of the year. As per usual, it was hard to find 10 inclusions for the major label list, and hard to narrow it down to only 10 on the indie list.

10. Step Brothers (Evidence + Alchemist) – Lord Steppington – Rhymesayers - Lord Steppington is unlike anything either Al or Ev have done thus far, which is testament to their versatility. It doesn’t sound like a Dilated album without Rakka, nor does it sound like, say, Albert Einstein from a production standpoint. Evidence and Alchemist have challenged themselves here, and ended up producing a dope, unconventional underground rap album, most likely dreamed up in the smokiest of atmospheres. Here come the lords.

9. Bishop Nehru + MF Doom – NehruvianDOOM – Lex Records – MF Doom teamed up with rising star Bishop Nehru for NehruvianDOOM, a solid collaborative album that found him laying down tracks for the young emcee. While some complained about re-used beats, we didn’t mind, as we don’t really listen to Doom’s beat tapes anyway. Sewn together brilliantly with Doom’s off kilter samples from various different sources, it’s rare we find Doom producing a whole album for someone, which made this a real treat.

8. Your Old Droog – Your Old Droog LP – Droog Recordings – It started off as some kid on Reddit proposing the idea that Droog was actually Nas in disguise, leading to a whole bunch of people accidentally checking for the Coney Island, NY rapper. What we found was an incredibly solid LP from a budding emcee with an airtight flow and classic, sample based production. Released on “Droog Recordings” this is the definition of an indie success story.

7. Apathy – Connecticut Casual – Demigodz Recordings – Connecticut Casual is a concept album, but isn’t as heavy as say, The Roots …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, for example. It’s a pretty straight-shooting, classically styled hip-hop record, but Ap ties the entire thing together by using his home state as a backdrop. Using the New England area’s rich history as a blueprint, he examines the state’s dichotomy of its Yacht-owning upper class, and it’s seedier crime ridden underbelly. Another well put together album, with very interesting, unexplored territory in hip-hop music.

6. Ras Kass + Apollo Brown – Blasphemy – MelloMusicGroup - Ras Kass and Apollo Brown’s, Blasphemy, is a concept LP that is more or less a crusade against organized religion. It’s also one of the best albums of the year, and quite possibly the most concise album that Ras has ever recorded. Ras has finally been given an equally yoked producer to match his sharp lyrical prowess.

5. Ghostface Killah – 36 Seasons – Tommy Boy – Where the Wu failed with A Better Tomorrow, Ghostface delivered with a literal “better tomorrow” releasing his excellent 36 Seasons LP just a week later. An incredibly tight-knit concept album with fresh, original live production from The Revelations, Ghostface Killah has long proven to be the Wu-Tang Clan’s most consistant member.

4. DJ Premier + Royce Da 5’9 – PRhyme – PRhyme Records – American dream team of DJ Premier and Royce Da 5’9 reunited after the success of their classic single “Boom,” for Preem’s first group project since the dissolution of Gang Starr. While the album showed both artists doing what they do best, we’d love to see how they mature as a group with consecutive albums as time goes on.

3. Statik Selektah – What Goes Around – Showoff - While not as high-profile as some of the other releases on this list, Statik Selektah’s What Goes Around was easily one of the most consistent LPs of 2014, especially considering its length. Stat has matured into one of the best producers in the game, able to zero in on that “golden age” sound, with an extensive guest list to help drive it home.

Pharoahe Monch – PTSD – W.A.R. Media – In his most focused and consistent LP since Internal Affairs, Pharaohe Monch has taken a real-life bout with depression and turned into one of the strongest independent LP of the year. He doesn’t try to recapture the success of “Simon Says”, nor does he try to crossover with Cee-Lo-esque gospel/soul tracks, despite his obvious singing chops. This is an unapologetically dark, incredibly well-written, musically sound LP that finds the emcee returning to greatness. Pharoahe Fucking Monch, ain’t a damn thing changed.

1. Run The Jewels (Killer Mike + El-P) – RTJ2 – Productomart / Mass Appeal – RTJ2 is a worthy sequel to the original that gets consecutively better with each listen, topping many of the industry’s year end lists across all music genres. It’s so far removed from what major labels have been pushing on us for the last few years, yet it sons them all with a smart, progressive, politically minded, and musically dope album that challenges the status quo, and reminds us why we still love hip-hop after all these years. It is possible that this album could mark a turning point for hip-hop music, so bump this shit like they do in the future.

It seems like ever since we lost Guru, DJ Premier has pulled back on the amount of beats he’s producing for folks. It’s hard to imagine there was a time when Preem would produce entire LP’s for people – not just Gang Starr, but also affiliated acts like Jeru The Damaja and Group Home. Of course those albums laid the blueprint for the second stage of Premier’s career as a producer, which would find him being the go-to-guy for bigger rappers when they wanted that one “underground” cut for their albums. But he never turned his back on the actual underground; one such collaboration would bring us to this moment now, teaming with Royce Da 5’9 for 1999′s “Boom” single on Jonathan Shecter’s Game Records.

PRyhme is not the first album Premier has produced for one rapper since Gang Starr’s final LP, 2002′s The Ownerz, as there was The Kolexxxion with Bumpy Knuckles in 2012. However this does feel like the first chapter in perhaps a long new volume in both the careers of Royce and Preemo, as it succeeds on many levels. The sound here is different than what we may be used to from Preem, as he has used one sample source – the music of Adrian Younge – for the entirety of the LP. This gives the album a very unified sound that is very much an amalgamation of both producers’ respective styles. While Premier has said that he would like to use Younge again on another PRhyme LP, the question remains if it would start to bleed into too familiar territory with beats built around sounds that Souls of Mischief and Ghostface already rapped over. But as arguably the greatest producer of all time, Preem can likely easily avoid that.

But Royce makes it clear that he’s not really looking to fill the void left by Gang Starr’s departure, stating “And this is for the real hip-hop niggas who will never ever ever ask me am I here to replace Guru” on “U Looz.” He always been one to pull the curtain back and speak on the uncomfortable subjects, much like his Bad Meets Evil partner, Eminem. He addresses a newfound sobriety on the title track, where he reveals “Marshall said that I’d be a problem if I get my shit right / That if is probably the biggest ‘if’ I ever live by / Which is why I’m known as an underachiever, I just skip by / I needed to be inebriated to prevent me from getting shy.”

Royce plays with language in a way that sounds better in your ear than it reads off the printed page, as songs like “You Should Know” (featuring Dwele) and “Courtesy” just feature him flexing his lyrical muscles. The bar is raised high, as he enlists plenty of like-minded individuals to compete on these Preemo tracks, and most everybody brings their A game. Jay Electronica absolutely destroys his verse on “To Me, To You,” while Killer Mike and Schoolboy Q spar with Royce for the top spot on “Underground Kings.” The evolving “Wishin’” with Common also shines, as Royce and Com adapt to Preem’s sporadic tempo changes. There’s also “Microphone Preem,” with Slaughterhouse, the title a nod to Eric B. & Rakim’s “Microphone Fiend,” from which it takes its drums (so along with the cuts, maybe Adrian isn’t the only sample source.)

The guest verses are mostly all great and help jam pack this LP with memorable moments, but it does feel like the inclusion of these guests was in part to help finish the album quickly and stay away from heavier topical songs. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if there is a downside to PRhyme, it is that it is too short. While it would be hard to take an entire album of lyrical miracles, Royce knows when to open up, it’s just too bad there isn’t a little bit more of that here. No matter, the group has already announced an expanded edition of the album with 3 to 5 new tracks, one to feature MF Doom.

That being said, Royce and Preem have put together a very solid opening salvo to what hopefully is a much longer career as a group. Both members are equally yoked in terms of their respective talents, so them linking for a project like this is simply a no-brainer. Hopefully PRyme continues far into the future, with consecutive albums digging deeper into the groove found here.

One more from that PRhyme LP, available now.

Part four of Royce Da 5’9 and DJ Premier’s PRhyme documentary, Raiders Of The Lost Art. Their self-titled album is available on PRhyme Records.

Part three of your behind-the-scenes look at DJ Premier and Royce Da 5’9′s PRhyme album, which is in stores this week.

DJ Premier and Royce da 5’9′s hotly anticipatd PRhyme will land December 9th. Today, NPR comes through with the stream a full 8 days early. Thoughts?

Another from Royce and Preem’s PHRYME project.

Premo and Royce share the visuals for the title-track off PRhyme.

Preem and 5’9 join forces for the upcoming PRhyme full-length album. Here are the first two cuts, as premiered on Sway In The Morning.