One more from Fan Of A Fan 2, dropping Feb. 24th.

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.

The single is available now via Motown Records.

Kids, don’t try this at home. From 2013′s Oxymoron.

Sidenote: About how far off do you wager we are we from seeing a full on, uncensored blowjob in a rap video?

New music from Los Angeles, mixed by Ali.

The Top Dawg Entertainment recording artist joined Highly Questionable with ESPN’s Dan Le Batard and Bomani Jones.

Rap remix of The Weeknd’s “Often”, with help from Q and Rozay.

In this Interview with Montreality, ScHoolboy Q speaks about :

- The type of student he was at school (0:17)
- Jobs he had as a teenager growing up (0:32)
- His 1st big paycheck (1:02)
- What he thinks he were in a previous lifetime (1:46)
- His favorite cartoon character (2:08)
- His favorite video games (2:36)
- The realest shxt he ever wrote (2:55)
- TUPAC Conspiracy Theories (4:14)
- The Uniqueness of NATE DOGG (4:45)
- CHILDISH GAMBINO throwing shots at him (5:50)
- The most romantic thing he’s ever done (6:14)
- The true definition of a “G” (7:19)
- His message to the youth (7:58)

Q is the latest to remix Disclosure’s runaway smash, “Latch.”

Nas adds a verse to Schoolboy Q’s “Studio”, suggesting his new album is done and the single is dropping soon…

Footaction linked up with TDE artist ScHoolboy Q this summer to remix his “Man of the Year” video using images and video of fans.

Hot 97′s Peter Rosenberg celebrates his birthday at Peterpalooza 3, featuring performances and appearances from Action Bronson, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Danny Brown, Retch, Chris Rivers and more.

UK production trio Yogi stands at the vanguard of cross-genre production with their latest official reworking of Schoolboy Q’s “Hell Of A Night,” coming today via OWSLA / Interscope. Having established a reputation for massive fusions of high-energy electro with hard-hitting hip hop from the likes of Pusha T and Casey Veggies, the outfit adds a frenetic big room energy to this track. Replete with blaring hi-hats and trills, this remix is destined for an unquestionable global dancefloor takeover.

Directed by Adam Roberts. From the album, #THESEDAYS, available now.

Sorry Puff, this was the “We Dem Boyz” remix we were looking for.