NBC: “In honor of the Tonight Show’s week in Los Angeles, Jimmy and the Roots parody “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” opening title sequence.”

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.

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.

Big Sean in New York City addressing the Tonight Show: “Whattup Detroit.”

Rawse invades the Tonight Show in promotion of his new album, Hood Billionaire, inviting K. Michelle and performing with The Roots. Hips don’t lie.

Nas and The Roots perform the first track from Illmatic. Straight out the fuckin’ dungeons of rap to the Tonight Show. Starts at the 8-minute mark.

The campaign to end extreme poverty by 2030, MSNBC presents the Global Citizen concert event in NYC, featuring performances from Jay Z + Beyonce, The Roots, as well as No Doubt, Carrie Underwood, and Fun. Watch Jay and Bey perform “Forever Young” below, then head here to see the rest, if you feel so inclined.

With Seen It All: The Autobiography in stores now, Jeezy performs at The Tonight Show, with a little help from Future and The Roots.

In honor of the show’s trip to Universal Orlando, Black Thought of the legendary Roots crew drops some bars about Harry Potter.

Dave Chappelle gives an amazing interview to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, discussing his history with The Roots, meeting Kanye West before he was a star, and hearing Jay-Z’s The Black Album for the first time, with Common and Talib Kweli. He also speaks on his upcoming Radio City Music Hall performance with Nas and company.

The official recap of the 7th Annual Roots Picnic in Philadelphia May 31, 2014. Check out the highlight reel, as well as a performance of “Lodi Dodi” by Snoop Dogg, backed by the legendary Roots crew.

From …and then you shoot your cousin.

Here are some of the best and most talked about moments from Hot 97′s Summer Jam 2014.

Action Bronson had arguably the most raw, hip-hop set of the show. Going straight into the crowd to perform.

You may have heard about 50 Cent showing the crowd “how to rob”, as he beats up and steals up-and-coming rapper Slowbucks’ chain, then rocks it for the rest of the show. Its likely this footage will be used in an upcoming criminal investigation.

Nas performs tracks from Illmatic for about 10 minutes. He then invited Meek Mill and French Montana on stage, who commandeered the set.

Here’s where Meek Mill fucked up. At the 18 minute mark, Nas’ “Hate Me Now” music starts back up. And as Nas is returning to the stage, Meek starts going “Hold up, hold up, hold up”, in truly bad form. You’re his guest homie.

What this show needs is more dudes on stage checking their email while an artist performs. #AmateurHour

— Jonathan Shecter (@SheckyGreen) June 2, 2014

50 Cent reunites G-Unit – except for Game – just in time for tomorrow’s release of Animal Ambition. Buck looks a little surprised at the 6:30 mark when his track “Shorty Wanna Ride” is cut off after the hook. Fabolous also joins on stage for a performance of the G-Unit remix of “Cuffin’ Season”.

The Roots played Summer Jam smart, delivering classics directly to the New York audience, with guest spots from M.O.P. (“Ante Up”), Dres of Black Sheep (“The Choice Is Yours”), and The Lox (“Wild Out”, “All About The Benjamins”).

Here’s Nicki Minaj performing “Yasss Bitch” with Soulja Boy. There are three reasons to watch this.

Nicki Minaj trolls the crowd by telling them she “doesn’t fuck with Drake no more”, but then brings him out to the tune of “Worst Behavior”. Lil Wayne appears next, naturally.

The worst Roots album is still better than roughly 90% of whatever other modern hip-hop records you are listening to. …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, their highly experimental, conceptual, and exceptional eleventh album is far from their worst record, however many may initially see it that way.

The information age – or, scratch that – more appropriately, the consumption era – has largely changed the way we listen to hip-hop albums. Seven albums ago, The Roots warned us that “Hip-Hop records are treated as though they are disposable,” on their fourth LP, Things Fall Apart. This was before technology would allow you to literally move an album to the virtual trash can, and then tweet to your friends how terrible it is in just 140 characters. (Usually less.)

Which is why …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin will really test the patience of the average fast food junkie. Its set up like a stage play, of sorts, complete with symphonic, musical segues to bridge its parts together with dramatic effect. It hardly follows the standard three-16-bar-verses-and-hooks structure, and some tracks don’t feature rapping at all. Some don’t even have the funky drummer drumming! Blasphemy!

Yes, …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin is a highly pretentious art piece. However, it’s also good. And it is very digestible, clocking in at just over 30 minutes, marking their 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.

[Spoilers ahead.]

The album’s loose-knit narrative doesn’t really identify any particular characters, nor does it have a real “story” to it. But the central character(s), represented by each Black Thought, Dice Raw, and Greg Porn live lifestyles popularized by more famous rappers, such as “Get Rich Or Die Trying” or “You Only Live Once”. The characters find themselves living like there is no tomorrow, then wondering what went wrong the morning after. And then repeating that process, over and over again. It’s a brooding, depressing, and all too familiar tale. Yet one woven together with bittersweet symphonies and ultra high definition, visual lyricism, on all fronts.

In a sense, this album is a bit like a sequel (or prequel) to Dice Raw’s own 2013 solo work, Jimmy’s Back, his brilliant conceptual album about the American prison system. Except these characters only find death, not imprisonment. And the most depressing part about …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin is that death is the characters’ only salvation. The album closes with “Tomorrow”, which offers a look towards a brighter, new beginning, but only after death has claimed them.

Easily their boldest release to date, The Roots’ …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin speaks the loudest and most directly, with the message that it attempts to get across. Its experimental, stage-show like structure suggests that there could be a future “Live On Broadway” visual element to accompany it, yet many may miss its points in only its audio form. Nevertheless, The Roots continue to defy expectation for the eleventh time (!), consistently releasing a quality product. Get rich or die trying? Nah. Slow and steady wins the race.

On this episode of Mista Montana and Menace’s UK based show, Conspiracy Worldwide Radio, they speak with Forbes’ senior editor Zack O’ Malley Greenburg about the secret Wu-Tang album, as well as segments with The Roots, Dice Raw, Sage Francis, Murs, Dillon Cooper, M-Eighty, Vanderslice, and more. Five hours.