16TH Annual Illuminati 2G Hip Hop Awards
Welcome to our 15th annual Illuminati 2G Hip Hop Awards. Here we recognize the best albums of 2015 in the world of hip hop. We break in down into regions as by what was the best album from the east, west, midwest and dirty south. All the selections are made by Illuminati 2G so if ya got beef wit the picks, hit me up on email or the message board.
East Coast Album Of The Year: Joe Budden: All Love Lost-One of the illest in the game right now, Budden crafted what might be his best album of his career. The storytelling on this was amazing in the final send off of his Lost album series. Another stellar year of releases from the east.
Honorable mention: Ghostface, Redman, Black Rob, Ransom, Logic, Pusha T, Jadakiss, ASAP Rocky, Meek Mill, Sheek Louch, Method Man, Vice Souletric, Statik Selektah, Action Bronson, Joey BadA$$, Wale, Raekwon
Dirty South Album Of The Year: Scarface- Deeply Rooted: 2014 was the year of Big K.R.I.T., 2015 belonged to Facemob member Scarface. It’s truly amazing to me that Face still drops classic albums after all this time. Musically this may have been his best album with N.O. Joe and Ervin Pope executive producing this opus. The King never left.
Honorable mention: T.I., Rick Ross, Pimp C, Jeezy, Boosie, 3-6 Mafia, DJ Paul, Paul Wall, Gunplay, Yelawolf
Midwest Album Of The Year: Lupe Fiasco- Tetsuo & Youth: Lupe has been called many things over the years. Weird, eccentric, recluse. But make no mistake about it, the man knows how to make dope music. Whether it is albums or mixtapes, Lupe shows no signs of MC rust no matter how long of a hiatus he takes. Buckle ya seat belt because he will drop 3 ALBUMS IN 2016!!!
Honorable mention: Freddie Gibbs, Ca$his, Do Or Die, Twista, Big Sean, Chance The Rapper, Ludacris
West Coast Album Of The Year: Kendrick Lamar- To Pimp A Butterfly: I have been doing these awards for a long time and this year for the west coast was banner, epic, all the adjectives I can come up with, it was. Best year for the coast since 2006. I really wanted to make this a 4 way tie with albums from Dr. Dre, Game and Jehuniko but one cannot deny the impact and staying power Kendrick’s album had at the beginning of the year. When polled by artists in I2G interviews, Kendrick won by a landslide. Although let me also say those previous artists I mentioned all dropped stellar albums, King Kendrick reigned supreme. The sun set in the WEST big time in 2015.
Honorable Mention: The Game, Dr. Dre, Jehuniko, Vince Staples, E-40, Snoop Dogg, Tyler The Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, Jay Rock, Kid Ink
Best Comeback: Dr. Dre
Best Indie Album: Scarface- Deeply Rooted
Most Slept On Album: Ludacris- Ludaversal
Best Mixtape- Slaugtherhouse- House Rules
Best New Artist- Vince Staples
Most Entertaining “Beef”- Drake vs Meek Mill
Best Guest Appearance- Jay-Z: The Devil Is A Lie
Best Rap Quotable & Diss Song: Drake- 6 God/Drake- Charged Up
Best Lyricist- Joe Budden
Biggest Disappointment: Meek Mill response tracks to Drake
Album Of The Year: Scarface- Deeply Rooted
Producer Of The Year: Dr. Dre
Group Of The Year: Public Enemy
Label Of The Year: Aftermath
Compilation Of The Year: Dr. Dre: Compton
Song Of The Year: Scarface- GOD
Overall, I thought 2015 had some amazing albums. Thought provoking rap is definitely back in the forefront. Region wise, I liked the things that I heard from the East and the Midwest all year. Especially the East, alot of new artists and crews dropped great albums this year. TDE continued with their dope releases from Kendrick and Jay Rock. Seems like that grimey east coast sound is making a comeback with artists like Jadakiss, Sheek Louch and others on the production tip. The South was relatively quiet this year, but definitely that some dope releases. Scarface’s album was amazing and Rick Ross dropped 2 dope albums as well.
The Midwest really had some great releases. Big Sean, Ca$his, Twista, Gibbs. Let’s hope yall fans ain’t sleeping the next time. The West was the crown jewel all year. Kendrick dropped another great album, Dr. Dre made a suprising comeback and The Game closed out the year with 2 stellar albums. I want to take this time to thank all of the fans and visitors that have supported the site since day one. So many dope interviews this year, Ludacris, E-40, Black Rob, the list goes on, over 180 interviews and counting this year and over 100 interviews for the 7th straight year. Looks like we might end the year with 200, stay tuned. MAJOR THANKS TO JEHUNIKO, ADAM MURPHY & T. They both put in a ton of work with their interviews and features. ALL are truly Illuminati 2G to the fullest.
We got more in store including continuing our podcast radio show in January, our popular Sanctuary mixtape series and a street album and we are trying to build up our forum so alot more is in the works. Too many artists to name, you know who you are. Thank you. We will continue to bring the heat as we go into our 15th year. 2015 was our best year, and we have alot in store for you guys in 2016 so keep it locked here at Illuminati 2G! Hoped you liked the awards