Welcome, it's been a year in hip hop...

(In no particular order, well the off the dome particular order)

YG was Bickin Back Bein Bool, he even dropped a short film! It's pretty slick, just search on Youtube and you'll find an illegal copy

C'mon Dizzee, big Dizzee Diz from the L-D-N ... c'mon, make a return

Chance the Rapper is up to some cool stuff with his band The Social Experiment, if you like Chance and like funky music I'd keep ya eyes and ears peeled for more of this

SZA, beautiful.

Isaiah Rashad is a low key member of TDE, as is SZA and Rashad is dope, as is SZA.

Technically, this video isn't from 2014 as it's from late 2013. But it's a perfect example of why you should be excited about A$AP and what they have in store for us. They laid pretty low this year, but they've got whole crew of dope spitters lined up.

If you weren't convinced...

Always had soft spot for AZ, he's back up in the mix

There isn't much hip hop that sounds better than DJ Quik, the dude is a musical master

Logic spazzed all over the 5 Fingers of Death, while dropping one of the best albums of the year Under Pressure as well.

Common re-appeared to give Chi-town and hip hop fans some of that good good

The Roots gave us exactly what you would expect from them with their album And Then You Shoot Your Cousin

Earl Sweatshirt = a lovely lad. Good on him

I mean, how could I not!?

Killer Mike is one of the best spitters, hands down and in collabo with El-P they form Run The Jewels who graced us with their 2nd album

Holding down the gritty, grimey New York sound is RATKING. These guys had a big year with the release of their So It Goes album, which was dopeness

Boaz, straight out of Pittsburgh is a street boss who is doing his thing behind the mic

Meet the Underachievers, who along with the Flatbush Zombies formed Clockwork Indigo

Zombies bitch...

I think the best thing that the internet and hip hop has given us this year are Youtube videos that focus on their tour antics or another talent they have. We've all sit there and watched Wiz Khalifa's Day Today high out of our minds, but artists are getting better at it which leads us to the one and only Action Bronson. He's easily the best, and this is easily the best installment of his Youtube series. 

You got do a lot worse than having Action Bronson as your favourite rapper

If you're after some musical goodness sprinkled with some of the best bars you'll hear this year? Luckily for you DJ Premier and Royca Da 5"9 linked up.

Statik Selektah put together the year's best combination of hip hop, with production laced with funky jazz and hard as concrete MC's. 

Here's the jam

Veterans. Hard. Bars. Don't fuck with...

Always love some Dilated Peoples, especially when they come back in to the game and drop a dope album.

Evidence then teamed up with his brother from another mother Alchemist and the dopey dope Diamond D on D's album The Diam Piece

You may have guessed that Joey Bada$$ is one of my favs, totes lol but he and his Pro Era crew are pretty funkalicious. CJ Fly continued to emerge as a certified spitter

And the whole crew got some love on the mixtape The Shift. Beautiful people meet Kirk Knight...

If this doesn't give you goosebumps, or get you excited about hip hop or get you excited about the direction of the youth, I'm not sure what will.

Remember the Cool Kids? Maybe you don't because you're too young, shit it was only like 5 years ago! They're doing their thing solo dolo, no beef as they each feature on each other's tapes. Here's Sir Michael Rocks...

And here's the other Cool Kid Chuck Inglish...

Off the same album came this jam with BJ The Chicago Kid, who has quickly emerged as the best crooner in hip hop at the moment.

One of my favourite jams of the year that just gets you ready to dominate from Le$

Asher Roth has come back in the game and he's doing his thing and he's doing it pretty good. Loved his RetroHash album earlier in the year and he's a nice guy..

Big K.R.I.T is up there, probably in the top 2 or 3 spitters in the game. I'd listen to someone make the case for him being the best in the game, I'd probably be able to make that argument as well. Cadillactica was simply amazing as not only a hip hop album, but a musical creation.

Two OG's of the game are the kings of Youtube. B-Real hosts The Smokebox, here's the whip be hot boxed the fuck out.

Snoop Dogg's GGN show is awesome. The variety of guests and the stories the tell to the OG are top shelf, I mean where else are going to see Devin The Dude in rare form...

And then Rob Dyrdek dropping some wisdom?

And then Too $hort educating as non pimps on the ways of the pimps and players

Smoke DZA did his thing as we all saluted the kush god and his Dream.Zone.Achieve project

Top Dawg Entertainment sit at the top of the hip hop game, so it was pretty sensational to see SmokeyGotBeatz laying some classic West Coast beats down for Jay Rock. Expect Rock to come out with a project soon, which will be amazing, because he's amazing.

Kendrick Lamar is also awesome and I think he's set on a path to not only lead hip hop, but lead the youth and our generation through change.

Ab-Soul released These Days... which was dope, while Schoolboy Q released Oxymoron early on in 2014. TDE run the game, don't be dumb.

We were gifted the combination of Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, which I can't think of too many better gifts than that! Madlib's production on Pinata was at his usual very high standard, which doesn't always make it easy for someone to spit bars over. Gibbs did all that and a whole lot more, confirming him as one of the best.

Off the same Pinata album was this joint full of dopeness.

SmokeyGotBeatz teaming up with Jay Rock and TDE was pretty awesome for New Zealand hip hop, but P-Money's collabo with Buckshot was something else. P-Money's production was on point with Buckshot's bars and made for one of my favourite albums of the year. Peep the cheeky David Dallas feature as well, but P-Money's use of the flute here is beautiful.

If you're looking for a rapper to follow, someone new to dedicate your attention to then I recommend Vince Staples. The dude is absolute fire.

Staples isn't a part of Odd Future but he's a known collaborator and OF have continued to rise through the hip hop ranks. Domo Genesis dropped a banger of a mixtape with his Under The Influence 2, Earl Sweatshirt continues to linger as does Tyler and MELLOWHYPE dropped a dope tape...

"This shit's so raw I might not have my engine E-Q it"...

While we've also seen The Internet emerge from the OF stable. They ooze funk

If Mac Miller doesn't tickle your fancy them I'm not sure, you might be racist. It's been a good year for Mac as he dropped his Faces mixtape which was fire and then signed a big major label deal ... oh and he's got a alter ego Larry Fisherman who makes beats.

J Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive album was something that firmly places him near the top of the hip hop world. It's just a solid hip hop album in all departments and there's a brutal honesty that many other rappers need to note.

Kendrick Lamar's live performance of 'Untitled' and J Cole's live performance of 'Be Free' stand alone, together as stand out moments in hip hop.

I won't give you my 5 favourite spitter's, as that changes by the day. But I will tell you who are some key young men who will be hugely important in not only hip hop, but the development of the world we live in (power to the youth!) - Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Joey Bada$$ + Pro Era, Tyler the Creator + OF and Freddie Gibbs.

There were many contenders for album of the year, it was an absolute banger of a year for hip hop with so many projects dropping that not only eptomised the hip hop culture, but also injected a fresh tinge of creativity in to the game. My favourite album of the year was a slightly low key collabo between Bishop Nehru and MF DOOM - NehruvianDOOM. Nehru is still a teenager and has bars for days and a mind that offers many angles of attack. Combine that with DOOM and you have a project that has no weakness and is an absolute pleasure to listen to. 

Peace, love and unity.