best mic performances of the year!!!!!

[angry!]

2009 coming to a head, i wanted to show some love to emcees that showed the fuck out!!!!!

jadakiss - merked just about every verse he spit this year, showed out on all types of production on his solo release "the last kiss", and had what many will consider a classic verse on the sequel to rae's purple tape!!!!
must check: "pain and torture", "cartel gathering", "deathwish", "broken safety", "things ive been through"

eminem - he dropped relapse, where his rhyme patterns and flow continued to push the envelope, and hes been killing every guest spot closing the year out strong!!!!! mainstream emcee of the year, no ones moving units bringing that caliber of rhyme but em!!!! he also had the best freestyles of the year when he went to tim westwoods show and blacked out delivering one of his best freestyles EVER!!!!! not to mention the classic cypher with mos def and black thought!!!!!!
must check: "3 am", "medicine ball", "stay wide awake", "tim westwood freestyles", "music box", "drop a bomb on em"

rakim - this nigga on the low dropped one of the best hip hop albums of the year!!!! he doesnt have one weak moment lyrically on the 7th Seal, strong song writing and tight concepts!!!!! the god released some of the best written hip hop love songs in recent memory, and his voice and delivery remains timeless!!!!!
must check: "holy are you", "working for you", "documentary of a gangsta", "put it all to music", "still in love"

cormega - delivered one of the strongest albums of the year in born n raised, also one of the strongest albums in his catalogue!!!! verse after verse, he dropped jewels in 09!!!! introspective, creative, and real!!!!! his delivery still isnt perfect, but his content and message might be!!!!! he elevated once again... go cop this record!!!!
must check: "girl", "love your family", "live and learn", "make it clear", "journey","rapture"

raekwon - dropped the best hip hop album of the year and a future classic in ob4cl 2 and also killed every guest spot!!!!!! shouldnt have to elaborate much more, he added more than a handful of classic verses to his catalogue this year!!!!!!
must check: "stay off the fucking flowers", "4 minutes to lockdown", "cold outside", "baggin crack", "sonnys missing", "ason jones"

other emcees that merked the year inside out...
krs one - this nigga killed survival skills, outclassed buckshot and the guest features on every track!!!!! 20 plus, still blacking out!!!!
ghostface killah - for the sheer versatility he showed, dropped wizard of poetry on some new take starks love shit, and was able to revert to mid 90's ghost and destroy every verse he spit on ob4cl 2!!!!!!!

off top these emcees made their mark in 09, who impressed you on the mic in 09!?!?!

[Ghost In The 'Lac]

Cam came strong on Crime Pays, shame about the beats
MF Doom's lyrics on b.l.t were incredible
Saigon was impressive on a.i.d.w - underrated album
phil da agony killed the new SAS steady album

[Ghost In The 'Lac]

and I gotta throw in Willie the Kid, I was feeling the dude n/h on the Fly mixtape.

[Ghost In The 'Lac]

adding on

billy danze, chamber music and the foundation
camp lo - stone and rob mixtape and their album - they finally went back to their old styles, killed it
Kurupt did his thing on the Quik album, not his best, but passable for sure!
Styles P - heated on every thing he did this year

[angry!]

royce da 5'9'' - he dropped his best solo album since death is certain with street hop, and also delivered some of the hottest verses on a group project with slaughterhouse!!!! son also dropped a street album that had some dope cutting room floor shit!!!!!! i was starting to lose interest in nickel outside of his mixtapes, but he came back hard with street hop and freaked all kinds of styles!!!!!!!! storytelling, battle shit, real life shit, royce did his fuckin thing in 2009!!!! he also delivered two of the best story tracks of the year in my opinion with "on the run" and "murder"!!!!!
must check: "gun harmonizing", "something to ride 2", "the onslaught pt.2", "on the run", "murder", "taxi driver", "shake this"

mos def - this nigga came back outta nowhere and dropped his best album since black on both sides!!!!!! the ecstatic is a great album, and his approach was classic mos!!!!! its been great seeing mos the emcee active, hes out murdering verses in the name of hip hop like rawkus was still business!!!!! gotta love it!!!!!!!!
must check: "twilite speedball", "auditorium", "wahid", "priority", "casa bey", "workers comp"

dont be afraid to lift up the rock to see whats hiding underneath it!!!!! theres been some great hip hop in 2009!!!!!!!!!

[sdeblasi]

others not mentioned:

Tech N9ne had a good performance on KOD and guest spots

IMO Buckshot outshined KRS and had one of his better mic performances in a while on Survival Skills

K-Rino murked his new album Solitary Confinement