By Martin A. Berrios
Hate it or love it, 2008 will go down as a historical year in and outside of Rap. First and foremost we have Barack Obama winning the Presidential election. But on the flipside our country hit economic lows that haven’t been seen since The Great Depression. Inside of the music spectrum we had Kanye West push the creative envelope and Lil Wayne doing a milli first week with his eyes closed. So amongst some fantastic triumphs and terrible failures of 2008, AllHipHop.com looks forward to what seems to be the most anticipated twelve months in some time.
But obviously we are not alone in the excitement for 2009 to unravel. Will Barack get our country back in fighting shape? Will Dr. Dre ever push the button on Detox? Only time with tell. Regardless we check in with the year in review brain trust to see what everyone is looking forward to seeing next year. Some answers will surprise and some answers will outrage. You be the judge.
Kardinal Offishal: In 2009, I'm looking forward to making kids. Maybe I been hanging around with Akon too long [laughing]!
Black Milk: I'm definitely looking forward to the economy being better than it was in ‘08. It was a sh***y year for everybody's pockets. Also I hope everything works out with the auto industry and the bailout cause being from Detroit, you have family and friends that work for different auto plants out here and that’s one of the main forms of employment for a lot of people.
Other then that, the damn gas prices staying under two dollars like it is right now. Those types of prices make you want go get gas when you don't even need it.
Wale: I'm looking forward to seeing if the economy can bounce back. We real f***ed up now. I'm also looking forward to the Air Yeezys. And I'm looking forward to the Redskins drafting anybody that can help us. I'm looking forward to Blueprint 3. And I'm looking forward to fans challenging musicians to make some better content.
Juelz Santana: I want n****s to step their sh*t up, everybody. I want everyone to step their sh*t up, let’s get it rocking.
?uestlove: January 20th used to be my birthday and the occasional day off for Martin Luther King Day but someone done gone and messed that up for me.
Joe Budden: Outside of anything I am attached to, I’m looking forward to the Eminem album. I’m looking forward to Jay’s album. I’m looking forward to 50’s album. I want to hear Lupe too. I want to hear Jadakiss’ album Andre 3000 need to stop bullsh*tting and do a whole album again.
Shawty Lo: Outside of my career, I'm looking forward to being more focused on my family and my health. I also want to stay involved with the American Diabetes Association and other organizations that I feel I can contribute to in a positive way and do positive things that mean something to me. I just want to leave all the negative stuff behind and become a better person, even though I know it's going to be a process, I'm trying to stay focused on improving myself on every level.
Sheek Louch: In ’09, my biggest resolution as far music is that we should get behind a lot of artists. We had some ups and downs, and I learned more to be more of a CEO. Hopefully break into these films and nail these scripts and auditions. The acting classes are a hundred percent at the top of the year. I felt like that after not getting a couple of roles.
Charles Hamilton: I’m looking forward to looking forward.
Mick Boogie: Lots of new groups coming out that I enjoy and people are finding out about. People like U-N-I, Pacific Division, Sixth Sense, The Knux, B.O.B. It's refreshing to see this talented new generation getting the respect it deserves.
Corey Gunz: A classic album from me and I’m looking forward to see what changes are going to happen in Hip-Hop next year.
D Nice: As a DJ, I’m a little bored with playing a lot of the Hip-Hop that’s out. Like a lot the good records like the Common “Universal Mind Control” that kind of beat is crazy in the clubs and I never understood why people are doing that more? Maybe Missy experimented with that before and Snoop too with that last record. I’m looking forward to hearing people doing more of those kind of grooves and uptempos, those joints that you can really groove to. Other than that I’m looking forward to this new Jay-Z record. I want to see what he has to say. He’s definitely at a crossroads right now.
Also I am looking for a new trend for the next year and it goes back to Barack. I hope people start become a little more conscious in 2009. I don’t want everybody running around like militants but we owe it to ourselves to kind of help this dude be a great president. And we can help him even through our music. When Jay-Z did the whole button up thing, people did that and started acting more mature. So I hope the trend to follow next year is to be presidential, and to be on point.
Chamillionaire: I’m really looking forward to Barack Obama's inauguration day and hopefully the end of the recession sometime soon. I know it could take a while before the economy is back to where it should be but it seems like everybody in the world is getting hit with hard times right now. If Eminem, Dr. Dre, Jay Z, and Andre 3000 all drop albums, maybe I will have enough dope music to make me forget about a recession. I’m looking forward to that but for now that’s just wishful thinking.
Killer Mike: I’m looking for big hit records. I repeat I am looking for big hit records. Just in case you missed my first two sentences, I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO BIG HIT RECORDS! Thank you. Oh yeah, Grind Time Rap Gang Bang Bang Bang!
Slim Thug: To bring this Houston look to where it needs to be. I want to bring back my city to getting that proper love we’re supposed to be getting. That’s basically what my plans are for ’09.
