Like their East Coast brethren, it was the veteran West Coast artists that made the most noise in 2008.

The West delivered good to solid LPs from vets Ice Cube, E-40, and Snoop Dogg. The Game also supplied a shining mainstream moment with LAX, the only gold-certified album to come from the Westside this year.

Away from the mainstream, thriving underground scenes have developed. The Bay Area, for example, has numerous acts like Mistah Fab, Ya Boy, Keak Da Sneak, and San Quinn who have thrived simply by making music for their small but devoted audiences. In LA, artists like Planet Asia and Crooked I have done the same while retaining mainstream aspirations.

It’s hard to predict when the West will return to its former glory, but until then the region will sustain as a self-contained unit until the rest of the world is ready to catch back on.

Ice Cube

If you’re looking for an example of a veteran thriving through the independent grind, look no further than the Don Mega. Cube released his political-heavy 8th album Raw Footage in August to rave reviews. To date, the album is on pace to give Cube is second consecutive best-selling independent album of the year.

In addition to working with fellow vets Scarface and Nas (“Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It”), Ice Cube reached out to new school stars The Game (“Get Use To It”) and Young Jeezy (“I Got My Locs On”).

On the film front, Cube starred with Katt Williams in the comedy First Sunday, which opened at number two at the box office and grossed over $37 million. Look for Cube to make more noise in 2009 with a new movie featuring Mike Epps and Young Jeezy called Janky Promoters, and a possible collaboration album with Nas and Scarface.

Standout Songs:

“Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It,” “I Got My Locs On,”

E-40

The King of Slang and Ambassador of the Yay retained his winning ways in 2008 with the release of The Ball Street Journal, 40’s 11th album.

Pushed through his own Sick Wid It Records, 40 Water’s new album featured The Game, Gucci Mane, Snoop Dogg, Too $hort, Bun B, Shawty Lo, Ice-T, and Akon. The album debuted six on Billboard’s Top Hip-Hop albums list.

A hustler since his first album Federal back in 1993, E-40 will keep the Bay Area’s self-contained music scene thriving; recession or not.

Standout Songs:

“Break Ya Ankles,” “Wake It Up”

Crooked I

Long-overlooked emcee Crooked I took it upon himself to capitalize on the hype gained in 2007 through his innovative Hip-Hop Weekly series.

Hip-Hop Weekly, started in April 2007, featured the talented lyricist creating a new song per week over old and new instrumentals, and many times taking requests and shouting out fans on the tracks. The successful series finally concluded in April 2008.

From there, Crooked hits the streets running with three mixtapes: St. Valentine’s Day Bossacre, The Block Obama, and The Block Obama II, which found distribution through iTunes, Amazon, and Rhapsody.

His efforts were duly noted throughout the industry, as now other emcees such as Freeway have adopted modified versions of the Hip-Hop Weekly series to generate their own buzz.

Look for Crooked I to make more noise in 2009 through the super-group Slaughterhouse (Royce Da 5’9, Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden, Crooked I) and his anticipated debut B.O.S.S. (Beginning Of Something Serious).

Snoop Dogg

It’s quite possible that Kanye West got his idea for an auto-tune only album from the success of Snoop’s “Sexual Eruption.” The lead single for Ego Trippin’ was released quietly at the end of 2007, but subsequently blew up over the beginning of this year courtesy of radio and club spins, plus a highly stylized throwback video. The top ten single enabled Snoop’s ninth studio album to debut number three on Billboard’s Top 100 chart.

With a second season of Snoop Dogg’s Fatherhood recently launched on November 30th, Snoop D-O- Double G remains one of Hip-Hop’s brightest crossover stars.

Standout Songs:

“Sexual Eruption,” “Life Of Da Party”

The Game

Compton’s The Game solidified his position as one the West’s biggest artists with LAX, his third and alleged final Hip-Hop album. The LP had a staggering list of guests ranging from rappers like DMX and Raekwon to R&B stars in Chrisette Michele and Bilal. The album earned Game a gold plaque and a narrow miss of receiving his third consecutive #1 LP by less than twelve hundred copies.

Game went on to build his own resume of guest appearances by working with a diverse group of artists in Nas (“Make The World Go Round”), Good Charlotte (“Fight Song Remix”), E-40 (“Pain No More”), and former rival Joe Budden (“The Future”). If The Game is indeed hanging up the microphone, he’s going out on top.

Standout Songs:

“Game’s Pain,” “My Life”

The Verdict:

Even though LAX fell short of its expectations, The Game was still the West’s shining star in 2008.

While the East Coast awaits a new crop of emcees to emerge in the national spotlight, the veterans continue to hold down the fort. This year saw mainstays like Nas and Jay-Z continue to make moves on the music and business front. Although several stars didn’t release albums, many like Fabolous, 50 Cent, and Jadakiss remained on the national radar through mixtapes and various guest spots.

Even without a unified front due to various cliques and infighting, the East has been able to lay the groundwork this year for anticipated new projects from Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Fabolous,  and Jadakiss.

Nas

Nasir Jones kept his name ringing in 2008 with the novel concept of simply making a great album. The first half of the year saw the Queens lyricist polarize the Hip-Hop world by naming his album N***** and dropping a controversial video for the street single “Be A N***** Too.” Def Jam initially supported the project but pressured Nas to compromise after major distributors such as Walmart threatened to not carry the LP.

Nas relented and simply left the album untitled, utilizing a powerful album cover image of his back whip-scarred into the letter N to symbolize the project’s true name. The Untitled album was released in July to near universal praise from critics for Nas’ exceptional critique of race on economic, historical, and social levels. The positive buzz earned Nas his second consecutive and fourth overall album to debut #1 on Billboard, knocking off the cultural phenomenon that is Tha Carter III. In October, Untitled was certified gold.

Already seventeen years deep, Nas continues to prove elite emcees can remain potent without making juvenile compromises to their art to appease fleeting trends.

Standout Songs:

“Hero,” “Black President,” “Queens Get the Money”

Jay-Z

Still riding the success of his return to form on American Gangster, Shawn Carter used most of 2008 to build anticipation for the long-awaited Blueprint 3.

Vacating his president position at Def Jam in December 2007, Jay kicked off 2008 with a memorable headlining performance at the British, normally rock-leaning Glastonbury Festival. The Brooklyn native used the slot to take a pointed jab at outspoken Oasis front man Noel Gallagher, who criticized the Jay-Z selection.

Jay went on to strategically place verses onto most of the big Hip-Hop records this year: Ross’s Trilla, Wayne Tha Carter III, T.I.’s Paper Trail, and Ludacris’ Theater of the Mind.

In August, anticipation built further for Blueprint 3 after the summer leak of “Jockin’ Jay-Z,” and the announcement that Kanye West would serve as co-executive producer.

On the business end, Jay-Z further lived up to his claim of not being a “businessman” but a brand all to himself. He finalized a hundred and fifty million joint venture with concert promoter Live Nation to have the organization finance Jay’s investments and split the profits fifty / fifty. The deal is one of the richest contracts ever given to a musician and gives Jay the distinction of being the first Hip-Hop artist to sign with Live Nation.

In addition, Jay-Z partnered with powerhouse Norwegian producers Stargate to launch a new label, Star-Roc. The company will handle recordings in-house at Jay’s Manhattan Roc The Mic studio, and sign all new artists to three sixty contracts covering their record sales, endorsements, concert revenue, and other ventures.

The likely most important event this year for the Brooklyn emcee was his marriage to longtime girlfriend Beyonce Knowles. The private ceremony was made public at the end of April, and the new Ms. Carter was seen sporting a five million Lorraine Schwartz-designed wedding ring. For Jay-Z, 2008 was business and politics as usual.

Standout Songs:

“Brooklyn (Go Hard),” “Jockin’ Jay-Z”

50 Cent

Curtis Jackson again proved he’s one of the hardest working artists / moguls in Hip-Hop, first by dethroning Jay-Z on Forbes’ annual Hip-Hop list with earnings of $150 million.

Southside Jamaica’s favorite son lent his brand to TV, film, and video games. In September he co-starred alongside movie legends Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in the crime thriller Righteous Kill. In November he premiered an MTV reality show entitled The Money And The Power. On the gaming front, he finalized his second multi-platform video game in 50 Cent: Blood In The Sand for release in January 2009.

On the international front, 50 is in the process of securing an equity stake in the mining business of billionaire tycoon Patrice Motsepe. Musically, 50 Cent spent the majority of the year laying the groundwork for this fourth studio LP Before I Self-Destruct.

His G Unit camp returned to their underground best with several well received mixtapes in Return Of The Body Snatchers Vol. 1 and Elephant In The Sand. In October, he released the Scott Storch produced “Get Up,” the lead single for the new album.

Despite several setbacks in the G Unit album flop, high-profile baby momma drama, and the infamous taped Young Buck conversation, 50 Cent shows that even in a “slow” year, he’s still too far ahead for most to compete.

Jim Jones

Two years removed from his biggest hit in “We Fly High,” Harlem’s own Jim Jones continues to makes moves on the microphone and behind the scenes. Jimmy kicked off the year with the Dame Dash-hosted Harlem’s American Gangster. Powered by the lead single “Love Me No More,” the album / mixtape hit number one on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums List.

In July, Jones put together a six-man roster and released M.O.B.: The Album, the debut studio LP from his 2006 formed Byrd Gang.

To conclude 2008, Jones hopped on the Ron Browz club smash “Pop Champagne,” which will also be featured on Jim’s upcoming fourth album Pray IV Reign (January 2009).

Even with a highly publicized and sometimes violent feud with founding Byrd Gang member Max B still ongoing, Jim Jones has learned in 2008 to put business first.

Standout Songs- “Love No More,” “Pop Champagne”

Busta Rhymes

A veteran emcee that will celebrate his twentieth year of releasing music in 2009, Busta Rhymes has been able to bounce back from a public split with Interscope / Aftermath.

Things looked good in early 2008, as Busta released a signature raucous single in “Don’t Touch Me (Throw Da Water On ‘Em).” A memorable all-star remix soon followed featuring The Game, Nas, Spliff Star, Reek Da Villian, and Big Daddy Kane.

Busta built more momentum with the Linkin Park assisted “We Made It,” which cracked the top fifty on Billboard’s Pop chart. The song was prominently featured in Madden ‘09 and served as the theme song for the NBA Western Conference Finals.

The work was stifled momentarily when the Long Island emcee was dropped by Aftermath / Interscope after an alleged heated conversation between Busta and CEO Jimmy Iovine.

Undeterred, Busta closed out the year with the controversial club hit “Arab Money.” The remix drew the ire of Muslims worldwide for using revered Islamic verses on the nature of Allah in a song emphasizing extravagant materialism. Busta has since apologized and edited the song.

The controversy and consistent musical output has kept Busta’s name in the mix throughout 2008, and he’ll get the chance to capitalize in early 2009 with the release of Back On My B.S..

Standout Songs:

“Don’t Touch Me (Throw Da Water On ‘Em)”, “Arab Money (Remix)”

The Verdict:

While most kept to the usual fair of big money and others lost their identity by following the trends set forth by their protégés, Nas challenged the game with Untitled. Yes the album title was changed but that did not stop him from creating a work of art that not only skillfully tackled the much argued subject matter, but also his added to his legacy.

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