Hip-Hopaparazzi: Images of 2006

I'll let you in on a little secret: we writers think just like you. We know how excruciating it is to be subjected to rant after rant, that's why we sweeten our long-winded epistles with images. Sometimes, you'd rather skip the entire pre-intro/prelude/ before the jump/lead-up sentence/etc and dive right into to the images. Just like now. Here's our Top 5 photo galleries of 2006:

#5. MTV Video Music Awards: Queen Latifah, Uncle LL, Timbaland and others represent hip-hop at the 2006 VMAs.

#4. 6th Annual Dub Car Show: Lady Tribe spins the 1s and 2s while Bayou City's finest--Chamillionaire, Trae, Slim Thug, Chingo Bling--rock the M.I.C. Not to mention the eye candy celebrity whips.

#3. Rakim in Concert: The original god MC marks his return to active recording via a nationwide tour.

#2. Gnarls Barkley Photo Gallery: Two genre-defying artists who enjoy playing dress up.

#1. 1st Annual BET Hip-Hop Awards: All the big enchiladas show off their swagger on the Red Carpet at BET's premiere Hip-Hop Award show.