Top 10 New Rap Albums - July 2011

The Foreign Exchange played an intimate show for a group of 40 friends back in February. Dear Friends: An Evening With The Foreign Exchange captures that show on CD and DVD. It's a solid accompaniment to 2010's Authenticity.

The Alchemist continues to scratch his collaboration itch with Greneberg. Al teamed up with Prodigy on Return of the Mac, then Oh No on 2010's Gutter Water under the moniker Gangrene. So let's do the math: Gangrene (Alchemist + Oh No) + Roc Marciano = Greneberg. The 6-song project features zero guests and a couple Marciano solos.

Release Date: Soon Come

Last year's solo set flung open the floodgate for posthumous Pimp C albums. Fans will continue to check for these out of sheer loyalty and tinny hope of finding a gem buried in his catalog. He was, after all, one of the best producers in rap. (Time to rework this list, yo)

Release Date: July 12, 2011

It's been whittled down to 11 songs, and Earl's stellar verse has been expunged from the Fat Possum re-release. But this is still a solid assemblage of lo-fi tunes from the Odd Future duo of Hodgy Beats and Left Brain.

Release Date: July 12, 2011

He can't rap, sing or dance. Hell, I'm not even sure he knows his way around a soundboard. All he does is win, win, win, no matter what. We The Best Forever may not be in the running for Album of the Year, but its lead single "I'm On One" is a shoo-in for the 2011 version of this list.

Release Date: July 19, 2011

Jay Rock is a snarling west coast wordsmith with a gun and a mic. His debut has been a long time coming; with sky-high expectations, Rock has little room for mistakes. Collaborators include: J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, L.E.S., Nottz, and DJ Quik.

Release Date: Jul 26, 2011

Black Rob is back with rhymes galore. The former Bad Boy rapper never gave us much to care about other than "Whoa," but he's hoping to change that on Game Tested. Haunting rhythms are provided by Buckwild, D-Mile, and Coptic.

Release Date: July 26, 2011

After several pushbacks, Cool Kids will finally drop their full-length debut, When Fish Ride Bicycles, via Green Label Sound. It sports 11 new songs and the guest list will surprise some; Ghostface, Bun B, Mayer Hawthorne, Asher Roth, Travis Barker all make cameos. Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish began recording the album with Pharrell Williams at Miami's South Beach Studios in December 2010 and continued over several sessions, culminating in Williams' board work on album closer "Summer Jam."

Release Date: July 12 (Well, this was the original date when I first compiled this list, but the album has since been pushed back ((yet again!)) to August 12, 2011. What in HaySu's name is going on over their at Mountain Dew??)

Who signed off on this thing? It takes a heavy dose of Ghostface to rescue this project from the pit of mediocrity. Wu is still without question the greatest rap group ever, so the aptly title Legendary Weapons is not total shiite. It's still typical raw RZA fare, so there's that glory hole. Brooklyn based band The Revelations supply the occasionally irresistible soundbed for Wu's street tales. You just wish they'd just stop cluttering their catalog.

Release Date: July 26, 2011

Four years after his last studio album, Houston's Trae returns with the gritty Street King. In four years, Trae has made a ton of new friends, including Wiz Khalifa and Wyclef Jean, who eagerly assist with Street King. He's also managed to become Corporate Enemy #1. An off-color remark about a Houston radio personality led to a ban by Radio One and its entire family of stations. Airplay or not, though, life goes on for this indefatigable veteran.