My Top 10 Singles of 2008

Typically music artists select their best work as singles to help promote their albums. Seeing that singles are usually meant to blow, lets recap some of the hottest singles of the year. Hit up the full story to peep my 10 favorite singles of 2008.

10. The Game feat. Lil Wayne - My Life

The Game linked up with his fellow blood brother Lil' Wayne for his third single off of L.A.X.. While most tracks that were featuring Wayne included a verse, The Game used Lil Wayne to sing on the hook. The Game drops powerful lines about life and death over a mellow Cool-n-Dre produced track.

9. Jay-z - Jockin' Jay-z

Eventhough the Blueprint III didn't see the light of day this year, Jockin' Jay-z was still a solid song from Hov. While it did receive some criticism and it didn't take off like some of Jay's past singles, it still served its purpose of keeping Jigga active and letting listeners know that the Blueprint III is coming. Blueprint 3 is now scheduled for a February 2009 release.

8. Ron Browz feat. Jim Jones & Juelz Santana - Pop Champagne

"Pop Champagne's" late release doesn't prevent it from making it to the top singles list. The single came through just in time to heat up the clubs this cold Winter. Originally the song belonged to Ron Browz, but it's now Jim Jones song featuring Ron Browz and Juelz. The "Ether Boy" also produced and appears on Busta Rhymes' "Arab Money", N.O.R.E.'s "Rotate", and Fat Joe's latest single.

7. Young Jeezy feat. Kanye West - Put On
Young Jeezy dropped the first single for his third album The Recession with a random, but impressive auto-tuned Kanye feature. The city anthem gained a huge buzz resulting in numerous artists freestyling over it and a Jay-z featured remix.

6. Q-Tip - Gettin' Up
Q-Tip dropped The Renaissance, his first album in almost ten years. The first single "Gettin' Up", stuck to the traditional Tribe Called Quest rhythm with Q-Tip rapping over a melodic, piano instrumental. While it didn't blow up like the club banger "Vivrant Thing", Tip released one of the best singles of '08.

5. Rick Ross feat. T-Pain - The Boss
T-Pain was featured on various tracks this year, and one of the most notable appearances was "The Boss".Rick Ross started 2008 off right with his first single off of Trilla, where him and T-Pain rip an insane JR Rotem instrumental.

4. Kanye West - Heartless
When Kanye announced his album will be complete auto-tune and feature little to no rapping, fans pondered if quality will be as good as Mr. West's prior work. When "Love Lockdown" released, reviews were mixed, but what saved it was the follow up single, "Heartless". The song stuck to the albums love theme, but still managed to be radio friendly. Not to mention, the video was dope as hell.

3. Gnarls Barkley - Who's Gonna Save My Soul
The rapper/producer duo Gnarls Barkley's third single "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" was indeed dope. The Grammy nominated music video was from left-field, but interestingly good. The Roots drummer ?uestlove premiered this track, and since then has been used by Jay Electronica & Kid Cudi. I would love to hear Nas or Scarface rap over this. If you haven't heard The Odd Couple, it's definitely worth the listen.

2. T.I. feat. Jay-z, Kanye West, & Lil Wayne - Swagger Like Us
Four of hip hop's heavyweights collaborated on the massive Swagga Like Us. With the late success of "Paper Planes" by M.I.A., Kanye sampled one of her lines for the hook of SLU. When Swagger Like Us first made it's way to the net, many people thought it was a rumored track, but turned out to be an official song. The song appears on T.I.'s Paper Trail, and since "Jockin' Jay-z" wasn't jocked like it was supposed to be, it led to Jay-z labeling "Swagger Like Us" as his first single. For this song to not have a video, it was highly popular and received heavy radio play.

1. Lil Wayne - A Milli
Easily one of the most memorable songs of 2008. Love him or hate him, it was Wayne's year. "A Milli" had to be one of the most rapped over instrumentals of this year. As soon as the song started catching on, the industry began to rape the beat. Jay-z, Jadakiss, Bow Wow, and even R&B'ers Chris Brown and Ne-Yo got on the repetitive instrumental. In the end, Wayne did the beat justice making it one of the best songs on Tha Carter III and 2008.

Honorable Mentions:
Common - Universal Mind Control
Estelle feat. Kanye West - American Boy
The Roots - Get Busy
Busta Rhymes - Arab Money
Nas - Hero
Charles Hamilton - Brooklyn Girls