One of the biggest stories of the year was the 50 vs. Kanye sales battle, which, as you may have heard, Kanye won (in the US, at least). Both of them played it up to the media and fans, who totally took the bait and decided it was an "artist vs. thug" contest. Honestly, I wasn't feeling either one; it seemed more like murder-and-money rap vs. clothing-and-money rap, both coming from guys with speech impediments who aren't exactly the greatest emcees to begin with. But it definitely got people excited and got them out to the store (or computer) to throw their support behind one of them.

After the misguided, grown-man mess of Kingdom Come, Jay-Z decided to give the fans what they want: drug-dealer raps set to old soul samples. The result was American Gangster, a quality album/tie-in with the Denzel flick. It's still not as good as Reasonable Doubt (news flash -- he will never surpass that), but it's his most solid release in a while, and proof positive that Hov still has it in him to make great music when he feels so inspired. We'll see what happens with this new Apple partnership.

Hip-hop has never had the best relationship with the gay community. So you might think that a much-publicized, widely circulated photograph of Lil Wayne mouth-kissing his self-proclaimed "daddy" Baby the Birdman could negatively impact his career. On the contrary, young Weezy has had a huge year. Despite not releasing any official albums, he popped up on a million singles, mixtapes, and magazine covers, Jay's "Hello Brooklyn," and an episode of The Boondocks. He also dropped an under-the-radar, digital-only EP on Christmas. The media, the fans, and Wayne himself seem to believe his bold claims of lyrical superiority, and anticipation is high for his upcoming project The Leak. Personally, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed for a Hot Boy$ reunion.

All year long, heads young and old (OK, mostly old) were getting amped up for a brand-new album from Wu-Tang Clan. It had been six long years since the hit-or-miss Iron Flag, and, fresh off a huge nationwide tour, things were looking good for the Shaolin soldiers. Then underwhelming songs started hitting the Internet. Then Raekwon publicly complained about RZA's musical direction, which included more guitars and singing, and brought up the idea of doing a new Wu record with different producers. In the end, 8 Diagrams is not a terrible CD, but compared to their earlier work (both group and solo projects) sounds mad disorganized and lackluster. The prerelease mixtape was cool, though, and Ghostface's The Big Doe Rehab was great. Hopefully Cuban Linx 2 will drop sometime in the next century, but don't get your hopes up.

WE ARE AT WAR

How random is it that a white senior citizen/conservative talk show host could call some college athletes "nappy-headed hoes" and spark such a huge outcry against rap music? Imus got an eight-month vacation, a $20 million contract, and is back on the air (with a new black sidekick). Meanwhile, hip-hop has yet again been targeted by media and politicians as the scapegoat for all racism, drugs, crime, and ignorance in today's society.

Oprah did a two-day 'Town Hall' show about it, Russell Simmons suggested artists self-censor themselves and tried (unsuccessfully) to arrange a sit-down with various industry moguls, protesters gathered outside the plush homes of Viacom executives, BET canceled Uncut and aired a special called "Hip Hop vs America" (which was basically a bunch of people shouting), while a Chicago church group posted 20 billboards around the city, calling out certain rappers by name and urging people to "Stop Listening to Trash!"

Even congress tried to get in on the action, with official hearings about degrading lyrics, featuring spirited testimony from Master P (renouncing gangsta messages) and David Banner (defending artists' right to free speech). In the end, nothing happened except for more taxpayer money being spent on useless, unwinnable debates. Mainstream media outlets also tried to blame rap music for everything from the murder of football player Sean Taylor to the Jena 6 controversy in Louisiana, as well as the Michael Vick dogfighting case and the total collapse of physical record sales.

VETERAN'S DAY

Who says rap is a young man's game? In addition to Jay and Ghost, a lot of over-35 artists continued to put out albums, many of which were surprisingly strong. Will Smith's old running buddy Jazzy Jeff dropped a stellar compilation in Return of the Magnificent, while fellow '80s stars (and former rivals) KRS-One and Marley Marl buried the hatchet to collaborate on Hip Hop Lives. Public Enemy celebrated their 20th anniversary with their 10th full-length, How to Sell Your Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul, while Westside mainstays Quik and AMG came together as The Fixxers, scoring a hit with the minimalist but funky "Can U Werk Wit Dat."

Fans of golden-era New Jersey rappers were treated to dope records from PRT frontman Wise Intelligent, who brings the knowledge on The Talented Timothy Taylor, as well as Redman's excellent Red Gone Wild and Keith Murray's curiously titled Rap-Murr-Phobia. Zimbabwe Legit, the first African group with a major deal, way back in 1990, unleashed the exceptional House of Stone, while their old labelmate Pharoahe Monch finally released his long-awaited sophomore LP Desire. Legendary producer DJ Premier stayed busy producing some great tracks for Big Shug and NYGz, among others, and Busta Rhymes hooked up with Dre for the underwhelming (except for "New York Sh!t") album The Big Bang.

We also got Made from Scarface, three CDs (some old stuff repackaged, a Bay compilation, and his last project for Jive) from pimp-rap icon Too Short, and a little-heard but pretty decent release from Brooklyn's Jeru the Damaja. Long Island duo EPMD did the reunion tour thing, and A Tribe Called Quest got together one more time, onstage at the Hip Hop Honors. But perhaps the most inspiring work by an older artist was my personal favorite album of 2007, Perseverance by long-standing Bronx lyricist Percee P. After nearly 20 years of putting out insanely good 12-inches and guest appearances, his Madlib-produced debut album was totally worth the wait.

I KNOOOW YOU GONNA DIG THIS

Despite all of the nonsensical jingle singles, there was still a lot of great music that came out in 2007. Brooklyn's Boot Camp Clik collective put out impressive efforts from Sean Price and Smif-N-Wessun with Jesus Price Superstar and The Album, respectively. Their indie label Duck Down also made several solid business moves, such as signing Kidz in the Hall and inking deals with the History Channel, ESPN, and YouTube.

Talib Kweli overcame his long-standing beat-selection problems and released Eardrum, arguably the best solo joint of his career. North Carolina favorites Little Brother kept it moving despite parting ways with producer 9th Wonder, returning to their old label ABB for a quality third full-length called Get Back, while 9th did his thing, flipping soulful tracks with many guests on The Dream Merchant Vol. 2.

Houston emcee Chamillionaire dropped Ultimate Victory, a solid if underpromoted work with the blistering, Slick Rick-assisted lead single "Hip Hop Police," and fellow Texas artist Devin the Dude earned some well-deserved props for his great fourth solo piece, Waiting to Inhale.

Camp Lo finally reemerged from obscurity (sort of) with Black Hollywood; not the greatest album, but it's still nice to hear Cheeba and Suede back together again. On the underground scene, we heard some excellent tunes from Witchdoctor, Marco Polo, Panacea, and Bay Area favorite Melina Jones.

DUMB IT DOWN

Another year, another crop of disposable yet hugely popular singles by random new "artists." And, yet again, they are primarily from the South. Sixteen-year-old Mississippi sensation Soulja Boy had the radio, TV, MySpace, and YouTube on lock with "Crank That," inspiring way too many people to videotape themselves doing his dance and extolling listeners to "Superman dat ho!" (Wondering what that actually means? Look it up).

Atlanta's Shop Boyz had kids everywhere wearing skull belt buckles, chain wallets, and AC-DC shirts, thanks to their guitar-heavy anthem "Party Like a Rockstar," while Shreveport, Louisiana, representative Hurricane Chris burned up the airwaves and laptops with the complex lyricism of "A Bay Bay."

Other horrible songs came from flash-in-the-pan cats like Playaz Circle, Unk, Plies, Huey, and Lil Boosie & Webbie -- and that's not even counting the interchangeable robotic R&B hooks of T-Pain and Akon that seemed to appear on damn near every big hit. (Snoop gets a pass, because he's Snoop and "Sensual Seduction" is the jam).

It wasn't all the South's fault, however; certain New York performers are guilty as well. Uptown's Lil Mama blew up with her ode to cosmetics, "Lip Gloss," and MIMS also had a gigantic hit with "This Is Why I'm Hot," basically summing up the state of mainstream rap with the astute statement, "I can make a mil saying nothing on a track."

THAT'S WHEN YA LOST

A lot of people enjoy Lupe Fiasco's music, while others consider him to be a poor man's Kanye. They both have awkward flows, "quirky" production, collabos with moody-white-guy singers, a love of clothing, and penchant for public breakdowns. After unsuccessfully trying to establish himself as a murderous drug-dealer emcee, he decided to switch it up and do the fashionable-nerd thing, talking about obscure designers, skateboarding, and Japanimation, while rocking shades and tight pants.

Then there was the whole 'Fiascogate' incident, where he messed up his verse during the ATCQ tribute, then dismissively said he never listened to them anyways, then threatened to sue Vibe magazine for printing an interview about it. His second album The Cool dropped at the end of the year, which, depending on your point of view, is either a jaw-dropping classic or an overbaked, pretentious mess.

MF DOOM has long had a nefarious reputation for burning artists, labels, and various industry people, but basically got away with it because his music was pretty consistent and dope (excluding that terrible Danger Mouse collabo). Zany and mysterious is a big part of his shtick, and he played it up to the max, winning countless admirers around the world, especially among college types on the Internet. But 2007 was not a good year for the supervillain, as he repeatedly infuriated many diehard fans by blowing off shows, or worse yet, sending a random imposter to lip-sync a few songs and bounce.

This happened at several venues in multiple states, and the legions of DOOM nerds got seriously pissed. Supposedly he had some health issues and was in the hospital, though he's now rumored to be chilling and recording in an undisclosed location in Georgia. Whatever the case may be, he hasn't released much new material this year. Hopefully his next solo record, as well as the second Madvillain album, is worth all the drama.

Saigon has been championed as the "next big thing" for many years now. Yet he is still trying to get his first album actually released. So far this year, he's gotten into well-publicized Internet scraps with both his label and his producer Just Blaze, threatened to kill a female journalist during a drunken radio interview, and then got into a physical altercation with Prodigy and Mobb Deep's crew at New York club S.O.B.'s. He also posted a MySpace blog entry saying that he was officially retired from rap, only to retract it shortly thereafter. Obviously, dude is frustrated -- and rightly so -- by the complexities of the music industry. But when was the last time anybody you know was talking about an actual Saigon song? Ever?

Bonus Buster #1: Cam'Ron -- Whether phoning in from the Koch offices, hanging out poolside, or defending the 'stop snitching' movement on 60 Minutes, the I.B.S. sufferer had a public relations year even worse than his music.

Bonus Buster #2: Dog the Bounty Hunter -- This one was tough, because I'm a fan and dude totally got sold down the river by his own son, but Dog played himself with the N-word-laden taped convo and sabotaged his entire career.

CAUGHT UP IN THE SYSTEM

Every year, we see plenty of high-profile artists get busted. True, there is certainly the much-loathed "hip-hop cops" to contend with, but some of these cats are just blatantly asking for it. Atlanta hero T.I., who had one of the best-selling (although musically weak) albums of '07, got popped for trying to buy machine guns, and is now on house arrest awaiting a trial that could put him away in federal prison for decades. Mobb Deep's Prodigy, riding high with his superb mixtape Return of the Mac, recently started a three-and-a-half-year bid for his third gun charge, and fellow thug-rap specialist Tragedy Khadafi is locked up for alleged "street sales."

Lil Wayne also got busted for drugs, in Idaho, and for an unlicensed piece in New York (as did Ja Rule), while Yung Joc pulled a Guru/Christian Slater: caught with a pistol in his carry-on at the airport. Not to be outdone, the ladies also got busy on the other side of the law. Foxy Brown finally got sent to Rikers for a multitude of assault charges, Remy Ma got indicted for shooting her homegirl in the stomach over an argument about money, and Da Brat got pinched for smashing a bottle on a waitress' face at a nightclub.

POUR OUT A LITTLE LIQUOR

Though he actually passed away on Christmas of '06, heads continue to mourn the death of James Brown, the undisputed Godfather of Soul and one of (if not the) single biggest influence on hip-hop music. Sampled on countless classic rap recordings, The Hardest Working Man in Show Business continues to inspire from beyond the grave.

Another old-school legend who left us was Ike Turner. His vicious wife-beating exploits kind of overshadowed his key contributions to early rock and roll, but he was still making music, touring, and trying to repair his boogeyman image when he checked out permanently at the age of 76.

Then there was Pimp C, found dead in a Hollywood hotel at just 33 years old. A pioneering rapper/producer from Port Arthur, Texas, he was the outspoken half of U.G.K., who was among the first groups to emerge from the South nearly 20 years ago. Their excellent seventh album dropped earlier this year, debuting at number one on the charts.

Also from Texas but less nationally known, Houston's Big Moe was down with the late DJ Screw and a member of the Screwed Up Click. He was a charismatic rap singer who released three solo albums and appeared on countless mixtapes. He, too, was only 33; he suffered a heart attack and died after spending one week in a coma.

He was neither a rapper nor a big fan, but there is no denying that Evel Knievel was hip-hop. He came from a poor neighborhood, was raised by his grandma, had many run-ins with the law, and became a multimillionaire icon beloved for his one-of-a-kind stunts. He was also a master entrepreneur, world class showman, and renowned ladies' man.

Bonus bodies: jazz drummer Max Roach, up-and-coming emcee Stack Bundles, Billy Henderson from the Spinners, Kanye's mom, Mannie Fresh's sister, Scratch Magazine, and hyphy music.

GET WELL SOON: Nate Dogg, Phife Dawg, and Spice 1.