2008 was a tough year for hip-hop. Thankfully, Clipse wrap a small promise of greatness in a self-aggrandizing, mixtape/advertisement end-of-the-year package, and gracefully offer it up for immediate download.

For an artist who once claimed he wanted to be the biggest pop star in the word, Kanye West has ridden on the success of the same winning formula for some time now. 808s & Heartbreak is set to change that - with a little help from Auto-Tune.

A genre-defying tour-de-force from the Anticon-affiliated sextet.

Virginia is more than Timbaland and the Neptunes.

Graduation is concise and accomplished, but it fails to deliver the one thing Kanye's always excelled at: beauty.