In the world of Mike Ladd, reality is far stranger than fiction. The Boston-bred MC/producer/spoken-word poet is the merry prankster of underground hip-hop, a sonic jester gleefully melding dystopian imagery with lo-fi hardcore, dub, and retro soul to create party music for the year 2032. His lofty concepts have documented the simultaneous death and rebirth of hip-hop in his operatic Infesticons and Majesticons projects.
Despite increasingly miserable mainstream hits (how can the radio get any worse?), 2007 was an excellent, indulgent, fulfilling year of music. Here is a look at our favorite ten albums of the year.