Hip-Hop/R&B: 2008

The fact that M.I.A.'s breakthrough single (the cutting Clash sample and "Rump Shaker"-like chorus of "Paper Planes") is sitting pretty in the Top 5 of our 2008 Hip-Hop/R&B Basics says a lot about rap and R&B's shifting role in pop music. And by that, we mean a blurring of the lines between the underground and mainstream, from the synth-pop-infused ballads of Kanye West's striking album 808s & Heartbreak to the "Lollipop"-led crossover cuts on Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III, an album that sold more than a million copies in its first week and led to a feature in the highest of high-brow publications, The New Yorker. If that's not enough to make you wonder just what's going on, our Next Steps will leave your head spinning.

Expanded reissues of year-old records are a dime a dozen these days, which makes the overwhelming success of Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded all the more impressive. Aside from extending the original's shelf life (see the dastardly dance groove and swift Michael Jackson samples of "Don't Stop the Music"), the album's alternate pressing tacked on a new hit, the Ne-Yo-assisted "Take a Bow." If R&B ballads aren't your thing, our Next Steps also include such hardcore hip-hop standouts as the chipmunk choruses of "The Boss," the '60s funk loops of "Dey Know" and, well, the Rihanna-referencing "Got Money" (go listen to "Umbrella" to hear what we mean). Rihanna's missing from our Deep Cuts but Lil Wayne, why, he's everywhere.

Don't let the whole Deep Cuts concept fool you. As you can see from the A-list artists in the following club-certified list — Timbaland and T-Pain, Mary J. Blige and Mike Jones — 2008 had enough hit singles to literally keep a party going 'til the break of dawn. We're talking the kind of tracks you'll be humming later (badly, of course), from the delirious, jingle-like melody of "One More Drink" to the electro-driven "American Boy," a groove-riding Kanye West/Estelle collab that reveals the deep dance music collection of will.i.am. (He swiped the song's serrated synths from Boys Noize, an underground producer from Germany.)

The beautiful thing about 2008's place in the history of hip-hop and R&B is how it was ruled by no one. Oh, sure, Lil Wayne was all over the place, racking up triple platinum sales with his Tha Carter III album — the biggest-selling record of the year, period —and adding his free associative flow to guest spots for the Game ("My Life"), Mike Jones ("Cuddy Buddy"), T-Pain ("Can't Believe It"), and his longtime friend/collaborator Birdman ("Pop Bottles"). But hey, a slew of other artists were also spreading their respective gospel to massive audiences, including Ne-Yo, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Keyshia Cole, and Akon (ably abetted by Kardinal Offishall). All of the above and many more ensure that our 2008 set just won't sit still.