While putting together our year-end lists, the staff at HipHopDX voted on what we thought were the top 10 mixtapes of 2011. After deciding what made the cut, editors asked me to write captions to sum up each nominee. The graphic above highlights Big K.R.I.T.’s Return of 4Eva, Elzhi’s Elmatic and Danny Brown’s XXX, but there were other great projects as well. Read below for an excerpt:

After netting solid stats during a rookie season that saw the likes of Drake and B.o.B dominate the charts, Big K.R.I.T. used ReturnOf4Eva—his second free release since last year’s phenomenal K.R.I.T. Wuz Here—to stake his claim as the real future of the south. Avoiding the fly-by-night nature of many new southern emcees’ focus on formulaic club bangers, this emee/producer he opts for the balance displayed by legends like Outkast and UGK. Using a digestible approach to ably cover the topics of heading a household (“King’s Blues”), strippers (“Shake It”), discrimination (“Another Naïve Individual Glorifying Greed and Encouraging Racism”) and rattling sound systems (“My Sub”) with equal skill and conviction, K.R.I.T. is exactly what Hip Hop needs. His official Def Jam debut, Live From The Underground, can’t come soon enough.

CLICK HERE to read the rest of the list. What do you guys think is missing? Several readers thought Lloyd Banks’ Cold Corner 2, Jon Connor’s Season 2, Meek Mil’s Dreamchasers, and Wiz Khalifa’s Cabin Fever should have either been in the Top 10 or honorable mentions.

I haven’t made a formal announcement, or even shared many of my links yet, only because I wanted to get into my groove with them first. Still, I wanted to share it with you guys since it seems to be official now. On Friday, December 9, 2011, I became a member of the team at MTV RapFix.

Visit the site and follow @MTVRapFix on Twitter to see my daily news reports about the latest in rap music and hip-hop culture. So far, I’ve written stories about upcoming mixtapes from Saigon and Rick Ross, a tattoo artist who inked “Drake” on a Los Angeles woman’s forehead, Mystikal’s comeback with Cash Money Records, and many more. Today, you’ll see me summing up the RapFix team’s hip-hop albums of the year. To see all of my MTV RapFix articles, CLICK HERE or just search my name – William E. Ketchum III – on the site.

Shout-out to Sway Calloway, Nadeska Alexis, Rob Markman, and D.L. Chandler for all the support and looks.

I’m admittedly late in this post (which is why I’m making it on a Sunday), but I figured I would let all of you know just in case you still have the issues laying around. I’m in a couple magazines right now though, check them out if you’d like. In order from the most recent:

In the October/November of VIBE magazine (the cover on the left), I have an interview with Jennifer Graziano, the creator of reality show Mob Wives. Check page 72 if you have the magazine handy, or CLICK HERE to read it on SpeechIsMyHammer.com.

Also, in the October 2011 issue of XXL magazine (with Rick Ross and the Maybach Music Crew on the cover), I have an interview with Common about New York Times bests eller memoir, One Day It’ll All Make Sense. The word count hurt me a bit since so much of the conversation had to be left out, but I’m still happy with how it came out. If you’ve moved on to the more recent issues already, CLICK HERE to read the story.

The photo above was taken in Detroit in 2006, at a listening session for Young Jeezy’s second studio album, The Inspiration: Thug Motivation 102. I remember being really surprised, because while everyone else at the event seemed dressed to impress the potential clients or love interests around them, Jeezy was incognito: black tee, black skullcap, and black jeans, with no flashy jewelry on (the ring and earrings in this photo were relatively modest compared to other artists’ chains and watches I’d seen at other events).  While traipsing around the club sipping my rum and Coke, I caught a glance of him tucked into a corner of a room by himself – no handlers, security, or entourage – fooling with his cell phone. He was an amiable host once the listening session began, but he seemed more at home while alone; I could virtually see him in that same uniform while on the corner years prior, earning his “Snowman” moniker by serving one fiend at a time. When I interviewed him over the phone with JYoung The General for Cultural Vibe on IMPACT 88.9FM for The Recession in 2008, I described his outfit and demeanor years earlier. “Yeah, that sounds like me all right,” he chuckled.

In a phone call this month for HipHopDX, it didn’t seem like much had changed. His buzz seesaws every other week between pushbacks and mixed reception on leaks, but the demeanor stayed the same. So rather than focus on the delays for his upcoming album Thug Motivation 103 (which is now eyeing a December 20 release), I asked him as much about what I envisioned from that demeanor as possible. As a result, I got a candid interview from the CTE head that’s highlighted by details about his brotherly relationship to respected southern producer Shawty Redd, and how his dedicated friendship may have altered the trajectory of TM103. An excerpt:

[Shawty Redd] called me the first time he got out on bond, and he called me the second day. I drove out to his house and shit, I saw him and we talked. He’s like, “Bruh, I don’t know what to do.” I just saw the frustration in his eyes. A lot of people don’t know that when a lot of people were saying, “Where’s Jeezy at with Thug Motivation 103, he’s bullshitting”…I went to his house one day when he got out, and I never left his house for six months. I stayed with Shawty and talked to him, every day and every night, because his mindstate wasn’t right. I thought, “What’s more important? My little brother, or the music?” I kind of got off my rocker, but for six months, I lived with Shawty Redd in his spare room. I bought a TV, some shit I like to do at the house, DVDs and playing cards, and I lived with Shawty Redd for six months to make sure he was straight.

This was one of my favorite interviews, so I hope you all enjoy it.

CLICK HERE to read the whole article.

Photo by Thomas Xu

At the moment, I’m getting ready for my first flight in more than a decade – I’ll be hopping a plane to Atlanta, Ga. to attend the A3C Hip Hop Festival. I’m so excited: I get to see industry friends that I never get to link with throughout the year, I get to see my best friend/artist JYoung The General perform on the biggest stage of his career, and I’m finally setting foot in ATL for the first time. I’m a bit nervous, but I’ve got my essentials: prayers, family/friend support, my Blackberry, my laptop, my new Herschel Supply Co. Journey bag, three Moleskine notebooks, and my age-old Sony digital camera. I’ll be fine.

Before I leave, I wanted to give you guys links to some of my latest articles. Hope you enjoy them!

Album Review: J. Cole, Cole World: Sideline Story
HipHopDX readers tried to crucify me for my critique of Roc Nation signee J. Cole’s debut album, but many critics who I’ve respected for years have told me I was on point. So far, over 1,000 people have left a comment to speak their mind. Let me know what you think!

Album Review: Phonte, Charity Starts At Home
I feel as if I’ve grown a relationship with Phonte Coleman: I’ve reviewed his last two Foreign Exchange records, and this month I reviewed his solo debut, Charity Starts At Home. I thought the album was incredible, so click above to see why!

Producer’s Corner: Organized Noize
This was a treat. I got to interview Organized Noize – the legendary Atlanta production group behind classics from Outkast and Goodie Mob –  for my HipHopDX column Producer’s Corner.

Decoded: Eddie Murphy
In a new piece for Black Enterprise,  I researched information Eddie Murphy to take listeners on a journey through his multifaceted career before he hosts the Oscar Awards this year. Shout out to Anslem for the continued opportunities to expand outside of my usual recipe of hip-hop and music.

The 30 Funniest Twitter Parody Accounts
In another fun list for COMPLEX,  I assembled the funniest Twitter parody accounts. While I realize I missed one or two, I still think this came out pretty well. How was my ranking job? Which accounts do you think I missed? Let me know!

I don’t have it scanned yet, but I also have an interview with Common in the new issue of XXL with Rick Ross and Maybach Music Group on the cover. It’s always enjoyable to get print clips, so be sure to tell me if you see that article.

Thanks again for all of your support, it’s always appreciated. There are even bigger things on the way, and I can’t wait to share it with all of you. Pray for my travels and discipline in Atlanta, and speak to you soon!

“Don’t worry about it,” my editor said. “I know you’ve been trying your hardest, but Ghost has been difficult. We’ll run the story either way.”

On that Friday afternoon in September 2005, a week into the fall semester at Michigan State University, I wasn’t taking “no’ for an answer. My diligent pitching and a review of U-God’s Mr. Xcitement (in retrospect, three stars was way too generous) had already shown Mike Cusenza, Editor-In-Chief at ELEMENTAL Magazine, that I was serious. He accepted my pitch of Trife Da God and Ghostface Killah for a feature story, and the interview was halfway done. Trife, who was unsigned and presumably hungry for press, was easy to contact and candid in conversation. But Ghostface – a standout member of Wu-Tang Clan, and a solo artist on Def Jam, rap’s biggest label – had stood me up three times for his part of the interview. Today was stand-up number four: they wrangled Ghost to do a photo shoot in NYC, but he hadn’t called me afterward like he was asked. I appreciated Mike’s support, but I wasn’t giving up: this story lost credibility without Ghostface quotes.

After three hours past my scheduled time with Ghostface came and went, I decided to visit the mall with Jessica*, a girl I was dating at the time, to spend money and blow off steam. Right after buying a crisp New York Yankees fitted cap (my cure-all at 20 years old), I got a call from an unidentified New York number.

[...]

Everyone knows that lists are the bread and butter for some of COMPLEX‘s online content, but I love them. The articles are fun to write. Plus, they almost always give readers some sense of anticipation: where will their favorite entries rank? What sleepers will sneak their way into the Top 5? These are great to get discussions going.

Today, me and COMPLEX teamed up to put together The 25 Most Controversial Tweets of Summer 2011. The intro below:

Not surprisingly, before Memorial Day Weekend hit, 2011 had already been an eventful year for Twitter, with the social networking site being the hub for controversial statements by designers, musicians, and even the digital headquarters for a revolution in Tunisia. This summer, the momentum didn’t slow down at all. Celebrities of all kinds—athletes, rappers, even Tennis journalists—took to Twitter to vent their frustrations, take pop shots at haters and competitors, and share their contrarian points of view, all of which wound up pissing more than a few people off. As the season draws to a close, we thought it to be the perfect time to reflect on just how crazy the past few months have been with the 25 Most Controversial Tweets of Summer 2011. Read on to see how Twitter captured controversial statements regarding the death of Osama Bin Laden, the Casey Anthony trial, artist beef, and more.

CLICK HERE to read the full story!

What’s up, guys?

I’ve had some new work published recently, and I wanted to share it with you all. Today’s post will feature work I’m doing outside of my regular comfort zone of hip-hop. I’m glad my editors are trusting me with the task of covering other things, and I think the articles have turned out very well.

I wouldn’t say that it’s an absolute necessity to cover things outside of your usual beat, but I think it can be a fulfilling experience. Doing the same work repeatedly can get boring once in a while, and venturing elsewhere can give you a new challenge to help keep your skills sharp. I can also say that personally, I feel very accomplished when I hit a story out of the park that I’m not well-trained in.

When I was preparing for my interview with Annie Ilonzeh for VIBE several months ago, something weird happened: I got nervous. After seven years of writing, speaking with legendary artists and seeing my work grace pages of magazines I grew up reading, I don’t get the jitters very often. But this was different. I hadn’t done much writing about film or TV, and Annie wasn’t someone I was already familiar with (her most notable role was on General Hospital, which I didn’t watch). I remember scrambling the ‘Net looking for clips of her work, previous interviews, and anything else I could find. It reminded me of 2004, when I was assigned an interview with Drag-On – my very first interview with a rapper I had seen on TV. I went to a record store (quite possibly Sam Goody, ha) and purchased the album, listened to every single one of his cameo verses,  and dug into his past as much as possible. That hunger resurfaced with this story on Annie Ilonzeh, and the story benefited because of it.

The most difficult part may be finding clients that will give you the chance to spread your wings on coverage that you haven’t done before, because no one wants to be a guinea pig. Build your relationships with publications you regularly contribute to by proving dependability, and pitch new ideas to your editors to show them that you’re looking to expand. Even if they don’t accept your submissions, they’ll see the tenacity and they may honor that by giving you a shot at writing about something new. If all else fails? Cover something different for your own blog and see how it turns out. If it’s good, push the link and use it as evidence to show that you’re capable.

Follow the jump to see articles that I’ve done for VIBE, Black Enterprise and COMPLEX that have given me the opportunity to stretch my legs.

[...]

My second piece for COMPLEX was one of the most fun, and most challenging pieces I’ve had to write. In another article for their TECH section, I made a list of the 25 funniest celebrity Twitter hacks. The hacks aren’t just hip-hop artists, either: rappers, singers, professional athletes, and even politicians get got in this list. I’m just now realizing that the site doesn’t allow copy and paste, so I won’t use any text, ha – just check the article.

CLICK HERE to read.

 For the latest segment of HipHopDX Producer’s Corner, I interviewed Jerry “Wonda” Duplessis. He isn’t a celebrity name, but plenty of music lovers will recognize his work with Wyclef Jean. The Haitian-born musician has co-produced or played on nearly all of Clef’s classics – The Fugees’ seminal The Score, to Carlos Santana’s “Maria Maria,” and many more. Check out an excerpt below:

DX: Don’t mean to only focus on Fugees, but how would you describe a studio session with them? If I were to randomly walk into one of your sessions, what would I see?

Jerry Wonda: It would be like going to a family dinner. You see everybody hanging, chilling, eating, drinking and laughing. Nothing that crazy, just everybody chilling. We used to have everything, with the equipment. Nobody knew we were doing a classic album. I just remember I used to play the Top 40 singles and hustle, because I was buying equipment. I’d go play with Top 40 bands then come back to the studio and do what I was doing with Wyclef and Ms. Hill. At the time, that’s what we had. If you walked in there, it was just chillin!

CLICK HERE to read the rest of the interview.