The Second Stand Out Album of 2007?

In April, I made a short post saying that in a very dry year for hip-hop albums that appealed to my personal tastes, I found Sacred Hoop's Go Hogwild album to finally be the first stand out hip-hop album of 2007 (excluding older stuff that's just now getting released, like Ultimate Force or Mikey D & the LA Posse's albums). And, really, it's hot. You should check it out.

Well, now in June, I've found the second stand-out album of the year for me. Finally: some new material that I'll actually listen to more than once or twice before putting it away in favor of some old school 12"s. Awol One and Josh Martinez's double EP, Splitsville, on Camobear Records. I'm gonna keep this write-up short like the last one, but basically you've got two solo EPs (though each artist appears at least once on the other's "EP"), both produced by DJ Moves, buttressed up against each other as one LP. This is quality work from both artists (sometimes it seems each of them can get a bit lazy with their releases, but not here), primarily on the theme of - you guessed it - broken relationships. It's all new material except, interestingly enough, Awol One's cut from Camobear Records' 2004 New Recruits label sampler, "Shake Yer Eywind," seems to have found a home here. I always liked that one anyway. :)

So yeah. Now there's two albums I'm genuinely pleased with... halfway through the year. Hopefully there'll be a couple more before the new year, ey?