I try not to fuck with regrets. Regret is holding on, not seeing the lessons in your mistakes. But I suppose I have a few things I'm genuinely sorry about—not anything I did, mind you. But there was certainly a lot of wack shit that went down in 2005.

I regret that this year we lost Hunter S. Thompson, Rosa Parks, Ossie Davis, and Richard Pryor. I regret that thousands upon thousands of people died in horrific hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, bombings, and bullshit wars.

I regret that 2005 didn't seem to have as many great albums as the year before... there were some "hot" but one-dimensional releases that didn't leave much of an impression, besides a couple great songs; namely The Game's The Documentary, Young Jeezy's Thug Motivation, and Paul Wall's The Peoples Champ all spring to mind. "Hate It or Love It," "Go Crazy," and "Sittin' Sidewayz" are all pretty undeniable singles, but dope production and sticky hooks do not a classic make. Unless we're talking about Late Registration, of course.

I regret that a massively talented MC like Eminem is still wasting everybody's time by churning out halfhearted bullshit; the three new tracks tacked onto his Curtain Call greatest hits comp are Homeboys in Outer Space terrible. Hands down, his song "FACK" beats out "Laffy Taffy" for the "Most God-Awful Shit-Hop of '05"—yet falls a hair short of the "My Humps" department.

I regret that I missed some notable performances, such as KRS killing it at the Common Market CD release, or the Cage show at the Showbox—they both sounded like a lot of fun. I regret that a certain Star Wars–loving conservative radio host was compelled to dis the Blue Scholars—though, for a minute, it was funny to joke about his likeness to Dustin Diamond. Somehow I doubt he'll be at the Scholars' New Year's Eve Party at Neumo's with Wheedle's Groove and the homie Tre Kings.

Know what I don't regret? That local hiphop got such widespread support from y'all this year... That local hiphop acts, namely the almighty Boom Bap Project and Grayskul, toured all over the country and beyond... That Cancer Rising finally got another record out—yeeaah baby!

I regret that I wasn't in London to see my father Larry and my uncle Fonce receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC's Radio 1 Gilles Peterson Worldwide Music Awards. That would've been pretty cool.

I regret that I have to bother y'all with a list of my Top 11 '05 albums, too, but y'all gonna just have to bear with me.

1. Kanye West, Late Registration

2. Beanie Sigel, The B.Coming

3. Edan, Beauty and the Beat

4. Big Boi Presents, Got Purp? Vol. 2

5. Various Artists, Run the Road

6. Slum Village, Slum Village

7. Lil Wayne, Carter II

8. Common, Be

9. Cage, Hell's Winter

10. Little Brother, The Minstrel Show

11. Blackalicious, The Craft

I regret I can't individually thank all of you for your love, hate, and everything in between. See y'all next year.