24 Moments and People We're Thankful for in 2011

In 2011, hip-hop and R&B ruled not only the charts but the news headlines as well. There were artists' triumphs and tribulations, veteran comebacks, rookies that stole the show, baby news and prison hijinks. In celebration of Thanksgiving, The BoomBox looks back on a year leading up to the holiday that was just as entertaining musically as it was outside of the studio. Here's 24 artists and accompanying moments that made us thankful to be a part of hip-hop and R&B in 2011.


Hip-hop has always been about big names, big cars and bling, but in 2011 it took a turn down a more literal, independent road. Shabazz Palaces is one of the acts that drove down the indie avenue, as the first hip-hop act signed to rock-based indie label SubPop. The duo, led by former Digable Planets MC Butterfly, dropped on the scene with the critically lauded album 'Black Up,' showing that like rock 'n' roll, hip-hop can usher in different types of sub-genres.


If there's one thing 2011 taught us, it's that Lil' Kim doesn't go down without a fight. Everyone was ready to roll their eyes when Junior Mafia's first lady announced she was releasing a diss tape aimed at Nicki Minaj for jacking her wig-wearing style. All Kimmy Blanco wanted was some respect and when she didn't get it, it was off with Minaj's head. Lil' Kim released 'Black Friday' -- a rip on Minaj's debut LP, 'Pink Friday' -- for $9.99 on Valentine's Day with a cover that depicted her brandishing a sword next to Minaj's decapitated head. Fans loved it and Lil' Kim found her way back onto the hip-hop map.



Along with rappers Lupe Fiasco and Saigon, Chicago duo the Cool Kids -- comprised of Mikey Rocks and Chuck English -- finally settled their label dispute and managed to release their long-long-awaited debut, 'When Fish Ride Bicycles' in 2011. The album was victory for the blog-hyped underdogs, getting positive feedback thanks to tracks like 'Swimsuits,' which features the high-pitched croons of neo-soul man Mayer Hawthorne, and 'Sour Apples,' which sports Travis Barker banging his drum kit.



Big K.R.I.T. had a prolific 2011, with the release of two mixtapes -- 'Return of 4Eva' and 'Last King 2: God's Machine.' The first tape grabbed attention with the single 'Country S---,' which featured Bun B and Ludacris. The Mississippi rapper and producer also found its way onto T.I.'s first post-prison track, 'I'm Flexin'' -- a big look for the emerging rapper. His debut studio album will be out in 2012 via Def Jam, and it's surely one of the most anticipated albums for the new year.



The new jack swing trio is back. Well, Bell Biv Devoe never really went away, having spent the past decade touring and performing classics like 'Poison,' 'Do Me!' and 'B.B.D. (I Thought It Was Me)?' at shows here and there. The '90s R&B sensations flew under the radar until they promised a new EP -- their first collection of new music in a decade -- and made an appearance on 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,' their first late-night television appearance since having racing stripes shaved into your head was cool.



Rick Ross gave the hip-hop posse thing a go this year with the first joint LP from his Maybach Music Group, 'Self Made Vol. 1.' With the success of Rozay's bestie Lil Wayne and his Young Money regime beefing up, Jay-Z busy building Roc Nation and Kanye West promising a Good Music compilation for 2012, a joint effort from MMG made sense. While it didn't herald the pop hits, it stuck true to the MMG gritty gangsta attitude. Meek Mill, Wale, Pill and Teedra Moses all got face time on 'MMG Presents: Self Made Vol. 1.'



In 2011, Rihanna broke the record for scoring 20 Top 10 hits in the shortest amount of time when her club-ready anthem 'We Found Love' notched No. 1 in October. Currently Madonna holds the record for the most chart-topping singles with 37, so Rihanna has her work cut out for her if she'd like to nab the Material Girl's spot. However, the 'Good Girl Gone Bad' is on her way with her flirty sixth album, 'Talk That Talk,' combining the global electronica scene with her sugary R&B pop, poising it for the top of the charts. By the time she's done with music, we wouldn't be surprised if she had the record for breaking the most music records.


One second Gucci Mane is a free man prepping another mixtape, the next moment he's picking up chicks at malls, soliciting sex and pushing them out of moving vehicles. 2011 proved that the state is obviously not on Radric Davis' side, considering he was in and out of jail almost as many times as he was in a recording booth. After he was released from prison in May 2010, on parole violations, he was caught driving on the wrong side of the road with no proof of insurance and other traffic infractions in November 2010. Instead of heading back to the big house in January 2011, Gucci's lawyers had him committed. While it seemed as if he'd be lucky enough to bypass jail, the mall incident put Gucci back in the pen in April -- he tried to obtain an early release in October and failed. We're not pleased he's still in the slammer, but the antics that got him there are thoroughly entertaining.



After his release from Rikers Island in 2010, Lil Wayne decided to take a stab at the sober life but needed some extracurricular activities to do it. Trying new things in the studio -- he croons on the 'Tha Carter IV' track 'How to Love' -- he also decided to be a daredevil out of the lab and take up a new hobby: skateboarding. Unfortunately, while in St. Louis, he busted his head open at a local skate park and received nine stitches. Could a Weezy skateboard helmet line be in the works? One thing's for sure: Mr. Carter gets credit for improving hip-hop's M.O. -- skateboarding gashes are a better look than bullet holes.


Before his death in May, at age 62, spoken word poet Gil Scott-Heron got his swan song. 'I'm New Here' was Scott's first album in 16 years. Scott-Heron started 2011 in a new direction, partnering up with Jamie "xx" Smith for the indie-electro-fusion remix album 'We're New Here,' which brought his album to a new audience with even Drake sampling the opener 'I'll Take Care of You' on the title track to his sophomore album, 'Take Care.' While the cause of his death was never disclosed, Scott-Heron, who in recent years revealed he had been living HIV-positive, was eulogized by Kanye West at his funeral.


This year was a breakout one for Odd Future and a banner year for the hip-hop collective's ringleader, Tyler, the Creator. The 20-year-old released his second album, 'Goblin,' via indie label XL, and it bowed at No. 5 on the charts. Kanye West and other rappers gave their cosign by lauding his grimy track 'Yonkers,' where he disgustingly dines on some cockroach. He also took on the world via Twitter, definitely bringing on more attention and plenty of haters for his brash 140-character wisecracks. Yet his biggest accomplishment would be snagging the title of Best New Artist at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.


Move over, meat-dress-wearing Lady Gaga -- Nicki Minaj sported some of the year's craziest outfits and hair-dos. The Queens-bred MC released her debut album, 'Pink Friday,' at the tail-end of 2010, which made her a hot commodity at every 2011 awards show and allowed her to show off her wild style. At the VMAs, she wore a Hannibal Lecter-inspired face mask, and during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York City, she stepped out in an animal-inspired get-up. More evidence that she was the style beast of 2011: Minaj's name made the list of most-searched Halloween costumes on Google. Hot pink wig sales are seemingly through the roof these days.


When Lupe Fiasco butted heads with Atlantic Records over the release of his third LP, 'Lasers,' it was his fans who came to the rescue. Before tents occupied Wall Street, Fiasco fans took to Atlantic's New York City offices in protest on what they deemed 'Fiasco Friday' last October. The outing was a success, and the label agreed to release the album in March, after a four-year delay. Not surprisingly, the album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. His single off the LP, 'The Show Goes On,' also nabbed him his second platinum-earning accolade, with 2007's 'Superstar' being his first.



Last year was quite the bummer for the Beastie Boys. One second, they're onstage hyping up the crowd at Bonnaroo with songs from their album 'Hot Sauce Committee Part Two,' and the next they're fighting for life. Right before the rap trio was to release their eighth studio album, the Beasties gave the project the red light when MCA was diagnosed with cancer. But before you could blow your nose with a boohoo moment, the Beasties were back, unleashing 'Hot Sauce Committee Part Two' in April -- only eight months later -- along with a 30-minute, MCA-directed mini-film for the lead single, 'Make Some Noise.' The footage was nothing short of spectacular, featuring a pool of A-list celebrities paying homage to the Beastie Boys of the past and present.


Lil B took the hip-hop world by storm when the West Coast native courageously announced during a 2011 Coachella set that his next album would be called 'I'm Gay.' Death threats and backlash from GLAAD followed, as haters charged the brash statement was just a publicity stunt. But the Bay Area rapper held his ground, saying he chose the title because "the hip-hop community is being very close-minded and very hateful, very violent." When the 12-track effort finally dropped at the end of June, Lil B had settled for a more elaborate and perhaps less offensive title: 'I'm Gay (I'm Happy).'

Listening to The Weeknd's 'House of Balloons' reminds us of all those mornings we spent as a kid eating Lucky Charms for breakfast. Remember how the moon marshmallows would turn the milk blue? On the album's standout track, 'The Morning,' the mysterious Weeknd, aka Abel Tesfaye, sings about drinking blue-hued Alize with his cereal, and his mixture of moody synths and whispery, pulse-igniting vocals make everything else on the street tape sound magically delicious. Before the year was over, Drake's Canadian buddy had dished a follow-up freebie, 'Thursday,' and promised yet another by year's end.


Two years ago, it didn't seem possible, but in 2011, Kanye West kept his cool and avoided negative publicity and unexpected award show disasters like 2009's infamous Taylorgate. Perhaps a four-month break from tweeting helped. Instead, 'Ye focused on headlining festivals like Coachella and the inaugural Lollapalooza Chile on the heels of his 2010 release, 'My Dark Twisted Beautiful Fantasy.' Then, of course, came the 'Watch the Throne' album, his joint effort with Jay-Z. While we miss the old Kanye, the 'Lost in the World' rapper seems to have found his way on the straight and narrow and deserves a big kudos for that.



Eminem and Royce da 5'9" officially put the past behind them this year with the release of their debut joint EP, 'Hell: The Sequel,' under their Bad Meets Evil alias. Led by the track 'Fast Lane,' the album really took off with the ballad-y 'Lighters,' featuring Bruno Mars. Making amends with Royce Nickel-Nine brought more good karma Slim Shady's way; apart from the EP reaching No. 1 on multiple charts, Em broke a new music industry record when his last solo effort, 'Recovery,' notched one million in digital sales a year after its release.
Mobb Deep made a comeback this year when one-half of the Queensbridge rap duo finished serving a three-year sentence for criminal possession of a weapon. Following his release in March, Prodigy released the controversial tell-all 'My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy' and hit the lab again with his MC partner Havoc, who promised new music by the year's end. They lived up to that promise playing shows and releasing new collaborations, namely tracks with Nas and Rick Ross.

T.I. didn't have it so good in 2010, and 2011 almost turned out the same way for the Grand Hustle CEO. After violating his parole last year, Tip was served with an additional 11-month prison sentence -- punishment that seemingly took him out of trouble's way for most of this year. But upon his release in September, T.I. was detained for using an illegal mode of transportation -- a tour bus -- to get to a halfway house where he was to spend his final month in custody. Luckily, things turned out better this time, and the rap star finished his sentence without any further problems. By mid-October he was a free man again and had appeared onstage with Taylor Swift and had two new singles under his belt, the Pharrell Williams-assisted Hear Ye, Hear Ye' and Big K.R.I.T.-produced 'I'm Flexin'.'


Almost a year after becoming the new spokesperson for Weight Watchers, Jennifer Hudson wowed at the Grammys last February with her tribute to Aretha Franklin and her new jaw-dropping figure. Once a size 16, the former 'American Idol' contestant-turned-Oscar winner reportedly shed 80 pounds and several dress sizes, surprising herself and the audience with her svelte transformation. "I didn't expect to go as far as I did," Hudson told the New York Daily News of her inspirational weight loss.
With bi-coastal nurseries, a diva for a mom and one of America's favorite TV hosts for a dad, "dem babies" -- the nickname for Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon's twins born on April 30 -- are destined for a decadent upbringing. Instead of the usual "oohs" and "ahhs" in the delivery room, dem babies entered the world to a live performance version of Carey's 'Fantasy.' "The only reason I wanted it to be the live version is because I wanted them to hear the applause upon entering the world," Carey said.
Before she made an announcement at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards that she and hubby Jay-Z were finally expecting their first child, Beyonce was no stranger to pregnancy rumors. "With all the rumors, she'd have five or six children now," her mother, Tina Knowles, confessed during an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres in 2010. When the rumor finally turned to truth, instead of selling the gossip to a tabloid or releasing a press statement, the former Destiny's Child frontwoman opted to take a different route. At the end of her 'Love on Top' set at the awards show, she rubbed her belly and gave a big wink.


More than two years following the sudden death of the King of Pop, justice was served when Michael Jackson's personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. The verdict put the end to a lengthy legal battle. "This is not a crime involving a mistake of judgment," said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor. "This was a crime where the end result was the death of a human being." Murray faces up to four years in the slammer when he's sentenced on Nov. 29. He was denied bail, and Pastor denied a motion for new laboratory tests on evidence used in the trial. Now the famed 'Thriller' creator can finally rest in peace.