Honorable Mentions
#25-#21
#20-#16
#15-#11
#10-#6
#5-#2
#1
Back
#1: Unique, Just Like Everyone Else by Deepspace 5-As I said a few times earlier in this list, it truly was a great year for the Christian hip hop scene. I am admittedly not the biggest hip hop fan around. I like it from time to time, but rarely can I take it in entire disc form. This year, I was able to do so many times, and three discs found their way on to this list, which is saying a lot. But what says even more is that a hip hop disc would be my #1 album of 2005. That rarely happens (And, by rarely, I mean that this would be the first time it has happened). That says a lot about how insanely great Deepspace 5's disc is. Unique, Just Like Everyone Else is an amusing title for such a creative and, well, unique disc. It is far from "like everyone else." Every single track on this disc, from Talk Music to One For The Road, is laid down with such passion that it is hard to believe that anyone could not get into each and every track. The beats are some of the most solid I've heard in a long time, both in the Christian and mainstream realms. The lyrics are hard-hitting throughout the disc. And when you combine the skills of nine guys from various hip hop groups and solo projects into one CD, you get one astounding collaboration. Just look around the faces in the liner notes. You have Mars Ill, Sivion, members of Tunnel Rats and Phonetic Composition, and Listener, just to name a few. These guys are about making quality hip hop, and they do exactly that on Unique, Just Like Everyone Else. When I reviewed this disc and gave it a perfect score (10 out of 10), I said that it would be extremely difficult for any disc to top this one in 2005 (And, short of a dc Talk reunion, it was highly unlikely that this disc could be topped). Well, there is no doubt left; Deepspace 5 created one of the best discs to come out in a long time, and one that was undoubtedly 2005's best.