Wow. For the first time since I started doing this Top 10 in 1998... the competition is heating up. Gone are the days when I had to dig deep into CD material. Indeed, a few of these songs are available only CD, but the with the independent vinyl market in full-gear, it's only a matter of time before everything is available on wax.

Underground cats are finally giving overground artists a run for their money, as shown by the relatively low placement of Scarface and Jay-Z's "Guess Who's Back," which is anchored by the most inspired beat of the year. I challenge you to find a better bassline anywhere. That shit reeks of Jamaican dub. I just turned on the radio and dudes were freestyling over it.

Digging a little deeper into the world of hip hop, we find another veteran, Imani from the Pharcyde (aka Citizen Strange) dropping an extremely feel-good, club-friendly ode to his favorite lady, "Mary J". Ain't that sweet. Another veteran you may not have heard in awhile is Starang Wonder from Originoo Gun Clappaz who drops my favorite tune of the moment, "That's What's Up," featuring a tasteful classical strings sample. Dope freestyle material.

Moving into a group of artists that first made themselves known in the second half of the 1990s are Encore, who gets a nice beat from D-Tension on "It's Time." The song appears on D-Tension's new compilation, "Contacts + Contracts." Emanon finally emerges from Southern Cali obscurity to drop a solid EP on M-Boogie's new Ill Boogie label called "Anon & On." And another SoCal rhyme hero, who seems only to pop up on singles and compilations -- Dr. Oop (aka Droop Capone) -- has a nice downtempo track on Kankick's new From Artz Unknown compilation called "Finer Things."

Going a little further back in time, we run into Afu-Ra and a track featuring Big Daddy Kane, "Stick Up." Along with the "Guess Who's Back," the beat from this song is sure to keep open mic sessions hot for the next few months.

And bringing things to the present day, we run into H.U.G. (aka Huggy Bear) who is J-Zone's main rhyme partner. As always, J-Zone provides one of his fun little carnival-style beats. The rhyming is kinda so-so... but it's just too much fun for me to hate on. And speaking of irresistible, we arrive now at our final song in the countdown... Red Cloud's "Jack (The Mic Ripper)" (no relation to LL Cool J's "Jack The Ripper"). Very hype beat, great sample, energetic delivery... all the necessary ingredients. One question: Who is this Red Cloud?