Every song on Sadat X's new album 'Agua' features at least 1 other rapper except 4 out of 18 tracks

I'm sorry, but this is a problem for me.

To be fair, Sadat is far from the only rapper who does this. But the practice of flooding your music with featured artists is usually reserved for the mixtape treatment. Compounding this apparent error in executive producing judgment, it seems nowadays, with each subsequent lyrical effort from the artist formerly known as Derek X, his legendary status is waning rapidly.

And now this.

2011 Collaboration Albums Fall Short

Remember all that madness I was talking months ago, hyping up the recent trend of artists coming together to pool their talents and resources to produce collaborative albums?

Well, simply put, I was wrong about them.

For some odd reason I figured that the union of two separate but very talented musical entities could only result in the highest standard for Hiphop music and lyrics. But I was wrong.

Not only did I see it as an innovative, creative outlet for rappers and Hiphop producers stuck in a genre that is slowly but surely becoming decidedly less creative than its pioneers intended for it to be, but, if done correctly, each project had the serious potential to generate more fans and, perhaps more importantly to the artists themselves, more revenue. But again, I was wrong.

All In Together Now: Collabo Albums Thriving

2010 will be remembered for many things. But a lack of collaborative albums between solo rappers and a single producer is definitely not one of them.

Who knew that the phenomenon that was arguably perfected in 2003 and 2004 would continued to thrive six years later with an unusually high number of rappers and producers putting their egos aside to partner for the greater good of Hiphop music?

Aside from resulting in quality music from rappers and producers responsible for molding Hiphop into the pure artform that it is today, these collaborations also give the artists in question a chance to showcase their talents alongside their equally talented peers (something that does not happen as often as it could and should).

For this critic, when it comes to this type of Hiphop album in 2010, it just didn’t get any better than Skyzoo teaming up with !llmind for Live From the Tapedeck, which was released on Duck Down – the pioneering independent label responsible for a plethora of collaboration albums released over the past few years.

Boston area trailblazers Statik Selektah and Termanology took a break from being solo artists to come together to release their 1982 album -- one of the most slept-on underground rap albums of the year -- proving that Statik is one of today's best and most consistent producers in the business.

But late last month west coast mainstays The Alchemist and his rapping counterpart Oh No (and the brother of the legendary Madlib) quietly released Gutter Water, a monster of an album recorded under the name Gangrene that features beats and rhymes credited to both artists, similar in nature to the above referenced Jaylib project.

Released in that same vein, Philadelphia drug rapper Freeway and Jake One -- a prolific producer from Seattle who is responsible for tons of recent underground and mainstream hits – showcased their unlikely partnership in the form of Stimulus Package, 16 banging tracks that featured Free along with Raekwon, Bun B alongside his State Property bretheren.

9^th Wonder and Murs concluded their celebrated series of collaborative albums with ForNever, their fourth album together that didn’t quite measure up to their first three offerings in this format but was still much appreciated from fans of both.

The improbable alliance of KRS-One and Wu-Tang Clan producer True Master provided fans with a bird’s eye view of The T'Cha rhyming over that Shaolin sound, but unfortunately when the two immovable forces collided the result was not as breathtaking as fans might have hoped.

Looking forward to 2011, the popular trend of Hiphop collaboration albums promises to continue in a major way beginning with a joint album from Pete Rock and DJ Premier, who have gone on the record to discuss their upcoming project that will feature 10 tracks – five for each producer with the rapper(s) of the producers’ choice on each song.

Not to be outdone, Def Jam label mates Sheek Louch and Ghostface Killah (who both have albums scheduled to be released later this month) announced a few weeks ago the Wu/Block album, a collaboration of Wu-Tang Clan members and D-Block members uniting to create one album. With the considerable talents of the core members of each collective, the Wu/Block album has the potential to be a masterpiece, but many fear the album will only feature each group’s affiliates instead of highlighting the lyrical talents of Jadakiss alongside the GZA, or any other conceivable combination between the two groups.

Also scheduled to be released in the next year is Monumental, the collaboration between Smif N' Wessun and Pete Rock that has already spawned the underground hit Prevail, featuring Tek and Steele in rare form trading rhymes with Raekwon over a classic horn-driven beat.

And after more than a decade, talks still have not died down of a possible album with NaS on the mic and Premier on the boards, which is arguably more anticipated than Detox.

But until either or both of those albums come out, it is obvious there will not be a shortage of good music to come in the next 12 months. I'm looking forward to it.

Let the Horns Blow

In years past the use of horns on a hiphop track (either sampled or live) was the recipe for instant success, but over the past decade or so the soundscape to our treasured music form has been noticeably absent of those trusty trumpets and saxophones that were omnipresent in the 80s and much of the 90s.

From Public Enemy's signature wailing, looped high-pitched horns found on classics such as Don't Believe the Hype and Rebel Without a Pause to Big Daddy Kane's more subtle brass sounds on Smooth Operator and Young Gifted and Black, you couldn't find an album without at least a few songs that prominently featured horns.

But now, what was once the calling card of Pete Rock, the Beatnuts and Large Professor (and others) has now become a lost art.

Instead, the horns were seemingly replaced by hard drums (not necessarily a bad thing) as well as synths, which admirably simulate horns but unfortunately lack the desired effect created in the past. The result was, ironically, and still is, the music being popularized beyond belief while at the same time losing much of its authenticity and so-called “realness” on which the music was originally based.

But certain producers have seemingly made a recent effort to bring back the horns in a major way, showcasing how the addition of one or more brass instruments can significantly liven up any song while simultaneously paying homage to their predecessors, thus revitalizing the soundtrack to my formative years. It’s refreshing.

We’re not quite back in mid-90s mode, but with the below showings from the past few years, it seems the hiphop horn is making a serious comeback.

Significant recent contributions have come from unexpected sources, Young Buck and Lil' Wayne, as well as from the usual suspects like Freddie Foxxx and 9th Wonder.

None of these songs are popular by any means, but the vast range of styles each rapper has shows no one is immune to the magic horns create on a good, solid hiphop track. Hell, even Sheek Louch got in on the fun on his recent mixtape with his reworking of the Jungle Brothers 20-year-old classic The Promo.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come and producers are bringing it back to the essence, as music has always been a cyclical art.

Here are but a few examples of what the game’s been missing, in no particular order:

Digable Planets - Rebirth of Slick
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Honorable mention:

Surprisingly much of the material from many of the game’s more celebrated producers -- Dilla and Dr. Dre immediately come to mind -- is absent of horns.

I know I forgot plenty of examples.

What are your favorite hiphop songs -- new or old -- that feature live or sampled horns?