Recently in ATG Presents Category

20-1 after the jump.

Update: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 5

All original artwork by our favorite evil genius, Joseph Devens.

At the halfway point of the countdown, it's time to spotlight our patient contributors. We'll use classical AP style (brief bios with "Anchorman" quotes):

Writers

• Josh Bradshaw - The recently engaged (congrats) Bradshaw is one of those smart flex players any office can plug in for instant output. He's worked with various libraries that have many leather-bound books and smell of rich mahogany, and minored in music history.
• Patrick Caldwell - Newly appointed staff writer (congrats) for the Austin-American Statesman, ATG has shared many a winding, bar-soaked conversation about existence with Caldwell. The intimate times? Outta sight, my man.
• Natalia Ciolko - A recent graduate, Natalia runs libelous liberal rags and enjoys traveling through Asia. She actually likes Le Tigre. I thought you were kidding. I thought it was a joke. I even wrote it down in my diary - Natalia had a very funny joke today. I laughed about it later that night.
• Evan Daniels - Representing Farmington Hills, Michigan, a Grand Valley State big fish ATG met on a summer internship. There was an inordinate amount of shopping in SoHo at the, uh, pants store.
• Joseph Devens - The project's luminary creative director, Devens is also an easy writer to edit and an impossible man to reach by cell phone during working hours. A man of mystery, I tried to get an interview with him, but they said no, you can't do that he's a live bear, he will literally rip your face off.
• Michal Durham - A talented artist and ardent supporter of Radiohead's failed bid for number one, Durham is Brazilian, or Chinese, or something weird.
• Tom Hardy - Another delegate from the Michigan coalition, ATG knows Hardy through Evan. They have a saying in Michigan: the coyote of the desert likes to eat the heart of the young and the blood drips down to his children for breakfast, lunch and dinner and only the ribs will be broken.
• Ben Heath - A powerful, mentoring force for ATG editors, Heath used to rule The Daily Texan with an iron fist and enjoys working with the United Nations, guitars and law school in his spare time. When John Kerry capped an atrocious campaign with a crushing defeat, Heath pissed off a lot of people by running Mapquest directions to Canada as the next morning's editorial. It's science. 
• Bryant Howell - One of the panel's three business school grads, Howell is a well-traveled renaissance man who shockingly prefers playing bass in bands to bottom lines. Great Odin's raven!
• Jeremy Hurd - Fun facts about ATG's web guru: he went to Ohio State, he can dunk a basketball, he's an aspiring novelist, he organizes the team pancake breakfast.
• TJ Finley - Did you know that undergrads have to camp out for an entire school year just to be in a lottery for Duke basketball tickets? With tents and shit. Luckily for Finley, he's at Duke Law. His hass a formidable scent that stings the nostrils...in a good way.
  
• John Meller - Coming off a banner year wherein he directed the campus concert committee and programmed shows with Saul Williams and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Meller stands at the edge of tomorrow. The contributors met months ago to discern list at an undisclosed restaurant and Meller ordered three fingers of Glenlivet with a little bit of pepper, and, uh, some cheese.
• Andy O'Connor - Starting graduate studies at Northwestern next semester, there's going to be flutes playing and trombones and flowers and garlands of fresh herbs greeting O'Connor upon arrival in Chicago.
  
• Robert Rich - The arsonist has oddly shaped feet.
• Eddie Strait - ATG's life-long best friend, people seem to like Eddie because he's polite and rarely late.
• Harrison Yeager - The guy that ran the concert committee before Meller. ATG regrettably is tired of the quotes bit, but seriously, Harrison is a really nice dude. I will tell tales of his compassion.
  

Consultants

John Bradley
Ejede
Scott Loewen
Cass Luskin
Austin Powell
Jess Williamson

All original artwork by our favorite evil genius, Joseph Devens.


Other things worth putting on lists: The Wire (2002-2006), the U.S. occupation of Fallujah (2003), Tree of Smoke (2007), "What You Know" (2006), the fall of Touch and Go Records (2008), the creepy detuned voice on Napster downloads of "Treefingers" that said something like "This voice was placed here to protect against piracy; it will be removed before the official release" (2000), The Downing Street Memo (2002, 2005), the reappearance of Henry Grimes (2003), Lawrence v. Texas (2003), the moment everyone realized that the band Stars was actually pretty boring (c. 2005), the Freedom Tower (whenever), Rihanna's remarkably disturbing and ill-advised new single (2009).
Update: Part 1 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

First comes love. Any list purporting to declare the "best" of any art form is by nature rooted in arrogance, indulgence and selfishness. 

Straight up, lots of full assault hip-hop to choose from. 12 pulsing months of nonstop MP3 posts, lots of rehash and remix sure, but gold for those who looked.

Here's the finest.

With summer in the rearview, we keep it moving like the Tribe did, gearing up for what has shaped up to be a very well stacked fall season in hip-hop.

Even without the perennially delayed, don't-hold-your-breath set - mythical and epic spectres like Dre's Detox, 50's Before I Self Destruct, Big Boi's Sir Lucious Leftfoot, Lil Wayne's Rebirth and a rumored Relapse sequel - some of the most beloved rappers from both the old generation and the next are finally ready to release long-gestating opuses for consumption. The anticipation is so thick, you can almost feel it in the air.

For a pair of freshman at the top of their class, the next few months will mark a critical rite of passage; and for three veterans of a different era, new albums signal a precarious shift into the golden years.

We foreshadowed the season when the year was young, we soundtracked the summer and we even served up a special prelude. Now it's game time. Raekwon, Wale, Clipse, Ghostface, Kid Cudi, Lupe Fiasco and Jay-Z are coming. Don't sleep.

Without further ado, we give you our second mixtape: Prelude to The Blueprint 3, a careful collection of the god emcee's most definitive leaked tracks and guest features from the past year. In anticipation of the biggest rap album of 2009, Prelude was designed to whet appetites while shedding some light on Jigga's state of mind. It sounds like Jay's been sounding: clear, confident, seasoned and a little political - all with swag on levels heretofore unheard of. Its compositions feature a handful of bracing and aggressive samples, hinting forays into alternative genres like jazz, synth rock and world music.

Guest features include: Kanye West, M.I.A., Nas, Ludacris, Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Coldplay and more.

The Blueprint 3 will be released on September 11, until then, we hope you enjoy Prelude. Tracklist and download after the jump.