Between his solo release Tronic, Fat Ray teamup The Set Up, and
his production work on Elzhi's The Preface, Black Milk's 2008
made him look invincible. And you might note the potential
tongue-in-cheek hubris in calling his follow-up Album of the
Year and assume that he feels untouchable now. But the self-
congratulatory name of his new release is deceptive. The year in
question isn't the 2010 that the drop date places its contention
in, though anyone who loved Tronic or hard-bumping, densely
expressive hip hop in general wouldn't be off base in
considering it as a candidate. The title is actually more
closely connected to a different year: 2009, when Black Milk
lost his close friend, Village's Baatin, and saw his manager
HexMurda go through a life-threatening experience after a stroke
left him comatose.  "'09, hardest year in my lifeline," he
admits in leadoff track "365", and you can hear the evidence in
this album. But it's not some morose attempt to dwell on a rough
period-- it's more like the product of a