No one these days makes songs like Kendrick. I can't stress how important that is to me. Sure, Killer Mike is a better MC than Kendrick, and his album is great: dope beats, dope rhymes, solid thematic songs. But Kendrick's songwriting is just on another level. The fact that he makes the songs fit on a cohesive album makes him my favorite MC right now, by far.
Section.80 was my AOTY 2011. I still need to listen to it a few more times, but I'm pretty sure this will be my AOTY 2012.
Highs: m.a.a.d. city, swimming pools, sing about me (some was asking the other day the best three song stretch on an album - this is a contender), cartoons & cereals, money trees
Lows: Compton (I love Just Blaze, but that beat doesn't fit the album at all. Not a bad track, should have been saved no Detox), Poetic Justice (damn, Ab-Soul should be on this, not Drake...)