I think some of the commercial hip-hop is really cutting-edge - especially on the production front - Timbaland is amazing.
I am sure someone will flame me for this but I really liked the Nelly album (I keep hearing the Hot S**t acapella over Green Velvet's Answering Machine in my head) and I think some of the beats on Jay-Z's Dynasty were great. Busta's first three albums. Outkast is good and you should check out Organized Konfusion, really underrated. Also The Roots, Common. Also Slum Village. I haven't checked out JayDee's new Welcome To Detroit but I am sure it would be good. On the turntablist tip, The X-cutioners' album of a few years ago was really avant garde and the most musical turntable album I have ever heard. Then when of the most brilliant albums I heard last year was the Tupac Shakur spoken word tribute The Rose That Grew From Concrete, Volume 1 - the final track, The Sun & The Moon, is spoken by Chief Okena Littlehawk and it has a Red Planet feel to it. It is amazing.
