"I Am Not A Human Being"

First on today's playlist is Lil Wayne's recent album "I Am Not a Human Being," which was released in physical copy in October. The album itself is clearly not Wayne's best work; it does not flow as well as some of his other albums and feels scattered. However, my aim is to highlight the greater significance of this slightly disappointing album.

According to the music blog Rap Up, Lil Wayne has set his sights on the first quarter of 2011 for the release of the newest in his Carter albums: "Tha Carter IV."

True, "I Am Not a Human Being" is merely 10 tracks long and sounds like leftovers from this up-and-coming album (Drake even raps, "we about to kill 'em C4, Mr. Carter's home"). While the album is still comical and worthy of quoting as much as Wayne's other work, I find myself more drawn to the songs that feature Drake, such as "Right Above It" and "Gonorrhea." If this album is a sign of things to come in Wayne's "Tha Carter IV," and these tracks are actually leftovers from it, then this album bodes well for Wayne's future. To give us a taste, Lil Wayne released "6 Foot 7 Foot" on December 15, which sounds promising and has already hit iTunes' top 10 list.

"Apollo Kids"

Following Lil Wayne on today's playlist is Ghostface Killah's newest album, which was released December 21. While Ghostface pumped R&B into the veins of his last album, he has returned to his classic Wu Tang style in his newest album: "Apollo Kids." Ghostface's lyrics are powerful while his delivery, as always, packs the perfect punch.

Some songs with memorable beats, like "In Tha Park" and "How You Like Me Baby," are what save this album from drowning in the endless stream of mediocre rap and hip-hop albums. "Purified Thoughts" and "Ghetto" provide a soulful quality and also help to distinguish Ghostface from other predictable rappers.

That being said, other tracks with average beats seem to leave the powerful Ghostface stranded. Unfortunately, these tracks are littered throughout "Apollo Kids," which prevents Ghostface's bigger hits from developing enough energy to sustain the album until its end.

Overall, Ghostface has delivered another knockout, but one that will only momentarily satisfy his fans until his next release.

"Last Train to Paris"

Next up is "Last Train to Paris," Diddy's latest addition to his list of now six studio album releases. The album is meant to be a narrative for Diddy's alter-ego as he travels from London to Paris in search of a lost love. Known for his experimentation with names—Sean Combs, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and Diddy—Diddy has similarly taken his musical experimenting to the next level.

"Last Train to Paris" is sprinkled with compelling electronic sounds and is heavily influenced by the R&B vocals of Dirty Money, a group consisting of Diddy, Dawn Richard (formerly of Danity Kane) and Kalenna Harper. These musical decisions give the album a great R&B flow and a light-hearted dance-floor quality. They also allow Diddy to shine spectacularly on songs like "Hello Good Morning" and "Coming Home," which respectively charted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #27 and #18.

While Diddy's electronic and vocal experimentation let him stand out on these more prominent tracks, it also causes the rest of the album to blend together into a compilation of synthesizer-backed beats.

Diddy has certainly created a mix of hypnotic sounds and some catchy winners, but "Last Train to Paris" does not promise to be as successful as some of Diddy's previous albums.

"Pink Friday"

Onika Maraj, also known as Roman Zolanski, or Nicki Minaj, as she is better known, is creating quite the buzz recently. This 26-year-old Trinidadian has been featured on countless tracks with Lil Wayne, Kanye West and Drake just to name a few.

Three months ago, Minaj became the first artist to simultaneously have seven songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. On November 19, Minaj finally released her debut studio album, "Pink Friday."

My first impression was that the album is innovative; it is refreshing to hear this level of lyricism from a female hip-hop artist. Her combination of wit, cleverly crafted lyrics, metaphors and wordplay remind me of the likes of Lil Wayne, which is fitting since she is his protégé.

Lil Wayne, the founder of Young Money Entertainment, signed Nicki Minaj to his label back in August 2009, just months after signing Drake.

But as much as Minaj brings to mind greats like Wayne, she still maintains her in-your-face style that is reminiscent of Eminem and screams, "I'm not just another female hip-hop artist!" Even her slow songs do her no disservice and I am eagerly anticipating new music from Minraj.

Until then, grab her album and keep an eye out for this up-and-comer.