Every year since 2007,MTV has compiled a list of ten Hip-Hop stars deemed to be the "hottest" of that year known as the Hottest MCs in the Game. Although MTV has stressed that the list is not meant to represent the greatest rappers of all time but the most interesting and culturally relevant artists of the current year, the list is met with much controversy and debate each year. MTV named one rapper the "Hottest Breakthrough MC" of 2011 and that honor went to Machine Gun Kelly.

The Hottest MC in the Game List was formed in 2007 and every year a group of Hip-Hop journalists known as "The Brain Trust" debate on who is the hottest rapper of that year. The Brain Trust has been composed of:

The Brain Trust judges rappers on the grounds of their artistic execution (lyrical ability, flow), commercial success (charting hits, radio spins, album sales), cultural impact (business acumen, ushering in other big artists), digital metrics Facebook page likes, Twitter followers, new songs on mixtapes), buzz and other intangibles. In order to be eligible to be included in on the list an artist must have actively released music that year.

MTV, an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs.

MTV has had a profound impact on the music industry and popular culture. Slogans such as "I want my MTV" and "MTV is here" were embedded in public thought, the concept of the VJ was popularized, the idea of a dedicated video-based outlet for music was introduced, and both artists and fans found a central location for concert music events, news, and promotion. MTV has also been referenced countless times in popular culture by musicians, other TV channels and television program, films, and books.

MTV has spawned numerous sister channels in the U.S. and affiliated channels internationally, some of which, like the former MTV Tempo now known as TEMPO Networks, have gone independent. MTV's moral influence on young people, including issues related to censorship and social activism, has been a subject of intense debate for years. MTV's choice to focus on non-music programming has also been contested relentlessly since the 1990s, demonstrating the channel's previous impact on popular culture. MTV has since largely departed from music programming and is now known for producing mostly teen-oriented programs.

'Annual or 'fuyearly is a word often used to describe something that happens "Annual" may be an abbreviation for:

"Annual" may also refer to:

List or lists may refer to:

The List may refer to:

Kanye Omari West ( /ˈkɑːnjeɪ/; born June 8, 1977) is an American musician, film director and fashion designer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and Janet Jackson. His style of production originally used pitched-up vocal samples from soul songs incorporated with his own drums and instruments. However, subsequent productions saw him broadening his musical palette and expressing influences encompassing '70s R&B, baroque pop, trip hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronica, synthpop, and classical music.

West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004, his second album Late Registration in 2005, his third album Graduation in 2007, his fourth album 808s & Heartbreak in 2008, and his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010. West released a collaborative album, Watch the Throne with Jay-Z in 2011, which is the duo's first collaborative album. His five solo albums, all of which have gone platinum, have received numerous awards and critical acclaim. As of 2012, West has won a total of eighteen Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all-time. All albums have been very commercially successful, with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy becoming his fourth consecutive No. 1 album in the U.S. upon release. West has had 5 songs exceed 3 million in digital sales as of July 2011, with "Gold Digger" selling 3,086,000, "Stronger" selling 4,402,000, "Heartless" selling 3,742,000, "E.T." selling over 4,000,000 and "Love Lockdown" selling over 3,000,000 placing him third in overall digital sales of the past decade. He has sold over 30 million digital songs in the United States making him one of the best-selling digital artists of all-time.