TRACKS
Soulja Boy, Crank Dat (original version)
Fabolous f/ Ne-Yo, Make Me Better
Lloyd f/ Lil Wayne, You
Swizz Beatz f/ Lil Wayne, R Kelly & Jadakiss, It's Me Bitches (remix)
Sugarland, Stay
UNK f/ Jim Jones & Outkast, Walk It Out (remix)
Kanye West, Can't Tell Me Nothing
Elliott Yamin, Wait For You (Nevins Synth Club Mix)
Making The Band 4 - Exclusive (No Excuses)
The Cool Kids - Black Mags

ARTISTS
T-Pain
Lil Wayne
The-Dream
Stargate
Hall & Oates

It's become rote to accuse hip-hop of becoming fat and complacent—and it of course is—but hunger remains. And not on the Internet, or in the indie trenches—I'm talking about perfectly famous and possibly rich rappers, still with a glint in their eyes, still with something to prove.

In a year where there were NO great rap albums (sorry Jay, sorry Tip, sorry 'Ye), it was the return of the posse cut remix that gave cause for hope. Posse cuts, in which several rappers line up for a chance to murder the same beat, were a staple in the late '80s and '90s that fell out of favor for much of the last decade or so. Mixtapes brought them back, albeit unofficially. And now, in the digital age, they're sanctioned again, even if they're not generally commercially released.

Posse cuts are great because they present several solutions to the same problem. It's peacocking at its finest. Most of these songs were plenty good to start with, but especially when a song is already a hit, the 16 guest bars take on additional dimension and attitude. Namely: I will take your shit. Superstars—hello Wayne—deign to bless a lesser, really thieving the whole time. Mediocre MCs elevate their game, putting more energy and thought into a 16 than into their whole album. (Everything's done by digital means these days, but it's pleasing to imagine seven or so rappers in a room, each working furiously trying to figure out how to outdo the rest.) A great posse cut is its own shuffle—each verse takes on its own character, each part of the song sounding different. Plus, they go quick, and given 2007's glut of ringtone rap, time has never been more of the essence.

Some salient lessons from this year's bumper crop:

• On the right day, Jadakiss can still eat any MC in America ("Hope the Lord forgive me, gave my Jesus piece a facelift/Stones is doing the Watusi in the bracelet").
• On the right day, Ludacris can still eat any MC in America ("Half man, half gorilla, beating all on my chest/Pleasing all of your flesh/Squeezing all on your breast").
• On any day, Andre 3000 can still eat any MC in America, even Jadakiss and Ludacris ("Your white tee, well, to me, look like a nightgown/Make your mama proud, take that thing two sizes down").
• L.L. Cool J (or his ghostwriter) is biting Cam'ron
• DJ Khaled—and, by extension, Lil Jon—is smarter than you think.
• Curious by their absence: Cam'ron, Clipse, Fabolous.
• Multimillionaires still catch feelings about who's on top.
• With some effort, any song, even "Krispy," can be a symphony.

Jon Caramanica is the music editor of Vibe.