My nominations:
Young Jeezy
*Dropped two very polished mixtapes (Can't Ban the Snowman, I Am the Street Dream)
*Released The Inspiration, a very good second album, far from a sophmore slump. Also, he debut'd at number one.
Lil' Wayne
*Coming in '06 riding the success of Tha Carter II, dude was really out there, definately higher than he's ever been in his career.
*Then he released what alot of mainstream critics call the best mixtape of the year (Dedication 2).
*On top of that, he capped it off with a collaboration album with Baby and has plenty buzz concerning him and Juelz with the future release of I Can't Feel My Face, mixtape and album.
The Game
*So you know the story. Game refuses to beef with artists he looks up to. 50 kicks him out of G-Unit. With that comes an on-slaught of diss tracks and mixtapes from Game murdering 50 and G-Unit Inc.. As the release date for Doctor's Advocate nears, many wonder what will it be like. Will it have Dre, will the beats be knockin' and so forth. So after heatin' up the summer with 'One Blood', he drops Doctor's Advocate and goes #1, somethin' no G-Unit release has done this year.
T.I.
*Early '06, T.I. releases King and does much better than expected.
*'Why You Wanna' may very much have a nomination for single of the year because some radio stations are still playin' it. He also featured on another single of the year (Justin Timberlake ft. T.I. 'My Love)
*Releases a movie (ATL) and recieves good feedback on his acting.
*Also, until recently, he was the only rapper to go platinum.