While crooners like Usher and Ne-Yo sing to the ladies, Akon sings for the guys — mostly about wanting to bend the ladies over. That raunchiness and Akon's silky, instantly recognizable vocals have made him an in-demand hook dude — he guested on more than forty tracks this year. The singer-producer minces no words on tracks like "I Wanna Fuck You" and "Smack That," featuring Eminem, but shows some range on more reflective cuts like "Mama Africa" — a dancehall-inflected love letter to the Senegal-raised MC's home continent.

“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."