In the past two years, Miami MC Rick Ross has been dissed by 50 Cent, mocked as a phony gangsta when photos surfaced of his tenure as a corrections officer, and slapped with a $10 million lawsuit by his namesake, reformed drug kingpin Freeway Ricky Ross. He's also made the best records of his career. Here Ross surrounds himself with big-name guests (Kanye West, T.I.) and pours out smart rhymes over sleek, synth-heavy beats. The old Ross was mired in drug-rap clichés; today, he sounds easeful, letting his basso profundo do the heavy lifting in the Jay-Z collabo "Free Mason," and gloating with wit and goofiness, of which he once seemed incapable.

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."