2211002:I will say that these days modern Hip-Hop is becoming effortless waste of time, but you can't acually say that its not "Music".
I would argue that modern pop music is an effortless waste of time and hip-hop's assimilation into popular music is what makes most Top 40 rap songs as shallow and empty as a Mariah Carey chart-topper.
20 artists is a lot but pulling from my iPod, my ten favorite albums are (in no order):
10,000 Maniacs - Unplugged
Billy Bragg - Back to Basics
Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullaby
Avail - Over the James
Propagandhi - Less Talk, More Rock
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over The Sea
Dar Williams - The Honesty Room
Suzanne Vega - S/T
The Weakerthans - Left & Leaving
Dillinger Four - Midwestern Songs of the Americas
West Bromwich Albion for the Premiership