Have you ever listened to a Hip Hop record and pretended you're a Bronx gang leader ready to pull the pistol in your pocket at the first person who crosses you? Have you ever sat in a taxi with ‘Nelly' on the radio, pretending you're cruising LA in a Lexus, or at the very least, an SUV with blacked-out windows? Have you ever walked down a crowed street listening to Jay-Z, being pursued by imaginary cops? No? Then you're definitely in the minority. Because the fantasy land that Hip-Hop lets us drift off into is one of the main reasons for it being so unbelievably popular the world over. It's about clubs packed full of supermodel-pretty girls who were raised in the ghetto but still know what a Bellini is (it's champagne with fresh peach juice, by the way); it's an A-list celebrity lifestyle infused with the glamour of the underworld.

50 Cent, last year's hottest rap property, is still the perfect symbol of the aggression and underdog appeal of Hip Hop. Before being a global superstar, 50 was a crack cocaine dealer since the age of twelve, who survived being shot nine times and still bears the scars to tell the tale. He's not only the ultimate icon for the suburban white-kids who form the bulk of Hip-Hop's audience - he's also an illustration of why Hip-Hop has become so tiresomely formulaic recently. Like the most part of MTV playlisted rap, most of 50 cent's music is shallow, consumerist, overly-aggressive, misogynistic and homophobic - in an interview with Playboy magazine 50 memorably stated ‘I don't like gay people being near me.' Being ghetto-cool is all very well, but poor old 50 clearly has difficulty stringing a sentence together.

Whatever happened to the soul of African-American music? Whatever happened to the Curtis Mayfields, the Stevie Wonders, the Marvin Gayes? Enter Kanye West. Read the name again, because no-one's going to be impressed about you're enthusiasm for the biggest Hip-Hop sensation of the year if you can't say his name right – take note, it's Kanye, not Kayne. And though you might not have heard of him, you've probably heard his music before. Jay-Z, Britney Spears and Alicia Keys are among the stars that the 26-year old has worked with, and tracks for Janet Jackson and Jennifer Lopez are already in the pipeline. However, it's not his hits for other people that have been making the headlines of late; it's his own debut album, ‘College Dropout'. It's definitely the only Hip Hop album you'll see this year with its star dressed in a fluffy bear outfit on the front. It's probably also the best.

Raised by a middle-class family of intellectuals and civil rights activists, Kanye's lyrics stand head and shoulders above the competition, rich in humour and honesty in equal measure. I can't imagine 50 Cent penning a tune about working in a Gap clothes store, or about his family telling stories about him wetting the bed, but it all somehow finds its way into Kanye's work.

With it's gospel choirs, children's choruses and evangelising song titles such as ‘Jesus walks', this is wholesome stuff. A lot of it stems from the Kanye's near-death experience in a car-crash in 2002, with references to the event littering his work. However, despite his the infrequent sentimentality, he always manages to steer clear of the vomit-educing ballads of the R-Kelly variety. It's Hip Hop that dares to break away from the norm, and has already made Kayne a big-name star on both sides of the Atlantic . Look out! Here comes The New Pharrell Williams…