When I asked 12 of my favorite music bloggers and critics to join me in selecting last year’s best rap albums, the positive response was overwhelming. Same can be said about the emails I received from others who had wanted to contribute to that epic list. So, I’ve decided to make this year’s invitation an open event.

Here’s something else I learned from last year’s experiment: Compiling the list 3 weeks early meant that one significant album didn’t make the final cut (Sorry, Esco). That explains why I waited until the dying minutes of ‘07 to make this call. Unless you’re still holding out for Chingy’s album … never mind, it already dropped … you should have a healthy well of ‘07 releases to draw from.

The process is straightforward. If you’re a music blogger, writer, and/or critic, and would like to contribute to this year’s Rap List, simply send your Top 10 Rap Albums of 2007 in order of greatness to rizoh1 at gmail dot com. Only albums released between December 2006 and December 2007 are eligible for nomination. I’ll assign points to the albums based on your rankings, and a Top 10 of all Top 10s will emerge from the master list. (With a solid pool, I might even raise the stakes to 50 finalists…we’ll see.)

The final list will be published on The Rap Up sometime in January. Send me your list no later than January 5, 2008. And remember to include the name of your blog/site/magazine in your email.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who submitted a list. If you still want to get in on the fun, there’s plenty of time left.