Remember Propain's #Departure?

Houston's history is dotted with albums that, fairly or un, have been swept aside. We'll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com.

Propain is one of the (if not the) most devastating forces within the New Houston Collective*. He's gritty and grimy and astute, three character traits that, paradoxical as it might seem, are hyper-magnified by the fact that he's educated.

His #Departure, which very neatly packaged nearly all of his strengths, was one of the very best Houston mixtapes of 2010. It rated as the 15th best rap project in Houston this year, though it's not unreasonable to argue that it should have been placed somewhere closer to 9 or 10.

* "New Houston Collective" the official term to identify all of the very best new rappers Houston has seen emerge these past two years. There are categories within the New Houston Collective to help keep everything organized, for example, Thurogood Wordsmith and Propain are both a part of the NHC, but in entirely different branches. More to come later.

Y'allmustaforgotability: 93 percent

Though the reach of Propain's fame seems to grow longer by the minute, it's still hard to, at random, find somebody that can name two songs off of this tape. This score will drop markedly in 2011, we imagine.

Read what Y'allmustaforgotability means.

Ed. Note: Google notwithstanding, Houston's Propain should not be confused with the extreme metal group Pro-Pain.

Best Song on the Album: "Real Talk" ft. J-Dawg

It's no coincidence that the best song on #Departure is the J-Dawg-assisted "Real Talk," considering that, at the onset of his career, the sincerity (and occasional anger) in Propain's flow immediately drew a line connecting the latter to the former. Pro is especially visceral here, especially open about his hurt, two qualities J-Dawg has all but trademarked recently.