Listen: It's been a great year for DFWd music. It really has. And in the coming weeks, we'll be offering our insight into the best and brightest discs we've seen from area artists over the past 12 months.

But first: Can we just take a second right now to recognize the greatness that is Erykah Badu?

New Amerykah Pt. 1: 4th World War is a force of a disc, and, rightfully, it's been getting recognized all over the map in days late as one of the year's best.

Today, a few more accolades for Ms. Badu:

• Spin's named the New Amerykah Pt. 1 the 12th best album of 2008. (via)
• Rolling Stone's called the disc the 19th best of the year. (via)
• Rolling Stone's also named Badu's "The Healer" the 43rd best single of the year. (via)

The only other DFWd artist to make it onto any of these two magazine's lists are Westlake's own Jonas Brothers, who earned props from Rolling Stone for having the 40th best album of the year (A Little Bit Longer) and the 49th best single of the year ("Video Girl").

Ugh. Thank God for Badu. --Pete Freedman