The latest issue of Rolling Stone has just hit stands. The title of the magazine is The Best Of Rock 2008. I kind of think it’s a little too early to say the best of rock of a entire year but maybe it’s just me. They have featured artist from Chris Brown, Lil’ Wayne, Stargate, Madonna and more… Continue reading to see what they were nominated.

In the issue they nominate the following artist:

Best New Michael Jackson: Chris Brown

Chris Brown was pegged early as the next Michael — or at least the next Usher — after his first single, the supersyncopated “Run It!” hit Number One in 2005. Four more Top Ten hits followed, but what really brought on the Jacko comparisons was Brown’s dizzying performance at the 2007 MTV VMAs, where his Super Mario-like dance moves made Justin Timberlake “feel old” and (almost) made up for Britney Spears’ catatonic opener. “When I was younger, I was in it just for girls,” says Brown. “But as I got into it, I wanted to show people I could become a great artist.” This fall, Brown will begin work on his third album. “I’ll be almost twenty, so we can get a little dirty,” he says. “But not R. Kelly dirty.”

- BRIAN HIATT

Best MC: Lil’ Wayne

Lil’ Wayne has two primary passions: making music and smoking weed. Tonight, those have come into conflict. Wayne is sitting on his tour bus in New Orleans, having come back to his hometown for two concerts. He’d like to head into a studio to do some mixing for Tha Carter III, 2008’s most anticipated rap album. But there’s a problem. Wayne isn’t allowed to smoke in the studio. So he stays on the bus, lighting blunt after blunt and watching Animal Planet on the TV. He’ll sleep there tonight for the same reason: Wayne can’t smoke in his hotel room either.

- CHRISTIAN HOARD

Best Hitmakers: Stargate

When Ne-Yo met the two Norwegians who would go on to produce his biggest hits, he couldn’t hide his surprise: “He looked at us and said, ‘You guys make this music?’” recalls Mikkel Eriksen, one half of the R&B production team Stargate. Since 2006, Eriksen and his partner, Tor Erik Hermansen, have produced and co-written ten Top Ten hits, including Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable,” Rihanna’s “Unfaithful” and “Don’t Stop the Music,” and Ne-Yo’s “So Sick,” along the way reviving a pre-hip-hop style of R&B, with richer chord progressions, deeper melodies and even guitars. “All of these songs have something in common,” says Hermansen. “When you take away the drums, there are actually songs there.”

- BRIAN HAITT

Pick up the May 2008 issue of Rolling Stone to read the rest, on stands now!!!

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