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Top 25 Albums of 2021

Coming out of the pandemic, the expectation for 2021 was that it would be a phenomenal year for music. Whether it was due to artists holding back releases until they could tour, or artists using the downtime to make a new album, 2021 had unique circumstances that should have led to one of the all time great years in hip hop.

In that context, from my point of view I’d say that the year delivered. From the mainstream to the underground this was a phenomenal year and one of the most memorable in history. 

While not a year that I think the majority of people will look back on as one of the strongest in recent years, overall this was a year that I really enjoyed and one of my favorites since I have been creating these lists. This list took a while to make, but that was mostly because I could not be bothered writing these 3,000 words.

ALLBLACK - TY4FWM

TY4FWM is the third album from Oakland rapper, ALLBLACK. TY4FWM is a proud bay area album that is open with its influences. From the signature hyphy production with bouncy synths to the many local features from fresh names like P-LO to legends like E-40, TY4FWM is an unapologetically bay area album, albeit with a sprinkling of modern trap influences. ALLBLACK may not be the strongest rapper, but he covers for this with a ton of features that help give the album a lot of variety. Once you factor in the consistent strength of the production, this project becomes undeniable as a great release.

Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Haram

Armand Hammer is the collaboration between Elucid and Billy Woods, the latter who is finally making an appearance on one of these lists. After first hearing Today, I Wrote Nothing in 2015, I have enjoyed most of what I have heard from the underground rapper. Yet to this point, I had failed to fully get behind the dry, serious and abstract sounds that are typically found on a Billy Woods record. While I enjoyed Shrines, the 2020 effort from Armand Hammer, which was perhaps the hardest cut from my 2020 list, it’s the brilliant production from The Alchemist that I think has finally pushed Billy Wood’s sound over the top for me. The Alchemist, who is undeniably a legendary producer, consistently has been managing to find his way onto these lists lately. On Haram he continues to show off his versatility, as with a darker and more abstract effort he manages to provide the perfect backdrop to the sound of Elucid and Billy Woods.

Baby Keem - The Melodic Blue

The Sound of Bad Habit, released a week after Baby Keem’s 18th birthday, was a raw and energetic release that took advantage of Cardo’s production to become a memorable introduction to the young west-coast rapper. 2019’s Die For My Bitch was a more mature effort where Baby Keem explored a variety of styles trying to find his sound and footing in the rap game. The Melodic Blue sees Baby Keem continue refining the mainstream sound that he found on tracks such as HONEST and ORANGE SODA and completes the transformation from young breakout rapper to genuine rap megastar. The Melodic Blue, Keem’s debut album, is a much more professional effort compared to his early mixtapes. From the variety of producers to the big-name features from Travis Scott and Keem’s cousin Kendrick Lamar, everything about this album has the refinement that you’d expect from a major release.

Brockhampton - ROADRUNNER NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE

After a legendary 2017, Brockhampton had all of the momentum in the world. At the start of 2018 they signed their deal with Sony and started to share some very promising snippets from their impending fourth album Puppy. Then it suddenly all came crashing down with the controversy that led to Ameer Vann’s departure from the group. Without the edge that Vann brought to the group, Brockhampton have spent the past three years trying to form a new identity. After a couple of failed efforts, this album brings a genericness to Brockhampton’s sound. No longer trying to innovate and separate themselves from the rest of the rap world, this album has Brockhampton fall in line. As a result it ends up being their strongest release since 2017. It lacks the magic of their earlier releases, but it’s a strong album worthy of being ranked among the year’s best.

Czarface & MF DOOM - Super What?

Super What? Is the second collaboration between supergroup Czarface, and legendary rapper MF DOOM. While this is a posthumous release for MF DOOM, the album was completed prior to his passing, with the pandemic being the cause of this release's delay. Similar to the 2018 collaboration Czarface Meets Metal Face, DOOM’s involvement on this release is somewhat limited. It’s better to think of this as a Czarface album with a few DOOM features than a true collaboration between the two artists’ sounds. With that said, the sound of MF DOOM compliments Czarface perfectly. Czarface has been one of the most consistent rap groups for nearly a decade now, and at their best they have proven themselves capable of creating one of the best albums of the year. You add MF DOOM to the mix and you get a great release.

Denzel Curry - UNLOCKED 1.5

If UNLOCKED hadn’t already been released, then I think the strength of this release would have found it in the top 10. However, where this release fails is as a remix of the original EP. While this remix EP introduces some interesting ideas, very rarely does it improve on the original. Denzel’s rapping on this release was the perfect counterpart to the production from Kenny Beats, which when taken away limits the impact of Denzel’s original verses. That said, this is still a fun release with some memorable features from rappers such as Kenny Mason, Benny the Butcher, Joey Bada$$, and Smino.

Ghais Guevara - BlackBolshevik

On BlackBolshevik, Guevara continues to be one of the more innovative and interesting rappers in the game currently. Comparable to JPEGMAFIA, Guevara is a dual threat of energetic rapping and ingenious sample-heavy production. BlackBolshevik is a short release at 22 minutes, but it keeps a frenetic pace and none of the eight songs miss. While not notably better than a lot of releases from 2021, this record’s uniqueness helps it stand out as a memorable release.

Isaiah Rashad - The House Is Burning

The Sun’s Tirade was released five years ago and rode the hype of Cilvia Demo at a time when anticipation for TDE releases was at an all-time high. It was a much more anticipated release and ended the year as my favorite album from 2016. Five years later, Isaiah Rashad still has his same laid-back sound, but it feels like the rest of the hip-hop world has moved on. While the style of Rashad brings a consistency to his music, almost a decade into his career there is a little disappointment that he hasn’t been able to explore any new sounds. The House Is Burning is definitely a quality release, but it unfortunately feels like the more interesting parts of this sound were already explored on Cilvia Demo and The Sun’s Tirade.

Kanye West - Donda

There are a lot of good things that I can say about this album and one negative. It was one of the more enjoyable album rollouts of all time, and I’ll always remember the hype and anticipation for this album finally coming out. It has a lot of great sounds, some very good tracks, and an all-star cast of features; I can easily say it’s the best album that Kanye has released in five years. Unfortunately, the negative that I have for this album is that it is 109 minutes long. A more focused version of this album would have been an album of the year contender, but the version of Donda that was released is hard to get through. There has been a pattern with Kanye albums where they usually become more appreciated with time, however, I think the length of this project takes away its potential to eventually become recognized as a classic.

Mach-Hommy - Pray for Haiti

While having previously been associated with Griselda until a falling-out in 2017, Pray for Haiti is the first release since Mach-Hommy’s reconciliation with Westside Gunn, and the first released under the Griselda label. Westside Gunn himself has a major presence on this record despite being officially featured on only three songs. The best thing to come from the Griselda association is the beat selection, as Griselda hasn't missed on a beat in years at this point. This release also brings a more energetic Mach-Hommy, which is a nice change of pace for the typically monotone rapper.

R.A.P. Ferreira - the Light Emitting Diamond Cutter Scriptures

The third album since rebranding from Milo, R.A.P. Ferreira continues to explore jazz influences and his more minimal jazz poetry-esque delivery. This release is his most mellow and minimal effort under this style. It’s also a short release at only 29 minutes, which allows it to effortlessly keeps a consistent mood throughout. It doesn’t reach the highs of Purple Moonlight Pages, but on the third R.A.P. Ferreira album, Milo has demonstrated a mastery of this sound.

Sematary - Screaming Forest

Since debuting in 2019, Screaming Forest is already the 7th release from horrorcore innovator Sematary. To this point in Sematary’s career, we have seen him explore a variety of innovative styles seemingly attempting to settle on a signature sound. Initially this album seemed to be another example of Sematary’s sound bouncing all over the place, but in retrospect this release was where he found the Butcher House sound that he’d settle on in the years to come. Initially, I wasn’t in love with the idea of this album and how far it steps away from the sound that I fell in love with on Grave House, but having this sound expanded on further in the years to come has made me appreciate it a lot more.

Westside Gunn - Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Sincerely Adolf

Westside Gunn has been one of the most prolific rappers over the past seven years, and at this point could release an album of this quality in his sleep. This release features the typical heavy, gritty, and lavish production and is full of the familiar adlibs that make every song unmistakably Westside Gunn. This isn’t Gunn’s strongest release, but his sound is so refined at this point that he can’t miss.

Vince Staples - Vince Staples

For a rapper who broke out with a loud, busy and energetic style, Vince Staples’ self titled release is a minimal and lethargic effort. While having some great producers create some iconic beats for him to this point in his career, on this release Vince Staples leans on his skills as a rapper while rapping over some intentionally subdued production. To his credit his rapping ability was enough to make this a memorable release and one of the year’s best.

Zack Fox - shut the fuck up talking to me

Born in Atlanta, Zack Fox’s shut the fuck up talking to me immediately makes you think of the era of late 2000s trap that would define that region. In some ways Zack Fox on this release is just a Gucci Mane with a nerdier sense of humor as shown on this release’s collection of unapologetic trap anthems. There’s a ceiling on this type of music, but Zack Fox has executed the sound as well as one could possibly expect.

10. Westside Gunn - Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Side B

His second album in a month, Westside Gunn follows up on Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Sincerely Adolf with a grittier and much more focused release. From the moment that Hell on Earth Pt. 2 starts, the tone is set for one of the best and most consistent releases of Westside Gunn’s prolific discography. It may not reach some of the memorable heights of his more commercial releases, but this is almost a perfect execution of the now classic underground east coast Griselda sound.

9. Injury Reserve - By the Time I Get to Phoenix

By the Time I Get to Phoenix sounds like a band that after years of experimenting with a variety of sounds, from hardcore to jazz, had found their sound and purpose. While dipping their toes into glitch and industrial on their 2019 self-titled release, it felt like they were unable at that point to use those elements in a meaningful way. On this release they have mastered those elements and created an album with some of the best atmospheric beats that I’ve heard. To this point I hadn’t loved any of the projects from Injury Reserve, but this was an incredible release.

8. JPEGMAFIA - EP2!

The sequel to 2020’s EP!, EP2! sees JPEGMAFIA further explore some of the more melodic sounds found on All My Heroes Are Cornballs. It’s a dramatic change up from one of the more energetic rappers in the game, but it’s a flex of his versatility as he explores these cloud rap and alternative r&b sounds in a way that few can.

7. R.A.P. Ferreira - Bob’s Son

Bob’s Son see’s R.A.P. Ferreria follow up 2020’s Purple Moonlight Pages with a self-produced effort. In place of the consistent jazz sounds of The Jefferson Park Boys, is instead the eclectic abstract sounds of Milo and it allows him to take his sound to some interesting places in comparison to his previous release. It isn’t quite as good as its predecessor, which was an early contender for one of the albums of the decade, but it’s a worthy follow up that takes his new sound to some intruiging places.

6. Tyler, the Creator - CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST

After the colossal hype that was the initial Odd Future wave, Tyler, the Creator failed to capitalize on that success with a memorable rap album. After four albums that served only a very specific type of fan, Tyler stepped away from rap to release two of the more innovative and memorable albums of the previous decade. This release sees Tyler return to the world of rap with artistic legitimacy and it’s a much more ambitious and mature release when compared to his early work. This release was crafted with the same care given to Flower Boy and Igor, and while not as strong as those two releases, the attention to detail on this album means that it’ll deservedly be remembered as one of the decade’s best and most memorable rap releases.

5. Nas - Magic

After the last twenty years of Nas’ career I was very skeptical when I initially saw the praise for Magic circulate the internet. God’s Son was nearly two decades old at this point and the releases since then have alternated between acceptable and complete trash. Paired with Hit Boy, Magic is Nas’ simplest album since Illmatic and sees 29-minutes of pure rapping from one of the greatest to ever do it. Given the parallels between Nas and Jay-Z, in a lot of ways this is Nas’ 4:44. After almost twenty years of chasing commercial success, it took stripping everything back for Nas to produce another classic. After Magic and Benny the Butcher’s Burden of Proof, Hit Boy, who produced this record, has certainly found his niche in producing these gritty east coast sounds and has emerged as one of the most exciting producers in the rap game right now.

4. Kenny Mason - Angelic Hoodrat: Supercut

I had Angelic Hoodrat as my 10th best album of 2020, but Kenny Mason’s follow up has surpassed it in just about every way. At the root of his sound is still the trap sounds of his hometown Atlanta, but his ability to take that sound in a variety of directions whilst keeping a consistent theme throughout is nearly unmatched. Moving away from the Lo-Fi sounds of Angelic Hoodrat, this year’s effort has a much more professional sound that really elevates his sound. While it was certainly interesting and unique on his first release to hear some of his sounds being performed in a Lo-Fi style, on this release it’s clear that Kenny’s sound is suited to the mainstream high quality production that is found on this release.

3. Sematary - Rainbow Bridge 3

Rainbow Bridge 3 feels like the natural conclusion to Sematary’s sound. The release takes his previous influences of black metal, witch house, noise, EDM, horrorcore, trap, industrial and drill, and essentially plays them all at the same time in one of most chaotic and apocalyptic albums of all time. Buried under all of the cacophony is the same melodic and catchy songwriting that Sematary used to first introduce himself to the world on Grave House. To be able to create such a unique sound and craft classic songs such as Forest Fire, Creepin’ Thru Da Woods, and Skin Mask 2 with it is truly incredible.

 2. Zillakami - Dog Boy

Dog Boy is the first full release from City Morgue member Zillakami, and it follows the progression that we’ve been seeing from that group. Coming up at the height of Trap Metal, City Morgue broke out with one of the most violent and aggressive sounds that we had ever heard. However, on the follow up release it was some of the more depressive and anthemic sounds that caught everyone’s attention. Dog Boy see’s Zillakami take that sound further, taking influences from Grunge to create a new style of rap that is unlike anything I’ve heard. This new sound is only half of the record, which is why I think this is such a polarizing release. Trap Metal is already a niche subgenre, so adding on some depressing emo-esque rap makes Dog Boy one of the most niche releases of all time. If you can listen to the album with an open mind, then I think it clearly stands out as one of the strongest releases in recent years.

1. JPEGMAFIA - LP!

To 2018, JPEGMAFIA was clearly an incredibly talented artist but was held back by how eclectic his sound was and how many ideas he was trying to execute at once. In 2019, we were introduced to a more focused JPEGMAFIA who was capable of taking one sound and exploring every inch of it over the course of a fifty minute release. Some may still consider LP! to be eclectic, but each influence, from glitch to gospel, is portrayed with the same atmosphere and in a consistent way that allows this album to have a phenomenal flow from front to back with some of the best transitions seen in a rap release.

With his current mindset, JPEGMAFIA is incapable of missing and now seems like an automatic AOTY with each release. In 2021 nobody can match his combination of rapping, production, songwriting, ingenuity, and talent, and from Veteran to LP! JPEGMAFIA has quietly put together an all-time run of three albums. It took one of my all-time favorite rappers in Denzel Curry releasing his magnum opus to prevent JPEGMAFIA from capturing AOTY three times in four years.

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Top 25 Albums of 2020

When preparing to make this list, my expectation was that the year would be awful and that I’d struggle to find enough albums to fill this list. 2019 was a weak year for mainstream hip-hop, but 2020 doubled down due to the pandemic that made no major name want to release a project in an environment where they couldn’t tour. If you go back and look at the highest selling releases, they are all either released prior to mid-march, or were released posthumously. 

Thankfully the underground put in work and we saw a lot of creative releases that resulted in an incredibly strong year. This might be the top 25 that I’m most happy with, as I’m confident that I found 25 strong and deserving releases.

While a year that was perhaps light on musical storylines, major events, and lasting cultural impact, there was definitely no drop in music quality.

Benny The Butcher - Burden of Proof

The Griselda trio of Benny The Butcher, Westside Gunn, and Conway the Machine followed up a dominant 2019 with another eight releases in 2020. Their gritty New York style felt like it couldn’t miss, and 2020 was the year where Griselda would take their dominance of the underground and try to get a foot into the mainstream. The Hit-Boy produced Burden of Proof doesn’t stray far from the grimy underground sounds that Griselda had patented, but by attaching enough big names to the project it ended up being the highest-charting Griselda album to date. Tracks like One Way Flight and War Paint offer something for the old fans, while some of the poppier tracks such as the Lil Wayne and Big Sean featured Timeless don’t hold back the quality of the release at all. Not Benny The Butcher’s best release, but still essential for any Griselda fans.

Big Baby Scumbag - www.flexedupshawty.com

While I can comfortably say that this may be the worst album on this list, I can’t as comfortably say that there’s a song from 2020 that I listened to more than Bobby Hill. The short and energetic trap anthem was one of my favourite songs of the year, as it brings an extreme amount of energy and an infectious beat. The rest of the album sadly wasn’t on that same level, but features a few decent moments such as Hurry Up & Buy.

Black Thought - Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane & Able

While perhaps not the classic that many fans dreamed would be Black Thought’s first album, this was still a solid release. Without his The Roots bandmates, he enlisted the help of Indie Rockers Portugal. The Man resulting in some pretty interesting blends between their two sounds. There are also plenty of classic east-coast sounds here as well for fans of The Roots, as overall it’s an eclectic release. While not a classic by any means, Black Thought is still a great rapper and one who could sleepwalk his way to a decent album.

Blu & Exile - Miles

Combining for the first time in nearly a decade, the legendary duo of Blu & Exile returned in 2020 for an ambitious 95-minute rap record. While personally this is way too long for me, the subtle jazzy production from Exile and the dope rhymes from Blu make this a great release. If it was shorter I may have taken this more seriously as an AOTY contender, but this release does not offer enough interesting ideas to justify its absurd runtime. 

Conway the Machine - From King to A GOD

While staying truer to his sound here than Benny did on Burden of Proof, this is a much more professional effort from the gritty Buffalo rapper. While having released a series of underground classic mixtapes in the past, this feels like his first true album and it's the one that made me take notice of the “other” rapper from Griselda. It’s the strength of this release that made me also go back and take another look at past Griselda projects, and I’m glad I did as the group's sound has finally clicked for me. 

Conway the Machine + The Alchemist - LULU

A short EP from Conway featuring production from the legendary The Alchemist. While there’s nothing here that stands out as being a classic, this is one of the best 22 minutes of rap that you will listen to all year. The Alchemist producing the whole record helps a lot here, as this entire EP flows seamlessly. 

clipping. - Visions of Bodies Being Burned

While not as strong as 2019’s There Existed an Addiction to Blood, this album continues most of the same ideas that made it so great and has resulted in another strong project. Say the Name is also the strongest track across both releases and is perhaps the perfect rendition of the sound that clipping. has developed over the past decade.

Denzel Curry - 13LOOD 1N + 13LOOD OUT MIX

Officially a “mix”, the youtube release 13LOOD 1N + 13LOOD OUT is one of the hardest entries in Denzel’s discography. Picking up where Act 3 of TA13OO left off, this mix is an adrenaline rush that flows almost as if it were one 13-minute song. Taking a lot of influences from Trap Metal, Denzel on the first three tracks threatens to release an absolute classic. Unfortunately for me, I felt like the release dropped off from there, but it’s still a superb release and the hardest cut from my top 10. 

Ghais Guevara - May Ur Melanin Shield U From Ragnarok

While the most obscure entry to this list, Ghais Guevara’s self-produced release highlights him as one of the more interesting beatmakers coming up in the rap game. Ghais’ sample-heavy production takes influences from glitch, drill and trap and is unlike anything else released in 2020. Ghais Guevara brings energy with his rapping that compliments his production perfectly and the overall result is one of the strongest releases of 2020.

Mac Miller - Circles

Circles was the first posthumous release by the late Mac Miller, who fortunately had recorded most of this album prior to his passing in 2018. While hard to categorize, this album explores a variety of influences to match the eclectic vocals that Mac Miller had left behind. While personally I preferred Swimming to this, this is still incredible for a posthumous album.

Mach-Hommy - Mach’s Hard Lemonade

Mach’s Hard Lemonade was the only release from the usually prolific Mach-Hommy in 2020, and despite its 22-minute length it doesn’t disappoint. Maybe not quite at the level of 2019’s Wap Konn Jòj!, but this continues where that album left off and is more quality from perhaps the most consistent rapper in the game right now.

RXKNephew - Crack Therapy 3

This release is mostly featured for its almost 10-minute opener American ttterroristt. The paranoid ramblings over an ethereal cloud-rap-influenced beat are strangely alluring as RXKNephew gets everything off his chest including Adam and Eve, Benjamin Franklin, Will Smith, and Santa. The track is filled with hilarious one-liners that stick with you and somehow keep you interested for multiple 10-minute listens. 

Run The Jewels - RTJ4

Run The Jewels have reached an almost boring level of consistency. RTJ4 is a solid album, but despite exploring some new ideas, this feels like more of the same from the legendary duo. RTJ4 may be the weakest of their four albums, but it’s still better than 95% of what comes out these days. Perhaps I’m taking the quality of these albums for granted, but a great RTJ release just feels forgettable in 2020 given the strength and consistency of their discography.

Sematary - Rainbow Bridge 2

Sematary broke onto the scene in 2019 with an innovative blend of trap and black metal. On Rainbow Bridge 2, Sematary leans further into those black metal influences and opts for a darker and less anthemic sound. While still a strong release with plenty of dark atmospheres and catchy moments, it’s not on the same level as its 2019 predecessor. 

Sematary + Ghost Mountain - Hundred Acre Wrist

The second Sematary release with Ghost Mountain, Hundred Acre Wrist explores various Witch House and EDM influences resulting in a much more chaotic and experimental release. This release is loud and doesn’t ever let up. The rapping on this release is more forgettable compared to their 2019 release, as the sound on this album lends itself a lot more to the repetitive hooks found on most tracks. I can see this growing on me a lot more as time passes, but for now, this release is just outside of my top 10.

10. Kenny Mason - Angelic Hoodrat

Coming out of obscurity to release his first project, Kenny Mason on Angelic Hoodrat explores a variety of interesting sounds. The Atlanta native’s sound is heavily rooted in trap, yet this release sees him explore plenty of sounds from the worlds of rock and indie pop. An eclectic release overall, this album goes back and forth between classic trap bangers such as Hit and emotive guitar-led tracks such as Metal Wings. What makes this release more interesting is that for the most part, this album has lo-fi production and vocals on most tracks. While lo-fi hip hop is nothing new, it’s interesting to see it applied on an album with mostly trap and pop sounds.

9. JPEGMAFIA - EP!

A hard release for me to rate overall. The highs of this release may not have been matched by any other record from this year, as tracks such as Cutie Pie and Bald are genuine classics. Yet it’s hard for me to categorize this as a great release despite almost half of its 26-minute runtime being taken up by amazing tracks. There are a lot of low or middling moments on this EP and its inconsistency has me struggling to place it higher.

8. redveil - Niagara

Released and recorded at the age of 16, redveil’s Niagara is one of the most impressive releases that I’ve seen from somebody that age in any genre. The most astounding part is that this release is mostly self-produced; it’s borderline absurd how redeveil manages to be such an adept dual-threat at his age. The production on this release is arguably its strength, but redveil still manages to be a more than capable rapper. No matter what age redeveil was when he released this, tracks such as Drown, 5500 and Weight hold up compared to any other rapper’s efforts from 2020.

7. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Alfredo

Off the back of 2019’s Bandana, Freddie Gibbs has teamed up with another legendary producer to release one of the year’s strongest albums. Since I’ve been doing these lists, I’ve shamelessly included every single project to come from Freddie Gibbs, and I’d rate this as his second strongest release in that time. Overall I’d also have to rate this as his strongest project that doesn’t include Madlib, as Freddie proves on Alfredo that he does his best work when paired with a single producer.

6. Westside Gunn - Pray for Paris

Every year when I go to make these lists, I go back and listen to Westside Gunn’s numerous releases from that respective year. Each time I try to see the appeal in the rapper, yet each time I’m left feeling like I’ve missed something. I haven’t disliked his music previously, but I found it hard to distinguish his sound from the endless list of names making the same New York-influenced rap. Pray for Paris is the album that finally woke me up and realize my past mistakes. Pray for Paris, similar to the other Griselda albums from this year, aims to make a timeless album that appeals to a wider audience. Pray for Paris was the most ambitious of these releases and is perhaps the most polarizing as it steps the furthest from the group’s traditional sound. The end result is a great album and my favourite Griselda project to date.

5. Ramirez & Rocci - THE PLAYA$ MANUAL

While previously existing in the underground worlds of Memphis, cloud, horrorcore, and trap metal influenced hardcore music, THE PLAYA$ MANUAL sees Ramirez turn to a local direction for his music as he releases a classic album dripping in west-coast, g-funk and bay area influences. It speaks to the talent of Ramirez that he is able to do so successfully, as it’s one of the more drastic sound changes in hip hop history. 

4. Denzel Curry - Unlocked

Entirely produced by Kenny Beats, the 18-minute EP Unlocked is Denzel at his rapping peak. With no features, Unlocked is 18-minutes straight of Denzel spitting fire and the energy and consistency that he brings over the course of this project speaks to his immense talent. Kenny Beats does a great job providing a background for this release, as his unmistakeable production is unlike any that Denzel has rapped over previously. Overall a great release that would have been heavily in contention for AOTY had it been longer. It’s also absurd to look back and see that I’ve now had a Denzel Curry project in the top four of all five of my AOTY lists.

3. R.A.P. Ferreira - Purple Moonlight Pages

Deciding to release this under his birthname, Milo has enlisted the help of frequent collaborators The Jefferson Park Boys to create one of the most jazz influenced records since A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory. Adding to the jazz influenced beats on this release is R.A.P. Ferreria’s vocals that border on spoken word and jazz poetry at times, which works incredibly well with the production. Underneath all of these sounds are tones of the usual dark and ethereal abstract production associated with Milo and the end result is a jazz record that is undeniably belonging to the underground rapper. Lacking the consistency to be a true classic, tracks such as Dust Up, U.D.I.G., and Ro Talk are the perfect renditions of this sound and help make this such a strong release.

2. Jean Dawson - Pixel Bath

Pixel Bath is an album that escapes an applicable genre tag. Perhaps best fitting under the vague alt-pop movement, Jean’s sound sits in the area right between hip-hop and indie pop. We’ve seen artists such as Kevin Abstract and Yuno produce similar sounds previously, but none sat as delicately outside the reach of any previously defined genre. The end result is a sound that’s unique to Jean Dawson alone, as he has created a sound that is unlike any other. Pixel Bath sees Jean Dawson explore this sound over its 39-minute length and it’s an enthralling listen as he explores the limits of this uncharted territory. Jean also does so with tremendous songwriting ability, which means that this exploration is filled with many classic and memorable tracks.

1.  21 Savage & Metro Boomin - SAVAGE MODE II

Savage Mode II begins with an intro from Morgan Freeman that best describes this project. 

“Great men with great ideals can be separated by hundreds or even thousands of miles and still be in the same place

They can be years or even generations apart in age

And yet, somehow, find themselves on the exact same page

When these men join forces to put the focus of reaching the same goals, to attain the same outcomes, they are not two, but one

Instead of simply adding one's common attributes to another's, they somehow tend to multiply all attributes of both”

SAVAGE MODE II is greater than the combination of 21 Savage and Metro Boomin. It’s perhaps the best trap album to date, and perhaps the best mainstream release in five years. While we’ve seen plenty of great rapper and producer trap collaborations previously, including the original Savage Mode, what separates this one from the rest is that Metro Boomin flexes his muscle as arguably the greatest trap producer of all time, and creates an array of beats that perhaps no other trap producer would be capable of. He does so while keeping them all perfectly suited to 21 Savage’s apathetic style, who brings undoubtedly his best and most energetic effort to date.

While I never would have considered 21 Savage capable of an AOTY caliber album, SAVAGE MODE II is undoubtedly worthy of the title in a year with one of my strongest top 10s. It’s 44-minute runtime is filled with a variety of enjoyable trap sounds, and the highlights such as Runnin, Many Men, Slidin, and Glock In My Lap stand up to any other rap release from 2020.

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Top 25 Albums of 2019

6 months after completing my 2018 list, I have now completed my top 25 albums of 2019. Despite the short turnaround time, I did listen to most of these albums when they first came out and I was pretty extensive these past six months in listening to pretty much every notable rap release that came out. As there’s no element of this having to be a list of what I had been listening to throughout the year, it gave me the opportunity to really dig in and make sure that nothing was missed. As a result, I’m very happy with how this list turned out as overall it’s a really strong top 25.

Overall a few trends that I noticed were that 2019 was one of the all-time weakest years for mainstream hip hop. If you don’t count Tyler, The Creator’s Igor as a hip hop album, then this was a year that was almost entirely dominated by the underground. With the shine off the mainstream, the two trends that I thought were most prominent were lo-fi abstract hip hop and Griselda. Both dominated the year in hip hop, which was overall uneventful for a genre that’s usually as wild and unpredictable as can be. 

Baby Keem - Die For My Bitch

Following up his 2018 effort The Sound of Bad Habit, Baby Keem has ditched the gritty Cardo production and opted for a more varied lineup of producers including some big names in Cubeatz, DJ Dahi and Sounwave. While Cardo returned for one of the standouts Moshpit, which sees Baby Keem return to the sound of his previous mixtape, this release mostly sees Baby Keem explore a variety of more melodic styles such as heartfelt tracks in Honest and Apologize. While it doesn’t always work out perfectly, such as on the guitar led My Ex, it shows a Baby Keem willing to step out of his shell and grow as an artist. While I think I slightly preferred the simple aggressiveness of The Sound of Bad Habit, Baby Keem definitely takes a step forward as a songwriter and artist on this project and the end result is a much more refined sound.

Big Baby Scumbag & Lex Luger - Juvenile Hell

Big Baby Scumbag is an unashamed throwback to the loud and energetic sounds of the 2000s south and exists as some kind of Waka Flocka Flame and Gucci Mane hybrid. Big Baby Scumbag takes that sound to its absolute limit and is so over the top with his energy and humorous lyrics filled with pop culture references that you could almost argue him as being a parody of the genre. That said there’s something endearing about a guy making these fun bangers that are unapologetically influenced by 2000s trap music. It’s not the most technically perfect hip hop, but there’s nobody out there who is having more fun with his music today than Big Baby Scumbag. It’s also wild that Lex Luger still exists and thankfully his production style hasn’t changed at all since 2009.

Bun B & Statik Selektah - TrillStatik

After just missing out on my 2018 list with Return of the Trill, Bun B has teamed up with Statik Selektah to release TrillStatik. It’s an odd pairing on paper, as I never would have predicted the southern legend pairing up with a producer known for his boom bap influenced east coast styled production, but Bun B blends in perfectly on this album with the unfamiliar sound. Even the features on this release are very east coast with names such as NY rappers Method Man, Lil Fame, Fat Joe, Westside Gunn and Talib Kweli, which is a stark contrast to his 2018 release where he collaborated with the usual southern legends such as T.I., Slim Thug, Killer Mike and, 8Ball and MJG. While everything about this release is incredibly weird, it works really well and it’s ended up as the strongest Bun B release for the past decade.

Caleb Giles - Under the Shade

Caleb Giles is another rapper, alongside guys like MIKE, Medhane, Zelooperz, and Pink Siifu, in the wave of young rappers influenced by the lo-fi abstract styles of legends such as MF Doom and Earl Sweatshirt. As I had referenced in my intro, it’s one of the more interesting scenes in hip hop at the moment and has produced a number of the releases on this list. Unlike those aforementioned names, Caleb Giles isn’t afraid to mix in some more melodic elements into his music and his songwriting stands out in a scene of guys making incredibly dry music. While only 23 minutes long, Caleb Giles demonstrates an incredibly dope flow and ear for production on this project that makes his sound standout in one of the more compettive scenes in hip hop right now.

City Morgue - City Morgue Vol 2: As Good As Dead

While almost having polar opposite sounds, I get a ton of flashbacks when thinking back and comparing City Morgue with Rae Sremmurd. Both were young duos who had unpolished first releases that came along at the right time and featured some hit singles that were mostly just the two rappers taking turns shouting. Why I bring up the comparison is that both ended up following up their initial release with a more melodic effort that wasn’t as popular, but in both cases, despite their lessened hype and acclaim, ended up being a lot better. On this album City Morgue have toned down the energy just enough for some strong songwriting and structures to shine through. When you listen to tracks such as Draino, The Give Up and The Balloons, the talent of this duo becomes clear as they show that they have clearly matured into their sound. 

DaBaby - Baby On Baby

Despite listening to a ton of the mainstream rap albums of 2019, there were none that connected quite like Baby On Baby. I’m having a quick look at the Billboard top 25 albums for 2019 right now and there’s really nothing that comes close to being as listenable as this album. While having a really simple formula, this is an effortlessly fun release that doesn’t overstay its welcome at only 31 minutes. I’d almost go as far as saying that this is probably the best mainstream release of the past couple years, as there’s very few albums in this style that can hold up from front to back.

Earl Sweatshirt - Feet of Clay

Feet of Clay sounds like an album of outtakes from 2018s Some Rap Songs. While part of that is the continuation of the magnificent lo-fi production and dope rapping from the Odd Future dual-threat, there’s also the part of the analogy where most of these tracks feel like songs that weren’t good enough to be featured on his 2018 release. Thankfully Some Rap Songs was so good that a 15 minute EP of songs that didn’t make the cut is still a great listen.

Gang Starr - One of the Best Yet

I can easily say that this was the release that I was most surprised by this year, as I definitely did not expect such a strong Gang Starr album in the year 2019 nearly 10 years after Guru had passed away. I really haven’t cared for anything DJ Premier has done in the past 15 years, but this was clearly a project that he poured his heart and soul into. Being able to turn a collection of leftover Guru verses into an album this good is quite outstanding and this is easily the most impressive thing DJ Premier has done since the ‘90s. I think it also says a lot about the consistency and talent of Guru that a collection of leftover verses was able to be turned into such a strong project. Without putting too much thought into it, this would have to be the strongest posthumous release where the deceased artist had no creative input.

Griselda - WWCD

If I had to describe 2019 hip-hop in one word it would be Griselda. While I have perhaps the least amount of Griselda releases of any 2019 hip-hop AOTY list, it’s undeniable the influence Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher and Conway the Machine had over this year as it really felt like they were everywhere. Combining for eight releases and a feature on nearly every other project, 2019 was undoubtedly the year Griselda stamped their dominance over the rap game. As expected WWCD is more of the same gritty and menacing east coast rapping with the same dope verses and production that we’ve come to expect from the trio. While the faux ‘90s throwback sound is hard for me to get fully behind, I can’t argue that there’s a group doing it better than Griselda. A release like this for me is also where Westside Gunn really shines, as I think he is a tremendous rapper to have on features, but an entire album of him can be hard to sit through. That’s probably why I preferred WWCD to most of their other solo projects, as I felt like the presence and variety of all three rappers added a lot to these tracks.

Kevin Abstract - Arizona Baby

While I have now jumped off the Brockhampton bandwagon, I’ll never be able to stop being a huge fan of Kevin Abstract. It may be controversial, but I think outside of Ameer Vann everybody else in that group was along for the ride and Kevin was simply talented enough and had the creative vision to carry all of them. Dom and Matt are fine enough rappers and there’s some talented producers in the group, but Kevin Abstract is without doubt the only reason that Brockhampton ever existed and became so popular. Arizona Baby with its short runtime feels a bit rushed compared to the fleshed out, polished, and incredibly underrated American Boyfriend, but it’s a great reminder of his talent. While I have now given up on Brockhampton, there’s no doubt in my mind that Kevin Abstract has one more classic left in him. When I reviewed American Boyfriend in 2016, I didn’t fully understand the sound yet (I slept enough to leave it off my 2016 list), but I knew and stated that Kevin Abstract was an artist capable of greatness. Arizona Baby is a reminder that the potential for greatness is still there.

Little Simz - Grey Area

While Little Simz gained a ton of attention and praise as a young female artist from the UK for her work on this album, I don’t know how anyone can listen to this project and not have their main takeaway be that Inflo is one the best rap producers in the game right now. Front to back this is one of the best produced albums of the year and it’s a damn shame that Inflo doesn’t work with other rap artists, as it leaves you hungry for more. Although it’s hard to imagine him doing better work with anyone else, as the chemistry between the two musicians on this album is incredible. Little Simz has a variety of styles that she is comfortable with, and Inflo always manages to have the perfect beat for all of them.

Mach-Hommy - Wap Konn Jòj!

I have absolutely no idea how I missed Mach-Hommy up to this point. I ran a hip hop blog in 2016 and 2017 and somehow slept on one of the top underground rappers of that period. I’m glad I finally discovered him however, as he is one of the dopest guys currently doing that abstract east coast sound. While there’s nothing incredibly innovative about this album and it’s only 15 minutes long, I felt like this had to be included as every song on this album is really strong. If I ever get around to redoing my 2016 and 2017 lists, I’d expect Mach-Hommy to feature heavily.

Mavi - Let the Sun Talk

While somehow only being 19 when he recorded and released this album, Mavi instantly became one of the dopest abstract guys out there and one of the hardest cuts from my top 10. While the Earl influences here are incredibly strong (he even sounds like him on tracks such as Self Love and Sense), it’s hard to care when the end result in so strong. One thing that I think sets Mavi apart is that he raps on relatively energetic beats when compared to some of his lethargic counterparts. Some of his flows over these uptempo beats are incredible and have you wondering just how much he is capable of if he is putting out a project like this at only 19.

Ramirez - Son Of Serpentine

While a rapper who has a number of unique and dope styles ranging from g-funk, Memphis, cloud rap and trap, on Son of Serpentine, Ramirez has leaned into a dark, Memphis influenced, energetic trap sound featuring some of the hardest songs of 2019. Bordering on trap metal at times, the opening stretch of Mosh Pit Killa to Psycho On The Loose feels like a full force punch to the face that sets the tone for an album that doesn’t disappoint.

Sickboyrari - Euro Glime

Since discovering Bloodrain while making my 2018 list, I’ve started my Black Kray/Sickboyrari deep dive. While an inconsistent rapper, there’s almost nobody who can capture a perfect vibe for an entire song quite like Kray. Once I catch up and complete the 2021 AOTY list, I’d love to go back and be able to talk more in depth about Kray and the mixtapes that he was releasing from 2013 to 2015. While Euro Glime isn’t on that same level, it’s a great 18 minute EP and Choppa Sing Like Violins is another one of his classic songs.

10. Danny Brown - uknowhatimsayin¿

On uknowhatimsayin¿ Danny Brown had the daunting task of following up the all-time classic Atrocity Exhibition. To the disappointment of many fans, Danny Brown retreated from his daring new style and released what was probably his most traditional album to date. After such a momentous album, uknowhatimsayin¿ felt lazy at 33 minutes, and also felt like it could have been further fleshed out when compared to classic albums such as Atrocity Exhibition and XXX. That said in other circumstances this could have been received a lot better, as there’s a ton of quality on this album from an undeniably great rapper. 

9. Maxo - Lil Big Man

To end the theme on this list of featuring these unknown rappers from this new abstract wave of hip hop, we have Maxo who with Lil Big Man has released an incredibly strong project. The lazy delivery on this project that differentiates Maxo from some of the other rappes of this scene reminds me of Isaiah Rashad, as Maxo here sounds like he should be rapping over the same slow leaned-out southern beats. Instead he is rapping over these relaxed sample-heavy beats, which fit perfectly with his sedated flow. Another reason why I compare him to Isaiah Rashad, is that unlike a rapper like Mike, whose rapping style is slow and unassuming, Maxo manages to also be forceful as his rapping moves along at a deliberate pace. Since this is my last chance to say it, I think overall the production that’s coming out of this scene is incredible and is a huge reason why we’re seeing so many great releases in this style. 

8. Sematary - Rainbow Bridge

Self-described as black metal trap, Sematary uses samples from bands such as Woods of Desolation, Apati and Lifelover to create these amateurish yet infectious trap anthems. Featuring horrorcore lyrics that take things a little too far and a horror b-movie vocal delivery, it’s an overall combination that has no business working as well as it does. It’s such a strange combination that it took me a while to properly understand and appreciate it, but eventually I realized that it’s some of the most fun music being made right now. 

7. Benny The Butcher - The Plugs I Met

I wrote last year for Tana Talk 3, that it was hard to imagine a project executing this faux 90s east coast style any better. But a year later I feel like The Plugs I Met has improved on the sound of Tana Talk 3 and created what’s probably the best east coast boom bap release of the past 20 years. Benny’s menacing flow is so perfeclty suited to gritty New York beats and the production that he finds is consistently excellent. My only criticisms with this release are with the subgenre as a whole. This is more or less the perfect 2010s boom bap release.

6. clipping. - There Existed an Addiction to Blood

clipping. is an artist that I’ve been aware of for a long while now, but have never been able to get into. When they were first getting some buzz in 2013 and 2014, it always felt to me like it was nothing more than people being desperate for more industrial hip-hop in a world that had Death Grips and nothing else. Six years later on There Existed an Addiction to Blood, clipping. have matured their sound into something that finally feels worthy of the hype. Their songwriting has improved a lot and tracks such as Nothing is Safe, Club Down and Blood of the Fang show off just how much they can do in creating atmospheres, transitions and building their songs instead of just being loud for the sake of being loud.

5. Sematary & Ghost Mountain - Grave House

This is the second Sematary release in my top 10 and this time it is his debut mixtape, which was a collaboration with then Haunted Mound member Ghost Mountain. While not being too different stylistically to Rainbow Bridge, Sematary’s sound on this tape benefits a lot from being paired with Ghost Mountain. Ghost Mountain’s half-sung style of rapping helps a lot with Sematary’s goal of creating these hard as fuck trap anthems and his hooks on Nevada and Dead By Dawn are the best that I’ve heard on a Sematary song to date. While this project is a little bloated and inconsistent compared to Rainbow Bridge, the highlights on here feel like the absolute peak of this sound and are some of the most innovative rap songs of the past five years.

4. Fredie Gibbs & Madlib - Bandana

I think it speaks to the greatness of these two artists that there was no way that this album wasn’t going to be incredible. With how consistent they both are, there’s no possible way that this album could have disappointed. Even having to be released in the shadow of 2014′s Pinata wasn’t going to stop this album from being regarded as another classic. With how consistently great these two artists are, I feel like there’s not a lot to be said about this project as it’s exactly what you’d expect it to be. 

3. Denzel Curry - ZUU

As much as I love Denzel Curry, it’s hard to justify a sub 30 minute project full of freestyled verses and unknown local collaborators being any higher on this list. As far as public perception, this album shares a lot of the same traits as Danny Brown’s uknowhatimsayin¿. A lot of people wanted Denzel Curry to continue the momentum of TA13OO, but he instead released a short fun tribute to his hometown. For what this is however, this album is unbelievably good and doesn’t have a single weak track on it. In a weaker year this easily could have been album of the year.

2. Tyler, The Creator - IGOR

I had pretty much never bought into the Tyler, The Creator hype, as the early Odd Future stuff through to Cherry Bomb never resonated with me. With Flower Boy I started to realize how good he could be, but I don’t think I ever expected an album like Igor. Igor is the culmination of a five year transformation from an edgy skate rapper to one of the most caring and creative songwriters next to Kanye West. While Tyler’s rapping is what brought him worldwide attention, it ended up being his production and ability to craft an album that feels like one fluid 40 minute experience that propelled him to being one of the most talented artists in all of hip hop. While some people would argue that this album isn’t hip hop at all, there’s very few rap artists who have made an album as good and as cohesive as Igor.

1. JPEGMAFIA - All My Heroes Are Cornballs

On 2018s Veteran, JPEGMAFIA proved himself to be one of the most talented and innovative rappers of his generation as he broke out performing a style that was truly unique. I was very close to having it as my AOTY, despite the fact that it has a lot of major flaws as an album; the things Veteran does well are so strong and so groundbreaking that it still felt worthy of AOTY status. Hearing such a strong rapper also be able to make beats as diverse and outlandish as tracks such as Real Nega, I Cannot Fucking Wait Til Morrissey Dies and Baby I’m Bleeding was an unbelievable experience, but listening to the album you felt like JPEGMAFIA had no idea how to pull it all together. To sum up Veteran, it was a raw explosion of brilliance and unique ideas that ended up being chaotic. All My Heroes Are Cornballs on the other hand shows a much more focused JPEGMAFIA.

At 45 minutes, All My Heroes Are Cornballs is an album that explores fewer ideas, but does so in a way that causes the album to flow a lot better. On this album JPEGMAFIA feels comfortable settling in on a sound and exploring it over multiple tracks, rather than bouncing around all over the place and trying to do as many things as possible. It ultimately results in a stronger project and an album that feels incredibly worthy of the title album of the year.

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Top 25 Albums of 2018

Two and a half years and over a hundred albums later I have finally completed my top albums of 2018 list. It was an interesting exercise doing this list two and a half years later, as the method of completing this list felt completely different to 2017 and 2016. In those years the lists practically made themselves, as I was limited to what I had been listening to at the time. A lot of which hasn’t held up. 

In a weird way it feels like those lists had a lot more personality. While I can look back with some degree of confusion at artists like 2 Chainz making my top 25, I can at least associate those albums with the memory of listening to them at the time. With this list it felt like I was forced to be biased towards albums that received critical acclaim or that are still relevant today. So in some ways this is a more objective take on a top 25 albums list.

This list will be the same format as always, which is 25-11 in alphabetical order and then the final 10 counted down.

21 Savage - I Am > I Was

While not my personal favorite, I Am > I Was is undeniably 21 Savage’s biggest and most successful album to date. While this album has a lot of the same drawbacks as a lot of major label rap albums (i.e being bloated and lacking a lot of the artist’s personality) this album was still a step forward from Issa Album and contained some great tracks such as a lot, monster and 4L. It’s also getting to the point where almost anything 21 Savage released would be in my top 25.

Baby Keem - The Sound of Bad Habit

I’ve noted several times on this blog how I’m a huge fan of Cardo, who might have the best beats over the past 5-10 years out of any producer. Cardo’s style of dark trap beats with noticeable west-coast influences makes this a great release and Baby Keem’s youthful energetic rapping is the perfect match for this sound. This album also has some serious highlights such as Check Please, Extra and Baby Keem.

Benny the Butcher - Tana Talk 3

Out of the millions of rap artists doing a vintage East Coast sound, Benny the Butcher might be the best. He has a great ear for vintage hardcore east coast beats and he sits over them so well with his calm menacing flow. While this isn’t my favorite sound, it’s honestly hard to imagine it being done any better than it is on this album.

Brockhampton - iridescence

This might have been the most disappointing album of all time. After having the top 3 of my 2017 list all be Brockhampton albums, I was excited as anything for this album. I remember staying up to listen to it at midnight, listening to it straight away and then just being sad. Almost immediately I had stopped liking what was probably my favorite artist at the time. Listening to this album two and a half years later and it’s not that bad honestly. The only part I really can’t get behind is that every single Joba verse is pure cringe. If you had replaced every Ameer verse on the Saturation trilogy with Joba’s autistic screeching those albums would probably be just as bad. Still I’m a huge fan of anything Kevin Abstract does and tracks like Weight, Something About Him and San Marcos hold up really well.

Curren$y, Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Fetti

Freddie Gibbs - Freddie

I’m going to review these albums together, as their inclusion here comes down to one thing: I am a huge fan of Freddie Gibbs and even his mediocre releases are enjoyable enough to make my top 25. These two would actually be my two least favorite releases that he has put out over the past seven years, but they still have their highlights. In particular, I loved hearing Freddie rap over Kenny Beats production on Death Row, even if the 03 Greedo feature ruins the song.

Kryptonyte - Kyrptonyte

This album is basically a love letter to both mid 90s Memphis and DJ Screw era Houston, which means that I was always going to love this album. While the rapping can be forgettable at times, the production is always on point (the standout beat would be Ride with Jade) and the hooks are usually memorable and fun. A bit amateurish overall, but still a very enjoyable release.

Maxo Kream - Punken

This album was a more serious step forward for Maxo, who went from rapping about wide bodied cars on The Persona Tape to rapping about his upbringing and family. It was more of a critical success, but personally I saw it as a step back in quality. Due to the consistent themes on Punken the production and rapping isn’t as varied compared to his previous work and that can make the album feel a bit monotonous at time. Still I love Maxo and Work is a genuine song of the year contender.

Mike - War in My Pen

Mike’s style of lo-fi lethargic rapping is so effortlessly dope on this release and the overall flow of this album makes it such an easy listen. It reminds me a lot of the Earl Sweatshirt album from this year, only a touch more amateurish and without the memorable standouts.

Migos - Culture II

This album was a very late addition to this list, but I felt like it would have been disingenuous to not include it. Looking back at Culture II on this list will give me the same feeling that I get when I look back at some of the other terrible albums that I have included in previous years. I’ll probably never listen to this album in full ever again, but I remember listening to this a ton on release and it easily would have been one of my most listened to rap releases of 2018. Tracks like Gang Gang and Narcos are still dope as ever.

Nickelus F - Stuck

Ever since Trick Dice released in 2015 I’ve been a huge fan of Nickelus F. I absolutely loved that album and if I ever get around to doing a 2015 list it would easily feature in the top 5. While I don’t think without Lil Ugly Mane production Nickelus F will ever reach those heights again, Stuck is a pretty close attempt and was probably the hardest cut from my top 10. Trill Burr in particular is a classic song and feels like it could have easily been featured on Trick Dice.

Noname - Room 25

Room 25 was the one album that I reviewed in 2018 and I still agree with pretty much everything I wrote back then. While not as good as Telefone, this was still a great release. 

Playboi Carti - Die Lit

After seeing so many artists of this new trap wave release one good album and then completely fall off, I was shocked that Playboi Carti was able to follow up his debut mixtape with such a strong release. Even on my previous AOTY list I referred to his sound as lightning in a bottle. While I slightly prefer his self titled debut, this album brings the same energy and perhaps has the better highlights of the two with tracks like Shoota, R.I.P. and Long Time. I think both this and Room 25 speak to the depth of 2018, as neither are too far off being as good as the respective artist’s earlier releases that had cracked my top 10.

Saba - Care for Me

While I was never able to get into Bucket List Project, Care For Me connected with me a lot more. Saba spitting that typical soulful, introspective, and mellow Chicago style is incredibly dope on this record and the trap influences go a long way towards making it listenable. The opener Busy / Sirens especially is an incredible beautiful track.

Vince Staples - FM!

This release being included is evidence to how much of a Vince Staples fan I am. I’m honestly not sure why this album exists or what it’s supposed to be. This weird 22-minute concept album is supposed to mimic a radio station I guess? It’s not very good, but I love Vince Staples and the Kenny Beats production is pretty good here.

10. Black Kray AKA SickboyRari - Bloodrain

While only 16 minutes long, this EP was an easy inclusion for me since Amongst the Dead is one of the best rap songs that I’ve heard in recent years. The first six tracks of this EP are okay and top 25 material, but the closer is just so incredible that I can’t leave this out of the top 10. 

9. Mac Miller - Swimming

This was the hardest album to rank for me, but only because I first listened to it about a week ago. It’s hard to compare this to albums that I’ve heard over three years ago, but in my haste to complete this list and move on to 2019 it has to be done. The production here is for the most part magnificent and Mac’s introspective mellow rapping is consistent across the whole album. What’s the Use and Self Care would be my standouts.

8. Czarface & MF DOOM - Czarface Meets Metal Face

I had the previous Czarface album in my top 10 and it’s mostly for the same reason. I feel like 7L has become so comfortable in this setting and has quietly been one of the best producers of the past five years. When you have legendary rappers like Inspectah Deck and MF Doom rapping (Esoteric is no slouch either) over those beats it becomes a very easy inclusion in my top 10.

7. J.I.D - DiCaprio 2

Described sometimes as a southern Kendrick Lamar, it’s easy to see when listening to this album why these comparisons are made. JID is clearly heavily influenced by the Compton rapper and borrows a lot of his iconic flows. It’s easy to forgive as the end product here is so strong and songs such as Slick Talk, 151 Rum, Off Deez and Off Da Zoinkys are all incredible. While a lack of consistency holds this back from featuring higher, this is still a great album and I’m excited to see what JID does in the future.

6. Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts

When I was making this list, I felt like there was a clear gap between these top six albums and the rest of this list. All of these albums are incredibly strong and indicative of the strength of this year. Kids See Ghosts arguably has Kanye’s best production since MBDTF, as he creates these melancholic atmospheric beats that perfectly match Kid Cudi who is rightly the star of this record. For Cudi, this is easily the best thing that he has ever done and it feels like the great record that he was always destined to make. The biggest thing holding this release back is that it’s only 23 minutes long, so it doesn’t quite fulfill it’s potential. Reborn and Kids See Ghosts would by my standouts and both are absolute classics.

5. Death Grips - Year of the Snitch

This is the first time that I’ve mentioned Death Grips on this blog and it’s for the simple reason that I haven’t really enjoyed any of their work since Jenny Death. Year of the Snitch is a fantastic return to form in my opinion and is perhaps one of the strongest releases in their entire discography. As you could expect it’s a 37 minute adrenaline rush with the noisy chaotic sound that Death Grips are known for. Death Grips Is Online, Black Paint and Hahaha would also be some of my favorite Death Grips songs overall.

4. Pusha T - Daytona

These four Kanye releases in four weeks felt like such a momentous event and Daytona was the perfect way to kick it off. Within 45 seconds of If You Know You Know you could tell that Kanye had returned to form and that these releases, while short, were going to be handled with the same perfectionist mindset that had led to Kanye releasing so many classic albums. Similar to Kids See Ghosts, Kanye perfectly blended in to match his guest and was able to create beats that were absolutely perfect for Pusha T’s aggressive boastful raps. Pusha T also raps on this record like he had something to prove and it ended up being a defining performance for the legendary rapper. When thinking back to 2018 my mind will always go to Kanye releasing four albums in four weeks. Especially since in the case of Daytona and Kids See Ghosts the end product was so strong.

3. Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs

Some Rap Songs is perhaps the release that has benefited the most from this list being made two and a half years late. While unnassuming at first, I found myself repeatedly going back to this one over and over. Earl’s lo-fi production on this album is incredibly hypnotic and serves as a great backdrop for the Odd Future rapper. While it has often been masked by edgy or depressive lyrics, Earl has always been a great rapper and I feel like on Some Rap Songs he was able to reach his full potential. Overall this album is just extremely impressive as both the production and rapping here are top notch.

2. JPEGMAFIA - Veteran

I’ve gone back and forth dozens of times as to which of these next two albums would feature at number one as both would be incredibly deserving. In the case of Veteran, this angry, raw and rebellious record served as my introduction to JPEGMAFIA, who is now one of my most loved rap artists. Featuring gltich influenced beats and aggressive vocals, JPEGMAFIA has created a truly unique sound that pulls influences from every corner of the rap world. While this album has the strongest standouts of any record released this year (1539 N. Calvert, Real Nega, Baby I’m Bleeding and I Cannot Fucking Wait Until Morrissey Dies to name a few), ultimately I was uncomfortable having it at number one due to the fact that the middle of this album is so inconsistent. Apart from that it’s an amazing album and borderline classic.

1. Denzel Curry - TA1300

As of writing this Denzel Curry is my favorite rap artist thanks to his enegetic delivery, tremendous ear for beats and unique songwriting. It should be no surprise then that I loved this album, considering that TA13OO is close to being his magnum opus while undoubetedly being the album that led to him being taken seriously. Prior to TA13OO Denzel was just the ex-RVIDXR KLVN rapper who made Ultimate, who was also dismissed by many as just being a trap artist. After this album everyone was forced to respect him as an artist, rapper and songwriter, as it’s impossible to listen to this album and not recognize the raw talent that is on display. The highlights on this album (Vengeance,  Black Balloons, Sirens and Percs) are all incredible and help this album get to borderline classic status. As of right now I’m still hesitant to call this album a classic, as there’s a few hiccups on this album and overall it lacks a cohesiveness when listening to it front to back. Perhaps I’m being a little harsh, but considering the talent of Denzel I know that he has a genuine classic in him. I’d be surprised if when it’s all said and done TA13OO is still remembered as the highlight of his discography.

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Top 25 Albums of 2017

While I guess this blog is on hiatus again I really wanted to create a new top albums list for 2017, to serve as both a reminder of the great music that came out this year and as a time capsule of my initial reaction.

I think the most interesting part of 2017 was that it was the year of the internet. 2016 seemed like a huge transitional year for hip-hop, as guys like Lil Yachty, Lil Uzi Vert, Kodak Black, Rob Stone, Amine, 21 Savage, D.R.A.M, Young M.A and Desiigner all broke out with hits. While names like Drake, Gucci Mane, and Kendrick were still around, for the most part, we were learning a new name with each huge song.

Now, for the most part, we've completely moved on. Just about all of the above names have had an album flop in the past 18 months, and apart from 21 Savage and maaaybe Lil Uzi Vert, it seems like the above list has lost all of its star power.

But with the old generation gone, in came a new generation of louder and more progressive SoundCloud rappers. The SoundCloud generation doesn't look like it's going anywhere, but 2017 had XXXTentacion, Lil Pump, Lil Peep, Lil Xan, Ski Mask the Slump God, Smokepurrp and Trippie Redd all breaking out. I don't think we'll ever see an explosion like that ever again.

2017 was also the year where the internet's first boyband broke out, as suburban kids from all across the world discovered their new favourite band.

This list will follow the same format as last year, which is 25-11 in alphabetical order and then the final 10 counted down.

25-11:

2 Chainz – Pretty Girls Like Trap Music

I wrote a review on 2 Chainz in 2016, which was pretty scathing to say the least. While at the time I wondered if I would ever be able to enjoy a 2 Chainz project, all doubts are now gone as Pretty Girls Like Trap Music is actually really fire. While the mixing on this is absolutely terrible and there's quite a drop off after 4 AM, the entire album has a great vibe and the first four tracks are all tremendous. If Mike Dean had done a better job straddling the line between lo-fi and off-puttingly lo-fi, then this easily could have cracked the top 10.

21 Savage – Issa Album

Firstly, this album was incredibly disappointing. Luckily I'm a huge stan for 21's style, so that and tracks like Whole Lot and Numb mean that despite it being nowhere near the quality of Savage Mode, it's still one of the 25 best albums of the year.

21 Savage, Offset and Metro Boomin – Without Warning

If I had more time with this album this easily could have been higher, as this was probably the hardest cut from the top-10. I reviewed this fairly recently and not a lot has changed about my opinion.

Freddie Gibbs – You Only Live 2wice

While not the best album in Freddie Gibbs' discography, an average release from Gibbs is still better than 90% of hip-hop albums. With deep subtle beats, this album is mostly Gibbs slapping and showing that he still has it, which is as great as it sounds.

G-Worthy – G-Worthy

This EP was locked into my top-25 list as soon as I heard the first 10 seconds of Ain't Trippin, which still might be the smoothest beat that I've ever heard. I've reviewed this fairly recently and Cardo is still that legend.

Gucci Mane – El Gato The Human Glacier

2017 was an incredibly disappointing year for Gucci, which might be a result of my expectations being too high considering that he has two albums featured on this list. However, similar to Drop Top Wop, El Gato The Human Glacier is a very low-effort release that relies on the synergy between Gucci Mane and his producer. In 2016, Gucci Mane was on an absolute hit parade, while in 2017 apart from I Get The Bag, which is for all intents and purposes a Migos track, Gucci didn't really deliver any memorable hits.

Jay-Z – 4:44

I've never really been the biggest fan of Jay-Z, but 4:44 kind of blew me away as it is almost the complete opposite of what Jay-Z has been his whole career. While the storytelling and rapping is mostly the same as it ever was, I don't think Jay-Z has had a sound this subtle since Reasonable Doubt. I think what I've realized is that if instead of making hit after hit, had Jay-Z been an underground Rhymesayers MC I would have been a much bigger fan.

Lil Peep – Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1

While most people don't give Lil Peep the credit he deserves on this record, writing it off as a bad Bones/$uicideboys imitation, I think Lil Peep does that sound better than either of those artists. While this release isn't that great, Benz Truck is legitimately a song of the year candidate and the overall sound created on this release is tremendous.

Lil Pump – Lil Pump

I reviewed this and nothing has changed. If you don't like it you don't get it.

LNDN DRGS & P on the Boards – P on the DRGS

I haven't been coming back to this release too much since I reviewed it in January, but I still have an incredible soft-spot for the future-funk style production featured on this release.

Oddisee – The Iceberg

Like Really might be my favorite Oddisee Song, by a really large margin as well. While Oddisee has always been a great rapper and an even better producer, Like Really was the first song he made that I ever felt like coming back to, which made me appreciate The Iceberg a lot more than any other non-instrumental Oddisee release.

Tyler, The Creator – Flower Boy

Part of me wants to write this off as overrated and not include it, but the production on this release is so fucking good. I've never really liked Tyler as a rapper or songwriter, but all of the sounds on this album are so bright and lush.

The Underachievers - Renaissance

Not the best Underachievers record, but it's more consistent spitting by one of the most underrated groups in hip-hop. The highlight of the record is the Ronny J produced Crescendo.

Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory

This is the second year in a row I'm keeping Vince Staples out of the top-10 out of pure spite. I was so excited for this album after BagBak, but I guess Vince Staples isn't interested in being the goat rapper any more.

XXXTentacion – 17

As mentioned above, 2017 was for all intents and purposes the year of Soundcloud rap, which XXXTentacion was well and truly the face of. I know everyone hates XXXTtentacion, I kind of hate him too, but this release and tracks like Revenge are actually good and worth celebrating.

10. Future – FUTURE

I think I'm the only person who likes this album. While apparently this is supposed to be bad, it's an hour of consistent trap from an artist who has perfected his sound. In general, I don't understand what people want from Future, as while Monster is obviously a fucking classic, I don't see what makes this a worse release than something like DS2. People complain about a lack of stand out tracks but Poppin' Tags, Flip and Draco are all incredibly strong. That Mask Off track is pretty good too.

9. Big K.R.I.T – 4eva is a Mighty Long Time

I reviewed this fairly recently and I think I'll let that review speak for itself.

8. Playboi Carti – Playboi Carti

There's something strangely alluring about this record that I can't put my finger on. Carti on this record exudes this irresistible style and his simple yet unique sound does a great job holding up over the 46-minute long record. I don't have any future expectations for Carti as this record, as well as Magnolia on its own, seems like lightning in a bottle.

7. Gucci Mane & Metro Boomin – Drop Top Wop

Gucci Mane and Metro Boomin might be the most can't miss duo in the entire rap game. This release could have been three hours long and it still would have featured in my top-10. While apart from Met Gala this record doesn't reach any significant highs, the vibe that Gucci and Metro created has made this Gucci's most consistent and arguably best release.

6. Migos – Culture

I wish I could put this album higher. Culture coming out was just like this huge fucking event. Bad and Boujee is going to stand forever as their biggest hit and everything else in the lead up to this album made it seem destined to be a classic. Unfortunately, I just don't think the Migos style is capable of creating a classic. That's not to say this isn't really good, there isn't a dull track on this release and T-Shirt, Bad and Boujee, Deadz, What The Price, Slippery and Kelly Price are all really strong tracks.

5. Kendrick Lamar – Damn.

This album is good. Really good. That Easter Weekend when it came out might be the most memorable album release of all time. However, what it all comes down to is that while this album is really, really, strong, there's not a single track on here that I'd put in my Kendrick Lamar top-15. Even writing this I can't even think of what the strongest track on here is. While there's nothing on here that's lower than a 6/10, we're talking about an artist with multiple 10/10 tracks and ultimately Damn just isn't as strong as the rest of his discography.

4. Denzel Curry – 13

While only 13 minutes, this is so strong to the point where I don't care. Had this been 40 minutes we'd be talking about a genuine album of the decade contender. Denzel on this continues to be the best spitter in the rap game and the beats that he is rapping over are all insane. Zeltron 6 Billion is my song of the year as well, as Denzel over that Lil Ugly Mane beat is the most perfect thing that I've heard in ages.

3. Brockhampton – Saturation II

2. Brockhampton – Saturation III

1. Brockhampton – Saturation I

I had to go with this as the top three. When I think back on 2017, all I'm going to think about is Brockhampton. Kevin Abstract is an absolute genius and he is surrounded by a ridiculous amount of talent. I'm not exactly sure what else I can say about these three albums.

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Top 25 Albums of 2016

 Like a normal rational human being, I've left my end of year list to the start of January due to the fact that, as seemingly unbeknownst to most publications, there are still albums being released as late as December 31st; shocking I know. It also helps the format of my blog, as the 30th was expectedly pretty dull, so it's a great time to skip a week and get on that revision game.

This list is basically what I'm expecting to listen to most in the future, based on my past listening habits and how sustainable those listens seem. It's slightly different to just listing what I've been bumping the most in 2016, as there's a couple noticeable cases where albums I played pretty consistently throughout the year are starting to feel stale.

While this is a top 25 list, 25-11 I'm going to group together as I don't really feel like splitting hairs that thoroughly. I've listed them in alphabetical order as well so that nobody will get confused. There is also a pretty noticeable gap in quality between 10 and 11, so it's a pretty great place to divide the list. The top 10 albums I know I'll be playing in the future, whilst it's going to be kind of random as to which of the other albums I'll be going back to the most.

I’ll try to explain a bit about why I liked these albums, however this will mainly be contained to albums that I haven’t already reviewed. This looks like being the longest post I’ve ever made so I’ll be cutting as many corners as I can.

Finally, this is a hip-hop list, which means no Frank Ocean, no Anderson Paak and no Childish Gambino.

Alright here we go:

25-11:

A$AP Mob – Cozy Tapes Vol. 1: Friends

One of the low key bangers of the year with incredibly consistent vibes and continually solid rapping. There’s nothing special about this album that’s able to hook me into loving it, but the quality of the tape is undeniable.

This project is also notable for getting me to recognize the talent of A$AP Rocky again, as he comes across as an absolute superstar on this tape. A$AP Nast also announced himself as one to watch, as he was also a class above his fellow A$AP brethren.

De La Soul – and the Anonymous Nobody

Employing a live band, De La Soul were able to capture some really impressive sounds, including the deliciously funky Pain and the tangibly melancholic Greyhounds. While this tape was a little all over the place and I’m still not sure how I feel about the rock influences, Plug 1-3 are all good enough rappers that this tape is consistently entertaining.

Desiigner – New English

New English feels like the rap equivalent of a grindcore album, with short energetic bursts of wild erratic melodies that end at the perfect moment. I’m not going to pretend that this is a classic or anything, but what Desiigner does well here is enough for me to keep coming back to it.

Future – EVOL

It seems that in a lot of circles 2016 is being viewed as the year that Future fell off. While his 2015 was never going to be topped, EVOL was enough for me to be satisfied with Future’s year. The opening four tracks are all prime Future and Low Life deserves all of its popularity.

Probably my second favorite Future release overall.

Gucci Mane – Everybody Looking

Despite being incarcerated for the first five months, 2016 was the year of Gucci Mane. While this album isn’t the best of the year, if we’re measuring albums based on importance this is easily number one. No Sleep is an unforgettable introduction to the first post-prison Gucci Album, while tracks such as Guwop Home and 1st Day Out Tha Feds show that this project was well and truly worth the hype.

Ka – Honor Killed the Samurai

While Ka isn’t an artist that I can listen to all the time, whenever I do give Honor Killed the Samurai a spin I am blown away by the sheer talent on display. While the lack of rhythm and hooks prevent me from being able to fully enjoy this record, the fact that Ka can be so entertaining with his monotone style and minimal production, goes to show just how talented a rapper he is. 

I’m going to debut my support blog soon, which I’ll be doing a top artists of 2016 post on. Ka will definitely feature on that list, as in 2016 Ka capitalized on the success of Dr. Yen Lo and turned himself into one of the most respected names in underground hip-hop.

Kanye West - The Life of Pablo

The more I listen to The Life of Pablo, the more I think that Kanye was really close to releasing another classic album. 30 Hours, No More Parties In LA, Real Friends, Fade, Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1, Saint Pablo and Ultralight Beam are all some of my favorite Kanye songs, but as a front to back project this is an absolute mess.

Lil Yachty – Lil Boat the Mixtape

While a lot of people hate Yachty, the style that he has developed here is truly innovative and captured a sound that a lot of people wanted to hear. If you go into this album looking to check off the boxes of what makes a great hip-hop album, you’re going to have a bad time, in fact I’d compare this to something like the new Negative Gemini album, before I’d put Yachty’s name in the same sentence as Kendrick Lamar.

This project has its large and obvious flaws, but there are some genuine classics here as Lil Yachty stumbled upon a truly unique and truly great sound.

Rae Sremmurd – SremmLife 2

In my opinion, this was really close to being an absolutely phenomenal album. After already proving themselves to be the king of hooks, the brother’s rapping ability took a huge step forward on this project, while Mike Will once again brought the heat.

The Look Alive to Set the Roof stretch is AOTY material, but the rest of this project leaves a lot to be desired as a lot of tracks fall just short of hitting their mark.

Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 3

Although I wasn’t kind to it in my review, this was still a pretty great release and all of my gripes with it are kind of superficial. I have a ton of respect for both Killer Mike and El-P, so while this isn’t the first album that I’ll be going to in order to get my fix from those artists, I’ll still go back to this occasionally.  

Schoolboy Q – Blank Face LP

While I absolutely loved this when it first came out, there are about 25 minutes that easily could have been cut from this project, which ultimately makes it kind of hard to get through. Once my hype for the stronger tracks on this album dissipated, I lost a lot of enthusiasm for the project and I haven’t been going back to it much since. The production here is still phenomenal; there will be a long summer’s drive in 2018 where I give this another chance and I’m guaranteed to have the time of my life.

Tory Lanez – I Told You

This might have been the worst timed release in the history of music. You almost have to wonder if Frank Ocean has some kind of beef with Daystar Peterson, as the surprise Blonde drop fucking destroyed this album. Anyway, this is one of the funnest albums of 2016. From the admittedly hard tracks like Another One and Flex where Tory showcases some truly infectious flows (I don’t care what anyone says, the delivery on “458, I dropped it in the Winter//Big homie asked a nigga what I'm down for//Looked him in the eye and said to do it 'til I'm bigger than ya”” is dope as fuck), to the poppier tracks like Cold Hard Love and Luv, this album has some really great highlights; although 80 minutes is way too long for this type of project. Still I’m a sucker for changing up flows to ride a beat, which Tory does phenomenally, so I’m pretty excited to see what he does going forward (I’m still yet to listen to the two tapes he recently dropped, but I’m pretty stoked).

Vince Staples – Prima Donna

I’m probably being a bit too harsh leaving this out of my top 10, but I was really disappointed in this project. I said in my review that this felt like a throwaway release to get his tracks with James Blake out there to the public and I still strongly believe that. From rushed tracks to Summertime 06 b-sides and the aforementioned James Blake tracks, there isn’t really a lot here to go back to; especially when his discography is as solid as it is.

I’m a huge Vince Staples fan, so I’ll probably turn around on this eventually, but there’s definitely better projects from this year.

YG – Still Brazy

I really never expected anything from YG as an artist, yet on this project YG showed a ton of potential as he dropped a project that was oozing west coast funk while showing a surprising amount of lyrical density. When you listen to the bouncy west coast bangers such as Why You Always Hating and the phenomenal Twist My Fingaz, you’d assume YG would be spitting ignorant lyrics that you can tune out while cruising in the whip. Yet tracks like the hard hitting Who Shot Me? show an artist that is just as good at penning a verse. While this was a project that I thought didn’t play that well front to back, what it does well is well and truly stunning.

Z-Ro – Drankin & Drivin'

Z-Ro is a god damn legend. Just like other legends from the Houston scene, Z-Ro makes album that is absolute prime driving music, as there’s nothing I’d rather hear coming home from work on a hot day than Z-Ro’s smooth pimp ass singing. Devil Ass City in particular may be one of the tracks of the year (I’m probably never going to get the Curtis line out of my head), while the rest of the project is some of the smoothest shit I’ve heard.

10. Czarface – A Fistful of Peril

When writing reviews, I try to approach from the perspective of a non hip-hop listener.

It kind of bugs me when people dismiss an artist like Lil Uzi Vert by saying that they don’t have insane rhyme schemes or interesting subject matter, as they are cheap criticisms that are only used against people in the hip-hop genre. A band like Radiohead doesn’t have dope multi-syllabic rhyme schemes, but nobody cares because they aren’t part of the culture.

Therefore, I like to approach hip-hop music as if it weren’t hip-hop. 21 Savage should be judged as he is, not compared to verbose poets such as Nas and Andre 3000. When listening to Czarface, I kind of question my previous viewpoint, as Esoteric and The Rebel INS put on an absolute clinic of wordplay, rhyme schemes and pure fucking rapping. It’s an absolute delight to listen to and the dirty electronic production of 7L was enough to elevate their sound to something truly heavenly. 

9. Noname - Telefone

Noname might have the best flow in all of hip-hop at the moment. With a soft style that has Andre 3000 levels of smoothness, Noname rides her production creating infectious melodies that often outshine her mostly forgettable production. Her rapping focuses on repeating inflections with her continually reusing the same delivery each line to creative a hypnotic repetitive flow that is undeniably groovy. With witty one liners and vivid storytelling, Noname also proves herself to be an interesting MC as well.

Ultimately with the combination of her unbelievably pleasant delivery and interesting subject matter, Noname is perhaps the rapper that I was most interested in hearing actually rap in 2016.

8. Gucci Mane - Woptober

While Everybody Looking was a bigger and more important release, Woptober was simply better. Featuring a dark, heavy and designed for skrip clubs sound, Woptober manages to be an incredibly competent album with zero dull moments and some pretty great highlights such as Money Machine and Hi-Five.

Gucci Mane using his respect to get all of the big names in ATL production to come together and create one cohesive project is one of the best things to happen in 2016, seeing this much talent work together is truly stunning.

7. 21 Savage – Savage Mode

Both of these artists had a tremendous 2016. Metro Boomin had genuine hits in Low Life, Father Stretch My Hands Pt 1, and Bad and Boujee, while 21 Savage became one of the most popular rappers in the game and a must have feature.

This tape exemplifies why these guys were so popular, as they both bring their A game and play off each other tremendously. Metro catered his production perfectly to 21 Savage’s subtle style while still putting in one of the best production efforts of the year. While a lot of people don’t get it, there is a reason 21 Savage blew up on this tape, as his endearingly gangsta lyrics and slow leaned out style is genuinely dope as fuck.

6. Danny Brown – The Atrocity Exhibition

Perhaps the most progressive record of 2016, as Paul White experimented with a lot of elements that would have felt completely out of place behind any other rapper. While an instrumental version of this album would be amazing, I fear that I’d spend all of my listens bewildered at how Danny Brown made these beats work.

5. Maxo Kream – The Persona Tape

The Persona Tape is the most Houston album that’s come out in an incredibly long time.

As someone who spent most of 2016 listening to a variety of Houston Legends, having Maxo Kream drop his love letter to the golden age of Southern Hip-Hop was truly a blessing. While Trap music is great, when listening to a track like Coming Dine you can’t help but feel nostalgia for the g-funk influenced, crack selling, pimping, and leaned out sounds of 90s Houston.

This album isn’t all Houston nostalgia, as tracks like Smoke Break and Out The Front Door show an artist who is capable of creating dope tracks in a variety of fresh and innovative styles. Speaking of Smoke Break, the parts where the beat drops out and Maxo is rapping over just the percussion is some of my favorite rapping of all of 2016.

Overall this is an incredibly fun project by an incredibly talented rapping employing beats that make me genuinely happy. Tremendous release.

4. Denzel Curry - Imperial

While Denzel is guilty of rapping some absolute gibberish in the name of hype verses with insane rhyme schemes, as you’re rapping along and going HAM alongside the most energetic rapper in the game all is forgiven as Denzel continually crafts some of the funnest flows that you can’t help but rap along with (See Sick and Tired).

This album was recently updated by his label, dropping Pure Enough and Narcotics for the anthemic Me Now and the upbeat Good Night, which is one of the few album edits that I 100% got behind. Perhaps it was the fact that it made an album I had played to death feel fresh again, but I really got behind this change and it really elevated my opinion of this release.

3. A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service

The first disc of this album is perfect. While I like the second disc a lot more than when I reviewed it, if the whole project was at the level of the first disc then this would be a legitimate album of the decade contender.

This album is really well blended with incredibly interesting beat shifts and rappers talented enough to ride them perfectly. Busta Rhyme’s verse on Mobius is pretty legendary, but the beat changing before he comes in elevates it to another level and the album is full of great moments like that. Too many times in hip-hop you’ll see the beat show you everything it has to offer in the first 10 seconds, so the refusal of basic loops really makes this an especially memorable album.

2. Kendrick Lamar – Untitled Unmastered

I am comfortable admitting that I am an unabashed gigantic Kendrick fanatic who considers K-Dot to be without question the most talented spitter to debut after the year 2000. So it should come as no surprise that I would rate an album of his unmastered outtakes so highly.

2 (Get Top On The Phone) and 7 (Levitate) are genuinely great, while the rest is Kendrick coasting and producing shit that’s better than 99% of the rap game.

This also marks the second straight year that Kendrick has had the runner up spot for my AOTY, with him obviously releasing the much stronger and much more polished To Pimp A Butterfly last year. While that would suggest that I preferred 2015, while I did really enjoy its top end I think 2016 edges it from a pure depth perspective.

1. Isaiah Rashad – The Sun's Tirade

Honestly, nothing came close to this.

This is pretty much everything I want in a hip-hop record, as Isaiah Rashad blends the west coast sounds of Kendrick with his Southern roots that are influenced by legends such as Scarface and Andre 3000. The way Isaiah rides the phenomenal production with his lazy southern drawl makes this an album that I can play at any time.

Jay Rock also drops the verse of the year here, in another effort that nobody came close to, besides Three Stacks of course. 

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Noname - Room 25

After an incredibly long hiatus, I've officially decided to start writing reviews for this blog again. While part of that was due to feeling nostalgic while reading all of my old reviews, the main reason is that I'm feeling like I'm losing touch of the hip-hop scene. The last two years doing this blog it felt like I was on top of everything, whereas there's been more than a few releases this year that I've completely missed. While starting with two artists who have previously featured in my top 10 isn't the greatest way to rectify that problem (with potentially Kanye the week after), it's the excitement of these releases that has me so willing to write reviews again. I'm also going to have to take a mini-hiatus soon, so this blog will probably lose the strict once a week format. While desperately trying to find a dope release has been one of the highlights of this blog for me, spending entire weeks getting familiar with whack mcs is a surefire way to get burned out. Anyway, this blog reopens by reviewing the sophomore effort from Chicago femcee Noname, Room 25.

Despite similar socio-economic conditions that spawned the violent hard hitting sounds of New York, Chicago has always had a much more wholesome approach to hip-hop. Being mostly driven in the cities early days by one of most prevalent soul rappers Common, Chicago hip-hop has always fallen back on its long history of soul and jazz music. It was this influence as well which was always suited to a more complex analytical approach to rapping. From Common, Lupe Fiasco and the early days of Kanye West, Chicago set a blueprint for soulful hip-hop which touched on the world around it.

Recently the generation that grew up on that era of Chicago Hip-Hop has begun to emerge, as rappers such as Saba, Vic Mensa and most notably Chance The Rapper have popped up rapping what's more or less the same style that made Common a huge name in the early 90s. With jazz influenced soulful beats and calm introspective rapping, Chicago has produced some of the better underground mcs of the last few years. So far my favorite rapper to come out of this wave has been the 26 year old Fatimah Warner, better known as Noname.

Noname's debut mixtape Telefone took a lot of people by surprise. While we had previously heard the rapper's efforts on notable releases from fellow Chicago rappers Chance The Rapper and Mick Jenkins, Noname's combination of smooth delivery and songwriting made a lot of fans instantly fall in love. When first hearing Telefone, the effortlessly casual delivery was something that I was immediately enamored with. It was a J Cole-esque kind of delivery, where no matter how complex or fast the rapping was, the delivery gave off the vibe that Noname was having a casual conversation with you. Noname also reminded me of Andre 3000, with how she was able to so easily blur the lines between each bar and create these really dope verse structures that just bounced along to the beat. Despite the talent on display, I had always found the modern Chicago scene to be a little dull, however Noname with her rhythmic delivery and different flows brought energy to a style of hip-hop that always seemed kind of lifeless.

On her follow up to Telefone, Noname has improved a lot as a rapper. While Telefone has its weaker moments, which is forgivable for a mixtape, Room 25 takes advantage of its short length to never take a dip in quality. Front to back this is an incredible display of rapping by an artist who is quietly one of the most skilled at the moment. While at times Noname is guilty of rapping some gibberish in the name of dope rhyme schemes (”Bruce Almighty, Aphrodite and Dominoes, Yummy biscotti, tamale, over matching my undertones”) I've always been one to forgive these kind of lines as the end result is usually so dope.

The other area where I felt like Noname improved a lot on this album was her subject matter. While she had always been adept at telling a story or describing her views on certain topics, on Room 25, Noname takes that skill to the next level by touching on a variety of issues. While the album is very clearly told from her point of view, as each topic tends to be discussed from how it effects her as a human being, Noname still manages to touch on a lot of relevant topics. The track Prayer discussed the current state of the USA and how violence, corruption and vanity are all things that Americans have to deal with daily. Noname also touches on themes of sex, race and her femininity giving a window into how the world around her effects her as an artist and a person. The opener Self was a perfect introduction to the themes of this album, as it makes it obvious to the listener that Noname is putting her whole self onto this record. It's the introspective conscious Chicago style that allows Noname to put out one of the more personal records that I've heard in recent times.

As for the sound on this album, the production is handled entirely by the upcoming Chicago based Phoelix. While also singing on this album, Phoelix ends up being the other star of this record as his authentic sounding jazz production provides a great backdrop for Noname's calm delivery. With a sound this consistent and soulful, it's easy to see how he has become the go to producer for the rappers of the Chicago scene, as his music has also become synonymous with other upcoming Chicago artists such as Saba and Smino. The other reason I see Chicago rappers going to him so often is that his sound just screams Chicago so much and leaves you thinking of record's such as Common's Resurrection.

As great as the production on this record is, I think what sets it back is the lack of variety. This applies to the songwriting of Noname as well, as apart from the upbeat Montego Bae, every song more or less follows the same structure. As I previously alluded to, this is very much the Chicago style as other talented rappers such as Mick Jenkins have made the same mistake of diluting their work by sticking to the same sound over an entire record.

After hearing such a great song on her previous release in Diddy Bop, it was disappointing to hear Noname retreat back to her roots and create an album that was so stereotypically Chicago. Fortunately Noname is strong enough as an artist where these flaws are hidden and this is still a great album. My only concern is that you can't help but wonder what kind of potential this release had if Noname had taken a few more risks to try something different. From a commercial point of view as well this album is likely going to be a flop. After the momentum Noname built with Telefone, she had a chance to rise above the other underground Chicago artists and make a huge name for herself. While it's admirable that she used this platform to take a strong social stance, there's a plausible reality where Noname really blew up off the back of this record. However, cream always rises to the top and with so much talent and such relatability I can still see Noname fulfilling her commercial potential in the coming years.

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21 Savage x Offset x Metro Boomin - Without Warning

A couple of weeks back during my Future x Young Thug review, I wrote a lot about how surprise collaborations made trap music the absolute most enjoyable genre to follow as a fan of music. Not even a week after I finished that review, the completely surreal event that was the Young Thug and Future collaboration was topped by trap giants 21 Savage, Offset and Metro Boomin.

There were a few reasons why this release was so exciting upon release that I will touch on in detail. The first is that this is the first release from Offset outside of Migos. While it's almost impossible to rank the Migos, Offset is perhaps the one that most people envisioned creating the best album. While a Quavo album would be over the top and certain to have a huge hit on it and a Takeoff album would be 40 minutes of pure heat, Offset was always the member that everyone could see creating a great album. His combination of effortlessly great rapping and his ability to craft a memorable hook, while not unique among his Migos brethren, always made it fun to imagine what an Offset release would sound like.

When it seems everything I've listened to this year has had an album-stealing Offset verse, it's exciting to finally hear a release where he isn't in the shadow of Migos. 21 Savage's subtle unique style is a great juxtaposition to his sound and you probably couldn't ask for a rapper that could have done a better job supporting him while not taking the spotlight. While this isn't an Offset album and it doesn't really sound like he had a lot of creative direction on this release, it's a nice teaser of what is hopefully yet to come.

Another reason why this release was so exciting, is that unlike some of the other collaborations in years past, this one was practically guaranteed to be good due to how effortlessly all three artists produce content. While Issa Album was a gigantic disappointment, 21 Savage on Savage Mode showed that with the right production, he can produce a good track just by mumbling his leaned out gangster raps. In fact, all throughout his career, whenever he has had the chance to spit over a great beat, he has been up to the occasion. As his flow sits so well over the top of brilliant downtempo trap production.

Meanwhile, I'm not sure I've ever heard a bad Offset verse, or a bad beat from Metro Boomin, so even if they grabbed their worst verses/beats this would still be a great project. In the case of Metro Boomin, we've seen over the past 18 months through his collaborations with Gucci Mane, Nav, and 21 Savage, that Metro Boomin always gives his all when he does the production for an album.

The final reason that I'll touch on his how perfectly each of these artists complement each other. While I briefly touched on the relationship between 21 Savage and Offset, I think it's worth noting that both of these artists have done their best work over Metro Boomin production. When I first heard about this release, the first thing I thought of was No Heart and Bad and Boujee, two tracks that were perhaps my favourite of 2016 and tracks that undeniably show the best of 21 Savage and Offset.

To go back to what I touched on earlier, Metro Boomin seemingly uses these albums as a playground to perfect his craft and I think it's becoming more and more likely that he is the one providing creative direction for his collaborations. On this release, Metro Boomin has produced 33 minutes of dark cinematic trap beats that are incredibly consistent at the high standard that we've come to expect from a man who is undoubtedly the best producer alive.

Similar to his contribution to Savage Mode, the beats here are extremely subdued which means that there's nothing here as obviously great as a Mask Off or Monster. However, despite that, I think this record shows a producer who has perfected his craft. When you listen to the haunting synth on Disrespectful, the repetitive piano on Ghostface Killers or the absolutely breathtaking transition between My Choppa Hate Niggas and Nightmare, you can't help but just sit back and admire how Metro has taken trap production to the next level.

While a lot of people are complaining that Metro has become a little too formulaic. I think he has proven that he can change it up when he has to and the consistent themes and techniques used on an album like this only help create a mood and drive home its nocturnal nature.

There's not much to say about the rapping on this release just because of how predictable Offset and 21 Savage are. 21 Savage brings a performance similar to that of Savage Mode, however, one difference is that he seemed a lot hungrier on that release. Having now accepted his role in the rap game, over the past 12-months we've seen 21 settle into just doing what he does best and shying away from any experimentation. While this isn't the worst thing in the world, the variety in flows on Savage Mode, such as the one on Bad Guy that I initially criticized, really helped the flow of that album, as you now have to wonder if 21′s monotone style can hold up over a full-length release.

Meanwhile Offset is predictably great, which is no surprise because as I alluded to earlier, we're yet to hear a dull verse from one of the hottest artists in the game. While this tape isn't his best work, it's still some great rapping and Offset appears to be built for Metro's dark cinematic production.

What kind of kills the momentum of this record is that it never really hits any infectious high points. While I'd struggle to name a bad song, there isn't a classic on here such as a No Heart or a Bad and Boujee. While the Travi$ Scott and Quavo featured Ghostface Killer, Rap Saved Me, and the Offset track Ric Flair Drip are all great, none of them are anything that's going to come up when discussing the songs of the year.

If this record had one or two classics on it, then this would be a genuine AOTY contender. Instead, it is just one of the most consistent projects released this year and something that I can see myself giving a ton of plays too.

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Big K.R.I.T. - 4eva Is a Mighty Long Time

I always felt like I should've loved KRIT or at the very least enjoyed his music. Coming out of Meridian, Mississippi, Krit has always been extremely open about his southern influences. Whether it be UGK, Scarface, Eightball & MJG or Outkast, Big Krit's music often comes off as a tribute to the great southern rappers who preceded him.

As someone who has such a strong affinity for the golden age of southern hip-hop, there's plenty of artists who I've graded higher than what I probably should have just because of their southern roots. Two notable examples from last year were Isaiah Rashad and Maxo Kream, two southern artists who took a lot from artists such as The Geto Boys and UGK. Zaywop and Maxo released two of my favorite albums from last year, and a large part of that was the warm feeling that the southern nostalgia gave me.

In the case of Krit, this isn't the case, as, despite all of the influences that he takes from the aforementioned legends, there's something that's inherently dull about his music.

As I spent this week going through Krit's discography, I wanted to pinpoint exactly why I've never been a fan of his music. After many listens, which grew more and more painful as I gave multiple plays to his average albums, I think I've narrowed it down to one main issue; Big Krit is only capable of making about three or four songs, which he has reworked into what is now eight albums that each contain about an hour of bland music. Krit is a great lyricist, but from a songwriting point of view, he is incredibly limited as there's only so many southern bangers, introspective dingers or motivational boppers that you can hear before you demand growth from an artist.

On 4Eva Is A Mighty Long Time, which comes seven years after Krit initially burst onto the scene, we finally see this growth from Krit. After spending five years doing the same shit and making music for his fans, we finally have some progress from somebody who was perhaps the most talented rapper to never make a great album.

While this album may seem intimidating at first, with its two discs and 85-minute length, each disc can be seen as a different album. The first disc, titled Big Krit, is the artist doing the same thing that he has always done. The second disc, titled Justin Scott, is his more personal side and a side of Krit that we've never seen before. This disc features a progressive mixture of hip-hop, gospel, soul, and funk, as Krit works in sounds that are specifically meaningful to him as a person.

While 85 minutes is a long time, especially from an artist who has had a discography filled with overly long albums and countless filler tracks, this album feels very short. There's very little, if anything, that I'd cut off this record, with everything down to the skits providing some value to this release. The duality concept also makes the album feel a lot shorter, as it really does feel like listening to two separate albums.

While given what I've already written, you may assume that I wouldn't particularly like the first disc, which featured Krit doing more of the same, however, I think he gets away with the lack of progression on this disc due its short length and the consistency of the songs. Featuring artists such as Goodie Mob, TI, and UGK also helps add some credibility to this disc, as the songs that they contribute to are all among the strongest on the record.

The highlight of this disc is the jazzy Aux Cord, which combines a laid-back jazzy drum fill with uplifting spacey synths that create an incredible atmosphere. This incredible beat provides a backdrop for Krit to rap about the classic music, such as Sly and the Family Stone, that would go on to influence his life and therefore the second disc of this album. The fact that this track was a single, despite its lack of catchy hooks or big name features, speaks to its quality. It was a great choice as a single as well, as the strength of Aux Cord was the only reason that I had the patience to sit through an 85 minute Big Krit album. I had written off Krit about five years earlier, but Aux Cord had me excited to give the rapper another chance.

My one gripe with the first disc is the inclusion of the two hollow and poppy tracks 1999 and Layup. 1999 is particularly offensive as it is completely out of place on this album and seems to serve no purpose other than to be a catchy song for the radio. Layup, while having a strong Bone Thugs N Harmony influence, is more offensive for how dull it is, as Krit's slow soulful singing makes this track stand out in a negative way.

The second disc of this album is why I feel so strongly about this release, because as I said this disc is the much-needed progression that we demanded from one of the stalest rappers in the game.

While there's not a lot of tracks that I'll be coming back to off this disc, its strength is in its consistency and how well everything blends together. Tracks such as the gospel heavy Keep The devil Off, the Andre 3000 influenced Miss Georgia Fornia, and the funky Everlasting aren’t must-listen classics, but they are all strong tracks that show a level of diversity that was completely unexpected from somebody who had spent so long being bland.

The highlight of this disc is ironically the least progressive track featured, the slow and soulful Mixed Messages. On this track, Krit delivers the vocal performance of the album and perhaps his career. Rapping about the hypocritical nature of some of his raps, Krit follows the theme of the Justin Scott disc by delivering a track that feels incredibly personal and meaningful.

There's not a lot of double albums that I like in hip-hop. In fact, there are few albums over 75 minutes that I can recall liking. Therefore it is absolutely staggering that an 85 minute Big Krit album can be this good. While this probably won't make my top-10 at the end of the year, this is an incredibly solid album and by far the best thing that Krit has ever done.

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Future x Young Thug - Super Slimey

There are two things that make Trap Music one of the best genres to follow in music: the consistency/work rate of nearly all of the prominent rappers and their ability to drop such exciting pieces of music without any notice.

As for the first point, trap has become one of the fastest moving genres in music history. Take The War On Drugs for example, a band that's been able to maintain momentum and a devoted fan-base by releasing an album every three years; something that would never happen in trap. This isn't even that notable of an example as for the most part, music fans of other genres are willing to have patience and respect for artists to allow them to take time off without losing relevancy.

This is in stark contrast to Future. From 2014 to 2015, Future had one of the best stretches of all-time in mainstream rap. DS2, Monster, What A Time To Be Alive, Beast Mode and 56 Nights were all absolutely huge and for the most part good albums, but ever since then, everybody has been dying to declare Future washed up. A lot of people were calling Future washed up after 2016, where he had a modest year by his standards. EVOL was a hugely successfully album, Purple Reign was forgettable in the context of his discography and the collaboration with DJ Esco missed a lot of people. Yet despite multiple platinum hits and one of the albums of the year, people were desperate for him to move aside and let guys like 21 Savage and Lil Uzi Vert take over.

Earlier in the year, Future proved his dominance over trap yet again by releasing two albums in two weeks. With back to back number one albums, and a track in Mask Off that's perhaps his hottest to date, Future should have put to bed any talks of him giving up his spot in the rap game. Yet eight months passed, Future went quiet, guys like Lil Pump and XXXTentacion were gunning for his spot and we started to hear the same voices of doubt over Future's ability to stay at the top of the trap game. Yet, as reliable as ever, Future once again is showing that he is going nowhere.

A lot of rappers don't adapt to the pace of trap, but the guys that do, the Young Thug, Migos, 2 Chainz and Gucci Mane's of the world, become very successful. It's why a lot of guys fall off, as it seems that the one thing harder than gaining momentum, is keeping it. As a fan, it's great, as while people can yell oversaturation as much as they want, with hard work these rappers are consistently pumping out real quality, which makes being a fan of trap music in 2017 so exciting.

The other thing that I touched on, while not being particularly exclusive to hip-hop, is the ability for an album like this to come out with practically no warning. Two stars like Future and Young Thug coming together for a mixtape should have been a huge deal that had fans drooling over its impending release, yet we received about a days notice before the entire tape dropped at once. While I won't go too into depth on this point, I will add that as a fan of trap, moments like this are absolutely incredible. Even as someone who has never really loved Young Thug, I was absolutely stoked when this release was announced as at the time it seemed like such a momentous occasion.

As for the album itself, which due to my rushed post-exam schedule I've only had a few days with, it seems to be for the most part forgettable. Future, Young Thug and the production are all on point throughout the entire release, but for the most part there doesn't seem to be a defining characteristic that makes this release shine. The production, which is lower budget than you'd expect and has a couple of notable omissions in Metro Boomin and Zaytoven, while incredibly consistent, never shines as much as a Wyclef Jean or a Mask Off. I don't want to blame the production entirely, as Future in particular has done some great work with guys like Southside in the past, for the most part it seems like Future and Young Thug wanted subtle low-key production, which doesn't really suit the over the top personalities of Future and Young Thug. One beat which I thought did stand out was the London On Da Track produced Killed Before, which features a luscious guitar that suits Young Thug's trademark style.

As for the performances of both Young Thug and Future, I left this tape feeling like both could have had a lot more energetic contributions to this release. Future at his absolute most energetic is one of the best things to listen to, but unfortunately he seems fairly held back on this tape. He does provide some quality when he opts for more soulful flows, which he has often juxtaposed his aggressive style with, but for the most part, it seems like Future is coasting on this release.

As someone who isn't particularly a fan of Young Thug, it's a lot harder for me to judge his contribution to this release. I will say however that there's a ton of Young Thug verses that I've enjoyed, but as of now, that includes nothing that features on this release.

The best vocal contribution on this release is the sole feature on this tape, Offset. The Migos stealing the show whenever they are featured is common place and this proves to be no exception as Offset effortlessly drops the verse of the release. As a result, Patek Water is the strongest track on this release.

I think it's also quite interesting that the other tracks I find myself enjoying most were the ones that feature only one of the artists, particularly Feed Me Dope and Killed Before. While that could just be a coincidence, I think it says something about how well these two artist's styles mesh, which was a question that a lot of people would have had going into it.

In the end, while Future albums are notorious for taking a lot of time to sink in for me, there's very little here that I see myself coming back to. While this is an incredibly solid tape, with absolutely no down moments, its lack of strengths makes it incredibly forgettable.

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Gucci Mane - Mr. Davis

Had this not been done on a short week, I would have written a review of the latest Wu-Tang album, which while not quite a return to form is an incredibly solid effort by a group that I had completely written off.

Instead, almost exactly a year after I last reviewed one of his full-length projects, I return to the world of reviewing the Wopfather. In doing so it gives me a great opportunity to discuss two things; the first being a review of the last year of Gucci Mane, as it has been incredibly interesting to watch him attempt to maintain the momentum that he had out of prison. The second is a chance to elaborate on something that I had heavily referenced in my past two reviews, the negative influence of major labels in hip-hop.

While I didn't review it (as yet again I was short for time), last-year Gucci Mane dropped his third album in six-months when he released his December album “The Return of East Atlanta Santa”. While it was a good album, It never really came into consideration for my end of year list. While part of that is that it didn't have enough time to sit with me, having only come out a few weeks before the end of the year, the main reason was that it just wasn't good enough. Whilst it had a few tracks which are among the strongest that Gucci has released post-prison (Both, Last Time and St. Brick Intro), the overall project lacked the cohesiveness and consistency for me to really vibe with it.

When I reviewed Woptober last year, I noted how the consistent atmosphere of the project made it a lot more listenable than the more mainstream Everybody Looking, which without a doubt had most of the better songs of the two projects. While I didn't really take much notice of the pattern last year, the release of Mr. Davis has made it clear just how much influence Atlantic had over Everybody Looking and The Return of East Atlanta Santa, which is the main reason why they weren't as good as Woptober, which was more or less the return of mixtape Gucci.

The other album that's been released since I last reviewed a Gucci Mane project is Droptopwop, his full-length collaboration with mega-talented producer Metro Boomin. Just like Woptober, Droptopwop was mostly free from Atlantic's influence and as a result, it was a really good project front to back. While this blog was on hiatus at the time of its release, had I reviewed it I would have been absolutely glowing, as Metro and Gucci combined for 37 minutes of ultra-consistent and ultra-hood rap music.

I'll get more to exactly what I mean by “Atlantic influence” in a moment, but first I want to express how happy I am that Gucci is going independent again. Whilst a large part of Droptopwop's quality was the magnificent production from Metro Boomin, I think it says a lot that Gucci Mane was able to put out a release so quickly that has trumped all of his major label albums. My opinion is that Gucci works best when he has a stroke of inspiration or a fleeting feeling that he is able to capture over an hour-long mixtape. This is what initially got Gucci Mane famous, as it seemed that every couple of weeks Gucci would get a rush of motivation that allowed him to put out his current mindset over an hour of consistently great music.

Considering the budget that Gucci now has to work with, combined with the fact that we are in the golden age of trap production, I can't wait to see what Gucci is able to do once he is free to do whatever he wants.

Mr. Davis is the Gucci Mane equivalent of a DJ Khaled album. While I don't want to put any of the blame on the Wopfather, as he has had a number of commitments over the past 10-months (marriage, a book, life etc), Mr. Davis sounds like the work of somebody who had no desire to make this album. Whether it's the long-time that this album was in production for (the first single came out in February and a lot of the tracks reference the working title Droptopwizop, which was changed about six months ago), an amount of time that is completely unprecedented for Gucci Mane, or the amount of features, which often seem out of place and dominate the tracks that they are on, Mr. Davis sounds unlike any Gucci Mane album that's ever been released.

The amount of features on this album reeks of Atlantic getting as many high priced features as they could in an attempt to make this release relevant. Gucci Mane has recently joked about pumping out these albums to get some money for his honeymoon and it wouldn't surprise me if there was a shred of truth to that statement. The collaborations with The Weeknd, Big Sean, Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown and TY Dolla $ign scream “low-effort cash grab”, and the low effort verses from Gucci Mane all throughout the project don't do anything to dispel that notion.

The one redeeming feature of this album is that it does feature some really great songs, the most notable of which is the Migos collaboration I Get The Bag. Picking up where they left off on Slippery, I Get The Bag is more evidence that Migos are absolutely undeniable when they are at full-force. Led by an extremely strong Takeoff verse, I Get The Bag sounds like a leftover track from Culture, which is part of why it is so great as all of the Migos brought their A game. The Gucci Mane verse however, which comes off as a feature, is extremely low-effort and perhaps the least memorable part of the entire track.

Further illustrating the point of this album being held up by features, another strong track on this release is the Slim Jxmmi led Stunting Ain't Nuthin. While Slim Jxmmi, and to a lesser extent Young Dolph, killed their respective verses, it's yet another track where the contribution from Gucci Mane is extremely forgettable.

I'm a huge fan of Gucci Mane, but overall this is a terrible album. While Gucci isn't the type to turn down money, this album reeks of an Atlantic cash grab and has none of the hungriness that has made Gucci Mane such a legend. Coming back to the point I've been making over the past couple of weeks, when you compare this overproduced album that was almost a year in the making to some of the made-in-one-day classics that he released pre-prison, you really have to wonder what labels are bringing to the table. I can not wait until the day that I get to review an independent Gucci Mane release.

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Lil Pump - Lil Pump

This review is coming a little late because for some reason I thought it'd be a great idea to reopen this blog only a couple of weeks before I had exams. I'm kind of glad that I am doing this late, as it has given me the chance to talk about an absolutely preposterous event: Lil Pump has had more first week sales than Lil Yacthy. I don't think I'll ever get a better chance to discuss the current state of hip-hop than this, so let me go back a bit so that I can put this into proper perspective.

Last week I briefly touched on how revolutionary the internet was to hip-hop, in that it took power away from labels and gave it back to the artists. What I mean by that is all throughout the late 90s and 00s, artists were limited by the major labels that they relied on to put their music on the radio, stock their cds in stores and advertise their shit to the masses. Even on a lower scale, independent artists mainly relied on the strength of their label, as brands such as Rhymesayers, Def Jux and Stones Throw became just about the only way that an independent artist could get their music out to a lot of people.

If you go back a little further, what makes an album like Illmatic so great is that it was a combination of myriad talented musicians that were able to provide an unfiltered look into 1994 New York. Artists like BDP and DJ Premier set the foundation for the New York sound, whereas albums such as Illmatic provided a young person's view of that sound and where it needed to go.

“But yo, the Wu, the Wu got somethin' That I know that everybody wanna hear, 'Cause I know I've been waitin' to hear. You know what I'm sayin'?”

The now famous quote by Raekwon illustrates my point perfectly. Artists build upon styles to the point where young talented musicians want to take those sounds further and make the music that they want to hear. It only takes one group like the Wu to take that sound to the next step, the step that they want it to take, to change hip-hop forever.

Perhaps unfortunately, 36 Chambers sold two-million copies by the end of 1995, which is part of why hip-hop would never be the same. As hip-hop evolved up until 2010, it became a genre where guys like the Wu were finding it harder and harder to get a platform to break the mould, as labels didn't want to take any business risks.

Another example is Southern Hip-Hop. After the Geto Boys came around as the south’s answer to Public Enemy, the region experienced an almost decade-long exploration of styles, as artists like UGK, Outkast, Three-6 Mafia and DJ Screw took the genre to a variety of innovative and exciting places. Then we had the No Limit and Cash Money revolutions and labels started to realise the money that was in Southern Hip-Hop. I won't go too much into it, but I think it says a lot that we've experienced more innovation in Trap music and Southern Hip-Hop in the past five years than we had in the previous fifteen.

As the internet grows more popular and platforms such as Soundcloud and Spotify give the consumer more and more power, we're going to see artists like Lil Uzi Vert, Kendrick Lamar, Future, Lil Yachty and Kevin Abstract rise up and create the music that people want to hear. As a result, hip-hop is moving at an incredibly fast pace, which brings me back to my previous point about Lil Yachty.

While there were some mitigating factors, such as nothing on Lil Yachty's album having anything close to the hype of a track such as D Rose, it's absolutely unbelievable that less than 20 months after Yachty took the hip-hop world by storm with Lil Boat and after a 2016 where he had three platinum songs, it already feels like he's an old head compared to the new generation of boisterous teens looking to make their mark.

The internet has given a platform for any young creative artist to take the hip-hop game by storm and I think the ease at which this can be done has resulted in an incredibly high turnover of hot MCs. It only seems like yesterday that guys like Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage and Desiigner were the young upstarts, whereas now they all seem like veterans.

Occasionally you'll get an artist with the creativity and the talent to take the game by storm. That's when we get to see truly great works of art. More likely we'll get to see an MC that has the creativity to make the music that people want to hear, but not the talent, and that's where I get to Lil Pump's debut album “Lil Pump”.

Part of why I wrote that long intro is that there really isn't a lot that you can say about this record, as it's charm comes from its simplicity. Enlisting a group of aspiring producers, ranging from complete nobodies to talented upstarts in TM88 and Ronny J, Lil Pump mainly relies on repeating the title of the song numerous times over lo-fi distorted trap beats. The rattling of the synths and Lil Pumps young voice chanting numerous catchphrases is a surprisingly great sound and one that somehow holds up over this projects 36-minute length.

I'm not going to sit here and pretend like Lil Pump is some great rapper or anything, because that couldn’t be further from the truth. I've said before that sometimes I feel like this type of music shares more similarities with EDM than hip-hop, which is the case here as this is well and truly house-party music. With all of the drops and repetitive beats, this album sounds like something that you'd typically hear in some dark inner-city club.

Lil Pump's only contributions to this record come through his ability to generate hype through catchy choruses and his occasionally energetic delivery. If you compare Lil Pump to a rapper like Scarface or Andre 3000, you're naturally going to find 1,000 ways that the 17-year-old falls short, but by simply taking contemporary hype trap music to its obvious destination, Lil Pump has created a record that feels truly relevant.

This won't be the best album that I review all year, but with tracks like Boss, D Rose and Gucci Gang, it almost feels like it will be the most relevant. In 10 years time when people are going back to see what 2017 was like in hip-hop, this is one of the first albums that I'll show them, as it's honestly the most progressive release of the year. A lot of people are blowing this off as a parody of trap music, which it honestly does sound like at times, but ultimately what Lil Pump has done here is genius.

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G-Worthy - s/t

The Chronic, Doggystyle, All Eyez On Me, 187 He Wrote, Music to Driveby, Regulate... G Funk Era, and It's On 187um Killa. These aren't the best albums or the biggest albums, but they are a few albums that illustrate just how iconic the early 90s were for west-coast hip-hop. After rap exploded commercially in the late 80s, labels were throwing money at everything. This led to a whole bunch of young hungry west-coast guys going into uncharted territory and innovating a ton of styles that are still getting jacked to this day.

Throughout the late 90s and 00s, west-coast hip-hop became mainly an underground thing as hip-hop started to become more and more dominated by the south. Apart from The Game, who did a great job representing the west-coast, the scene more or less died from a commercial point of view. Labels were less interested in bankrolling young innovative talents and instead opted for bland marketable guys that they could count on to lead to a great ROA in the coming quarter.

It wasn't until the internet exploded that the young talented west-coast artists were given a voice again. Come 2010, two young collectives, Odd Future and Black Hippy, together were able to finally able to bring some relevance back to the west-coast. With the eyes that they brought to the scene, greater attention was brought to rising artists such as Lil B, YG, Brockhampton and Vince Staples, to the point where the west-coast scene is finally booming again.

Speaking of YG. I think a landmark moment for west-coast hip-hop was his 2016 album Still Brazy. While artists like Kendrick Lamar, Earl Sweatshirt and Vince Staples were moving away from their LA roots, YG came along with an album that was pure unfiltered west-coast and one that managed to capture the area perfectly without sounding too nostalgic.

There are a small handful of artists that are also doing a great job recapturing that LA feeling while staying fresh and innovative, and this week's review features three of the most prominent.

Coming out of Fort Worth, Texas by way of Denver, Colorado, Cardo has been quietly putting together some of the hottest beats of the past three years. Untitled 2 (Kendrick Lamar), Goosebumps (Travis Scott), Deadz (Migos), That Part (Schoolboy Q) and Vice City (Jay Rock) are all absolute slappers and part of the reason why Cardo is one of the fastest rising producers in hip-hop.

Despite residing in Texas, g-funk seems to be Cardo's first love as he is quietly leading the way for a g-funk revival. His 2016 collaborations with Nef the Pharoah and Payroll Giovanni were both dripping in a modernised nostalgic g-funk and were both produced at the excellent standard that we've come to expect from Cardo. Any future Cardo collaboration, of which there are a few to come, is an absolute must-listen as he is one of the most consistent producers alive.

Born and raised in South Central, LA, G Perico looks like the google image search result for a west-coast rapper. With his trademark fresh as fuck Jheri Curl and unquantifiable swagger, G Perico brings his charisma across into his music as he spits these confident and braggadocios rhymes about life in LA. There is not a single thing about G Perico that isn't 100% west-coast, and I think this is the main reason why he has been rising in popularity so much over the past ~15 months.

I touched on his rising popularity in my LNDN DRGS review earlier in the year and he has since capitalised on that popularity by releasing his debut LP “All Blue”, which was released to almost universal acclaim. While still deeply rooted in the underground, All Blue made sure that everyone had G Perico on their “ones to watch” list, as he has been on fire these past two years.

Jay Worthy's career hasn't progressed much since I wrote my LNDN DRGS review and he doesn't really seem to belong alongside these two legends of the LA underground. Although in saying that, as part of LNDN DRGS he has been doing some stuff that's extremely fresh and innovative and it wouldn't shock me if he ever gets to the level of G Perico and Cardo.

As for the album, simply titled G-Worthy, it was recorded in two days back in early 2016 and at the time of me writing my LNDN DRGs review, I thought it had been lost to time. Hell, I even expressed some doubts during last week’s review. Thankfully the work has been released as it is 22-minutes of pure g-funk bliss. While you can only expect so much from a release recorded in two-days, which definitely comes across throughout the album, there's too much talent and potential on this release to not make it a great listen.

I think the potential of this release is best displayed on Ain't Trippin, as Cardo perfectly chops up a sample to create one of the funkiest beats you'll hear this year. While I am rather indifferent to Jay Worthy as a rapper, I think this is probably his strongest verse as he rides the groovy production while changing up his flow to add to the track's excessive funkiness. G Perico then comes in after the simple but effective hook to provide a stark contrast with his nasally Eazy-E-esque flow, as he comes in rapping about “the life of a g”. It’s a simple track, but it’s one of the few examples on this EP of everything clicking perfectly and the members of G-Worthy showing a strong chemistry.

The rest of this EP is extremely hit or miss, as at least half of the verses and hooks on this release are extremely forgettable. G Perico is a lot more forgivable as even at his lowest he is carried by his charisma, but some of the efforts by Jay Worthy and the features are super mediocre. Thankfully, Cardo is extremely consistent on this tape, but you can only expect so much out of a release that was made in two days.

It's a shame that this release was so rushed, as while this EP comes across as effortless, it's still a good listen. Perhaps one day we'll get a proper full-length G-Worthy album, as all this release does is tease their potential. While sometimes all of the elements of G-Worthy come together perfectly, such as Never Miss, Ain't Trippin and the hooks on Get Mine and Scandalous, this EP as a whole is ultimately rather forgettable.

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Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Luciferian Towers

After a 7-month hiatus, I am officially reopening this blog. While I have abandoned the hip-hop only aspect, every other aspect of this blog will be exactly the same. I will still try to keep it as mostly hip-hop, but if it's a quiet week I'll instead review another genre.

The main reason for doing this is how much I've fallen in love with Brockhampton over the past few months, as a large part of why I was onto them so early was because of my Kevin Abstract review last year. I'm absolutely overjoyed that I got to take part in the hype from day one, as it has been one of my most enjoyable experiences as a music listener.

Brockhampton was the most obvious example I'll ever get, as it is the perfect example of how this blog can broaden my horizons and introduce me to newer rising artists. Another future example that I'm hoping comes to fruition is the impending G-Worthy collaboration between Jay Worthy, G Perico and hip-hop producer prodigy Cardo. While I'm not the biggest fan of Jay Worthy and G Perico, an entire record produced by Cardo sounds absolutely amazing. Had I not reviewed Jay Worthy's collaboration earlier in the year, I likely would not even be aware of G-Worthy's existence.

Anyway, I return to the world of reviews by touching on the 6th full-length release by rising buzz-band Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

While I wasted a lot of words re-introducing my blog, I think I'll make them back by being able to skip the introduction to Godspeed You! Black Emperor (to hence be referred to simply as Godspeed). Coming out of Montreal, Godspeed became to Post-Rock what Iron Maiden is to Heavy Metal, or perhaps more fittingly for this blog, what Dr Dre is to west coast hip-hop. In doing so, Godspeed became one of the few bands that are unanimously agreed upon as being essential listening, with classics such as F♯A♯∞ and Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven! being absolutely required listens.

I'd be lying if I said that I chose this album for any other reason apart from wanting to spend a week listening to copious amounts of Godspeed. Since I've stopped writing this blog, I've been listening to a lot of acclaimed music that I initially glossed over as I originally went through the canon in what was probably a few months. I only had a handful of full listens of Godspeed albums in my lifetime, so putting in a cavalcade of thorough listens into what is one of the most iconic bands of the past 20 years was something that I was really keen on.

Godspeed belongs in the Black Sabbath, My Bloody Valentine and Dr Dre conversation, meaning that they came along doing something so innovative that entire styles of music are now seen to be derivative of them. Building on the work of early first-wave post-rock innovators such as Talk Talk, Godspeed introduced a few elements that to this day are still seemingly trademarked by the post-rock giants.

The first of which, and perhaps simplest, is the use of spoken word recordings to enhance the atmosphere of a track. The most notable example of this is the tone-setting somber monologue at the start of Sleep, which is one of the most memorable parts of their discography.

The second of which, and perhaps the most important, is their use of drones to create an atmosphere and make their peaks more meaningful. F#A#∞ is an incredibly minimal album, which is part of its charm. Its minimal compositions make every snare, strum or pluck seem that much more important. When pre-hiatus Godspeed built to their peaks, it was the long atmospheric drones that made them feel so much more important.

The third of which, and perhaps the most famous, is what has become somewhat derivatively referred to as cresendo-core. While building slowly to an orgasmic apex was nothing new in post-rock, Godspeed took that notion to the absolute extreme through a combination of extremely minimal lows and absolutely dizzying heights. Prior to their hiatus, it seemed that this formula would have led to Godspeed releasing a parade of classics, however, I am unfortunately going over the Godspeed formula to illustrate how the band has been deviating from it post-hiatus.

I don't want to spend too much time going over their other post-hiatus albums, as they aren't incredibly relevant to this review, but I will quickly touch on everyone's reintroduction to Godspeed and their first track in a decade, the incredible Mladic.

It's not that unpopular to label Mladic as Godspeed's best song. Having been written pre-hiatus, Mladic inspires memories of the to-the-point classic Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada. Mladic is loud, aggressive and doesn't spend too much time meandering with drones. If you were dubious of Godspeed's ability post-hiatus, then Mladic was a full-force punch to the face.

However, what followed Mladic has been three albums of half-thought-out ideas, smaller pieces and a lack of any meaningful concepts that last longer than 15-minutes. For a band once known for their ability to entrance you in these 60+ minute cohesive projects, post-hiatus Godspeed sounds like a band that has too many other commitments to put in the effort required to produce such a masterpiece.

For as good as Mladic was, Godspeed in days past would have been able to carefully craft an entire album around the 20-minute masterpiece, yet instead it sits on a half-baked album featuring tracks written decades apart.

That is what is so disappointing about current-era Godspeed. While the musicianship is still as perfect as it ever was, and a well-crafted song, such as Anthem for No State, brings back memories of their higher points, it feels like Godspeed have lost all interest in returning to the band that was as good as any at crafting a classic album. We are now in the era of Godspeed tracks, where 80-minute journeys have been condensed down to 9-minutes, leaving each peak and each valley feeling forgettable in comparison.

While it's interesting seeing Godspeed play around with some new sounds, as for example, this album plays around with some distorted space-rock-esque sounds on tracks like Bosses Hang, it's not nearly enough to make this album, or post-hiatus Godspeed, seem relevant.

While this album is a little too formulaic and perhaps too passive, I do think it's the best of their post-hiatus work, but more importantly, I think it ultimately doesn't matter. While we should be appreciative that Godspeed are still releasing music, while they remain in their mid-life state of responsibilities and lack of motivation, Godspeed are now more-or-less completely irrelevant.

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SiR - Her Too

The last time I opened up a review discussing Top Dawg Entertainment, I was absolutely glowing in my tone and I even praised it as potentially the greatest label in hip-hop history. This week SiR gives a great opportunity for me to discuss the one negative aspect of Top Dawg Entertainment: it's marketing and promotion.

Ignoring Schoolboy Q and Kendrick Lamar, whose promotion is handled entirely by an external label, the artists on TDE often drop to little fanfare and often post disappointing sales numbers as a result. There are two recent examples that do a good job displaying how TDE has been handling their releases: Ab-Soul and Lance Skiiiwalker.

Ab-Soul is an artist that could easily be a much bigger deal in the hip-hop game. After riding the hype of his Black Hippy brethren, Ab-Soul capitalised in a major way with the release of his 2012 album Control System. Control System to this date remains the biggest release to be solely distributed by TDE, in fact, it holds that distinction by a large margin. I wasn't paying attention at the time so looking back I'm actually quite bewildered how Control System did so well. My first instinct was that it would have been released after Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, with the public tuning in to see what else TDE were capable of, but that wasn't even true. The second thing I thought was that it could have been due to the hype of his singles Illuminate and Terrorist Threats, but it turns out they were also released after the album. So basically Control System got the basic TDE treatment yet the project's quality allowed it to succeed in spite of it.

Since then, Ab-Soul has built himself a reputation as the worst member of Black Hippy, a reputation that is completely unfair but also kind of deserving (in all fairness it's a stacked group and somebody has to be the worst member). It's also a reputation that has partially been the reason that the last two Ab-Soul albums have fallen completely flat, although the promotion of TDE has not done him any favours.

When you compare the hype of Schoolboy Q's latest release, you realise just how little TDE does for their artists. In the lead up to Blank Face I think we had about five music videos and countless other videos and interviews which were all over the blogs and keeping Blank Face constantly in your head. I wasn't the biggest Schoolboy Q fan, but the promotion for that album had me excited to the point where I felt like it was necessary to write a 1,000-word review on it (to be real, Blank Face was probably the album I was most excited about dropping last year).

The second type of artist on TDE is their B team, which consists of guys like SZA, Lance Skiiiwalker and SiR. While the promotion of the A team (Rashad, Rock, Ab-Soul) is a little more of a contentious point, I don't think anybody could agree that TDE has been handling these artists even remotely well. Apart from SZA, who to her public frustration has been unable to get TDE to actually release her album, the other two have had their albums drop to literally no promotion. TDE is a household name and Isaiah Rashad is a name that most hip-hop fans are familiar with, yet most fans have never even heard of Lance Skiiiwalker and SiR.

Introverted Intuition dropped to literally no hype. I go on hip-hop blog sites and forums every single day and the first time I saw the name Lance Skiiiwalker was the moment the album came out. I'm not sure how a label would even contemplate dropping an album without any build, as literally the only thing that album had going for it was the fact that it was dropped on TDE.

Probably a bigger offender was how TDE dropped SiR's 2016 EP, which was by dropping it to no acclaim on a secondary label that fans didn't know was affiliated with TDE. I like to think I have a pretty good idea of what's going on in hip-hop and I only first heard of SiR about a month ago.

The counterpoint is that being on TDE is promotion enough for these artists and that having TDE put the time and effort into perfecting their sound is well worth the lack of hype that they generate. Although to provide yet another counterpoint, what good is a great album for an artist if nobody is listening to it. Then again, I have listened to Lance Skiiiwalker's album and both SiR releases, when I almost certainly wouldn't have if they weren't affiliated with TDE, so clearly the TDE name counts for something, despite their inability to promote a release.

Anyway, I guess I should actually get to the music on this release, as I was actually kind of impressed with this release from SiR. The 10th of February (side note: god this review is late) was actually kind of stacked from a music point of view, but the quality of this EP meant that I never really considered anything else.

SiR is a smooth singing alternative R&B artist that excels in capturing that hazy nocturnal soul sound that's becoming more and more relevant in the modern R&B scene. What I think separates SiR from the pack however, is that he has employed a lot of producers that primarily do hip-hop beats, thus giving this project more of a Neo-Soul vibe. As with any project that TDE is involved with, you know that the production is going to be on point the entire release and Her Too is absolutely no exception.

Vocally, SiR reminds me of a less raspy Anderson Paak, who actually makes an appearance on this EP, as his constant break-outs into high-pitched energetic emotional shrieks is redolent of the man who has redefined Neo-Soul in recent years. The contrast between him, King Mez and Paak on New LA, a great track that showcases the new wave of LA-based Neo-Soul artists, shows that SiR is a lot more laid back than his contemporaries as Paak and Mez's contributions are by far the most upbeat moments of the project.  

The stand-out track on this project is the very Californian W$ Boi, which captures the sound of LA whilst remaining noticeably SiR.  While the production on this track isn't anything special, it's the songwriting and vocal performance of SiR that really elevates it above the rest of the tracks. The track also has an anthemic hook that is guaranteed to be ringing in your head for at least the next few days.

Overall, while unspectacular and a project that's not going to feature on my AOTY list, I've really enjoyed listening to this EP over the past two weeks as it's an extremely solid EP that's one flaw is that it doesn't reach any notable heights. If SiR ever releases a full-length project on TDE, I hope that they have the common sense to properly promote it, as SiR has shown a lot of potential on Her and Her Too.  

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Sampha - Process

As I sit here, typing a review for an album that I wasn't really excited for while looking ahead at a week of reviewing yet another unexciting album, I'm considering whether the strictly hip-hop theme of this blog is worth keeping. While further hip-hop exploration was the main goal of this blog, which to date has worked out incredibly, there's only so many of these reviews I can write without driving myself insane. While it has gotten to the point where I could write these reviews in my sleep, given how formulaic writing about hip-hop seems to be, I'd much rather be writing reviews on music that I'm legitimately interested in. It feels like so long ago, but the last review that I really felt passionate about was the one for A Tribe Called Quest's We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service. That was an absolute blast to write and it's incredibly disconcerting that I wrote it nearly three months ago.

While I'm reviewing Sampha this week, I feel like he has enough to do with the culture that I can sort of get away with reviewing him without ruining the integrity of this blog. In fact, when I first decided fuck Big Sean I'm reviewing Sampha, I hadn't even considered reviewing non hip-hop albums. Nonetheless, I'm probably not far off reviewing something that isn't hip-hop, as unless the surprise Vince Staples, Lil Uzi Vert and Drake (Not that I'm particularly excited for it, but it figures to be a fun review to write) releases are perfectly timed, this looks to be another extremely slow month (March also looks pretty slow, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt as there's still a lot of things to be announced) While I'll prioritize hip-hop, I don't think there's much harm in me reviewing the upcoming Jay Som release over yet another forgettable hip-hop album.

Anyway, while the introduction to this review might give you the idea that I hated getting intimately familiar with Sampha, the anger is more placed at next weeks review, which I still haven't decided on.

Sampha is an artist whose voice is perhaps more known than his actual name, as while being an unknown in the music industry his contributions to the music from artists such as SBTRKT and Kanye West means that more than likely than not you've heard this British singer's longing voice before. In fact, it appears that Sampha was somewhat of an extremely respected member of the current music scene having worked with other respected artists in Drake, Frank Ocean and Solange. When researching Sampha for this review I realized that it should have been incredibly obvious in hindsight that he was destined for greatness, as seemingly everything pointed towards him having all of the connections (and talent I suppose) to blow up. Although up until now Sampha has kept an incredibly low profile in the music scene.

Even with this release it still feels like Sampha is an unknown in the music industry, as we've really only had a brief peak at the intimate life of Sampha. Part of the appeal of Sampha is that he is such an unknown and a stranger who has given us an all too brief peak into his world. While this may be a strange comparison to make, the low-key nature of Sampha combined with Process' introverted themes makes me think of outsider music, with Sampha being next in the line of talented introverts who only let their personality out through their music.

Whilst the driving factor behind Sampha's music is his voice, as he has an extremely vocal oriented sound, the underlying production on this project takes a lot from British future garage, with the obvious comparison being Burial. The electronic production, which is impressively entirely created by Sampha, also sparks comparisons to his fellow Young Turks label mates The XX (or perhaps more pertinently Jamie XX), SBTRKT and FKA Twigs. While it's a small label at the moment, Young Turks seems to be exclusively dealing with talented electronic musicians who are all capable of capturing that signature English sound that artists such as Burial perfected. The small amount of albums on Young Turks, combined with the fact that they have all been blog darlings, means that yet again the success of this project should have been easily predicted.

As previously alluded to, this is a very intimate vocal driven album. This is perhaps my biggest gripe with the album as in general vocals don't interest me that much, as everything that's ever going to be done with the voice has been done by now. While that previous sentence may be a little blunt, it takes a lot for me to appreciate somebodies singing, as if an artist isn't trying anything different, they are really only doing something that has been continually done to death throughout music history .

One track that I'd like to tie this point to is the consensus standout (Nobody Knows Me) Like The Piano, one of the more personal tracks on this record. Apart from a very minimal piano melody, this track is just Sampha opening up about himself in a very intimate setting that feels incredibly emotional. For me personally, this is one of the weaker tracks on the album as it features none of what I liked most about this album: the gorgeous interplay between Sampha and the production.

Sampha's patently british beats are without a doubt the most interesting part of this record. Taking influences from glitch and the  previously mentioned future garage, Sampha manages to have production that is consistently entertaining to the point where it would have made for a fine instrumental release. The highlight of this album is every time the production works with Sampha to create an unforgettable moment, such as the phenomenal delivery of “took the break-pads out the car” on the track Reverse Faults. These moments are unfortunately sparse throughout this record, which is a shame as a lot of the tracks feel content to sit still and not go anywhere. Luckily the record is pleasant enough that it remains listenable throughout its dullest moments, yet you can't help but feel that there is some lost potential here, as Sampha flirted with creating a truly stunning record.

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Migos - Culture

Offset was the Migos that I was most excited about going into Culture. While he had the obvious hit in Bad and Boujee, which made sure that everyone knew that he was a force to be reckoned with, it felt for the past year that he had been building towards becoming the main guy in Migos. From having a similarly impressive verse on the group's remix of Look Alive, to becoming a must have feature and working with guys such as Young Thug, Lil Yachty and Lil Uzi Vert, over the past year Offset has really been making a name for himself.

While it may have been due to the fact that he was in jail for part of the project's recording, Offset really doesn't have that strong of a presence on this release. Despite being on 12 of the project's 13 tracks, it's really only Bad and Boujee and Brown Paper Bag where I sit up and take notice of Offset. Perhaps I'm just being ignorant throughout my first two weeks of listening to this project, but after roughly 15 listens I'm still barely taking notice of the group’s most technical rapper.

Perhaps it was due to his heavy reliance on auto-tune on this record, which takes away some of his amateurish charm and dope triplet heavy delivery, but I really think Offset was a clear third best on this record, as his Migos family absolutely demolished him.

Quavo, also known by most of the general public as Migos, has always been the star of the group, which with his features on hits like Minnesota and Pick Up The Phone, and hooks on most of the group's most popular tracks such as Versace, T-Shirt and Handsome and Wealthy, should not be a surprise.

Perhaps the simplest reason he is most notable is that Quavo is the loudest member of Migos, in both personality and actual volume. Quavo has a larger than life presence and it heavily comes across in his music in a way that reminds me of the guys from Rae Sremmurd, especially fellow hook aficionado Swae Lee.

Quavo also takes himself the least seriously of almost any rapper out at the moment, and uses this to craft a whole bunch of fun lines that only he could get away with. While I should perhaps use an example from Culture, the most Quavo verse of all time is his contribution to Lil Yachty's Minnesota, where he has one of the hypest verses of last year proclaiming his love for his Motorola.

Quavo may not be the best rapper out at the moment, but he is definitely one of the most likeable, which makes him work so well as the spiritual leader of Migos. When you listen to a Migos project like Culture, one of the most compelling things is how much fun the group seems to be having while recording, which includes them having perhaps the most adlibs of any group in history. Apart from the rapping ability, it's this fun atmosphere that really separates Migos from the rest of the trap pack. This I believe can fairly be attributed to Quavo.  

Takeoff is the unknown to the casual fan, however the more I listen to Migos projects the more I feel he is their backbone, as his hoarse, deep and energetic style brings to life a lot of the group’s quieter moments. If Quavo is the QB and Offset is the young athletic WR, Takeoff is the group's workhorse running back, getting the group the hard yards and making the case for being their most important member.

There's usually a pattern of Migos releases where Takeoff will be subdued on the project's hit singles, which for the longest time would be all anyone would listen to, then when you get to your full listen of their mixtape/album you realize that he is holding them up.

The same thing happens to an extent on Culture, as he isn't on Bad and Boujee and his role on T-Shirt is outshined by frequent outshiner Quavo. Yet for the rest of this album Takeoff is the MVP. The clearest example is his absolutely stunning verse on the track Deadz, which is one of the album’s high points. Takeoff's energetic rapping sits perfectly on the epic sounding Cardo beat, as the beat shifts by bringing in a ghostly synth that perfectly matches the occasion of Takeoff's album stealing verse.

Speaking of Deadz, I guess that's as good a segue as any to discuss how on point all of the features on this release are. While a solid defining release still escapes him, 2 Chainz is rightly recognized for his ability to slay a feature and I think his verse here may be one of his strongest to date. The opening lines “Gang bang slang 'caine/Heroin, half a ton, Purple Haze, Cam'ron/Plays off a Samsung, get the job done” is one of the hardest hitting openings to a verse in recent memory. While the rest of the verse is average guest appearance 2 Chainz, everything from the 2 Chainz adlib to the “get the job done” lyric is gold, and does a great job building hype for the ensuing Takeoff verse.

The other two new features on this release, Gucci Mane and Travis Scott, are expectedly dope and do a great job making sure the constant Migos verses don't start feeling monotonous. It's that freshness that on my first few listens really made Slippery and Kelly Price such memorable tracks, as it took a while for some of the other songs to stand out on their own.

There's also the critically maligned Lil Uzi Vert verse on Bad and Boujee, which is, fuck what anyone else thinks, really good. While a lot of people wanted Bad and Boujee to be somewhat of a rapper's rap classic, Uzi came in with an ignorant hype as fuck verse. While it's incredibly corny and has nothing that you'd describe as traditionally good from a rapping point of view, it fits the track perfectly and you can't help but rap along as Uzi spits one of the simplest verses of the year.

Overall the final product on Culture is absolutely phenomenal and one of the best trap albums that I've heard period. The Migos are all incredible rappers who brought their A game to their breakout momentous release and the cast of producers all did a great job at making an array of memorable hard hitting beats. This is an album that I'll be playing all year as it has barely a dull moment and is nothing but non stop head banging hard hitting trap classics.