sometime early this spring, my hard drive broke.
this is bad, generally speaking, but especially Bad because all 30,000 of the songs i own were on that hard drive, and i was left with an itunes library that now had a heart-attack-inducing number of gray exclamation points next to song names (to this day, every time itunes asks me where to locate a song i shudder involuntarily). this was a truly horrible development, a dark era of my existence where i spent a horrible number of hours researching, finding, and visiting hard drive repair stores where sixty-year-old men looked at me like i was a preschooler before spewing out long sentences about drive data configurations and telling me that no, they couldn’t fix my hard drive and yes, my hard drive was far past saving and hey, what the fuck did you do to fuck your hard drive up this badly? it was rough, and it swallowed up nearly two weeks of midterm season as i panicked to reconstruct my meticulously tagged library (i format all features the same — “feat.”, no parentheses no capitalizations — and alphabetize all producers in the “composers” field and always make sure to have the right number of total tracks in the track number field and i 100% have a problem). but at the same time, this might be the best thing that happened to me, music-wise: going through and piecing together a life of music helped me mentally assemble a far clearer picture of what music was important to me and why it was. i have a playlist that’s titled “M”, and it’s made up of the few songs in my life that freeze me with my memories: some of them are my favorite songs ever, and some of them i’ve only listened to once or twice, but it’s my most valuable possession.
and as far as this list goes: idk man i tried separating these lists into rap and non-rap (even tried a weird rendition where i pulled out “r&b” and it was all blood orange and beyoncé and nxworries next to each other and that was super strange) but that felt wrong, fundamentally unrepresentative of the music that soundtracked my year, so instead it’s the below. what i cared about this year — or, more accurately, what made me care. i hope you like some of my #hottakes.
Songs
20. Flume - “Say It” feat. Tove Lo (Flume)
19. A$AP Mob - “Crazy Brazy” feat. A$AP Rocky, A$AP Twelvyy & Key! (Wavy Wallace)
18. Joey Purp - “Cornerstore” feat. Saba & theMIND (Donnie Trumpet, J.P. Floyd, Knox Fortune, Peter Cottontale & Thelonious Martin)
17. Noname - “Diddy Bop” feat. Raury & Cam O’bi (Cam O’bi & Phoelix)
16. Starrah - “Rush” (Retro Future)
15. foggieraw - “Drop 40” feat. Sam Stan & dreamchild (dreamchild)
14. ScHoolboy Q - “Groovy Tony/Eddie Kane” feat. Jadakiss (Dem Jointz & Tae Beast)
13. Childish Gambino - “Redbone” (Donald Glover & Ludwig Goransson)
12. Solange - “Cranes in the Sky” (Raphael Saadiq & Solange)
11. Isaiah Rashad - “4r Da Squaw” (FrancisGotHeat)
10. Ugly God - “Water” (Danny Wolf & Ugly God)
9. Kevin Abstract - “Empty” (BLACK MONDAY, Michael Uzowuru & Romil)
8. French Montana - “Lockjaw” feat. Kodak Black (Ben Billion$)
7. 21 Savage & Metro Boomin’ - “No Heart” (Metro Boomin’)
6. Whitney - “Golden Days” (Whitney)
5. Chance the Rapper - “No Problem” feat. Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz (Brasstracks)
4. Anderson .Paak - “The Season/Carry Me” (9th Wonder & Callum Connor)
3. Young Thug - “Pick Up the Phone” feat. Travis Scott & Quavo (Allen Ritter, Frank Dukes, Maneesh, Mick Schultz, Mike Dean & Vinylz)
2. Kanye West - “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1 & Pt. 2” feat. Kid Cudi, Desiigner & Caroline Shaw (Kanye West, Menace, Metro Boomin’, Mike Dean, Plain Pat & Rick Rubin)
1. Frank Ocean - “Nights” (Buddy Ross, Frank Ocean, Joe Thornalley, Michael Uzowuru & Nishad Trivedi)
Albums
15. Bon Iver - 22, A Million
14. Solange - A Seat at the Table
13. Kamaiyah - A Good Night in the Ghetto
12. Joey Purp - iiiDrops
11. Young Thug - JEFFERY
10. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book
9. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo
8. James Blake - The Color in Everything
7. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
6. Kevin Abstract - American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story
5. Anderson .Paak - Malibu
4. Isaiah Rashad - The Sun’s Tirade
3. Whitney - Light Upon the Lake
2. YG - Still Brazy
1. Frank Ocean - Blonde
Other Things I Love That Don’t Fit Into Those Lists
20. $ki Mask the Slump God - “Take a Step Back” feat. XXXTENTACION (Ronny J)
19. Noname - Telefone
18. Gucci Mane - “First Day Out Tha Feds” (Mike WiLL Made It)
17. Kodak Black - Lil B.I.G. Pac
16. RJ - “Flex” (Authentic & LarryJayy)
15. G Perico - Shit Don’t Stop
14. Cousin Stizz - Monda
13. Felix Snow - “Love” feat. Lil Uzi Vert (Felix Snow)
12. Smino - “Blkswn” (Sango)
11. Lil Yachty (everything)
10. Eli Sostre - Still Up All Night
9. Curren$y & The Alchemist - The Carrollton Heist
8. Nessly - Solo Boy Band EP
7. Wifisfuneral - “Run That Shit Da Fuck Up”
6. Payroll Giovanni & Cardo - Big Bossin’ Vol. 1
5. Quavo - “Trapstar” (Murda Beatz)
4. Roy Woods - Waking at Dawn
3. Young Thug - “Texas Love” (Ricky Racks)
2. 21 Savage & Metro Boomin’ - Savage Mode
1. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie - Artist
Rappers I Didn’t Know Before This Year
10. Dae Dae
9. Innanet James
8. $ki Mask the Slump God
7. XXXTENTACION
6. Kamaiyah
5. G Perico
4. Brian Fresco
3. NBA YoungBoy
2. Eli Sostre
1. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie
All the Songs on Blonde by Frank Ocean, Objectively Ranked
17. “Skyline To"
16. “Facebook Story"
15. “Close to You"
14. “Be Yourself"
13. “Pretty Sweet"
12. “Godspeed” feat. Kim Burrell
11. “Seigfried"
10. “Pink + White” feat. Beyoncé
9. “Solo (Reprise)” feat. André 3000
8. “Futura Free"
7. “Solo"
6. “White Ferrari” feat. James Blake
5. “Good Guy"
4. “Ivy"
3. “Self Control” feat. Yung Lean & Austin Feinstein
2. “Nikes"
1. “Nights”
Verses on the Only XXL Cypher That Matters and Has Ever Mattered
5. Denzel Curry
4. Lil Yachty
3. Kodak Black
2. 21 Savage
1. Lil Uzi Vert
Young Thug Songs
10. “King TROUP” (Wheezy)
9. “Gangster Shit” (Wheezy)
8. “Digits” (London on da Track)
7. “Drippin’” (TM88 & Wheezy)
6. “With Them” (Mike WiLL Made It, Resource & Wheezy)
5. “Kanye West” feat. Wyclef Jean (Cassius Jay & Wheezy)
4. “Webbie” feat. MPA Duke (Billboard Hitmakers)
3. “Harambe” (Billboard Hitmakers)
2. “Texas Love” (Ricky Racks)
1. “Pick Up the Phone” feat. Travis Scott & Quavo (Allen Ritter, Frank Dukes, Maneesh, Mick Schultz, Mike Dean & Vinylz)
Quavo-Related Moments
10. Migos on VladTV
9. Quavo .Wav Radio cover
8. Verse 2, Lil Yachty - “Minnesota (Remix)” feat. Young Thug & Quavo (Grandfero)
7. “Dat way” - Quavo, multiple songs
6. Verse 1, G.O.O.D. Music - “Champions” (A-Trak, Kanye West, Lex Luger & Mike Dean)
5. “Quavo!” - Quavo, multiple songs (mostly “Champions”)
4. “Santa Done Dropped the Sack Off”
3. “Birds in the trap sing Brian McKnight/Percocets and codeine, please don’t take my life” - Quavo, Young Thug - “Pick Up the Phone” (Allen Ritter, Frank Dukes, Maneesh, Mick Schultz, Mike Dean & Vinylz)
2. RapSnacks Dab of Ranch Jingle
1. “Still be playing with pots and pans, call me Quavo Ratatouille” (“Bad and Boujee”)
Albums Given to Me By My Roommate Nick, Who is a Cool Guy
10. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
9. Real Estate - Atlas
8. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
7. Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold
6. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
5. Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
4. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
3. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
2. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
1. Elliot Smith - Either/Or