last year I nearly fucking killed myself doing 40 writeups on my favorite shit of the year. definitely not doing that again, but i’ll still gladly force my opinions on you.
albums
15. Kevin Abstract - MTV1989
14. Travi$ Scott - Days Before Rodeo
13. Blu - Good to Be Home
12. Big K.R.I.T. - Cadillactica
11. Mick Jenkins - The Water[s]
10. Lil Herb - Welcome to Fazoland
9. PRhyme - PRhyme
8. Rich Gang - Tha Tour, Pt. 1
7. Vince Staples - Hell Can Wait EP
6. Open Mike Eagle - Dark Comedy
5. RATKING - So It Goes
A nice, timely reminder that “New York” doesn’t have to mean “revivalist” in hip-hop. Wiki, Hak, and Sporting Life thrive in the underground grime that they’ve illustrated – gritty in an oddly beautiful way.
4. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
Probably seized up more press than it might’ve deserved by fulfilling the “independent rap coverage” quota for 75% of music publications, but that doesn’t mean it’s not incredible. It’s a spiked wrecking ball disguised as a rap album, smashing through haters and social norms alike with equal aplomb.
3. Milo - A Toothpaste Suburb
Milo is the type of rapper that revels in his words, and it’s infectious. Rory Ferreira the Human Being is buried deep in references to cult ‘80s movies and wry non sequiturs, daring you to seek him out. In the first song alone, Milo spends six months laughing in the front room of his first apartment with his girlfriend, crowns himself the “corduroy coon prince,” and hides his suicidal tendencies with a toupee. Nothing’s dealt straight in A Toothpaste Suburb.
2. YG - My Krazy Life
My Krazy Life is an album both painfully narrow and daringly ambitious in its aims – it’s a concept album masked in a stream of singles, but veiled in YG and DJ Mustard’s apparent determination to wring every last Billboard spot out of their signature “ratchet music” sound is a remarkably powerful and effective album. The singles are uncompromising in their grip (at least seven or eight songs that could’ve run rampant on Top 40), but even so, there’s an unshakable West Coast authenticity to the album that’s impossible to discount. It’s brutally immoral and devotedly filial at the same time and in the Compton that YG sketches for us, that makes perfect sense.
1. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata
I’ve written enough words about Piñata already that I won’t wax poetic again here, but it’s a shame that it’ll forever be relegated to “overrated cult classic” status. Nine months later, it’s the best rap album of the year and second isn’t even in sight.
songs
15. Yung Lean - “Yoshi City” (prod. Yung Gud)
14. DeJ Loaf - “Try Me” (prod. DDS)
13. Open Mike Eagle feat. Toy Light - “Dark Comedy Morning Show” (prod. Toy Light)
12. iLoveMakonnen feat. Drake - “Club Going Up on a Tuesday (Remix)” (prod. Metro Boomin & Sonny Digital)
11. Kevin Abstract - “Drugs” (prod. Romil)
10. Big K.R.I.T. - “Mt. Olympus” (prod. Big K.R.I.T.)
9. Vic Mensa - “Down on My Luck” (prod. Stefan Ponce)
8. T.I. feat. Young Thug - “About the Money” (prod. London on da Track)
7. Vince Staples - “Blue Suede” (prod. Hagler Tyrant)
6. Run the Jewels feat. Zach de la Rocha - “Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)" (prod. El-P)
5. Jay Electronica - "Better in Tune with the Infinite” (prod. Ryuichi Sakamoto)
His one verse here ends with the proclamation, “Staring out the windows is for love songs and house flies,” and this is neither absurd nor unacceptable. We’d all be better off with Act II in our iTunes, but Jay ElecHannukah can come out spitting truth and justice over Ryuichi Sakamoto every six months and that’s not too bad either.
4. Rustie feat. Danny Brown - “Attak” (prod. Rustie)
“Attak” is a career’s worth of brutality distilled down into three minutes and a second during which Brown reminds you of his drug-dealing credentials, pops bottles, and metaphorically refers to a blow job as a police raid. Ultimately, though, the only line that matters is the last, repeated – “I ain’t gotta say shit,” he snarls, “tell your bitch to suck my dick.”
3. Drake - “0-100/The Catch Up” (prod. 40, Boi-1da & Nineteen85)
Drake’s throwaways get Grammy nominations, and that’s possibly the most categorical statement of a rapper’s dominance ever. “0-100” is ice cold stunting from a man who’s capable of dictating hip-hop discourse with 3AM SoundCloud releases and knows it. “Trophies” might have the victory horns, but this is Drake placing the crown atop his head and daring everyone, anyone, to snatch it away.
2. Flying Lotus feat. Kendrick Lamar - “Never Catch Me” (prod. Flying Lotus)
While J. Cole’s accumulated his critical acclaim by settling into safe hip-hop traditionalism, Kendrick is leveraging his goodwill to catapult himself into increasingly unfamiliar territory. Don’t mind the smoothness, because FlyLo’s jazzy backdrop here doesn’t let up on the (lack of) structure to give Kendrick a rhythmic foothold – it’s only his deftness that veils how uninhabitable “Never Catch Me” is. That’s a mark of greatness in its own: so good you don’t even notice.
1. Young Thug - “Stoner” (prod. Dun Deal)
Thug’s the rapper who’s rattled off a ridiculous string of incredible singles and features in the past year, running his genre with random SoundCloud drops even while mired in label purgatory. He’s the rapper who showed up on national TV in skin-tight ripped maroon jeans (pink scarf sticking out his back pocket) and hair buns worthy of Princess Leia. And he’s arguably hip-hop’s most important figure moving forward, standing head, shoulders, and dyed dreadlocks above his ATLien peers as the indisputable face of the Atlanta renaissance. While he’s gladly walking the roads paved by his predecessors (most notably Lil Wayne and Future), everything about Thugger’s aesthetic embodies the type of offbeat approach to music that nearly every one of Atlanta’s recent stars has shared. Thugger is what happens when you take Future, Migos, and the like’s pure weirdness to (beyond, even) its logical conclusion. Explain him and you’d end up with something parodic: he’s alternately yelling and snarling and squealing, fidgeting on the fence between English and gibberish. And a parody is what he might be if he wasn’t so talented. Technically he’s a marvel, almost absurdly skilled, but it’s in a way that we’re not traditionally trained to think of as a representation of proficiency in the realm of hip-hop. Melodically, lyrically, structurally — Thug does things with words that no one else in his genre does. In that sense, “Stoner” is the quintessential Thug song: Dun Deal mostly steps back, letting Thug take center stage. But then again, it’s not like it’s anyone’s choice. Thug takes the stage when he wants it.