Top 50 Albums of 2018
#50 Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour // Country Pop
Full disclosure–I listened to over 100 albums when picking my favorite albums of 2018. And frankly, this year isn’t nearly as strong as it’s made out to be. So the first few albums probably wouldn’t have made the cut in 2019 or 2020, but yet here we are. Golden Hour happens to be the most… sonically pleasant album out of the bunch that didn’t quite make the top 50, so it gets an automatic slot. It’s inoffensive, but I guess that’s kind of the point. It sounds fine. It’s pretty decent.
Favorite Tracks: Lonely Weekend, Butterflies, Space Cowboy, Happy & Sad, Velvet Elvis, High Horse, Rainbow
Least Favorite Track: Slow Burn
#49 Sheck Wes - Mudboy // Hardcore Trap
This is one of the weirdest trap albums I’ve ever heard. It’s got this ultra-specific low-down and grimy sound that sounds off-kilter and menacing, perfectly suited for an underground rager. Sheck’s delivery and voice are unique as well. He never relies on the usual trap tropes. However, that said, there are some major flaws that keep me from enjoying this album. For starters, the beats aren’t nearly dynamic enough to hold my interest. Within the first thirty seconds you know what you’re getting for the whole song. The second flaw is that for an album built around its bangers–the bangers just aren’t catchy enough. Live Sheck Wes is the only earworm on this whole project, and it’s not enough. If there were some better hooks on this thing–it’d be POTENT.
Favorite Tracks: Mindfucker, Live Sheck Wes, Gmail, Wanted, Chippi Chippi, Mo Bamba, Fuck Everbody
Least Favorite Track: Never Lost
#48 Natalia Lafourcade - Musas, Vol. 2 // Latin Folk
There’s something incredibly special about Natalia’s voice that transports me to my happy place. Her music is poised to place you in a positive frame of mind–it’s incredibly difficult to feel glum while listening to her music. Unfortunately, it can often lack punch, which makes it hard to come back to it. The second edition Musas suffers from this considerably, which doesn’t take away from the holistic folk experience, but does take away from the replayability of each individual song.
Favorite Tracks: Hoy Mi Dia Uno, Duerme Negrito, La Llorona, Desdeñosa, Humanidad, Gavota
Least Favorite Track: Te Sigo
#47 Smino - NØIR // Alternative Trap
When I listen to this album, I feel like I’m trapped in a hotbox with limited oxygen and a desire to suck on a titty. There’s something claustrophobic about NOIR, with its steamed-up instrumentals and Smino’s unintelligible lyrics. He sounds perfectly content, like he doesn’t need to impress anybody. My primary issue with this record is just that it’s not that sonically interesting. I feel like it blends a lot of sounds without any clear direction. It meanders woozily for an hour and doesn’t leave much impact. That said, it’s definitely a vibe and I appreciate the artistic direction.
Favorite Tracks: KOVERT, KLINK, TEQUILA MOCKINGBIRD, SPINZ, HOOPTI, LOW DOWN DERRTY BLUES, FENTY SEX, MF GROOVE
Least Favorite Track: VERIZON
#46 Blood Orange - Negro Swan // Alternative R&B
This album feels like it’s tiptoeing over shards of glass. It’s delicate, but firm. It’s sensitive, but sharply aware of itself. While I do think the ‘vibez’ are somewhat lackadaisical, I cannot deny the sonic potency of this record–it really does capture how it feels to desire something. Whether that be someone who makes you feel whole, a family to call yours, or a society to feel wanted in, Blood Orange lays raw his emotions, with beautiful string instrumentation and delicious funky grooves. All that said, I still found that this record fell short of being truly exceptional. That doesn’t stop it from being enjoyable, though, and I would recommend it to any R&B-heads out there.
Favorite Tracks: Orlando, Hope, Jewelry, Charcoal Baby, Vulture Baby, Holy Will, Dagenham Dream, Nappy Dream, Runnin’, Minetta Creek
Least Favorite Track: Chewing Gum
#45 Tom Misch - Geography // Neo-Funk
This is the perfect record for an evening stroll in a sparsely lit urban street. As the first couple of tracks suggest, it’s perfectly acclimated to the ‘French’ vibe (whatever the hell that is), and works as this kind of groovy funky string-filled indulgence. However, to say that this album drags on is an understatement. I don’t think Misch has nearly enough to say, or enough variety in his production in delivery, to justify the 50+ minute runtime. It gets old quick–but this album made it onto my list because its highs are just THAT good. If you’re looking for an album that’ll make you bop your head back and forth and bring you some relaxation at the same time, Geography will do just that.
Favorite Tracks: Before Paris, Lost In Paris, South of the River, Tick Tock, Isn’t She Lovely, Disco Yes, We’ve Come So Far
Least Favorite Track: Man Like You
#44 Pusha T - DAYTONA // Hardcore Hip-Hop
With this LP, it feels like it’s almost beckoning the listener into an inner circle of trade secrets. Push’s delivery feels less like a series of tightly interwoven rhymes and more on a guide to maintaining dominance and control of your circumstance in dual industries that will try to rob you of both at every turn (the crack game and the rap game). Push spits with unfuckwithable confidence, like he knows that every single line he conjures is supreme. Yet despite the glamorous showmanship of flashy cars, coke money, and record empires, the production is a stark contrast of grimily altered soul samples flipped on top of gritty trap-ish percussion. My primary issue with this record is that quite a few of the songs feel structureless, like they don’t know what they’re doing. If this album was more tightly strung together, I feel like this would easily be one of my favorite records of the year.
Favorite Tracks: If You Know You Know, The Games We Play, Hard Piano, Come Back Baby
Least Favorite Track: Infrared
#43 Freddie Gibbs - Freddie // Gangsta Trap
Look, I swear to you, I’m not a Freddie stan. It’s just that this man is pretty much incapable of missing. He quite literally released a 25 minute filler tape over fairly generic trap production, spat some typical Freddie material, and called it a day for his fans until Bandana. And guess what? He made it work. I cannot tell you just how bouncy this tape is. It goes way too fucking hard to just be filler. Obviously, my main issue is that it’s just not that interesting, at all. Especially for someone of Freddie’s caliber. But he sought out to make something to keep his fans padded over til Bandana, and that’s just what he did. So I can’t rag on it TOO much.
Favorite Tracks: Weight, Automatic, Death Row, Triple Threat, Set Set, FBC
Least Favorite Track: Toe Tag
#42 JPEGMAFIA - Veteran // Internet Rap
Veteran is what happens when a jaded, politically savvy individual picks up the microphone after being brought up on grimy internet culture. Peggy’s style is off the beaten path. He grew up poor–but he also grew up with the entire realm of the digital meme-o-sphere at his fingertips, and it reflects in the cynical, absurdist nature of his lyrics, and even his production style. This style is at once wonky, snappy, and instantly captivating, even if it gets a little nauseating sometimes (at least for me). What I found most interesting about the record was just the feeling of bare-naked honesty. Peggy doesn’t beat around the bush. He’s just himself and he doesn’t seem to particularly care how he’s received. It’s pretty damn refreshing for a hip-hop album to have bars like “hands on my face like Macaulay Caulkin.”
Favorite Tracks: 1539 N. Calvert, Thug Tears, Baby I’m Bleeding, My Thoughts on Neogaf Dying, Rock N Roll Is Dead, Germs, Libtard Anthem, Panic Emoji, Whole Foods, Macaulay Caulkin, Curb Stomp
Least Favorite Track: Dayum
#41 Mick Jenkins - Pieces of a Man // Jazz Rap
Bits and pieces of his life come to him in meditative recollections. Though I do have an issue with the length of this record, I think the purpose and drive behind it imbue it with a vibrance it would otherwise lack. Mick flows effortlessly, abandoning traditional hip-hop songwriting styles for a far more abstract, free-form approach. His bars lead into each other without the need for rhyme much of the time. The song structures are fairly traditional though, so you’re going to be getting a lot of catchy tracks, with a vibey, jazzy groove to them that’ll keep you invested but throw you off simultaneously. I will say that this record feels somewhat…. Lacking in energy. That’s why it’s this low. I love Mick’s personality and I love what he brings to the rap game, but this album just isn’t as captivating as I feel it could be.
Favorite Tracks: Stress Fracture, Gwendolynn’s Apprehension, Barcelona, Plain Clothes, Smoking Song
Least Favorite Track: Heron Flow 2
#40 Apathy - The Widow’s Son // Hardcore Hip-Hop
What I loved most about DOOM was the way he wrote his braggadocious bars. Lots of rappers come off as insecure and blusterous when they brag about bitches, money, or power. DOOM sounded like a Lovecraftian entity. He bragged about being…a villain? Apathy is in a similar vein. He brags about being a great rapper, by comparing himself to a vampire. Or a volcano. Or a flying saucer. Or, fuck it, Godzilla. On The Widow’s Son, Apathy puts forth his most monstrous foot, lyrically. It’s a hilariously edgy ride from beginning to end, backed with some hard-hitting boom bap production tinged with horrocore elements. I would recommend this album to anybody who likes succubi porn.
Favorite Tracks: The Spellbook, Never Fall Off, The Widow’s Son, The Order, Alien Weaponry, Hypnosis, I Keep On, Stomp Rappers, Rise and Shine,
Least Favorite Track: Legend of the 3rd Degree
#39 Chris Crack - Just Gimme a Minute // Weirdo Rap
Chris Crack is an enigma of a rapper. On one hand, he oozes braggadocio and a ‘give-no-fucks’ attitude that embodies his nihilistic lyricism. On the other hand, he’s got this special sensitivity that I’ve yet to see in many other emcees. I guess the best word to describe it would be “authentic”. When I listen to Just Gimme a Minute, it feels AUTHENTIC. I don’t necessarily feel like I’m getting to know who Chris is behind the veneer of irony and thinly shrouded hedonism, but I do get the feeling that Chris, when writing his music, just puts it all out there. There are more than twenty tracks on this baby, but each of them barely grazes the minute mark, leaving the project in a similar state to that of a short artsy flick made by a film student barely scraping through class. Having listened to Chris’ work beyond this, I find this to be one of his better albums.
Favorite Tracks: Imagine Not Being Black, Overthinking Kills Happiness, Comfortably Numb, New Dick Who Dis?, Don’t Subtweet Your Friends, You Go Boy, Hug Me Till I Smell Like You, Turning Down Pussy Builds Character, Sophisticated Gossipers, High Priced ‘Lo Life, Call in Dead, Masturbate Before Making Decisions, Thirst Aid Kit
Least Favorite Track: License to Trill
#38 Mitski - Be the Cowboy // Indie Rock
Mitski straddles the line between bold and vulnerable, reluctant and forthcoming, and cowboy and cowgirl on this record. It’s surprising just how much emotional depth she’s able to pack into such short, tightly-woven tracks. Clocking in at barely over a half-hour, Be the Cowboy is not a sprawling tale of woes and loss. It’s a short glimpse into the weary heart of a woman who’s been used and tossed aside by the men in her life, and how she reclaims that territory for herself–she’s not the cattle anymore. She’s the cowboy, and she’s going to let you know about it. I had some issues with some of the pacing, but I was thoroughly impressed with the songwriting and the bittersweet melodies scattered throughout this short LP.
Favorite Tracks: Why Didn’t You Stop Me?, A Pearl, Remember My Name, Me and My Husband, Nobody, Washing Machine Heart,
Least Favorite Track: Lonesome Love
#37 Tierra Whack - Whack World // Alternative Hip-Hop
I remember the first time my roommate showed me Bugs Life and being intrigued by the short, peculiar track. When listening to the full project, I find it more reminiscent of a series of short diary entries from the ‘weird’ girl at school. All the little affectations on every song feel like doodles on the page, and the lyrics are so simple yet so colorful that they come off as childlike in their charisma. Tierra struck a powerful chord with my inner child with this album. It feels like an unabashed display of quirk and talent, like “this is me, deal with it” but in the least obnoxious way possible. I only hope Tierra’s next release features more content.
Favorite Tracks: Black Nails, Bugs Life, Cable Guy, 4 Wings, Hungry Hippo, Pet Cemetary, Fuck Off, Silly Sam, Fruit Salad, Pretty Ugly
Least Favorite Track: Dr. Seuss
#36 IDLES - Joy As An Act of Resistance. // Punk
Capitalism has failed us, and the victors of the competitive market, as conveyed by the cover, pop champagne in celebration of their victory. And IDLES angstily fights back, pumping their sloppy, grungy punk full of embittered ‘joy’, if you could even call it that. It’s a call to revolution, both borderline self-righteous and buoyant with charisma. IDLES knows how to make your head nod back and forth, and if I weren’t sitting at my computer inside listening to this record, I’d be out lighting molotov cocktails to it instead.
Favorite Tracks: Never Fight A Man With A Perm, Danny Nedelko, Television, Gram Rock, Cry To Me
Least Favorite Track: Colossus
#35 Jorja Smith - Lost & Found // Neo-Soul
I listened to this album for the first time high as a kite. In my lucid state, Jorja Smith’s sultry, soothing voice sounded like an angel calling my name from beyond the veil. My head bobbed back and forth unconsciously to match the soft, soulful rhythms. I later relistened to this album (not high) and while it didn’t connect as much as before, it still sounded, well, beautiful. Jorja’s secret (or not-so secret) weapon is her voice, and it alone carries this album from ‘meh’ to ‘OHMYGOD’.
Favorite Tracks: Lost & Found, Teenage Fantasy, Where Did I Go?, The One, Blue Lights, Lifeboats, Goodbyes, Tomorrow
Least Favorite Track: Don’t Watch Me Cry
#34 Nipsey Hussle - Victory Lap // West-Coast Hip-Hop
One of my greatest regrets, as somebody who grew up on the West Coast, was never acquainting myself with Nipsey’s music until after his passing. Over the course of two decades, Nipsey cemented himself as a certified legend in Los Angeles, for not only his musical talent but his community work and support of local businesses. Victory Lap is his major label debut–a triumphant celebration of his rise to the top. He raps over glamorous and hard-hitting modern G-funk instrumentals, showing his love for the West Coast. Every feature present gives it their all, and every instrumental, chock-full of funky synths, feels lavish–perfectly suited for a late night drive. Even though I didn’t get into Nipsey until after his tragic murder, I’m glad I can now appreciate the legacy he left behind.
Favorite Tracks: Victory Lap, Rap N**gas, Last Time That I Checc’d, Dedication, Hussle & Motivate, Status Symbol 3, Grinding All My Life, Loaded Bases, Right Hand 2 God
Least Favorite Track: Real Big
#33 Denzel Curry - TA13OO // Dark Trap
Some things aren’t supposed to be discussed in polite hip-hop company. Your early molestation and the trauma it wreaked on your life is one of these things, yet Denzel doesn’t pull back any punches with the subject matter he discusses on Taboo. He doesn’t shy away from discussing the trappings of fame, and the deep-rooted causes of his mental health issues. But I think that what truly elevates this album is the fine-tuned, bass-heavy production, that never fails to emphasize Denzel’s unique and versatile delivery. Whether that be his manic, guttural delivery on SUMO or his smooth psychedelic crooning on BLACK BALLOONS, the production enhances his vocals every time. I also enjoy the sonic progression on the album–where we slowly go deeper and deeper into the pain and angst Denzel feels, from lighter to darker sounding production. It’s a very good concept album, and it’s no wonder it’s remained a staple of contemporary hip-hop GOAT discussions.
Favorite Tracks: TABOO, BLACK BALLOONS, SUMO, SWITCH IT UP, SIRENS, CLOUT COBAINS, THE BLACKEST BALLOON, PERCS, VENGEANCE, BLACK METAL TERRORIST
Least Favorite Track: MAD I GOT IT
#32 The Voidz - Virtue // Alternative Rock
Whenever I listen to an album, I can’t help but take note of the album cover and see if it matches my experience listening to the album. Some covers don’t elicit much response, but often I’ll draw allusions between the aesthetic choices of the cover and the music. Virtue is one of those instances. The cover is some weird geometric piece of artwork, layered with heaps of abstractions like an MC Escher drawing. The music follows suit, being composed and structured solidly while leaving a lot of room for sludgy interpretation. The Voidz throw everything at the wall. Most of it sticks. In fact, most of it sounds pretty fucking dreamy. The album is dreamlike in its delivery, and as such it makes it hard to recall all of the finer details once it’s through. The lighter funky/reggae touches add some much needed dimension that unfortunately just feels like a wall of sound sometimes.
Favorite Tracks: Leave It In My Dreams, QYURRYUS, Permanent High School, ALieNNatioN, All Wordz Are Made Up, Think Before You Drink, Wink, Pink Ocean
Least Favorite Track: Black Hole
#31 U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited // Lofi Pop
The songs on In a Poem Unlimited feel like they’re being processed through a shortwave radio. Meghan’s singing is cryptic, delicate, and yet powerfully gripping. It’s like she’s a broadcaster sending wavelengths over a dreary apocalyptic wasteland, or something. I really like how woozy and groovy the instrumentals are, they have that homegrown vibe that only US Girls can create. What’s interesting about this project is that it’s the first in her discography to really feature tangible song structures and some ‘pop’ appeal (but it’s still as lofi as ever). This album is a dreamlike listen, and I really enjoy how subtle it is, despite the often overwhelming grain.
Favorite Tracks: Velvet 4 Sale, Rage of Plastics, M.A.H., Rosebud, Incidental Boogie, L-Over, Pearly Gates, Time
Least Favorite Track: Poem
#30 Travis Scott - ASTROWORLD // Psychedelic Trap
At some point, when you’ve become a household name, you stop being a person, and become a god. Travis Scott reached the point of deification after the release of Astroworld, and quite frankly, he hasn’t really come back down since. Some celebrities manage to seem human, but I think Travis said goodbye to that after Astroworld. And through that lens, this record becomes a lot more bittersweet. From my perspective, Travis was aware that life would never be the same–and the album serves as a goodbye to an indelible part of his childhood. The door to the hazy world of “rock”stardom shut behind him. Astroworld is the death of innocence, a monument to a younger, more naive Jacques Webster. And it’s pretty fucking incredible.
Favorite Tracks: STARGAZING, SICKO MODE, RIP SCREW, STOP TRYING TO BE GOD, NO BYSTANDERS, SKELETONS, WAKE UP, YOSEMITE, CAN’T SAY, BUTTERFLY EFFECT, COFFEE BEAN
Least Favorite Track: ASTROTHUNDER
#29 MGMT - Little Dark Age // Indie Pop
There’s a very specific nostalgia at play on Little Dark Age that I can’t shake. It’s like it was made to get some closure on a long and fruitless relationship. Maybe it’s the music industry. Maybe it’s a romantic partner. Maybe it’s just music as a whole. It didn’t work out, because they didn’t work out enough. Little Dark Age is an eclectic combination of sounds and vocal runs coming in and out of earshot. It’s a giddy listen etched in reflection of a long career in the indie limelight. MGMT had monumental success in the industry–and it pigeonholed them into a corner that they resented. Little Dark Age reflects upon that, and breaks out of the paradigm.
Favorite Tracks: She Works Out Too Much, Little Dark Age, When You Die, Me and Michael, James, One Thing Left To Try, Hand It Over
Least Favorite Track: N/A
#28 milo - budding ornithologists are weary of tired analogies // Jazz Rap
Have you ever wondered what aspiring bird scientists think of overused comparisons? Yeah. Me neither. But milo has, and that’s exactly what I love about his music. He ventures into soliloquy untreaded by other rappers. He covers topics in the most roundabout way possible. It’s almost as if he’s trying to make it difficult to parse through his message, but that’s part of the fun of listening to the abstract rapper’s musings. Milo reminds me of one of those cool elementary teachers, who come across as overqualified. They speak in words and patterns beyond their pupils’ comprehension. And then they have the audacity to look frustrated when nobody has any idea what they’re talking about. It’s awesome.
Favorite Tracks: mythbuilding exercise no. 9, tiptoe, nominy, pure scientific intelligence, mid answer trying to remember what the question is, aubergine cloak, deposition regarding the green horse for rap, thinking while eating a fistful of almonds, sanssouci palace
Least Favorite Track: lowcoup
#27 Buddy - Harlan & Alondra // Lyrical Trap
This album cover’s colorful display of personality reflects Buddy’s style to a T. His flows are quick-witted and fast-paced and his beat selection is shimmering with West Coast heat. Harlan & Alondra is just a really damn good time. Buddy is one of the stars of the upcoming generation of rappers who effortlessly toe the line between mainstream and old school, in the same vein as JID and Earthgang. His songs are ready to be played on the radio all summer, but they’re also intimate and unique enough that you get the sense that Buddy’s trying to rep his city at the same time. Harlan & Alondra is a short, vibrant trip through the summer-tinged streets of LA.
Favorite Tracks: Real Life S**t, Shameless, Black, Hey Up There, Trouble on Central, The Blue, Speechless, Trippin, Shine
Least Favorite Track: Find Me 2
#26 Phonte - No News Is Good News // Ow, My Hip-Hop
Rappers in their 40’s don’t get a whole lot of love, at least as a whole. When you’re rapping into your thirties, it’s no longer a midlife crisis–you’re considered old by the general music community. You’re not that young buck anymore. Phonte tackles older subject matter–”grown folks hip-hop” as some would dub it. Suddenly, an ache or a lump becomes more urgent. You start to lose your friends from age, or merely time. You can’t commercially compete with the rest of the youngins. That might just be okay, though. There’s an honest weight to this album that really puts you in Phonte’s shoes. It’s okay to age, and it’s okay to say goodbye to your youth.
Favorite Tracks: So Help Me God, Pastor Tigallo, Expensive Genes, Cry No More, Change of Mind, Sweet You, Find That Love Again, Euphorium
Least Favorite Track: To The Rescue
#25 Mac Miller - Swimming // Alternative R&B
In retrospect, writing about this album is a tough task. Because I, from the future, know just how beautiful Mac’s hypothetical artistic trajectory would’ve been. Swimming in Circles. The concept was fulfilled, but the first entry feels almost hollow. Mac never got to see the lives he touched with these albums. Swimming registers differently knowing that Mac passed shortly afterwards. It feels even more surreal and spacey than it should. People often describe the feeling of ‘ascension’ when listening to music, and for this record in particular you can almost imagine Mac’s consciousness ascending to a higher plane of reality as it fades away from our drudgerous universe. Circles feels like finding the answers–Swimming feels like discovering the questions.
Favorite Tracks: Come Back to Earth, Hurt Feelings, Perfecto, Self Care, Ladders, Dunno, 2009
Least Favorite Track: Small Worlds
#24 Parquet Courts - Wide Awake! // Art Punk
Come ye discontent millennials, come ‘round and heed thee intuition; our planet is fucked, our society is fucked, and everything we’ve built our civilization upon is rotten to the core. Parquet Courts doesn’t say any of that outright though. The simmering intensity of their relatively laid-back punk doesn’t immediately bely any sort of discontent with the status quo. If anything, the rhythmic groove of the album actually makes you forget about all that boring shit for a bit. That’s until you wake up, and listen to what they’re saying. *guitar riff*
Favorite Track: Total Football, Before the Water Gets Too High, Mardi Gras Beads, Freebird II, Normalisation, Back to Earth, Wide Awake, Extinction, Tenderness
Least Favorite Track: NYC Observation
#23 Anderson .Paak - Oxnard // Pimped Out Soul
Despite turning up the effortlessly smooth pimp persona to the max on Oxnard, and pulling it off convicingly, one may be surprised that .Paak was a virgin into his early 20’s. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just pretty crazy considering he sings like he’s committed enough coitus to sustain Noah’s Ark three circumnavigations straight. I’m serious, after listening to Oxnard, I felt my ovaries start doing their thing or something, and you know, get me pregnant. By the time I got to the skit where .Paak gets head on an interstate highway and causes a collision, I had pretty much started a family. The father in question is the lavish, sexy hunk that is Oxnard’s damn near orchestral instrumental arrangements. .Paak brings a distinctly West Coast flavor to the genre of neo-soul, and countless dorks online had their first taste of pregnancy across the globe.
Favorite Tracks: The Chase, Headlow, Tints, Who R U?, 6 Summers, Saviers Road, Mansa Musa, Brother’s Keeper, Anywhere, Sweet Chick
Least Favorite Track: Cheers
#22 Twenty-One Pilots - Trench // Pop Rock
My initial impression, first hearing the Pilots all those years ago in middle school, was that they were decent, but painfully pretentious. However, if Trench accomplishes one thing, it’s taking the Twenty-One Pilots signature combination of genres and making it…work. If you’re looking for some pop rock that actually has WEIGHT to it, then look no further than Trench. A darker-toned album without any of the melodramatic emo baggage that weighed down past Pilots records. The songs are fit for radio play without sacrificing any of the edge, and I think that makes this the most masterful Pilots record to date.
Favorite Tracks: Jumpsuit, Levitate, Morph, My Blood, Smithereens, Neon Gravestones, The Hype, Nico and the Niners, Bandito, Pet Cheetah, Legend, Leave the City
Least Favorite Track: Chlorine
#21 Jack White - Boarding House Reach // Experimental Blues
Capitalism is a disease that seeps into art like liquid toxin. It demands that the art strip itself of its authenticity and become yet another product to be sold. It demands that artists sacrifice their souls for the almighty dollar–to avoid being yet another starving artist. This album is a stand against that–a glitchy, confusing mess of blues rock anthems meshed with electronica that says “fuck you” to the commercialization of artistic expression. It’s not an easy album to digest at all. Often, it’s more grating than pleasant. But Jack White’s quiet furor allows it to come through and wrench me into an attentive stupor. It took a few listens for me to identify with it, but I came around soon enough.
Favorite Tracks: Connected By Love, Why Walk a Dog?, Corporation, Hypermisophoniac, Ice Station Zebra, Over and Over and Over, Everything You’ve Ever Learned, Ezmerelda Steals the Show, Humoresque
Least Favorite Track: Abulia and Akrasia
#20 SOPHIE - OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES // Deconstructed Club
It’s a little hard to write about this record in passing. If I were writing this countdown in 2018, at the time of its release, I wouldn’t exactly know where to start. Back then, an album of this density and unabashed eccentricity would’ve probably freaked me out. There’s so much ferocious vibrance to every synth, in every distorted parody of instrumentation that there’s no doubt in my mind I would’ve noped the fuck out of listening to this thing by track two. But now, in hindsight, and with Sophie’s untimely passing (RIP) I can say, with comfort, that this album represents a reflection of delighted weirdness. It’s an electric depiction of pure chaos. This is what Twitter anarkitties listen to before eating Jeff Bezos’ shiny bald head. It’s a celebration of oddity. It’s the lustrous OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES.
Favorite Tracks: It’s Okay To Cry, Ponyboy, Faceshopping, Infatuation, Immaterial
Least Favorite Track: Pretending
#19 Benny the Butcher - Tana Talk 3 // Coke Rap
- Benny the Butcher - Tana Talk 3 - Coke Rap
If Benny’s vocals were more upfront in the mix, and if the tracklist was trimmed down ever so slightly, this would be in contention for my favorite album of 2018. Unfortunately, it’s bogged down by the aforementioned flaws, but that doesn’t stop it from being an absolute powerhouse of the Daringer-Griselda curated coke rap sound. I think it absolutely nails the balance between minimalistic and grandiose, the tightrope of sinister and coolly inviting. Benny’s voice is brutalistic, heightening the dark nature of the instrumentals–exclusively handled by the iconic Daringer and The Alchemist. It’s pretty much the perfect “Griselda-soundy” record, and I hope it gets a remaster at some point.
Favorite Tracks: Intro: Babs, Scarface vs Sosa Pt. 2, Rubber Bands & Weight, Fast Eddie, Broken Bottles, Echo Long, ‘97 Hov, Joe Pesci 38, Fifty One, Rick, Langfield, All 70
Least Favorite Track: Who Are You
#18 CRIMEAPPLE & Big Ghost Ltd - Aguardiente // Coke Rap
The cover of Aguardiente depicts what looks like a prayer shrine to the art of drug dealing. With his chosen poison at his hip and a cold sneer of a voice, Crimeapple is more than ready to make his point with force. With bitter cold Big Ghost production backing him up, there’s little he can’t do to demonstrate his unwavering confidence handling subordinates and commanding authority. The record is given even more color with Crimeapple’s use of Spanish, further cementing his intelligence and confidence. That’s what this record is; confident. And effortlessly so.
Favorite Tracks: Palo Santo, Big Face Frankies, Crime State of Mind, Marble Steak, Your Love, Another Round, Five Chechnyans, Gorillas, Grey Poupons,
Least Favorite Track: N/A
#17 Beach House - 7 // Dream Pop
Like a long and drawn-out sigh for help, 7 feels like coming out of the water after your boat gets shot down by enemy aircraft. Too on the nose? Perhaps. The moody synth passages and the organic percussion gives this album an ominous, albeit hopeful feel. Like I said, floating through a cold ocean, praying to god that somewhere up above you’ll be spotted and granted a miracle. The sonic progression of this album is long-winded but astounding, and it feels so beautifully rich that it sort of oozes into your brain over the course of its runtime. My primary issue is the pacing. Some of the tracks drag on longer than necessary, and it gives me ear fatigue. But when this album hits its highs… it soars.
Favorite Tracks: Dark Spring, Pay No Mind, Lemon Glow, Black Car, Lose Your Smile
Least Favorite Track: Last Ride
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#16 Jean Grae & Quelle Chris - Everything’s Fine // Weirdo Rap
We live in a society (fuck you) that doesn’t seem to value integrity. Or at least, we want to believe we value it, but we really don’t. We want people to pretend to be authentic. We want depression to be glamorized. We reject depression in its true form; lack of motivation to commit to basic hygiene and existing in a messy state. Everything’s Fine sort of peels back the curtain on ‘society’, satirically exposing its integral cracks and contradictions. Jean Grae and Quelle Chris have some of the best chemistry you’ll hear, which makes sense because they’re literally married. Together, with their diverse array of featured musicians, rappers, and comedians, they poke fun at the human tendency to put on a smile in the face of unparalleled anxiety.
Favorite Tracks: My Contribution to This Scam, Ohsh, House Call, Gold Purple Orange, Peacock, Breakfast of Champions, Zero, Waiting for the Moon, River
Least Favorite Track: N/A
#15 Locksmith & Apollo Brown - No Question
I’ve always been a proponent of artist-producer albums. A good producer can bring out the absolute best in a rapper, and this album is the proof in the pudding. Apollo’s epic-sounding boom bap beats elevate Locksmith’s bars of wisdom to a new degree of sagery. For such a short record, it says a LOT. Locksmith covers the ideas of love, regret, and consciousness in a way that feels both wizened and down-to-earth. He never sounds like he’s talking down to the listener, which is a trap many a conscious rapper fall into. He’s merely speaking from his own experiences. In fact, it often sounds as if his advice is more so directed at himself than anybody else. Nowhere is this more direct than on Advice to My Younger Self, a track which is just that–a letter to Locksmith’s younger self. It’s an introspective track to match an introspective album.
Favorite Tracks: Advice To My Younger Self, No Question, Between the Raindrops, Litmus, Slow Down, Wake Up
Least Favorite Track: N/A
#14 Kero Kero Bonito - Time ‘n’ Place // Lofi Pop
Feel your quarter-life crisis coming back in full swing? Want to reminisce about the free time you never took for granted as a child but also learn how to function as an adult and not rely on your parents for lifts from point A to point B? Well, then strap in because Time ‘n’ Place is the kind of album that sounds both wondrously childlike and depressingly mature. Sarah’s delicate voice somehow manages to puncture through the hazey lofi guitars and speak to the inner child in me–the child that just wants to be permitted some innocence. The child that got beaten out of me by this complicated thing known as life. Kero Kero Bonito take their usual themes and churn them through a new musical palate, and it really works.
Favorite Tracks: Time Today, Only Acting, Flyway, Dump, Make Believe, Dear Future Self, Visiting Hours, If I’d Known, Swimming, Rest Stop
Least Favorite Track: N/A
#13 Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer // Synth Funk
The de-feminization of black women in American culture is well-documented. We see examples of this when Megan Thee Stallion, after being shot, instead of being treated as a victim, is instead questioned as potentially the perpetrator. A more subtle example would be the total lack of black female love interests in popular media. Janelle Monae embraces her femininity with honesty and warmth on Dirty Computer, album in all parts sexual and insightful. Janelle criticizes commercialism and the gentrification of black culture. She unapologetically oozes sexuality and femininity, in a way that feels refreshing and blunt. Somehow, she blends together hip-hop, pop, funk, and electronic music, and not only does she succeed, but she sounds totally in her element.
Favorite Tracks: Dirty Computer, Crazy Classic Life, Take a Byte, Screwed, Pynk, I Got the Juice, Don’t Judge Me, So Afraid, Americans
Least Favorite Track: N/A
#12 Jonah Renna - Life Is Lame // Alternative Hip-Hop
What would happen if bedroom pop and rap had a baby? The answer to that question is Life Is Lame, a tinny exploration of teenage angst and uninhibited self-expression. Jonah doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to displaying his attempts at cocky self-reassurance. He’s pretty sure he’s great, and he wants you to know it on this album. At the same time, like any other sixteen year old, Jonah is lost. And as somebody who’s been a lost, faux-arrogant, cool wannabe for the last five years, this album spoke to me quite a bit. Devil In a Prom Dress brought a smile to my face. At the time of writing this, my girlfriend and I are set to go to prom on Saturday. Despite the album’s low budget and the inconsistent mixing, I really feel like I got to know the artist behind the project.
Favorite Tracks: Losers, Dream Car Superego, Fallen Soldier, The Plan, Devil in a Prom Dress, Star Destroyer
Least Favorite Track: Finsta
#11 JID - DiCaprio 2 // Lyrical Trap
JID…doesn’t really rap about anything on here. And yet it’s this high up on my list. Why? Because JID raps about (generally) nothing like his life depends on it. His flow is manic, yet composed. His beats grimy, yet colorful. His music should, by all rights, sound like boilerplate lyrical trap, but it doesn’t. Because even though JID doesn’t say anything particularly significant, his bars and flows keep your mind constantly busy, picking apart his rapid-fire bars like you’re analyzing every bullet that comes streaming by your head in a shootout. JID’s bars are unique, the way he strings together a verse by near-rhymes and assonance is damn near incredible. I think JID has a superhuman penchant for taking complex streams of penmanship and massaging them into his pocket of choosing. He really knows how to control every syllable, and still make it sound like he doesn’t give a shit. If he could put his absurd talents to some thematic use, JID is pretty much guaranteed to become a once-in-a-generation rapper.
Favorite Tracks: Slick Talk, Westbrook, Off Deez, 151 Rum, Workin Out, Tiied, Skrawberries, Just Da Other Day
Least Favorite Track: Mounted Up
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#10 Hermit and the Recluse - Orpheus vs. the Sirens // Abstract Hip-Hop
The best part about Ka’s music, for me at least, is seeing how creatively he can use the aesthetics he surrounds himself with to rap about what he raps about best; life as one of the overlooked. Ka raps about his upbringing and the life of the projects the same way somebody who lives in an occupied territory would talk about their personal development. This is not uncommon in rap. Where Ka differs, however, is his approach. With every album of his comes a new branch of art and mythology to parse through. With Orpheus, what we get is oodles of references to Greek mythology, grand orchestral music that reflects a romantic nod to legends of old, and countless homages in the tracklisting to the characters of Greek mythology. If you like Greek myths, and you like hip-hop, you’ll love Orpheus vs. the Sirens.
Favorite Tracks: Sirens, Fate, Orpheus, Argo, The Punishment of Sisyphus, Hades, Oedipus, Companion of Artemis
Least Favorite Track: N/A
#9 Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs // Dense Lofi
For some reason, I actually get emotional listening to this album. I know that might not come as a surprise, but Some Rap Songs is an experimental album. It’s not exactly a tearjerker, even though it’s subject matter may very well be. Despite how hazy and impenetrable it may come across, the wildly chopped up soul samples and the nostalgic production strikes a deep resonant chord in me. With most experimental work my brain exerts so much energy just trying to parse out all the little details. But SRS cuts straight to the core. I deeply relate to several of the songs on the short but sentimental record. And it’s a great example of how the most unexpected of noises can tap into subconscious feelings you didn’t know you had.
Favorite Tracks: Shattered Dreams, Cold Summers, Nowhere2go, December 24, Ontheway!, Loosie, Azucar, Eclipse, Playing Possum, Peanut, Riot!
Least Favorite Track: The Bends
#8 Armand Hammer - Paraffin // Abstract Hip-Hop
Dredging up what sounds like several lifetimes of existential pain, billy woods and Elucid conjure up decrepit and dark imagery on Paraffin to show you just how hopeless our world is. The more billy woods-adjacent music I listen to, the more I’m sucked into the darkly lit chambers crafted by his unbalanced pen. Elucid complements billy woods’ unbalanced flow, sounding more–well, lucid. Where billy woods sounds like a madman ravaged by reality, Elucid sounds like a quietly seething cog in the machine, only another injustice away from snapping away. The two emcees, unique in their approach to the pen, perfectly match each other on Paraffin, leading to a brutally dark musical experience.
Favorite Tracks: Sweet Mickey, Rehearse with Ornette, No Days Off, Fuhrman Tapes, Hunter, Alternate Side Parking, If He Holla, VX, Vindaloo, Ecomog, Root Farm
Least Favorite Track: Sudden Death
#7 Kali Uchis - Isolation // Neo-Soul
Kali Uchis’ voice is like sweet butter, gliding over sensual instrumentals with the skill of a bird of prey. And make no mistake, despite Kali’s seductive voice, she seems to take delight in inhabiting the maneater role on this album. It’s like she’s trying to get her prospective partner to lower their guard down–so she can psychologically torment them with her flirtatiousness and fickle romantic gestures. This album feels like the journey of a woman arriving to swampy, gaudy Florida for the first time and trying to figure out how she can hustle the fuck out of Miami for all it’s worth. The instrumentals are lavish and flavorful, like a rich bite of melted cheese or caramel chocolate, and Kali knows how to fly over them perfectly.
Favorite Tracks: Body Language, Just A Stranger, Your Teeth In My Neck, Tyrant, Dead To Me, Nuestro Planeta, In My Dreams, After the Storm, Feel Like A Fool
Least Favorite Track: Killer
#6 Lupe Fiasco - DROGAS WAVE // Conscious Hip-Hop
Down in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean lay the souls and bones of slaves left for dead by their transporters. Forgotten by time, but not by those that chronicle it. Lupe brings their spirits back to life on DROGAS WAVE, and tells a grandiose tale of freedom and resurrection. The slaves are given new significance, finally able to move on from the dredging, miserable history they were forced into, and Lupe ties this sordid history back into his own suppressed career, tarnished by his label–Atlantic Records. For years, Lupe had been forced to create music he did not want to create, ‘enslaved’ in a sense to a label that wanted to milk him out of everything he owned. But eventually, he freed himself. And with that freedom came the ability to create a sprawling 24 track album about the woes of third-world exploitation and the colonial perversion of the Atlantic Ocean.
Favorite Tracks: Drogas, Manilla, Slave Ship, WAV Files, Alan Forever, Stronger, Sun God Sam & The California Drug Dealers, XO, Jonylah Forever, Kingdom, Imagine, Stack That Cheese, King Nas, Happy Timbuck2 Day, Mural Jr.
Least Favorite Track: Down
#5 Kanye West & Kid Cudi - KIDS SEE GHOSTS // Alternative Hip-Hop
A mixed bag, a clash of genres, and a cathartic release of energy is what defines KIDS SEE GHOSTS. This album is a culmination of a decade-long battle with mental health–for both artists. Kanye dealt with the heightened expectations of fame, a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and a heavily scrutinized marriage. Cudi dealt with depression, drug addiction, and again, the pressures of feeding into the public frenzy. Together, these two artists find some hectic form of peace on this record, chanting mantras, shouting “FREEEE!!”–a declaration of triumph. A declaration to depression that, no matter what it tries to do to your brain, you CAN and WILL prevail over it. I can’t tell you how much this record means to me. I remember getting panic attacks in my junior year, and I couldn’t find any peace. Listening to Reborn was like suddenly having the floodgates unleashed. And strangely enough, Kanye’s manic gun-noises on Feel the Love filled me with catharsis as well. There’s just this beautiful feeling of a final alleviation. It’s like a “Sayonara, suckah!” to depression.
Favorite Tracks: Feel the Love, Fire, Freeee, Reborn, Cudi Montage
Least Favorite Track: Kids See Ghosts
#4 Confidence Man - Confident Music For Confident People // Dance
I like to think I’m a pretty confident guy, so I came into this album figuring I’d dig it. And obviously, since I’m packing such alpha-confident machismo, I enjoyed it. It’s pure uninhibited serotonin, exhibited through a series of catchy, fast-paced dance tracks. The lyrics are hilariously tongue in cheek and hedonistic. It’s like if a bimbo decided to produce a house record. Just sexy and awesome all around. I have a feeling I’ll return to this record quite often, since it’s got this escapism to it that I appreciate. I feel like I’m going to a neverending party where I get to shut my brain off and enjoy the sounds and the people, instead of worrying about all the shit that I worry about constantly.
Favorite Tracks: Try Your Luck, Boyfriend (Repeat), C.O.O.L Party, Catch My Breath, Bubblegum, Better Sit Down Boy, All the Way
Least Favorite Track: Sail Boat Vacation
#3 Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) // Indie Rock
Two figures on the cover hold each other, geometrically confusing and increasingly disorienting, the longer they’re viewed together. They are separate beings with intertwined bodies. I’d heard a lot about Twin Fantasy before listening to it. I don’t think anything really could’ve prepared me for the sheer journey that it is. I mean, I was taken on several 10+ minute track rides, and I’m not worse for wear. In fact, just about every single track here is exhilarating in the most compressed melancholy way. I’m not too excited about one day being able to relate to this brutally honest look at teenage romance gone awry. I’m really not. Sort of like the arc this album takes, the crappy part feels inevitable.
Favorite Tracks: My Boy, Stop Smoking, Sober to Death, Nervous Young Inhumans, Bodys, Cute Thing, Famous Prophets
Least Favorite Track: N/A
#2 Saba - CARE FOR ME // Conscious Hip-Hop
The very reason I began to rap at all was to tell stories–whether they be humorous or confessional. I wanted to tell stories. And to me it seems that Saba began with the same goal in mind. CARE FOR ME is an unapologetically confessional album. You learn about Saba’s childhood, his friends, his fights, his lovers, his music hustle, and his issues in navigating all of them. No bullshit; his writing is crazy detailed, to the point where you feel like you’re literally in the guy’s shoes. The trauma ebbing in and out of his voice is palpably tense and his delivery reflects that of somebody tearfully lashing out at the world for taking something away from them. In Saba’s case, it’s his childhood full of death in the hood. But more recently, it was the murder of his best friend, John Walt. The album comes across as a coping mechanism of sorts, even if the pain won’t go away. It’s still there, confessional or not, but by the end of the album it sounds as if Saba might’ve gotten some closure. Sometimes you don’t get closure. Sometimes you spend the rest of your life wondering what could’ve been and what you could’ve and should’ve done. But sometimes you do.
Favorite Tracks: BUSY/SIRENS, BROKEN GIRLS, LIFE, CALLIGRAPHY, FIGHTER, GREY, PROM/KING, HEAVEN ALL AROUND ME
Least Favorite Track: LOGOUT
#1 Noname - Room 25 // Jazz Rap
Sensitivity and vulnerability aren’t luxuries afforded to everybody, as I’ve come to learn over the years. For all my existentialism and complaints, I’ve lived a pretty lucky eighteen years. I was lucky enough to be born to a well-educated and well-adjusted set of parents. I was lucky enough to survive my family’s bankruptcy into my teens after the recession. I was lucky enough that my dad was intelligent enough to secure enough money for me to attend two private schools. I was lucky enough to be able to move around the world and meet all kinds of people. I was lucky enough to be born with decent writing talent so that everybody thinks that I work hard when really all I did was stare at bookcases for 6 years straight.
I have pretty much everything you could ask for. And yet there’s an emptiness in my soul that yearns to be filled. Constant superficialities like youtube videos, bingable adult cartoons, and Clash Royale don’t fill the empty void left behind by the American myth of fulfillment–so I start looking for more. Maybe fingering two girls in the span of a month and turning down their sexual advances will make me feel powerful. Maybe almost-but-not-quite hooking up with some girls off of a dating app will do the trick.
Nothing seems really do it, though.
…I sit writing this next to my sleeping girlfriend, who I met after almost-but-not-quite hooking up with two girls on a dating app, on that very dating app. I thought she’d be the third. But we’re still together after a year. And only now, when she’s about to move away forever do I realize how much I love her and never want to let her go. Because I fear that once she’s gone, nobody will ever love me in the same way again. And I’ll remain incomplete for the rest of my life. Till she inevitably moves on, finds a partner that makes her realize how much she was missing out on, and I’m stuck broke in my thirties, living off of my parents’ generosity, still trying to figure out if I wanna be a plumber, a journalist, a rapper, or an Australian. Or all four.
I spent all that time in our relationship trying to figure out how to extract the most fulfillment out of our relationship. The answer was right there the whole time. It seems like it’s pretty much always there. In school, in friendships, with my family. Just right in front of me. But I never see it until it’s passed me by.
To me, Room 25 is a deep, introspective look into why nothing works. Why chasing something imaginary results in nothing but regret. Noname ties in black liberation and corrupt politics into her poetry, but at the core of the album is a reflective look at her relationships–with men and herself.
I’ve heard this album described as the “sonic equivalent of the morning after a one-night stand”. I had the Gen Z equivalent of that when I traded nudes and immediately regretted it next morning. And I threw on this album, to see if that description was apt.
It was apt.
But now, a year into my relationship with my girlfriend, and having not listened to this album in full since before we met, it takes on new life. I cried listening to it not out of regret but of an optimism that says “Holy shit. I have the most perfect person in the world sleeping next to me. I need to appreciate them while I have them in my life.”
Room 25 is an album about the self. And how the self can learn to love itself in spite of its perceived flaws.
And for the record, my girlfriend was not looking over my shoulder while I wrote this.