A$AP Mob: Cozy Tapes, Vol 1: Friendsĭespite being a dope, funny myriad of songs that display the flavor that the A$AP crew is known for, the concept behind the album is as important as the music. His problems are put on the forefront and we are able to feel his emotion, a quality trait that TDE artists are known for. The Sun’s Tirade displays the ups and downs that he was dealing with. Rashad is the underdog of TDE, but he has the ability to rap and flow with the best of em’. Isaiah Rashad’s battle with drug and alcohol addiction almost got him dropped from TDE and we probably would never have gotten to hear the rapper’s first studio album. But Kendrick Lamar is one of the few rappers who is able to get people to listen to him, even if the records are not finished. We normally don’t gravitate to this type of music because nobody wants to be reminded that the world is shit while they’re traveling to work in the morning. Kendrick Lamar’s analysis of real world issues is stunning - tackling most rap topics that others would shy away from. Kendrick Lamar did just that with Untitled Unmastered. Not many people can release a collection album of unreleased and somewhat unfinished tracks, and people still think that it is one of the best works that they have ever heard. The content is deep and rich at times - talking about success, redemption, and even police brutality. If you believed that the entire album would be like the first two singles released off of the album, “For Free”, and “I Got the Keys,” then you would be wrong. And he makes sure that the album is not a basic rap album of turned collaboration songs. But DJ Khaled’s ability to bring multiple people together to create a good body of work has always been his best talent, and it shows on this album. The album has guest appearances from Jadakiss, Nas, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Bryson Tiller, Future, Jay-Z, etc. The ninth studio album from DJ Khaled, Major Key, was a combination of multiple rap styles and personalities. If you did not hear any of these titles, then there is still time to play them before the ball drops and we enter the new year. Therefore, we should consider the entirety of the art form when considering the best music that came out in 2016. The two have always had little separation in the rap community as we have always recognized the importance of the mixtape. However, the denomination between the two is only for awards and the charts. Chance has forever blurred the line between a mixtape and an album. Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book, which is technically a mixtape, is the first streaming-only project to be nominated for a Grammy. Although a mixtape would normally be considered a separate body of work, and not usually fall into the same category as an album, 2016 has revolutionized the way we view both albums and mixtapes. To a fan coming up in the era of Cardi or Tyler or Polo G or Playboi Carti, the golden age is now.We are constantly being bombarded with new music and the ability to stream it on different platforms. One of the incredible things about hip-hop is that it evolves and expands faster than any other genre in music history. to Houston to Chicago, and beyond.Īs we dug and listened, we found ourselves a little less swayed by “golden age” mystique than we might’ve been had we done this list 10 or 15 years ago. and Rakim and others, through the gangsta era, the rise of the South, the ascendance of larger-than-life aughts superstars like Jay-Z and Kanye West and Nicki Minaj, and on and on into more recent moments like blog-rap, emo-rap, and drill, from New York to L.A. The result was a list that touches on every important moment in the genre’s evolution - from compilations that honor the music’s paleo old-school days, to its artistic flourishing in the late Eighties and early Nineties with Public Enemy, De La Soul, Eric B. When confronted with a choice between the third (or fourth or fifth) record by a classic artist (Outkast, for instance, or A Tribe Called Quest) and an album from an artist who would make the list more interesting (The Jacka or Saba or Camp Lo), we tended to go with the latter option. Relatedly, a list of hip-hop-adjacent albums from the worlds of dancehall or reggaeton or grime would be fun and fascinating, and something for us to revisit down the road. That’s one reason we limited our scope to English language hip-hop. But the history of rap LPs is so rich and varied, we were forced to make some painful choices - there are so many iconic artists with deep catalogs, so many constantly evolving sounds and regional scenes. Two hundred seems like an almost luxuriantly expansive number when you’re making an albums list, and in any other genre, maybe it would be.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |