These are my 20 favorite projects of the year so far in alphabetical order! I decided for projects to not limit it to one project per artist, so there is a repeat artist in here. I have already talked about a lot. of these albums, but there are a few that this is my first time talking about them.
Kenny Mason - Angelic Hoodrat: Supercut
It took awhile, but this project eventually clicked with me. This deluxe project doesn’t have the meticulous nature of his debut from last year, but the sonic experimentation is upped quite a bit. On the debut, Kenny was just bringing rock into some introspective hip hop and combining the two on the spot, but there aren’t many pure rock moments. On Angelic Hoodrat: Supercut, Kenny pulls out some pure punk rock tracks with “Play Ball” and the slowburn 5 and a half minute “Titan” with Angel White. The “normal” hip hop tracks are nice as well, including the intricate rhyme schemes of “Rih” and the syrupy slow “Much Money” with Freddie Gibbs. Especially considering all the different sounds, I’m very excited to see what his live performance will consist of next month! I’m not sure where Kenny will go from here, but hopefully he continues to push the sonics farther than before while continuing to prove himself as an incredible rapper.
Jahmed - Armani
Straightforward music isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s hard to say something straightforward is objectively great. Jahmed fits into that category. Armani is another project full of slightly west coast influenced bangers, but the entire project is fairly straightforward, so you have to be a fan of the sound to fully enjoy it. For me though, I really enjoy this project all the way through. It is a significant improvement on his debut project from last year, THEBOOFMOBILE. The beats are more diverse, Jahmed’s flow has improved, and his songwriting ability might have the biggest improvement out of them all. Most songs on his previous project barely made it to two minutes long, while this project has more focused and fleshed out tracks. Jahmed experiments a bit more on this project as well, including some chopped and screwed vocals on “Roadblock”. Armani is far from experimental, but it’s a perfect project for some easy listening.
Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
I only left one spot for the barrage of albums that came out on the 25th, and as expected, Tyler is currently standing above the rest. Instead of continuing down the lofi soul direction Igor was in, he turned back to his hip hop roots to make his greatest pure hip hop album yet. Even off of only a couple listens, there’s so many jaw dropping moments. The production is incredible and almost everything is done by Tyler himself. There are a couple tracks that use heavy samples from other hip hop songs, but the rest are produced by Tyler. The fact that he can make something as accessible and catchy as “Earfquake,” and also produce something as hard and layered as “Juggernaut” is nothing short of incredible. Tyler stepped up his rapping ability as well, throwing flow and flow at these beats. As usual, he brings features from everywhere to help these songs reach their full potential, and this one is no different. I do plan on doing a more in depth review after fully digesting it more, but there’s no doubt this will be one of the best albums of 2021!
St. Vincent - Daddy’s Home
Daddy’s Home just gets better with more listens. The songwriting is both dense and straightforward, and the instrumentals are filled to the brim with everything from guitars to synths. What really starts to come out, is that St. Vincent’s vocals really start to stand out after multiple listens. For example, the lead single “Pay Your Way In Pain” has the most compressed and claustrophobic instrumental of 2021, so much so that her voice has to be put through a processor that helps it fit the track. But what it also does is hide some of those expressive, long notes that would normally stand out. While watching her SNL performances, it becomes apparent that she’s actually singing powerfully over these tracks, even if it doesn’t sound like it on the surface. It’s also fascinating when an artist can create an entire persona around a certain album era, and that’s what St. Vincent is doing here. Her whole style is now pure 70s and it helps bring the listener into that era she’s channeling. Daddy’s Home will remain not only one of the best rock albums of 2021, but one of the best overall albums as well.
Jazmine Sullivan - Heaux Tales
Honestly, R&B has been lacking this year. A lot of the big names have stayed on the sidelines so far, but luckily, Jazmine Sullivan started off the year strong with this EP. She brought out many of the heavy hitters in R&B, including Ari Lennox, Anderson Paak, and H.E.R. In a way, it feels like she’s bringing the new generation into the traditional, older R&B sound, but it’s weird considering she’s actually younger than Paak. Jazmine’s still a veteran though, as she was singing in The Roots’s jam sessions since she was nine years old. At only eight full songs, she covers every facet of R&B on Heaux Tales. “Pick Up Your Feelings” and “Girl Like Me” are timeless hits that any age fan would enjoy. “Put It Down” takes the new hip hop influenced sound that’s currently popular, while “Lost One” is a gorgeous ballad about a lesbian relationship cheating scandal. Heaux Tales is here to remind people that Jazmine Sullivan is not to be forgotten about and her material is just as strong as ever.
Big Ghost Ltd & Conway the Machine - If It Bleeds, It Can Be Killed
Conway may have done the rapping, but Big Ghost is just as important in his project. No one has seen what he looks like, but Big Ghost has gone from making hilarious reviews on his blog to producing entire projects for the grimiest rappers out. His arrangement of the project is also impeccable, as every moment of the project feels intentionally placed. The intro couple of songs feel like an opening scene to a movie, while both the middle and ending have their own rising actions and climaxes. But as much credit as Big Ghost deserves, there’s no denying that Conway’s bars are incredible. The personal subject matter of about every song on here makes it stand out in his catalogue. For example, a song like “Losses To Blessings” shows Conway meditating on his friends dying in the street life and the effect on him, while Big Ghost underscores that with two hair-raising beats. Maybe it’s just because this album came out so early in the year, but I played this project constantly for months. Conway’s only getting better, and Big Ghost proved he can do no wrong on the production side.
Listen: Spotify
Charm La’Donna - La’Donna
This project actually came out a few months ago and I just found out about it from her name being on the Lollapalooza lineup. This is her debut project, but I’ve actually seen her on stage before, and you’ve almost certainly seen something she’s been a part of. Charm is a big choreographer and even choreographed The Weeknd’s Super Bowl performance this year. Before that, she’s done everything from being the lone dancer and choreographer for Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN performances, Dua Lipa’s new Grammy performance, Rosalia’s tour, and many more. This project shows that she’s got the talent in making music as well. She clearly put a lot of money into making sure this project sounds as perfect and authentic to her as possible, and she totally succeeded. Even though the sonics vary in sound, everything still sounds very west coast and sonically uplifting. She still manages to touch on personal moments like the chorus of “Palm Trees,” “My life revolves around palm trees, but ain’t shit sweet cause I done lost homies.” Glad that she got on the lineup because now I heard another great project and excited to see her live at the festival!
Conway the Machine - La Maquina
There’s no arguing at this point that Griselda is the leading collective in hip hop right now, and even though Conway was the last one from the crew to pop off, he’s now getting his acclaim. La Maquina is his second album of the year and occupies a separate place in music than his first project above. This project sounds amazing in the car, while the other one is for more intimate listening. Every type of beat is on here, but the most surprising is the trap beats. I never would’ve thought that Conway would make a track like “KD”, but it shows he can do that sound better than about anyone while barely trying. There are tracks on here that have a soulful, 2000s era Kanye beat, others that are drumless loops by Alchemist, and even some traditional, slow Griselda beats. Conway’s flow on here is something special, and he’s still able to be emotionally potent after dropping his most personal project earlier in the year. Conway’s become one of my favorite rappers, and him dropping music of this quality this often is something no one else has replicated.
Iglooghost - Lei Line Eon
Lei Line Eon is Iglooghost’s attempt to bring something called Lei music into the mainstream. It was popular in his hometown back in the day and he didn’t want to see that culture die, so he delved into this new sound for his album. The whole goal of this genre was to summon otherworldly entities. There’s so much other information about this culture on his website and if it all sounds a bit outrageous, that’s because it’s all made up. Iglooghost always creates a world with his albums, and this one’s no different. Even though the stories may be fake, the music itself does fit these parameters perfectly. Everything is very airy, loose on actual song structure, and has some of the best sound design I’ve heard in a very long time. The way he’s able to incorporate violins into this completely computer made landscape is incredible. In terms of only the music itself, he went a bit too ambient and loose on song structure for my personal taste, but there’s no denying the absolutely fantastic sound design and atmosphere.
J. Cole - The Off-Season
After being removed from the hype for a while, it’s clear that it only got better over time. The Off-Season is the simplest J. Cole project in almost a decade, which originally left a lot of fans on edge. The concepts are all gone, most of the social commentary is gone, and even his span of no feature projects is gone. While that last one was welcomed with open arms, the absence of the first two are a big reason why people originally disliked this project. Now, this project may not have many people calling it J. Cole’s best, but it’s hard to call this project anything less than solid. Cole’s pure rapping ability is on full display here, pummeling the listener with one-liner after one-liner for the entire 40 minutes. The production is finally outsourced for a lot of the tracks, which also made Cole challenge himself with flow a lot more. Even with how great this project is, there’s no denying that Cole could, and hopefully will, push himself further on his next project.
Benny the Butcher & Harry Fraud - The Plugs I Met 2
No artist balances the street/drug subject matter and the new mainstream hip hop sound better than Benny the Butcher. He’s the newest artist to break somewhat into the mainstream while talking about street life from an authentic position. Instead of glorifying gang life and drug use like a lot of rappers, he talks about it by providing wisdom to people still in that life. “Live By It” is a perfect example of why Benny stands out. The track shows Benny meditating on why he carries around guns instead of just bragging that he does. He’s not only seen many of his friends get shot in this life, but Benny himself was shot in a robbery last year. Even by the first line, it’s evident that Benny is coming from a different spot than other rappers, “Guns don’t make you safe, but I’m strapped with mines. It’s about awareness and your reaction time.” The Plugs I Met 2 is yet another excellent project from The Butcher on his way to hip hop royalty.
Mach-Hommy - Pray For Haiti
Pray For Haiti marks the fourth Griselda project on this list, and it’s insane how this label is putting out this many great hip hop projects in such a short period of time. Their brand of grimey hip hop is only amplified with the lyrical ability of anyone associated with the label. They can have lines that are extremely dark but you know that they’re being authentic about how they used to live, like Mach-Hommy during the “Murder Czn” chorus. But for as many lines like that, they have some lines that are just clever and kind of hilarious, like Westside Gunn on “Rami” saying “Smelling like I just cooked a brick at the Met Gala,” and “When’s the last time your feet had sand on them.” They also add in the pure art feeling as well, including the album art. This time, it’s a repainted Basquiat painting from 1981 that sold for $26.4 million in 2012. There’s no denying Mach’s rapping ability, Westside’s curation ability, and the producers being able to create the grimey hip hop atmosphere.
Rebecca Black - Rebecca Black Was Here
Well, I certainly didn’t see this coming at the beginning of the year. Rebecca Black is still known for her iconic hit “Friday” from 2011. It helped slingshot her into the limelight, but also an extreme amount of online hate that caused the rest of her childhood to be filled with bullying and depression that led to transferring schools multiple times. As an adult, Rebecca is back with her first official project in nearly half a decade. At only six songs, she still manages to carry two distinct sounds. One is the Dorian Electra/hyperpop influenced style, while the other is the traditional pop sound you’d hear on the radio. Songs like “Better In My Memory” and “Personal” combine both of those sounds really nicely. “NGL” is probably my favorite, but that’s also because the skittering vocal manipulations and mechanical production makes it the most hyperpop-y track on this EP. I do wish her voice was more unique, but Rebecca Black Was Here is likely one of the best pop releases of 2021 so far.
Brockhampton - Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine
I don’t think anything Brockhampton does will ever match the hype they had in 2017. Even now, that time frame has some of my favorite memories in music directly because of them. Roadrunner still doesn’t match the impact those projects had, but it goes down as their most meticulously put together album to date. The bangers on here hit hard, including the A$AP Rocky and A$AP Ferg assisted “Bankroll” and the manic opener “Buzzcut” with Danny Brown. There are the melodic, pop hits that they’ve always had, including “Count on Me” and “I’ll Take You On” with Charlie Wilson. They were even able to secure an incredible beat from Chad Hugo on the introspective “When I Ball”. Of course, there’s no denying the heartbreaking openness of Kevin and Joba on both parts of “The Light”. Especially for Joba, hearing him talk about losing his father to suicide just rips me in two every time. Roadrunner isn’t going to convince any new fans to check them out, but it serves as their best major label album.
Shelley FKA DRAM - Shelley FKA DRAM
Shelley FKA DRAM took five years off from a full project before releasing this self-titled album, and that led to a full overhauling of his sound. Of course, his early hits like “Broccoli” and “Cash Machine” were fantastic on their own, but this album lends itself closer to the deep cuts from his debut, a pure R&B album. This isn’t the new sound of R&B that consists of trap beats with singing, this is a traditional, adult R&B album. There’s not any era where this sound would be dated, that type of project. Each song builds to their own climatic ending, whether that be the single “Expose” or the incredible “The Lay Down” with H.E.R and Watt from a couple years ago. Of course, the subject matter revolves around every stage of love. For what he lacks in originality, Shelley makes up for in charm, especially on the more endearing tracks like “Something About Us” and “Beautiful”. This album is for all the old school R&B fans that say the genre is dead.
Genesis Owusu - Smiling With No Teeth
Smiling With No Teeth is likely my favorite album this year from an artist I had never heard of until 2021. After first hearing of him through his single “Gold Chains” and listening to it for the first time on my old radio show, I was lucky enough to be anticipating the album when it came out. Genesis brings on a gumbo of different genres with seemingly random things making sense in these songs. There are some electronic elements, traditional rock songs, slow R&B ballads, indie anthems that would kill on the radio, psychedelic moments in some of the playing, punk rock with the aggressive guitars, a couple hip hop verses, and there’s still more! The whole project is also an extremely ambitious concept album about racism and depression, but every song still works perfectly outside of the concept. There’s part of me that just appreciates the ambition for Genesis to even approach something this big for a debut album, but I also think he executed it really well. Even with the project being just under an hour, there’s still plenty of new material, including a remix for “Don’t Like You” with Mick Jenkins and new throwaways being released. It’s rare for an artist to start out swinging this heavily, but Genesis is making the best of the situation.
Madlib - Sound Ancestors
There’s no forgetting about one of the best producers of all time, especially when it’s a solo project. Madlib lives in obscurity, to the point of doing interviews on his wife’s cell phone because he doesn’t own one, but his releases always make noise in the hip hop realm. Sound Ancestors is his first solo release after his Freddie Gibbs collaboration projects that have raised his profile, and the sonics on here will stand the test of time. Even almost six months after the project came out, everything about this project still sounds fresh as ever. The ode to J Dilla on “Two for 2 - For Dilla” remains one of the best beats of the year, and “Road of the Lonely Ones” scores a fake movie better than any actual score I’ve heard in a long time. He doesn’t shy away from experimentation, but instead leans into it with lots of unique percussion, especially on tracks like “Loose Goose” and the title track. It may not be the best that Madlib has to offer, but the sample genius was able to make another fantastic project for fans to drool over.
Slowthai - Tyron
I still feel like I’m missing something with this project, but there’s no denying the creative, thoughtful album that is Tyron. At under 40 minutes, this project is still split up into two separate, but distinct parts. It’s as simple as the first seven tracks are bangers, and the second seven are slower and more introspective. The first seven have some of the best bangers of 2021 on it. “Cancelled” with Skepta has an insane beat that changes quite a few times in under three minutes. “Mazza” with A$AP Rocky is named after a made up word by Slowthai, but Rocky steals the show once again, All $miles can’t come soon enough. Even a track like “Dead” shows his ability to make a fairly straightforward track by himself. The second half of the project is a bit hit or miss, but it’s mainly hits for me. James Blake and Mount Kimbie showed up on “feel away” to create a beautiful track. Deb Never proves again why her album might be one of the best of 2021 with her feature on “push”. Slowthai could probably do better than Tyron eventually, but there’s no denying that this project is an essential hip hop album of 2021.
Jensen McRae - Who Hurt You?
This is Jensen’s first official project currently available, but honestly, it feels more like a technicality. Four of these songs have already been released, and have been released all 2020 and 2021. When she was talking about the EP, she said that all of the songs (except for “Immune”) were written in late 2018 and early 2019, so these are years old. Of course, I’ve talked quite a few times about the singles “Wolves” and “Immune”, both of which find their way on here, but both the powerful “White Boy” and groovy “Starting To Get To You” find their way on here. “Dead Girl Walking” has this fantastic guitar licks and some live drums that pair with her voice beautifully. “Adam’s Rib” closes out the project with a traditional ballad that shows her vocal range over some gorgeous strings. Who Hurt You? may be just a majority collection of singles, but it sets the stage beautifully for Jensen’s upcoming debut album.
Flying Lotus - Yasuke
Flying Lotus really knocked it out of the park with this anime soundtrack. But of course, there’s no surprise that Flying Lotus is an extremely talented composer. His grandmother is Marilyn McLeod, who is known for writing Diana Ross’s chart topping hit “Love Hangover”, as well as many other tracks by known artists. Also, Marilyn’s sister is Alice Coltrane, one of the most legendary jazz artists ever, who was also married to another jazz icon, John Coltrane. With all that talent in the family, Flying Lotus becoming one of the forefront artists on the new jazz/electronic revival was destiny, and Yasuke is just another notch in the belt of his legacy. The cinematic quality of tracks like “War Lords” and “Your Day Off” show him experimenting with new sounds he hasn’t attempted before. But then of course, there are the Thundercat assisted “Black Gold” and “Crust” that would fit nicely into most projects from each of their catalogues. Yasuke proves once again that Flying Lotus still has the magic from his earlier projects, and will likely continue to release great stuff.
Listen: Spotify
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