25. Injury Reserve - By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Months later, and this album is still mind-boggling. I’ve gotten used to it after listening to it a dozen times, but when it comes to actually explaining what they’re doing here, it’s next to impossible. The production is still unlike anything I’ve heard before, so harsh and off-putting but somehow still drenched in grief and emotion. Even though they said the album was made before Groggs passed away, the darkness that’s over this album is now heavily put onto Groggs' passing. But songs like “Superman That”, “Knees”, and “Top Picks For You” are nothing short of incredible and sound absolutely crazy. Yeah, there’s really not too much that’s really possible to say about this, if you want something like you’ve never heard before, By The Time I Get To Phoenix is here for you.
24. Baby Keem - The Melodic Blue
Keem tried a bunch of different styles on this album, and most of them worked out fairly well. He really proved that even though he was 20 years old when this came out, he’s a force to be reckoned with for the future. Now, this album still isn’t amazing all the way through, but some of the absolute best hip hop bangers of the year are on this project. “Family Ties” and “Range Brothers” with Kendrick Lamar are both full of incredible moments, even if the latter leans a bit too hard on hilarity. The opener, “Trademark USA” might be the hardest opening track I’ve heard this year and even has a little Rosalia feature. Even “Cocoa” with Don Toliver has a fairly straightforward, but still great beat, and Don manages to keep up with Keem fairly well. The Melodic Blue is another step in the right direction for Baby Keem.
23. JPEGMAFIA - LP! (Offline Version)
JPEGMAFIA has yet to miss since his 2018 opus Veteran, and LP! is the culmination of everything he’s done up until this point. His rapping ability is just as potent and charismatic as before, and he incorporates his singing from All My Heroes Are Cornballs into this album effortlessly. JPEGMAFIA’s production here is just as crazed as ever, but he manages to make these songs more accessible than his previous material. A song like “Rebound” has this extremely deep and driving 808s that help it fit in more with what most mainstream artists are doing. Even a track like “Hazard Duty Pay” with its old-school R&B sample makes it easily enjoyable without even listening to his rhymes. LP! proves once again that JPEGMAFIA is one of hip hop’s most innovative and consistent artists.
22. Isaiah Rashad - The House is Burning
The House is Burning is still an interesting album to me, and one that I still have problems with. There’s still a six song run in the middle of this album that has little more than pleasant background music, but what’s outside of that is just as great, if not better than when it came out! “Headshots” is still one of the best songs of the year, and “From The Garden” might be the best banger of the year from the entire TDE label. “Lay With Ya” still has minimal contributions from Zay, but Duke Deuce kills it once again with a fantastic and energetic feature that just drips with the Memphis hip hop influence. The final couple tracks where Isaiah gets more introspective are the ones that have grown on me the most, even if they still aren’t made for background listening. Even Isaiah Rashad’s worst album is still easily one of the better hip hop albums of the year.
21. Benny the Butcher & Harry Fraud - The Plugs I Met 2
It’s physically impossible for Benny to rap poorly on an album, and this EP is no exception. He feels just as mature about looking back on his past as ever, especially with tracks like “Live By It”, where he talks about specifically why he has to carry a gun with him, even now. 2 Chainz started his run of Griselda greatness with his feature on “Plug Talk”, which was a fantastic and straightforward banger that almost could’ve been a hit. “No Instructions” is likely the best track on here, with its minimalist production and Benny’s grimy storytelling of dealing drugs. Harry Fraud’s production fits Benny pretty well. Either way, The Plugs I Met 2 lives up to its predecessor and continues his run of great projects. Can’t wait for Tana Talk 4 next year!
20. J. Cole - The Off-Season
J. Cole hasn’t sounded this hungry since his mixtape days a decade ago, and even though it isn’t as great as those mixtapes, it’s still his easiest project to enjoy since 2014 Forest Hills Drive. Some people could argue either of his previous two albums are better, and they might be, but they’re not as easily enjoyable as this mixtape. On The Off-Season, Cole just throws flow after flow at the listener, and drops bar after bar on almost every track. He even brings on some features that add to their respective tracks, especially 21 Savage and Lil Baby, who both probably outrap Cole himself. This project isn’t anything special, but it’s not trying to be. It’s something to play in the car, something to play to help motivate yourself, and it works perfectly for what it was designed for.
19. Mick Jenkins - Elephant in the Room
After living with this album for a while, I now think this is definitely Mick’s best project since The Waters in 2014. It’s not necessarily much different from his previous material, but he incorporates singing a lot more effortlessly into this album, which helps change the sonics a little bit. It makes tracks like “Scottie Pippen” and “Gucci Tried To Tell Me” work a bit better than many of his other tracks, but the production is top tier as well. The jazzy, watery, Chicago hip hop sound is still here in droves, especially for the deep cuts of the album. But it changes for a track like “D.U.I.”, which almost feels like it could fit on a Griselda album. Of course, Mick’s lyrics and storytelling are top tier, especially on a track like “Reflection”. During his show in Madison, Mick even said that this album was mainly to get him out of his record deal, so if he’s putting out his best album in 7 years and it’s still that, I can’t wait to see what he’s going to do next.
18. Dijon - Absolutely
Dijon’s music is still almost above description, even after living with this project for a while. There are moments like on “Scratching” and “Many Times” where he sounds close to the Americana of Springsteen, but everything still feels very R&B inspired. Especially when looking at two other highlights on the album, “The Dress” and “Rodeo Clown”, the R&B influence is clear. The former is a direct throwback to the 90s, while the latter is a stripped back ballad with the most heart wrenching vocal performance I’ve heard this year and includes him literally crying towards the end of the track. There are moments that could be interpreted as filler because of the minimal “normal” songwriting, but this project works so much better as a whole. Dijon immediately shot himself up there as one of my favorites with this project!
17. Parcels - Day/Night
This album has only gotten better with time! Living with it for the past couple months has really helped digest the entire double album, especially with their instrumentals. Their fast guitar lines have always been the staple, but the piano parts all over this project add so much to every track, whether it be the opener “Free” or a fast-paced anthem like “Comingback”. Allowing their instrumentals to run long on almost every track really shows how they’re a complete band and not just a couple of quality songwriters. But even with that, the songwriting on here is mature and seems to tell a loose overarching story of love and finding yourself. This album is one that anyone of any age can enjoy to some extent, but it still manages to reward each new listen.
16. Kenny Mason - Angelic Hoodrat: Supercut
This is less of a deluxe to his original project, and more like a continuation of the same sound he had on the original. Except on this Supercut, he pushes the sounds much further than before. He incorporates rock into this brand of dark Atlanta hip hop perfectly, sometimes even melding entire tracks together. But when he just decides to rap, it’s still really great. He held his own against Denzel Curry and Freddie Gibbs on their features here, while also giving some insane rhyme schemes on “Rih”. Even a track like “4ever” shows Kenny at his most passionate and it’s easy to hear the pain in his delivery. But then he’ll also have a song like “Pup” or “Titan” where it’s hard to even categorize these songs as hip hop. Kenny Mason proves once again that he’s someone to pay attention to these next few years.
15. Nas - Magic
This album is single handedly both amazing and ruined my end of the year list. The reason why my list is now 51 projects is because I couldn’t not include this somewhere on the list, even
with the album coming out as a surprise on Christmas Eve. At only 9 songs and 30 minutes, the entire production is grimier than his previous two projects with Hit-Boy. It feels like Nas is just in practice on this album, but in the best way possible. Instead of the cohesive and more emotional tracks of King’s Disease 2, Magic shows Nas experimenting with flows and one-liners more than ever before. I didn’t think it would be possible for someone who’s been rapping for almost 30 years to sound this hungry. Nas sounds like that teenager from New York trying to make it in the rap industry, even now when he’s considered one of the greatest of all time. Even after only a couple days of listening, this album only gets better and better. This album could be higher on the list in the future, but I couldn’t leave this album off of my list.
14. Mach-Hommy - Pray For Haiti
Pray For Haiti was Mach’s coming home party back to Griselda and was his introduction to many people, me included. To be frank, Mach doesn’t make it easy to enjoy his music considering this was his first album to premier on streaming services in years, but it ended up as one of Griselda’s best this year! He brings on Westside Gunn to executive produce this album, and Westside just knows what Mach would sound good over. Whether it’s a slow-Conductor beat or an extravagant guitar-ballad beat, it’s produced and sequenced to perfection. Mach’s wordplay is maybe his best attribute, and he likes to keep it secret by physically keeping the lyrics off of the Internet, forcing the listener to digest the project. One of hip hop's most secretive acts really showed up in the biggest way this year with Pray for Haiti!
13. James Blake - Friends That Break Your Heart
James Blake has never dropped anything bad at all, but he really outdid himself with Friends That Break Your Heart. The album leans heavier into his singer-songwriter side, just like Assume Form, but there are more electronic elements on here. A song like “I’m So Blessed You’re Mine” with its weird electronic drop feels like a perfect combination of all his previous material. While the outro “I’m So Insecure” has this beautiful electronic build that ends the album with a personal high. But there are also bangers like the JID and SwaVay assisted “Frozen” and the Metro Boomin produced “Foot Forward”. The beautiful ballads with SZA and Monica Martin are also both gorgeous and have the perfect features to compliment James’s voice. This album may not be a mindblowing evolution of James’s music, but it’s still one of his best projects yet.
12. Genesis Owusu - Smiling With No Teeth
This was my favorite album this year from someone I had never heard of before 2021! It did eventually fade out over the course of the year, but revisiting it now at the end and everything still holds up. The driving punk energy of “The Other Black Dog” is an immediate start that will get people hype, as well as the radio track “Don’t Like You”. He goes into detail on dealing with depression and racism on tracks like “Gold Chains” and “Whip Cracker”. Even though the bangers on here are great, the slower songs are just as fantastic. The title track builds perfectly over the runtime, and “A Song About Fishing” is definitely the best folk song about fishing I’ve heard all year! Not many people could pull off an album this detailed with this much variety, let alone even attempt it for a debut album, but Genesis Owusu pulls it off with flying colors.
11. Big Ghost Ltd & Conway the Machine - If It Bleeds, It Can Be Killed
Conway doesn’t stop working, as this was his 4th project in 11 months when it came out in February, but it still manages to simultaneously be one of his best and most personal projects yet. A song like “Losses To Blessings” shows Conway’s innate ability to deliver a harrowing story of gang violence and drug dealing. But simultaneously, there are songs on this album like “Kill All Rats” where just the beat itself is bone-chilling, let alone Conway’s bars about shooting up a wake and cooking crack. Big Ghost deserves just as much praise for this project though, as he solely produced everything on here and formatted it into a cohesive and thematic project. His beats are nothing short of amazing all throughout this project. Conway’s on a tear right now, and no matter what he drops, it’s almost guaranteed to be great.
10. Silk Sonic - An Evening With Silk Sonic
This was clearly going to be a top album of the year from the single “Leave The Door Open”, and it didn’t disappoint! Bruno and Anderson bring out the best in each other. Bruno’s perfectionist attitude helped maintain Anderson’s loose style, but Anderson’s funkier instrumentals and more soulful voice provide a nice contradiction to Bruno’s silky smooth voice. These two sounds come together in perfection over these 31 minutes, especially with a track like “Put On A Smile,” where each of them are belting and begging their woman to come back. Bruno’s vocals just get better and better as the song progresses, but Anderson’s drumming during the back half is just as important to making that track incredible. The only negative I can throw at it is that the decision to release it in November was a weird choice, as it made it harder to enjoy in the cold, which is probably why it’s this low on my list, but it’s still an amazing body of work.
9. Nas - King’s Disease 2
This album never fell out of rotation since it came out. Nas just packs so many memorable lines and performances into these 15 tracks that there’s something else to learn every listen. It’s insane to hear someone like Nas in his late 40s sounding perfect on a trap beat that would fit Lil Baby, but he does sound amazing on it. He’s proving that age is just a state of mind with this album, especially considering how this album is up there with the top 5 in his entire career almost 30 years in! Nas speaks like he’s the old wise advisor on this album, especially with songs like “Moments”, “Nobody”, and “My Bible”. But he still reminds people that he’s in rare form with some of the earlier tracks in the tracklist, which prove that rapping doesn’t go away with age. I honestly have no idea if he can top this album with future releases, but King’s Disease 2 shows us to never doubt Nas again.
8. Cleo Sol - Mother
Nothing released in 2021 was more healing than this album. What Cleo Sol and Inflo did here is something special, as usual. Once again, Inflo’s percussion is unlike anyone I've ever heard, but it’s the piano chords he chooses are what really hit home on this album. It’s almost above description how beautiful some of these songs are, and Cleo is definitely still a huge part of that. Her voice doesn’t blow you away with its power or range, but it’s always exactly what the song needs. She can still belt when she needs to, but it’s almost like she’s putting you to this state of everything being ok. I suppose considering she was holding her newborn baby during most of the vocal takes, that’s probably what she was going for. I’m not sure what else to say, Mother has both moved me to tears and kept me calm many times over these past few months, and I can’t say that about any other album in a long time.
7. Vince Staples - Vince Staples
I really didn’t expect this album to be this high on the list, and it took awhile for me to fully love this project. Vince has never dropped anything less than great, especially in the past few years, but this one felt too minimal and lifeless on the first couple listens. It only clicked when I realized lifeless is the perfect descriptor of this album. Every single song on here mentions death and how it’s intertwined with him growing up in Long Beach. Even three different songs start out with direct references to death, talking about money on “Sundown Town" with,” “I can die tonight, so today, I’m finna go get paid,” more direct on “The Shining” with, “Don’t get murdered,” and even on the single “Take Me Home”, “I don’t wanna die, but I will for the cause”. Even without the lyrical topics, Kenny’s production is extremely melancholic and perfect for a quick music therapy session after a moody day. I still play this album weekly, even though it’s been almost half a year since it’s release, and will continue for a long time.
6. Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
This is the best album I’ve heard this year. It’s not number one because it’s not the album I returned to the most, but if I had to try and look at the year as objective as possible, nothing is touching this album. The production on here is literal perfection, whether it’s the maximalist, cinematic intro “Introvert” or the 80s pop homage of “Protect Your Energy”. But as amazing as Inflo did on the production, the star is still Little Simz, who is everything you would want a rapper to be. Her flows are unique and varied throughout, the one-liners are both clever and poignant, and her subject matter varies greatly throughout. She’s got the confidence of someone who knows she’s amazing, but she still wields it responsibly over these 19 tracks. It shouldn’t be possible to have a personal frustration towards your father like “I Love You, I Hate You” on the same album as a perfect Afrobeat number like “Point and Kill”. This album feels like the best movie you’ve ever listened to.
5. Conway the Machine - La Maquina
It turns out that Conway the Machine is really good at this rapping thing. La Maquina is fantastic in the same way that an album like Zuu or DiCaprio 2 are, which is that he just feels like he’s in training with this release. I would be shocked if this entire album took him more than a few weeks to put together, but that’s part of the magic behind this album. It sounds like he’s only working at 80%, but he still manages to make one of the most easily enjoyable and replayable albums of the year. The production here is the biggest difference for Conway so far, as much of the first half is full of trap beats, something he’s never really done before, but he absolutely kills it! Something like “6:30 Tip Off” and “KD” are both insane bangers with some hard-hitting beats, but it’s something completely new for Conway. Even though I was expecting God Don’t Make Mistakes to release this year, I’m not disappointed in the slightest with Conway’s 2021 output!
4. St. Vincent - Daddy’s Home
This might have been my biggest surprise of 2021! I only had a vague familiarity with St. Vincent before this album, as I had only heard one album in full. The single “Pay Your Way In Pain” was interesting for sure, but it gave me the wrong idea about what this album would be. That single is one of the most processed songs I’ve ever heard, and the rest of the album is full of lush and gorgeous 70s ballads. Not that the processing is bad, but it stands out among tracks like “Live In The Dream” and “The Laughing Man”. She’s clearly taking the 70s sound for this album, but it doesn’t really matter when you do it as effectively as she does on here. Everything is layered and vocally perfect, and even the runtime feels like the perfect length. There’s something new that stands out each time I listen to the album, and I’m sure it’ll be one I’ll go back to for a while.
3. Deb Never - What Happened To All The Flowers?
This EP still feels like just a collection of songs, but it’s one of the best collections of songs I’ve heard all year. It’s not objectively one of the best, and I haven’t seen this project on any end of the year lists yet, but it just connects with me. I’ve struggled time after time to describe why it connects with me so much, but I’ll just use Deb’s own description of this project, “This entire EP, the energy of it is anxiety. It’s like calm anxiety.” That quote sums up how I feel most of the time, so I guess it’s no surprise that I really love this project. It gives off a similar vibe to both Phoebe Bridgers’ Punisher and Vince Staples’ self titled album, as that it sounds like everything is simultaneously ok and falling apart at the same time. Even though this project is sonically tame, especially with most of this Top 10, she can just get across a feeling the way very few indie-pop singers can. This project has stayed on repeat since it came out and likely will continue to be in rotation for a long time. Deb Never really knocked it out of the park with this release.
2. Kanye West - Donda
I never actually talked about this one here yet. I started to write a review back when it came out, got three full pages in and wasn’t even close to done, and then didn’t go back to it once school started. I still want to get full thoughts out there, so maybe during winter break I’ll finish one up to my standards, but Donda consumed music the latter half of 2021. With the listening parties and constant delays, there wasn’t a bigger event than this one, but luckily, the album showed that Kanye could still make incredible music when he wants to! Sure, everything on here isn’t on that level. “Tell The Vision” is useless on this tracklist, and “Ok Ok” is a passable banger at best , but the best moments of music in 2021 are also on here! Jay-Z reuniting with Kanye for the first time in a decade on “Jail”, Fivio Foreign having a legendary feature verse on “Off The Grid”, “Hurricane” finally being released after three years and now having The Weeknd and Lil Baby on it, Kid Cudi and Don Toliver on “Moon”, and finally everything about the heartbreaking “Come to Life” are among my favorite musical moments of 2021. That doesn’t even talk about the emotion bleeding through most of this album, whether it’s Kanye himself talking about his alcoholism and divorce or someone like Lil Durk talking about losing his brother to gang violence. Maybe there’ll be a full review on Donda sometime in the next month, but for now, Donda is Kanye’s newest, messiest, but rewarding opus.
1. Tyler, the Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost
I didn’t think it was possible for Tyler to have my favorite album of the year with a pure rap album, but here we are. Styled like a mid-2000s mixtape, Tyler shows that he can still be a fantastic rapper, a skill he hasn’t shown in quite a while. The first half of this album especially is full of nothing besides quick and diverse bangers. He brings back the 90s R&B sound with “WUSYANAME” and makes as close to a trap banger as he can with “LEMONHEAD”. The beat on “CORSO” progresses more in the 146 seconds than some entire albums, let alone songs. The songs do start to get longer towards the back end, especially with the eight and nine minute cuts “SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE” and “WILSHIRE”. But there are still just as amazing songs in the middle there as well, including the heartfelt and personal “MASSA” and the Lil Wayne-assisted “HOT WIND BLOWS”. Even with all of these amazing moments, the best part about Tyler is that he knows how to structure everything perfect for an album. Everything from the tracklist length to the pacing is perfected on this album! CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST is still not considered his best album by most fans, and I’d actually put it at third in his catalog, but it’s insane how his third best album still ended up having to be my favorite album this year!
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