2018 Rap Up: Albums 75-51

Without further ado, we are just going to jump right into the next batch of 25 albums in the countdown – while reminding ourselves what came before.

100. Takeoff – The Last Rocket

99. A$AP Rocky – TESTING

98. Cypress Hill – Elephants on Acid

97. $uicideboy$ - I Want to Die in New Orleans

96. Chuck Strangers – Consumers Park

95. KYLE – Light of Mine

94. The Doppelgangaz – Aaaaggghh

93. Apathy – The Widow’s Son

92. Various Artists – Superfly Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

91. Ace Hood – Trust the Process II: Undefeated

90. Rich the Kid – The World Is Yours

89. Princess Nokia – A Girl Cried Red

88. Young Thug & YSL Records – Slime Language

87. Nines – Crop Circles

86. 88rising – Head in the Clouds

85. Roc Marciano – Behold a Dark Horse

84. Action Bronson – White Bronco

83. Joell Ortiz & Apollo Brown – Mona Lisa

82. Fat Tony – 10,000 Hours

81. Dave East – P2

80. Drake – Scorpion

79. Death Grips – Year of the Snitch

78. Cadence Weapon – Cadence Weapon

77. E-40 – The Gift of Gab

76. Octavian – SPACEMEN

Trippie Redd - Life's A Trip

75. Trippie Redd – Life’s A Trip

The moniker ‘SoundCloud rapper’ feels as though it may carry just as much a negative connotation as it once implied a new exploratory, accessible form of hip hop. Trippie Redd is here to dispel any preconceived notions of SoundCloud rappers though. Life’s A Trip is an emotional ride, often punctuated by Trippie’s droning and moaning. None of it feels aimless though. Life’s A Trip straddles the line between an enthusiasm for living and absolute despair toward the entire process. "Taking A Walk" (one of the album's most popular tracks) epitomizes this dichotomy – the sugary, dreamy beat guiding Trippie Redd’s lyrics like “[s]aid I hope you got my note bitch, ayy, I left it on the suicide door bitch.” Much of Life’s A Trip feels like an uncompromising look at what it’s like to simultaneously experience conflicting emotions resulting in some blissful moments and some despairing ones. Entering Trippie Redd’s world is a trip you won’t soon forget.

74. Bishop Nehru – Elevators: Acts I & II

73. Dabrye – Three/Three

72. Del the Funky Homosapien & Amp Live – Gate 13

71. Montana of 300 – Pray for the Devil

70. Kooley High – Never Come Down

69. G Herbo & Southside – Swervo

Logic - YSIV

68. Logic – YSIV

On the last installment of his Young Sinatra series, Logic returns to form and in many ways pushes himself to be better than he has ever been. Thematically the album signals the end of his Young Sinatra moniker and an embrace of all that has meant to him and his fans. The record also keeps a watchful eye on the future for what might be next. Most of all though, YSIV sees Logic cut loose in a way not seen for numerous albums now. He experiments with different flows and beats, often adapting to the artists featured on the tracks. Such features include Wu-Tang Clan on the boom-bap inspired “Wu Tang Forever.” However, no track was a stylistic flex quite like “100 Miles and Running,” his collaboration with fellow DMV native, Wale. If you haven’t heard go-go style rap music, let this be your introduction. The rollicking, fast-paced, dance-driven style is a staple of Baltimore (and its neighbors). Perhaps no one did a better job of bringing that style mainstream than when Wale was on his mixtape grind. Logic does this and numerous other styles a great honor on this record, making it perhaps his most innovative and enjoyable to date.

67. Open Mike Eagle – What Happens When I Try To Relax

66. Aminé – ONEPOINTFIVE

Aminé’s debut last year – Good For You – was one of my favorite rap albums of the year. This year he followed it up with a project he referred to as a stopgap between his debut and his sophomore effort. Thematically it is not as cohesive as Good For You, but ONEPOINTFIVE still features some of those traits that made his debut enjoyable. On Aminé’s biggest hit from his debut, “Caroline,” the track prominently features an atypical drumline on its chorus and the song bangs. While he may not have anything as good as “Caroline” on this record, he still makes use of some interesting, atypical hi-hat/snare combos and turns them into songs that inevitably get you moving. He also experiments with some different styles on this record like the trap-influenced “CHINGY” or his singing on “SHINE.” There’s a little something here for everyone to enjoy and certainly enough to whet your appetite till we get the next feature length project from Aminé.

65. PRhyme – PRhyme 2

64. Roc Marciano & DJ Muggs – KAOS

63. Evidence – Weather or Not

Full of weather-related rhymes and boom bap produced by some of New York’s best producers, Evidence’s final album of his Weatherman series impresses. Production is primarily supplied by The Alchemist ("Powder Cocaine") with spots from Nottz ("Jim Dean"), DJ Premier ("10,000 Hours"), Samiyam ("To Make A Long Story Longer"), and even some beats from Evidence himself ("Moving Too Fast"). Evidence’s movement and pace over these beats punctuates just how contemplative he always sounds. It manufactures this faux off-the-top sound. The listener is left with the impression that each word Evidence spits at you is one that matters. Beyond the lyrical intricacy, the careful operation each bar performs on the masterful boom-bap sounds from The Alchemist will keep spinning tracks back as they finish.

62. Masta Ace & Marco Polo – A Breukelen Story

61. Skyzoo – In Celebration of Us

J. Cole - KOD

60. J. Cole – KOD

This is out of love. All of this comes from the perspective of a former J. Cole stan. Someone who wore out his first album high school each morning on the drive. Then it all started to get a bit tiring. Nothing ever felt like it was changing. I still maintain that Cole’s apex was the Truly Yours series of mixtapes. It was short, sweet, and contained. KOD gives off some of those same vibes. “Once an Addict – Interlude” sounds ripped right from that Truly Yours mindset, and I immediately rewound that track. (Pretend I had a tape player, obviously I just hit back on the keyboard…). “ATM” has this tight drum beat with Cole matching his flow to that sound with precision. Overall though, the album still remains a bit of an enigma to me. Thematically it varies a bit, but everything stays close to the vest: J. Cole typically does not rap about something he does not care about. He changes his flow more than what has traditionally come to expect from him which was quite a welcome addition. In some ways though, it feels like Cole solidifying his style of putting out a record with some strong highs, middling lows, and inconsistencies connecting the two.

Rejjie Snow - Dear Annie

59. Rejjie Snow – Dear Annie

Look, maybe you’ve never heard of Rejjie Snow. Maybe you aren’t keeping an ear to the ground on the burgeoning Irish rap scene. But we are going to change that today. If you have listened to me talk about music for any amount of time, you know I love to talk about album lengths. It is a woefully underrated component of crafting an album. When I have this many good things to say about an hour-length album, you know this album must be worth your time. The album positions itself as dedicated to a relationship but it reads closer to a letter about the pursuit of love and all of its entanglements, including lust. Dear Annie also sees Rejjie pushing outside his comfort zone, experimenting with both different sounds and styles. He seems to be singing more, playing with the format of songs like the duet style on “23.” One of the funniest rap songs (and it isn’t exactly that) I listened to this year was “Charlie Brown.” Rejjie just keeps getting better and after Dear Annie, I am excited to see where he goes next.

T.I. - DIME TRAP

58. T.I. – DIME TRAP

Every once in a while, T.I. drops in to remind exactly why the album that cemented his legacy in the pantheon of rap was called King. (Aside: go listen to T.I.’s even earlier stuff, it’s just as good as King if not better – he earned that nickname). Just as he did with one of his most recent feature length projects (Paperwork in 2014), T.I. straddles the line between the dirty south sounds he perfected from the late 90s in the mid-00s and the way the sounds of Atlanta have evolved in the time since. He recruits legendary producer, Just Blaze, on the track “Laugh At Em” to put together one of my favorite braggadocios rap tracks of the year. He also brings together frequent running mates WATCH THE DUCK and Young Thug for two laid back infectious hits in “Big Ol’ Drip” and “The Weekend,” respectively. As T.I. ages it seems as though his music refuses to do the same. In an age where old head rappers seem to spend a curious amount of time taking shots at the young guys, T.I. has not only found a way to make his music transcend era, but help push the sounds of the South alongside modern trends.

57. cupcakKe – Eden

56. Czarface & MF DOOM – Czarface Meets Metal Face

55. Lupe Fiasco – DROGAS WAVE

54. City Girls – Girl Code

YG - Stay Dangerous

53. YG – Stay Dangerous

YG’s junior album provides with an opportunity to talk about the ranking system in this project. There really is not a science. There’s no specific rating system I have developed, I just move albums around as I see fit. On relistens, they might jump a few places or in the case of a select few this year, 20+ places. The number associated with it is not necessarily indicative of the album’s quality. In some capacity, I enjoy each of the albums on this countdown. That is incredibly impressive for the state of rap music in 2018. I went back to my 2016 rankings and other than a few of the top 25, I haven’t returned to many of those albums. All of that is to say, Stay Dangerous is a dope album, and I want to highlight that fact to preface the entire discussion regardless of its #53 ranking. Stay Dangerous represents YG’s statement of “I’m here, and I’m here to stay,” after his great debut and follow-up. This third record sees him embracing the west coast g-funk sounds once again. Of course, it could be argued that Kendrick Lamar holds the crown to the west, but there may be no one that does its history more justice in the landscape of modern music than YG. Tracks like “SUU WHOOP” are enough to get anyone going, and the interpolation of Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy” on “TOO COCKY” is so infectious and adds to the wonderful repertoire of sampling throughout the trio of his albums. YG shows no signs of slowing down or consideration of pulling punches coming out of Stay Dangerous. Both his music and the rap world are all the better for it.

Meek Mill - Championships

52. Meek Mill – Championships

Meek Mill is back. He’s back and better than ever. The album runs long at over an hour, but there are few disappointments throughout the record. In some ways, it feels like listening to Meek shake the dust off in real time, go harder than ever, yet pull his flow, the production, and even the lyrics back a few more layers. Championships varies heavily thematically from Meek rapping about criminal justice issues ("Trauma") to personal issues ("Oodles O Noodles Babies") to just making hit after hit ("On Me"). Sure, it’s nice to have Meek Mill back doing what he does best, but there is something different. Meek has always worn his intensity on his sleeve, but it feels more concentrated than ever. It is not just about winning - about grinding - anymore. It seems to be about his legacy, and Championships is a solid effort toward cementing that.

51. Metro Boomin’ – NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES

In the next post, we will be entering the top 50 rap albums of 2018. From albums 75-51, there were many familiar faces such as T.I., J. Cole, Lupe Fiasco, YG, and Meek Mill. Which begs the question – where do you think it is headed? Continued impressions from the old heads and youngins solidifying their names or are we going to see a crop of new blood enter the game? I mean, I guess I know where we are going, but you are just going to have to stay with it till tomorrow.