2020 Rap Up

Before I get to the meat of my top rap albums of 2020, I have to get something off of my chest. There is a part of me that is disappointed because of how many rap albums I didn’t listen to, but I can fall on that sword. Here are the ones I was looking forward to that I just didn’t get around to:

Nas – King’s Disease

Aesop Rock – Spirit World Field Guide

Boldy James – Manger on McNichols

Armand Hammer – Shrines

Spillage Village – Spilligion

Drake – Dark Lane Demo Tapes

Roc Marciano – Mr. Marci

Blu – Miles

Rico Nasty – Nightmare Vacation

Tkay Maidza – Last Was Weird, Vol. 2

Skepta, Chip, & Young Adz – Insomnia

Westside Gunn – Who Made the Sunshine

The Streets – None of Us Are Getting Out of This Life Alive

Without further ado though, here is where we get into the best of the best:

The Top 40

40. clipping. – Visions of Bodies Being Burned

39. 38 Spesh – 6 Shots

38. Megan Thee Stallion – Good News

37. Pop Smoke – Shoot for the Stars

36. Hook – Crashed My Car

35. Kota the Friend – EVERYTHING

34. Amine – Limbo

33. Polo G – The GOAT

32. CHIKA – INDUSTRY GAMES

31. Junglepussy – Jp4

30. Skyzoo – Milestones

29. Conway the Machine & The Alchemist – LULU

28. Skyzoo & Dumbo Station – The Bluest Note

27. Riz Ahmed – The Long Goodbye

26. Mick Jenkins – The Circus

25. Deante Hitchcock – Better

24. Little Simz – Drop 6

23. Lil Baby – My Turn

22. Benny the Butcher – Burden of Proof

21. Juice WRLD – Legends Never Die

20. Public Enemy – What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?

19. Lil Uzi Vert – Eternal Atake

18. Smoke DZA – A Closed Mouth Don’t Get Fed

17. Conway the Machine – Form a King to a God

16. Che Noir & 38 Spesh – Juno

15. MIKE – Weight of the World

14. Jadakiss – Ignatius

13. Flo Milli – Ho, Why is You Here?

12. Black Thought – Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane & Able

11. Royce da 5’9” – The Allegory

The Top 10

10. Westside Gunn – Pray for Paris

While there is a certain elegance to Westside Gunn’s Pray for Paris, it doesn’t take long for it to feel all so familiar (especially if you have been rocking with Westside for a while). The second track, “No Vacancy,” is laden with ad libs mimicking gunshots and Westside Gunn’s trademark flow that bounces around and exaggerates diction. This track gives way to not only one of the best rap songs to come out in 2020, but the best posse cut in rap music in years. While not all of Griselda jumps on this record, it has its core: Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine, and Benny The Butcher. If you ever wanted a distillation of what makes Griselda special, give “George Bondo” a shot. The beat is sparse, repetitive, and boom bap at its core. It’s a beat that refuses to get in the way of its rappers but provides ample room for each artist to wreck it. Posse cuts always result in people comparing who had the best verse and who outshined whom on the track. Good luck doing that with “George Bondo.” Each rapper brings their best and plays off each verse in and verse out. (For what it’s worth, Benny’s “Look back three years ago when ain’t nobody know me/Now I treat this rap shit just like somebody owe me” might be my favorite line.) “George Bondo” is hardly the only track with great features though. From Joey Bada$$ to Tyler, The Creator, Freddie Gibbs, Roc Marciano, and Boldy James, Westside Gunn displays a pinpoint accuracy for which tracks each artist would excel on and how to fit them in the context of the track. There’s even another track that features both Benny and Conway (“Allah Sent Me”). Pray for Paris feels like both an elevation of Westside Gunn’s Hitler Wears Hermes series and a continuation of it. That’s the beauty of Westside Gunn’s work though. It always strikes a chord of the familiar while still pushing the boundary of what is expected from the old head.

9. J Hus – Big Conspiracy

I’d forgive you if you had forgotten that J Hus’ Big Conspiracy came out in 2020. It was released in January, and I have to admit, that feels like 5 years ago. This is the perfect time to revisit this excellent album. First off, J Hus exerts his power as a double threat all over this record with both his rapping and singing ability. “Fight for Your Right” might be one of the best examples of this as he works double duty, rapping the verses and singing the chorus. The following track “Triumph” starts, and you suddenly realize, “wait, this dude is doing this again?” It’s not a particularly startling feat and certainly not a new development in rap, but there a precision to the way J Hus moves through Big Conspiracy. Each phrase, each note, and subsequently each moment matters. No time is wasted. J Hus drills what he wants to say and never loses sight of it. He’s dialed in for the duration of 45-minute record and it’s refreshing. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention “Play Play.” This is not just the most popular track off the record, it features the best collaboration (Burna Boy, in this case) and boasts the title of most infectious track on the record. It has such an enjoyable repetitiveness that makes it feel like you might not mind if the song ran about 10 minutes longer. The tropical vibes seeping through the beat influence Burna Boy’s chorus and even the way J Hus flows through the verses. While Big Conspiracy doesn’t sound much like anything else in my top 10 rap albums of the year, it hardly sounded like anything else I listened to in 2020. It’s effortless combination of sounds from R&B, rap, grime, and more resulted in a showcase for J Hus to demonstrate what makes him a mainstay on a global stage.

8. Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats - UNLOCKED

UNLOCKED is cornucopia of sounds and styles all from the work of rapper Denzel Curry and producer Kenny Beats. Curry adapts a multitude of styles across the short EP (clocking in at 17 minutes). He even distorts his voice and raps through a much deeper octave. While the short length of the record already keeps the listener on their toes (only one song is longer than 3 minutes), Denzel Curry adds to this disorientation when he refuses to abide by a single sound. There’s at least one time when he even slips into an imitation of another rapper, specifically on the track “DIET_.” One could argue that he slips into the flow and style of a couple other rappers on other tracks, but parts of “DIET_” certainly function as an homage to DMX. That is part of what makes UNLOCKED so much fun though. As Curry’s previous work has showed us, he can rap his ass off and craft a terrific full-length album (see: ZUU or TA13OO for proof of that). The fun of UNLOCKED is that it is evident at every turn that he is having just that with Kenny Beats on this EP. There is remarkable synergy between Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats that explodes from each track. There is a constant give and take as Denzel Curry flows in and out the beat and they do the same to him. While we are waiting for the next full-length project from Curry (and to be clear, we are eagerly waiting for that), UNLOCKED satisfies that fix.

7. Jay Electronica – A Written Testimony

The entirety of the rap world has been waiting for a Jay Electronica album for what has felt like an eternity. Of all the terrible shit that 2020 delivered us, it at least gave us A Written Testimony. As dense a record as it is a promising elucidation of what makes Jay Electronica a favorite rapper of so many, A Written Testimony delivers on the promise of so many years waiting. The surprise Jay-Z verses (as he isn’t listed as a featured artist on tracks where he appears) feel like the cherry on top of an album that feels difficult to evaluate even on its own terms. To divorce such a long-awaited record from its hype is difficult. I made the mistake of carrying hefty expectations into this record. I enjoyed it on that first go round. Returning to it has resulted in both a deeper appreciation and a more positive critical appreciation. The weight of expectation weighs heavy on A Written Testimony but Jay Electronica himself never feels tethered to such expectation. The more you listen and unpack the record, it starts to feel like the album he always wanted to make, for better or worse. The religious imagery from the opening track to the last feels less like proselytizing and more like a personal catharsis. The exposition on A Written Testimony sometimes feels like Electronica explaining his “absence” not for our benefit but for his own. Not far removed from just a few listens of this record, it feels foolish to try to extrapolate meaning and parse out the dense lyricism track over track. Time will tell how Jay Electronica’s long-awaited album stands up to expectation. Or maybe it will wipe away that weight and let us digest the album for itself. Let’s hope for the latter.

6. Boldy James – The Price of Tea in China

Given my exaltation of Griselda already through this top 10, it should hardly be a surprise to see one of the other rappers from the label on this list. Hell, Boldy himself released another three records across 2020. It would be a tall task to even ask those to stand up to The Price of Tea in China. The album is a collaboration between Boldy James and producer The Alchemist (who certainly deserves his praise for all of his work across 2020). Depending on your familiarity with The Alchemist, you might be unsure what sound you’re in far as the record starts. That feeling quickly dissipates as the heart-aching sample unfurls in your ears. Boldy immediately finds synergy with the beatmaker as he starts rapping, “My friends came and went/most of them was murder victims.” That synergy immediately sets the tone for the somber and introspective record. While just as fierce as any of his Griselda counterparts, James’ style is different. Somber is hardly the only adjective or even mood to describe The Price of Tea in China. Boldy James has a biting wit to lyricism and it’s one that isn’t always apparent underneath the forlorn flow he typically approaches each track with. Even The Alchemist, a seasoned veteran in a genre always looking for a hot new producer, is at his best here. There are few producers that can flip a sample quite like him, but on tracks like “Surf & Turf” he flexes his versatility adding in percussive elements you’d be more likely to hear on a track from The Roots than one for a collective in Griselda that excels over boom-bap beats. That’s the story of The Price of Tea in China though. It rests on the synergy between rapper and producer and as it turned out, Boldy James and The Alchemist found a match made in heaven.

5. Stove God Cook$ – Reasonable Drought

Halfway through 2020, I was struggling to find rap music I was really connecting with. I was listening to rap albums here and there, but needed something to reinvigorate my first true musical love. I reached out to a friend who eats and breathes this stuff and asked for recommendations. I started to make my way through his recommendations and was enjoying myself again. (You can even see some of the other ones pop up throughout this list – Che Noir’s Juno, Smoke DZA’s A Closed Mouth…, and Deante Hitchcock’s Better.) It wasn’t until I got to this record right here that it started to click again. Stove God Cook$ flows through his bars like he is tearing a hole through the beat. Like he exists completely independent of the beat. It responds to him. He doesn’t respond to it. Take the opening track, “Rolls Royce Break Lights.” There are at least three distinct sounds he adopts here. He sings an interpolation of Drake’s “Successful” in what appears to blur the line between a bridge and a chorus as it continues to pop up throughout the track. It doesn’t quite feel like there’s a chorus even when phrases and beats are repeated. There isn’t just an organic nature to the beat on this opening track but all of it. That’s Roc Marciano. Yeah, the same Roc Marciano who I had to admit I didn’t get around to his solo record and loved his feature on Westside Gunn’s Pray for Paris. He produced this whole album. It takes the bare bones of boom bap, New York-bred hip hop and spins it out so delicately to become this wonderful explosion of sound and color. “Break the Pyrex” is another example of the above descriptions for both Roc Marciano’s production and Stove God Cook$ rapping. Stove God is absolutely filthy on this track. He raps like he is tearing up the paper he wrote the rhymes on in the booth. The sample flip, especially the progression at the end of track, is tight. I am not saying I couldn’t write a treatise on my love for Reasonable Drought just that I probably shouldn’t. In a time where I grown a bit stale in my love for my favorite genre of music, that Stove God Cook$ and Roc Marciano relit that fire is the highest praise I can give Reasonable Drought and its two stars.

4. Open Mike Eagle – Anime, Trauma and Divorce

Open Mike Eagle is a must listen to artist whenever he releases anything. That doesn’t necessarily guarantee that everything he does is great, but that there is enough greatness and consistency in his catalogue that makes it all well worth listening. In 2017, I named his Brick Body Kids Still Day Dream the top rap album of the year. It feels nice to have him back up this high. Anime, Trauma, and Divorce fleshes out depth to the artist that I don’t think I have felt in the same way in any of his previous projects. It is clear from the opening track “Death Parade” that while this album is clearly going to have his typical wit and humor, it is not necessarily a happy or funny record. It’s a deeply personal one. Even more than that, it is an album that is not afraid to turn the lens on Open Mike Eagle himself. That authenticity is what makes his work so inviting. Rap and authenticity have a complicated relationship, but more often than not, rappers earn their stripes by staying true to themselves and rapping about what they know. What happens when what you’re experiencing is a grown-ass adult problem like divorce? In Open Mike Eagle’s case, that answer is easy. You rap about it. Another aspect of authenticity, as counterintuitive as it seems, can come from the act of wearing your inspirations on your sleeve. In a more subdued way than Denzel Curry throwing DMX’s flow into one of his tracks, Open Mike Eagle spins out his tale of divorce and trauma simultaneously into an homage to anime (see what I did there?). “Asa’s Bop” and “Headass (Idiot Shinji)” are two tracks that demonstrate how he intertwines that homage and exorcism. “Headass (Idiot Shinji)” draws on Neon Genesis Evangelion (please watch this beautiful, weird, enchanting, batshit, deeply emotional and philosophical show whenever you have a chance), especially its main character who can never seem to get out of his own way, and how Open Mike Eagle relates to him. Oh, and it’s incredibly funny. To strike all three of those chords across an album is an intriguing prospect and one worth exploring, to do it over the course of a single song captures the ambitious nature of Anime, Trauma and Divorce. The very best albums reward multiple listens and it’s certainly not a coincidence that Open Mike Eagle is this high on 2020’s album list.

3. Ka – Descendants of Cain

If you have talked to me at length about music (especially about rap) in the past five years, you’ve heard me sing this rapper’s praises. Album over album, there are few rappers with so confident a voice. Ka’s Descendants of Cain continues his trend of excellence. At any given point, you don’t have to worry about where Ka might take you next. He knows. That’s the feeling you get when listening Descendants of Cain. There is a foreboding nature produced by the string-heavy and percussive instrumentals. Sometimes it feels like doom. But there is an eternal comfort in hearing Ka start to flow. Even when spitting lines like “Never marinate on beef you don’t plan on finishing,” he utters it with the same sound he would say anything else. Obviously, Theodore Roosevelt’s Big Stick philosophy predates Ka by a considerable margin, but it’s hard not to think of “speak softly and carry a big stick” each time you hear him on a track. He seems to be a musical manifestation of this ideology. He doesn’t mince words, he doesn’t waste time, and he certainly is not going to say something he doesn’t mean. The conversation of authenticity comes up often in hip hop (see the aforementioned Anime, Trauma, and Divorce) and maybe Ka is nothing like this in real life. (He is a fireman though, shouts to him for that.) Records like Descendants of Cain fly in the face of needing an answer to the question of authenticity though. It is its own sonic world of beauty. One of pain and death and struggle that draws on its biblical influences to tell not just one story but the story of many living through what Ka describes. Certainly, he is writing about what he knows, but he is not just telling his story, he is telling the story of those who never got the opportunity to tell their own.

2. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Alfredo

When I saw that Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist’s Alfredo had been nominated for Rap Album of the Year, I got audibly excited. Is Freddie Gibbs going to finally get his due on a larger stage? Hell, is The Alchemist? Alfredo is as tight an album you are going to hear from 2020. If you thought The Alchemist and Boldy James had a remarkable synergy on The Price of Tea in China (I did), just wait till you spin this. All producers, across any genre, have trademarks they rely on. They typically have a skill they excel at and their beats become known for that. The Alchemist is as good as a sample flipper as you’re going to find. He also refuses to define himself through that. On the opening track of Alfredo, he plays with a slow wailing guitar to juxtapose against Freddie’s speedy flow. I don’t know how he settled on that choice, and I won’t pretend it would ever cross my mind to throw Freddie Gibbs on a beat like that, but guess what? It works like a mother. The drawn-out notes of the guitar seemingly elongate Freddie Gibbs’ flow at every turn. It’s almost disorienting until you realize he has already pulled you into the world that Alfredo has created. Now you’re ready. Let the fun begin. The very next track bounces around and Freddie plays with his flow off both the melody and the drumbeat. None of this adulation has even spoke to Freddie’s lyrical content on Alfredo. It is as strong as ever. And that’s a hefty statement given the notches Gibbs’ has in his belt from his previous projects. “Scottie Beam” is my most played rap song this year, and I constantly find myself drawn to Freddie’s absolutely incisive first verse. Hell, even his first few bars: “Yeah, the revolution is the genocide/Look, your execution will be televised.” Beyond being a twisted and relevant spin on Gil Scott Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” he uses that line as a motif throughout his verse and brings it back in altered forms. It’s as strong a verse as I heard all year from any rapper. It is also emblematic of what Freddie has been doing for years. As technically proficient as anyone, evoking intense imagery at most turns, and never abandoning who he is, Freddie Gibbs has established himself firmly in the pantheon of rap music.

1. Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 4

There’s apparently only one thing that could have upset Freddie Gibbs ascension to the top of these rankings and it was the duo formerly known as El-P and Killer Mike. Somehow, Run the Jewels always finds a way to release their music at the most relevant of times. The smashmouth, no-nonsense, knock-your-teeth-in attitude that Killer Mike and El-P have approached each of these Run the Jewels records with is aspirational. More than that, in 2020 it so aptly captured the righteous indignation of so many Americans, especially Black Americans. Run the Jewels 2 stands as my personal favorite still, but none of their records provided quite the cathartic outlet that Run the Jewels 4 did. I would be hard pressed to find any issue in America that is not influenced in some capacity by race and racial disparities. The proliferation and perpetuation of systems that definitively result in differences between individuals driven by the color of their skin is not new. Scholars, especially black scholars (shout out to Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. DuBois, James Baldwin, Angela Davis and so so many more), have been digging deep on these issues for over a century. Run the Jewels (and many other rappers in 2020) found space in their music to vent the blinding frustration that occurs from watching the wash, rinse, repeat process that happens around these issues: the conversations and the lives that enter our collective consciousness just to be forgotten within a few months’ time. To effectively capture anger at that in music is remarkably difficult. It is a much easier task to find the anecdotal or personal space to rage at. Run the Jewels finds the middle ground between the micro and macro time and time again and none in a timelier manner than Run the Jewels 4. Oh, and did I mention that it’s a damn good record musically too? From the origins of Run the Jewels it has felt like Killer Mike and El-P have brought the best out of each other. El-P produces most of the Run the Jewels record with a flair for his Cannibal Ox work with bass heavy instrumentals. It’s instrument-heavy and occasionally borders on an industrial sound. While that may lay the foundation for Run the Jewels 4, it is hardly the defining feature. That may be attributed to the reckless abandon with which both El-P and Killer Mike approach their verses all over this record. Their approach is reflected in features from Pharrell, Zack De La Rocha, Greg Nice, and 2 Chainz. I would also like to note that “Look at all these slave masters posing on yo dollar/Get it?” is the best hook of the year. I have already lamented on Run the Jewels ability to craft an album that rests firmly between the macro and the micro. But to be able to craft that album while making that record one that is so easy to groove and sing to is a feat that incredibly few artists achieve across their careers. Run the Jewels has done it multiple times, but none has felt this cathartic.

I know this isn’t my traditional Rap Up. I typically dive into awards and more in-depth to albums that did not necessarily make the top of the list. While this year I decided to abstain from that, it doesn’t mean that any album outside the top 10 is not worthy. If I included it in my list, that means I found value in it. I hope you enjoy listening to or listening back through some of these records. While you wait for the next deep dive though, stay safe and thank you for reading.