2025 Year-End

Sleeper- Tank and The Bangas- The Heart, The Mind, The Soul- But Alex this isn’t a hip hop album! If you don’t see a Black woman rhyming, over looped break beats as hip hop then you are going to hate my #5 pick. There are so many albums that fit within this world where I question whether it is hip hop or not (staring straight at Robert Glasper). The Tiny Desk giant won a grammy for this album (which Jam and I called after hearing Remember the first time). *Little Things

Sleeper 2- BigXThePlug- Take Care- Because some of y’all not gunna accept Tank I also give you BigX. I truly slept on this album last year while enjoying all of the singles. I finally gave the sample heavy album a few spins and realized what I missed. Real Texas talk! *Mmhhmm

EP- Mick Jenkins-Type Sh*t- This is the epitome of an EP! A 5 song tape where the Chicago emcee SPITS held together by a light theme. Here Mick searched on YouTube for “Mick Jenkins type beats” and created a project out of the ones that he liked the most. Many might not know about this project as it was sold direct to consumer i.e. not on the regular streamers. He then went on to drop one of the best albums of the year as well (Please check out “A Murder of Crows”). This era of Mick controlling his creative process feels special. *Publix  

Honorable Mention- Larry June & 2 Chainz- Life Is Beautiful- Uncle Al once again supplies Larry June with the most lavish beats of all time, but this time you also get 2 Chainz! The ATL rapper been spitting over trap beats for over a decade and never got the deserved respect for his lyricism. But the bars are undeniable over classic Alchemist samples. A great album for a drive on your way to start an LLC. *Epiphany

10- Mac Miller- Balloonerism- The second post-humous album from the estate of Larry Fisherman. I have carried some guilt that my favorite Mac project was the one that sees him dealing with addiction the most (Faces) which this album was created around the same time as. With Balloonerism, we see Mac again dealing with his addiction but in a way that is once again heavily internal but explicitly questioning. Questions such as the purpose of the drug use, depression, the spiral caused by drug use and ultimately death. This is the Mac music that I loved, while I know some fans were disappointed that the project was not bubbly and bright it is this searching, questioning and experimentation that led me to love the Pittsburgh emcee. Also, the jazz influence is amazing. RIP Malcolm *Friendly Hallucinations

9- Deante Hitchcock- Good Things Take time- All of my social media has been pointing me to Deante for some time now and I finally got around to listening. I kept coming back to this project full of raw emotion and slick bars. Deante belongs in that class of his peers bubbling like Saba and Ray Vaughn who also dropped amazing projects this year. A perfect album to ride around Atlanta to. *Red Clay (this is how you end an album!)

8- Wale-everything is a lot- An incredibly vulnerable album from the DC veteran. This album finally broke out of his core fan group. I have been a huge word-play-le fan for over a decade (my first concert was a Wale show). Unfortunately, it took me awhile to come around to this album. It wasn’t until my wife fell in love with it. It was through her that I realized that this is more of an R&B album with Wale rapping over it. There’s not going to be many 808’s or high BPMs, but because of that it gave Wale the space to focus more internally. *Power and Problems

7- G Herbo- Lil Herb- I have been waiting on this album since Humble Beast! Herbo came back to the bars and lyricism for an entire project. He always shows it for a few songs, but on Lil Herb we see him never let go of the gas. I often say there needs to be another person reviewing these street albums because there are some amazing projects out there (EST Gee, Tee Grizzley and Key Glock all had great albums). The streets deserve their own dedicated review from someone closer to that life. *Fallen Soldiers

6- Chance The Rapper- Star Line- From one Chicago rapper to another. This truly is a year of come back stories! After being written off for one album that didn’t perform well, Chance returns stronger and better than ever. I had been keeping up with Chance and listening to the one-off songs/ writing exercises he was putting out, but was unsure of how an entire project would be. I was happily surprised by Star Line. *Letters

 5- Bad Bunny- Debi Tirar Mas Fotos- I warned y’all that if your definition of hip-hop is not malleable you would hate this pick. But how can an album made by Black and Brown youth, using and sampling the music of their parents to talk about issues regarding their systemic oppression which starts with an ode to NYC not be hip hop?! This is the most important album of the year. As a Puerto Rican, when the neo-colonialist structure is defeated on Borinken, this album will be seen as a turning point. *Turista

4- Cardi B- Am I The Drama- The biggest come back that we have seen in hip-hop for a long time. Seven years after the release of her first album, many had written her second album off. Multiply this by the curse of the sophomore slump. This album was not supposed to be as good as it turned out being. As women have been slowly taking over hip-hop since Cardi B was able to break through the Nicki monopoly on female hip hop with Bardi passing the torch to multiple of the women we have come to love, I am happy to see Cardi’s own torch still lit. *Errtime (Jeezy and Latto remix specifically)

3- Freddie Gibbs- Alfredo 2- Another Uncle Al submission. A follow up to one of the best 2020 peak pandemic albums we have heard. Freddie is able to balance the beautiful Alchemist production and infuse the ugliness of the streets into it. I think the original has a little more replay value, but I have had 5 years to live with it so that might change. *Shangri-La

2-JID- God Does Like Ugly- The Atlanta spitter comes again with not only bars, but impactful concepts. Whether it be JIDs faith, gentrification, karma, or love JID expertly covers topics. Please watch the Dissect Podcast for a breakdown of the complexity of the bars especially the math break downs (the Fibonacci sequence bar and the car year flips are mind blowing) *VCRs (when JID traded the verse and continued Vince’s number scheme I literally yelled “THIS IS HIP HOP”)

As always thank you all for reading this. I’m not sure how, but I have become known for this and am appreciative of all of you who read this every year. I often end these with a bit of a jaded tone, but this year I am ending the year with gratitude. After an entire year unemployed (thank God its over!) and a multiple sclerosis diagnosis, I can say that I am still here. I can thank God that I am able to share these thoughts with you all and look forward to another year talking about hip hop.

1-Clipse- Let God Sort’em Out- Was there any other choice? I think this is the final nail in the coffin for the thought that hip-hop is a young man’s game. After Jay Z’s 4:44, Nas’ several album run, and Killer Mike’s Michael the fact that 2 50 year old rappers have the best album of the year should become comfortable. The brother dynamic of this album is unmatched as Push drops a verse that you think is amazing then his big brother comes and wipes the floor with him. Also, if you notice the last 3 albums of my list are interconnected with who bested who on the features on each album. JID bodied Gold Feet on Alfredo 2, Malice went Dumb on Community and that’s where it ends because I don’t think anybody had a better verse than Malice this entire year.  *So Be It (Beat was so good Swizz Beatz had to fly to Saudi Arabia to clear the sample- YUCK!)