Okay, now that I've had time to digest everything: these are the best rap works of the year in my opinion. The list is only subject to change if someone releases the greatest album ever in December (and it has to be really good for me to change this list, like unreleased Biggie good).
I understand that everyone has a top 5 list, and no one cares about some random guy’s thoughts on the internet. Who the fuck am I? Why should you read this list? You should do whatever you want, but I am only posting this because these thoughts are coming from the perspective of a guy that has made attempts at rapping, and making beats and all that shit personally. So I know how intense it must have been like for Earl to have worked so hard on that “Riot!” sample and chop, for example. I also think that this year in particular was one of the most interesting years for rap in a long time. In a nutshell: Danny Brown released an EP by streaming it on Twitch (perhaps one of the first major times that has ever been done?), Mac Miller died, Earl finally put out another album.
1. BRUISER BRIGADE - TWITCH EP
This is cool and kind of groundbreaking: a work Danny Brown had to release on Twitch because the samples couldn't be cleared. That's cool enough, but the songs are actually so dope. You can tell it must have been really frustrating to have to sit on this for so long and not be allowed to present it to the world. The chemistry the group has with each other is great. They all fit perfectly on each track they share, and they have bars. At one point Danny Brown declares, “BRUISE BRIGADE THE NEW WU-TANG. TWEET THAT!” I would actually agree: the energy they have here is comparable to when Wu was in their prime in the 90s. Even though I only have the Twitch rip someone uploaded and the quality could be better, even on the fan uploaded thing you can hear how great the production on this is. The instrumentals used here are fantastic!!! Easily some of the best beats I’ve heard on a rap release in some time.
2. MAC MILLER - SWIMMING
Like 3, this is another example of a great hybrid of styles. I have never liked Mac Miller's work, and I found him to be very cringe throughout his career. But admittedly, I only watched a couple videos and made a quick judgment call without delving into his work or him as a person at all. I just remember being 18 or 19 and thinking that Senior Skip Day was one of the worst things I had ever seen in my life when I first saw it. All he had to say was basically, “I smoke weed! I’m a young guy! Weed! Get high to get by! Weed! Yay!” I also have a huge chip on my shoulder about a lot of shit sometimes, and I thought to myself, “He looks like the type of guy that would be really popular in high school. Fuck this guy.” So I didn’t try to listen to him after checking his work out in 2010 and deciding, “This is not for me.”
Fast forward to 8 years later. After he passed away I kept hearing about this album SWIMMING, and how great it was. People said it was unlike any other Mac Miller work, and showed his growth as an artist. I gave it a chance, and I'm really glad I did. It sounds like nothing else the guy ever made in his life. It’s a completely different dude. I mean, I would go as far as saying this is like comparable to a Beatles-level album here when it comes to how he experimented with shit (and it all works). I'm honestly surprised how many times I've listened to this album since discovering it, and how much of it I can listen to without skipping.
And of course, his death now adds another dimension to the album. Like it or not, that is unfortunately a truth now: all the things he said about his drug addiction, his attempt at bouncing back, etc….they all mean so much more now that he died from a drug overdose. I listened to this album while driving around small-town Ontario this fall (places notorious for fentanyl and whatnot), and my car was filled with such fucking meaning and emotion I wanted to pull over at the side of some random farmer’s land more than once to cry and mourn the loss of not just Mac, but all the people in the struggle that can’t seem to get out of it and never will. This album means a lot: do not sleep on it.
3. JAY ROCK - REDEMPTION
I usually hate singing in rap songs, so it is very telling that I like this album so much. It's an excellent hybrid of that pop/singing style that has become so popular in the last couple of years, with the edge of quality rap that Jay Rock has become known for. It appeals to both people that consider themselves too cool or tough to listen to singing shit (me), and the pussies that enjoy that. I was lucky enough to see Jay Rock perform this album recently at his Toronto show, and the energy was nuts: you could tell everyone there loved the shit out of this album this year. It has so much repeat value; a rare album you can put on and not have to skip tracks.
4. EARL SWEATSHIRT - SOME RAP SONGS
Never in a million years did I ever believe I would actually place a Mac Miller album before an Earl album on a “year’s best” list, but here we are. In some ways, I don't consider this an "Earl Sweatshirt" album or even a “rap album.” This is a heavy, experimental project the likes of which we have never seen before in the rap game (and no, fuck off: I don’t agree with the comparisons that have already been made. This is groundbreaking and original, stop bringing up MF Doom).
I think of it as the first official album "Thebe Kgositsile” has released. At this point in his life he has come to terms with his last name, and his relationship with his mom has gotten significantly better: we’ve heard him go from cursing at his mother when she wakes him up for school on his first release, to paying tribute to her (and his father) on “Playing Possum.” He has pretty much shed “Earl Sweatshirt” - and all the immature stuff that comes with - on this album. It is telling that at one point he was toying with fully changing his rap name for this release. When you listen to this album, it makes perfect sense why he’d want to shed the name that made him famous: it doesn’t really correspond with the artist he has become. At one point he even says, “Earl is not my name.” This album feels like a further exploration of the track "Solace" he made awhile back: it’s him delving into his family problems and his depression, etc. That could be both good and bad, depending on how much you liked Solace.
My relationship with Earl's work is like watching a childhood friend of yours grow up and make decisions you don't always necessarily agree with, but you have to let them grow. I initially found this album to be somewhat underwhelming, but it has been growing on me a lot lately. A lot of fans complained about the length of the album, but for an artist and wordsmith like Earl that isn’t a problem because of how much he’s able to pack in 2 short minutes. People complaining about the new Earl album being too short are also forgetting that his first release was only 25:54 long. A short release from Earl is infinitely superior to a short release by another rapper (also, other rappers are just “rappers,” but I consider Earl an actual “artist,” sorry if that sounds cringe). I mean the album OPENS with a James Baldwin sample: who else do you know other than Earl right now that would even think to do something like that? The only others I would think of sampling Baldwin would be Jay-Z or Kendrick, and for those dudes it would come off sounding exploitative and cheap. Kendrick would probably have a full on conversation with him and Baldwin, and we would all have to pretend to like it. But with Earl it comes off as an incredibly tasteful way to open such a dark, heavy album.
It’s a bold choice that is a great example of why Earl is GOAT-status: everyone else is talking about the same shit over and over and this guy’s out here sampling James fucking Baldwin. Earl has already established himself as one of the greatest lyricists in the game, but this album truly shows his ability as a producer. From a production standpoint, this is a great piece of work: take some time to go down the WhoSampled rabbit hole for this album and you will be impressed. As a guy who has tried to sample and create beats from odd sources, I can tell you: a fuckload of work went into making this. If Earl were to decide to stop rapping altogether and become more of a producer, I would love to see what else he makes.
And it’s awesome, because not all of the album works for me and even the songs I DON’T like are interesting. Some of the songs actually hurt my head, but others are really comforting and speak to me quite a bit. My biggest pet peeve with this album is that the combination of Earl's magical, amazing voice and lyricism with some of the annoying instrumentals he chose to work with is frustrating. At times, listening to this feels like: "Goddammit, Earl. Why do you have to make me listen to this shit just to get to hear your voice and what you have to say?" For example, "Nowhere2Go" is interesting as hell and I wanted to hear what Earl was saying, but the beat gets in the way of his voice in a grating, unenjoyable way. And a song like “Eclipse” is too annoying to listen to regularly, IMO. If he were to put the vocals from that on an actual listenable instrumental, it would be awesome. “Playing Possum” is great, but it is essentially therapy for him personally. No one really needs to hear that regularly. And “Peanut” is another track that is great, but tough to listen to even as a die-hard Earl fan. It’s too personal for the masses, but nice that it exists.
Anyway, I've still been listening to this quite a bit: I feel like that's just because I like Earl so much though, not sure I'd recommend it to others. When Earl gets serious and moody like this, his work resembles great literature and less of a traditional “rap” album. Like, would I recommend someone read In Search of Lost Time by Proust? Probably not, but if someone asked me what my opinion is on what the best writing of all-time is, I’d definitely bring it up. This is not something you put on in the car because it “slaps” (although it does at times), it’s an album you put on wearing headphones while you think about life and shit, and then you call your grandmother to see how she’s doing because Earl reminded you how important family is.
5. THE ALCHEMIST - THE BREAD EP
The Alchemist has been killing it for awhile now, and this project is a true testament to his abilities as a producer. The instrumentals are fucking gold, and of course he chooses to work with the best people in the game. The Earl Sweatshirt track here is one of my favourite things of this year and proof the “Earl Sweatshirt with BARS” exists, not the one we hear on SRS. I wish he would do a full EP with Earl, because every song they have made together has been an instant classic (Wind in My Sails, for example, is incredible).
6. CURREN$Y, FREDDIE GIBBS, THE ALCHEMIST - FETTI
The Alchemist killing it again, and working with two dope ass rappers. This is one of those works that just becomes an instant classic as soon as you hear it. Enough said. The only reason I didn’t place it higher on the list is because my expectations were too high to surpass (my fault).
7. LARRY SINGLETON - THE LARRY EP
I'm including my own work here, because I really do enjoy listening to this. Sometimes when it's like 3 or 4am and I can't sleep I'll listen to this or THE FALL EP. I know it's weird to include your own shit in a list with so many other superior rappers, but I like this because it marks some growth to me in some ways. For one: I actually could afford to buy a fucking real microphone this year, and not just use my shitty laptop mic. I was also able to pay producers for beat leases, and I got to choose my favourites instead of settling for whatever was free and available (nothing’s wrong with that, but I wanted to do something different this time).
I also worked with some good friends of mine. We rarely get to see each other anymore, and it’s nice to have a document to listen to my friends on the same track as me. Or in the case of one song: a dope ass instrumental that sampled “Alone Again” by Gilbert O’Sullivan my friend made. I really enjoy those songs in particular. I also think this is a fun EP because it was the first time I made something in awhile (I started rapping as a kid, then stopped due to a variety of life reasons - depression, busy with school, distracted by girls, etc), made a couple tracks over the years on and off, and this was the first actual “release” I’ve made in years), and I think I have gotten better than the shit I made before. At the same time however, it is also lighthearted and funny and not just about rapping without breathing to show off (which I find slightly stressful to listen to when I hear other rappers do it). IDK, I had a period of really hating my voice and work and shit for awhile but I dig stuff like this.
UPDATE:
Well….it happened.
In my post about the best rap music of 2018 I wrote, “The list is only subject to change if someone releases the greatest album ever in December.”
On December 14th, 2018, history was made. Danny Brown was streaming on Twitch again and decided to “go through his computer.” He played fans more songs of his that either never made the final cut for previous releases, or they did not have samples cleared. Here is the amazing thing about that: Danny Brown commented that some of the songs played were 2 or 3 years old. These are just songs that were sitting on his computer for a couple years, and yet they still sounded better than most stuff released this year. Danny Brown broke new ground (that rhymed).
As a result, the 2nd Twitch album streamed by Danny Brown is taking the number 2 spot in my list. Everything else gets demoted down a number.