Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2022...So Far

What it is folks?! So far what an incredible year of music for 2022.  When you look back on highly acclaimed years within this century, years such as 2015, 2017, and 2018 all started this great and ended up being among the best years of all-time.  Just based off efforts such as Kendrick Lamar, Quelle Chris, Benny The Butcher, and Pusha T alone has people putting this year in the record books already.  before we start predicting the rest of the year, let's go over twenty of the best albums so far this year.  With that said, let's go!

20. Snoop Dogg

Bacc On Death Row (BODR)

Production: Battlecat, Hi-Tek, Nottz, Don Cannon, Hit-Boy, Green Lantern, Soopafly, Bink!, others

Guests: Nas, T.I., The Game, Wiz Khalifa, Dababy, Nate Dogg, others

The ever legendary Snoop D-O-double G is among the most prolific stars in the business.  He has more than earned his place as legend and icon of hip-hop and still has the same amount of youthful enthusiasm for hip-hop as he did when he dropped his equally legendary debut, Doggystyle, back in '93. Now with his nineteenth studio album, BODR, or Bacc On Death Row, the new executive for Def Jam Records also now owns his former label, the infamous Death Row Records, and shows just about the same ferocity and focus as he did during his Doggystyle sessions.  Following up his very impressive compilation album, Algorithm, this effort contains board work from east coast heavyweights such as Nottz and Bink! while also bringing in west coast juggernauts such as Hit-Boy and Battlecat, with the excellent return of the Natti's almost forgotten about production wizard, Hi-Tek.  Along with guests such as Nas, Game, and a posthumous appearance from the late Nate Dogg, Snoop is focused yet having fun as well letting this and every other generation understand he's not going anywhere anytime soon and his O.G. status is much deserved.

19. Saba

Few Good Things

Production: artist, daedaePIVOT, Phoelix, others

Guests: Krayzie Bone, PIVOT Gang, 6LACK, Smino, Black Thought, others

Chicago's Saba delivered one of the best albums in the entire 2010 decade with 2018's incredibly dense yet therapeutic, Care For Me.  The album explored anxiety, depression, and the challenge to move on and find a future within his life in spite of the dark clouds over him.  With his follow-up, Few Good Things, he finds more life and has more energy than before, yet still manages to keep things in perspective in terms of appreciating the things in life that really matter.  Definitely not as brooding or as heavy as Care For Me, the album is still, however, every bit as melodic and each track provides a lot of intrigue.  With appearances from the likes of Black Thought to another legend in Krayzie Bone, Saba is establishing himself more and more as a young star to keep our eyes on.  Cuts like "If I Had A Dollar" or "Stop That" are exemplary of his talent and helps define the example of what Few Good Things is all about.

18. Vince Staples

Ramona Park Broke My Heart

Production: Kenny Beats, DJ Dahi, DJ Mustard, Cardo, others

Guests: DJ Mustard, Ty Dolla $ign, Lil Baby, others

Long Beach emcee, Vince Staples, is regarded as one of the brightest emcees to emerge from the west within the past decade.  His impressive debut, Hell Can Wait, showed the potential Vince had to become something special.  Couple years later, he dropped his full length debut, Summertime '06, which showed Vince as the star we knew he could become.  With No I.D. primarily behind the boards, Vince skated over those excellent beats from one of the best from Chicago.  While other projects such as FM! and his most recent self-titled album dropped to mostly critical acclaim, here comes Ramona Park Broke My Heart, his fifth full-length album.  With this album, he gets even more poignant, introspective and honest with standouts including "DJ Quik", "Player Ways", and the captivating ode of a relationship between a gun and its user, "When Sparks Fly".  Vince continues to shine his ever glowing star and this album ranks among his absolute best efforts.

17. Cordae

From A Bird's Eye View

Production: Raphael Saadiq, Kid Culture, Hit-Boy, Jake One, Dem Jointz, Boi-1nda, Cardiak, others

Guests: Freddie Gibbs, Gunna, Stevie Wonder, Lil' Wayne, Eminem, Roddy Rich, H.E.R., Lil' Durk, Ant Clemons, others

NC born-Baltimore-raised Cordae got on people's radars while still with the YBN crew and put out his debut album, The Good Son in 2019.  His boyish charm mixed with very apparent lyrical and songwriting talent put him in people's mouths as one to watch.  Ditching YBN, he decided to become his own man and his own artist.  With a maturity way ahead of contemporaries his age, the anticipation grew for his second album, and it finally dropped at the beginning of 2022, with From A Bird's Eye View.  Every bit as fun and intriguing of a listen as his debut, Cordae also provides more self-reflection and honesty throughout.  Combining new school and old school styles and ways, Cordae gave us quite the excellent album that continues to shows his depth and range, which is important as an artist.  This release will keep highlighting what he's capable of and his best work may still be yet to come.

16. Your Old Droog & Nicholas Craven

YOD Wave

Production: Nicholas Craven

Guests: Tha God Fahim, Mach-Hommy

Brooklynite Your Old Droog is among the prolific and hardest working emcees out here.  He drops numerous projects per year and looks to be on the same wave.  Speaking of "waves", Droog collaborated with Canadian producer Nicholas Craven to release YOD Wave.  This is some of Nicholas Craven's best work, which is saying something considering how tremendous his production work is based on previous work with the likes of Ransom, RJ Payne, Fahim, Mach-Hommy and others.  Droog's Nas-sounding comparisons continue to show up frequently on here, but he stays exhibiting his great penmanship and delivery throughout this EP. As of this writing, he just dropped YOD Stewart and once again show why he's among people's most intriguing emcees.  With YOD Wave, Droog maintains his impressive streak of great projects.

15. DJ Muggs & Rigz

GOLD

Production: DJ Muggs

Guests: Mooch, Rob Gates, Meyhem Lauren, Rome Streetz, others

The legendary DJ Muggs has been on a career roll over the past few years, collaborating with the likes of Flee Lord, Rome Streetz, Planet Asia, Mach-Hommy, and Meyhem Lauren among others with excellent full length projects.  So far, he has only delivered one full length project, but it's a crazy one.  This time, he assists Rochester, NY emcee, Rigz, who represents upstate collective, Da Cloth.  Muggs, as usual, brings the best out of another emcee and through this album, Gold, Rigz paints a vivid and unsettling view of the streets that he has embraced and that have also embraced him.  With sinister sounds from Muggs, it provides the perfect score for his lyrical illustrations.  Rigz will soon no longer just be a slept on underground emcee.  He and his Cloth collective will be among the lips of all hip-hop heads and this album is a step in the right and promising direction.

14. Action Bronson

Cocodrillo Turbo

Production: artist, The Alchemist, Daringer, Roc Marciano, others

Guests: Conway The Machine, Roc Marciano, Meyhem Lauren, Hologram

Queens emcee Action Bronson has shelled out a pretty decent discography over the past decade.  The emcee/chef/author/new workout guru has been one of the more intriguing talents to come out of NY.  Heads have been somewhat glued in to him since his debut, Dr. Lecter.  Since then he has dropped good to great efforts such as his collaboration with Alchemist, Rare Chandeliers, Blue Chips, the damn good sequel Blue Chips 2, his major label debut, Mr. Wonderful, and the most recent Only For Dolphins. He now delivers his seventh full length album, Cocodrillo Turbo.  Primarily produced by Alchemist and Daringer (save a couple of tracks produced by himself), this is Action in his most focused in some years.  Lyrically, Bronson is hungry (no pun intended) and within the album, this is a very cohesive project.  Assisted by the likes of Meyhem Lauren and Conway The Machine, Bronson has delivered arguably his best work in a minute and here's to hoping we get more of the Bronson to come.

13. Fly Anakin

Frank

Production: artist, Evidence, Madlib, Sycho Sid, Like, Lastnammedavid, others

Guests: Henny L.O., Billz Egypt, Big Kahuna O.G., Pink Siifu

One of the undergrounds more bubbling crews is the Mutant Academy.  Hailing from the DMV, the crew consisting of Koncept Jackson, Big Kahuna O.G., Henny L.O., and Fly Anakin is a dope crew of emcees and producers (Sycho Sid, Unlucky Bastards, Ewonee) that have made noise for some years.  After dropping some mixtapes and EPs over the years, Anakin drops his solo debut, Frank, and this cat dropped a damn good debut on us.  With beats that range from grimy to soulful, Anakin delivers talent and foresight all on this album.  With beat work from the likes of Madlib, Evidence, and in-house producers Sycho Sid and Lastnamedavid, Anakin provides his unique mic abilities to create quite the impressive debut solo album.

12. EarthGang

Ghetto Gods

Production: Olu, 1500 Or Nothin', STLNdrums, Grandma, Phoelix, others

Guests: Cee-Lo, Nick Cannon, Musiq Soulchild, J.I.D., J. Cole, Ari Lennox, Future

ATL representatives, EarthGang, is a very unique, yet highly talented duo.  These Dreamville signees have amassed a great discography even before the major label.  The duo of WowGr8 and Olu have been compared to a younger Big Boi and Andre 3000, and with albums like their 2022 offering, Ghetto Gods, it's not hard to see why.  Capitalizing from their previous effort, Mirrorland, they grab various musical stylings from jazz to funk to psychadelic to reggae and they bring forth a world that struggles to maintain in the midst of subjects such as poverty, injustice, and mental illness.  More melancholy than their previous works, this is an inward look at how the ills of the world has taken its toll on our psyche as a culture.  while the whole album isn't this dark and serious, moments such as "All Eyes On Me" and "Strong Friends" are very poignant and become more moody.  With Ghetto Gods, EarthGang continue to evolve into very essential and necessary for the southern hip-hop scene.  Although they're still quite far away from the god-level of Outkast, they're also a much needed light, lyrically and talent-wise that made those ATLiens such stars in the first place.

11. Quelle Chris

DEATHFAME

Production: artist, Chris Keyz, Knxwledge

Guests: Denmark Vessey, Pink Siifu, Cavalier, Navy Blue, others

Eccecntric Detroit rhymer, Quelle Chris, has an underappreciated discography.  A great rhymer and an equally great writer and producer, the hubby of fellow rhyme animal, Jean Grae, has amassed dope left-brained albums such as Niggas Is Men, Ghost At The Finish Line, Innocent Country, Guns, and his most recent Innocent Country 2.  Some of his albums have had poignant overall themes with them.  His album, Being You Is Great, I Wish I Could Be You More Often focused on self acceptance, while Guns was focused on gun violence and obsession with guns.  With his latest, DEATHFAME, Chris focuses on the pitfalls of popularity and stardom.  Part satire, part serious, it blends a melancholy aura with tongue-in-cheek humor.  Production-wise, this is among his best efforts.  Plenty of jazzy elements thanks mostly to himself and frequent collaborator, Chris Keyz, this is not a blissful, sunshine-sparking album.  Nonetheless, Quelle Chris has delivered another excellent album done as only he can do, and does it with precise appeal.  He has not failed yet.

10. Curren$y & The Alchemist

Continuance

Production: The Alchemist

Guests: Havoc, Wiz Khalifa, Styles P, Boldy James, Larry June

Whenever you mention N'Awlin's Curren$y and his lengthy discography, many tend to mention his collaborations with arguably the most prolific producer in hip-hop, The Alchemist. Their previous effort, Covert Coup, showed that Curren$y delivers some of his best vocal and lyrical talent through Alan Maman.  Ranked among his best albums, the thirst was heavy for another collab was thick.  We did in fact get this in 2022 in the form of Continuance.  This is easily as great as, if not better than, Covert Coup. From stellar cuts like "Kool & The Gang" and the Boldy Jams-assisted "No Yeast", Spitta goes for his lyrically and once again shows that he needs to be mentioned among the best within the south, as we've already been aware of how much of a work ethic he has.

9. Earl Sweatshirt

SICK!

Production: The Alchemist, artist, Black Noi$e, others

Guests: Armand Hammer, Zeeloopers

The ever enigmatic yet tremendously talented, Earl Sweatshirt, brought forth his 2022 offering in the form of  SICK!  While it's not quite as macabre as I Don't Do Shit, I Don't Go Outside or as painfully personal as arguably his masterpiece, Some Rap Songs, this does have splatterings of his debut full-length album, Doris, as well as his last effort, Feet Of Clay.  Personal, honest, introspective, and conflicting, Earl delves into his psyche over excellent production mostly from Black Noi$e.  While we wait on the elusive project with hi m and The Alchemist, we will continue to enjoy any project from Earl because at this point, the former Odd Future standout can simply do no wrong.

8. Pusha T

It's Almost Dry

Production: Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, 88-Keyz, others

Guests: Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, No Malice, Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, Lil Uzi Vert, Labyrinth, Don Tolliver

After the last couple of years of stating that he was constructing the album of his career, VA's own Pusha T finally delivered the goods with his new offering, It's Almost Dry.  In the months leading up to the release, he also stated the album was the best of 2022.  Was he correct? In many instances, he very well could be.  Mr. Thorton sounds refreshed, hungry, and focused on this new release.  While still delving into the coke rap arena, Pusha continues to make this arena sound good.  With production help from Kanye and Pharrell (Mr. Williams delivering some of his darkest and menacing production work to date here), Pusha T brought forth a slam dunk of an album that lives up to the hype for the most part.  Very similar to previous albums of King Push: Darkest Before Dawn, My Name Is My Name, and his most recent effort, the outstanding DAYTONA, Pusha elevates his lyrical game and sounds like the confident veteran that keep showing these rookies out here he's among the true blueprints of the generation.

7. Black Star

No Fear Of Time

Production: Madlib

Guests: Black Thought

It's been 24 years since we last saw Brooklyn's dynamic duo, Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) and Talib Kweli as Black Star and crafting music.  Their debut album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, is highly considered a hip-hop classic in practically every circle imaginable.  Cuts like "Brown Skin Lady", "Thieves In The Night", and "Twice Inna Lifetime" became part of hip-hop's consciousness at that time and put themselves in conversation for best overall duos in the game, especially within underground circles.  Since then, albums from both artists have been critically acclaimed and among some of the game's most triumphant releases.  After much speculation, the duo reunited, along the production help of the legendary Madlib, to present No Fear Of Time.  Constructed admittedly in hotel rooms while touring with limited resources, they pull off one hell of an album. Released through their podcast company, Luminary, one would imagine their subscriptions went up a ton just to get a peep of this excellent new album.  Over exceptional Madlib production (he himself no stranger to either artist as he did Bey's famed cut from The Ecstatic "Auditorium" and did a whole effort with Kweli, Liberation), they recapture some of the magic that made them have such a following in the first place.  Sure it doesn't quite the same as 25 years ago. It's not supposed to. It's 25 years ago.  However, with No Fear Of Time, Black Star indeed does stay shining.

6. Denzel Curry

Melt My Eyez, See Your Future

Production: Robert Glaspar, Karreim Riggins, Kenny BEats, DJ Khalyl, Dot Da Genius, JPEGMAFIA, Kal Bankx, Thundercat

Guests: Robert Glaspar, 6LACK, J.I.D., Rico Nasty, Saul Williams, Bridgett Perez, Karreim Riggins, others

Florida's Denzel Curry has quite the following over the years since his full length debut, Nostalgic 64, that put him officially on the map.  Since then, efforts like Imperial, Zuu, and Unlocked with sought after beatmaker, Kenny Beats have further etched his name into being among the most popular young southern rappers out here today.  His brand of street rap mixed with honest introspection tends to make him a standout among his peers as it is.  He goes next level with his 2022 offering, Melt My Eyez, See Your Future, as he varies with different styles and genres on this release.  Definitely more of an adult vibe then previous works, he collaborates with the likes of acclaimed Detroit drummer/producer Karreim Riggins, Grammy Award winning jazz pianist/producer Robert Glaspar,  and T-Pain among many others.  More ambitious than any effort he's done, he's a lot more introspective and personal than any of his previous efforts as well.  Curry displays more of a maturity than a lot of his contemporary peers with this album and here's to hoping for more albums that show more of he is apart from his stardom.

5. billy woods & Preservation

Aethiopes

Production: Preservation

Guests: Denmark Vessey, ELUCID, Quelle Chris, Boldy James, Breezely Brewin, El-P, others

One of the most intriguing emcees in the underground is NY's billy woods.  Really gaining notoriety with his album, History Will Absolve Me, he started gaining more recognition with other efforts such as Known Unknowns, his highly acclaimed collab with producer Kenny Segal, Hiding Places, and Today, I Wrote Nothing.  Of course he also shines alongside fellow emcee, ELUCID, as one half of highly acclaimed duo, Armand Hammer (their Alchemist-assisted album, HARAM, was one of the single best albums of 2021).  He now shows up in 2022 with another producer-assisted alum.  This time with Preservation (previously worked with the likes of Roc Marciano, Ka, Yasiin Bey, Aesop Rock and others) and he delivers Aethiopes.  His style of unorthodox lyricism meets non-stop almost spoken word poetry-like delivery has him painting bleak views of society and social structures over Preservations minimalist yet atmospheric production.  Masterfully an abstract emcee of the highest caliber, woods has once again knocked out an incredible piece of work that can be argued as his best.

4. Conway The Machine

God Don't Make Mistakes

Production: Daringer, The Alchemist, Hit-Boy, Beat Butcha, Bink!, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, others

Guests: Jill Scott, T.I., Westside Gunn, Benny The Butcher, Keisha Plum, Novel, Beanie Sigel, Rick Ross, Lil' Wayne, Lxvedagenius, Jae Skeeze

One of the cornerstones of Griselda has been Conway The Machine.  The buffalo emcee has played as crucial of a role to Griselda's ascent as his brother and cousin (Gunn and Benny respectively).  His discography is near flawless and his last effort, From King To A God, was as hard-hitting of an album as you could get from The Machine in 2020.  However, when it was announced that Gunn and Conway would have one album deals through Shady Records, heads were immediately intrigued to what would come from them.  Conway often stated this was the album of his career, and with God Don't Maker Mistakes, he has just that on his hands.  As great as the aforementioned From King To A God was, this is even better than that.  Way more personal and introspective than anything he's ever done, this is the most complete effort Conway has delivered and serves as arguably the best (or at least top 2 or 3 albums) within the entire Griselda discography.  Over crazy production from the likes of Alchemist, Hit-Boy, Daringer, Bink and Beat Butcha, Conway has officially arrived with this album.  

3. Benny The Butcher

Tana Talk 4

Production: Daringer, The Alchemist

Guests: Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine, J. Cole, Diddy, 38 Spesh, Boldy James, Stove God Cook$

Staying on the Griselda train, Benny The Butcher has emerged as the star of GXFR.  His 2019 offering, Tana Talk 3 was compared to a new generation Reasonable Doubt, and for good reason.  A modern classic that further propelled Griselda to more critical acclaim, the pressure was on to deliver hard with the 4th installment of the Tana Talk series.  After dropping efforts such as his equally nuts EP, The Plugs I Met, his Hit-Boy collaboration, Burden Of Proof, his collab with Harry Fraud, and The Plugs I Met 2, the time had come to work on Tana Talk 4.  Does it measure up to his exceptional street classic, TT3? Damn right it does.  With Daringer and Alchemist providing all the boardwork here, this is a menacing project filled with street narrative, coke-laced rhymes and occasional personal stories of him struggles.  As focused as ever to help Griselda take over the entire game, Benny is the rightful star of the crew, and who knows, he may also be the first to give Griselda its first Platinum plaque in the future.  By all means, as he would say, for all up and coming street emcees, "The Butcher coming N**GA!"

2. Phife Dawg

Forever

Production: Dilla, Nottz, 9th Wonder, Khrysis, others

Guests: Redman, Illa J, Posdnous, Little Brother, Dwele, Rapsody, Darien Brockington, Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip, Dwele, Lyric Jones, others

One of this generation's saddest passings was in the form of A Tribe Called Quest's beloved and revered "Funky Five Footer" Malik Taylor aka Phife Dawg.  The legendary emcee unfortunately succumbed to complications related to his much publicized Diabetes in 2016. However, he left behind some material for his fans and thankfully his estate has much obliged to release his posthumous album, the long-awaited Forever, and it was absolutely worth the wait.  This albums reeks of his incredible brilliance as an emcee.  Over some simply fantastic production from the likes of 9th Wonder, Khrysis, and even a contribution from another late, great hip-hop icon, J Dilla, Phife shows such a grown man maturity on this release.  As an elder statesman even before his death, his "Bust off on your couch, now you got Seamen's Furniture" as was on "Electric Relaxation" is replaced with God, family, love of his wife, and critiquing hip-hop as an artform and a culture.  This could easily be a tearjerker of an album if this wasn't such a fire release.  While your average posthumous release can be hit (Gangstarr's One Of The Best Yet, Big L's Big Picture) or miss (Biggie's Born Again), this could be considered one of the most complete posthumous hip-hop albums you'll ever come across.  Long live the "Funky Five Footer".

1. Kendrick Lamar

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

Production: Pharrell Williams, Sounwave, DJ Khalyl, DJ Dahi, Boi-1nda, Baby Keem, Beach Noise, The Alchemist, Bekon, others

Guests: Kodak Black, BLXST, Ghostface Killah, Summer Walker, Sampha, Taylour Paige, Beth Gibbons. Amanda Reifer, others

What can be said about Kendrick Lamar Duckworth that hasn't already been said about him? Visionary. Generational. GOAT of his generation.  These would all accurately apply to him.  From his very promising debut, Section.80, to his major label classic debut, good kid, M.A.A.D. City, to perhaps the greatest album of the 2010s, To Pimp A Butterfly, to the Pulitzer Prize winning follow-up DAMN, Kendrick subsequently can't lose.  Anticipation has been at epic levels since DAMN, and when he announced his fifth album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, the frenzy started to happen.  Once his promo single/video "The Heart Pt. 5" dropped, immediately we knew King Kendrick was back.  Does it live up to the hype? Yes and then some.  This double album divides between his dealing with his anxiety and depression points and his need to almost be a god-like savior to other people to examining his growth as a man even if going through tumultuous waters, this is as honest of an album as we've ever heard from him. While, at times, it's not an easy listen (the VERY controversial "We Cry Together"), it has moments of triumph and self-artistic/personal maturation.  Seemingly, each album since good kid has showed him elevating as an artist and a man, conceptually and realistically.  This is another album that will resonate, not just within our culture, but within music for decades to come.   

Honorable Mentions

Czarface- Czarmageddon!

Che Noir- Food For Thought

RJ Payne- Beautiful Payne 4

RJ Payne- If Cocaine Could Talk 7

Ransom- No Rest For The Wicked

Nicholas Craven- N3

V-DON- Better Than $$$

RZA as Bobby Digital- Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater

Your Old Droog & Tha God Fahim- Wolf Of Wall Street 2: The American Dream

Kid Abstrakt- Higher Vibration

Tha God Fahim- 6 Ring Champ

Elzhi & Georgia Anne Maldrow- Zhigeist

AJ Suede & Televengel- Metatron's Cube

Smoovth & Machacha- Subcriminal Thoughts

Termanology & Paul Wall- Start 2 Finish

IAMGAWD- Murder Castle

Elcamino & Camouflage Monk- Walk By Faith, Not By Sight

Jermaside- The Overview Effect

Bun B & Cory Mo- Mo Trill

At the time of this writing, albums from ELUCID, Lupe Fiasco, Westside Gunn and Logic hadn't dropped yet, but do understand, after peeping all their albums, they would be in top five for sure. Also stay tuned for projects from Nas, The Game, another Soul Assassins project from Muggs, Joey Bada$$, PRhyme, Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, J.I.D., Freddie Gibbs, Rapsody, Lloyd Banks, the Griselda crew, and Cormega among many others  That being said, this year has been thunderous as it is and it's exciting to see what's next in 2022.  Stray tuned for more craziness!

The Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2021

 

What a year for hip-hop.  This was a year filled with exceptional releases that far outweighed any release that was poor or underwhelming.  We had seminal releases from the likes of Skyzoo, Nas, and Little Simz to albums that should've gotten way more notice such as Navy Blue, Evidence, and Rita J.  Once again, Griselda pretty much dominated the year with tremendous release after tremendous release, and we saw the triumphant return after six years of TDE's Isaiah Rashad.  Not to mention, producers such as Alchemist, Hit-Boy, and Muggs were quite prolific this year and delivered some of the year's best offerings.  This was a fun year sonically and lyrically.  Definitely among the best on recent record.  With that being said, let's get into the thirty best albums of the year.  Be forewarned: this will cause controversy as there are MANY albums that could've made this list.  If your favorite isn't on the list, be sure to check for them on the Honorable Mentions section.  Now that that's out the way, let the discussion begin!

30. Navy Blue

Navy's Reprise

Production: artist, Evidence, Stoney Ellis, others

Guests: Demajhiae

Fresh from Cali comes Navy Blue, an emcee that's been making more and more noise over the past few years, especially with his collaborations with Earl Sweatshirt.  With his steadily growing fan following, he dropped out of the...ahem...blue, Navy's Reprise, the follow up to 2020's Song Of Sage: Post Panic!  This album definitely picks up where Song Of Sage left off, only with more eclectic yet soulful sounds on this release.  Standouts such as "Peach Cobbler", "Shine" and especially the rather dope "Ritual" all exemplify Navy's penmanship and his ability to draw you into his world of introspection and endurance with great results.

29. Rita J

The High Priestess

Production: Neak, Rashid Hadee

Guests: Neak, Rashis Hadee, Slot-A, Cher Jay, others

Chicago emcee, Rita J is no rookie to this rap thing.  She has put out efforts before with her last one being 2020's Black Koala with Raashan Ahmad and it was met with lots of critical acclaim.  Now in 2021, she returned with her solo effort, The High Priestess, an album filled with celebrated highs and depressing lows, and we as the listener are with her through every stage of it all.  Taking time off between her multiple efforts to put her all into every project, this album gets intensely personal at times, but we also pay attention to her healing process as well. Cuts like the important "Real Men Cry Too", "Mad As Hell", and "Reality" are all cuts that we see her inner most thoughts and feelings and this is definitely a project that needs to peeped a lot more.

28. Evidence

The Unlearning Vol. 1

Production: artist, The Alchemist, Nottz, Khrysis, Sebb, Daringer, Mr. Green, Animoss, others

Guests: Boldy James, Conway The Machine, Navy Blue, others

Longtime west coast emcee/producer Evidence has been a fixture in the west coast underground since the early start of the century with his Dilated Peoples groupmates.  From his debut album, the simply excellent Weatherman LP, we knew Evidence had the talent and lyrical ability to hang and bang with anyone within the west coast upper echelon to go beyond the underground.  Albums later such as Cats & Dogs and Weather Or Not continued to show his ability to put out very dope material enough to keep him in the talk of best artist from Cali.  In 2021, his offering is The Unlearning Vol. 1, which in terms of theme-wise, is showing his honesty and sincerity much like his aforementioned efforts.  Among the standouts are the Alchemist-blessed "Better You", "All Of That Said", and "Talking To The Audience", all of which show how true to this game Evidence, but even more so, how true to himself he is.  Evidence has delivered another great addition to his already impressive discography with The Unlearning Vol. 1 and one can only hope he continues this roll he's on.

27. Magna Carta

To The Good People

Production: Dougie Do

Guests: Cara Bishop, Juju Bae, others

Austin, TX duo Meggz Kelli and DJ/producer Dougie Do combine to be Magna Carda, a neo-soul-esque hip-hop duo that just makes feel good, yet honest, hip-hop.  Their latest album, To The Good People, is almost a throwback of sorts to excellent live instrumentation-old-school spirited hip-hop albums like Do You Want More?!?!?!, Like Water For Chocolate, or Black On Both Sides.  Kelli is no slouch on the mic whatsoever and her lyrical abilities are impressive on this effort, and along with Dougie Do's nice arrangements sonically, show the chemistry these two possess to pull off quite the intriguing album.  For longtime local fans of theirs, this is a step up from releases of theirs such as Coffee Table Talk and its sequel.  For those of us just now getting their ears glued to these two, this album is quite the introduction.

26. Dark Lo & Havoc

Extreme Measures

Production: Havoc

Guests: Styles P, Vado

Dark Lo is an emcee from the mean streets of Philly.  The same Philly that houses legends such as Beanie Sigel, Black Thought, Will Smith (do NOT front like Fresh Prince still can't work), Bahamadia, and Eve.  His brand of grit and grime has been felt in Philly's underground for some time but now he's gotten up with the legendary Havoc of Mobb Deep to deliver Extreme Measures.  After the last few years of obscurity, in part due to the death of his longtime rhyme partner Prodigy, Hav reemerged from the shadows first on Conway's cut "Juvenile Hell" from From King To A God.  Since then, he's doing here and there stuff, including with protege, Nyce for his EP.  However, Dark Lo over some of Hav's signature dark, atmospheric boon-bap makes for a hand in glove pairing.  Giving old Mobb images, Lo and Havoc presented quite the banger for an album and I'm sure we will hear more from these two together one way or another.

25. Mach-Hommy

Balens Cho

Production: Conductor Williams, Nicholas Craven, Messiah Muzik, others

What a year for Mach-Hommy.  Aside from reuniting with Westside Gunn and Griselda earlier this year, and dropping quite the stellar effort in Pray For Haiti, he also delivered his own independent effort near year's end with Balens Cho, which is Kreyol for 'Hot Candles'.  With longtime associate, Nicholas Craven, doing the majority of the boards, this album feels and sounds like the appropriate follow-up to Pray For Haiti.  The sounds provided by Craven, Messiah Muzik, and especially by Conductor Williams on the eargasmic self care cut, "Self Luh" makes this album sound like PFH2 almost.  Hommy goes different routes, in terms of subject matter.  As was jus mentioned, he goes the route of explaining the dangers of taking care of yourself on "Self Luh", while also exploring the space programs from Africa on "Magnum Bands Remix" and the struggles his father had to endure to make money on "Wooden Nickels".  Whether concentrating on self care, history, mythology, or just being introspective, Hommy is that ever intriguing emcee that people can't enough of.  Even Hov has him on his radar.

24. Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg Presents Algorithm

Production: Nottz, Battlecat, Rick Rock, Hi-Tek, Soopafly, others

Guests: Benny The Butcher, Busta Rhymes, Jadakiss, Usher, Method Man, Redman, Eric Bellinger, Mount Westmore, Mary J. Blige, Larry June, Ty Dolla $ign, Fabolous, Dave East, others

Ever the renaissance man, the legendary Snoop D-O-double G returns once again.  It was announced earlier this year that he had accepted a position within the iconic Def Jam Records family as an executive.  With that, one of the first orders of business was to bring forth a compilation album that contained his vision of artists entitled Algorithm.  One of his first signed artists was none other than Griselda pillar, Benny The Butcher (be on the lookout in 2022 for his highly anticipated Tana Talk 4 under BSF/Griselda/Def Jam Records), who shows up on the thumping collab with Jadakiss and Busta Rhymes on "Murder Music".  However, this is one compilation that has a variety of sounds and genres.  Funk, soul, R&B, and hip-hop all get greatly represented on this album, and with excellent production contributions from the likes of Rick Rock, Soopafly, Nottz, and Battlecat among others, this is one of the better Snoop, or Snoop-associated, albums we've heard in a while.  Although his previous 2021 effort, From The Streets To The Suites was fun enough to enjoy, the assembly of artists on Algorithm make this a good gumbo that thoroughly digest all the great nutrition this album has to offer

23. Benny The Butcher

The Plugs I Met 2

Production: Harry Fraud

Guests: Fat Joe, French Montana, Jim Jones, others

After dropping one of the finest offerings of 2020 with his collaborative album with Hit-Boy, Burden Of Proof, he came in 2021 with his offering with hitmaker Harry Fraud on The Plugs I Met 2, the sequel to his 2019 monster EP, The Plugs I Met.  Giving off what appears to be almost like an old gangster-movie feel on wax, Benny delivered the goods on this piece that is not quite as radio production friendly as Burden Of Proof was (no disrespect intended to Hit-Boy, as that album went hard in the paint production-wise). Fraud, who also delivered quite the dope albums with Dave East and Curren$y in 2021, handed Benny a soundtrack that was very easy for his persona to lace over, and he did just that.  Considered the star of the Griselda crew, this cat is quickly becoming among the single most elite emcees in hip-hop, and if TT4 is as hard as we think it will be, best in the game will be his next accolade.

22. Planet Asia & Evidence

Rule Of Thirds

Production: Evidence

Guests: Evidence, Rome Stereetz, Domo Genesis

Longtime west coast underground heavyweight Planet Asia has quite the prolific catalogue under him.  Albums such as Black Belt Theater, Mansa Musa, Anchovies with Apollo Brown, Jewelry Box Sessions, and many, many other releases have all demonstrated his penchant for being a dumb dope emcee and one that should be considered an elder statesman in the game.  In 2021, he reunited with Evidence to deliver Rule Of Thirds.  They collaborated before on one of PA's best moments, The Medicine, but this album may just eclipse that effort, as dope as that was.  Ev has definitely evolved musically and PA has evolved with his pen as well, and it shows all over this hot as fish grease album.  Standouts like "Live From The Kremlin", "Take It Lightly" and the first single "1984" all demonstrate their chemistry as PA eats over those tremendous Evidence sounds and the results put this album among the top of his most recent efforts

21. Apollo Brown & Stalley

Blacklight

Production: Apollo Brown

Guests: Skyzoo, Joell Ortiz

It wouldn't be 2021 without an Apollo Brown offering, and this year he assisted Ohio-native and former Maybach Music emcee, Stalley.  Apollo has this way with his production of bringing some of the best out of an emcee and handing them some of their best work.  Artists he's collaborate with for whole projects such as Joell Ortiz, Locksmith, Guilty Simpson, Hasaan Mackey, Che Noir, and especially Skyzoo have all greatly benefited from his assistance.  In the case of Stalley, he's another notch on an extensive belt.  With their debut collaborative project, Blacklight, Stalley delivers quite possibly the best music of his career, and a confidence we've wanted to hear from him since his release from Rick Ross' house.  Honest and personal, Stalley brings us into his world with guts and not much to lose.  With Blacklight, we definitely applaud him for doing so and for Detroit's monstrous producer to assist in the sonic handywork to allow him to spit his heart out over some of the most soulful sounds you'll hear all year.

20. Lloyd Banks

The Course Of The Inevitable

Production: Cartune Beatz, Mr. Authentic, Illatrackz, The Olympickz others

Guests: Freddie Gibbs, Roc Marciano, Benny The Butcher, Ransom, Vado, Sy Ari Da Kid, Styles P

Once seen as "The Boy Wonder" of G-Unit, Queens rhyme animal, Lloyd Banks reemerged on the scene like new strands of COVID with his first full-length album since 2010 when he dropped The Hunger For More 2 while still a part of G-Unit.  Folks, eleven whole years!  That's not to say he's been quiet or anything as he's been dropping several mixtapes such as his All Or Nothing series and his Halloween Havoc series.  This year, he dropped The Course Of The Inevitable, and one would think he would pull out the production stops and get contributions from the likes of Alchemist, Preemo, Statik Selektah, Daringer, and who knows who else.  Nope.  Instead production work was done by relatively unknown beatmakers such as The Olympickz, Cartune Beatz, Illatrackz, and Mr. Authentic.  For what it's worth, they handled theirs on the production tip.  Lyrically, the "punchline king" sounds as hungry as ever before, with a definite chip on his shoulder.  He brings his A-game on cuts like on the Benny-assisted "Formaldehyde", "Pain Pressure Paranoia", and "Death By Design", and guests like the aforementioned Benny The Butcher, Styles, and Freddie Gibbs help him on this journey.  This is easily as great as his debut album, The Hunger For More, and shows he's just as potent without G-Unit as he was with them.

19. Ransom & Rome Streetz

Coup de Grace

Production: V-DON, Nicholas Craven, Animoss, others, others

Two guys that have had quite the discography this year have been Jersey's Ransom and Brooklyn's Rome Streetz.  Ransom has put out a few efforts this year such as his excellent Se7en EP and his collab with enigmatic producer Big Ghost LTD, Heavy Is The Head, and his collab with Nicholas Craven, Crime Scenes along with guesting on albums from the likes of Lloyd Banks, 38 Spesh, and several others. Streetz, on the other hand, got picked up by Griselda, but along the way, he delivered his tremendous collab with DJ Muggs, Death & The Magician, his album with fellow underground heavyweight, AHNKLEJOHN, Genesis 1:20, and up-and-coming producer Futurewave, Razor's Edge.  It was only right for these two dope emcees to get together, and boy ndid they ever.  Their debut collab effort, Coup de Grace, is as hard as nails as you would imagine it to be.  While getting gritty and ugly with cuts like "Rooftop Sermons" and "Silent Murderers" to vivid storytelling cuts like the cinematic "Claudine" with Che Noir, this album is a knockout and definitely reflects both emcees styles of murda music.  Here's hoping for more from these two together sooner than later.

18. J. Cole

The Off-Season

Production: artist, Timbaland, Boi-1nda, T-Minus, Frank Dukes, Tae Beast, Jake One, others

Guests: Lil Baby, 6LACK, Bas, 21 Savage, Morray

Fayetteville Grammy Award winner Jermaine Cole is looked upon as one of the most influential emcees of his generation and for great reason.  Since his debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, Cole has been among the forefront of emcees looking to raise the bar for the game, along with putting Fayette-nam on the map.  Every single album of his has gone platinum plus and he continues to deepen his legacy with his latest offering, The Off-Season.  J. Cole has swam in the waters of conscious rap mixed with backpack rap in the past, especially with 4 Your Eyez Only.  However, he went the trap route for the highly conceptual, K.O.D. With The Off-Season, the chip on his shoulder has reappeared and he's rhyming with a velocity to remind people of his presence in the rap game.  This is evident on the first cut, "Amari".  This is also apparent in the backhand slap, "Applying Pressure", where he kindly reminds up literally of his impact in the game and addresses his haters quite passionately.  While we can appreciate conscious Cole, we occasionally need shit-talking Cole, and throughout this album and along with great production choices, The Off-Season ranks among his best achievements to date.

17. Your Old Droog

TIME

Production: Budgie, Edan, Quelle Chris, 88-Keyz, others

Guests: MF DOOM, Aesop Rock, Blu, Elzhi, Mick Jenkins, Wiki

Brooklyn's Your Old Droog has racked up quite the prolific discography of his own.  Since his dope debut in 2014, he has developed a steady fan base and he ends up dropping a project that gets regularly bumped.  This one-time vocal comparison to Nas has shown he's a certifiable emcee in his own right.  Just in 2021, he has dropped four projects and all have been hot.  Perhaps the best of all of his efforts this year has been TIME, an album that partially explores days of his youth as well as his time coming up in hip-hop, but it also turns out some of these cuts are four or five years old.  The subject of 'time' is varied here.  From the musically captivating "The Magic Watch" that is a time travel-esque cut depicting him in three different events in his life to "Please Listen To My Jew Tape" that explores his not-so-easy journey into just getting respect in hip-hop, much less trying to make it in general, this album shows how precious 'time' is.  Lyrically, YOD is as on point as he's ever been.  He displays his penmanship in excellent detail over every track on this effort.  With TIME, YOD drops another entire slapper on us, and it's only further blessed by having an appearance by the late, great MF DOOM phones in to co-sing the talents of this young emcee.

16. Mumu Fresh

Vintage Babies II: Queen Of Culture

Production: artist, DJ Dummy

The Baltimore-born, Philly-bred wonder woman known as Mumu Fresh dropped one of the most Blackity-Black efforts one could ask for earlier this year with Vintage Babies II: Queen Of Culture.  This album is filled with soul mixed with social and political commentary that, although at times, is uncomfortable, is delivered from a place of tough love and wanting to see us better and higher.  Resembling a Mother Earth figure of sorts, Mumu's transcendent wisdom is splattered all over this album. Not to mention her incredible talent of her pen game, her lyricism, and her singing vocals.  The Grammy-nominated artist has delivered an album very much needed in today's society for us Black people.  Very comparative to the likes of Georgia Anne Maldrow's A Thoughtiverse Unmarred or even Lauryn Hill's timeless Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, Vintage Babies II is healthy and nourishing food for the soul.

15. Khrysis

The Hour Of Khrysis

Production: artist

Guests: Mumu Fresh, Evidence, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, Pharoahe Monch, Away Team, Problem, Sa-Roc, Rapsody, others

Among the most acclaimed, yet underrated producers out there is Durham, NC-bred, 9th Wonder protege, Khrysis.  Responsible for work with the likes of Masta Ace, Little Brother, Elzhi, Rapsody, Sean Price, Heltah Skeltah, Jean Grae, and Conway The Machine, Khrysis finally delivered his own full-length effort, The Hour Of Khrysis, to get his own spotlight on him.  We are very familiar with his beyond dope boardwork, but it's not often we get in tuned with mic abilities, but he shows he's not afraid to go for his as well, and has been off and on for years.  Joining on this voyage are the likes of Mumu Fresh, Pharoahe Monch, Evidence, Rapsody, Sa-Roc, and undisputed legends such as Busta Rhymes and De La Soul and all glide nicely over Khrysis' thumping production.  There's even an Away Team reunion with partner in crime, Sean Boog on the standout "The Return".  Sonically, this is defintely among the most boom-bap worthy albums you'll hear this year, and with these acts and more assisting him in establishing his legacy, Khrysis has been patient for too long, now the title of best overall producer within the past fifteen years must one way or another include him somewhere in the conversation.

14. Boldy James & The Alchemist

Super Techmo Bo

Production: The Alchemist

Guests: ICECOLDBISHOP

Yet another great year for Detroit's own Boldy James.  In 2020, he dropped his prized album album with The Alchemist, The Price Of Tea In China, but also his acclaimed efforts, Manger On McNichols, Real Bad Boldy, and The Versace Tape were met with tremendous praise as well.  In 2021, he dropped two excellent projects, both of which came once again with The Alchemist.  The first one was BO JACKSON, which was outstanding in itself (see later), but then they hit us once again near the end of the year with Super Techmo Bo, an equally crazy EP that sounds like an extended version of BO JACKSON.  The sinister yet golden sounds of "Uncle Al" once again highly compliments the monotone, yet deliberate, style of Boldy.  Gritty and street as always, Boldy and Al deliver another killer effort and based just upon how 2021 was for them together, 2022 could just as crazy and maybe even more so. 

13. DJ Muggs & Flee Lord

Ramellzee

Production: DJ Muggs

Guests: Ghostface Killah, Roc Marciano, Crimeapple, Meyhem Lauren, others

Over the past four or so years, Far Rckaway, Queens native Flee Lord has been putting out heat after heat.  The former Prodigy student is known for grimy delivery and his Lord Mobb crew.  Getting co-signs from the likes of Griselda, Roc Marciano, 38 Spesh and others, he has delivered efforts alongside the likes of the aforementioned 38 Spesh, Pete Rock, Eto, and last year's excellent effort with Havoc, In The Name Of Prodigy.  This year, he gets assistance from legendary producer DJ Muggs for Ramellzee.  It can be argued that this may be the most complete Flee effort to date.  The instrumentals Muggs provides for him one hundred percent match the grimy style of Flee, in all its atmospheric and  dark melodies.  Cuts like "Eatin' Never Stressin'", "Driver's Seat", and "45 In My Pocket" are as great and fitting for the album as you can want from Flee.  This is yet another benchmark in the already hall of fame worthy career of Muggs and another example of why Flee was Prodigy's protege.

12. Westside Gunn

Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Sincerely Adolf- Side A

Production: Camouflage Monk, Denny LeFlare, Conductor Williams

Guests: Stove God Cook$, Mach-Hommy, Jadakiss, Lil Wayne, Boldy James, Rome Streetz, Conway The Machine, Benny The Butcher, others

This was yet another Griselda year.  The Griselda crew started off with the dope Conflicted soundtrack at the beginning of the year, along with Conway's La Maquina and Benny's aforementioned Plugs I Met 2.  After long last, head honcho Westside Gunn dropped his greatly anticipated, Hitler Wears Hermes 8 effort. Built as the final installment of his Hitler Wears Hermes series, he wanted to go all out, making it a double release.  The first release, billed as Side A, is quite the knockout all on its own.  With soundscapes from Camouflage Monk, Conductor Williams, and Denny LeFlare (whom he refers to as The Heartbreakers), Gunn brings his usual high-pitched, grimy lyrical style with him and provides the grittiness we've come to fully expect from him.  Although the majority of this album is very feature heavy, especially from upstart Stove God Cook$ being on numerous cuts, this is definitely a WSG effort.  If you were highly impressed with Side A, stay tuned...

11. Little Simz

Sometimes I Might Be Introvert

Production: Miles James, Inflo, Jakwob

Guests: Cleo Sol

British rapper, Little Simz, has been quite the critical darling over the last few years with highly acclaimed albums such as Stillness In Wonderland and especially her exceptional Grey Area album of 2019.  She delivered perhaps her best achievement thus far in Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, an even more honest and personal look into the world of Little Simz, and her vulnerabilities.  Musically, this is a step up for her even more so then Grey Area. Showing her ability to be personal, yet showing her ability to also overcome her odds, both personally and professionally over mostly highly layered and cinematic-style live instrumentation, Simz hits on every single cylinder.  A career best for her, Simz is another step closer to being a star not just in the UK, but across the pond here in America as well.

10. Boldy James & The Alchemist

BO JACKSON

Production: The Alchemist

Guests: Curren$y, Earl Sweatshirt, Roc Marciano, Benny The Butcher, Freddie Gibbs, Stove God Cook$

Earlier we reviewed and gave props to the second collaboration of 2021 between Boldy James and The Alchemist for their blistering EP, Super Techmo Bo.  The project, however, somewhat serves as an extension of their previous 2021 project, the stunning BO JACKSON.  Capitalizing off their...ahem...chemistry from previous efforts like My 1st Chemistry Set, BOLDFACE, and The Price Of Tea In China, BO JACKSON may be even a little more gritty than the aforementioned efforts.  Boldy's highly street-laced narratives over Alchemist's unbelievable boardwork makes these two one of the best emcee/producer marriages in hip-hop currently going.

9. Tyler The Creator

Call Me If You Get Lost

Production: artist, Jay Versace, Jamie XX

Guests: Lil Wayne, Pharrell, Lil Uzi Vert, Jay Versace, 42 Dugg, Youngboy NBA, others

Grammy Award winner, Tyler The Creator is an interesting artist.  The former Odd Future lead guy has become quite the intriguing emcee whom we have seen grow from deliberate shock emcee to artistic juggernaut.  His Grammy nominated, Flower Boy, was one of hip-hop's most fascinating albums of  2017, stripping down his public shock and awe-type persona and displaying an introspective vulnerability that we hadn't seen before and was refreshingly welcomed.  The 2019 follow-up, IGOR, won a Grammy for Best Rap Album and many feel rightfully so.  The album was a risk-taking conceptual album that continued his need to get deeper into his personal side through synths, elements of funk to go alongside the R&B/Neo-Soul vibes from Flower Boy, and him singing virtually throughout the entire project.  In 2021, he delivered what many consider to be his absolute best hip-hop centered effort with Call Me If You Get Lost.  This is almost like a good gumbo of Flower Boy, IGOR, previous stuff like GOBLIN and Cherry Bomb, and some whole new elements that put Tyler under a microscope again to be an outside the box artist.  Balancing between vulnerability, romance, shit-talking, and braggadocio, Tyler knocks it out the park with yet another highly ambitious release and solidifies Tyler as among the best artists, regardless of genre, of his generation. Bar none.

8. Isaiah Rashad

The House Is Burning

Production: Hollywood Cole, Kar Bannx, Kenny Beats, Beat Butcha, others

Guests: Jay Worthy, Lil Uzi Vert, Duke Deuce, SZA, 6LACK, Smino, others

One of the most exciting moments of 2021 was the return to the game of TDE's southern representative, Isaiah Rashad.  After a six year hiatus due to personal issues such as addiction, Zay did enough teasing with new music and finally dropped his LONG awaited follow-up to his dynamite full-length debut The Sun's Tirade, The House Is Burning.  This album finds Zay fresh and renewed with a vigor we truthfully hadn't really heard before.  When the first single, "Lay Wit Ya", dropped, we knew this was a fired up Zay, and we were very glad of it.  As the album proceeds, he gets personal, honest, and overall in a newfound space in his life.  Musically this album is more lush and diverse than the overall dark and dense nature of Sun's Tirade or even his debut effort for TDE, Cilvia Demo.  Rashad is walking in the potential we saw him in with Cilvia and Tirade, and with albums like this, more greatness is in store for him.

7. Nas

Magic

Production: Hit-Boy

Guests: A$AP Rocky, DJ Premier

What a past few years for Nasir Olu Bin Dara Jones.  The "God's Son" emcee has delivered some of his most fantastic music we've heard from him in years thanks to his newfound musical relationship with highly talented west coast producer, Hit-Boy.  In 2020, they dropped King's Disease, which was met with a lot of critical acclaim and was considered one of Nas' best recent efforts.  It even gave him his first ever Grammy win for Best Rap Album.  He followed that up with the EXCELLENT King's Disease 2 and one would wonder, "How the hell do you follow that up?"  The answer came out of the blue in the form of a Christmas present called Magic.  This EP knocks in the same fashion their prior collaborations do.  Although a tad more stripped down and more raw-sounding than KD2 and the original, Magic is another tremendous exhibition of one of the greatest emcees of all-time over production that fits him hand-in-glove.  While KD2 is easily an easy candidate for Album Of The Year, Magic simply continued where KD2 left off, and while we look forward to KD3, this is a damn solid teaser to it.

6. Curren$y & Harry Fraud

Regatta

Production: Harry Fraud

Guests: Jay Worthy, 2 Chainz, Styles P

New Orleans rapper Curren$y is quite the prolific and busy emcee.  Known for his multiple projects per year, Spitta has been among the most underappreciated emcees around.  In mid 2021, he promised several different collaborative albums with distinctive producers.  One of them being one of the year's most in-demand producers, Harry Fraud, Regatta. Already known for his work throughout the year with the likes of Benny The Butcher and Dave East, Fraud presented Curren$y with some of his best cooked-up beats of the year.  Curren$y also serves up great lyrical treats with this EP.  Guests such as Styles P, 2 Chainz and Jay Worthy assist the former Cash Money artist along this mission.  With other efforts with Ski Beatz and The Alchemist forthcoming, this was a great chapter in the already dope discography of Spitta. Easily one of his best efforts.

5. Mach-Hommy

Pray For Haiti

Production: Conductor Williams, Camouflage, Tha God Fahim, Nicholas Craven, Denny LeFlare, Green Lantern, Sahdu Gold, others

Guests: Westside Gunn, Tha God Fahim, Keisha Plum

Haitian-born, New York-bred emcee Mach-Hommy is one of hip-hop's most mysterious emcees.  With a mask over his face way before it became the unfortunate norm to do in our society today, he also isn't a huge fan of interviews as well.  Known in the underground for his classic, H.B.O. under the Griselda flag, he's another artist that has an enormous discography filled with mixtapes and EPs.  Early in the year, the streets were buzzing about the issues being squashed between Mach Hommy, Tha God Fahim, and Westside Gunn.  Very quickly we were anticipating music between them, and wishes were quickly filled and realized with news of Hommy delivering his first album under Griselda since the aforementioned H.B.O., Pray For Haiti.  Simply put, this is a new benchmark for Hommy.  This is an album for newfound fans of his.  For those that have heard of Hommy  but wanted to know what the hype was all about.  Cuts like "Murder CZN", "The Stellar Ray Theory", and "Marie" are next level Hommy, lyrically and musically.  Going back and forth between English and his native tongue of Creole, his talent and penmanship is quite intriguing.  This may easily be Hommy's best effort ever, which is saying something considering how impressive his discography already is.

4. Westside Gunn

Hitler Wears Hermes 8: Sincerely Adolf-Side B

Production: The Alchemist, Camouflage Monk, Conductor Williams, JR Swiftz, Denny LeFlare, Daringer, Sahdu Gold, Jay Versace, Green Lantern, others

Guests: AZ, Conway The Machine, Benny The Butcher, ROme Streetz, Armani Ceaser, Boldy James, Larry June, Jay Worthy, Tyler The Creator, 2 Chainz, Stove God Cook$, Mach-Hommy, Flee Lord, others

Earlier, we gave props and kudos to Side-A of Westside Gunn's Hitler Wears Hermes album.  As dope as Side-A was, however, it's Side-B that's the story.  This is perhaps the most knocking Gunn album to date.  His knack for fashion and style mixed with coke and guns with his high-pitched, nasal flow makes the Griselda head honcho stand out among most of his peers.  From top to bottom, this album knocks and then knocks some more.  Tracks like the Tyler The Creator-assisted, "The Fly That Doesn't Fly Straight", "Eddie Kingston" with Rome Streetz and the BSF/Flee Lord-assisted "Celine Dion" are all classic Gunn and will not disappoint fans whatsoever.  While FLYGOD, Supreme Blientele, Who Made The Sunshine, and his FLYGOD Is An Awesome God mixtape series (his HWH series more or less put Griselda on the map) have built his fanbase up to this point, this is the type of album that will expand his fanbase even more and make even more eyes get set upon Griselda.  Gunn is a star, and one should expect Griselda to become not just the most dominant label in the streets, but the most in-demand label in all of hip-hop.

3. Armand Hammer & The Alchemist

HARAM

Production: The Alchemist

Guests: Earl Sweatshirt, Quelle Chris

One of the underground's most interesting duos is Armand Hammer.  Underground critical darlings, Elucid and billy woods are strong enough on their own (check woods' stellar discography), but then once they came together for Armand Hammer, jeez Louise! Their brand of socio-political commentary and armageddon-esque themes have garnered them a cult following.  However, they reached next level when it got revealed front-runner for Producer Of The Year, Alchemist, was working with them, the anticipation was high for their debut collaborative album, and did it deliver! Their debut collab effort, HARAM, may truthfully be Alchemist's best boardwork all year, and that's saying a mouthful considering how crazy he's been this year.  If you're familiar with their prior outings of ROME, Race Muzik, Shrines, and Paraffin, picture these incredible efforts with an Alchemist touch.  That's what you get with HARAM.  The subject matter doesn't really stray too far from what they know best, but these themes over Al's production is borderline perfect.  It's not wrong to label this album one of Alchemist's most prized efforts, but it's also not wrong to call HARAM Hammer's best effort to date.  Let's just hope there will be a HARAM 2, because albums like this need to be updated every single year.

2. Nas

King's Disease 2

Production: Hit-Boy

Guests: Ms. Lauryn Hill, YG, A-Boogie Wit A Hoodie, Charlie Wilson, BLXST, Hit-Boy

Following up King's Disease was a hard task.  Nas and Hit-Boy delivered one of Nas' best albums since Life Is Good and showed how cohesive they could be together.  Not to repeat, this album gave Nas and Hit-Boy their first Grammies.  When it was announced a sequel was coming, immediately fans were wondering if they could repeat their...ahem...magic.  The answer was a profound yes, and then some.  With King's Disease 2, he continues his theme of empowering Black men and showing them as kings that are worth more than what society makes them to be, but also expand into how to come up in the game.  Tackling issues such as investing, overcoming odds and upbringings, but also showing humility and gratitude.  This is even more of a grown man's album than the first one.  An album filled with jewels, introspection, and honesty, Nas and Hit-Boy presented an album for today's young Black man to eat and digest properly.  Perhaps the album's most newsworthy moment is the appearance of the legendary Ms. Lauryn Hill, as they reunite for the first time since '96's "If I Rule The world" from Nas' outstanding, It Was Written.  Simply put, Ms. Hill still got it on that microphone and with her pen game on "Nobody".  It's been argued by some people that this is his best album since Stillmatic.  That's not a reaching statement or argument.  This is a new benchmark for Nas and his career.  As for Hit-Boy, Nas has brought him more notoriety than ever and in turn has supplied him with some of the ebst production of his career.  By the way, will Nas and Hit-Boy repeat with another Grammy? Will KD3 set an even higher bar?  2022 will supply the answers.

1. Skyzoo

All The Brilliant Things

Production: STLNDrums, Marc Infinit, Thelonious Martin, JR Swiftz, Kenny Keys, J57, others

Guests: BJ The Chicago Kid, Raheem Devaughn, Blakk Soul, others

Brooklyn's own Skyzoo has among the most stellar discographies in all of hip-hop.  Every single album, EP, mixtape of his is highly acclaimed.  Since his '09 full-length debut, The Salvation, Skyzoo has shown himself to be an emcee's emcee, quite possibly on your favorite emcee's favorite emcee list.  Highly intelligent and a clear lover of Jazz music, Skyzoo mixes his love of jazz with classic NYC boom-bap and displays his gift with the pen with relative ease.  Following up his unbelievable 2019 offering, In Celebration Of Us, he delivers All The Brilliant Things, an album that focuses on issues in the hood such as integration, hustling, and gentrification.  Cuts like "Bed-Stuy Is Burning" and the knocking "Free Jewelry" show his awareness and insight to the ills of the hood beyond just a drugs and murder level.  He also professes showing love to people while they're still here with "Bodega Flowers" and other cuts like "Plugs & Connections", "I Was Supposed To Be A Trap Rapper", and "St. James Liquor" demonstrate Sky's fantastic lyrical abilities and knack for dropping introspection and dimes for the listener to take with them throughout that particular album.  Sky may not be the most known emcee on a mainstream level, but he can outshine your average mainstream emcee with ease, and with albums like In Celebration Of Us, Skyzoo has constructed quite possibly the album of his career and among the most intelligent albums of the entire year.  The album title is appropriate considering its author is as brilliant as the 'things' he mentions.

Honorable Mentions

Kanye West- Donda

Conway The Machine- La Maquina

Conway The Machine & Big Ghost LTD- If It Breathes, It Bleeds

Benny The Butcher & 38 Spesh- Trust The Sopranos

Smoovth & Giallo Point- Amongst Wolves

Dave- We're Alone In This Together

Various Artists- Griselda Presents Conflicted OST

Flee Lord & Roc Marciano- Delgado

Big Boi & Sleepy Brown- The Big Sleepover

The Alchemist- This Thing Of Ours

The Alchemist- This Thing Of Ours 2

Your Old Droog & Tha God Fahim- Tha YOD Fahim

Hus Kingpin- The Firm

Hus Kingpin- Portishus

Beneficience & Confidence- Stellar Mind

Awon & Phoniks- Nothing Less

Czarface & MF DOOM- Super What?

L'Orange & Nahmir Blade- Invisible Everything

DJ Muggs & Hologram- The American Dream

DJ Muggs & Crimeapple- Cartagena

DJ Muggs- Winter 2: Nightmare Before Christmas

DJ Muggs & Rome Streetz- Death & The Magician

Apathy- Where The River Meets The Sea

Ransom- Se7en EP

Dave East & Harry Fraud- Hoffa

Blu & Surplus- Starcastle EP

Ransom & big Ghost LTD- Heavy Is The Head

RJ Payne- Leatherface 3: There Will Be Blood

1982- The Summer EP

Vince Staples- Vince Staples

Injury Reserve- By The Time I Get To Phoenix

AZ- Doe Or Die 2

Dr. Dre- GTA: The Contract EP

Ka- A Martyr's Reward

Bobby Sessions- Manifest

Lewis Parker- Frequency Of Perception

Common- A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 2

GRIP- I Died For This?!

Damu The Fudgemunk- Conversation Peace

Blu- The Color Blu(e)

IAMGAWD- Hell's Angels & Heaven's Demons

Benji- Smile, You're Alive

Joell Ortiz- Autograph

Styles P & Havoc- Wreckage Manner

Styles P- Ghosting

Gowe- Jazznight

Knowledge The Pirate- Hidden Treasures

Remedy- Remedy Meets Wu-Tang

Talib Kweli & Diamond- Gotham

Eternia & Rel McCoy- FREE

Ty Farris- No Cosign, Just Cocaine 4

Your Old Droog- Space Bar

Rick Ross- Richer Than I Ever Been

Russ- Chomp 2

Arrested Development- For The FKN Love

D Smoke- War & Wonders

Abstract Mindstate- Dreams Still Inspire

The Musalini- No Squares In My Circle

Vinnie Paz- Burn Everything That Bears Your Name

Rome Streetz & AHNKLEJOHN- Genesis 1:27

Rome Streetz & Furutewave- Razor's Edge

Asun Eastwood & Finn- The S.O.U.L.

M.A.V. & Hobgoblin- Angels & Demonz 3

Wiki- Half God

JPEGMAFIA- LP!

OC From NC- The Black Phillip Tape

Lute- Gold Mouf

Da Butcher- Underground Crown

Pink Siifu- GUMBO

Dark Time Sunshine- LORE

McKinley Dixon- For My Mama & Anyone That Looks Like Her

Atmosphere- WORD?

Mick Jenkins- Elephant In The Room

Gift Of Gab- Finding Inspiration Somehow

Without question, this was a great year of hip-hop and one that should remembered among the very good years within this century.  Will 2022 repeat this same year's same success? Only time will tell.  With releases from the Griselda camp (most notably Conway's God Don't Make Mistakes and Benny's Tana Talk 4), Nas & hit-Boy's King's Disease 3, Redman, Earthgang, J.I.D., Saba, Megan, Method Man, Czarface, The Game, Flee Lord, Roc Marciano, Rapsody, the very highly anticipated return of Kendrick Lamar, and possibly a whole new Dr. Dre album, 2022 may easily have a crazy year within hip-hop just like we just saw in 2021.  Let us be confident that new career benchmarks will get reach, new standard bearers will be heard, and new artists will showcase their potential to be stars.  Will see you next year all! 

Happy 20th Anniversary: The Blueprint

 

What's happening kind folks! Moving on to our next twentieth anniversary salute is an album that has long been revered as one of hip-hop's most complete albums.  A star making album in every sense of the term, this album was a blistering reminder of this artist's stranglehold on the top of hip-hop seemingly at the time.  From the moment Prodigy and Nas were on blast on that Hot 97 Summer Jam screen, the first shot was let off and what came was an album that was the most polished and cohesive of his career.  Ladies and gentlemen, we salute Jay-Z and his fifth album, The Blueprint.  

Many hardcore Jay enthusiasts are quick to state (and rightfully so) that his debut, Reasonable Doubt, is his true magnum opus.  Much like Nas with Illmatic, Reasonable Doubt was, in fact, a moment in time for Hov.  There's no one hundred percent guarantee an artist can reach levels that are that high in terms of critical and street appeal.  However, an artist can move forward and strive to make another high level of classic acclaim for another effort.  Nas did it with Stillmatic, It Was Written and his latest amazing effort Kings Disease 2.  With Jay, it was arguably Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life, his third album that sold over four million units at the time.  Then, he dropped one of hip-hop's most scathing disses in "The Takeover", and it set the stage for album number five, The Blueprint.  At best, every single cut on the album is a hit. A certifiable hit.  You've more than likely heard every cut on the radio at some point before and after its release.  Each cut reflected where Jay's status was at the time.  There were no street tales of hustling and surviving.  This was more or less a celebration of his status as hip-hop's biggest deal.  

While Reasonable Doubt was very street-laced, this was absolutely for the radio and clubs, with topics that were moreso about his luxurious lifestyle, the hate he received, and just enjoying life.  Obviously, "Takeover" set the tone, but once his official first single, "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" made it on to the airwaves, it was clear he was beating his chest as the biggest star in the game, but other cuts like "Girls, Girls, Girls", "Jigga That Nigga", and "Hola Hovito" were as perfect for Jay as any cut we've ever heard from him. The Just Blaze-scorcher "U don't Know" could've likely fit in on Reasonable Doubt, as it's among the hardest cuts Jay has ever presented to this very day.  However, the second half of the album is a bit more reflective.  "Ain't No Love" addresses hate and jealousy he's experienced on his way to the top.  Meanwhile, the title track is arguably the cut with the most feeling, as he reminisces about his youth all the way to his stardom saluting everyone from his mother to his brother to Jaz-O.  Over a hypnotic Blaze beat, he goes deeper than the majority of this album, however "Song Cry" goes even deeper with "Song Cry", as the wailing sample of this cut makes this song bring more of a melancholy vibe to it as Jay reflects on regrets and homies he misses. Among the most introspective cuts of his career.  We move on to the much talked about "Renegade", where Nas so eloquently stated that "Eminem murdered him on his own shit" on his retaliation cut "ether".  Jay did indeed get outshined by a red hot Eminem, but was still an impactful cut during this era.  

With other cuts like "The Ruler's Back", "Never Change", and "All I Need", this was the complete Jay-Z album. This incorporated everything that made Jay what he was in 2001.  The streets of Reasonable Doubt, the commercialism of In My Lifetime Vol. 1, and the crossover appeal of Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life were all represented here and then some.  He was at the top of his game lyrically and stylistically.  The board work Kanye and Just Blaze did here was nearly perfect, especially for Jay.  Likewise, Bink, Timbaland and Trackmasters (whatever happened to them?) provided bumping boardwork for Jay to deliver over.  

While his later discography had its share of highs (American Gangster, 4:44, The Black Album) and Lows (Blueprint 2, Blueprint 3, Magna Carta Holy Grail, Kingdom Come), The Blueprint remains his all-around triumph and definitive statement that showed he was arguably the biggest star in hip-hop even in the midst of highly in-demand artists such as Eminem, DMX (R.I.P.), Nas, Snoop Dogg.  His debut may still be considered by many as his absolute classic work, The Blueprint showed him transitioning fully from the streets to the mansion without forgetting who he was or where he came from.  He may had been playing golf more than hustling, but he worked very hard to better himself and his family through The Blueprint. While he was at times he was an instigator and wanted to assert his status as the big dog in pretty eye-browsing ways, as a whole, if there was an album that perfectly represented who Shawn Carter was and who he was becoming, this is that album.  It's clear that The Blueprint foreshadowed his distinction being among the true GOATs of hip-hop.  Did we mention this album got inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as well? Well, if you know about all the historic recordings and albums that dwell in the NRR (Illmatic, To Pimp A Butterfly, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Purple Rain, Raising Hell, Straight Outta Compton, and The Chronic among others).  To this, we salute Jay-Z's enormous triumph, The Blueprint, and its twentieth anniversary.  Until next time!

Happy 20th Anniversary Salute: Life Story

What's good kind people?!  This next twentieth anniversary salute is for a Brooklyn emcee that caught the eyes and ears of the one and only Puff Daddy and Bad Boy Records.  When Biggie died, there was a massive hole in Bad Boy over who would be the next star.  After debuting on Puff Daddy's incredible debut album, No Way out, eyes were starting to get on him from the fans and critics as well.  Before too long, he was on other efforts from the likes of Faith, 112, Tony Touch, Mase, and the much shamefully forgotten about group, Cru.  In 2000, he finally dropped his anthemic single, "Whoa", to massive praise.  Eventually selling over a million units of his debut album.  The gruffled-voiced emcee had arrived and we were all on notice.  This salute goes to Black Rob and his debut album, Life Story.

While "Whoa" definitely got the club and streets ready, this was far from his only banger on here.  He did have his share of radio-accessible cuts such as "Espacio", "Spanish Fly" with J-Lo and "PD World Tour", but he also had smokers that the streets would deeply appreciate, such as the previously heard cuts of "I Dare You", the cinematic "I Love You Baby", and "You Don't Know Me", as well as the Lox-assisted "Can I Live" and the reworking of Slick Rick's "Children's Story", "Thug Story".  Rob's nasal-yet-gruff voiced delivery is standout on the entire album, as well as his pen game with his more vivid cuts like the aforementioned "I Love You baby" and the intriguing "Jasmine". On "I Love You Baby", he details a conniving woman who shows her hand as a double crosser, while he switches it up on "Spanish Fly" and professes his love for a Hispanic woman.  His narratives may not be ground-breaking or incredibly complex, but they also fit him comfortably, and that's just fine.

This is a Bad Boy release, which means this will have several cuts on here at least for almost immediate accessibility, unlike the momentous landmark that was Ready To Die.  Rob showed potential all through this album and made himself a star here.  It wasn't an overtly commercial release like albums under Bad Boy at that time such as No Way Out, Harlem World or The Lox's debut, Money, Power, & Respect.  This was more street than any of  them, but he still knew the importance of gaining big audiences in order to achieve stardom.  This definitely sounded authentic, and for the Bad Boy narrative.  While his sophomore album, The Black Rob Report, was almost as much of a hard hitter, even without proper marketing which led to it being very highly slept on,, along with later albums Game Tested, Streets Approved and Genuine Article, this remains his best work and a definite showing of his talent.  At a time where they needed the next big breakout star that was street authenticated, Black Rob came along at the right time.  With Life Story, Robert Ross became somebody we needed to keep our eyes on, and the album was a reflection of that.  We toast to Black Rob and Life Story.  Until next time!

Happy 20th Anniversary: Disposable Arts

 What's happening folks! This anniversary salute big ups an album that's considered an underground masterpiece.  The curator of this album is an over thirty year emcee who's been considered among the most influential emcees out in the game.  Always seeking ways to innovate and come up concept to illustrate his points and narratives, this former Juice Crew member delivered an album that highlighted a young man that just got out of prison and realizes how bad his burrough of Brooklyn has become so he enrolls into the fictional School of the Disposable Arts hoping to make a better way of life than what he's been exposed to once he got out.  Highly regarded as arguably the album of his career on a critical level, the artist went from previous efforts such as Take A Look Around, Sittin' On Chrome, and Slaughtahouse, and constructed an EXCELLENT album.  This is a look at Masta Ace and his album, Disposable Arts.

While gaining notoriety for his aforementioned albums, he knew after being out of the game for about six years he needed to reinvent with a whole new focus for an album.  Therefore, he presented Disposable Arts.  Similar to albums such as A Prince Among Thieves or Deltron 3030, this is an album that, although have a solid collection of cuts, the album makes sense listening to it from top to bottom.  From the moment his character is let out of jail, he's reminded of what put him in in the first place with the moody and somber  collab with "Block Episode".  From there, he explains his need to have a better life off the streets to girlfriend Lisa (played by seemingly forgotten about emcee Jane Doe), which leads to one of the more bumping cuts on the effort, the Ayatollah-crafted "Hold U" featuring the legendary Jean Grae.  He later meets up with his awkward yet interesting roommate (played by the infamous MC Paul Barman) in which he verbally walks his roomie through Brooklyn on "Take A Walk".  May we just add, those bars by Barman ranged from cringe-worthy to hilarious during this skit.

Getting adjusted to this new way of life for "Ace" as his roommate Paul (Barman) is very reminiscent of White Mike from The Wayans Bros. Paul helps him out with his classes and gives him the scoop on what to expect from these classes, which leads into one of the most underrated diss cuts you'll ever find in his scathing scorching of forgotten about underground emcee Boogieman and the almost forgotten-about High & The Mighty, "Acknowledge".  Suffice it to say, we heard little to nothing else from either of these acts after this cut was heard.  From there, the narrative wraps up with arguably one of his best cuts in his career, "No Regrets", a reflective look back at his career over a hypnotic beat provided by Domingo.  

Other strong cuts like "Unfriendly Game", "Dear Yvette", and "Dear Diary" help round out a release that highlights how important Masta Ace to hip-hop.  He took a fairly average concept of an ex-con finding his way back into society and wanting to get off the same streets that made him one in the first place, and some very dope hip-hop to it with an assorted cast of characters to help tell his story.  Everyone on this project delivered effectively while not overshadowing Ace and the production for the most part was very suitable to each story being told.  Ace sounded like he had the same hunger from his Juice Crew days and from the rather poignant album cover of him sitting in a driver's seat with no car, it was apparent this album would be the opposite of Sittin' On Chrome in practically every way.

Later releases such as the "prequel" to this one, A Long Hot Summer, the excellent collab effort with the late MF DOOM, MA DOOM: Son Of Yvonne, his quite dope group album with Strick, Punchline and Wordsworth as eMC, The Show, The Falling Season and the knocking AF effort with producer Marco Polo, A Breukelen Story, show that Masta Ace is one of hip-hop's most respected and acclaimed emcees and it's like the fine wine theory, Ace would just get better with age.  With Disposable Arts, this marked a whole new benchmark for the veteran emcee and still stands as his absolute magnum opus.  This goes out to Masta Ace and we lift our proverbial glasses to Disposable Arts. Until next time folks!

Happy 20th Anniversary: The Best Part

 

What's going on folks?! This anniversary salute goes to an emcee that, although gets tons of love within the independent/underground world of hip-hop, most mainstream accessible fans never heard of him.  Although there's a chance you may have if you ever went to a show that he was deejaying at.  This former school teacher delivered a couple of singles and before long the buzz was about this emcee and the amount of writing abilities he had.  Sadly, as the album was finished, label problems continuously plagued this dude with good delivery and an even better pen game.  It wasn't until numerous bootlegs and internet leaks when people took notice and realized they were hearing a pure, unadulterated hip-hop album complete with a tried and true formula: bumping yet consistent production and gifted rhymes and focused rhyme structure.  This album had it, and it had it in spades.  Not a single moment was wasted on this album and made this emcee, once people finally heard it, among those to really keep their eyes and ears on.  Ladies and gentlemen, this is J-Live and his debut album, The Best Part.

After graduating SUNY, he transitioned into school teaching in Brooklyn. Nobody knew at the time that the man born as Jean-Jacques Cadet (later renamed Justice Allah due to his affiliation with the Nation of the Gods & The Earth) was a hip-hop student himself.  Writing and hitting up talent shows while also deejaying, Cadet presented a cut called "Longevity" with a stunning B-side called "Bragging Writes" that got the NY underground scene talking.  Before very long, his debut, The Best Part, was ready to go.  As was mentioned earlier, label problems shelved the album a couple of times and we never thought we would be able to bask in the glory that was this album, especially when the word got out that production monsters such as Preemo, Pete Rock, 88 Keyz, Prince Paul, and the Jigmastas' own DJ Spinna would handle the sounds of the effort.  Originally scheduled to be released in '97, this was not the only album at that time that had been shelved due to numerous label situations as another unforgettable debut experienced the same situation with Large Professor's THE LP was another victim at this time.  Shame it didn't come out when it was supposed to because this would've been a gem among a time when commercialism was still in effect but crunk was starting to become the norm as well.

From the jumpoff, Live sets the tone with a lyrical smorgasbord on "Got What It Takes", then follows on the intriguing "Vampire Hunter", the KNOCKING Preemo-powered title track, and "Wax Paper" that all show his lyrical dexterities over slapping production. On "Yes", he laments "You don't want my fist in your trap, shut your mouth/I heard you got a jones for keeping up with the Joneses/only problem is all your jones is wack".  There's also the next track the standout "Them That's Not", in which the tempo starts slow then increasingly speeds up until the track is at a normal mid-tempo and then slows up like it was at the beginning of the track.  Unique cut with Live definitely riding the track.  Another cold cut is the jazzy and mellow "Timeless", in which he gets reflective while spitting intelligent rhymes and showcasing his ability to teach and learn at the same time.

J-Live has always been one of the unsung heroes in the game and one that doesn't get enough credit for his pure hip-hop aesthetic and him never compromising.  Many wanted him to join the red hot underground movement that was Rawkus Records at the time, and yes folks, he would've fit in VERY comfortably with all that superb talent associated with the label.  Could you imagine him doing a cut with Last Emperor or Black Star at that time? Wow.  This album, with other stellar cuts like "R.A.G.E.", "Play", and "Get The Third", remains an emcee's emcee's album.

After The Best Part, he followed it up with an equally fantastic (in some circles even better) album with All Of The Above in '02 along with others like Then What Happened, the decent The Hear After, S.P.I.T. and other efforts since.  As an entire complete album, there aren't too many that can hold this album out of position of being one of the best pound for pound albums during that time period.  It had consistently dope production, dumb lyrical, good concepts, and a great feeling of just being a lover of good old fashioned hip-hop.  With that, we lift our glasses to J-Live's The Best Part.  Salute to this incredible piece of work.  Until next time y'all!