2018 was a great year for music, especially Hip-Hop. The music that came out this year really reminded me why I love rap. The creativity, the independence, the flair. Picking 10 of the best albums of the year was going to be a hard job to pull-off.
CashColorCannabis and Music2Smoke2 attepted to do it. Since November, we downloaded all the top albums of the year and gave each a solid listen. After hours of streaming, this is the top 10 that we came up with.
10. Lil Baby & Gunna Drip Harder
Two of the hottest artists coming out of Atlanta right now joined forces for a joint album. Lil Baby and Gunna’s highly anticipated joint project Drip Harder hit the streets. Powered by the hit single “Drip Too Hard”, the 13-track mixtape had some lofty expectations when it was first announced. While the album did live up to most expectations, the collab still felt a little disjointed. At times you feel like it’s a Lil Baby album that features Gunna, others times it feels like a Gunna album featuring Baby. Even with that flaw, it still was strong enough to become one of the 10 best albums of the year.
9. Jay Rock, Redemption
How great was it to see Jay Rock win this year! One of the longest tenured members of the T.D.E. family, Jay Rock has often played the sidelines to his more popular labelmates. After the release of his slept-on 90059 project, it was hard to see Jay moving out the shadows of Kendrick Lamar and ScHoolboy Q.
Then came “Win”.
The Boi-1-da produced track became an instant commerical hit and pumped up the hype for Redemption that much more. A solid project all around, Jay Rock showed off awesome lyricisim and personality to this album. Tracks like “King’s Dead” “Wow” freestyle featuring Kendrick and the J.Cole assisted “OSOM” showed that Jay was more than just one hit. Even though that one-hit would be enough for most.
8. Lil Wayne Carter V
2018 saw the end of Lil Wayne’s musical purgatory. His lenghty lawsuit against his former label head Bryan “Baby” Williams, Wayne was finally able to give fans the fifth installment in his Carter series. Sitting in the vault for a few years, many wondered if Wayne had what it takes to survive in today’s rap world.
Well, Wayne did enough to show that he didnt’t go dull during his hiatus. Powered by the lead single, “Uproar” Waynes album flew up the charts when it hit the streets. Wayne showed that he can run with the legends (“Dope Niggas” featuring Snoop Dogg), newer acts (“Dont Cry” featuring XXXTENTACION, “What About Me” featuring Sosamann) as well as the newest kings of rap, (“Let If Fly” featuring Travis Scott, “Mona Lisa” featuring Kendrick Lamar). While CV wasn’t one of th best albums of Wayne’s career, it certainly was one of the years best.
7. Meek Mill, Championships
When Meek Mill excited prison this last time, the music world felt like we got a new person. The braggadocious emcee was in the running for being one of the loudest in the game. But this recent prison stint created a new Meek Mill. We all got a chance to hear this new version of Meek on Championships.
Meek gave us everything we could expect on this album. Need club hits (“On Me” featruing Cardi B, “Splash Warning” featruing Future, Young Thug and Roddy Rich, “Going Bad” featruing Drake), he got them. Need radio-friendly records (“Dangergous” PnB Rock & Jeremih) had those too. It was a record like “What’s Free” featuring Rick Ross and JAY Z that made people look at Meek different. This is most well-rounded project Meek has put out in his career. While throwaways like the Ella Mai assisted “24/7” and “Uptown Vibes” featruing Fabolous are present, that doesn’t take the shine off this masterpiece.
6. YG Stay Dangerous
Hip-Hop’s favorite Blood delivered another amazing LP with this years Stay Dangerous.
Powered by the all-star banger “Big Bank”, Stay Dangerous became Y.G.’s third Billboard Top 5 album.
The thing that makes Y.G. great is his ability appeal to a mainstream audience, while staying true to the fans who have loved him since mixtape days
Stay Dangerous might be the perfect exapmle of that balance.
While “Big Bank” was good to the radio, it would be records like “Bullet Proof ft. Jay 305, “Band Drum” featuring A$AP Rocky and “Too Brazy” featuring Mozz that would resonate with fans who have been with him since Just Re’Upd.
Overall, Stay Dangerous is a very West Coast album that can get run anywhere. Maybe Y.G. is, “The most boolest man in the world.”
5. The Carters, EVERYTHING IS LOVE
JAY Z and Beyonce (or Beyone and her husband, depending on who you are a fan of) surprised the world when they released their joint album virutally out the blue.
The album came out while the two we’re on the road for OTRII.
9-tracks, EVERYTHING IS LOVE was right on time. Released this past summer, the album came right when peopl needed a jolt of new enegry.
The album was a good representation of two amazing acts and did a good job of showcasing what each artist does best. “Ape Shit” “Friends” “Black Experience” allowed for Beyonce to flex her creativity and vocal range. While “Nice” “Boss” and “713” allows JAY Z to be the supreme story-teller that he is. Neither act was really overshadowed on this album. Minus these other 4 albums, EVERYTHING IS LOVE might have been the best album of the year.
4. J. Cole K.O.D.
Jermaine Cole has a kncak for delivering an album right when it was needed. And after Drake took over the airwaves with Scorpion, many were ready to get back hearing some thing with a little more substance and a lot less singing. In comes K.O.D.
His 4th album to go #1, Cole coninuted his reign as the anti-pop star. The album artwork alone was enough to stir the pot at the time. It was the music that real conversation. Cole takes on love and infidelity with “Kevin’s Heart”, drug abuse with “K.O.D.” and materialism with “ATM”. It was the controversial “1985 (Intro to the falloff)” that showed us a new side of J. Cole.
A very methodical diss record, many were left wondering if he was targeting new school acts Lil Pump and Smoke Purrp. An amazing album overall, in another world, like EVERYTHING IS LOVE, K.O.D. would be number 1. But…
Cardi B. Invasion of Privacy
When “Bodak Yellow” took off and reached the top of the charts, most people were ready to tab the former social media star-turned-reality show darling Cardi B would e a one-hit wonder. So when her album, Invasion of Privacy hit earlier this year, many listened and hoped for flop. We were wrong.
Invasion of Privacy was from beginning to end, a really well produced project. “Drip” feauring The Migos, “Bartier Card” with 21 Savage and “BE Careful” followed the path of her first hit. “I like It” featruing J Blavin and Bad Bunny “Ring” featruing Khelani and “Best Life” featuring Chance the Rapper. Despite rumors about who wrote what, Cardi held her own throughout her star-studded debut. There is really nothing bad you can say about her album. You might not like her or her relationship, but her album is a different story.
Pusha T Daytona
Towards the end of the summer, Kanye announced that several new albums would be released from the G.O.O.D. music camp. The first album to kick-off Yeezy season was from lable president Pusha T.
Daytona has an argument to be one of the better albums in the last few years. From beginning to end, Pusha T gave us his best lyrical display possible! And that says alot. “If You Know You Know” “Come Back Baby” “The Games We Play” give us the usual Pusha T dope boy raps. When coupled with some of the best production that weve heard in a while from Kanye, then the pieces of a masterpiece beging to fall in to place. It was “Infared” that set the pace for a beef with Drake that would eventaully engulf Kanye West and child the world didn’t know existed. That song will find itself on the list of “best diss records ever.” 7-tracsk deep, Dayton is almost perfect. In a perfect world, it would be best album of the year. But, then this album was released.
Nipsey Hussle Victory Lap
An album that couldn’t have been named better. Nipsey Hussle’s Victory Lap was just that! Nip was able to circle around the track victorious after his long-awaited album finally hit streaming platforms. Nip has been teasing the release of the album for years now. It was early this year when we finally got to experience what he’s been working on for sometime.
Executive produced by Diddy, the album plays like a movie. Tracks like “Victory Lap” “rap Niggas” and “Last Time That I Checc’d” “Hustle & Motivate” set-up the story of of young man trying to make it out the streets of Los Angeles. Tracks like “Make A Million While You Young” “Young Nigga” and “Double Up” introduces us to man transitioning into a business man. Overall, Victory Lap is a hour long motivational speech that deserves a round of applause at the end.
