Pablo’s Brazy Tribe: My Top 25 Hip-Hop Albums of 2016
Somebody, anybody: Which week in 2016 didn’t include at least one new something that you wanted to listen to?
I’m fairly certain it didn’t happen, but feel free to let me know if I’m wrong. As I recall it, there was always a TDE project, a Planet Asia album or another Gucci Mane mixtape to absorb.
Damn, I think Curren$y just dropped something during that last sentence.
Music descended upon us from every angle as rappers and their teams got better at timing and priming their material for streaming releases. The fight for device and cloud space was very real, so attempting to rank all of this was never going to easy. Amazing acts were always going to be left out.
I really tried to make it easier. I removed several brilliant releases that weren’t all the way Hip-Hop. Shout out to Anderson .Paak, Kaytranada, Donald Glover, Phonte, Eric Roberson and, obviously, Solange. But no, that wasn’t enough.
I even cut things off after the first week of December so that many of the year’s great albums wouldn’t have to compete with J. Cole, Run the Jewels or The Lox. I also didn’t even put any Curren$y on this list because his output is in a different category.
Still, none of that helped. There was just too much quantity and quality. That’s in addition to a few important questions I grappled with. For instance, can my conscience actually allow me to rank a Young Thug project (or two or even three???!) ahead of an album as important as Black America Again?
Do legends with three-decade careers automatically get preferential treatment over exciting upstarts? If I’m not including the aforementioned Glover and Solange, does it really make sense to include an album with “One Dance,” “Controlla” and “Hotline Bling?”
I’m honestly not even sure about what I should be sure about at this point. Just know that this list does not seek to be all-encompassing.
That would be dumb.
I didn’t listen to every Hip-Hop album released in 2016. You didn’t either. These are merely the ones I enjoyed most.
I’ve always been that dude whose playlists go from Brand Nubian to Migos to MF Doom to E-40, and this list is really no different. Happy 2017, ya’ll.
25.) Gucci Mane — Everybody Looking
Brrr! The year got icier and better when Gucci Mane was finally released from prison this summer and promptly dropped an album of all-new material. It would be the first of an astounding three releases in six months, and clearly the best of the bunch.
No, it’s not The Movie-Wilt Chamberlain-”Bricks”-era Gucci, but this is better in one very noticeable way — you’ve never heard Gucci Mane this sober or cogent.
The self-serving fan in me won’t say that I prefer sober Gucci, but I definitely appreciate and applaud his life without lean and kush.
This change in lifestyle led to a slimmer, smilier Guwop, who would eventually propose to his woman at an Atlanta Hawks game. It also pushed him to sound as determined as ever on the triumphant “First Day Out The Feds.”
It’s a celebration of freedom and growth with Drake, Young Thug, Kanye West along for the ride. His favorite producers, Zaytoven and Mike Will Made It, steer the project with a soundbed that draws upon classic Gucci but also looks toward what should be a new, fruitful future.
24.) Isaiah Rashad — The Sun’s Tirade
While the previous entry saw an MC thriving and smiling through sobriety, The Sun’s Tirade stars one still trying to beat addiction.
Isaiah Rashad’s second project is an audio rehab session detailing the drugs and depression that nearly led to him getting dropped from Top Dawg Entertainment.
“I hit a wall. Ouch.”
He drops that telling bit on “Dressed Like Rappers.” The production on songs like “Stuck in the Mud” and “A Lot” feels like GKMC-era Kendrick, which is to say that it’s equal parts classic TDE and mid-’90s Ummah-inspired. No Limit and Project Pat references are all over the Chattanooga, TN native’s album, ingratiating him with classic Southern Hip-Hop listeners.
We also get a Kendrick Lamar verse on “Wat’s Wrong,” which is basically K Dot toying with the rap game like he normally does.
The album is a tough listen at times, but it’s promising to know that Rashad dropped this album with his back against the wall. The ultimatum from TDE co-president Dave Free on the album’s intro was real, and Zay delivered. Let’s hope there’s even more to come.
23.) REKS — The Greatest X
I’m an album guy, through and through. A sucker for concepts, risk-takers and surprises. A double album gives an artist more than enough space for all of that, so I’m a little easier on double albums than most of you who prefer a leaner product.
REKS dropped a 35-track time commitment with The Greatest X, but it’s full of gems from Nottz, Large Professor, Buckwild, Apollo Brown and, of course, fellow Massachusettsan Statik Selektah.
The brilliant thing about this album isn’t that it features those producers. It’s that some of them get their own two-track section to shine. Apollo, for example, brings his signature vinyl crackles to “H.I.P.H.O.P.” and the inspirational and instructional ode to young Black men, “Future Kings.”
REKS’ 10th album also invests in the scratch, extending invitations to 7L, DJ Kerosene and others throughout the album.
REKS uses more than two hours to touch on everything from police brutality to realizing (and not caring) that “they don’t want that boom-bap shit no more.”
Me? I’m not good with “they.” Please make another 10 albums, REKS.
22.) Havoc & The Alchemist — The Silent Partner
This album is a Hip-Hop nerd’s dream — it’s Havoc of Mobb Deep saying some not very nerdy things over chilling Alchemist production. We love the mere idea of collaboration albums between our favorite legends, but it’s special when the involved parties are both iconic producers with actual chemistry.
For my money (which isn’t much), The Alchemist is the most plug-and-playable producer in all of the genre. There are plenty that can make hits for a variety of spitters, but ALC is the only beatmaker you know that goes EP and album mode with a different act at least three times per year. He did it twice with Prodigy, so it’s no surprise that Alchemist is the first producer other than Havoc himself to create a full-length soundscape for both QB vets.
The Silent Partner is a vexed, yet triumphant, collection that leaves little to the imagination. “Impose My Will,” “Maintain (Fuck How You Feel),” and “Seize Power” all sound (and have titles that read) like Havoc has been wronged or is out for a sizable amount of revenge. They also display the straight-forward and confident bars you’ve come to love from Mobb Deep and Havoc for more than two decades.
21.) Dave East — Kairi Chanel
I’ve marveled at how much quality, diverse Hip-Hop came out of Los Angeles in the last couple years, but now I’m saying that about Harlem.
While A$AP Mob is the area’s supercrew, Smoke DZA is the workhorse and Cam’ron is the OG, Dave East is Harlem’s best up-and-comer.
He shreds traditional, trap and R&B-inspired cuts with equal venom. His storytelling on “Kiesha” is like a 2016 take on Mobb Deep’s “Trife Life” series.
With “Type of Time,” Cardo gives East some of his slickest work that I’m sure Wiz and Curren$y would have loved for any of their projects.
Dave seems as comfortable around heavyweights as any young MC in the game today. Whether he’s going bar for bar with The Game on “Bad Boy on Death Row” or updating “SDE” with Cam, no task is too tall for the hooper-turned-rapper.
20.) A$AP Ferg — Always Strive and Prosper
Harlem again and again. I decided to include Ferg’s album instead of A$AP Mob’s Cozy Tapes Vol. 1 mostly as a salute to his maturation. Trying to duplicate “Work” or “Shabba” probably would have been the safer play, but Ferg emerges from his comfort zone to discuss relationships, race and other topics you might not expect from him.
In less than an hour, Ferg gives Skrillex a try, furthers the Mob’s chemistry with Schoolboy Q and works in appearances from Missy Elliott, Chuck D. and Lil Uzi Vert like it’s nothing.
I’m rewarding audacity, yes, and I’ll probably do that a couple more times on this list. Now is a fine time to scrunch your face up in disbelief or whatever.
19.) Rapsody — Crown
If it took a guest appearance on a Kendrick Lamar album for the world to take notice of Rapsody, so be it. It’s most important that she is actually recognized for her mic prowess. That’ll continue to happen for the Roc Nation signee as long as she keeps dropping music like this 10-track EP.
Rap gets the best Ab-Soul performance that 2016 had to offer on “2 AM” and completely flips Desiigner’s “Timmy Turner” into the piano-and-violin laden “Tina Turner.” She satisfies the Hip-Hop head in us all by frequently breaking that track down into a familiar Public Enemy sample.
The other highlights are “#Goals,” which seeks to make sense out of one of the more annoying social media hashtags, and “Through With Him,” which is a scorching tale about confronting her man’s infidelity. The queen Rap is only improving. That’s a scary thought for scary times.
18.) De La Soul — … And the Anonymous Nobody
De La Soul easily funded an album on the Internet in 2015 and released it in 2016 — the year that your angry Facebook friend wants you to believe was ruined by mumble rap. This is literally the people’s album.
Many of those people probably didn’t anticipate De La rhyming alongside 2 Chainz on one of the standout tracks, “Whoodeeni,” but Dave and Posdunous did it, and it’s refreshing. Longtime collaborating producer Supa Dave West plays the drums on that one and several others, as part of the live instrumentation that permeates the album.
West’s drums are even crazier on “Property of Spitkicker.com,” which features Long Island rhyme kingpin Roc Marciano. His verse was one of the year’s best and all the more reason his next project is among the genre’s longest overdue:
“It’s a honor and a pleasure/Rappers is not try to see me like a diamond tester/I’m on the low, I’m like a silent investor/Well dressed, my suit and vest is never polyester (never)/Keep a shottie on the dresser/My queen look like a young Pepa up in the plum Kompresser.”
De La is as daring as ever, trying rock tracks like “CBGB’s” and an Usher feature on “Greyhounds.” The best of the bunch might be “Memory of … (US),” featuring Estelle and Pete Rock on the beat. It’s a we-gave-it-a-try breakup/divorce song that is both sad and incredible.
We talked a lot about 2016 being awful (because it was), but De La crowdfunding its way to a Grammy nomination damn near three decades after its debut is a victory that should never be forgotten. Ever.
17.) Masta Ace — The Falling Season
Name a more iconic concept-album creator. I’ll wait.
Yes, some have made better concept albums, but nobody does it more consistently than Masta Ace. Since the ’90s, each of his projects details a new cast of characters with their own hopes, fears, triumphs and failures.
This one follows Ace as a teenage New Yorker making his way through the maze of deciding which school to attend, playing football and crushing on the big booty captain of the cheerleading squad. “High School Shit” finds Ace and fellow Brooklyn spitter Torae literally battling over whose high school provides a better quality of life.
Ya’ll grades be the opposite of straight ‘A’s
The hallways full of conflicts and melees
Ace spews this to Torae before continuing to belittle Torae’s school for its downlow drug deals, ceiling asbestos and lead-paint levels. That’s not very nice, but it is very different than much of today’s content.
This book of an album concludes with the nearly eight-minute “Story of Me,” where Masta Ace reflects on the story he just told while pledging not to repeat the mistakes he made up to that point.
Of course, if you’re a fan of Ace albums, you know this isn’t the actual ending of the album. Like always, he gives us about four minutes of outtakes/bloopers, which are charming and humorous. Never change, Masta Ace.
16.) Drake — Views
This might be Drake’s worst album. But make no mistake, he’s in a league where that doesn’t impede his ability to still make some of the year’s best music.
He did that, whether you’re prepared to admit it or not. His ability to weave in between all facets of Hip-Hop, pop and R&B is otherworldly. The worst things fans can say about this album is that it’s disjointed or a bit long, but the quality leaves little room for question.
“Weston Road Flows” finds a slightly somber Drizzy reflecting on teenage shenanigans over a classic Mary J. Blige sample, while “Hype” rattles so hard that you give up on all your Drake jokes for at least a few minutes.
Speaking of bass, good Lord, “Faithful” with dvsn is a banger with a couple bars from the late Pimp C. The verse from Pimp seems a little out of place, but Chad Butler’s voice is always welcome.
“Child Play” finds Drake and 40 digging into their New Orleans bounce vault to sample Ha-Sizzle to a slowed pace for a track that was very deserving of the mini-movie treatment it received a couple months ago.
15.) Common — Black America Again
Aside from the title and concept, the fact that Kareem Riggins would be entirely producing Common’s latest album is what got me most excited.
Riggins had long been down with The Roots, J Dilla and Common, and he doesn’t disappoint here. The drums and horns on the tense “Home” sets the sonic pace for the album.
The title track is predictably a manifesto of where we are and how we got here as Black America, and there’s few MCs you’d rather have than Com delivering that message. From Trayvon to Flint, he hits most the notes you’d want included, with a refrain from Stevie Wonder to close things out. The old schooler in me still can’t get over how he interpolated MC Lyte’s “Shut the Eff Up!” for far more serious matters.
Hot damn, Black America again!
Think of Sandra Bland as I’m staring in the wind
The color of my skin, they comparing it to sin
The darker it gets, the less fairer it has been
Peep the excellent “Little Chicago Boys” that draws inspiration from Gospel like the 2016 music of fellow Chicagoans Chance the Rapper and Kanye West. The track also includes some words from Common’s late father Lonnie Lynn, who you’ve come to love if you’ve been listening to Common albums since the ’90s like me.
Also check for the extremely dope “The Day Women Took Over” featuring BJ the Chicago Kid. You’ll love the sunny vibe, but hate that we’re not living in the world Common is describing.
14.) Chance The Rapper — Coloring Book
This was an exciting Apple Music drop. I was well into that three-month trial by the time this was available for streaming. Yes, I enjoy flipping through CD credits and such, but there was something magical about this album suddenly appearing in an app as I ironed my clothes. The music wasn’t bad either.
“All We Got” with Kanye West and the Chicago Children’s Choir is the perfect follow-up to Chance’s career-highlight verse in Ye’s “Ultra Lightbeam.” The mixtape, album or whatever it is never loses its organs and prayers. You actually feel like somebody’s about to pass you the offering plate. This is a little bit true even on “No Problem,” when Chance raps alongside Lil’ Wayne and 2 Chainz about labels screwing him to the point of needing to call on some goons.
Amid all of the blessings going up, Chance does manage to take a “Smoke Break” with Future, throw a Chicago “Juke Jam” with Justin Bieber and ponder your feelings about “Mixtapes” with a couple of guys you really love to hate, Young Thug and Lil’ Yachty.
Amazingly, none of this sounds out of place with the hopeful and spiritual outlook of this project. Chance sounds every bit as happy as he appears to be on the cover, and we’re all thankful for that.
13.) DJ Khaled — Major 🔑
Riding a social media wave to an album release in 2016 isn’t at all innovative … unless your very presence helps said social media platform explode in the same year.
I wasn’t expecting much from this album as I watched Snapchat videos of Khaled screaming on his jet ski or saluting his lion statue on a daily basis.
Then, the album dropped and it was actually fire. Jay-Z and Future had the keys, Big Sean and Kendrick had the holy key, Drake interpolated Akinyele, J. Cole provided a dope interlude, and before you knew it, you realized Khaled hadn’t played himself at all.
And, oh yeah, there’s “Nas Album Done,” which features the best MC of all time teasing his next project while saluting Black entrepreneurship over a sample of one of your favorite Fugees tracks. I like that. I like that A LOT.
12.) Smoke DZA & Pete Rock — Don’t Smoke Rock
Pete Rock swears that Don’t Smoke Rock is more than a clever album title for he and Smoke DZA. He says it’s the name of their group — as in, this won’t be a one-off. That’s great news because DZA sounds comfortable over PR’s updated version of his Chocolate Boy Wonder sound.
Like his pals Wiz and Curren$y, Smoke DZA is a stoner that happens to be among the hardest workers in the genre. He knows his bars are fire and are followed by a cult of fans, but he always expresses his hunger for more.
Pete matches this intensity on the thrilling opener, “Limitless” with Dave East and later on “Last Name.” We get even more of the same on “Black Superhero Car” with Rick Ross, along with a request to exchange Eric Garner’s killers for Sean Price. Yeah, I’m good with that.
11.) Royce Da 5’9” — Layers
Layers is indeed one of the year’s best albums, but the most impressive part of it is the way it begins. Let’s walk through the riveting “Tabernacle,” which depicts the most memorable day of Ryan Daniel Montgomery’s life.
The first two verses provide some context. If you’re a new listener, you learn upfront that Royce has battled alcohol addiction and that he is also the son of an addict. He had three brothers and one sister, spent time listening to Redman and Heltah Skeltah and took a little bit of college before pursuing his career in Hip-Hop.
The day in question is in late December of 1997. Royce has a show that night, but long before he hits the stage he gets the call that his girlfriend is in labor. Royce is on the elevator headed to the ninth floor to see her, but the door opens on the fifth floor. He sees his uncle and entire family in tears. This is when he learns that his grandmother is fighting for her life after a car crash.
I’m trying to figure out why the Lord chose us
Or maybe chose me
To ride in this emotional roller coaster
My mama said, “the baby here yet?”
I said, “maybe”
She said, “maybe? Baby, go see”
I walk away feeling like a good father, the same time as a terrible son
He then goes to his gig, with plans in place to receive updates on his girlfriend, newborn and grandmother. He arrives and crushes his 10-minute performance, which was huge for Royce at that time. Before heading back to the hospital, Royce’s manager introduces him to Eminem because, of course, this is also the day when THAT happens.
Royce is forced to deal with more emotions upon his return to this hospital. His grandmother died before his arrival, but he got to hold his healthy baby boy.
I picked him up, looked in his eyes for the first time and just cried
Ain’t no denyin’ this is the power of God
I said, “I love you, Granny” and looked to the sky
Like even though he just got here, goodbye
So, yeah, that’s one hell of a way to open your album. There was honestly no way the rest of it was going to live up to the bar set by the first track, but the remainder is still excellent.
Royce’s career took a definitive leap two years ago with PRHYME, and there are more heights for Royce to reach, which is exciting for us to witness.
10.) The Game — 1992
You keep predicting Game’s fall off if you want to, but it’s not happening any time soon.
Following 2015’s Documentary 2 and Documentary 2.5, the excellent 1992 proves Game is on a career streak second only to his first two releases more than a decade ago. He set out to make a nostalgic album with throwback beats to complement his pre-teen observations about the LA riots and OJ trial.
Samples from Ice-T, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, The D.O.C., Marvin Gaye and Wu-Tang are spread across the album, but the 2016-est sounding song, “The Juice,” is my favorite. There, he gives recollections regarding his earlier career and how his mother, grandmother and even Eve knew he would be a legend. His last two years show that he’s not close to being done.
9.) Travis Scott — Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight
People never stop putting me on to new artists or, more importantly, ones that I’m sleeping on. I appreciate it, and actually kind of revel in the excitement of catching up to what others already knew. That happened last year with Travis Scott.
I previously enjoyed “3500” and “Antidote,” but had no real desire to dig deeper. But the excitement surrounding this project reminded me that Travis fathered much of the styles emerging from new artists in 2016, regardless how you feel about them. His combination of syrupy autotuned paranoia perfectly blends with an introspectiveness that reiterates why he made sense as a G.O.O.D. Music member and producer.
No, this isn’t like the music that came out of Houston 20 years ago, but that’s part of why I was loving this album during the year’s final quarter. Travis’ songwriting and double entendres on “Goosebumps” are infectious, and complemented by a fire Kendrick Lamar verse. Another highlight, “Sweet Sweet,” finds LaFlame having to distance himself from a woman he’s into that does a bit too much coke.
Guitars wail out of nowhere all over this album, and oh yeah, we get an Andre 3000 appearance and two great ones from Kid Cudi. It’s lit. Straight up. All of that.
8.) Schoolboy Q — Blank Face LP
Schoolboy Q weaves through the worlds of dark rider music, childhood memories and dancefloor G-Funk like the future legend he appears to be. This is easily his best release, with everybody from Metro Boomin to Alchemist pitching in a production for Q.
7.) Apollo Brown & Skyzoo — The Easy Truth
Skyzoo is and has been a great Brooklyn MC. He’s got the reflective storytelling of early Hov, a bit of Kane and Fabolous-type swagger and the overall affability of a young Mos Def. Give him an album full of Apollo Brown production, and the result is some of his best work.
“Jordans & a Gold Chain” and the Joell Ortiz-assisted “A Couple Dollars” pick up on the youthful, hood-dream sensibility of Sky’s last opus, Music for My Friends. “They Parked a Bentley on the Corner” boosts this vibe the best, vividly describing the wide eyes, dropped jaws and aspirations generated in his neighborhood whenever an NYC icon pulled up in a nice ride.
Meanwhile, “Visionary Riches” begins with what might be my favorite line of the year.
I sees you. Bet that I sees you
I swear I caught the vision when nobody believed you
Skyzoo sounds like the best friend you could ever have as he says this line, inspiring you to continue on with that vision despite whatever mistakes you’ve made along the way.
Royce da 5’9” and DJ Premier might have kicked off a golden era of MC-producer collaborations two years ago, but Skyzoo and Apollo more than keep it alive with a cohesive offering that will have you waiting impatiently for the next volume.
6.) Statik KXNG — Statik KXNG
There are various ways you can deal with garbage rappers, racism or any other frequent annoyances. On Statik KXNG, the artist formerly known as Crooked I provides a lot of sarcastic shrugs that are refreshing.
I heard about your drug dealin’ and all your turf wars
But never ‘bout Dylann Roof walkin’ through them church doors
Leavin’ nine on the church floor
These new slaves scared to make waves
I’m rappin’ on a surf board
Yet another producer-artist collaboration, this one is concise at just 10 tracks of Statik Selektah soul and crisp drums and just one guest appearance (Termanology).
KXNG Crooked is an engaging enough lyricist that you’re not interested in features. But we’re ALL interested in a sequel to this dope set.
5.) YG — Still Brazy
Credit to all three of you who had any idea that YG could create an album as good as or better than his debut without DJ Mustard. My Krazy Life showed how well the two worked together, but Still Brazy is more focused and polished than its predecessor.
“Who Shot Me” and “Still Brazy” illustrate the fear and trust issues YG is living with after getting shot in 2015. We also get a conscious side of YG on the closing trio of “FDT,” “Blacks & Browns” and “Police Get Away Wit Murder.”
Don’t even bother trying to count the years it’s been since you’ve heard G-Funk paranoia done this well. I don’t even have a number in mind, but it’s a brazy amount of years.
4.) Kanye West — The Life of Pablo
When I think of TLOP, I don’t think about the album’s various name changes, the delays or the “Famous” video, which featured naked celebrities, including Ye’s president-elect pal.
Nope. I just think of this Vine and how captivating it was for those of us who didn’t have Tidal.
This clip led to me spending an embarrassing amount of time on Instagram that February day looking for others like it. Ten-second clips of the much-anticipated album sufficed. It didn’t matter that none of the clothes seemed to be, um, my style. This was a moment for the culture. Can’t recall the last time a rapper held down the NBA’s premier venue for a listening party and fashion show as part of a game-changing deal with Adidas.
Kanye (before Kim was robbed and he stayed in the hospital), Cudi (before rehab), Travis Scott, Don C. and Pusha T being legit giddy as the intro to one of the most memorable songs of ’16 blared in Madison Square Garden is actually one of the most memorable moments of ‘16.
That song, of course, is “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1.” It begins with a quick clip of Chicago’s Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir’s similarly named song. It crescendos with the choir’s harmony before producer Metro Boomin’s impeccably placed drop (that originates from a 2015 Uncle Murda and Future track that was further popularized two months later by Drake and Future’s “Jumpman”) makes way for a signature chorus from Kid Cudi.
There’s SO much going on there, but so much of it works. Very well. And that’s how I’d describe The Life of Pablo. It’s truly the potpourri of Kanye’s career. Even if you don’t like the album, there is more than a little something for you if you ever liked Kanye West at any point of the last 13 years.
There’s not a single “Jesus Walks” fan that wouldn’t love “Ultralight Beam.” Do you spend your time whining in comment sections about missing College Dropout Kanye? Cool, here’s “30 Hours” and “No More Parties in L.A.,” which is really just Ye and Kendrick Lamar spazzing for six minutes over an instantly classic Madlib beat. Also, the album trolls you and your whining with the acapella, “I Love Kanye.”
Is Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam” your favorite song ever? Peep how Ye, Mike Dean and Swizz Beatz pay it tribute on the backend of “Famous.” Stadium-era Kanye? You might like “Highlights.” 808s-style Kanye? How about “Wolves?”
This is an album that literally has El Debarge, Young Thug, Havoc of Mobb Deep, Kirk Franklin, a Max B. voicemail and Andre 3000 singing backup.
It’s also an album that is partly based on the same ideal that made you love Kanye in the first place. As he told us in ’04, “[whether] you call him Kweli or ‘Kway-li,’ I put him on songs with Jay-Z.” Aside from everything else that Kanye is, he remains the master of curators. For all the complaining you do about his ego, he knows when it’s time to get the hell out of the way to let Chance rap, Kelly Price and The-Dream sing and Kirk Franklin pray.
SO much going on with this album, but so much of it works. Very well.
3.) Kendrick Lamar — untitled unmastered.
Yes, LeBron is powerful, but I still don’t buy the idea that he basically pushed a TDE button and, voila, we had an amazing album.
The songs on untitled unmastered are too damn good for me to believe that they wouldn’t have been released if it weren’t for Bron Bron. Too many many catchy hooks, too much thought, too much Kendrick for this to have remained under wraps.
You heard some of these on Kendrick’s late-night appearances, but having the chance to take them all in without having to pay attention to a set or trying to see who’s playing what instrument is great. There are only eight tracks, but they’re woven together in a jam-session style that is engaging and exciting.
“untitled 01 l 08.19.2014.” is revolt music over a beat that I could envision GZA, Raekwon and the Clan ripping to shreds two decades ago. Another standout is “untitled 05 l 09.21.2014,” where Dot, Punch and Jay Rock take on angst and anxiety over an infectious Sounwave production that is one of the better beats on any Kendrick album.
Kendrick and Cee-Lo make a beauty on “untitled 06 l 06.30.2014,” while “untitled 08 l 09.06.2014” finds its subjects pondering scams as part of the fight against classism.
There is also the three-part suite that is “untitled 07 l 2014–2016,” which includes a Jay Electronica diss produced by Swizz Beatz’ 5-year-old son, Egypt.
Of course, “untitled 07 l 2014–2016” is best known for its first part that has Kendrick discussing the joy found when you “levitate” without needing money, drugs, hate or sex. I still don’t believe LeBron truly called the shot on this album’s release, but it’s fairly obvious he loves it just as much as we do.
2.) Westside Gunn — FLYGOD
Up until Tribe month (November), this was my album of the year. I wasn’t debating it or discussing it. The Buffalo boys had done it.
Circumstances have since changed, but the greatness of this album isn’t among them. My fascination with Westside Gunn began like so many other listening experiences. Once enough people that I respect say, write or tweet about a project, I’ll give a shot.
I did so on a mid-March Saturday, after returning from an event. The first track, “Dunks,” played as I stopped for a late afternoon coffee that somehow didn’t get spat all over my dashboard. From the second the beat dropped, I knew this was a good decision.
WSG has a sound that is both fresh and familiar. Because his label Griselda’s in-house producer Daringer supplied a vintage ’90s NYC sound, I naturally scanned my mind for comparisons. The closest thing to WSG’s slightly nasal verbal spray is M.O.P.’s Lil’ Fame. His subject matter of the underworld and fast life that accompanies it is nothing new, but tinging it with the high-fashion aesthetics of Griselda’s other ventures is part of what makes FLYGOD such an exciting listen.
It’s somewhat like a mash-up of, say, Mobb Deep and ‘03-’04 peak Dipset.
The inclusion of Westside’s brother Conway, who is the better lyricist of the two, generated even more comparisons. That’s because the duo is immediately great. Westside brings the theatrics, while Conway is simply a bully equipped with far too many punchlines for you to compete.
You gotta admit, I’m that nigga
In the last two years, show me who did it bigger
Rockin’ furs for the winter
I might put Fox on like ’96 Jigga
After hearing their tracks together on this album, as well as on Hall & Nash and Griselda Ghost, it quickly became evident that:
- We had Erick and Parrish
- We had Raekwon and Ghostface
- We had Prodigy and Havoc
- We had Jadakiss and Styles
- NOW, we have Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine
Yes, we had plenty more duos, too, but the back and forth, finish-each-other’s-lines flow of these blood brothers reminds me of these four.
Back to Daringer. I know Primo, Buckwild, RZA and others have to be proud. He’s upholding that sound while adding a cold Buffalo edge, providing the soundtrack for streets you shouldn’t walk on at night. “Omar’s Coming” with Roc Marciano is just spooky with its evil guitar and tortoise-esque pace.
“Shower Shoe Lords” is dusty and grimy with guest Benny providing vivid and anxious rhymes about his dealings catching up with him:
It’s hard being a family man with interference/All those women and them trips to prison ending my marriage/I grew up with a few damn crooks that bake work up/Who used to have food-stamp books and case workers
Me? I’m way further, from a place you ain’t heard of/Where you get rich, die tryin’ and face murder/Where your best friend start to switch when the case surface/Where it’s hard to trust a man who ain’t nervous
I fell asleep with 50 grand in the locked department/That night, I had a dream like Dr. Martin.
In addition to Daringer, Statik Selektah, Alchemist and Apollo Brown also check in. Their presence, along with Roc Marciano, Your Old Droog, Action Bronson, Skyzoo and Danny Brown, shows that Westside Gunn and the Griselda family had already been embraced in Hip-Hop’s bicoastal, underground rat pack. Now, we get to hear the results of those bonds and what an empire on the rise sounds like.
FLYGOD is clearly only the beginning.
1.) A Tribe Called Quest — We Got It From Here … Thank You 4 Your Service
It’s time to go left and not right
Gotta get it together forever
Gotta get it together for brothers
Gotta get it together for sisters
For mothers and fathers and dead niggas
For non-conformists, one-hitter quitters
From Tyson types to Che figures
Let’s get it together, c’mon let’s make it!
That’s how the album of the year starts. Q-Tip and Phife simply stating a progressive refrain about inclusion in these tough times. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it’s both comforting and jarring to hear Phife in his element as soon as the album begins. To maybe not think about the health conditions that killed him too soon. To simply hear him doing what he did best.
I figured there was a chance that this would be Tribe’s year when Q-Tip posted his announcement that a new album would be coming, but I wasn’t sure. It had been 18 whole years. Phife died. Tip is a perfectionist. Ali Shaheed Muhammad was busy with Luke Cage. Jarobi was busy hosting taco Tuesdays. And #wellactually, none of that mattered whatsoever.
The questers delivered a classic work of art reflective of the times. It harkens on Tribe traditions when it needs to, but also embraces new ideas, sounds and artists.
It’s one big family affair, as the unit now officially includes Consequence and a rejuvenated Busta Rhymes. Your eyes bulge when the latter turns the clock back 25 years on “Mobius,” sounding like the ‘dungeon dragon’ we know him to be.
“We the People” is Tribe at its most politically charged in the nearly 30 years we’ve known them. Tip mocks white supremacists/exclusionists to perfection, saying things they probably have said, just not in the form of a song.
All you Black folks, you must go
All you Mexicans, you must go
And all you poor folks, you must go
Muslims and gays, boy, we hate your ways
So, all you bad folks, you must go
Another great thing about this is that he bluntly states a commonality between all these groups, one that should be actually be uniting them with many of the people telling them they “must go.”
When we get hungry, we eat the same fuckin’ food: the Ramen noodle.
Bars on police brutality, gentrification, a wicked metaphor for Hillary Clinton and a fierce beat combine to make this one of the songs of the year, even if you worried about being taken out of context if somebody heard you repeating its chorus.
“We the People” also produced this moment on network TV that nearly made me cry.
Something about the way they pointed at the banner of a young Phife as his vocals poured out… wow.
“Enough!!” lifts the popular guitar riff from “Bonita Applebum” (and later The Fugees’ “Killing Me Softly”), making for a sensual smash with true crossover potential. Speaking of guitars, Jack White is an unsung hero of this project. He particularly kills it on “Ego” and “Solid Wall of Sound,” which also includes Elton John on piano.
Yep, all kinds of stars past and present show up for what may (or may not?) be Tribe’s final send-off. Talib Kweli, Kanye, Anderson .Paak and Kendrick are all here, and we get the dream of a lifetime when Tip and Andre 3000 flip it back and forth, EPMD-style, on “Kids.”
Early on, people said this was the best Tribe album not named The Low End Theory or Midnight Marauders. After one listen, I laughed at that. Dozens more later, I’m a believer.
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