52 Album Project: Kickoff
Hi everyone! Thanks for checking out this personal project of mine for 2020. This year I will be listening to one album each week; starting on Monday and ending on Sunday. Each album will get at least two full listens: one from start to end with no interruptions and another listen through with a focus on understanding and appreciating the lyrical content. I will be writing these short blog entries as a way to document my thoughts and reflection on each album.
This project was inspired by Dissect, a fantastic podcast that breaks down a single album, gives it context, and explores the meaning behind the songs. I recently listened to Season Two on a road trip and it gave me a whole new appreciation for the album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and greater empathy for Kanye West as the complex, controversial, and gifted artist that he is. I highly recommend checking out this podcast, and I’m excited to listen two the other seasons after giving their focus albums the proper listening myself this year.
A couple of stipulations as I start on this journey. First, I am not a musician or a music critic at all, nor am I claiming to be one. I just really love music and wanted to document my appreciation of these albums. I am not a particularly spiritual individual in my personal life. Instead of finding philosophical guidance in religion or spirituality, I’ve often found myself guided and inspired by the creativity of my favorite artists. Secondly, this project is intended as a personal documentation. If you enjoy reading about my thoughts then that’s awesome! But I really want this to be something for myself, a place where I can take the time to intentionally appreciate some fantastic art and document my own reflections.
With all that being said here is the list of the albums I’ll be diving into this year, in no particular order. 50 of the albums have been selected already, 2 will be chosen from albums released in 2020 (J. Cole’s The Fall Off is all but guaranteed to be one of these). Some are personal favorites of mine, some I’ve listened to before but want to explore more deeply, and some I have yet to listen to. Some technically aren’t even albums but rather live performances, mixtapes, or collections. It took quite a long time to narrow this down to 50 for this year, maybe a sign that I’ll need to do this again in 2021. I’m super excited about the variety and am looking forward to listening to all these great works!
-Lucas
- Me Against the World 2Pac
- Ready to Die The Notorious B.I.G
- Straight Outta Compton N.W.A.
- Revenge of the Dreamers III Various Artists
- The Blueprint JAY-Z
- Lemonade Beyoncé
- The Human Condition Jon Bellion
- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) Wu-Tang Clan
- Doggystyle Snoop Dogg
- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Kanye West
- Tha Carter III Lil Wayne
- A Real Good Kid Mike Posner
- Illmatic Nas
- Queen Nicki Minaj
- Room 25 Noname
- Chasing Summer SiR
- Saturation III Brockhampton
- Unforgettable Nat King Cole
- The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Lauryn Hill
- blackie: a story by roy kinsey Roy Kinsey
- The Chronic Dr. Dre
- Malibu Anderson .Paak
- Black Panther: The Album Various Artists
- Neotheater AJR
- DAMN. Kendrick Lamar
- To Pimp a Butterfly Kendrick Lamar
- Blonde Frank Ocean
- Channel Orange Frank Ocean
- Flower Boy Tyler, the Creator
- The Marshall Mathers LP Eminem
- Acid Rap Chance the Rapper
- Fotografia de um Instante Vol. 1 & 2 Haikaiss
- In the Wee Small Hours Frank Sinatra
- Innocent Age Dan Fogelberg
- Vessel twenty one pilots
- Things Fall Apart The Roots
- Gang Signs & Prayer Stormzy
- One More Light Live Linkin Park
- 4 Your Eyez Only J.Cole
- Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’ Kid Cudi
- Wins and Losses Meek Mill
- Energía J Balvin
- Swimming Mac Miller
- Drogas Wave Lupe Fiasco
- Be Common
- Summertime ’06 Vince Staples
- Blckswn Smino
- Care for Me Saba
- Live at the Apollo James Brown
- Montevello Sam Hunt
