Dec 30, 2020 10 Albums thats stuck with me in 2020 Much to @icecube 's (understandable) bewilderment, I listen to a s--- ton of music. And 2020 was - by far - the year I listened to the most. The never-ending torrent of new music, coupled with working from home, has allowed me to discover countless new artists and I’ve found myself enjoying music I never thought I would. But at the end of the day - even with the constant influx - there’s some music that just sticks with you. There's plenty of HM's that could have made the list, and these may not be objectively the ‘best’ albums of the year, but these are the top 10 that stuck with me throughout the year, and are bound to stick with me for years to come. 10. J Hus - Big Conspiracy Despite my move to the UK in 2019, I’ve still never taken the time to delve into grime/UK hip hop scene as much as I’d like. I’ve enjoyed the occasional album or single from Stormzy, Skepta, Wiley, etc, but no other UK rapper has grabbed my attention like J Hus on Big Conspiracy. The step-up from his debut - a good, but somewhat run-of-the-mill album - is tremendous and the cohesiveness, the detailed writing, the fusion of genres, all comes together perfectly. 9. Conway the Machine - From King to a God 2020 was the year everyone really started paying attention to Griselda. And even with Westside Gunn’s biggest and best album yet, Benny continuing on his winning streak and the addition of Boldy to the crew, it was the Machine that took the medal home with an album that is both classically Griselda-esque, but also deeply personal, masterfully produced and has been in constant rotation for me since it dropped. 8. Blxst - No Love Lost By far my favourite new discovery of the year. And I have @awhellno to thank for this. Blxst is a natural. Its like scratching an itch that only the eternal melodies of Nate Dogg, Akon, T-Pain and Ty Dolla $ign can satisfy. Cannot wait to see what he does next. 7. Boldy James & Alchemist - The Price of Tea in China This album is cold. Frigid. Like you’re walking the streets of Detroit in the dead of winter, with Boldy stashing drugs in the glovebox on one side and Alchemist - arguably at the peak of his powers right - stewing a batch of icicles on the other. 6. Lil Baby - My Turn With a Deluxe version that spans 26 songs, My Turn is not exactly a very cohesive project but it doesn’t need to be. Baby takes the classic sounds of ATL trap that have dominated hip hop for the better part of the past 10 years and and twists it to suit his purpose, updates it to match the chaos of 2020 and introduces you to 42 Dugg all at once. 5. Lil Uzi Vert - Eternal Atake / LUV vs. the World 2 Not much more to say about EA that hasn’t already been said. In the eternal battle between the music and artistic growth on one side and fan service and streaming tactics on the other, Uzi found the perfect middle ground. Give Uzi his flowers, with EA the man has cemented himself as one of his generation’s all-time greats. 4. Freddie Gibbs & Alchemist - Alfredo Gangsta Gibbs has reached that state of elite rapping very few have achieved. I mean, he already achieved that 6 years ago on Piñata, but he’s barely let up since. Bandana was great but with Alchemist at his side, concocting some of the richest instrumentals of his career, Gibbs re-enters that elite state, insulting and threatening to k--- you at every turn but leaving you nodding and smiling and even laughing the whole time. 3. Jay Electronica - A Written Testimony Hip hop’s most enigmatic magician finally reveals what (I think?) is his Prestige. And s---, Jay-Z is there too. The prophecy has been fulfilled, and its f---ing beautiful. 2. 21 Savage & Metro Boomin - Savage Mode II In the 4 years since the first Savage Mode, 21 Savage has honed his craft to perfection. The bars are simple but effective, the flow is monotone but engaging, the ad-libs are the stuff of legend. Metro Boomin has been doing the same, emerging from the trap-house basement - as he does only ever rarely nowadays to bless us with the most cinematic, orchestral, best-produced album of the year. 1. Pop Smoke - Meet the Woo 2 …and the crazy thing is, its not even as good as the first edition. I’ve mentioned before how Pop’s been the soundtrack to my life ever since I first discovered him last year. Its been 18-odd months now and that still hasn’t changed. Its always sad to hear about a celebrity/musician’s death, but I’ve never been affected as much as by this one. Its like that demonic, gravel baritone is imbued with some kind of mystical energy that hits me right in my soul every single d--- time. Its my favourite and by far most played, album of 2020.
Dec 30, 2020 Happy that you fw Blxst so much! I wouldn't be able to put together a list, because of the sheer amount of great musical output this year, but I can't find anything wrong with your Top 10
Dec 30, 2020 I know what you mean, I had a list of 50 at first but I think, but i think out of all of those these are the ones that seem most likely to stay in rotation
Dec 30, 2020 Aight @Sav Stanfield listened to no love lost last night. Smooth AF RnB music, exactly the s--- I like. Can't really compare him to anyone right now but the laid back production and smooth singing/rapping is really nice. The Tyga & Ty collab is also really cool! Overrated, Wrong or Right, Got It All and Forever Humble my other favorites. Also helps that the songs aren't so long so it doesn't get boring. Definitely a hit for me this time! Appreciate it.
Dec 30, 2020 Completely forgot that A Written Testimony came out this year. That's on my list for sure! I've prob only got 5 truly memorable albums this year and I'm actually slightly ashamed to say it but Em is actually one of them.
Dec 30, 2020 awesome man, glad you enjoyed it! Its like I said in the post above, he's just got that sound that clicks for me, it reminds me so much of Nate, Ty, etc. We'll see how it holds up and what he does next but I really thought it was a big standout this year
Dec 30, 2020 Yep, this just straight up that uncut raw. No room for Dua Lipa, sorry Squeedrick. It was a great album though
Dec 30, 2020 Actually for once I think thats a reasonable pick. MTMB B would definitley be somewhere in my HMs for the year
Dec 30, 2020 Yeah for sure a standout! Even though I didn't listen to that many albums this year (especially not as much as u lmao)
Dec 31, 2020 Eminem - Music To Be Murdered By: Side B Eminem’s been off for 17 years now. One of the most maddening things about his continued spiral into mediocrity has been the occasional glimpses of that 99-03 genius peaking through every once in a while. Even at his lowest points (Recovery, Revival), we’d sometimes get a bar or a verse or even a full song that takes you back to that emcee that rapped so naturally, the one that unquestionably does deserve his spot alongside the greats. You’ve gotta hand it to him - despite his eternal war with the critics, he listens to what they say and every album since Relapse has had him trying to correct the mistakes of his previous effort. But its always one step forward, two steps back. Forget the horrendous instrumental picks, sappy pop ballads/collabs and downright stupid punchlines that have plagued all his recent work, its the actual rapping thats disappointed me most: from accents to tone-deaf bellowing to stuttering start-stop flows to overblown supersonic flows, he just can’t seem to get it right. Like Kamikaze before it, the A Side of MTBMB was another decent step in the right direction, but still a far cry from the Marshall Mathers that put out three consecutive classic albums and (arguably) killed Jay-Z on his own s--- 20 years prior. But somehow, some way, the little-hyped, under-the-radar release of MTBMB, Side B is the best collection of songs Eminem’s put out since…. Relapse? Encore? Speaking of Encore, MTMBB almost feels like a direct sequel to Encore - goofy, playful, pretty bad in parts but most importantly, with an actual revival of that witty, tongue-in-cheek, mischievous South Park-like villain that conquered the world back in his heyday. Tone Deaf may as well be an MMLP or Devil's Night leftover. Discombobulated - despite it a clear Relapse throwback - would sound right at home on TES. The album centrepiece - Gnat is a version of the new Eminem that finally gets it all right. The flow is on point, the writing just as convoluted and technical as you’d expect, but for once its (mostly) focused and topical and relevant. And somehow, the rest of the album mostly follows suit. We’ll never know how the s----stirring Eminem from back in the day would fare in the modern era, but he's sure as h--- given it his best shot. "Does Bill Cosby sedate once he treats to cheesecake and a decent steak?" It might be 15 years too late but d--- its good to hear the real Slim Shady again, even if it is just in glimpses.
Jan 2, 2021 One thing though @Sav Stanfield u said a sequel to encore which I understand to an extent except that besides the more 'goofy' songs (tone deaf, discombombulated, alfred theme) there are a lot of (imo really good) serious songs / content combined with witty lines; these demons, zeus, gnat, book of rhymes. Encore is mostly seen as half classic / half bad. The songs I skip on here I dont do because they're bad, just kinda boring and played out (she loves me, black magic) or go on too long (alfred/tone deaf). I think as a whole this is better than Encore, but its too soon to tell if I enjoy my current favorites songs as much as we as americans, yellow brick road, toy soldiers. But I wouldn't be surprised because I really enjoy most of this album still after a few weeks.
Jan 2, 2021 Thats fair, though I don't know how I'd compare the two yet, given that Encore's had years to settle in by now and this is still brand new. I guess I'm talking more about just the overall tone and feel. To me it sounds like the first album since Encore (maybe Relapse) where I get that same feeling I got when I enjoyed Em's music, that kinda South Parkish, winking-at-the-camera Em thats been missing the last 16 years. Encore may have had some pretty bad music on it but it still had that feel, to me at least.
