Mid-Year Top 5
Hopefully all the Twitter dorks who only listen to mixtape 50 or Travis Scott are done with the weird narrative that hip-hop is dead. 2024 housed so many special stories and quality releases, whether it be oddball trap emerging mainstream, promising debuts, underground mainstays coming through with their opuses, or of course, the star-studded beef between Drake and Kendrick. There was something for everybody this year, so here I’ll share what I think are the best albums of 2024. Let us know what you think and what your picks are!
Honorable Mentions:
- Ceschi – Bring Us the Head of Francisco False
- Mutant Academy – Keep Holly Alive
- Crimeapple & Apollo Brown – This, Is Not That
- Common & Pete Rock – The Auditorium
- Ka – The Thief Next to Jesus
- Grea8gawd – Power
- Lucky Daye – Algorithm
- Hus Kingpin & 9th Wonder – The Supergoat
- Loe Shimmy – Zombieland 2
- Blu & Evidence – Los Angeles
- Cavalier – Different Type Time
- Chief Keef & Mike WiLL Made-It – Dirty Nachos
- Benny & 38 Spesh – Stabbed & Shot 2
- ¡Jay Hill! – Sienna
- EBK Jaaybo – The Reaper
- Roc Marciano – Marciology
- Young Nudy & Pi’erre Bourne – Sli’merre 2
- Sadistik & Maulskull – Oblivion Theater
- ShyBelligerent – It’s a Ugly Come Up
- VonOff1700 – #FreeMyHoodFuckYoHood
- R.A.P. Ferreira & Fumitake Tamura – The First Fist to Make Contact When We Dap
- Vic Spencer – The Apes That Was Left Behind
- LAZER DIM 700 – Injoy
- Boldy James & Nicholas Craven – Penalty of Leadership
- Wolfacejoeyy – Valentino
- K-the-I??? & Kenny Segal – Genuine Dexterity
- BabyDrill – Scoregod
- Your Old Droog – Movie
- YL & Starker – Diamond Collection
- Caal Vo – American Circus Freak
- Previous Industries – Service Merchandise
- Nacho Picasso & Televangel – Jesse’s Revenge
- Kendrick Lamar – GNX
- El Snappo – Zootie World
- Midnight Sons – Money Has No Owners
- Erika de Casier – Still
- Bossman Dlow – Mr. Beat the Road
- DThang – A Bronx Tale
- Rome Streetz & Daringer – Hatton Garden Holdup
- Kendall Spencer & August Fanon – The Trauma Center
- Westside Gunn – Still Praying
- 03 Greedo & Helluva – Hella Greedy
- Future & Metro Boomin – We Don’t Trust You
#10: klwn cat & Sunmundi – Lived and Born
There’s a whole scene of highly diverse and independent artists to discover by association with Nonazz, but Lived and Born is certainly its most evocative release. Klwn Cat’s poetry is a therapy session itself, with messages of pain and perseverance over production simultaneously soulful, harrowing and subdued. Though Klwn Cat keeps things vague, it’s impossible not to relate to some of these bars and feel a connection to him, motivating to get better and be better. Maybe Ka disciples are on the upswing.
Listen to Lived and Born
#9: Cash Cobain – Play Cash Cobain
Though the whole Slizzy camp squandered some momentum by waiting so long to drop – and riding the success of huge singles early in the year – Play Cash Cobain turned out to be a statement album for the scene. Infectious samples, danceable drums, and caricaturized sex raps; it’s a pretty simple recipe, but one that only Cash is able to fully capitalize on with his falsetto whisper. Not only that, but it’s just a well rounded listen between the sequencing and features. There’s a high new bar in this corner of NY drill, which continues to ebb and reinvent itself.
Listen to Play Cash Cobain
#8: E L U C I D – REVELATOR
It’s always a little bit intimidating going into a new Elucid album. With someone like Lupe Fiasco or Billy Woods, for example, you at least have an idea of a framing aesthetic or concept, but Elucid is more likely to dump incantations and history lessons with a spiritual bend that are far more broad, poetic, and open to interpretation. On Revelator, his lyrics are actually rather grounded and local, doling out mature wisdom to his family and community. This time, he lets the production do the heavy avant-garde lifting, eschewing the soul of I Told Bessie and returning to the industrial mess of Save Yourself. It’s a nice subversion for what might be his most personal work yet.
Listen to REVELATOR
#7: AyooLii, FearDorian & POLO PERKS <3 <3 <3 – A Dog’s Chance
If 2024 blog trap was a thing, this would be it. There’s almost a 2000s teen movie energy that this trio brings and it’s so endearing. The driving percussion and claps over these ridiculous samples is so fun, let alone with such a wild cast of voices. In fact, A Dog’s Chance might be best for simply bringing Dorian, AyooLii, and Polo together; they draw another level of hunger out of each other and keep things moving for the whole runtime. With all due respect, a solo AyooLii tape can just be too much sometimes with the manic energy he brings, but the other rappers play off each other so well on here. It’s hard not to smile with this album playing. Make sure you follow the man @junkiesrpeople for all things Milwaukee.
Listen to A Dog’s Chance
#6: ShrapKnel – Nobody Planning to Leave
What makes the Backwoodz Studioz movement over the past few years so special is how it feels like a second coming of Def Jux or any of the hardcore early 2000s backpack scenes (and often as a new home for some of their residual artists). ShrapKnel’s new album leans fully into this as a love letter to those classics, rife with interpolations and references to Cannibal Ox, Fantastic Damage, and more. Curly Castro and PremRock are more than students of the game; they’re members of that very same movement who have found a new lease on their careers with this group. Plus the whole thing is produced by Controller 7, who takes you on a full, rattling train ride through the city (you can almost hear the spray cans shaking) and seems to be gaining steam as a go-to producer for this type of rap.
Listen to Nobody Planning to Leave
#5: OT7 Quanny – The Leaks
Usually I harp on wanting artists to drop fully fleshed out projects with tight tracklists, varied production and songwriting, features, etc., but I can just throw this jawn and the subsequent deluxes on shuffle all day. Quanny doesn’t necessarily do anything special lyrically, but the flows are captivating and he makes the kind of music that makes you feel cool just by association. Of course I hope he comes through with an official release in 2025 (perhaps linking with Leaf Ward), but The Leaks has staying power as one of the best albums of the year, even as a compilation.
Listen to The Leaks
#4: SahBabii – Saaheem
What a story Sahbabii’s resurgence has been. Whether you call it a breakthrough or a comeback, Saaheem being a smash hit just makes you fell happy for him (along with some viral Victorious memes). If anybody is carrying Young Thug’s mantle of melodic experimentation, hilarious slang, and even some country motifs, it’s Sahbabii. Hopefully this album’s success marks a transition in his career, opening doors to bigger placements and more frequent releases. Also, the deluxe track with Clairo and the yeti dudes is such a good addition.
Listen to Saaheem
#3: Mach-Hommy – #RICHAXXHAITIAN
Being teased for so long, expectations were set for Richaxxhaitian to not only be one of Mach’s best albums, but also his most serious and high stakes; while the final product is phenomenal, it’s actually for different reasons. On one hand, the lyrics are some of Mach’s most digestible and often deal with simple fly shit. The production is quality, but not necessarily outside of his wheelhouse. Instead, the sum of these parts gives a sense of Mach as a proud product of his culture and one of its greatest success stories – that he comes from a nation so historically tyrannized and is still showing out as an underground icon. It’s a perfect addition to the Haitian quadrilogy, plus you got verses from Black Thought and 03 Greedo. Expectations met.
Listen to #RICHAXXHAITIAN
#2: Mavi – Shadowbox
Mavi is one of the artists I’ve been most proud to follow from the very start of his career. Let the Sun Talk set him as (at the time) the sLUms‘ chosen one, but each release has been so carefully curated and shown personal and artistic growth alike. Laughing So Hard It Hurts took things more smooth and melodic, while Shadowbox comes as a true gut punch. His music being so personal, it feels like you really know the guy; so to hear his tone on songs like “I’m So Tired” or the vulnerability of “Drunk Prayer” has you hoping he’s ok on a very real level. As always though, there’s an inspirational undertone that makes it feel like you’ll get through it right by his side in the end. Hopefully he’s able to channel all this into something equally moving, but more reassuring in the future.
Listen to Shadowbox
#1: Bruiser Wolf – My Story Got Stories
One of the freshest and most promising artists of the 2020’s up’s the stakes on his second album. Wacky flows, bars that you’re amazed nobody else ever came up with, and mature drug tales finally mark Bruiser Wolf as an essential name in the underground. Read the full review here.