The Art Of The Surprise Album

Usually, with a new album comes a ton of promotion. But ever since Beyonce dropped her critically acclaimed self-titled album without even a promotional tweet, many different artists have decided to follow suit. Here is three of my favorite albums that have came out over the past couple of years, with little to no promotion.

In no particular order;

1.

Drake's latest album "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" dropped in the late night hours of February 13, 2015. News of its release spread like wildfire throughout social media, leading to it debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. As of July 2015, there has been over a million copies sold in the US. That's a lot of woes to run through the six with.

Favorite tracks:

1. "Legend" - This track has a super chill vibe to it, and you can't get any better than that "So Anxious" sample.

2. "Wednesday Night Interlude" - This song featured one of the best things to come out of Drake's label October's Very Own, PARTYNEXTDOOR. It's super underrated and a song that you shouldn't skip on this album.

3. "6 PM in New York" - Drake's spitting all over this track; it's straight hip hop. It has some amazing quotables "You need to act your age and not your girl's age." We all know who that's directed to.

2.

Frank Ocean's "Channel Orange" is a masterpiece. It's surprising to discover that this album had dropped a full week before its supposed release date in July 2012. It was called one of the best albums of 2012 by many different publications, and it holds a score of 92 on Metacritic. It's virtually unanimous; Channel Orange left a imprint on the music industry that's still visible to this day.

Favorite Songs:

1. "Super Rich Kids" - All of Ocean's songs tell a story, and this song does just that. His smooth vocals tell the woes of a washed up Hollywood rich kids. The moral is that money can't buy everything.

2. "Pyramids" - Some people may shriek at the idea of a ten-minute song, but this song is a journey. And, it doesn't feel like ten minutes at all. The song's like a great movie, and before you know it the time has slipped away and you're left wanting to listen to it again and again.

3. "Bad Religion" - This song is incredibly simple and beautiful. And it's about something we all can relate to, unrequited love. Just listen.

3.

The anticipation for Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment's album "Surf" was utterly insane, partly because of Chicago rapper Chance the Rapper's involvement with it. The album was supposed to be released at the end of 2014, but it got pushed back until its surprise release in May of 2015. The anticipation lead to over 600,000 downloads of the full album and over 10,000,000 downloads of single tracks on iTunes. They caused a wave.

Favorite Songs:

1. "Warm Enough" - This song is lovely. It's simplistic, but the combination of J Cole, Chance the Rapper, and NoName Gypsy's rap verses lead to a display of impressive lyricism.

2. "Go" - It's a groovy tune that sounds like it was ripped from a 70s disco club. It's worth the listen.

3. "Familiar" - This song could easily blow up on the radio waves and turn into a smash hit. It's got a catchy chorus, and anything that combines Chance the Rapper and of all people, Quavo from Migos is a winner in my book.

If you're a music junkie like me you should always be on the lookout for new music. These days you never know when your favorite artist is going to drop a gem.