2015 was the best year in rap since probably 2007 when Lil Wayne and T.I. simultaneously peaked while Kanye pulled strings for his third studio album. The year of dopeness, 2015, saw such incredible intersections between familiarity and innovation, between re-branding and further establishment. Many of us come to rap looking for different things. Some people are here for the messages, some people are here for the sound, some people are here for the funny wordplay, some people are here for storytelling, often we're here for any combination of those elements in different ratios. I'm here for balance between everything.
Each of the following albums resonated with a balance. If you disagree with me, it's probably because you value message over delivery which doesn't make either of us wrong. I wish people would buy into the importance of balancing everything carefully in music, but you probably wish people wouldn't minimize the importance of a positive message just because the song wasn't the catchiest. Even though I want you on my side, I understand why you stand your ground.
This is how the order of things will work: I'll work from the fifth best to the number one album, then make honorable mentions so you can consider things before deciding right off the bat that I'm an idiot. I want you to slowly realize that I'm an idiot, it feels more genuine that way.
5. "Rodeo" by Travis Scott
Production stood out as the primary motive on "Rodeo." The opening five tracks of the album rival strong-start albums like Wayne's Carter IV (2011) and Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2003). "3500" is my favorite song of the year because it just BANGZ. All that stuff I said about balance is completely shattered by abrasive kick drums, charmed into silence by light digital keys, and swept away by grinding string melodies.
Travis AKA La Flame made a unique effort on "Oh My Dis Side," "90210," "Maria I'm Drunk," and "OK Alright." These songs each have two distinct parts, which act as movements--two sides of similar (or the same) topics. The transition is blatant and abrupt in "Maria I'm Drunk" and "OK Alright," but organic in the others, carrying elements of the first movement into the second. "OK Alright" serves well as an indignant and eventually indifferent track about fear and frustration.
Though the album features 2 Chainz and Juicy J, somehow, some way, Kanye West ends up with the worst feature of the album as well as the entirety of 2015 with "Piss On Your Grave." The lack of creativity is accompanied by crazy-person talk that really only Kanye wants to do. As bad as Kanye was, once I get past him, Travis saves the distorted punk-funk beat and brings it home. And then Kanye returns to burn down the home and urinate on the ashes, but Trav's part is cool while it lasts.
The knock on the album (which is a big one) is that it doesn't go anywhere with consistent lyrics or a message, other than "I jumped off of my mother's porch." His spin on a semi-typical coming-of-age journey isn't Earth-shattering. There are moments in "90210," "Pray 4 Love," and "Apple Pie" in which he grabs onto ideas and takes them to fruition, but never at the expense of doing the absolute best thing for the sound of the songs.
Notable Features: 2 Chainz, Juicy J, Kanye West, Young Thug, Justin Bieber, Schoolboy Q
4. "Surf" by Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment
Here, Chicago-brand jazz clings to gospel soul. Tracks like "Slip Slide," "Wanna Be Cool," and "Sunday Candy" force you to dance in the rain. Most impressively, Donnie Trumpet (the brain behind all the beats) combines Gucci Mane with a Sesame Street-feeling instrumental on "Familiar." That is generally how this project works. There are a lot of artists who might not otherwise come together, but they all work for the same musical fabric. The album provides music that tykes, teens, and and college graduates can move to.
Though not named on the album, the primary voice you hear is Chance The Rapper. Chance has quite the knack for finding new comfortable pockets of upbeat rhythm. On top of that, his voice is somewhere between smooth and raspy, but he uses it modestly to sing capricious lines (See: "Just Wait"). He is that good and he has been that good. If you don't listen to Chance you are only hurting yourself. Stop hurting yourself.
If you want to feel good and love yourself and love everything about you, listen to "Sunday Candy" (the video above). Watch the music video. Appreciate the simple beauty of every little piece that falls into place, appreciate Chance fumbling lines early on in the first verse, appreciate all the great things and all the missteps that make it wonderful. Then listen to "Surf" the same way.
Notable Features: Busta Rhymes, B.o.B., Noname Gypsy (best verse of the album, in my opinion), J. Cole (second-best verse of the album, in my opinion), KYLE, Erykah Badu
3. "Summertime '06" by Vince Staples
Lots of artists portray the violence they have inflicted and survived. Lots of artists comment on the institutional disadvantages our way of life creates. Not many artists find the right lyrical balance to place the two in context according to each other. Vince can strike that balance because he's dedicated to seeing things (and people) exactly as they are. For a 22-year-old (21 at the time of the album's release) upwardly bound rapper, he has every reason to be fantastically imaginative about the world, but he's not.
The album is not cold, but it is resigned to the world in which its creator lives. By virtue of the picture he paints, Vince is constructed as the most approachable gangster that rap about gang violence has ever produced. Though he makes over 100 references to guns, drugs, and his gang in "Summertime's" 17 tracks, frequent (and occasionally painful) self-awareness makes him universally accessible as a character. His discussion of riches does not alienate the audience, instead he ponders the reality that of his homies "never finna get this chance."
For as bleak as the project is, it ends with the optimistic "Like It Is." We learn that Vince's outlook is not cynical for the sake of dismissal. He confronts the world the way it is in order that he can reckon with reality and improve what is there.
Notable Features: Jhene Aiko, Kilo Kish, Future, James Fauntleroy
2. "To Pimp A Butterfly" by Kendrick Lamar
From start to finish, "To Pimp A Butterfly" is a testament to an unapologetically black Kendrick Lamar. The recurrent "40 acres and a mule," "Uncle Sam" and "Lucy" each contribute to the relationship of the United States and its black citizens. Kendrick creates the portrait of Post-Reconstruction America in which capitalism, taxes and law enforcement have worked to the detriment of the poor. At the same time, TPAB's message in the title of the album is about the U.S.'s history of simultaneously pimping certain elements of black culture while bastardizing black people.
The opening lineup of tracks is bombastic, from “Wesley’s Theory” to “For Free?” to “King Kunta” to “Institutionalized,” he sits down the audience and makes sure we are passed up by everything but the sound. Once “These Walls” sneaks in, It is evident that Kendrick’s foundation is not so A-1. It leaves a listener to wonder what these walls might say if they could talk.
What initially comes off as incoherence during the course of the album's beginning, slowly becomes precise pacing. Take for example, "King Kunta." When Kendrick separates the first lines, he seems sparse and random, but it develops into frustration. When the frustration spills over by the second time the hook comes around, sinister strings denote a more menacing purpose to his words. He wants to come for the competition, and in doing so change the texture of hip hop, returning to the funk that contributed to the development of rap music.
Notable Features: George Clinton, Snoop Dogg, James Fauntleroy, Ronald Isley
1. "Tetsuo & Youth" by Lupe Fiasco
The best thought-out, best executed album of 2015 was Lupe's "Tetsuo & Youth" by a fairly comfortable margin. You can listen to the album while you work out and find a comfortable rhythm with just enough changes of flavor to keep you from completely zoning out. You can also hit the laptop and geek out listening and skimming Genius.com explanations. Imagery, comfortable (but not facile) rap flows, consistent messages, shifting drum beats and classical-music textured instrumentals all make this the most playable album of the year.
Besides finding balance between beats and lyrics, the message within the album is balanced with supreme context. "Prisoner 1 & 2" is observant to inequality, but it is preceded by "Dots & Lines" which speaks to our infinitesimal unimportance in the grand scheme. The concept of maintaining inequality is undercut by the notion that we are comprised of a series of principles guided by a power larger than any of us. The predictable (but totally true) message is constructed line by line to help move it toward originality. With an air of Christian spirit, Lupe builds on more scientific-sounding principles to spread his message as far as possible.
Notable Features: Terrace Martin, Nikki Jean, Glasses Malone, Ab-Soul
Extremely Honorable Mentions
"King Push-Darkest Before Dawn" by Pusha T: The Prelude: The self-proclaimed "last cocaine superhero" put together an overcast project, one he calls "evil," and turned it into a fun listen. The album peaks at the fourth track, "M.P.A.," a surprisingly painless confrontation of the gluttony that accompanies commercial success. Pusha T has some solid wordplay, reminds us he dealt cocaine and got us ready for his project coming in March 2016.
"Documentary 2" by Game: "On Me" was the second-best song to come out of the west coast this year behind Vince Staples's "Senorita." Game figured out how to stay true to the West Coast OG character we expected, but proved he was so much more on "100" with Drake and "Dedicated" with Future. The most mind-blowing moment of 2015 was the moment Game said he was proud of Future for not killing Seattle Seahawks quarterback, Russell Wilson.
"The Album About Nothing" by Wale: The hardest album to leave out of the Top 5, this was Wale's best album by a mile (and Wale has made very good music). "The Matrimony" turned into the brief revival of pre-Confessions Usher that I never knew I needed. "The Pessimist" is a great introductory course into Wale's frustration of being black looking at the black community in the U.S. "The White Shoes" is half-optimistic, half-critical of capitalist ideals. Wale has a knack for indulging in his feelings and somehow not making it about himself in the end.
"Dark Sky Paradise" by Big Sean: No. 1 album to play in your car without a doubt. No.1 album to know the lyrics and work out to. Sean is the wittiest rapper around right now. He doesn't come after people or slander his peers, so his wit is forgotten, but don't sleep on his wordplay. Lil Wayne gives his best effort in years on "Deep," which effortlessly transitions from Sean to Weezy. "One Man Can Change The World," his ode to the work ethic of his grandmother, proved to be one of the year's most moving songs.
