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Someone forwarded this to me. As a dude who usually waits until the end of the year to figure out what great music I missed during the year, this list was perfect for me.
Last year, I delivered this list on 1/20...so I'm early this year...but whatever. I've attached the review in word as well as put in email form for you read and debate...so have at it.
I’ve decided to add a 1One Song To Download (1STDL) addendum to each of the rankings for the many of you that are too lazy to download the entire album…and you know who you are…
TOP 10 ALTERNATIVE ALBUMS (ANYTHING NOT PURE R&B OR HIPHOP)
10.Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires in the City: lead vocalist Ezra continues to make me like this indie x afro-beat band much more than I originally thought I would as they provide a nice follow-up to their classic “Contra” album a few years ago.
1STDL: “Diane Young”
9. Lorde – Pure Heroine: dope album title for this teenager that took the world by storm with her “Royals” song this year. Thankfully, her voice and songs sound tons older than what she is which helps us not feel embarrassed to listening to her album.
1STDL: “Royals” (there’s a reason you heard it all year long)
8. Cocaine 80’s – Flower of Life: I’m still amazed that this group doesn’t give more burn from you all, but once again, this production/artist team, that includes No I.D., delivers their 4th project since 2011 for folks to check out with songs featuring Common and Jhene Aiko. (cocaine 80s was #6 on my 2012 alternative album list)
1STDL: “Fly Ass Pisces”
7. Sleigh Bells – Bitter Rivals: it’s loud. It’s noisy. It has tons of bass. This is that music that you need to get you pumped and to wake up. It goes great after that casserole you ate for lunch before you have to sit through that lame ass 2-hour performance review you have on Tuesday. And fyi, I’ve chosen “Sing Like a Wire” as one of my theme songs. Hell if I know what they’re talking about…but don’t tell me it doesn’t make you want to play the drums.
1STDL: “Sing Like a Wire”
6.Foreign Exchange – Love In Flying Colors: Phonte and Nicolay don’t have it in them to make shitty music, but I like this album the least of all of their projects. Too bad it just didn’t come out in a different year to rank higher on this list and that the best tracks on here are duets with Phonte…maybe he’s not meant to be a solo vocalist?
1STDL: “Better”
5. Snarky Puppy: Family Dinner: Vol1: thanks to my wildly known love for Lalah Hathaway, my home girl Maya CB put me on to this jazzy collective with over 40 members and this great album that features many guest vocalists. FYI, the band is grammy nominated this year for the Lalah song.
1STDL: “Something”
4. Janelle Monae – Electric Lady: one of my favorite weirdos hit the scene again in 2013 with a great follow-up to her debut. Who can deny this lady when she’s able to call-in Solange, EBadu, Miguel, Esperanza Spaulding and Prince to come jam with her on this? Not me I say…not me.
1STDL: “Give Em What They Love
3. The Internet – Feel Good: if Frank Ocean can be down with shock-rapper Tyler the Creator, then why can’t this neo-soul group be as well? Don’t be fooled…none of their music sounds anything like their Odd Future companions…instead expect some music that you would expect to hear from Foreign Exchange but with a more talented singer at the helm.
1STDL: “Red Balloon”
2. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories: if you don’t like Daft Punk, I hope we aren’t friends. Every time they put out something, folks go crazy…and wisely so. From punk to electro to house to rock to disco, these cats can produce/perform some great songs…and this time is no exception. I’ve taken “Fragments of Time” as one of my theme songs. Don’t hate…you can have the Pharell songs.
1STDL: “Fragments of Time”
1. Rhye - Woman: this group that you’ve probably never heard of is the reason that I do these reviews! Shout out to my boy DC who put me and our friends on to this fabulous duo from overseas. Imagine if Sade came out today…with slightly more Chicago-style stepping beats behind them…but yet trippy-ish…and BAM…you have Rhye. However, don’t try to find any pictures of the group members…they love their anonymity but yes, the lead singer is man! Regardless of how they look, don’t sleep on this…don’t even do it yourself.
1STDL: “Open” and “Last Dance”
TOP 7 R&B MIXTAPES ANYTHING R&B-RELATED DISTRIBUTED FREE-OF-CHARGE BY THE ARTISTS
7. PartynextDoor – PartyNextDoor: he may have one of the worst stage names ever, but the mixtape was more than decent. But between him, the weeknd, the dream and bj the chicago kid…who told r&b singers that they were potential members of a hip-hop group? I blame tlc. damn you, t-boz.
1STDL: “Over Here”
6. Chris Brown – X-Files EP: what can I say? I downloaded it. It sounded decent so it made the list. Quit judging me.
1STDL: “Sweet Caroline”
5. The Dream – Climax EP: the dream is still struggling to find his glory from a few years ago, but maybe this ep will serve as a kickstart towards greener pastures. (dream was #6 on my 2012 disappointing project list)
1STDL: “Dope Bitch”
4. Sza –S EP: this newbie came out nowhere, but since kendrick lamar gave her a cosign, I had to check her out..and I’m glad I did. She’s the only female artist signed to his label, TDE.
1STDL: “Pray”
3. The Stuyvesants – Refined: as you can tell, this group is from NY and their music is mainly instrumental and influenced by 70’s soul and golden age hiphop. It will make you research their previous releases as well. Trust me.
1STDL: “Sunshine”
2. Tweet – Simply Tweet EP: I may be the only Tweet fan left…but that doesn’t mean that her uniquely sounding voice isn’t a joy to be heard if only for the 5 tracks on this release. I wish missy and timbo would write or produce for her again. For shame.
1STDL: “Enough”
1. Jhene Aiko – Sail Out: Jhene has spent the last 5 years or so backing up the likes of B2K, Kendrick Lamar, Wale, Cocaine80s, Common, Drake, JCole, and Childish Gambino…but this time around she finally gets her hand on some material that helps her stand out amongst her peers. She may remind some of you of Cassie…but she’s so much more talented and has a larger ranger in her vocals.
1STDL: “The Worst” and “The Vapors”
TOP 10 R&B ALBUMS (SELF-EXPLANATORY)
10.The Dream – IV Play: the dream’s decent offering left me realizing that just like his name, his auto-tune rap/singing is getting kinda worn out, but somehow he found a few dope joints to include on this album thanks to JayZ, Beyonce, Kelly Rowland, Pusha T, and Gary Clark, Jr.
1STDL: “Where Have You Been”
9. The Weeknd - Kissland: I think it’s harder for an r&b artist to transition their work from mixtape to album moreso than a hiphop artist. I think that’s what happened here for The Weeknd as maybe my expectations were too high for him for his official project.
1STDL: “Live For”
8. John Legend – Love in the Future: John Legend’s past few albums weren’t my cups of tea as I felt he was crooning too much and getting ready to setup his Vegas Review. While I didn’t appreciate this album until I recently saw him in concert, the album has tons of gems on it. Is it full of poppy love songs…yes. But at this point, ain’t that what you expect from him?
1STDL: “Made to Love” (over the “It’s Time for the Pecolator” beat)
7. R.Kelly – Black Panties: I prefer the non-perverted RKelly to this over-sexualized 40+ guy that is making songs for 20 year olds with auto-tune. On one hand I appreciate the fact that he’s like analogies are lame…but on the other hand his ability to make songs about anything is kinda scary. He can find melodies in anything…shouldn’t he use this power to do more good than bad? (rkelly was #3 on my 2012 r&b album list)
1STDL: “Genius” (no auto-tune on this one)
6. Beyonce - Beyonce: No marketing? Kelly had an album out? Ciara too? Beyonce was like that’s all cool…watch me kill the game and put this out to with no single…and blow the world up. Mission accomplished. All of the Beehive’sters had the best Christmas ever as she gave a video for EVERY DAMN SONG! Visuals really help when selling songs to me…so I approve of this tactic…assuming it’s a female artist doing the selling #mywifeisokaywiththatstatement
1STDL: “Rocket” (when it’s all said & done about Beyonce, the girl can really sang!)
5. PJ Morton – New Orleans: I still don’t know why he signed with Cash Money…but gladly, they didn’t get in the way in the making of this album. While it would’ve helped had they marketed it more, I’m not all upset with how his first official album turned out. He got Stevie Wonder, Adam Levine and Tweet appear…so there’s that. (pj was #1 on my 2012 r&b mixtape list)
1STDL: “Trade It All”
4. Qadron - Avalanche: damn, this album is so damn good. It was sitting at #1 on my list for a long time, but just cause it didn’t end up there doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve your attention as well. The Danish duo (vocalist + producer) convinced Kendrick Lamar to add some vocals to a song who was convinced by the other work that the producer did on his side project, Rhye.
1STDL: “Favorite Star”
3. Gregory Porter – Liquid Spirit: the thing I like about Greg Porter is that he looks like a well-dressed hobo. My wife and were put on to him one random night while turning past the Jay Leno show. I stopped intrigued by why this well-dressed hobo was performing. What I heard was a golden voice sung over jazz/blues melodies. After you listen to this, go grab his “Be Good” album, which I think is better than this one!
1STDL: “Hey Laura”
2. Justin Timberlake – 20/20 The Complete Experience (Vol1&2): be honest. Justin came out with two albums…the 2nd one folks weren’t even expecting it. And he kinda killed it alllll year long. While I think Vol1 was better than Vol2 in my opinion, both of them as a whole were quite damn good given all of the competition that Justin experienced this year (rkelly, robin thicke, etc) and he crushed them. It’s okay to admit it.
1STDL: “That Girl” and “Cabaret”
1. Robert Glasper Experiment – Black Radio2: this is quite frankly one of the best, if not the best, compilation albums EVER. Robert follows up his “Black Radio” from 2012 with his 2nd installment from his quartet featuring the vocals of Common, Brandy, Jill Scott, Dwele, Marsha Ambrosius, Anthony Hamilton, Faith Evans, Norah Jones, Luke James, Snoop, Lupe Fiasco, Emeli Sande’, Bilal, Jasmine Sullivan, Lalah Hathaway, Eric Roberson, Macy Gray, and Jean Grae all jumping at the chance to work with this jazz pianist. Great music! (robert glasper was #2 on my 2012 r&b album list)
1STDL: “You Own Me”, “Calls”, and “What Are We Doing”
TOP 10 HIP-HOP MIXTAPES (ANYTHING HIP-HOP RELATED DISTRIBUTED FREE-OF-CHARGE BY THE ARTISTS)
10.Game – Operation Kill Everything (OKE): while others have written off game’s career, I still ride for one of compton’s finest mc’s. you know the drill: he references a lot of other rappers’ names, he’s the hardest dude alive, he’s mad/happy at dre, blah, blah. It’s good west-coast gangsta music though. (game was #6 on my 2012 hiphop album list)
1STDL:”Astronaut ****y - Welcome to California”
9. Vic Mensa - Innanetape: vic mensa is a poor man’s chance the rapper. Unfortunately for him, since they both are from the Chi, they will be forever compared to each other…which isn’t really fair giving the ability of them both to hold their own.
1STDL: “Tweakin”
8. Naledge & Willie the Kid – The Brainfly: two slept-on artists decided to get together and put together an overlooked mixtape. make sense? Of course it doesn’t…which is why they did it. Lots of lyrics on this one…but be prepared for the same flow by each of them on every song. It is what it is I guess.
1STDL: “Charlie Brown Sweater”
7. Young Dro – High Times: need some random southern hiphop with various references to color schemes and clothing labels in the most ignorant way possible? Then search no further because Dro is here to save your day!
1STDL: “FDB”
6. Prodigy & Alchemist – Albert Einstein: yes, prodigy is still rapping. Luckily this time around, alchemist hooked him up with some of those havoc-like beats that you would expect to hear P rap on back in the day during his Mobb Deep days.
1STDL: “Curb Ya Dog”
5. Roc Marciano – The Pimpire Strikes Back: I enjoy roc’s no-holds-barred nyc approach to making songs. he’s about letting all of his listeners know that his flow is top notch and he’s outshining any others folks foolish enough to rap with him which is what happens on this mixtape as he rhymes over 70’s-inspired beats.
1STDL: “I.D.K.”
4. Lil Wayne – Dedication 5: wayne raps again over other folks’ beats. get ready to hear him make some of these beats sad that he didn’t originally have them. (wayne was #8 on my 2012 disappointing project list)
1STDL: “Fuckwithmeyouknowigotit”
3. Pete Rock & Camp Lo – 80 Blocks from Tiffany Vol 2: the legendary pete rock presents some great-sounding tracks to camp lo who do what they do best: talk that 70’s pimpish type rap that we remember them from years ago as well as from last year on 80 Blocks from Tiffany Vol 1 mixtape.
1STDL: “80 Blocks Party”
2. Freddie Gibbs – ESGN (Evil Seeds Grow Naturally): I told you all last year that there will never be a music list of mine without gangsta gibbs’ latest project somewhere on it. He wants us to consider this an album, but come on…GIBBS HAS MADE MY MIXTAPE LIST FOR 5 STRAIGHT YEARS ALL DAMN READY!!! No way, I’m taking him off my mixtape list. He lives here. (gibbs was #8 on my 2012 hiphop mixtape list)
1STDL: “The Real G Money”
1. Busta & Q-Tip – The Abstract & The Dragon: over the past 15 years, the mixtape game has changed with many of us being conditioned to now expect them to be street-albums containing mostly new material. well, busta and q-tip were like fuck that…and release a mixtape of their tracks together since wayyyy back in the day and dammit if it doesn’t make you wish for the good old days. they do have 2 new tracks on them…and those 2 sound nice, but it’s mainly for their past work that you will download this and nod your head…and look forward to any more future work that they do together. word to the native tongues. (busta was #1 on my 2012 disappointing project list)
1STDL: “Thank You”
TOP 10 HIPHOP ALBUMS (ANYTHING DISTRIBUTED W/ THE PURPOSE OF RETAIL)
10.Ghostface Killah – 12 Reasons 2 Die: a concept album from Ghostdini? With a legendary blues producer providing the instrumentals? Why yes, thankyouverymuch.
1STDL: “Blood on the Cobblestones”
9. Earl Sweatshirt - Doris: dude’s content is pretty graphic. but it’s done to cause a reaction just like early Eminem used to rap. If you’re a fan of tyler the creator, then you’ll understand why he defers to earl as this young cat has bars for days so don’t let his laid-back flow fool you. He could be a problem if he ever want to be more popular…but I’m sure your nephew or neighbors’ kids already love him and his crew.
1STDL: “Hive”
8. Stalley – Honest Cowboy: I’ll admit that stalley’s flow is something that you must learn to like…cause at first listen, it can be painful. but don’t let his signing to rick ross’ maybach music influence you as stalley doesn’t let anyone influence his style that he’s been honing over the last 4-5 years. I’m still not sure how he got DJ Quik and Scarface to join in on the fun. the production on this album is bananas.
1STDL: “Samson” (the bass in this is crazzzzzzzyyyyyy)
7. Kanye West - Yeezus: I’m biased. He’s batshit crazy at times, but that doesn’t take away that this album is quite good. quit being biased cause of who he’s dating or what he’s wearing and just judge him from the music alone. you may surprise yourself. . (kanye was #10 on my 2012 hiphop album list)
1STDL: “On Sight” (it sounds like 90’s Chicago-house-music)
6. Big KRIT – King Remembered in Time: krit makes it to the list again. If it ain’t the album list or the mixtape list, he’s made my lists the past 4 years. if you’re not a fan of his, this album won’t win you over…but if you are a fan of his, get this..as it is another chapter in his quest to tell his southern hiphop story. I do enjoy Krit reminding me of how dope Pimp C was when he was here. (krit was #1 on my 2012 hiphop mixtape list and #4 on my 2012 hiphop album list)
1STDL: “Talking About Nothing”
5. J.Cole – Born Sinner: jcole’s 2nd album is better than his first. Yes, he’s producing most of the songs, but his lyrics and story-telling has improved over the years. he put this album out on the same date as kanye’s and I think that overall…it’s better. Yep. I said it.
1STDL: “Forbidden Fruit”
4. Drake – Nothing Was the Same: drake is all over now. On this song by this artist and then on this song by this artist…so one could hate on him for his overexposure. One could also hate on him because he doesn’t embody your “typical” hiphop artist with the singing and lack of “overt” battling his competition. Regardless, this cat can make a damn good album...and his latest probably has you singing 4-5 of the songs on the regular. You can’t hate that.
1STDL: “Come Thru”
3. Killer Mike & EL-P – Run the Jewels: el-p produced all of this album. and killer mike smashed each and every one of the songs on here. As an avid fan of mike, I was happy that he was able to put together a cohesive album with production that challenged him along the way. My morehouse brethren didn’t disappoint…but don’t sign up if you’re thinking this is just regular trap music.
à I wrote this review for killer mike’s album (rap music) last year…and it still applies this year…except expect to el-p rapping on all of the songs as well!! (killer mike was #3 on my 2012 hiphop album list)
1STDL: “Get It”
2. Chance the Rapper – Acid Rain: he’s from Chicago. I’m biased. It’s very good. he’s a very good mc/rapper/singer. Reminds me of an early Kanye…before he got weird. But then again, Chance is weird…but in very, very good way. Go grab his “10Day” mixtape as well that was released in 2012..so you can hear his progression as well as some early bangers.
1STDL: “Chain Smoker”
1. Pusha T – My Name is My Name: when he signed with Kanye, I was like um..no. but dammit if Kanye didn’t let this cat do his damn thing. Now, don’t go expecting to hear some clipse x Kanye type of content on here. Nope. Same ol drug rap that you would expect from Pusha…but this time it’s done over different production that you haven’t heard him rap over when he was on Pharell’s label. I’m very happy this album was sooooo much better than his solo mixtapes beforehand as we know a lot of rappers struggle with executing.
1STDL: “Numbers on the Board”, “Suicide”, “Nosestaglia” and “ Sweet Serenade”
TOP 10 DISAPPOINTING PROJECTS (ANY MIXTAPE OR ALBUM HIGH ON HYPE, BUT LOW ON DELIVERY)
10. Ryan Leslie – Black Mozart : for some strange reason, he decided to rap on this. Dear God, why did I d/l this? Puffy took this guy’s talent…along with his girl. I should have known better. (ryan was #4 on my 2012 guilty pleasure list)
9. Hustle Gang – GDOD: the acronym stands for Get Dough or Die. Or you could just not get this compilation mixtape from TI’s label and live. It’s your choice.
8 and 7. Kelly Rowland – Talk a Good Game & Ciara – Ciara: both of these ladies really must hate beyonce now more than ever…cause guess what? 2013 will be remembered for the way beyonce came in and shut the year down..and folks will think that both albums from Kelly and Ciara came out…in 2012. That’s kinda amazing.
6. and 5..TGT – TGT & Jahiem – Appreciation Day: the only people that will remember these two projects will be women. women in their 30’s. women that love the memories of when tyrese, genuine, tank, and jahiem were all putting out decent music. my wife is one of these women.
4. Cassie – RockabyeBaby: I blame Puffy for this crap. His name is puffy..it’s not diddy..and the sooner he realizes that the only artist that he can produce/support is himself then the better the world will be. He’s got cassie trying to relive her 2006 success on this mixtape and has her appearing on tracks with other rappers (pusha t, rick ross, French montana, etc) like she’s the new version of kima, keisha, and pam (that’s Total if you ain’t know). puffy is pure evil.
3. Kanye - Yeezus: sure this album was good…but with his first two “releases” of “new slaves” and “black skinhead” I thought we were in store for a 2013 version of public enemy or xclan…but nope. we got some all over the place album that was mainly about how he could just say and do whatever he wanted..and folks would like it. So yeah…I liked it…but he still disappointed me.
2. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP2: it’s always good to hear Eminem rap because…well, he’s Eminem and he’s dope as hell. but can I be honest with you? The “bezerk” song that follows his tired-ass formula of releasing a pop-ish/quirky first single that is kinda funny was underwhelming to me. The beat was all over the place…and I’m not sure why he’s going bezerk in the first place. Plus, I don’t do album sequels. They never live up to the hype…and don’t tell me how dope “Rap God” is…cause I know that…and one song can’t save this entire album.
1.Jay-Z – Magna Carta/Holy Grail: I get it…you got money…you’re into art…you’re a brand and you’re doing big bossy things. But you and Samsung marketed the hell out of this album and as someone that works in marketing, I know that most great things don’t need to be promoted like you did…so that means that even Jay knew this album wasn’t all that. Plus, “Tom Ford” sucks…and how the hell is “Versus”,
“SomewhereinAmerica” and “Beach is Better” all so damn short!!!? You think “Fuckwithme” is enough for us? Sir…you are sadly mistaken…and have disappointed me. Good day to you I say, Mr Z…good day!
TOP 6 GUILTY PLEASURES (ANYTHING I’M ASHAMED I OWN, BUT IS DECENT)
6. 2Chainz – BOATS2 (Based on a Tru Story 2): I enjoy 2Chainz for all that he is. He doesn’t claim to be the biggest thug nor the biggest lyricist out there. Nope…he just revels in his own ignorance and doesn’t apologize for it. Gotta love that. (2Chainz was #3 on my 2012 guilty pleasure list)
1STDL: “Where U Been?”
5. Young Dro – High Times: please see my review of this great piece of music in my mixtape category above.
1STDL: “Hammer Time” (dro has lyrics…who knew?!)
4. French Montana – Excuse My French: there’s no way that I can defend this download. He’s on Puffy’s label…and you know I think Puffy is the devil. He raps in the same monotone drawl. And he doesn’t even say anything catchy. He’s cool with Rick Ross though…and I like Rick Rosa and Raekown musta owned him a favor cause he duped him into a doing a song with him. Or maybe the Puffy the Devil made him do it.
1STDL: “Pop That”
3 and 2. Gunplay – Cops and Robbers & Gunplay - Acquitted: I don’t know what it is about mr gunplay but his delivery, anger, flow and tales of druggery (drugs x thuggery) leave me wanting to hear more from this Rick Ross affiliate. I’m not proud of it…but if I can’t tell these things to my friends, then who can i? (mr gunplay was #2 on my 2012 guilty album list)
1STDL: “Ball Remix” and “Drop Da Tint”
1. RKelly – Black Panties: We’ve been here before. Me listening to his music…and being ashamed of it. Well, this time…not only am I ashamed of it…but I’m ashamed of the titles of the songs. If you’ve seen the album on Itunes, then you know what I’m talking about…and if you haven’t heard the album, don’t think that the song titles are robert’s attempts at being coy…nope..he’s being very literal with each and every song title. Maybe one day he’s realize that he can less ratchet than this…and his fans will still roll with him. But then again who am I fooling? He doesn’t are about his fans 30+…he’s still reaching out to the <18yo crowd. Ugh. (rkelly was #3 on my 2012 r&b album list)
1STDL: “Throw This Money On You” (in this romantic
track, robert talks literally wants to just throw money on ladies…yep..that’s Robert Kelly ladies and gentlemen. He’s a romantic at heart I guess)
I didn’t do the rankings of my top R&B and top Hiphop songs that I liked this year…cause well…I’m too tired to do it. Maybe next year…maybe next year. I hope you do something great in 2014, everyone!
R.
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