Opening Credits

My list of favourite releases in 2016, albums, mixtapes, LPs & EPs, soundtracks, the whole lot. Remember this is my opinion and preference. 50- Kano- Made In Manor Grime, weather to categorize it as a genre on its own, or a sub genre in hip hop, has become a scene that is constantly growing, and 2016 once again was a massive year for the UK acts. Kano, hailed as one of the finding fathers of grime exerted his influence once again by delivering a strong release in March of 2016. Kano has proved to be consistent through his many years in the grime scene and this album does not disappoint. This album carries you on a journey through every corner of England, with the energy on tracks such as ‘Flow Of The Year & ‘’New Banger’’ but Kano also varies his style with more introspective records such as ‘Deep Blues’’. One of three grime albums to make this list, it deserves its place with great validity. Favorite track: Flow of the Year featuring JME. 49: Abz- Kosher Abz In the era of the turn up, it is much harder to find an artist that a regular adolescent can relate to. It’s even harder to find an artist that appreciates the older generation in terms of sonically implementing them into their own sound. Although this release has a consistent laid-back style nearly all the way through, it seems to get better track-by-track. Abz is able to flow over jazzy and soulful instrumentals in a way that sounds almost effortless. Lyrically this project requires your full attention to fully appreciate Abz rapping through chapters in his story. Favorite track: 86 Find the tape here: https://kosherabz.bandcamp.com/album/kshr 48- Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein-Stranger Things Official Soundtrack (Vol 1) If you were a fan of this phenomenal Netflix TV show, listening to this soundtrack will increase your love for the show in another variable, not that you needed any more. It’s special how music, through the ears, can make you relive those moments you observe, through the eyes, when binge watching the mystery of Will Byers. The scorers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein rightly ensure that the soundtrack is heavily 80s influenced in terms of production, just like the TV show itself. A year that was not exactly blessed with plenty of quality soundtrack material, gladly, this helped shed a better light in that department. Favorite track: Kids 47- PNL –Dans le legende Not much is known of this French duo, but their popularity is growing smoothly like a healthy child. Their mysterious nature is captivating audiences to get to know more about them, but their music is doing a lot of speaking currently. Their melodies are something that will catch your attention as soon as you press play, combined with their melancholic song writing, PNL are making a exceptional track record for themselves in the French and international scene. Their first album set them up nicely as it made them breakthrough to the French audience, with radio hits such as ‘DA’ on this album, they have now made the top of charts theirs in France. Favorite track: Tu Sais Pas. 46-Norah Jones- Day breaks In times filled with technology taking over originality, Norah Jones is blessed with a wonderful natural voice that no technology could enhance any better. She has afforded herself the luxury to to dib and dab across genres in her career and she never allows herself to be boxed in or stagnant to one sound. This freedom mentality carries on to her wonderful latest release. Day Breaks may not be an album filled with loud instrumentations or obnoxious production but the jazzy feel all over is strong enough to give this album so much life. Norah Jones as she almost always seems to do, does justice to the classical songs she covers and at the same time bring her own style in perfectly. Topic wise, this album is not all about the romance life and one of the standout tracks ‘’Flipside’’ actually offers great commentary on social issues Favorite track: Don’t Be Denied 45-Noname- Telefone It may be quite surprising that the only new Chiraq rapper that has made this list isn’t a rapper that totes the glock on the daily, well at least, not that we know off. Slowly chopping away with quality features after features on other Chicago rappers such as Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa, it was time Noname attempted to make a name for herself on the main stage. Her awkward, soft and intimate mixtape that is spread with jazz influence has definitely position Noname in a positive light as she progresses as an artist. Favorite track: Diddy Bop featuring Raury & Cam O’bi 44- Kery James- Mouhammed Alix In case you didn’t know, French rap is winning currently and with Kery James, we have the people’s leader. The name of this album should be self-explanatory as to an indication of what’s to come. Hard-hitting, rebellious and relentless are just a few words that you can use to summarize Kery James’s seventh studio album, just like the late great boxer himself. For those unfamiliar with this name Kery James has stayed true to his powerful, politically & socially charged views from the start of his career. A man never afraid to speak his mind of every social issue he has encountered or he is witnessing (Check out Kery James x Bene- L’Impasse) is a trait that continuous on this album. The major themes of this album are smartly balanced as Kery James opens up about his split personality, one that is the peaceful one, the other being the aggressive violent one. ‘’FDT’’ by YG 4hunnid may be the hottest politically charged record this year, but Kery James’s sturdy ‘’Musique Negre’’ cannot go unmentioned in that conversation. This record is aimed at to a French politician who vowed to not allow Hip Hop music or black music to be played in the country if he gained the power, seeming to be not far from the seeds of Donald Trump. What makes this album even better is that Kery James just does not believe that rebelling and violence is the answer but on ‘’ Vivre ou Mourir Ensemble’’ over a calming beautifully laid production, he urges people to unite and work together to improve the way society and the higher powers treat certain races. Powerful album. Favorite track: Mohammed Alix 43- Maren Morris- Hero This record is deemed as a country record, but once you listen to it, you will be telling yourself its much more than just another country record. As a fan of both Hip Hop & R&B, the influences and references appealed to my ears and this is groundbreaking for a country artist, let alone a female one. The production on records like ‘’Rich’’ which got a lot of radio play, may indicate that Maren Morris can be the pole stabbed into the country scene to direct everyone to the path country music is going to take from here on. Morris already seems to have the audience on her side; the success of her singles proves that more people are accepting of this change as country music evolves. Favorite track: 80’s Mercedes 42- Aesop Rock- The Impossible Kid No not A$AP Rocky, Aesop Rock is a Caucasian rapper. One for the acquired taste, Aesop Rock is never going to be the majority’s favorite rapper. No one would know this more than the man himself who is arguably the most abstract rapper around. The Impossible Kid is an album that makes my list for the same reason I rate Aesop Rock so high. Firstly, Rock’s ability to play on words is constantly fascinating and listening to him can be compared to putting together a very challenging puzzle. By having so many projects out with this same tone, it was refreshing to see Aesop Rock tone it down bit more on this release and instead he decides to open up personally more than ever. Once you get all the pieces of the puzzle together for the Impossible Kid, you will find Aesop telling you stories from his brother to his brand new cat ‘’Kirby’’. His never-ending vocabulary enables him to draw you fictional pictures as you listen through and this is one of my favorite assets than an artist can posses, Aesop Rock has this in abundance. It’s easy to forget with what seems like so much hard work with words that Aesop Rock produces most of his tracks and those carry similar complexity to his world play. Favorite track: Lotta Years. 41-$uicideBoys –Radical Suicide (EP) Grimey, tough and eerie production is a full whenever this New Orleans act gets on the microphone, or jungle. This particular style and sound of music seems to be growing and gaining a pocket of hardcore fan base, along with Bones, these two acts give you a dark, drug filled feel but its very unlikely that there is anything more to them than that. The breath control and flow technics of this duo certainly is something to be applauded and get hyped about and this is an well put together exhibition EP of their skill set that I really found a liking towards this year. Favorite track: Goosebumps 40: Weezer- Weezer (The White Album) One of the older alternative rock bands still active in 2016 definitely produced one of my favorite alternative rock albums of the year. Having previously left me underwhelmed in recent years with the quality of their albums, The White Album stands tall and proud above their previous efforts in the at least the last 6 years. This album impressed me in many different aspects, notably, it seemed that the band have found the blessings in disguise of no longer having to compete with a larger pool of relevant alternative rock bands that aims to please a certain demographic and the mainstream radio ears. This has allowed the band to come out with a more likeable and intimate album for every true Weezer fan. Although a track like ‘’California Kids’’ displays sunny vibes like the California sun, most of the album features more heart felt revealing songs about the lead singer’s personal life that is not usually associated with Weezer’s catalogue. Favorite track: L.A. Girlz 39-Vince Staples- Prima Donna EP Following Summer Time 06, NORF SIDE LONG BEACH rapper Vince Staples has risen a lot on everyone’s radar. With this EP, Vince Staples doesn’t shy away from his creative beat selection and production. This very energetic project may get rather exhausting or hard to take everything in at first, but this is perhaps what Vince Staples was aiming for as he stretches his sound and experimentation. As soon as you hear the Andre 3000 sample in the early days of this record it’s hard to stop head bopping throughout as ‘War Ready’ sets you up perfectly for that mood. Favorite track: Pimp Hand 38- Mitski – Puberty 2 Emotions are galore as Mitski takes us for a fascinating walk in her shoes. The maturity and different dimensions in the voice of this 26-year-old indie rock singer is so phenomenal that you’re left with little or no option but to gravitate to her. Once you watch the music video to her award worthy track ‘’Your Best American Girl’’ you can see that Mitski has a very conceptual mind that reflects in the deepness of this album. One for the deeper meaning, this track is heavily influenced by her personal view that makes her even more endearing. If you’re an individual that is suffering or has suffered from racial identity, this should be your go to album. Favorite track ‘’ Your Best American Girl’’ 37- Lil Yachty –Lil Boat On the subject of story telling, short story, Early this past summer, my guy Nnamdi got into my car and played a bunch of cartoon noises that I questioned if this was some sort of troll. A few weeks go by and there I was singing along to this bunch of noise that is titled ‘’Minnesota’’ Lil Yachty’s whole make up is asking for you to hate on him, from his attention grabbing red hair to his mumbling auto tuned lullaby voice. This polarizing view puts Lil Boat in a unique stance, as there was nothing quite like this project in 2016. We all enjoy turning up to Chief Keef and his off springs boasting about catching bodies and carrying glocks over trap and drill beats, but this year, we were introduced to the opposite. Yachty is unashamedly appearing rather innocent and softer as he mourns over his broken heart over more sophisticated trap beats. This project came at the perfect came as hip hop is slowly moving towards a more accepting nature when it comes to a way an artist chooses to express themselves. On the other hand, a project like this will fall well short technically compared to the other projects on this list (E.g. Lil Boat reveled it took him less than ten minutes to finish the loving ballad ‘’One night’’) and this may work against him in the future. For now, its unpredictable how far Lil Yachty and his sound will stay around for but with features such as Broccoli, there are glimmers he could be the birth of the new sound, or he could just be another Fetty Wap and this time next year Lil Boat won’t be on the sailing team. Favorite track: Good day featuring Skippa Da Flippa. 36- Kevin Gates – Islah When Kevin Gates’s Islah debut album went platinum, (barely any features by the way), many eyebrows were raised. Numbers don’t lie though. Helped by the success of ‘’Really Really’’ & ‘’ 2 Phones’’ it seemed like Kevin Gates had finally found the recipe for radio and cross over success. Certainly took him long enough because Gates has been around for some time now without releasing a studio album. Islah, named after his daughter, makes for a very entertaining listen weather you were a Kevin Gates listener prior or a new listener. You will enjoy the thuggish & savage rhyming along with the catchy melodic hooks that Kevin Gates has a skill for. He will never fail to make you laugh on social media or in interviews hence him being one of my favorite characters in the rap scene, but it was pleasing to see him back his talking with music that ended up being very successful. Free Kevin Gates! Favorite track: Pride 35- 2 Chainz- ColleGrove. It’s credit to 2 Chainz that he may have been well worthy of having at least two projects that he released in 2016 in this list. As ColleGrove was the only project officially released as an album, it’s the more suitable pick. The always-working TittyBoy with the help of a hungry Lil Wayne, were able to come up with viral tunes such as ‘’Watch Out’’ but with variety, as songs like ‘’Dedication’’ was more revealing than anything. This duo seems to have a very good chemistry between them as they trade witty, savage & hype bars over bumping trap beats. With production from the likes of Metro Booming, Zaytoven, Lil C & London on da Track, you should know what to expect. Favorite track: Not Invited. 34- The Avalanches – Wildflower It’s been more than a decade since The Avalanches has giving the patient people a full-length project. So when the group finally teased the people with the release of ‘’Frankie Sinatra’’ and it stated that MF DOOM and Danny Brown were involved you already know my hip-hop senses were vibrantly tingling and my anticipation for what this neo psychedelic group would provide this time round when it came to a full album. Not many have better quality ears for music than The Avalanches, evidently this album is heavily sample based and not many are able to incorporate samples into their music as fitting and creatively as this group. This is guaranteed to be one of the more smoother albums released in 2016 that will give you a divine listen. Previously, this group has released much more rough and louder funk sounds but with this album, which has been in the works since 2005, was beautifully crafted for your ears. Favorite track: Because I’m Me 33: Maxwell:blackSUMMERS’night This continuous installment of the Black Summer night is a household favorite already. Maxwell does not constrain himself in the R&B realm as he touches corners of Jazz and Soul with his fantastic vocal ranges. As one of the pioneers of Neo Soul, which he certainly does not get enough credit for, the neo soul and funk implementations into the production gives for such a exhilarating listening session. If you were to just play the instrumentals of this album throughout you would satisfied let alone adding Maxwell’s poet like song writing. His ability to flow and ride the different types of instrumentations on this album makes him one of, if not the best in his lane. There are not too many albums released in 2016 with better vocal performances than this very one. Favorite track: Lake by the Ocean. 32- Ro James- El Dorado Ro James was not on everyone’s radar before the release of his debut album ElDorado, but the album by the ‘’bad boy of R&B’’ became a big statement in the R&B scene in 2016. Covered with quality material from start to finish, this easily became my favorite Male R&B record of the year. Following the release of his radio friendly song ‘’Permission’’, a song influenced by artists like Miguel and Prince with the extreme use of electric guitar, it proved to be a taste of what this album would offer. Ro James does not sound like every other upcoming R&B artist, which is to his benefit as he is able to create his own sound with hints of gospel, rock and soul. This album is filled with catchy lines that are not easy to forget as Ro James shows off his songwriting abilities making him have a very successful year with potential for many more years to follow. 31: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Skeleton Tree Nick Cave’s name is synonymies with topics of tragedies and other depressive symptoms, so it should serve as no surprise if an entire album is in that same lane. Although this may not be very appealing, its a fair warning that once you experience this album, you could be left in a very depressive & confused state, especially when you consider that Nick Cave went through an unfortunate passing of his son in 2015 and that is reflected in the material this band produces with Skeleton Tree. You can almost feel the mourning in Nick’s voice as he translates this into a number of tracks. In some weird fashion, It’s amazing how we can still find beauty in such a gloomy and dark album as this. Favorite track: Skelton Tree 30: K Roosevelt-Neon Haze Continuing on the very spacey vibe following Nick Cave, this album is on the other end of the spacey spectrum. K Roosevelt is able to be more colorful and lively as he unfolds his emotions out on contrasting production. There is no doubting of K. Roosevelt’s ability to sing (Do Me Now has become one of my favorite songs over the past years), but he seems to have taken more time on perfecting his production and sound on this project this time around. Previously, Roosevelt would have just thrown the simple generic R&B production to sing over but the dedication was of much more abundance in Neon haze. The production is very electrically charged that throws you up on a euphoric experience accompanied by the smooth, moving vocals by K. Favorite song: Hello. 29: A Boogie & Don Q- Highbridge the Label: The Takeover Vol. 1 There has been a steady shift in powers for the past decade or so over the demographic face of hip-hop. Well documented, It was held by the East and West for the majority of the 90s until the South finally stood up and grabbed hip hop by the scuffs and they have not let go since. Although the East and West still influence and are producing the big names such as Kendrick and the A$AP & Flatbush movement, every other person in Atlanta may as well claim to be a rapper nowadays as they are the frontrunners and the tastemakers for what the hip hop culture pushes. Atlanta has had another great year providing us with newer trending names like Lil Yachty and 21 Savage while Migos and their off springs (E.g. Rich the kid) all continue to make new trends, weather it’s a dance your Childs fourth grade teacher attempts (dab), or the flow everyone gets ‘’lit’’ to. It reached to the point that even one the hottest songs of 2016 (Panda) could have been performed by an Atlanta rapper and no one would question its origins. Since then of course, we’ve all learnt that Desiigner hails from the streets of Brooklyn, no fault of his, but as a teenager all he is influenced by is Southern movement so unsurprisingly, his sound is going to be of that same root. Bobby Shmurda and his shooters put New York back on the map for a brief period but that didn’t prove long lasting. Recently with the emergence of Young M.A with ‘’Ooouh’’ and nation wide hit records like ‘’Don’t Run’’ by Casanova, its safe to say that New York is making a much louder noise than it has in the past few years, deadass. The duo of A Boogie and Don Q is exactly what you’d want modern day hip-hop duo to come equip with. A Boogie on the one hand carries the catchy melodic tunes that you want to hear in the club, and on the other hand Don Q, much more familiar to the past New York scene is filled with bars in his arsenal. Eventually these two will go in their own paths once they have gained enough popularity and leg space in the hip hop game but their collaborative effort is something I hope to see more often in the future. New New York! Favorite song: Not a Regular Person 28: Joe Budden- Rage & The Machine Joe Budden is character you either hate dearly or love. To say he had a troublesome 2016 would be an understatement. It was a year filled with controversies, from his critique of Drake’s Views to his awkward ‘’beef’’ with Hot 97. Although his fan base thoroughly enjoys Joe Budden’s love lost tales of all the women that have done him wrong, it was time for something different, something more than just ‘break up’ music. You could sometimes forget that Joe has phenomenal ink game, but if he was lacking in that he would never be part of the machine that is Slaughterhouse. Clever lines like ‘’If Fetty (Wap) is the face of New Jerz, then you see how badly we needed I’’ on the opening track of his latest album reminds you that he can wash up any of his peer when it comes to wordplay. With one of my favorite beat makers by his side, Araab Muzik, this was bound to be Joe’s most aggressive album yet. It proved to be that indeed but the Rage that Joe fueled for this album does fortunately not end up coming out forced but rather measured and assured. Taking the stance of one of the older statesmen in the game, Joey comes across more mature than ever but that edginess and hardness does not fade away either. Favorite track: I Gotta Ask. 27: Little Simz- Stillness in Wonderland Even though this album came out pretty late in the calendar year, it still plastered itself on this list quite easily. There had to be something special to Little Simz that the likes of Stormzy, Kendrick Lamar and the mogul himself Jay-Z rate the London rapper so very highly. Little Simz’s qualities as an artist are undeniably and her latest effort will only propel her to higher and bigger heights. This album consists of Simz’s roots of grime, R&B and a recurring role and jazz and soul. At only the tender age of 22, Little Simz has show great creativity in her music and she has the potential to grow into one of the most sought after artists in the industry. She can’t only rap her ass off over a variety of beats ‘’Low Tides’’ but she also has singing abilities in a unique sound that she can claim to be her own style ‘’Doorways’’. She is definitely one to watch. Favorite track: King Of Hearts featuring Chip & Ghetts 26: Nav- The Introduction. All you auto tune-dreaded codeine sipping trap soul impressionists better step up because you’ve got company. The 6ix have thrown up a lot of different big names in the last few years and next up is the mysterious vibe prince Nav. Following the release of Birds In The Trap by Travis Scott, one of the better songs on the album was titlted ‘’Beibs In The Trap’’ and a lot of the plaudit has to go to Nav. Not many have heard of Nav before this feature, perhaps because he was mainly just another beat maker, but it’s a definite that many were rushing to check out his Soundcloud account following that. After the success of a number of tracks he released on Soundcloud he had to do the growing audience some justice and provide some sort of a release, this came in the form of The Introduction, which was filled with stand out moments, namely the Metro Boomin produced track ‘’Up’’. It seems like Young Metro certainly trusts him as the success of Up has the most sought out trap producer right now announcing him and Nav have a project dropping soon. This could be the breakthrough moment for young Nav, if not, it would not be surprising to see Nav on a chorus of a big name record in 2017. Career wise, weather Nav decides to follow the footsteps of many before him by joining the higher powers of Toronto in the shape of the OVO or even The Weeknd’s XO, or he decides to do his own thing, he certainly has the potential to have a big 2017 Favorite track: Ten Toes Down 25- DJ Khaled- Major Key DJ Khaled was someone you could not avoid in 2016 and just like the character himself, his music releases is also something you cannot avoid, as he seems to run your social media. Mogul talk aside, every once in a while DJ Khaled will provide you with a song filled with star names you admire that you end up liking or at least finding decent. Major Key is DJ Khaled’s best effort by far and that is obviously down to the artists he put together around this time. A DJ Khaled album can be compared to the NBA all-star games, star studded and entertaining for the highlight reel but with not much at stake. The first five songs on this album have great replay value, Jay-Z and Future start it right with the energy you expect the rest of the album to follow with ‘‘I Got The Keys’’ followed by ‘’For Free’’ by Drake, it’s a safe bet to predict that these records were going to blow which they did. One of the finest moments of this album comes in the shape of Nas delivering ‘’Nas Album Done’’, over a gorgeous broken down Fugees sample Nas does his best effort to preview his new material hopefully coming in the near future. Followed by Big Sean and Kendrick snapping in a Control part two in a lyrical onslaught, the album seemed to be heading into unbeatable territory, but of course, from that track onwards, the album losses its way and goes on a downward dip with many mediocre pieces. Overall, the first halve of the record is what allows this album to make this list. Favorite track: Nas Album Done 24: Meek Mill- DC4 2015 was a tough year for Meek Mill to say the least and the early days of 2016 seemed to be going in the same directions, it was countless Ls after Ls. People wondered if it was over for the Philly trapper, but Meek Mill stayed in there showed some signs of life, noticeably on his 4/4 Part 2 EP ‘’War Pain’’ record. Although that record came way too late to repair any damage to his career it helped set Meek up to start a new chapter. I It took Meek Mill three whole years to finally give the streets the fourth installment of the Dreamchasers tape. Instagram snippet after another, the people were getting impatient with the delays, It was just time to drop it, but at the same time it had to contain material that was worth the wait as Meek Mill had no ground for error. Once you press play on the first offering ‘’On The Regular’’ and you hear the sadistic O Fourtuna intro and the gunshots, (hopefully not aimed at Beanie Sigel), you could tell Meek Milly was back on his bully, we could all rest easy again. On the feature list, Meek Mill is clearly keeping in tune with the new names in the scene by working with 21 Savage, Don Q and Desiigner adlibs for instance. The ingredients that make up Meek Mill don’t go missing on this project, as he was full of up tempo energy, high-toned rapping, Wraith and Rolex talk. DC4 definitely continued the theme of the Dreamchasers series. Favorite track: Litty featuring Tory Lanez 23: James Blake: The Colour In Anything When Beyoncé made the world stop by dropping ‘’Lemonade’’ and the track list listing featured James Blake, I couldn’t have been the only one hoping for a Blake album in 2016. The three-year gap was sufficient as the previous teaser album made his listeners wanting more. After a number of listens to the 17 track album, though you will appreciate James’s intimacy and darkness, you’re left feeling that many of the songs feel unfinished and at the same time rather lost, which could be the goal James Blake is aiming for, after all Blake does seem lost in the artwork. Blake could be challenging the listener by leaving it to the imagination and the listeners’ own interpretation of his story (Ironically what I happen to be doing now) Overall this album makes for a beautiful listen and Blake’s ideology of not being simple make this piece of art worthy of a mention. Favorite Track: I Need a Forest Fire featuring Bon Iver 22- Kweku Collins- Nat Love It would be interesting to see how many people have heard of this artist before reading this list. Credit should go to me if you decide to check him out. This will be your project if you’re a fan of unorthodox, intimate hip-hop. Full of melancholic vibes that Kweku Collins pockets himself to, Kweku is able to provide you with the way he sees the world in an interesting manner and perhaps in a way you never saw things before. His voice compliments the instrumentation that he usually produces himself and his flows come across rather drowsy but pleasantly, this project actually more live and bouncy than you would think, with elements of Neo Soul, Trap and Funk this young artist should be gaining way more attention than he has currently attracted. Favorite track: Nat’s Intro 21: Kamaiyah- A Good Night In The Ghetto If YG is a contender for the MVP of the west coast right now in the terms in the male category, Kamaiyah is equivalent in the female front. This was one of the projects of 2016 that many went into expecting little or nothing. Firstly because Kamaiyah was not a name people were familiar with. You could be quick to presume judging from the cover art and the title of the tape of expecting another female rapper talking about killing and violence wanting to be the female Ice Cube. If you did then you judged the wrong book by its cover. Instead what you get from Kamaiyah is her giving you fun and happy vibes over old G funk beats as she gave us one of the most fun going releases of the year. Don’t get it twisted though as Kamaiyah still lets you know very clearly she isn’t one to play with from time to time. Her contribution to YG’s ‘’Why You Always Hatin’’ banger just added to her Ws collection this year and this is the album to go to if you are in need to get into the party mood. Kamiayah carefree attitudes will make her very likeable as she continues to grow as an artist. IT’S KAMAIYAHHHHH. Favorite Track: How Does It Feel 20- Travis Scott- Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight Travis Scott may have taken his time in finding and committing to his own sound, but the long titled peculiar Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight can be the final evidence needed to show that he has finally reached that stage of his career. An album that continues to grow on you, songs like ‘’Beibs in the Trap’’, ‘’Through The Late Night’’, ‘’Pick Up The Phone’’ and ‘’Goosebumps’’ were constantly prominent soundtracks for most group of youth friends, weather the setting was a party atmosphere or a chilled night. As if this album needed any more reassurance in its merit to be on this list, Travis’s Rodeo experience on stage performance should kick any doubters out of the picture, or stage. This was a show I was lucky to experience in 2016 and rejuvenated my love for the project. Side note: I weighed this album up against Kanye West’s Life Of Pablo as I considered which of these two should make the final list, although the latter is not one of the worst albums of the year, it’s a great accomplishment to Travis that he outclassed one of his biggest influences at least in my ears. Favorite track: Through The Late Night featuring Kid Cudi 19- Kayatranda- 99.9% This Montreal producer has been making steady groundwork to serve us with 99.9%. Kayatranda seems to be aiming to try everything out in this project and this may not make for a very cohesive listen but the stand out tracks make this project very worthwhile. The blend between the dance electronic vibe and hip-hop influence channels Kayatranda musical taste and he is able to combine the two rather well into his producing output. This isn’t the most captivating project of 2016, but after all, Kayatrnda is a producer that does not require you to use every single bit of your attention to still be able to enjoy his work. Favorite track: Glowed Up featuring Anderson Paak 18: Royce Da 5’9’’- Layers If you claim to be a fan of ‘’hip hop’’, do yourself a favour and listen to ‘’Tabernacle’’. This has instantly become one of my favorite hip hop songs in history that it goes up there Slick Rick’s Children Story and Immortal Technique’s Dance with the Devil in terms of story telling rap songs. Royce da 5’9’’ seems to be getting greater by age and he will most probably go down in history without getting the credit he deserves. He caters to his followers and his followers appreciate his abilities, and this album is up there with his best yet. Layers will position you to a point in life where you have the best perspective on the major things in your life, from money, family (he goes into detail about his son that suffers from autism and how he deals with that) and society. Beforehand, a younger Nickel would have solely provided you with clever punch lines after clever punchlines, even though you will be impressed, its even more impressive that he now carries the full package and the different layers, pun intended, of making a good quality song. We can all agree that hip hop is in its most eccentric state, with all the melodic and exuberant tunes at the forefront, which is not a criticism or a negative factor because at the end of the day there is a time and place for every type of hip hop expression. Layers though, is an album that you sit down with and if you were lucky enough to grow up listening to conscience hip hop music you will find this experience the most valuable of them all. The importance of a superb pen game cannot be underestimated and Layers by Royce Da 5’9 is what made many of us fall in love with this genre in the first place. Favorite track: Tabernacle 17- De La Soul- And The Anonymous Nobody… Many most have thought they were dreaming when they heard that De La Soul were producing a brand new album in 2016. Filled with uncertainty weather the group would attempt to force their old sound in a much more evolved times, De La Soul were able to fusion the old and new together beautifully as they reminded everyone why they will always be one of the best music makers period. De La Soul were known to be different and more vibrant even in their heydays. Surrounded with violent Hip Hop groups like Wu Tang and NWA previously, De La Soul always decided to be themselves, even though they expected backlash and being often seen as softer or ‘’weird’’ in the 90s. This album is excellently put as De La Soul keep some of their roots and old school vibe but they don’t ignore the possibility of incorporating the newer sound into their production and live instrumentation. ‘’Whoudeeni’, featuring 2 Chainz (who would have ever thought) is a perfect example of the overview of the album, with 2 Chainz rhyming on his usual topics over production he would not normally be accustomed to. Fair warning, this is not an album you can rush through but it requires active listening to understand the complete concept and for you to appreciate the complete package. De La Soul have made a huge impact on people’s lives when they were in the forefront of hip hop and those same people still Favorite track: Memory Of…(US) featuring Estelle & Pete Rock 16- Giggs- Landlord If Danny Brown has a distinctive voice, Giggs is in the same bracket. One of the most respected names in the grime scene, Giggs flexes and delivers one of the best grime albums of the year. ‘’Lock Doh’’ became a hit record with Giggs flowing over at the simplest of flows and lyrics, but this banger, aided with his unique raspy voice, will get everyone around you hype. The lead single is the accurate representation of the album, banger after banger and material to play at full volume. Favorite track: Whippin Excursion 15. Ab Soul- Do What Thou Wilt (DWTW) The consensus agrees that Beyoncé carried the women empowering music in 2016 which should come as no surprise, but what is rather surprising is that an alternative Hip Hop version of women empowering album would come from none other than the TDE’S black lip pastor Ab-Soul. After going dark for what seemed a while, people started questioning Soulo’s place amongst his TDE peers. Even though he may be the wildcard of TDE, no one would question Ab-Soul’s potential to produce an excellent album, so when he finally came out of the woods with ‘’Huey Knew’’ you knew something that was worth the wait was on its way. This is a very abstract album, it makes you dissect everything starting with the title of the album for starter and his countless manipulation of words. The album deserves loud credits as Soul may have only a small number of talking points, mainly women, religion and drugs but he manages to find a new way to be creative and not allow the listener to get bored. Soul’s does tend to be confusing as he can be conscience and ignorant in the space of two songs, but this album comes out much more balanced than his previous releases. Favorite track: God’s A Girl 14-1975- I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It Manchester is known to be one the most talented cities musically and this it continues to provide artists, bands especially, that go down in history as the greatest. Although that’s a lot of pressure for the 1975 to live up to, if they continue to produce fantastic funky pop album like their 2016 release, they will create their own lane. With Matthew Healy’s awkwardly beautiful voice accompanied with electrifying instrumentations this is one of the finest pop albums of the year. Favorite track: Somebody Else 13: Lil Uzi Vert- Lil Uzi Vs The World Lil Uzi is really the modern day charismatic rockstar in every sense. His first project Luv is Rage is not the easiest pill to swallow, but once the pills do kick in, you cannot get enough of his squeaky, high-pitched melodic voice. Lil Uzi vs The world is not the most groundbreaking or creative project released in 2016, in fact it is very simple, it still makes for a much more enjoyable listen than the rest of Lil Uzi’s ‘’mumble rap’’ peer’s releases. The production, by Maaly Raw, Don Cannon and Metro Boomin is as colorful as the artwork for the tape, with cuts like P & Qs sounding like the theme song for the next Cartoon Network show. This is nowhere near the hardest put together project this year but the lightness and the smooth transitions from track to track makes this a favorite of mine. Favorite track: You Was Right 12: The Get Down- Official Soundtrack- Various artists A TV show like The Get Down where music is the vocal point and theme desperately needed some sort of a soundtrack, and it got one that did justice. The Get Down for those living under a rock is a show focused on the roots of hip-hop and the emergence of this art form, and although many attempts of this have fell short previously, this is by far one of the best attempts. For one, it actually takes you back and you almost forget you’re not an Afro kid from the Bronx as you get invested in the show. The soundtrack itself features a mix of throwback songs like ‘’Bad Girls’’ by Donna Summer and a bunch of original well-crafted records. This is the same composer that worked on the fantastic Great Gatsby soundtrack therefore Baz Luhrmann’s pedigree is well documented and he can definitely hold this soundtrack high amongst his collection. With wise heads like Nas by his side Baz was able to deliver one of the best soundtracks of the year. Favorite track: Zeke’s Poem (I Am the One) 11- Mac Miller-Divine Femine You may play this Mac Miller’s Divine Feminine and not realize that there is a change of track as the album follows the same theme in terms of production and topic wise all the way through. Oddly, this doesn’t come across too terrible or underwhelming. This has a lot to do with how honest and perhaps vulnerable Mac Miller comes across on this album. Mac expresses his thoughts on relationships that are helped to come to live sonically with the pretty stunning jazz influence throughout. No better example than the lead single ‘’Dang’’ featuring Anderson. Paak Jazz is seemingly the major production influence in current hip-hop albums, with Chance The Rapper, Kendrick Lamar and Anderson Paak carrying heavily jazz influenced projects to name a few. This is a pleasing pattern that the culture is pushing. The Divine Feminine could be categorized as one of the few love hip hop albums made and although this won’t be an album to always play, when the time is right, this will get you in that cuffing season vibe. Favorite track: God Is Fair, Sexy Nasty featuring Kendrick Lamar 10- Kendrick Lamar-Untitled Unmastered. PIMP PIMP, HOORAY! When your jam sessions make it into the album of the year discussion, you know you’re in the elite. Kendrick’s ear for music gives him the edge over his peers in my opinion. His jazz and funk influence seems to be getting greater by each year that it has almost become a trademark of his. Untitled Unmasetered came as a pleasant surprise. The always-kicking knowledge Kendrick continues to offer the people jewels and is grateful enough to allow us a peek of his vision of the world and its issues. There is no other project quite like it in this list and following To Pimp a Butterfly, this can be pinned in perfectly as either a tease for what’s to come or an end to this sound for Kendrick as he continue to grow as a person and artist. Favorite track: Untitled 07 (2014-2016) 9- Skepta- Konnichiwa With a very strategic BBK team behind him, Skepta seems to be very detailed and strategic with every move he makes as an artist, perhaps due to him currently holding the baton for the grime culture, but his moves have helped him crossover internationally as he continues to do big shows across the world and be acquainted with the likes of Kanye West and Drake. After a number of delays, Skepta finally gave us Konnichiwa this year. This only negative critique this album may carry is that a number of the cuts such as ‘’Shutdown’’ or ‘’That’s Not Me’’ and a few more singles have been out for a year or even more so the quantity seemed lacking as the album only contained 12 tracks. Apart from that, everything else about the album is really well done. The grime influence is as heavy as it should, with aggression throughout on tracks like ‘’It Aint Safe’’ or ‘’ Man (Gang)’’. Not one for the most complex of lyrics, Skepta is always able to spray simple bars with his signature delivery and flow over complex production. This makes for a beautiful sounding combination. Skepta is definitely the leader of grime now and his every move is in the microscope but where Skepta can go from here can be groundbreaking for the UK. Sidenote: Seeing Skepta perform this album live made me appreciate the material even more and this moved the album higher in my ranks than initially. Favorite track: It Ain’t Safe Featuring Young Lord 8- Run The Jewels – RTJ 3 Better late than never. It seemed like the year would close and EL-P and Killer Mike had decided that their third installment of the Run the Jewels frenzy would come out in 2017, but just a few days before the end of the year, out of the blue, it was made for digital download right in the mist of the festive period. There is not a better project to close 2016 off than this fantastic piece of work. Following 2016’s frantic year in terms of racial divide and many other political and social issues, you needed the wise heads of this duo to provide some sense and guidance to everything on current affairs through sounds. It’s hard to bring up a better duo in the hip-hop demography that have consistently dropped three back-to-back projects that have been this well received. It’s big credit to the chemistry and understanding the two MCs have off each other. Their timing when it comes to rhyming as to when they trade bars or fill each other’s spaces never seems congested or force, it rather comes out well timed and coordinated as the two rappers feed off each other’s energy phenomenally. This is the closest album that represents the state of the political state of America and EL-P and Killer Mike’s views are perspectives everyone can take something valuable from. In terms of production, this album is on another level, its safe to say Run The Jewels now have their own sound and that sound is generated by their high tempo nature and their energetic production and rapping. This would be the suitable candidate for riot music, but its also important to observe the finer details in terms of their artistry, the duo can leave you amazed at their abilities. I have only had a handful of days to sit down with this album and you may question weather it came too late to make it to this list, but I’ll have to disagree and stand firmly that this album is one of the standout albums of the year. Favorite track: A Report To The Shareholder Kill Your Masters 7 -Danny Brown- Atrocity Exhibition After hating his high-pitched repetitive voice after the first listen, XXX may be in my top 5 favorite albums in the past 6 years and that immediately made Danny Brown a household name in my playlist. The Pharcyde aside it was hard to compare Danny Brown close to anyone else, this made him really unique. Old was a rather disappointing follow up project to such but his continuous experimentation of his sound will always lead to some hits and misses. After going quite for a while Danny Brown provided us with ‘’Pneumonia’’ and ‘’Really Doe’’ as teasers of what to expect, extraordinary music. This is the most complex hip-hop album of 2016 along with Death Grips in terms of production. It ranges from harsh & tight progressions and percussions in the production to raw, weird but exciting pitched flows provided by Danny Brown. His explosive delivery throughout gives for the most thrilling listens that will exhaust you at the end, anchored by material that is so compelling. Danny Brown does exceptionally well to put everything together into an album that comes across in some way cohesive. Favorite track: Golddust 6:Death Grips- Bottomless Pit Is this a bunch of noise or geniuses at work? That’s the priceless question around Death Grips. Experimental hip hop finds it hard to state a claim in the hip hop genre and it seems like Death Grips are the most successful of the bunch currently. Everything about Death Grips is odd but that oddness is their biggest attraction and they seem to be trying to stretch oddness to its full width. With Death Grips, you’re never going to get the same project back to back so you almost have to come into the project with zero expectations, after all they are always experimenting. They mixed up all the right potions this time around with the release of Bottomless Pit, which starts off with even heavier production than usual, even for Death Grips, which should be a feat that is pretty deafening aye. ‘’The Money Store’’ was ground breaking as it introduced Death Grips, but this project is even more ground breaking in terms of experimenting with all versions and dimensions of sound and how challenging the trio decided to push. It’s impossible to miss the alienated production of eerie guitar strings to the extremely powerful bass and drums. In terms of experience, the fifth track on this album ‘’EH’’ allows for a breather as it’s toned down ever so slightly but that doesn’t last long as the following track flips you totally upside down into the Bottomless Pit, true definition of a roller coaster experience. Overall this is a very excellent project that has little faults and those faults should be allowed because of the risk Death Grips take in terms of experimenting with sound. Side note, I wonder what state a person would be after playing this album followed by Danny Brown’s Atrocity Exhibition. Favorite track: Eh 5- Denzel Curry-Imperial Putting water bottle flip challenges aside for a moment, Miami powerhouse Denzel Curry is now one of the more popular up and coming new artists. Imperial is one the albums that captivates you from the first play, as soon as Denzel Curry’s energetic alien like rapping starts off, he immediately gravitates to you, but he is able to add hooks full of hype that will fill you with energy. Although he may get pretty repetitive and it would be difficult to listen to the same loud, sophisticated flow over a full-length album it was tolerably as this was the first project many outside his ever growing fan base have heard from Curry. He does even tone it down on ‘’’Story No Title’’ & ‘’Pure Enough’’ where Curry is being introspective which is something that will be interesting to see more off, as he carries a lot of compelling stories about his life. This is an impressive effort by Denzel Curry and it would be interesting to see if Curry can diverse some more. He certainly carries sensational flow when rapping that gives him an edge over his peers in that department. In fact, its almost sounds inhumane how relentless Denzel Curry flows and at the same time his delivery is consistent throughout. A machine. Favorite track: Knotty Head featuring Rick Ross 4- Schoolboy Q- Blank Face LP Better and better. This should be the synonymous with Q’s discography and Blank Face continues the growing upwards curve as Q gave us one of the better hip hop albums of 2016. Apart from Q’s and Miguel attempt to emulate the hit groovy record ‘’Studio’’ from Q’s first studio album Oxymoron, every other record on this album is a favorite of many. Gang banging and drug dealing is not something we all relate to but this album makes you feel like you’re walking down the Figg Side streets with 40 of your hood comrades. Sonically, the psychedelic production throughout this album makes for a quite enjoyable trippy listen aided by the grimey vocals by Q. Content wise, it was wise that Q did not decided to tell us the same stories as Oxymoron, but instead he offers refreshing tales of his whole life, from a child born into the street life to becoming one of the most prominent hip hop names is present time. Favorite track: By Any Means 3- Childish Gambino- Awaken, My Love In the sports world of cricket, an all rounder is one of the most coveted assets to posses. Having quality further helps this versatility to be valuable to the team. A cricket expert would throw you the names of Imran Khan or Andrew Flintoff as examples. In the world of art, the name Childish Gambino or Donald Glover would be a fair enough comparison. With the success of his new show, Atlanta, Donald was already receiving rave reviews for work he did on the new hit show. Music was put aside and not many were predicting any music for a while, especially with him hinting of retiring as a rapper. Childish Gambino decided to show case his versatility by giving the people the most diverse album in his catalogue. With the success of Grammy Nominated Because Of The Internet, it was always interesting to see how Gambino would follow up. With Awaken, My Love, he followed up brilliantly, but in a whole different road. Because Of The Internet, despite it being a concept album, would still be in the Hip Hop category, but Gambino’s latest album can be anything but hip hop. With heavy funk and soul production by his long time friend Ludwig, Gambino has made one of the best modern day funk album. With outstanding vocals, which was always present in his previous albums, Donald Glover sounds much more mature and enlightening than talking about being the awkward rich kid. The production on this album is something that should carry the biggest praise about this album and this is another moment that Donald is able to prove that his talents range across many many areas of entertainment Favorite track: Redbone 2:Solange: A Seat at The Table If this is your favorite album of the year, there hardly any reason to argue with that preference. The impact this album alone had speaks volumes of phenomenal piece of art Solange was able to deliver. Along with her sister, A Seat at The Table was the talk of the towns for a long duration of 2016. It will be easy to compare Lemonade and A Seat at the Table for obvious reasons, but the latter detailed the Black American culture in a much more gorgeous and understandable fashion. Solange’s angel like innocent voice accompanied by the neo soul, R&B production sound makes for the most soothing of listens. Solange is able to come across laid back while she touches on heavy political and personal topics from police brutality to racial issues. This is outstanding and works wonders as her message and words come across very powerful, loud & clear. With Master P helping narrate and put the pieces of the album together, songs like ‘’Cranes in The Sky’’ and ‘’Don’t Touch My Hair’’ are one of the best records that have been made in years. This album is even more sensational as at the start of the year, no one would have predicted Solange to have the stand out year that she ended up having. Fully deserved. Favorite track: Don’t You Wait 1: A Tribe Called Quest- We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service With rumors of members not getting alone and the unfortunate passing of Phife Dawg, the world was left thinking that was the last nail to the Tribe Called Quest album coffin cabinet, in the sense that we would never live to see another project by A Tribe Called Quest. So when murmurs of the group releasing a brand new album emerged, it was suddenly one of the best news the year would witness. Similarly to De La Soul and their hiatus, it was impossible to predict what a Tribe album would sound like in 2016. Was it going to be forced? Was it going to sound outdated? What’s a Tribe album without Phife? These were many of the keen questions surrounding this album. The answer to all those questions were simply answered by ‘We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service’’. This album wastes no time in making a first impression, with the opening track ‘’The Space Program’’, as soon as the voices of Q Tip and Phife Dawg emerges with ‘’It’s time to go left and not right’’ and that booming production comes through, you’re just left in awe followed quickly by the nostalgic feels of the old Tribe. Not only does Tribe easily have mine and many others favorite album of the year, they take my favorite song of the year too with ‘’We The People’’ the drums in the production hit you so hard, combined with the trios views on the current state of America with race tensions. This could not have been more perfectly timed. Its exceptional that Tribe managed to reinvent themselves many years later but they still manage to give you the Tribe Called Quest feeling of the 90s. This album is very special, there are so many layers to the sound and the message that Tribe are providing that the listener will continue to catch on new things after every listen. With actual Phife verses, it’s very hard to find a detail on this album to criticize. Every feature on the project did not seem out of place. Tribe take us on a time travelling trip, from the 90s dungeon dragon Busta Rhymes to Andre 3000 and Q Tip trading bars like it’s a heaven match. And if Tribe were to feature one of the newer school rappers, it had to be Kendrick Lamar. This is an album that will become timeless. Favorite track: We The People Worthy mentions that missed out Kanye West- Life of Pablo YG- Still Brazy Kid Cudi- Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Roy Woods- Waking at Dawn Belly- Another Day in Paradise Future- Purple Reign Young Thug- SS3 Sturgill Simpson- A Sailor's Guide To Earth NAO-For All We Know Isaiah Rashad- The Sun's Tirade Eden- I Think You Think Too Much Of Me The Monkees- Good Times! Wolfie- 8 Ball Sky zoo & Apollo Brown- The Easy Truth Ras Kass- Intellectual Property II Tank- Sex, Love & Pain II Yung Lean- Frost God Tory Lanez- I Told You Vic Mensa- There's A lot Going On Zayn Malik-Mind of Mine