Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums of 2020
It all comes down to this. The final list of list week 2020; Next year I will absolutely not be doing this the week of Christmas. What a ridiculous mess of a schedule I have made for myself. However, we still got to the list that makes me the most excited. This is my personal top ten hip-hop albums of the year. This is the one blatantly subjective article I will be making this year. I looked through every hip-hop release from this year and compiled a list of every album I had listened to. The list was shorter than I expected but still a lengthy one that made cutting down to ten pretty much impossible. I have two honorable mentions, one because it deserves the praise and the other because I loved it but I recognize it is actually not that great of an album. I tried to put overall quality higher up on the list relatively, however there are fantastic albums that did not make my list due simply to me not enjoying them as much as I should have, or because I did not get around to listening to them until too late in the year for me to fully appreciate them. Albums that come to mind are the clipping. album and the Blu & Exile project; Though these projects are fantastic and if you haven’t heard them please go listen.
My two honorable mentions are The Allegory by Royce da 5’9” and Translation by Black Eyed Peas. The Allegory is a deeply personal album that covers everything from being Black in America to Royce’s childhood. There are some very solid features on the album and it is a great project back to front. However there are some anti-vaxxer bars on the album and it made it really hard to put this album in my top ten because of that. As for Translation, the album is this very fun, weird crossover between Latin pop, hip-hop, and 80’s synth pop/R&B. That last genre comes mostly from the samples that are very prominent on the album. It is by no means a musically brilliant album and the rapping is nowhere near the best of their careers, but it is a very enjoyable listen and makes me want to dance. What more could you want?
Number 10: Restoration - Lecrae
If you don’t see yourself as religious or a very devout Christian, some of this album will be tough to get through if not just downright annoying. However, if you can look past some of the more deeply reverent tracks, this album has a lot of great rap songs on it. John Legend features on the emotional and raw “Drown,” and BJ the Chicago Kid features on the soulful “Only Human” that is about exactly what you think it is about. “Deep End” has been on constant rotation for me since this album came out, and there are just a lot of really great songs here. The sound is new with a lot of acoustic instrumentation over trap drums and it all just works. It really is hard to see past the label of “Christian Hip-Hop” but I promise it is worth the risk.
Number 9: Music To Be Murdered By - Eminem
I am lumping in both discs of this album into this entry. The first album has some more higher quality tracks on it like “Godzilla” and “Darkness,” but Side-B has the much more fun sound to it. If you take the twenty best tracks from this thirty-six track behemoth of a double album, I think the album would crack the top five. However we get a lot of filler between some of the stellar highlights and it brings the album’s ranking down. I still thoroughly enjoy hearing Eminem evolve his sound to the modern era and working more and more with producers like Boi-1da. I would recommend not listening to all thirty-six tracks in one sitting, but definitely give both sides a listen.
Number 8: Spirit World Field Guide - Aesop Rock
Do you enjoy listening to music while tripping on acid? Well boy do I have an album for you! I wrote a review for this album and I would recommend going and reading that to get my full thoughts as they have not changed, but I enjoy this album thoroughly. The beats are mostly wild, futuristic sounding, synth and guitar led bangers that transport you to the plane that Aesop is rapping about. Even though Aesop has been doing this for a very long time, his rapping just gets better. His story telling is not on par with The Impossible Kid but that is due to the more abstract nature of the verses he is laying down on this album.
Number 7: Limbo - Aminé
After roughly eighteen months away from hip-hop, Aminé came back with what may be his best album to date. Aminé’s sound is as varied as it has been throughout his career as he delves more whole-heartedly into pop and alt sounds. “Compensating” and “Shimmy” are the headliners on the album and they are a couple of the best tracks of the year. They also couldn’t be more different as the former is an autotune laden pop-rap track featuring Young Thug, and the latter is an old school hip-hop banger with an equally old school sample. “Fetus” is a surprisingly touching track featuring Injury Reserve that really hits you in a way you aren’t expecting from two artists more known for their bangers than their emotional ballads. This album is extremely well rounded is my point.
Number 6: Legends Never Die - Juice Wrld
This is Juice Wrld’s best album in my opinion. He does all the things on this project that you expect him to and that he is best at. The rock flare on the back end on the track “Man of the Year” is a lovely little taste of things that could have been coming. As posthumous albums go, this is everything you could have wanted and certain tracks like “Conversation” become hard to listen to without getting emotional. This may be the last real project we get that Juice had some creative input on other than through lyrics.
Number 5: Spilligion - Spillage Village
JID, 6lack and EARTHGANG have come to take us all to church. This time I am a willing participant. The album centers around themes of religion, police brutality, growing up in the ghetto, and the world ending all around us. Just about every track on this album tells a story and serves a purpose. The album listens like a gospel for a new sect of Christianity. The kickoff song “Baptize” cracked my top ten tracks of the year list, “Judas” reminded us how great Chance the Rapper can be, and “End of Daze” pondered on what they would do if the world just up and ended, which it felt like it was going to at various points throughout the year. We are beginning a run of albums throughout the top five that came out at the perfect time and captured a feeling in the way other albums released this year did not. This is the first in that run.
Number 4: Run The Jewels 4 - Run The Jewels
Speaking of albums released at the perfect time to capture a feeling, Run The Jewels continue their streak of absolutely crushing everything they try their hand at with their fourth release as a group. The album has your classic RTJ bangers like “ooh la la,” produced by DJ Premier, or “out of sight” which features 2 Chainz. The best track on the album I highlighted in my top ten songs list (catching a theme) and is absolutely perfect for the type of money hungry society we live in today. El-P comes through with some of his most daring production yet, and still it is somehow held back and reserved in places. The sound is less the all out banger heaven that the past couple projects have been, and more focused on complementing whatever artists they have on the tracks. Killer Mike is at the peak of his powers too, dropping bar after bar of amazing insight and really taking every listener to school about being Black and trying to get a leg up on the rest of the world when you start so far down the totem pole. The album is back to front spectacular with not a single song of filler. It is truly a spectacular listen.
Number 3: Unlocked - Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats
Short, sweet and to the point, this album gets into your ears and out of your head all in the matter of twenty five minutes or less. Kenny Beats continues to be one of the most diverse producers in the game, making beats that compliment the artists he’s working with while simultaneously pushing them to adapt and improve their sounds. Pair this with a guy like Denzel who is constantly tweaking his sound and playing with the way his music is composed and you have a match made in heaven. This album leaves you wanting so much more and there is no higher endorsement than that. It is a short listen and well worth it to hear the insane way these two come together and truly make music that just makes you repeatedly say “Damn” with stink face.
Number 2: Alfredo - Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist
The Alchemist is batting 1.000 this year and it brings joy to my heart. Everything he has touched has been brilliant and this is the peak. Luckily it happens to have one of the most consistently brilliant rappers going on the other end of it. Freddie Gibbs has been putting out brilliant album after brilliant album for about six years now. This might not be the best in that bunch, but it belongs right up at the top. This album came out during the peak of the protests that were going on around the US in response to the death of George Floyd and decades of systemic racism and abuse by the people sworn to protect minorities. The album covers all the topics you would expect from a Gibbs album while also touching on the more topical side of the political spectrum, and really getting to the heart of what it is to be Black in America. A couple of artists did that this year, but none did it with the lyrical excellence of Freddie Gibbs. This album is another that leaves you wanting more by the end of it. For about two weeks I have been trying to put together this list and up until typing this entry, Alfredo was number one.
Number 1: Circles - Mac Miller
This is an emotional pick and I do not care one bit. This album was my number two album for as long as I can remember. It is genuinely that good. The album has a cohesive sound and a plan from start to finish that most of the projects on this list actually lack. The album is also Mac Miller’s finest work as an artist. We may never get another Mac album, and frankly I think that would be okay. This album has everything you could ever want. Mac is doing a bit more singing and soft rhythmic speaking than he is actual rapping on this project, but it all works and fits together like a neat little puzzle. Sure one or two of the tracks fall a bit flat, but the majority of everything here has an emotional payoff that genuinely makes you feel like what you just listened to was a piece of Mac’s soul that he left on this earth just for us.
Mac’s passing does have an influence on this album. It makes songs like “Good News” that much more visceral to hear. “Blue World” is a respite of upbeat sounds with a dark undertone in its themes that pairs here brilliantly. “Hand Me Downs” is absolutely bone chilling to listen to as it is about having someone to pass things down to (a child) and the fact that Mac never had a child just breaks your heart. Mac will break your heart twenty-three times throughout this album, but at the same time, he will also make you feel like even though you are experiencing this pain, everything will be okay. The world will still be spinning and you are strong enough to get through it. Mac had his demons and eventually lost to them, but this project does everything it can to help those struggling get through in a way that Mac couldn’t.
At the end of the day, a truly beautiful soul made a stunningly beautiful piece of art and I don’t know if this world deserved it; but I know damn well that a lot of people in this world needed it. For that, Malcolm James McCormick, we thank you. We miss you Mac.