10. Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial

“You have no right to be depressed!” lead singer Will Toledo shouts in the chorus of the first track on Teens of Denial. As somebody who has dealt with being depressed at different points in my life, in spite of having one of the cushiest lives in all of recorded human history, this is a line that sticks with me throughout the entire album. Teens of Denial is a near 70 minute sprawl of lo-fi, indie rock goodness that explores Toledo’s transition from emotional turmoil to a state of nihilism as he entered early adulthood. With a majority of the tracks being longer than 4 minutes (and many being longer than 5), this album can get a little too big for its britches, but if you’re willing to be patient with the individual tracks, you’ll be rewarded with a pretty awesome album for your angsty inner high school kid, but with much more substance than you’d get from projects that that kid would listen to.

Notable Tracks: Fill in the Blank, Destroyed By Hippie Powers, The Ballad of the Costa Concordia

9. Solange Knowles – A Seat at the Table

It’s no surprise that race relations were going to take the forefront in 2016. Given precursors like Black Lives Matter, this year’s Oscars, and the generally divisive language of this year’s election, it was only natural that musicians responded through their work. Solange Knowles’ neo-soul album, A Seat at the Table enters the conversation of race and culture from an intimate, personal, perspective. It’s tough to really pinpoint the emotional tenor of this project. While there are moments of anger (on songs like “Mad” or “Interlude: Pedestals”), to say this album is a display of Knowles’ anger sells short the emotional intelligence of this project. On tracks like “Cranes in the Sky” and “Weary,” Knowles is laying her pain to bare at the current state of race relations of soothing string arrangements. The interludes of interviews that are dispersed throughout the project offer these incredibly personal accounts of the minority experience in America. A Seat at the Table is an emotionally moving experience. While this album might be uncomfortable to listen to for some, if there is any album on this list that you walk away with listening to, please let it be this project. If there is any take away from this album it’s the quote off of “Interlude: Tina Taught Me” which reads: “It really saddens me when we’re not allowed to express that pride in being black, and if you do it’s considered being anti-white…You’re just pro-black, and that’s okay, the two don’t go together.”

Notable Tracks: Weary, Cranes in the Sky, Interlude: Tina Taught Me, F.U.B.U.,

8. ScHoolboy Q – Blank Face LP

The individual songs on Blank Face LP feel much more ambitious than on Q’s previous efforts. The production is eerie, and the beats are never content with staying in one spot for too long as they progress and change throughout a song, see tracks like “Groovy Tony/Eddie Kane” and “Kno Ya Wrong” for the best examples of this. Q does well to keep true to his aggressive style on several tracks, while also trying out different types of deliveries to keep his listener interested, like the sexy sounding “WHateva U Want” or the toe tapping “Big Body”. Q’s ability to talk about the same subjects from several different perspectives (most notably his glorification then criticism of gang lifestyle), helps make Q’s case as one of hip hop’s most complete perspectives. Even with as high of a rating as I gave this album, it is not without its faults. Kanye’s feature on “THat Part,” is so bad, it’s like having to sit through watching your dad get beat up. I’ll never understand why the Black Hippy remix didn’t just end up being the version they went with. And the album feels like it should have ended about two songs early since Anderson .paak provides such a natural conclusion with his feature on the track “Blank Face”. All in all, great album, all hip hop fans should give this record a spin.

Notable Tracks: Groovy Tony/Eddie Kane, Kno Ya Wrong, Str8 Ballin, Black THoughts

7. Jeff Rosenstock – WORRY

Pop punk has been an ugly mark on the otherwise rich, diverse landscape of 2016 music. Blink-182 tried to stay relevant with a safe release, Good Charlotte complained about auto-tune (while using auto-tune mind you), Sum 41 bemoaned the death of real music and decided that was enough to cover up the fact that they weren’t doing anything groundbreaking, even Green Day made a by-the-numbers release with Revolution Radio. But then one time lead singer of Bomb the Music Industry followed up his 2015 project, We Cool?, with a bold, raucous 37 minutes of pop-punk goodness on the album WORRY. From front to back, you are taken on a journey that every soul searching millennial can identify with. Jeff is going through the struggle of a stagnant life, a longing for his dwindling youth, and impassioned cries like “We don’t want to live inside a hellhole!” that so many people my age feel justified in screaming when they’re looked down upon by their elders or peers who are “above it all”. And the closing track “Perfect Sound Whatever” is a phenomenal closing track that ties it all up with a wakeup call that reminds us that “Perfect always takes so long/Because it don’t exist/It doesn’t exist”. Jeff Rosenstock gives me hope that there is a place for good rock music in the contemporary music landscape.

Notable Tracks: Staring Out the Window at Your Old Apartment, Wave Goodnight to Me, HELLLLHOOOOLE, Perfect Sound Whatever

6. Jay IDK – Empty Bank

Jay IDK follows up his intriguing debut Subtrap with the unofficial sequel Empty Bank. It’s another hip hop album about money, but not in a traditional hip hop sense. Imagine if you took “Wesley’s Theory” off of To Pimp a Butterfly and stretched it out into a whole project, that’s what Empty Bank feels like. We open with “Mr. Mills” performed by an optimistic Jason Mills (Jay’s real name) with a light, progressive beat filled with acapella harmonies as he tells us about how he’s finally starting to find success in his career as a musician. As the track closes, Jason receives a call from a collection agent who pop’s in and out throughout the remainder of the project and continues to harass him about making payments on his overdue debts. One of my favorite moments on Empty Bank is the song “She Blocked Me/Brian Arsenal” which has a critique of romantic relationships, the societal expectation of male stoicism, and struggling to distinguish between people that care for you, and who care for your status. This album really captures the image of a modern struggling artist while allowing his fans behind the curtain to see how the other half truly lives.

Notable Tracks: Mr. Mills, Priorities Pt. 1, SOMEBODY, How Long/Last Song 2 (Outro)

5. Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth

I’m not a country guy, no amount of “Wagon Wheel” or “Chicken Fried” will ever change that opinion for me. That being said, Sturgill Simpson put out one of the most thoughtful, genre defining albums this year with A Sailor’s Guide to Earth. The album keeps the rural Americana imagery and family values, but diverts from conventional country with blaring trumpets, funky drums, and even a challenge to devout patriotism that is so dominant in mainstream country (See the song “Sea Stories” with lines like “Just another enlisted egg/In the bowl for Uncle Sam’s beater.”). The album opens with “Welcome To Earth (Pollywog),” an intimate love letter to Simpson’s newborn son, but it plays like a proclamation to the world (think “Circle of Life” and Simba’s birth) with its bombastic arrangement that dares to be ignored. A Sailor’s Guide to Earth is a powerful statement of a record in a genre that has grown to be comfortable and complacent in the lane it occupies.

Notable Tracks: Welcome To Earth (Pollywog), Keep it Between the Lines, In Bloom

4. Margaret Glaspy – Emotions and Math

Addressing relationships and their messy nature is as fruitless of an effort as combining emotions and math. Margaret Glaspy’s first full length album, Emotions and Math, could not be more appropriately titled. The project is a series of vignettes about romantic relationships, most often about the mental gymnastics that transpires when we ignore what we should do in favor of what we want to do. “No Matter Who” shows us a pair of lovers that drift apart due to the false assumption that their other half is no longer interested. “You Don’t Want Me” is a track about dealing with the insecurity of dating somebody you perceive to be out of your league, and thus leading to the destruction of that relationship because you assume you aren’t worthy of that person’s affection. And who better to deliver these heartbreaking messages than the petite, unassuming, Margaret Glaspy? And let’s not forget “Memory Street”.  Glaspy’s vocals on this track are haunting, they sound like something straight out of a dingy dive bar in New York. Emotions and Math is not a break-up album, rather it’s the album you listen to after the dust settles that offers a fresh perspective for those complicated emotions.

Notable Tracks: Emotions and Math, Memory Street, You Don’t Want Me

3. YG – Still Brazy

Whoever says that “real rap” (whatever that means) doesn’t exist anymore never gave YG a chance. Still Brazy is a throwback album for a modern audience. The meaty base lines and steady percussion and each individual track fells like something straight out of LA. But it’s much more than beats that make this album one of my favorite releases of this year. YG’s comprehensive examination of his trust issues, while still making an entertaining album, makes Still Brazy one of the year’s best releases. “Who Shot Me?” introduces the idea of betrayal and the paranoia that was bred within YG as he recounts a night that he was set up to be murdered. In the form of a narration, YG tells us about how he no longer trusts his friends, the value in the truth, the women he knows, politicians, law enforcement, and everything else in between. After YG is finished taking his listener on a wild ride through a day in LA, he ends the album with the perfect conclusion “And they wonder why I live life looking over my shoulder.” YG’s frustration with everything around him captures 2016 in a way that no other album could, and his blunt political soapbox track “FDT” gives an angry voice towards the state of political affairs in the blunt, vitriolic, language it deserves.

Notable Tracks: Twist My Fingaz, I Got A Question, FDT, Police Get Away Wit Murder

2. Anderson .paak – Malibu

The Oxnard native burst onto the scene with his diverse, soulful project Malibu just two weeks into the year. Anderson .paak is living proof to modern music deniers that musicians can still sing, and his diversity on the drums dismisses the faulty claim that people don’t play instruments anymore. This project seamlessly dances from easy listening soul, upbeat funk, sensual R&B, and of course a generous helping of hip hop in a way that there is a track to listen to on any occasion. Anderson’s passion is contagious as he lays down dizzying flows on “The Waters” or when he belts out in his raspy vocals on “Silicon Valley.” Anderson .paak is nothing less than a musical phenome, and Malibu is one of the year’s most complete efforts.

Notable Tracks: Without You, Room in Here, The Dreamer

1. Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition

In an interview prior to the release date of Atrocity Exhibition, Danny Brown made the bold proclamation “I’m like on black belt status when it comes to beats. I can rap over two pots scraping each other.” After listening to what can only be described as a night of cocaine fueled debauchery condensed into 47 minutes, I’ll be praying that the Detroit phenome one day follow’s through with his promise. Atrocity Exhibition is a showcase of Brown’s chameleon-like ability to transform himself for whatever beat he’s given. Danny tweaks through a drowsy beat on “Downward Spiral,” invokes a panic attack on the hectic and relentless “Ain’t it Funny,” blends his flow with the eerie guitar riff on “White Lines,” and proclaims enough is enough over the concluding track’s steady piano chords. Atrocity Exhibition plays like a cautionary tale about addiction and the dangers that come when you try to “dance in the water without getting wet.” This album pushes the envelope with what a hip hop artist is capable of accomplishing sonically; I wouldn’t be surprised if we look back on this project in a similar way we look at MF Doom’s Madvillainy today.

Notable Tracks: Really Doe, Lost, White Lines, Dance In The Water

30. Romaro Franceswa – Mirror

Seattle hip hop artist Romaro Franceswa put out an incredible follow up to his 2015 release Balance with his latest efforts on Mirror. Where former looked to explore themes of personal balance, the latter turns inward on a journey of self-realization and becoming comfortable with whom you truly are. I really like that Franceswa seems to remember the lessons that he learned on his previous album and incorporated them on Mirror, as exhibited in lines like “Church and dope are all I’ve known my whole life” on the track “Right Now,” showing that he’s using his music as a growing process. And that’s not even talking about the quality of the music. “No Enemies (Free Nino)” is probably one of the hardest bangers of the year, Ro’s flow on the subdued “Never Been Late” is sleek and easy to listen to. All in all, Mirror is yet another win for the local rapper, it’s exciting to watch his growth as a perform on this project.

Notable Tracks: Never Been Late, No Enemies (Free Nino), Faces

29. Vic Mensa – There’s A Lot Going On

The biggest weakness of There’s A Lot Going On actually can play as a strength. On an album who’s central theme is the stress that the current social and political climate has on Mensa’s mind, he loses focus of his theme with “New Bae” and “Liquor Locker”. While that might normally be a problem, I think drifting away from his main message before picking it back up again on the self-reflections of “Shades of Blue,” I find that this approach actually makes the album feel like it’s coming from the mind of a person that is so overwhelmed with all the injustice he sees, he doesn’t know where to begin. Mensa is comfortable enough to not only point out the shortcomings of his community, but he will also speak frankly to his own short comings with “Now here I am talking ‘bout a revolution. /And I can’t even spare a dollar to the movement. /But I’m in the strip club spending dollars on that movement.” The shortcoming of this album is its length compared to the amount of material Mensa wishes to cover with it, I’d love to hear more about many of the stories that he covers in the closing 6 minute track. He brings up plenty of stories that sound like they deserve their own track (like the physical fight with his girl, the time he attempted suicide, etc.), but the fact that he runs past each story can make each tale lose its emotional impact.

Notable Tracks: Dynasty, Shades of Blue, There’s A Lot Going On

28. Jon Bellion – The Human Condition

In his short career, Bellion generated quite a bit of buzz online by making writing contributions to tracks like Eminem’s “The Monster”, or Jason Derulo’s “Trumpets,” and scoring features on songs from artists like Zedd and B.o.B. All this hype leads up to the release of Bellion’s debut album The Human Condition. From front to back, this project is sugar-coated Disney, it’s unapologetic in it’s positivity, and it offers an array of brightly colored production to match the tone of the lyrics. Bellion wears his heart on sleeve as he raps and sings through topics like high school love, his dedication to New York, and the comfort in not knowing all the answers. One thing I love the most about this project is Bellion’s candid Christianity. He displays a comfort with in his faith and shares it amidst his many flaws that many archetypical Christians would likely shame him for. Given how by the numbers popular Christian music feels, the self-righteousness, the safe production, and the ambiguous “struggles” that these artists often profess, Bellion’s music feels like a genuine human being that lives his life for his faith. Whether you agree with Bellion’s beliefs or not, you’ll find the way he shares his message to be authentic and a joy to hear.

Notable Tracks: New York Soul – Pt. ii, Maybe IDK, The Good in Me

27. Frank Ocean – Blond

I’ll just come out and say it, “Nikes” could have been a great song if Ocean didn’t use that stupid chipmunk voice. Now that that’s out of the way, if channel ORANGE was all about falling in love, then Blonde is about falling out of love. Frank Ocean takes a minimalist approach; most of the songs almost feel empty (and it serves the album well). These tracks feel similar not to the heartbreak itself, but to the process that comes afterwards as you’re picking up the pieces. That moment where the heart aches less, but you’re far from feeling “good”. Ocean’s ability to capture that feeling is masterful. The best example of this is Frank’s performance on “Solo,” the track that deals with loneliness, the struggle for self-love, and the feeling of uncertainty that comes with waiting for somebody you care about. Some people aren’t a fan of the skits on this project, but I must admit that I love the “Be Yourself” skit, it’s all too relatable to anybody how grew up with a protective/concerned mother. I don’t think this is the best “love” album to have come out this year, but I do admire that it covers an interesting part of the love process that often doesn’t get discussed in media.

Notable Tracks: Pink + White, Solo, Nights, Futura Free

26. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book

With his performance on “Ultralight Beam,” Chance captivated the American public as he upstaged Kanye West with his passionate, Bible infused, verse on the Saturday Night Live state. Throughout the year he gave the spotlight little reason to stray as he continued appear in commercials, at White Sox games, and of course, releasing his long anticipated Coloring Book (formally referred to as Chance 3). What draws me the most to this album (and to Chance in general) is the authenticity with which it presents itself. With moments like the heartfelt goodbye on “Same Drugs,” the optimism on “Finish Line/Drown,” and the final rapped verse on the album in “Blessings,” every time Chance has something to say, his emotions bleed through the tracks. While most critics gushed over this project, I find myself frustrated that Coloring Book downplays its greatest strength: Chance himself. On previous projects like Acid Rap or Ten Day, there’s no question that it is a Chance project. Compared to Coloring Book, the album is so jam packed with features; they end up suffocating Chance’s contribution to the project. And when Chance says it’s an album to his newborn daughter, it feels a little odd that he decided the best messengers were a bunch of other musicians.

Notable Tracks: Same Drugs, All Night, Finish Line/Drown, Blessings (the second one)

 

25. Vince Staples – Prima Donna

The emotional distance that Vince Staples typically puts forward is shed on Prima Donna, the most recent efforts by the Long Beach artist. We caught glimpses of it on songs like “Summertime,” on Vince’s debut studio project, but he never addressed it head on. Now with Prima Donna, Staples seems perfectly comfortable with presenting his emotional, even broken side that he often buries beneath his sassy personality. Prima Donna takes the listener through Vince’s life after fame and the drawbacks that come with notoriety. James Blake and DJ Dahi are incredible producers to pair with Vince’s signature, disinterested flow. They both created these crisp, yet chaotic sounding tracks that really capture the feeling of stress that Vince tries to display throughout the project. While I found Summertime ’06 to be a pretty bloated album, Prima Donna is an excellent follow up project that is short enough to make you want to learn more about the Long Beach emcee.

Notable Tracks: War Ready, Smile, Big Time

24. Carly Rae Jepsen – Emotion (B Sides)

Carly Rae Jepsen holds a weird place in the music scene (and dare I say, my heart??). After catapulting to the top with “Call Me Maybe” in 2012, the Canadian pop starlet disappeared from public consciousness. But during that same time, she has cultivated a dedicated core of online fans that can’t get enough of “Run Away with Me” memes. Personally, I fell in love with Emotions last year and couldn’t get enough of the tracks that ended up on the cutting floor in Emotions (B Sides). This album bops (the pop music version of bangs/bangers) and that’s all there is to say. If you enjoyed 80s pop music, then you’ll likely find the track list of this EP to be an enjoyable trip down memory lane.

Notable Tracks: Body Language, Store, Roses

23. Mick Jenkins – The Healing Component

Mick Jenkins has generate quite a splash as his mixtape The Waters captivated conscious hip hop fans all across the country in 2014. He rode that wave into 2016 with the release of his first studio album The Healing Component, a project that aims to take an all-encompassing look at the idea of love. The problem that many similar hip hop artists (think Hopsin or J. Cole) struggle with their music can feel so self-righteous that their message gets drowned out by the tone in which it’s delivered. The interludes between Mick and his woman counterpart help make the delivery of The Healing Component’s message feel more like a conversation than a lecture. Mick isn’t preaching as other conscious rappers are prone to do, although he does hope that his listener walks away learning about the importance of self-love, religion, selflessness, and any of the other topics that fall within the broad subject range of love. All things considered, come for Mick’s bars and liquid delivery, but stay for the hydrating message.

Notable Tracks: The Healing Component, Daniels Bloom, Drowning, Angles, F*cked up Outro

22. Banks – The Altar

Banks followed up her debut album Goddess, a heart breaking project about a woman coping with her failed relationship, with a triumphant roar in The Altar. From the onset, she sets the tone with two ballads of independence in “Gemini Feed” and “F*ck With Myself” where she is looking her past lover in the face and saying, “I love me, and you will not have power over me.” Of course, like any emotional recovery, with the victories come defeats. Banks uses her sultry, breathy voice to remind us of the valleys on tracks like “Lovesick” and “To the Hilt”. The Altar feels like a human experience of overcoming adversity on a not-so-perfect path.

Notable Tracks: F*ck With Myself, Lovesick, 27 Hours

21. D.R.A.M. – Big Baby D.R.A.M.

First off, Big Baby D.R.A.M. has the best album cover of the year. D.R.A.M. strikes me as the type of guy that practices what he preaches, as evidenced by “Get It Myself,” the opening track of Big Baby D.R.A.M.. “I had to tell myself to go and get it myself/‘Cause I got tired of waitin’ on everyone else.” Is a testament to D.R.A.M.’s rise in spite of his “Cha Cha” losing recognition to Drake “borrowing” the sound for his own successful “Hotline Bling”. Rather than letting the opportunity pass him by, D.R.A.M. came back and created one of the year’s biggest singles “Broccoli”. As a debut project, Big Baby is about as good as it gets, and who has enough sway in the industry to already get creatives like Young Thug AND Erykah Badu onto the same project? Big Baby D.R.A.M. is full of earworms, powerful vocals, and introspective lyrics about relationships, D.R.A.M.’s own hypocrisy, and the feeling of finally making it.

Notable Tracks: Monticcello Ave, Cash Machine, Cute, Outta Sight/Dark Lavender Interlude, Sweet Va Breeze

20. Rapsody – Crown

Rapsody is one of the best rappers in the game that you’ve never heard of. No qualifiers required, she spits. Her proclamation on the opening track “They tell me I’m a king,” proves her confidence in her abilities and no one will tell her otherwise. If you’re an old head that misses when hip hop was rap, this is your album. Front to back, this project is full of boom-bap beats, clever word play, and that sense of confidence that “only 90s kids remember”. Rapsody’s confidence is infectious on tracks like “Crown,” as she preaches to the listener to never leave the house without their head held high, wearing their metaphorical crown. But of course, she challenges her listeners. She says confidence isn’t enough on “#Goals,” action is also required. The track “Tina Turner” serves as a piece reflection, both on her own career and the current landscape of the rap game (“I’m misunderstood yet you love Tiimmy Turner” being an allusion to the often criticized Desiigner). Her ability to change flows with a seamless beat change on “Take It Slow” and “Through with Him” is comparable only to Drake on “Summer Sixteen”.

Notable Tracks: Crown, Tina Turner, OooWee

19. A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service

Aside from Biggie and Tupac rising from the dead and saying that the current crop of young rappers are taking the genre in the right direction, there really aren’t many greater ways to signify a changing of the guard than A Tribe Called Quest’s final album We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service. This album plays like a victory lap for the legendary hip hop act, as well as a nod of approval to the new generation of rappers on songs like “Dis Generation” in the line “Talk to Joey, Earl, Kendirck, and Cole, gatekeepers of flow./ They are extensions of instinctual soul.” This project is stacked with contributors including André 3000 (who kills it on “Kids…”), Kendrick Lamar (who kills it on “Conrad Tokyo”), Jack White, Elton John, Kanye West, Anderson .paak, Talib Kweli, Consequence, and Busta Rhymes. All these features do well to compliment what Tribe is doing, without stealing the spotlight for too long. If this really is the final project for A Tribe Called Quest, then We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service is the perfect punctuation mark for a genre defining career.

18. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo

The release of The Life of Pablo captures the contentious artist better than any single Kanye song could (except for perhaps “I Feel Like That”). It was erratic, ambiguous, and often times frustrating. With the tweaks to the track list, the twitter rampages, the leaked Taylor Swift lyric, the odd but endearing album art, and of course the manic episode at the end of his performance of “Ultralight Beam” which finally allowed Pablo to drop, it was a surreal experience to be part of. I feel like it’s going to be difficult to explain to my children Kanye West without the context of his persona being forever in the limelight. All that being said, The Life of Pablo is an album for Kanye fans. I could go on for hours about how incredible “Ultralight Beam” is, but any music blog that brings up this album will already be heaping praise on that track. Consistent lyricism has never been a selling point for Kanye and that much remains true with songs like “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” (Disclaimer: This still might be one of my favorites on the album) and “Highlights”. But songs like “Real Friends” “30 Hours” and “No More Parties In LA” show that Kanye can still rap when the occasion calls for it. Oh, and everybody thank Chance for saving “Waves” it’s the perfect follow up for “I Love Kanye”. Kanye is a flawed human being and is definitely deserving of criticism, and what better way to celebrate him than with a flawed but interesting album like The Life of Pablo?

Notable Tracks: Ultralight Beam, Waves, Real Friends, 30 Hours, No More Parties in LA

17. Childish Gambino – “Awaken, My Love!”

Donald Glover is probably one of the most diverse entertainers of our time. With successful ventures in acting, comedy, creating TV shows, and of course, music, Glover leave little doubt in my mind that he is loaded with talent. However, I’ve never been the biggest fan of his music. Earlier entries into his catalogue felt dishonest, or at least covered pretty safe topics for a successful entertainer like Glover to cover. “Awaken, My Love!” is a complete change in direction. Departing from his pop-rap sound and style in favor of a more funky and soulful sound. “Me and Your Mama” serves this project well to set the tone of the album its slow build to a monumental explosion of distorted guitars and passionate cries directed at a woman that he is desperate to keep in his life. “Riot” has plenty of swagger to sound like it could have been a James Brown track, and other songs like “Baby Boy” are an honest reflection about entering fatherhood and what that means for maintaining an already damaged relationship with the mother of his child. This is a raw album that feels honest, while it’s not perfect (“California” and “Terrified” are pretty low points in this project), it’s a refreshing change of pace for Glover’s musical development.

Notable Tracks: Me and Your Momma, Boogie Man, Riot, Baby Boy

16. Kendrick Lamar – untitled unmastered

A sign of genius is not the final product, but the meticulous process that gives birth to it. No release validates that claim like K. Dot’s untitled unmastered. There is little question that Lamar is one of this generations greatest artistic voices, and the surprise release of these To Pimp a Butterfly leftovers further solidifies the uncompromising approach that Lamar takes with his music and the vision he aims to share through it. I’m glad that these tracks were able to see a proper release (outside of their live versions via talk shows and the Grammys), as we got an insight into Kendrick’s recording process on songs like “untitled 4” and the second half of “untitled 7” where we actually hear him vibing out to an earlier draft of the former. While this project lacks a certain cohesiveness you would expect from a feature length Kendrick Lamar album, untitled unmastered lets you into the recording studio to witness a once in a generation artist work his magic. FUN FACT: The date listed next to “Untitled 3” was my 21^st birthday. So Kendrick is basically my best friend now.

Notable Tracks: Untitled 2, Untitled 3, Untitled 7

15. Kevin Gates – Islah

As Gates says on the second track of Islah, “Make ‘em believe/ I made ‘em believe,/ A lyrical songwriter/ And he can sing,” in reference to himself. After listening to Islah, I’m inclined to agree, Gates made me believe in his talent as a rapper. Most know Gates for his goofy interviews, bizarre social media posts, and unsavory moments in the media. Anybody who sells the Louisiana rapper short hasn’t given him his fair shake. Islah is an introspective album about a flawed man who isn’t afraid to present himself as is. “The Truth” is a confessional track in which Gates acknowledges his wrongdoings, his flaws, and a plea to become invincible. Other tracks like “Hard For” shows Gates’ confusion towards a woman in his life who wants his love, to which he responds “I’ve been misused/ What the f*ck you want my heart for?” Islah paints a portrait of a man who is deeply flawed, but in spite of those flaws, Gates continues to be himself for better or worse as he concludes on the final song with a triumphant “Not even heaven can stand in my way.”

Notable Tracks: Really Really, Thought I Heard (Bread Winners’ Anthem), Tha Truth, Excuse Me

14. Noname – Telefone

Despite the doo-wop inspired beats, the peppy finger snapping, and the dreamy synths that play throughout the album, Telefone explores themes that betray the production of the project. Let’s not mince words, Noname raps about the ever present fear or having to see her friends in caskets, the heartbreaking tale of her decision to get an abortion, and unrealized failure. But Noname separates herself from the pack by offering hope. While it might not seem like these nursery sounding beats match the subject manner of Telefone, the encouraging conclusions that this album draws makes it impossible to not feel warm inside as you hear Noname talk her truth throughout the ten humble tracks she presents to you. If this first mixtape is any indication of what Noname is capable of, I am excited to see her next step.

Notable Tracks: Freedom (Interlude), Casket Pretty, Bye Bye Baby

13. Phatogram – III

Phanotgram’s newest release is their most complete project yet. On previous albums and EPs, I found myself skipping entire sections of music, but getting stuck on two or three songs for months at a time, that’s not the case with III, this is a satisfactory listen from start to finish. Sarah and Josh by all accounts have added to their toolbox as musicians, while still maintaining a vision on what makes their music so attractive in the first place. For the first time I also find myself legitimately enjoying tracks that feature Josh on vocals, particularly his solo performance on “Barking Dog,” which works well with the sample they made for the track. “You’re Mine” features an addicting toe-tapping beat that I could listen to for hours. The duo from New York goes from slow building stadium ballads to heartfelt confessional tracks with little effort, every song sounds unique without abandoning that distinct Phantogram sound.

Notable Tracks: Funeral Pyre, You’re Mine, Destroyer

12. Rihanna – ANTI

I have been overly critical of Rihanna’s career, her consistent presence in Top 40 charts since the late 2000s has been one of my least favorite aspects of popular music. Her latest entry into her catalogue, ANTI, is a showcase of diverse vocal prowess that cannot be denied. The front half of this project is filled with vintage Rihanna with offerings like “Desperado,” “Needed Me” and “Kiss It Better” (Side Note: “Work” is a clear weak point on this record to me, even as a single, it really sells her talents short compared to the tracks I listed earlier.). But the real treasure on this album is the back half of the album, when she performs a Tame Impala tribute with “Same Ol’ Mistakes”. Her spacey, echoing voice on this track blends spectacularly with the 80s inspired synths and the oh so familiar base line from the original track. From that point onward, we get a series of Motown inspired ballads where Rihanna holds nothing back on tracks like “Higher” and “Love On the Brain,” proving to everybody that she is worthy of her spot atop the charts.

Notable Tracks: Consideration, Desperado, Same Ol’ Mistakes, Higher

11. Beyoncé – Lemonade

Prior to the release of Lemonade, despite Beyoncé’s consistent presence in popular culture, I never felt like I “knew” who she was. While most of her music was empowering (and even catchy in its own right), Beyoncé never did much to make herself vulnerable through her music. While Lemonade didn’t quite entrench itself into popular culture like I Am Sasha…Fierce or Beyoncé, this newest project might just be her most personal yet. Beyoncé invites the listener behind the curtain to see how the music industry’s biggest power couple lives, exploring infidelity and the pain that comes with experiencing emotional trauma from the love of your life. It goes beyond just the lyrical content, Beyoncé challenges herself musically by venturing into several genres she has little to no prior experience in. “Don’t Hurt Yourself” is a confrontational rock track with a signature Jack White guitar performance, then only a couple tracks later, Beyoncé jumps into a country ballad on “Daddy’s Lessons”. Lemonade might not be nearly the commercial success of Beyoncé’s previous efforts, but I’d be hard pressed to say the Queen didn’t challenge herself on this most recent effort.

Notable Tracks: Pray You Catch Me, Don’t Hurt Yourself, Forward

40. Hamburger Helper – Watch the Stove

Yes, an April Fool’s joke ended up in my end of the year albums list. But let’s face facts, this thing bangs. Since the rise of social media, businesses, politicians, and other authority figures have tried so hard to earn that sweet meme money that comes from connecting with the youth, with varying degrees of success. And then Hamburger Helper redefined social media marketing forever with their five track mixtape Watch the Stove. Just when everybody was thinking that a social media team would forever be looked at as the “cool” parent that so desperately wants to relate, Hamburger Helper connected with an audience in a way that I never thought possible. The opening track “Feed the Streets” could legitimately be thrown into the middle of a college party playlist, and nobody would notice that it’s a track about cooking beef stroganoff. Hell, “All these haters salty/I’m too seasoned homie” is legitimately a good line. Who knew that a love letter to trap music could come from the most unlikely of places, a meme rap album from a budget seasoning company.

Notable Tracks: Feed the Streets, Hamburger Helper

39. A Day to Remember – Bad Vibrations

A Day to Remember has been making the same album since 2010, a couple of safe rock anthems, a couple of mosh pit tracks with growling vocals, a soft ballad (or two for good measures), and then a track about hating where you are and having trust issues then calling it a day. While stagnation is what made rock music fall to the back of the pack as a music genre over the last decade and a half, I’ll take a rock group sticking to what they know over the terrible pop-punk revival that has made a half-assed effort to come back into the forefront this year. A Day To Remember doesn’t do anything new with Bad Vibrations, but if you liked their efforts in 2009 on Homesick, then like me, you’ll enjoy this victory lap.

Notable Tracks: Justified, Turn Off The Radio, In Florida

38. Futuristic & Devvon Terrell – Coast 2 Coast

NOTE: This album was a 2015 release, but since it came out on Christmas last year, I’m counting it as a 2016 project.

Futuristic is an artist I’m often going back and forth on. He has as much talent as any rising star in hip hop, and he’s made some great work like The Rise which maintained a fine balance of bangers and more personal tracks. Other projects like his more recent As Seen on the Internet feel like a step in the wrong direction which felt much less ambitious by comparison. With that being said, Coast 2 Coast is an incredible collaboration between the Arizona rapper and his counterpart Devvon Terrell. While Terrell tends to occupy a more RnB/pop space, he rises to the challenge and manages to keep up with Futuristic on some of the albums more rap centric tracks (most notably “Sub Me In” and “Uh!”). Coast 2 Coast is a talent show case for the two young artists. While Terrell feels much more diverse throughout this album, Futuristic does well by sticking to his area of expertise with his machine gun delivery and clever, albeit sometimes cheesy, punchlines.

Notable Tracks: Sub Me In, I Want It All, Uh!

37. Koi Child – Koi Child

Australian rap/jazz group Koi Child released their first official album after receiving the assistance of Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. The self-titled album is a spectacle of jazzy beats that range anywhere from psychedelic, chill, to even downright aggressive. Parker’s influence on the album is abundant and clear with the dizzying synth sounds on songs like “Black Panda” and “Wumpa Fruit”. Koi Child is fun, the tracks have attitude, and the delivery of the raps on the album work very well. The one issue I have with Koi Child is the production often drowns out the lyrics, making it difficult to make out what’s being said. All in all, this is an excellent debut album and an intriguing group to come out of the international music scene.

Notable Tracks: Wumpa Fruit, 1-5-9, Black Panda

36. Travis Scott – Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight

(NOTE: I have not listened to Rodeo as of the writing of these comments, I’m aware that most people prefer Rodeo to Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, but I can’t compare the two here.)

I love the dreary, hazy vibe that Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight brings into the hip hop scene. While Scott’s lyrics leave a lot to be desired, the production on this album does a great job of communicating the emotions of uncertainty that he looks to bring out in his lyrics. I think there is a ton of excess on this album that I could definitely do without, and about two dozen too many poorly timed “it’s lit” adlibs, but I often find myself coming back to tracks from Birds because of the stellar production. Birds starts out strong with a Travis Scott intro and Andre 3000 feature on “the ends,” but it loses my interest until the second half of the album with “sweet sweet”. I think that if this album had a little bit of stronger focus, and if Scott spent a little time trimming the fat, we could be looking at a much tighter, stronger album. Songs like “lose,” “goosebumps,” and “pick up the phone,” all do a great job of capturing the feelings of uncertainty that Travis Scott seems to want to portray with this album, but the messaging can get lost on songs like “coordinate” and “beibs in the trap”.

Notable Tracks: the ends, sweet sweet, lose, goosebumps

35. Warpaint – Heads Up

I’m fairly new to Warpaint and their work as of this year, so while I can’t say how Heads Up stacks up with their previous efforts, it’s a highly accessible record for indie-rock enthusiasts. Theresa Wayman’s soothing vocals go well with the often muted guitar chords, subdued drums and steady baselines that make up any given song on this album, tracks like “Dre” and “The Stall” are great examples of this. Warpaint’s clear strength is their ability to develop subtle song, but on several tracks, the group constructs these slow burns of tracks that become fiery payoffs. For the best examples, check out “By Your Side” and “Don’t Let Go”. Warpaint’s approach to fem-fronted rock is catchy and addictive to listen to whether they play it subtle or bring the noise.

Notable Tracks: By Your Side, Don’t Let Go, Dre

34. Bon Iver – 22, A Million

22, A Million is like if you took “Lost in the World” off of My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted, Fantasy and turned it into a whole record. It’s a much more electronic direction than previous Bon Iver efforts, I would say that the risk pays off in some songs (“715 – CR∑∑KS”, and “666 ʇ”) while on other songs it falls flat (“29 #Strafford APTS” and “21 MOON WATER”). Justin Vernon’s experimentation with voice distortion is a great experiment throughout, specifically on “10 d e a t h b r e a s t” and “715 – CR∑∑KS”. I know I’ve already mentioned “715 – CR∑∑KS” twice before, but I can’t get over how great a track this one is. Vernon’s melancholy writing pairs well with the tone of the vocal and the indecisive delivery. All this ties together in a spectacular fashion as Vernon comes to the conclusion that he has lost his faith and feels abandoned by said revelation. 22, A Million is a little too inconsistent to rank high on this list, but when it hits, boy does it deliver.

Notable Tracks: 715 – CR∑∑KS, 10 d e a t h b r e a s t, 666 ʇ

33. Elzhi – Lead Poison

On the surface, it makes sense that a Detroit rapper would release an album titled Lead Poison in relation to water crisis in Flint, Michigan. But rather than being inspired by external events, Elzhi, turned inwards to create this project. In an interview about Lead Poison, Elzhi said “[Lead Posion] was really a representation of me feeling like I was bottling things up inside, which I consider to be poisonous. And the only way I knew how to get it out was through writing; that was my outlet.” The most creative song of the year is “Hello!!!!!!” a nearly five-minute track about an artist’s connection to his listener. He asks us whether we actually listen to the earnest thoughts that musicians put onto their albums, or if it’s nothing more than background noise. As an aspiring writer, I can relate to Elzhi’s thoughts. Will anybody end up reading my work (hell am I the only person that will ever read this sentence?)? Will they only use it for their own benefit to prove an argument, or will they take time to understand my perspective?

Notable Tracks: Medicine Man, Two 16s, Hello!!!!!!

32. Open Mike Eagle – Hella Personal Film Festival

Open Mike Eagle is one of the underground hip hop scene’s best kept secrets. On Hella Personal Film Festival, he teams up with the production of Paul White to put out a sonically light but content dense project. The producer/emcee pairing could not be better on this project, Paul’s eccentric, lo-fi beats work well with Open Mike Eagle’s playful delivery and the unique perspective he brings to hip hop. On “Check to Check” Mike raps over a robotic, fuzzy, beat about the obsessive way modern society lives between each time we check our phones (and the speech to text rap at the end is hysterical). “Smiling” is another entry into this year’s already stacked list of tracks about race relations, but rather than taking the melodramatic approach, Mike covers the small but significant inequality he experiences by interacting with average Americans just for being a black man. For as incredible as this album is, the album loses me on the back half, right around “Protectors of the Heat” and onward. If you like rap that is a little out there in its production and its content, then Open Mike Eagle’s Hella Personal Film Festival is the project for you.

Notable Tracks: Admitting to Endorphin Addition, I Went Outside Today, Check to Check, Smiling (Quirky Race Doc)

31. Regina Spektor – Remember Us to Life

Regina Spektor released Remember Us to Life with little fanfare at the end of September. Much like its release, this album is unassuming, yet confident in its presentation that the music itself was enough advertisement to find its audience. Spektor’s diversity and talent as a songwriter and musician are both plenty evident as she paints vivid imagery throughout the song “Grand Hotel” of this opulent, but intimate setting. Songs like “Small Bill$” and “The Trapper and the Furrier” display some great observational concepts and do a great job of fleshing the idea out to be comparable to thoughtful, modern day parables. Remember Us to Life is another strong entry into an already respectable catalogue for Regina Spektor. If you like clever, thought provoking music that’s also a pleasure to listen to, than Spekor is your gal.

Notable Tracks: Bleeding Heart, Small Bill$, The Trapper and the Furrier