5.

Mach-Hommy’s first release on Spotify this year. This is also the 4th edition of his Dollar Menu series with Tha God Fahim. While not anything spectacular especially for Mach-Hommy this is still a solid edition to his catalogue. It features catchy, looped beats as is expected from Mach-Hommy. Gastronomie is a pretty standard opener for Mach and Fahim but Smokin’ Kiki is real highlight. With a great beat, Mach and Fahim spit two great verses and Your Old Droog gives a great feature. It transitions smoothly into Shukran Don another great track which shows great back and forth between Mach and Fahim. The album also has great hooks with Juju Gotti standing out with his raspy voice. Overall, a good album but doesn’t feel like Mach-Hommy’s full talent especially lyrically considering what we’ve seen on his other albums.

4.

First Stella Donnelly album I’ve listened to and it’s pretty much what I expected. Very relaxing indie singer-songwriter music. In comparison to other modern indie pop singers like Snail Mail and Soccer Mommy I enjoy this album alot more. It’s got much more interesting and varied instrumentation and good singing and songwriting all round. Overall very good album that doesn’t overstay its welcome from an exciting newcomer in the indie scene.

3.

This the debut album from a really interesting and unique soul trio. This is seriously an amazing soul album that sounds like it could have come from directly from the 1970s. All the vocals are so powerful and passionate. The first song, “Can I Call You Rose?” really sets the mood and perfectly shows their style. It was released as a single first and has already been sampled in multiple hip-hop songs. This album really sets them apart from much of the soul and R&B scene truly embracing the 70s Philly Soul sound. Really excited for whatever they do next.

2.

Another album by one of the most unique and influential artists in the hip hop underground, Roc Marciano. This album really stands out in his discography as its fully produced by The Alchemist. He makes much more physchadelic and jazzy beats than he usually makes suiting Roc Marciano’s descriptive and memorable rapping perfectly. This album is full of amazing Roc one liners. In the first song alone he drops lines like, “if it’s trouble, then we shooting it’s troubleshooting”, “throwing all these subs, what that makes you? Subhuman,” and,”just me and my uzi, we looking like a couple spooning.” He continues this specific and dense wordplay throughout the album. The few features on this album also work well with Action Bronson, Boldy James and Knowledge the Pirate all dropping memorable verses that contrast well to Roc Marciano’s specific voice and flow. The only dissapointing feature is the short, spoken word verse from Ice-T. Overall, while Roc Marciano does what he usually does, this album stands out in his discography for its consistency and its unique production.

1.

One of my most anticapted albums of the year this completely surpassed what I thought JID could make. His two previous albums showed his immense talent in not only rapping but also being able to write an interesting song. Despite this it still felt like he hadn’t reached his peak. With this album he really shows who he is, taking a major focus on family. Throughout this album he shows an amazing ability to write specific and meaningful songs but still make them insanely catchy. He has his most interesting and varied production going from sampling Jewish folk music on Dance Now, to the raw energy on Can’t Punk Me, to the introspective feel on Sistanem, to jazzy perfection on Stars, and finally to trap production on Just in Time. He also picks his features perfectly with two great choruses by Kenny Mason on Dance Now and Just in Time, Earthgang matching his raw and wild energy on Can’t Punk Me, Lil Durk fitting perfectly with the themes of brotherhood on Bruddanem and, LIl Wayne and Yasiin Bey spitting great verses on Just in Time and Stars respectively. This is by far JID’s most introspective album describing getting into fights together with his family, growing up as the youngest of seven and being thankful to those who have supported him to where he’s gotten. Defintely check out this album as it going to be one of the standout albums from this year.