The first hip-hop track I seriously listened to apart from Eminem was a song by Kanye West. It was an album called 808s & Heartbreak and the song and corresponding video was Heartless. Hip-hop has come a long, complex way since then, and the misogyny and hate is slowly trickling away from the genre. Conscious-introverted hip-hop is coming into play, and artistes like Chance The Rapper, Saba, Noname Gypsy and Frank Ocean have released some of the best music our generation will have the pleasure to listen to. Hip-hop is not just a genre. Our idols are also our friends in tough times, that is the beauty of hip-hop. It is the new lyric poetry, a confessional mode of art, shining in all its brilliance. Here are the top hip-hop releases of 2018 you need to listen to.
Kanye West — Ye
Ye is Kanye’s sonic centrepiece, it is like the beautiful flower arrangement you find as you enter a palatial house. It is perfectly made to soothe anxious minds, minds which overthink and overthink about overthinking. It is like a cool balm which your mother gives you when your head starts hurting. It is everything you need, along with being silly to the point of not taking the music too seriously. On Ye, Kanye speaks candidly about his presidential ambitions and his friendship with Donald Trump. It’s an elaborate painting of Kanye’s mind space, where the strokes range from sharp lines to impressionistic brushes. His humour and intelligence shines through. “Let’s have a threesome with you and the blunt” are just some of the best lines on this album.
Earworms: Ghost Town, Yikes, All Mine.
Pusha T — DAYTONA
The president of Kanye’s label GOOD Music returns with a surprisingly short and powerful release. King Push pushed his album through a very Kanye-influenced release, with a controversial album cover, several diss tracks aimed at Drake and excellent production by Mike Dean and Kanye West amongst others. It is rumoured that Kanye was behind most of the production on the album. The chart-burning Daytona album cover features a photo of Whitney Houston’s drug-filled bathroom that sparked controversy and raised sales by huge numbers. The best tracks include the guitar-heavy Games We Play, where King Push fires shots like an army person at war with words.
Maximalist lyrics and production along with Pusha T’s calculated flow and delivery is masterful to say the least. Another top hit was What Would Meek Do featuring Kanye, with lines from Pusha like “Feds takin’ pictures like it’s GQ /This Avianne collarbone is see-through.”
Earworms: If You Know You Know, Games We Play, Infrared, Santeria.
The Weeknd — My Dear Melancholy
Keats wrote an Ode on Melancholy in 1819, and now Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, is doing the same in 2018. The six-song EP features Abel crooning and switching back to his pre-Starboy avatar.
Slight references are made to Bella Hadid, as well as Selena Gomez. “You were equestrian, so ride it like a champion (I’ll beat it)” is a direct reference to Bella’s horse-riding capabilities. It is believed that The Weeknd’s trauma of his recent relationships has begun to haunt him. Music triggers memories, and for musicians, it is probably the other way round. Selena is also in there somewhere, safely hidden under Weeknd’s lyricism and craft. The songs take a dark undertone, and reminds me of his Trilogy phase, the phase I personally loved the most. French DJ Gesaffelstein lends his beats to a few songs, and Abel experiments with vocalising and tuning down his vocal track to give the tracks an extremely haunting effect. “I feel like my mind is fading” he croons in one song. A close friend of mine had once asked me, do women who sleep with The Weeknd ask him to sing in bed? I wonder the same.
Earworms: Try Me, Call Out My Name, Wasted Times.
Migos — Culture II
The follow-up to 2017’s seminal Culture, North Atlanta superstars Quavo, Offset and TakeOff returned with a 24-track sequel, firmly establishing their dominance in the trap subculture which they have mastered. The album featured top names such as Drake, Travis Scott, Nicki Minaj and Post Malone amongst others. Even though it was lukewarm considering Culture, they still delivered on the hits. Star moments include Drake’s cameo as the ’70s star in the Walk It Talk It video. Whether it was making food puns on the Pharell Williams-produced Stir Fry, or delivering bone-chilling rugby references on Top Down on da Nawf, Quavo stood out. But the star of Culture II was the underrated TakeOff, who kept consistently belting out bars on songs like Gang Gang or Culture National Anthem (Outro).
Earworms: Top Down on da Nawf, Stir Fry, Walk It Talk It.
A$AP Rocky — Testing
As the name suggests, Rakim Mayers was testing new styles and pushing the envelope when it comes to hip-hop. The production was outrageously experimental, as Rocky chopped interviews and recordings to really innovate. The production was not the only innovative aspect of Testing, it also came with funny quips and bars from Rocky who toed multiple lines about sexual harassment and socially relevant issues on songs like Tony Tone. The production ranged from the club-anthem A$AP Forever Remix, which featured T.I, Kid Cudi and electronic music maestro Moby, to the chilled-out guitar-laden vibe of Calldrops, featuring the notorious Kodak Black, who is on the track through a recorded call from his jail cell. Kodak ad-libs on the song from his jail cell, and Rocky keeps his full recording as a tribute to him. The song is haunting, and aims to portray the jail experience of an African American person. The album ends with Purity, which is the jewel in the crown as it features the eternally elusive Frank Ocean and Lauryn Hill. Flacko and Frank both speak of anxiety and how it is killing so many talented individuals as Frank raps “Read my mind, freed my mind, Feed my mind, makes sense” and Rocky replies with “Memories burn the roach heads”. And the song is just pure eternal bliss. A$AP really is forever.
Earworms: Brotha Man, Calldrops, A$AP Forever Remix, Purity.
Looking Forward
Drake — Scorpion
Even though this album isn’t coming out till June 29, Drake has released multiple singles from the same album including the chart-busting God’s Plan, Nice for What and I’m Upset. God’s Plans’ notoriously viral video made sure that Drake stayed on the charts, even though the Canadian superstar rapper has confessed that he only loves his bed and his mom, and his love for all other things is only partial. Nice For What is an excellent track, with an intelligently done video and Drake questioning the stereotype of ‘nice Canadians’. The track is excellently arranged and aimed primarily at women. Now we are waiting to catch a sight of Scorpion.
Shout-out to:
Kids See Ghosts, a fiery album by Kanye and Kid Cudi, who have now started releasing new music under the moniker Kids See Ghosts.
J. Cole’s KOD and Saba’s Care for Me. While Cole’s album emphasised his strengths in lyricism, Care for Me was a painful look into Saba’s tortured mind.
Text: Debroop Basu
What’s your all-time fave hip-hop album? Tell t2@abp.in
