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The up-and-coming class of hip-hop artists is so exciting to me. Smino, Saba, JID, YBN Cordae, DaBaby, Noname, Denzel Curry, some others for sure..I feel like we're seeing a culmination of vulnerability, creativity, authenticity, and technical skill emerge en masse. A lot of these guys already have critical recognition and dedicated fanbases, and I really hope that some of them have a trajectory similar to Tyler's.
5.5/four tet, daphni b2b floating points, avalon emerson 5.12/neil young 5.19/mannequin pussy 5.21/serpentwithfeet 5.25/hozier 6.12-16/bonnaroo 6.28/goose 6.29/goose 9.17/the national + the war on drugs 9.23/sigur ros 9.27-29/making time 10.17/air
The up-and-coming class of hip-hop artists is so exciting to me. Smino, Saba, JID, YBN Cordae, DaBaby, Noname, Denzel Curry, some others for sure..I feel like we're seeing a culmination of vulnerability, creativity, authenticity, and technical skill emerge en masse. A lot of these guys already have critical recognition and dedicated fanbases, and I really hope that some of them have a trajectory similar to Tyler's.
Checking out YBN right now based off your recs. He has the ability to cut through and make you pay attention. He also got the most Lord Willin era sounding Pusha T verse ive heard in a while (vocal inflection wise).
If I don’t hear a Scarface reference during this Bad Idea track Im going to be v sad.
5.5/four tet, daphni b2b floating points, avalon emerson 5.12/neil young 5.19/mannequin pussy 5.21/serpentwithfeet 5.25/hozier 6.12-16/bonnaroo 6.28/goose 6.29/goose 9.17/the national + the war on drugs 9.23/sigur ros 9.27-29/making time 10.17/air
I want to make a ranking but it's hard because some rappers make better music than they should given their rapping ability (Drake), and some can rap great but I haven't loved their overall musical output (Earl, Eminem post-2010). Some have had really high highs but also low lows (Chance), and some I just haven't listened to enough (Mac Miller, Big Sean, Big K.R.I.T., A$AP Rocky). Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, and Danny Brown deserve a mention too, and Kanye did drop both MBDTF and Yeezus. So idk. It's been quite a decade.
5.5/four tet, daphni b2b floating points, avalon emerson 5.12/neil young 5.19/mannequin pussy 5.21/serpentwithfeet 5.25/hozier 6.12-16/bonnaroo 6.28/goose 6.29/goose 9.17/the national + the war on drugs 9.23/sigur ros 9.27-29/making time 10.17/air
“Oh and I guess Kanye did drop the two best rap albums of the decade.”
Eh, I wouldn't agree with that. I love both but idk if I'd rather listen to either more than GKMC or TPAB. Regardless, Kanye's not the best rapper of the past decade. Those albums were not what they were because of his rapping ability. Which is why I'm raising the question of how much we should consider the overall music when determining who we consider to be the best rapper. I assume from your comment that you think we should weight it heavily?
5.5/four tet, daphni b2b floating points, avalon emerson 5.12/neil young 5.19/mannequin pussy 5.21/serpentwithfeet 5.25/hozier 6.12-16/bonnaroo 6.28/goose 6.29/goose 9.17/the national + the war on drugs 9.23/sigur ros 9.27-29/making time 10.17/air
“Oh and I guess Kanye did drop the two best rap albums of the decade.”
Eh, I wouldn't agree with that. I love both but idk if I'd rather listen to either more than GKMC or TPAB. Regardless, Kanye's not the best rapper of the past decade. Those albums were not what they were because of his rapping ability. Which is why I'm raising the question of how much we should consider the overall music when determining who we consider to be the best rapper. I assume from your comment that you think we should weight it heavily?
Post by Jake Jortles on Aug 7, 2019 12:55:58 GMT -5
Kendrick, Big Krit, and Run The Jewels (including RAP Music) are the only hip hop artists from this decade that dropped 3 great (8/10) albums imo. I'll toss Kanye in with them because his two great albums are on another level for me. And then I'll throw in Pusha T because he has two that I view as great and is the best emcee of the bunch.
I care most about how many great albums an artists / group has put out. And it isn't a batting average. A bad album doesn't negatively impact me. It just basically doesn't exist.
Kanye West Run the Jewels Kendrick Lamar Big Krit Pusha T
HMs: Danny Brown, Brockhampton, Freddie Gibbs, Vince Staples
Kendrick, Big Krit, and Run The Jewels (including RAP Music) are the only hip hop artists from this decade that dropped 3 great (8/10) albums imo. I'll toss Kanye in with them because his two great albums are on another level for me. And then I'll throw in Pusha T because he has two that I view as great and is the best emcee of the bunch.
I care most about how many great albums an artists / group has put out. And it isn't a batting average. A bad album doesn't negatively impact me. It just basically doesn't exist.
Kanye West Run the Jewels Kendrick Lamar Big Krit Pusha T
HMs: Danny Brown, Brockhampton, Freddie Gibbs, Vince Staples
Have you listened to Earl's new album yet? Not saying it'll definitely be an 8/10 album for you. But it's one of my favorites
Kendrick, Big Krit, and Run The Jewels (including RAP Music) are the only hip hop artists from this decade that dropped 3 great (8/10) albums imo. I'll toss Kanye in with them because his two great albums are on another level for me. And then I'll throw in Pusha T because he has two that I view as great and is the best emcee of the bunch.
I care most about how many great albums an artists / group has put out. And it isn't a batting average. A bad album doesn't negatively impact me. It just basically doesn't exist.
Kanye West Run the Jewels Kendrick Lamar Big Krit Pusha T
HMs: Danny Brown, Brockhampton, Freddie Gibbs, Vince Staples
Have you listened to Earl's new album yet? Not saying it'll definitely be an 8/10 album for you. But it's one of my favorites
nah I probably need to go on an Earl and Tyler run like I did with Danny Brown soon
Have you listened to Earl's new album yet? Not saying it'll definitely be an 8/10 album for you. But it's one of my favorites
nah I probably need to go on an Earl and Tyler run like I did with Danny Brown soon
Flower Boy and IGOR are great albums. Although IGOR is almost not even a rap album. It'd almost be like throwing 808s & Heartbreak into a "greatest rap albums" conversation.
But what's funny is Earl and Tyler have very different fan bases now (obviously still a lot of crossover). But musically they're in completely different worlds.
nah I probably need to go on an Earl and Tyler run like I did with Danny Brown soon
Flower Boy and IGOR are great albums. Although IGOR is almost not even a rap album. It'd almost be like throwing 808s & Heartbreak into a "greatest rap albums" conversation.
But what's funny is Earl and Tyler have very different fan bases now (obviously still a lot of crossover). But musically they're in completely different worlds.
I just kinda stopped paying attention to them after they didn't capitalize on their initial hype and Tyler dropped like 2 shitty albums. I'll go back to it.
Trying to get this to a top 10...
Kanye West Run The Jewels Kendrick Lamar Big Krit Pusha T Danny Brown Brockhampton Freddie Gibbs Vince Staples Denzel Curry
Honestly this decade has been kinda weak looking at this.
I'm a huge Kanye fan, but I don't think he belongs in a conversation about being the greatest rapper of the decade. For me his production, sampling, cohesiveness on an album, and artistic vision are what make him so great. I would definitely throw him top 3 if it were a discussion of greatest musical artists, but as far as technical skill and lyricism go, he's not an amazing rapper in my opinion.
Also, I think J.Cole would probably be after K. dot for me and then could be a lot of deserving names. I think Mac Miller is severely underrated, but I'm also a massive fan of his and followed him since his career began. His wordplay is pretty great like I'll listen to a song I've heard a thousand times and laugh at some line that I never noticed was a reference to something else.
Big Sean, Rocky, and Earl all seem like solid top 10ers.
Isaiah Rashad needs to drop a new damn album.
Last Edit: Aug 7, 2019 16:03:57 GMT -5 by Jim - Back to Top
Flower Boy and IGOR are great albums. Although IGOR is almost not even a rap album. It'd almost be like throwing 808s & Heartbreak into a "greatest rap albums" conversation.
But what's funny is Earl and Tyler have very different fan bases now (obviously still a lot of crossover). But musically they're in completely different worlds.
I just kinda stopped paying attention to them after they didn't capitalize on their initial hype and Tyler dropped like 2 shitty albums. I'll go back to it.
Trying to get this to a top 10...
Kanye West Run The Jewels Kendrick Lamar Big Krit Pusha T Danny Brown Brockhampton Freddie Gibbs Vince Staples Denzel Curry
Honestly this decade has been kinda weak looking at this.
Definitely has been weak lol. There was definitely a lull there like 2016-2018 where I thought rap was just going to be all people yelling gibberish over trap beats. But there's some real great talent coming up now, so there's hope.
Flower Boy and IGOR are great albums. Although IGOR is almost not even a rap album. It'd almost be like throwing 808s & Heartbreak into a "greatest rap albums" conversation.
But what's funny is Earl and Tyler have very different fan bases now (obviously still a lot of crossover). But musically they're in completely different worlds.
I just kinda stopped paying attention to them after they didn't capitalize on their initial hype and Tyler dropped like 2 shitty albums. I'll go back to it.
Trying to get this to a top 10...
Kanye West Run The Jewels Kendrick Lamar Big Krit Pusha T Danny Brown Brockhampton Freddie Gibbs Vince Staples Denzel Curry
Honestly this decade has been kinda weak looking at this.
Rapper's technical abilities became less important than ever this decade. So if that's what your judging this on then yeah it's pretty weak. This decade of hip hop is more equivalent to the punk movement in rock music. But I think the positives outweigh the negatives. There are still a lot of trends I don't like, but overall I'm pretty happy with the state of hip hop now.
I just kinda stopped paying attention to them after they didn't capitalize on their initial hype and Tyler dropped like 2 shitty albums. I'll go back to it.
Trying to get this to a top 10...
Kanye West Run The Jewels Kendrick Lamar Big Krit Pusha T Danny Brown Brockhampton Freddie Gibbs Vince Staples Denzel Curry
Honestly this decade has been kinda weak looking at this.
Definitely has been weak lol. There was definitely a lull there like 2016-2018 where I thought rap was just going to be all people yelling gibberish over trap beats. But there's some real great talent coming up now, so there's hope.
I agree with this. From 2011-2015 I thought there were a lot of great artists coming out. Plus you had artists like Kanye and Drake solidifying their legendary status. 2016-2018 was definitely a lull but I'm starting to feel optimistic that people are realizing artists like Lil Pump don't last very long.
I just kinda stopped paying attention to them after they didn't capitalize on their initial hype and Tyler dropped like 2 shitty albums. I'll go back to it.
Rapper's technical abilities became less important than ever this decade. So if that's what your judging this on then yeah it's pretty weak. This decade of hip hop is more equivalent to the punk movement in rock music. But I think the positives outweigh the negatives. There are still a lot of trends I don't like, but overall I'm pretty happy with the state of hip hop now.
I agree with almost everything here. I wasn't only looking at technical ability though. Even in terms of album output and charisma, much of that list I made wouldn't put a dent in a top 25 list in the 2000s I imagine.
I don't really think that technical ability has been thrown to the side though. In a weird way the underground and mainstream have merged this decade and most of my top 10 at least cares about being, or thinks they are, great technical rappers. BUt they just aren't. Even Kendrick is wildly overrated as a pure emcee imo, which you obviously disagree with.
It does seem like people are more concerned about putting together cohesive, critically acclaimed albums though which is a great thing.
Rapper's technical abilities became less important than ever this decade. So if that's what your judging this on then yeah it's pretty weak. This decade of hip hop is more equivalent to the punk movement in rock music. But I think the positives outweigh the negatives. There are still a lot of trends I don't like, but overall I'm pretty happy with the state of hip hop now.
I agree with almost everything here. I wasn't only looking at technical ability though. Even in terms of album output and charisma, much of that list I made wouldn't put a dent in a top 25 list in the 2000s I imagine.
That's kind of funny because I'd take this decade over 2000-2009. By a long shot.
I agree with almost everything here. I wasn't only looking at technical ability though. Even in terms of album output and charisma, much of that list I made wouldn't put a dent in a top 25 list in the 2000s I imagine.
That's kind of funny because I'd take this decade over 2000-2009. By a long shot.
My Top 10 from the 2000s would be some order of
Jay-Z Nas Outkast Kanye West Ghostface Killah MF Doom The Roots Eminem Lil Wayne Clipse
With a ton of HMs: 50 Cent, Talib Kweli, Common, Mos Def, Atmosphere, Lupe Fiasco, T.I., Slum Village, Little Brother, Brother Ali, Aesop Rock, Masta Ace, El-P
I guess I was just more into it back then, but that list looks way better to me than one that I'm trying to fill out with Vince Staples, Brockhampton and Denzel Curry.
That's kind of funny because I'd take this decade over 2000-2009. By a long shot.
My Top 10 from the 2000s would be some order of
Jay-Z Nas Outkast Kanye West Ghostface Killah MF Doom The Roots Eminem Lil Wayne Clipse
With a ton of HMs: 50 Cent, Talib Kweli, Common, Mos Def, Atmosphere, Lupe Fiasco, T.I., Slum Village, Little Brother, Brother Ali, Aesop Rock, Masta Ace, El-P
I guess I was just more into it back then, but that list looks way better to me than one that I'm trying to fill out with Vince Staples, Brockhampton and Denzel Curry.
Personally I'm a huge fan of the genre bending experimental direction that hip hop has gone in the last decade. I also feel like rap shows are ten times more fun than they've ever been. It seems like rappers are more free to do whatever they want and people don't have to take themselves so seriously. I'm just happy we've moved away from the "gangstas don't dance" era of hip hop.
Production aside, lyrically we've seen waves of hip-hop focus on different aspects of the music. I feel like in the late 90s, early 2000s you saw a strong marriage between technical ability and lyricism, and that produced some wonderful rappers but the genre stuck largely to verse-chorus-verse song structures with little experimentation in overall sonics. In the mainstream, at least. Then Kanye came through and changed both how the lyrics express vulnerability and how the production interacts with the vocals. Both were significant leaps for the genre. Since then we've seen a greater focus on the overall tones, melodies, and aesthetic of a song and less of a focus on lyrics. It's about nailing a certain mood, lyrics be damned. As someone who has always found lyrical content and the way words are woven together to be the two most fascinating parts of music in general, I admit it's not my favorite trend. But it's just an evolution. It's no different than Sigur Ros writing lyrics in an invented language. Though hip-hop has been largely about lyricism for much of its history, that has taken a backseat for a bit so the genre can play with sound...and now we've got beat switches galore and lush instrumentals and weird experimentation in sound and structure. It's great, and great for hip-hop. And I think we're about to see a remarriage of technical lyrical ability with the more creative aspects of the music as well (TPAB being a good example), which is only going to push the boundaries further. I love it.
5.5/four tet, daphni b2b floating points, avalon emerson 5.12/neil young 5.19/mannequin pussy 5.21/serpentwithfeet 5.25/hozier 6.12-16/bonnaroo 6.28/goose 6.29/goose 9.17/the national + the war on drugs 9.23/sigur ros 9.27-29/making time 10.17/air
Production aside, lyrically we've seen waves of hip-hop focus on different aspects of the music. I feel like in the late 90s, early 2000s you saw a strong marriage between technical ability and lyricism, and that produced some wonderful rappers but the genre stuck largely to verse-chorus-verse song structures with little experimentation in overall sonics. In the mainstream, at least. Then Kanye came through and changed both how the lyrics express vulnerability and how the production interacts with the vocals. Both were significant leaps for the genre. Since then we've seen a greater focus on the overall tones, melodies, and aesthetic of a song and less of a focus on lyrics. It's about nailing a certain mood, lyrics be damned. As someone who has always found lyrical content and the way words are woven together to be the two most fascinating parts of music in general, I admit it's not my favorite trend. But it's just an evolution. It's no different than Sigur Ros writing lyrics in an invented language. Though hip-hop has been largely about lyricism for much of its history, that has taken a backseat for a bit so the genre can play with sound...and now we've got beat switches galore and lush instrumentals and weird experimentation in sound and structure. It's great, and great for hip-hop. And I think we're about to see a remarriage of technical lyrical ability with the more creative aspects of the music as well (TPAB being a good example), which is only going to push the boundaries further. I love it.
I love all of the experimentation, the focus on creating a mood, etc... I just don't know why it has to be coupled with such a drop off in emcee talent.
This is why Hell Hath No Fury was such an orgasm for me. The beats on that think were so dark coming from Pharrell. I would have considered that album experimental in a way. Creates a mood. Then you also had Pusha come into his prime as an emcee with Malice not embarrassingly far behind him. Blueprint may be an example of this as well. It doesn't seem experimental now since the whole decade was spent trying to recapture that sound from Kanye and Just Blaze.
In 2009-2011... I remember thinking that Hip-Hop may not have anywhere left to go. So I am thankful for what has happened this decade in the sense that I do not worry about that at all now.
5.5/four tet, daphni b2b floating points, avalon emerson 5.12/neil young 5.19/mannequin pussy 5.21/serpentwithfeet 5.25/hozier 6.12-16/bonnaroo 6.28/goose 6.29/goose 9.17/the national + the war on drugs 9.23/sigur ros 9.27-29/making time 10.17/air