The 50 Best Rap Albums: 2023 Pt. 3

  

Written By: The Linx Staff + Contributors

        The final level. The S Tier. The best of the best. These 15 albums aren't just some rappers career best work, but the records you can turn on at any point in the year, look around, and wonder what the fuck everyone else was doing beneath them. From the intro to the last moments of a closing track there are bodies of work listed here that can go toe-to-toe with albums from any era. Production that adds textures to the musical lexicon as a whole. Rapping that resets the fabric of what being a great writer looks like. What rap as a whole can look like. Skimming through this list you'll see first timers, all-timers, old timers, and guys redefining time itself.

AWAL

15. Danny Brown & JPEGMAFIA - Scaring The Hoes

Collaborative albums are algorithmic cheat codes. They combine fanbases, interlock artists who already have enough respect for each other to make a full record, and when done right will force all parties involved into a new terrace of creativity. For years the two iconoclastic rappers have sung praises of the other, Danny being an inspiration to JPEG to get into music, and JPEG creating one of Danny’s favorite albums the last decade in All My My Heros Are Cornballs. With such high adoration of the other the two felt comfortable pushing the other to new heights. As a producer JPEG has never been more scatterbrained, turning anything he can find into percussion instruments while tactically sampling the peak moments of global pop tunes, gospel choirs and live street performers to build a soundscape Danny has never worked within. Hardcore EDM and psychedelic sample based beats have guided Danny to stardom, but never mashed together into a hearty digital gumbo quite like this. Even the vocal acrobatics they do with thier own flows add a new rhythmic element that instruments just can't seem to hit. Their vocals are buried into the mix and distorted to a hiss, which does their high pitched registers any favor in cutting through. Together the two unleash all of their frustrations at every rapper they’ve ever seen on their Youtube Recommended page; they’re all none writing, bad performing, wannabe fashionistas who couldn’t take either of the two in a street fight despite their shit talking ways (and the fact “yall let Jack Harlow sell yall chicken”). For two artists who exist in their own bubbles where nothing matters except the art, they together purge their hatred at everything that exists in the most enjoyable way possible. Being a hater never sounded so fun. - Anthony Seaman
Best Song: Lean Beef Patty
Best Beat: Kingdom Hearts Key

For Fans Of: Denzel Curry, Injury Reserve, BROCKHAMPTON
One Line: If r/hiphopheads was synthesized into an album (non-derogatory, for once).

Def Jam

14. Maxo - Even God Has A Sense Of Humor

Accordion runs, organs, windchimes, live drum breaks, every instrument that can tickle deep in your ear and sound good from 10,000 feet is used to build Maxo’s dreamlike kaleidoscope world. It’s one birthed from that raw soulfulness melding into the robotics of a modern studio; the kind where the line between home and recording booth could just be a single wire. The fingers of man pressing the triggers of the machine, forming a symbiotic universe where a heartbeat means as much as a WiFi connection. Bleeding out from his strained speaking voice or raspy whispers is the divinity of Georgia Anne Muldrow and the questioning of a long past philosopher from the mouth of LA’s newest soul seeker. In his own rap style, the traditional “bars” that rap heads value are erased and replaced with anecdotes and affirmations of a man who has felt too much, crying to the sky for peace instead of hollow calls for hands in the air. The LA Beat Scene was in many ways galactic jazz, smoked out hip-hop, and pioneering electronica mashing together into a collage of humanistic beauty, and Maxo is the chosen child carrying that torch on. Despite what the underground ancestors represented, his focus on relatability and baring one's soul overdies the unobtainable idea of technical perfection. The bars still weigh with you from listen to listen, but the release from near-gospel background vocals and instrumental breaks ease you back to a warmer zone. - Anthony Seaman

Read more about Maxo in our November edition of Another Link To The Chain here.
Best Song: Free!
Best Beat: Nuri
For Fans Of: Blu, Flying Lotus, Pink Siifu
One Line: Some Rap Songs with a bigger budget launched through a spiritual wormhole.

Young Stoner Life / 300

13. Gunna - A Gift & A Curse

A Gift & A Curse is a prime example of how good music can overcome adversity. On this project, Gunna used the creative spark again and harnessed it to address the trials and tribulations in his personal life along with his relationship with Young Thug and Lil Baby, all while being a household name involved in a highly publicized RICO case. Before an album was even announced to the public, he returned after ____ months locked up with the video for “Bread And Butter”, where he swiftly opened up about his relationships to industry associates and his part in the case as a whole. Wether they are targeted barbs or just him speaking the truth of the matter, lines like “We are not the same, they ain't in my lane, I got my own column, yeah / Peepin' shit, I'm seein' niggas fall back / You bitch-ass niggas got me as the topic of the chat” show a shocking disconnect from an Atlanta scene that gained power thanks to such a tight familial bond. This 15-song body of work hardly has any skips, and is a vibe all the way through. The superstar moments are at their most undeniable on “Back At It”, “Turned Your Back”, “I Was Just Thinking”, and song of the year contender, “Fukumean”. A Gift & a Curse is quite versatile, checking all the boxes any great album needs (personality, layered production, for the first time emotional transparency, all while tying it together with melodic choruses that have a life of their own). He managed to accomplish this without compromising what he’s known for; his patented “Wunna flow”, rapid slick verse delivery, and luxury trap beats.  - Tristen Swanson

Read more about Gunna and "Fukumean" in our Songs Of The Summer article here.

Best Song: Fukumean

Best Beat: Rodeo Dr

For Fans Of: Lil Keed, Hoodrich Pablo Juan, SahBabii
One Line: Mainstream Album Of The Year in the sense every one of these could find their way into drive-time radio rotation, a RapCaviar playlist, while sounding like the best version of everything pop rap stands for.

Fat Possum

12. Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips

Got to the busiest section of your local downtown area and find a bench. Sit there on any weekday morning, keep a few snacks on deck. Don’t just watch, but observe the world as it passes along. Absorb the how every boring piece of minutia that fills our space works in concert with each other. Your phone will vibrate and try to deceive you away from your task as it was meticulously designed to do, but stay true to the mission. You’ll notice the stress painted on your fellow man's face as they bustle between office buildings with a Christmas wish list for their kids on their mind as they FaceTime their mistress. The thousand yard stare that bellows out from the sunken eyes of the woman balancing a cardboard sign on the feet of her wheelchair, hoping for enough dollars to buy a bagel and an oxy. The plumes of diesel fuel from beer trucks cloud the windshields of a new fleet of eco-friendly buses with law office phone numbers plastered on the side looking to fund their founders next vacation to Turks. The sun will reflect off the metal street signs, the birds will shit on your shoulder, and the billboard above you promoting the newest $100,000,000 blockbuster will soon be swapped out for another while the wheelchair woman nods off in its shadow. We Buy Diabetic Test Strips is an album of these realizations stacked on top of each other like a Twitter feed of dystopian proportions (which may be a tautology but who’s to say). ELUCID and billy woods have captured the starkness of everyday living like documentarians on site to the fall of Rome. Any gravity the statements they make about fame, global warming or blackness is simply outweighed by whatever the following bar is. They take turns seething about the desolate nature of what our world has become. It’s an unforgiving basket of doom, orchestrated with more moving parts than the Super Bowl. Also like the advertisers biggest night of the year, it's two of the best at what they do at war with one another, while the diligent glitz and glamor surrounding it takes away from the raw human brutality that it all is built upon. - Anthony Seaman

Best Song: The Gods Might Be Crazy

Best Beat: Woke Up And Asked Siri How I’m Gonna Die

For Fans Of: Canibal Ox, Aquemini, Aesop Rock

One Line: Buhloone Mindstate for people on mood stabilizers.

Freedom Sounds / Def Jam

11. Navy Blue - Ways Of Knowing

After years of depression, anxiety, heartbreak and loss a crossroads will arise; to keep going or to end the story. To end the story is to be free of hurt, but instead forever hurting those left around you. To keep going is a chance at joys you’ve never felt possible. Though the fantastic 2020 album Navy’s Reprise was a loose sunny Saturday playlist that tapped into that purity, it was one that had made the choice to keep going and was living just to keep the good vibes up. Along 13 songs there’s a focused brightness in the eyes for the first time in the model-skateboarder turned generational producer with a growing skillset as a songwriter writer. Ways Of Knowing isn’t only coming from a space of newfound bliss, but awareness of it all. There’s affirmations and reminders across the record of that dark place being just a few slip ups away, but also a reassurance that there’s a system of love (whether it be familial, from self, or from God) in place to keep the ship steady. LA beat-scene veteran Budgie tugs Navy out of his own lo-fi universe into one of gospel harmonies and tear jerking piano flips that brings a clarity never before heard in his music. Full fleshed out SONGS with hooks, sonic progressions, an incorporation of background singers (and his own budding songbird vocals) bring a fulfillment one searches the corners of Spotify’s digital record collections to discover.  - Anthony Seaman

Best Song: Life's Terms

Best Beat: Chosen

For Fans Of: Medhane, MIKE, Mavi

One Line: What Ye thought he was doing with all those Sunday Service performances.

New Breed Trapper

10. RXKNephew - 'Til I'm Dead

It’s disingenuous to boil down the year RXKNephew had to a lone album. The Rochester rapper has been on a grind the last few years putting out hundreds of songs between his dozens of tapes and loosies on Youtube, and the closest one can find to a cushy entry point is 'Til I’m Dead. Sliding down his Apple Music page you’ll see the electro soaked 'Til I’m Dead came out at the top of the year capturing the most carefree and upbeat attributes he holds focused into making some of the most popular songs in his catalog (“Critical”, “1000MPH”). To be a fan of RXKNephew is to be a fan of the battle rap mentality; find a target, embarrass the target, move to the next one. Supervillain, sniper, crack dealer, the man who taught Bobby Brown how to dance, alcoholic; he’s going to tell you he’s everything and sell it like it’s the truth so well you question if everything you've ever heard before was a lie. Trying to contain such a chaotic force of nature like Neph is not for the weak hearted, but trust Rx crew producer Rx Brainstorm knows exactly what he needs: simple hi speed drums and shifting chords that drop in melodies to counter Neph’s charging voice. It’s a hyper detailed affair where you can hear vocal pads whisper deep in the mix like a ghost choir singing along with their Hell raising leader. Flashes of jungle and drum-n-bass breaks make their way into the fold pushing Neph out of his usual diet of sample loops and more bleak versions of mainstream trap beats. If he isn’t attacking the character of unnamed opps or attempting to keep his alter ego Slitherman at bay he can be found bouncing off the walls changing his voice into a barrage of other side identities. After so many hours alone (whether it be in studio, jail, or on street corners) it’s clear Neph has lost his mind, channeling it into an even more deranged Gucci Mane-esk run. - Anthony Seaman
Best Song: Critical
Best Beat: On My Mind / Pork N Beans
For Fans Of: Kool Kieth, Gucci Mane, mixtape Lil Wayne
One Line: If RXKNephew is Charmander, Gucci Mane is Charmeleon, Lil Wayne is cast as Charizard and Lil B is Shiny Charizard.

Ice Cold Entertainment / Epic

9. ICECOLDBISHOP - Generational Curse

Chaos is an unquestioned piece of the best West Coast releases ever made. The overlapping storylines within a house party, escaping or causing drive by’s, rule breaking feats of the human language, or 24-hour documentaries through the lives of those seen as America’s most dangerous never are consistent. The consistency is the inconsistency. There’s always time to party, to laugh, cry, scream to the heavens. Bass lines pulse, samples screech, drums go a mile a millisecond or a mile an hour. ICECOLDBISHOP may be the best at harnessing this chaos compared to any rapper the West Coast has ever produced. He gives classic tales of hard drug use and gun violence, but reframes it not as stories of pure violence, but before and after tales. A point is made to show that everything in his neighborhood is a time bomb that began ticking before he was even born, and how new ones are carelessly made and forgotten. Vocally he’s a virtuoso, shifting between registers while moving sideways through beats on some 4D chess shit. Mixing together a skillset that few in rap today can harness along with a more detailed perspective on a world that feels familiar, ICECOLDBISHOP creates a full fledged IMAX movie on wax like only a handful before him ever have. - Anthony Seaman

Read more about Generational Curse from our Modern Review here.
Best Song: Focused
Best Beat: Out The Window
For Fans Of: Westside Boogie, Mick Jenkins, Blank Face LP era ScHoolboy Q
One Line: Kendrick Lamar has sons out here and they’re all so damn good.

Generation Now / Atlantic

8. Jack Harlow - Jackman.

The trope of “getting to the top and feeling empty” is a tale as old as the quest for stardom itself, one not even Jack Harlow (checking off the boxes of international ladies man, actor, chart topping rapper, brand ambassador from near obscurity in under 3 years time) can escape. After a muddled reception to Come Home The Kids Miss You, he opted to slow down his traveling and move back home to Louisville. This lifestyle shift brought depth back into his writing that had only been saved for his Drake-esk vignettes into being a sex symbol to everyone with a finsta. The slower life where he spends weekends playing in local soccer leagues and kicking it with high school friends proved to be the injection into his already solid hit making that his career was begging for. It's been a steroid injection to his maturation from boy to man as you see his content base expand from the rigamarole of teen toils (girls, money, and partying) to observations of white privilege (“Common Ground”) coming to grips with complicated family dynamics (“Blame On Me”) and to what extent do friendships go when heinous acts are done by childhood pals (“Gang Gang Gang”). It’s a 24-minute headrush indebted to emotional early 10’s mixtapes (cc: Friday Night Lights and the S.O.U.L. Tape series). Whether this is a one off gift from a rap nerd with illusions of grandeur before returning to the pop-rap consortium or a promise to keep the newfound spirit alive, it adds new depth to someone vying to be the great that no one in his class has truly made an effort to do. - Anthony Seaman

Best Song: Blame On Me

Best Beat: Is That Ight?

For Fans Of: J. Cole, Little Brother, early Kanye West

One Line: The classic “Back to my hip-hop roots” / “Trust me guys I can really rap” project done right.

10k

7. MIKE - Burning Desire

Explaining the kind of rap music MIKE makes is always going to be reductive compared to just playing the albums top down on a day when sitting on the porch with headphones is top of the to-do list. Shining a light on MIKE isn’t telling everyone how great he is, because no words can ever capture the overwhelming humanity that explodes from every syllable in his rhyme book. With every MIDI trigger sound is cut up, blown out, and recontextualized into an evocative galaxy that just makes you feel something new for the first time. Every album since 2019’s Tears Of Joy feels accomplished in one main idea. Tears is a concentrated perfection of the boundless fuzz that his earlier catalog of beta tests was building towards. Weight Of The World saw his vocals become the star of the show. Disco! saw song structure enter his process, creating his catchiest records to date. Beware Of The Monkey was the sun finally breaking through into a universe built upon self-medication and the parsings of pain. Faith Is A Rock holds the best bar for bar rapping of his life. Now Burning Desire exists in the form of a contemporary rap opus, but with disjointed experience as the crux. In real life you're dashing from store to work to home, skimming through apps and text threads by the minute. There's a melding of life through his lyrics and scrambled digital realms through production. Right as you’re lulled into smooth seas, a crack of lightning reignites your mind and forces a shift in direction. From the high seas to the faithful shores the calmness of a man prepared for everything always permeates out of our trusted captain. These invigorating turns from blown out electro jams (“African Sex Freak Fantasy”) to ethereal orchestral soul interludes (“should be!”) back to his established style (“Dambe”) bring an element of surprise that makes every run through a rollercoaster into the mind of the best MC/producer hybrid working today.  - Anthony Seaman

Best Song: Set The Mood
Best Beat: U Think Maybe?

For Fans Of: AKAI SOLO, Quelle Chris, Cities Aviv
One Line: Floating in and out of sleep on your grandma's couch while cartoons and old movies play on the TV.

Backwoodz Studioz

6. Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Maps

Woods has the superpower of being able to take any situation win, loss, draw or otherwise and point out the worst within it. A perennial nihilist coming to career highs during a global pandemic is just too perfect a coincidence, and since the world has reopened not much has changed in his lyrics. The world is still burning, you’re still under surveillance, and there’s just something a little off with the water, but everyone just got too busy again stare at the truth all day. His own return to the life of a touring musician has brought unbridled awkward encounters and unfortunate circumstances into the hardened veterans daily life. Sketchy bus patrons, the struggles of soundcheck, and expensive Uber rides are the reality of someone without a major label checkbook to grease the wheels of lifes travels. Like most tours a barrage of guests and old pals cross paths from City A to City Z, this time with underground stars Quelle Chris, ShrapKnel, ELUCID and Danny Brown joining the pity party. The ringleader to the entire circus is Kenny Segal, who provided the soundscapes for billy’s sludge ridden affair Hiding Places back in 2020. Where the beats on Hiding Places were lumbering ghouls peeking from the forest at night, Maps takes on a less overcast scenery. “Year Zero” still sounds like the peak of destruction in a Godzilla movie, but “Babylon By Bus” and “Facetime” hold the innocent spark of a more freeing, jazz sprinkled world. With a deeper bag of references than any rapper alive (this album shows him shouting out Playboi Carti concert goers, Jamaican oranges, LL's Walking With A Panther, flying carpets and Rubik’s cubes) every bar is a mystery on how it’ll end. The unpredictable writing paired with Kennys incalculable instrumental flairs converge in a similar no man's land that only they can properly conquer. - Anthony Seaman
Best Song: Soundcheck
Best Beat: NYC Tapwater
For Fans Of: MF DOOM, R.A.P. Ferreira, Open Mike Eagle
One Line: Nightmare version of Call Me If You Get Lost.

ALC Records / Freeminded Records / EMPIRE

5. Larry June & The Alchemist - The Great Escape

Being a rapper isn’t good enough for Larry June, but not in the dismissive way that artists looking to springboard into acting or cheap clout fame go about it, but rather you can hear he’s made for doing something bigger. Even within his monotone drone there’s more real personality to him than in many rappers working today; guys like Larry have floated around you your whole life. Always the calmest in the room, reserved to the point of near mystery, but never intimidated past having a fulfilling conversation. In the same breath he’ll give you a heads up on where to find the best green juices in the city, he’ll flex about his real estate meetings with a small town guy named LeBron James. It’s never to demean or stunt on you, but rather build this never ending lore about him. The Marathon that Nipsey Hussle preached is the path June is striding down, setting himself up for true American living rather than survival, sprinkling tips to anyone along the way keen enough to listen. Cardo, Harry Fraud, and Sean House have been the interior designers to the musical mansions he’s roamed and described in Rick Ross-esk detail, but for what is arguably the apex of his catalog he taps into The Alchemist and his never ending hard drive of beats (and marking the return of Alchemist the MC for the first time since 2019's "Arnold & Danny"). As an admitted Alc super fan there’s been 3 loose phases of his career. Stage 1 ranges from his Cypress Hill days up until around 2010-2011, Stage 2 is birthed from Covert Coup flowing through the mixtape run up until around 2016, while Stage 3 eases in around 2017 with the Fantasy Island EP and Good Book Vol. 2 and exist up until today characterized by more loop based, lighter drums, very subtle live instrument flourishes, closer to creating West Coast jazz compositions. That Stage 3 misty jazz sound works wonders for Larry, allowing the power of his motivational speaker tone to fill out a theater with an exquisite ensemble of sounds framing him. - Anthony Seaman
Best Song: 60 Days
Best Beat: Palisades, CA
For Fans Of: LNDN DRGS, Dom Kennedy, 8Ball & MJG
One Line: The physical version should probably come in a salt water and lemon grass scratch and sniff case or an Italian leather CD booklet.

OVO Sound / Republic

4. Drake - For All The Dogs: Scary Hours Edition

Drake is who he is at this point in life. The biggest rapper in the world, one of the most popular artists of all time, and someone who despite it all is just as frustrated with dating as everyone else is. A core aspect of being a rapper is having someone to rally against and pick apart piece by piece. Some take to political structures, some other rappers, and for Drake it’s the women in his life first and foremost; and that’s when he’s at his absolute best. “Bahamas Promises”, “Slime You Out”, and “Tried Our Best” are scorned R&B tracks that top his discography. “Drew A Picasso” and “Polar Opposites” are rehashings of where things went wrong and how it could just never be his fault. Even playing upon the more bouncy trap sound from Her Loss with "What Would Pluto Do" and "Another Late Night" he's taken the flows and tones that previously fit like oversized hand me downs and tapered them into form. As per every album from someone with market share monopolizing on his mind there are failed attempts to take on new sounds (there is no universe where singing in Spanish or rapping next to Yeat make sense and now we have proof of concept) which garnered enough critique for a deluxe edition of the most aggravated rapping in nearly a decade to spill out and be tacked on to an already great project. Ovrkst., Alchemist, and Boi-1da are highlights in the production credits of the Scary Hours bonus pack, bringing an aged soulfulness to an already spiteful tear. “Evil Ways” is a clash of titans over a decade in waiting and “The Shoe Fits” is a 6 minute exposé into the unspoken aspects of being a woman hopping from one famous lover to another. To say Drake improved as a writer is dismissive to the highlights that existed all along, but for the first time making every playlist seemed to take a backseat to dumping out the best overall songs he has in his stash. - Anthony Seaman

Read more about Drake and For All The Dogs from our October edition of Rapper Of The Month here.

Best Song: Drew A Picasso

Best Beat: The Shoe Fits

For Fans Of: Joe Budden, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Freddie Gibbs

One Line: The angriest and most focused rap album from Drake since IYRTITL.

NONAME Inc. / AWAL

3. Noname - Sundial

Bar for bar there is no better rapper at any given moment than Noname. Standing toe to toe with Common, Billy Woods and Jay Electronica she’s finally found her tribe, but is never washed away by them in the style she has done to so many others the last 10 years. At any moment you can be buried under metaphors, eye popping meter breaks and the unbearable truth of the turmoil needed to create the world we reside in. On her 3rd album, long rumored to be named Factory Baby now known as Sundial, there’s an angst to her usual hushed slam poetry style delivery that adds an acidic sting to every jab at capitalist entities and failing social constructs. At large the album aims to call out hypocrisies in American values as well as her own failures to practice what she preaches. Knowing the weaknesses in your own armor and making it known before anyone else can say it is a unique turn in a genre that is built upon blind bravado even in moments of emotional vulnerability. Does it make her untouchable? No, but the 8 Mile technique of weaponizing her own perceived image allows her points to breath longer uninterrupted, and lets the points she's making become the focal point rather than any attacking of the messenger. There’s always been a battle of pretension that exists in the aesthetic and Twitter feeds of Noname, but never the music itself. The arrogance of a liberal arts student exists in her public presentation, but on record she’s as charismatic and thoughtful as anyone holding her type of talent. The way she critiques Rihanna, white rap fans and lovers expectations is the same way she looks at herself; an idol that should never have been held as such, but rather a person who can be very right in one field while slipping in another. Her rhapsodic verses are soundtracked by a darker free jazz sound that pairs closer to a paranoid Low End Theory than her previous pastel tinted catalog. After every album it’s clear her time away has been spent adding to her already abundant toolbelt, which when paired with a deep understanding of the history and theory that her morality is built upon creates a force of nature in the rap world comparable only to comets in the sky. - Anthony Seaman
Best Song: Beauty Supply
Best Beat: Black Mirror

For Fans Of: Bahamadia, Common, Kendrick Lamar
One Line: The Lauryn Hill rap album y’all always wanted.

Tan Cressida / ALC Records / Warner / Gala Music

2. Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist - VOIR DIRE (Full Version)

Hearing Earl rap consistently was a dream that seemed unfathomable 5 years ago. To make a full traditional verse-hook-verse-hook rap song seemed to be a chore. In 2023 it still is for him and most of the general music making universe, but what has come from it is a more pure presentation of ideas that pop music form really was never meant to do. The underground spans from the Griselda-verse, into whatever you call xaviersobased, and somewhere in between lies Certified Trapper doing something no one outside of his area code can do just right (sorry Babytron). Earl played around with every exciting sub-scene that the underbelly of hip-hop music holds, absorbing cadences like Kirby, writing his poetic revelations right to papyrus. Alchemist and Earl have toyed with fans for years about a full project existing. After Youtube witch hunts came up fruitless and low-res festival performances of unreleased collab cuts circled the internet, a botched NFT style release was the "groundbreaking" structure they saw fit. Now to the chagrin of the general population (who has no concept of a .zip file), two different tracklistings exist and require an at home fix. It's an old school scavenger hunt with riddles and big X marking the spot that produces one of the best bodies of work either have ever laid their fingers on. The half mumbled but always clear delivery of a man smoked out of his mind mixed with production so airy it gives you the feeling of floating within a deprivation tank makes the journey to completion make more sense. This is the sacred room of an oracle and a wizard joining forces to bring calm during an avalanche. A focus on brevity makes every line hit like a cold brick to the head, where even simple lines can be carried as affirmations through the waves of life. All together the 14 songs synthesize that rush of water hitting your back in the shower after a joint and a full meal; rethinking the world, the sadness of losing friends, and appreciating a mothers love, all the while knowing things will be OK. - Anthony Seaman

Read more about Earl Sweatshirt and VOIR DIRE from our September edition of Rapper Of The Month here.
Best Song: 27 Braids
Best Beat: My Brother, The Wind

For Fans Of: Madlib, Denmark Vessey, Roc Marciano
One Line: An abbreviated version of Mos Def’s The Ecstatic.

Navy Wavy / Warner

1. Veeze - Ganger (Deluxe)

From the second the distorted drums and digital horns flopped through my headphones, chills ran from my calves to my ears. Veeze’s name popped up on my timeline sparingly by the best tastemakers in rap today, his praises sung in shushes like he was the boogieman. Yet so glowing you’d think he was God himself. His unholy adoration of pills, beautiful women who can't be trusted, and limited edition clothing make him seem as trivial as the next guy with access to a studio and a batch of “Surf Gang type beats”, but he’s anything but that. Rapping in run on sentences with nuanced slurs and a lower energy bar than Tyrese Halliburton on defense, Veeze patches together verses as a collage artist first and foremost. Punch ins and punchlines are his core values as a rapper, each essential textures within the Detroit scene that birthed him, just never at this high a level for a full LP. The oddball humor of Cam’ron, the Zack Lowe level NBA nerdom, the Young Dro-esk descriptions of his lean, the high level shit talking of a durag dawning Jay-Z, the masterful pocket punching of Lil Uzi Vert. It's a seismic shift in style from the top stars that have ran hip-hop for 10 years. There's almost no purposeful hooks. The only real concept to be found in 80% the songs is either how cool he is today or how cool he's always been. It's less an album and more a data dump from a deranged mans hard drive. As a listener we always hear about the good ole days from our favorite artists 10-20 years after the fact on a stiff podcast when they finally have the ability to look back and process the insanity of their run. Veeze is documenting that rise in real time. There’s nothing he can’t do, and he’s doing it on lush twitchy beats that sound like the sound Helluva and Payroll Giovanni built was reimagined with plugg producers. It was album of the year before the deluxe version even dropped, but once songs like “Luv The Tour” and “Get Lucki” were added doubling down on the best parts of the original album, it was a lock for the #1 spot. - Anthony Seaman

Best Song: Not A Drill
Best Beat: Get Lucki

For Fans Of: Babyface Ray, Lil Baby, Luh Tyler
One Line: Detroit’s Supreme Clientele.

Check out our all encompassing, probably way too long, Best Of 2023 Playlist on Spotify.

The 50 Best Rap Albums: 2023 Pt. 2

   

Written By: The Linx Staff + Contributors

The second level. The fleshy fulfilling piece of the list where every project is closer in ranking to one another than a simple number might seem. Everything here is great, and most of them are hyper specific albums that hone in on a sonic playground. Much like any given playground on any given day you can see dozens of individuals riding the teeter totter and zooming up trees with such slight nuance from one another that staring at it from afar it might wash past you. Some kids focus on speed, trying to run laps across the jungle gym to the slide, just to zoom down it quick enough to activate a zap that only comes from childlike whimsy meeting the friction of government grade plastic. Some kids aim for height, taking to trees and swing sets to toil in the skies for the first time. The occasional child will test their agility on the monkey bars, looking to slip on and off each rail with ease like our ancestors once got tired of doing forcing evolution into modernized beasts who pay taxes and build parking garages. The point of this over arching metaphor is to understand that all these individuals had the opportunity to be like any of their counterparts, existing with all the same tools at hand. But instead saw an open world and chose to be the most heightened version of themselves, looking to push whatever attribute they value most in themself to the limit.

Glass Window Entertainment / 4PF

30. Rylo Rodriguez - Been One

One thing that will never get old in this rap thing is sports references. If you were a sports head at any point, then you’ll easily appreciate the left field, yet fitting punchlines that are packed with a warbling southern drawl carrying this project. The cleverness is appreciated and the placement of his references isn’t forced and flows seamlessly throughout the songs. It's almost like a side quest to tally them up or catch them while they are happening. Some of my favorite picks were “I was out in Houston, I went to readin' our old (Texans) texts”, “I don’t give a fuck where we at, Ben Simmons, I ain’t playin’ nowhere”, and “I thought you got past (pass) that, your actions givin' Matt Ryan". Been One contains a lot of bright spots and taps into pockets of emotional versatility that fits alongside so many rappers of his generation, and continues to be a draw for me into his growing catalog. “Free Game”, “Taylor Port Junkie”, and “Equal Dirt” add an extra layer of substance to Rylo’s work, demonstrating his ability to carry through with a theme while not compromising his quest for new pockets and flows. Every song continues to build upon his legend, and show what makes him valuable in the grand lanscape of Southern singer-rapper hybrids. - Tristen Swanson

Best Song: Equal Dirt
Best Beat: On Da Floor
For Fans Of: YTB Fatt, Kodak Black, Real Boston Richey
One Line: Boiled peanut raps for the soul.

10K Projects

29. Summrs - Stuck In My Ways

On this list alone there are multiple artists accused of sex crimes, weapons charges, aggravated assault, all the way down to petty social disturbances, and those are only the crimes that made it to media outlets. Summrs has been accused of multiple crimes and has flooded the market in an attempt to make people forget. Autumn! (who’s on this list as well) is from the same circle with similar grievances called against his name and following a similar tactic of flooding out music. For Autumn there’s a glowing review, but Summrs in many ways has been the poster boy of their scene. One burning from the inside with abusers gaining and losing and gaining and losing fanfare in a never ending cycle that restarts with every fresh burst of screenshots and photos from women claiming abuse hitting the internet. How do we talk about artists who time and again are accused of awful things? Personally, I don’t have a lot of answers to the questions following this, but these are ones I think we all have to at least acknowledge when dealing with artists like Summrs, and hopefully y'all can find your own answers. Are their collaborators deserving of blame for keeping them relevant? Their show promoters? The people designing their cover art? For standing by and actively getting money from a singular person who has allegedly committed sexual assault and grooming of minors, do they also have to get their names tarnished by association? Should we be shamed for listening as fans of music? Should we all just listen to ambient music instead? Is the album even good enough to garner such questioning? Frankly it’s one of the best collections of hollow ear candy since Dua Lipa caught fire. The production is full of plugg at it’s finest, handcrafted section to section with complex twinkling drums mixed down immaculately to every hertz. We as fans can separate the art from the artist if we so choose, but in actuality it doesn’t matter what stage of the morality Olympics we can get to internally to enjoy some songs when controlling our dollars, social media engagement and time spent streaming is what would out these people from the music world. Instead of ignoring art made by people who possibly are awful human beings, we’d rather make it be known who the person is and challenge fans to ask where their lines are, because everyone involved has already chosen a side. Now where do we go from here? - Anthony Seaman

Best Song: Relying On Roxy
Best Beat: Miles On You
For Fans Of: Playboi Carti, Ken Carson, and every other underground Soundcloud child with a mugshot or list of allegations.
One Line: How much candy do you have to eat before you hate yourself for not eating the fruit in your fridge?

Giant Music

28. Cash Cobain - Pretty Girls Love Slizzy

Nothing is more lonely than being a pioneer. You’re rolling solo in the great wilderness, touching plants no man has imagined, seeing the sky from an angle no one before you ever has. In the Drill universe, NY Drill has a short lifespan but has been a catalyst for expansion sonically that no other city has quite pinned down. At it’s core the music is aggression personified. Paranoid, powerful, and direct. Pop Smoke made it something palatable to casual rap fans, Ice Spice sprinkled together nonchalant attitude and feminine energy, now Cash Cobain is injecting stoic lust and melody into the equation. Sexy Drill as it has been dubbed is just as bouncy and scattered as traditional drill sounds. From his laptop to our headphones the OVO 40 indebted patches and pitched R&B samples are used as a foundation to take the sting out of the most violent genre in America, to become the background score for late night smoke sessions and dimly lit hookah lounges. The same ubiquitous sensuality that radiates from Jodeci deep cuts or contemporary afro-beats are the only comparable auras to the brash horned out yearnings of Cash Cobain. What separates sexy drill from either of these worlds is that their is no love, or even the effort to create an illusion of it. “You can ask Pitchfork i’m really that horny” is the standout bar of the entire tape, because it’s a mission statement that he’s lived by with no fluff to soften the message. As a rapper Cash fits somewhere between Don Toliver (who made the best R&B album of 2023) and the mellower side of Lil Durk. It’s the closest clash against the barrier of R&B and hip-hop since T-Pain was the biggest artist in the world, and he does it with a casual mastery of both sides. Will he ever bar you to death? No, cause the hoes ain’t here for bars. Instead he’s building tension by shooting couplets at you between 808 thumps, each one a different piece of game for every woman he gets within hearing distance of. - Anthony Seaman

Best Song: Not No Xanax 2
Best Beat: Nice N Slow
For Fans Of: Pretty Ricky, Ice Spice, PnB Rock
One Line: All those risky text messages you've ever typed and deleted of risk of coming off to strong finds a new home in his songs.

RCA

27. Young Nudy - Gumbo

It’s a simple formula; get the best beats, be as cool as possible, and be so charismatic your fans don’t even second guess the fire and brimstone within your words. Giggling in the face of every weapon formed against him, Young Nudy continues his immaculate run of mixtapes with his newest iridescent buffet of songs. While Dr. EV4L and Rich Shooter saw new personalities form into alternate beings within his artistry, the spirit of Gumbo is a formless fusing of mischievous tricks into every serving. Instead of narrowing in on one idea, he leans into the gumbo mentality; taking everything in the cupboard and making twisted magic with it. Hell, the highlights of many of his past projects have been songs named after food, so why not try to capture the magic for one full tape? The success of “Peaches & Eggplants” and its video took Nudy into a new realm of popularity, breaking him from cult hero to Billboard and mixshow mainstay thanks in part to the growing fame of older cousin 21 Savage bringing more eyes to the family’s newest hustle. The ode to ass shaking harnessed horndog fun that Cash Cobain makes a living off and showcased the goofball hiding behind a street demon. Shooters and the many ways they’ll find you are still a main form of conflict resolution throughout the lyrics, but luckily the amount of shrooms and weed he’s consuming these days keep him at ease. For such violent subject matter, there isn’t something more breezy and easy to put on and not force a skip on this whole list. It's a perfect song suite that doesn’t overthink a moment. More and more syrupy half-sung-half-rapped melodies have crept into his range as a vocalist metabolizing as “Passion Fruit” and “Portabella”. Go-to producer Coupe has outshined themself yet again, producing 10 tracks on the album with no misses. Even when Pi’erre Bourne dishes out a bouncing circus with “Pot Roast”, nothing Coupe fades to the back. Stringing together this many concise and high spirited affairs separates him from being just another street rapper. For Nudy songs aren’t just pawns to be used as means to a greater end (touring, merch, etc.), he’s a true creative that has spent years blunted in traps and unmarked vehicles all over the East Side of Atlanta and can tell you that story 10,000 different ways. Lights are shining brighter than ever on his works, and he’s using it to power into a more exploratory figure. - Anthony Seaman

Read more about Young Nudy and "Peaches & Eggplants" from our Songs Of The Summer article here.
Best Song: Passion Fruit
Best Beat: Shrimp
For Fans Of: Key Glock, 50 Cent, Gucci Mane
One Line: My go-to album for every party or car situation this whole year.

Tase Grip / Break All Records

26. Phiik & Lungs - Another Planet 4

Between every word in a verse is the slightest millisecond to process what was just said. It’s the reason we write sentences like this andnotsomethinglikethis. For clarity, for flow of reading, that space is needed. Phiik and Lungs have thrown that school of thought in a garbage disposal and reimagined the world in their own exaggerated image. They’re twin electrons whizzing faster than human understanding can process, ripping through those measly spaces we think we need so much. In their first full length presentation in the Another Planet series, breath control and flow are abstract concepts and actual long shot bars are the standard. You hear flecks of Action Bronson's most imaginative spirit (“first date was made awkward / the hash made everything weird / outpatient alcoholics out in the park before the meeting trying to stash beers”) enough to keep things playful, despite nothing they create being an inch short of serious craftsmanship. There’s few songs that go heavy on percussion to let the duo be shining stars of the show. When fireworks peel off into the night sky, the last thing you want is a rainbow or a group of trees blocking your view. Vocal loops and screeching strings created the kind of animated duress that only exists in Scooby Doo chase scenes. Just take a moment to soak up the comic book mischeif on the album cover (the best cover of the year in my book s/o Chop) For most rap fans this will be your most challenging listen this calendar year, hearing two heightened forces meet their equal in a sparring match where the respect is always palpable. These two are kindred spirits, devising new ways to amaze.  - Anthony Seaman
Best Song: When I Needed Someone
Best Beat: Worse Off Than Drug Addicts
For Fans Of: Busdriver, Al.Divino, Koncept Jack$on
One Line: The mechanical expertise of late career Eminem without the weight of a 50 year old mans’ personality ruining the show.

Columbia

25. Tyler The Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale EP

One of Tyler, The Creator’s greatest strengths is how great a student he is. He’s able to synthesize his influences, and after doing his calculations he screams “EUREKA!” and has new music. Much like Kanye West, he’s understood the need to evolve and morph, establishing and leaving behind different eras and styles that remain in present in the music’s skeletons but has otherwise been left behind. Thankfully, we got another 8 tracks of what’s arguably Tyler at his most honed and well practiced. The Estate Sale follows the mixtape feel of the original album, with “Heaven To Me” being a sped up version of John Legend’s Heaven beat. “Boyfriend, Girlfriend” is a summer jam that’s perhaps humbly called a demo with one of the best YG verses in years. “Dogtooth” is a breezy song that makes reference to the classic Loiter Squad Scared Straight skit. “Wharf Talk” is a modern reimagining of “Frontin’” with A$AP Rocky delivering an effortlessly smooth, almost Slick Rick-like verse. This deluxe is full of songs that feel like a summer cookout, but “Heaven To Me” and “Sorry Not Sorry” are the kind of very personal songs we’ve come to expect from him. “Heaven To Me” is one of his most genuine songs ever, from the handheld mic to the lovely future he imagines for himself both now and years ago, and “Sorry Not Sorry” acknowledges all his eras not only in his delivery and style, but the lyrics. It’s raw, real, and flawed but guess what? He’s not sorry. - G.N. Jones

Best Song: Sorry Not Sorry

Best Beat: Wharf Talk

For Fans Of: Pharrell's solo rap projects, Cam'ron, Slick Rick

One Line: The type of music to make you buy leather goods and complain about thread counts.

Columbia

24. Glokk40Spaz - Took The Biggest Risk

The leaders of the last generation of Atlanta kings always had one leg in a hyper-expressionistic scene while the other was swallowed by the trap-fueled streets. These sides have mostly splintered to where there is now no bridge. That was until Glokk40Spaz began his mixtape tear in 2022. Took The Biggest Risk isn’t the gold medalist in this spark of releases (Don’t Get Took Off 3 is a masterpiece) but it’s the perfect entry point for fans of the hyper destructive crash dummy tunes that got Ja Morant benched and the bouncy future trap ATLSensei and Popstar Benny! have made careers out of. Guns, drugs and crime are his happy place, and the technicolor swirls of plugg and glo beats dupe you into thinking that it’s a world you could survive in too. It’s not until that same themes are hollered over a blown out rage soundtrack (“Different Goals”) that you see his dreamworld is a warzone for the general population. Bits of ATL giants rear their heads in his raps; overlapping flows like Pablo Juan, the punchy similes of 21 Savage, the joyous destruction of PeeWee Longway. Atlanta vaulted to the mantle of rap royalty not because of individual mega-hits, but rather a continuous excellence that was self referential. Though just as quickly as this new spark to Atlanta was lit, it was dampened with his most recent return to jail for aggravated assault, robbery and weapons charges this summer. So much so that despite this being his major label debut, only a lone single and near zero promotion was done by the label. He's spoken from behind bars about a large vault of music being in trusted hands while he awaits trial and possible sentencing, but more than anything we're hopeful he'll be able to reap the benefits in full as a free man. - Anthony Seaman

Best Song: 3rd World

Best Beat: I Got A Army

For Fans Of: NBA Youngboy, Babydrill, Chief Keef

One Line: If you did everything he said in his lyrics you would get 5 stars in GTA in record time.

Loma Vista

23. Killer Mike - MICHAEL

There’s this false narrative that there is a difference between the South and the Deep South, where the experiences of someone in Arkansas would be viewed as different from someone in Virginia. In actuality it becomes a difference between rural, city, and suburban southerners. Killer Mike is from Atlanta, a place that has always been a Mecca for black business, but a few miles in either direction the busted city pavement becomes red clay roads and boiled peanut stands fast. Growing up he saw the dilapidated struggles of communities separated from a greater township, and rich people who looked just like him. Amongst he and all southerners is a fear or DNA level respect of God that every choice is born from. To him, his chosen purpose is to be an artist and for 20+ years he’s been an underground staple that’s seen the highs alongside Outkast and the lows of pushing mixtapes to gas stations along the chitlin circuit. With No ID helming the ship Mike has decided to minimize the decades of bravado, cash counting, and neo-liberal black capitalist rhetoric to show the man behind the preacher spirit in an MC’s shell. As a student of the game who owes his life to the music he’s finally giving his most prized possession back; himself, in the form of an operatic rap sermon. He’s in the beginning stages of vulnerability, casting light on stories that only existed between him and those involved from deciding to abort a child as a teen to befriending drug addicted family members while serving them their medicine of choice. Drilling across every organ run he calls out the transgressions of days past, asking for forgiveness to the Lord for every sin he committed to become a reborn soldier for the spirit of his fellow man. Over and over his rampant passion breaks through your being with a near mechanical control of his words. - Anthony Seaman
Best Song: Something For Junkies
Best Beat: Motherless
For Fans Of: Scarface, Chance The Rapper, Bun B
One Line: The chest pounding sibling to Jay-Z's 4:44

Manifest / GoodTalk / Good Money Global 

22. That Mexican OT - Lonestar Luchador

For years The Mexican OT has toiled away on the indie circuit trying to break into the larger Southern rap discussion by being a mimic. A gifted mimic, but a mimic nonetheless. Whether intentional or not the DNA of DaBaby and Kevin Gates overrode the singular genius that lied inside him. After a national breakout with Song Of The Summer contender “Johnny Dang”, the world was reintroduced into a mature creator who finally cracked his own code. As OT and rising stand up star Ralph Barbosa play commentators to the wrestling match of a lifetime you see the true crude comedic core that makes his music so magnetic. While the Texas rap has been stereotyped into car worshipping, lean sipping simplicity, there’s a deeper cultural context that exists that has been swept away. With modern country melodies, dexterous vocal tricks and trunk rattling drums marinated overnight into one another you can see a path forming for OT that others have yet to capitalize on while giving a tour through the last 24 years of his life. Morgan Wallen and Kane Brown monopolized the Billboard charts with hip-hop inspired country ditties, a formula that has now been flipped on its head; what if rappers used the topline melodies the way the gold ole boys have co-opted our low end? “Breannan” is the best proof of concept, a heartbreaking recollection of being crossed by a woman. As much as melody is wielded to perfection, it isn’t a crutch to make up for lack of traditional rap skills. “Groovin’ (Remix)” is a horn filled boom bap jam, “Cowboy In New York” is a Mobb Deep repress, and “Opp Or 2” is a candy coated dogfight with Maxo Kream. Lonestar Luchador is a one stop general store for whatever your heart desires. Regret, red clay blues-rap, and half-serious gleeful power vocals can be found on the same shelf right next to Slim Thug indebted jewelry tunes and regional Mexicana. - Anthony Seaman

Read more about That Mexican OT and "Johnny Dang" in our Songs Of The Summer article here.
Best Song: Johnny Dang
Best Beat: Barrio
For Fans Of: Riff Raff, PeeWee Longway, BigXthaPlug
One Line: Every purchase of a physical copy should come with an airbrush tee shirt and an oversized belt buckle.

Quality Control / Motown

21. Quavo - Rocket Power

The bedrock of Atlanta has been shaken to near destruction of the last 2 years between the YSL trial, the deaths of Lil Keed and Trouble, and rappers who were set to be kings falling short of expectations. But before Keed, before Young Thug, before 21 Savage, before Metro Boomin, before Lil Yachty, there were the Migos. Takeoff, nephew of Quavo and cousin (but not really cousin) to Offset was murdered November 1st of 2022, and had long been called the soul of the group and the reason the trio even began rapping. In dedication to his late nephew Rocket Power is as close to true reflection and pain that a partying hitmaker like Quavo can muster. Much like the cosmos that the cover pays homage to (in part referencing the intergalactic joyride Takeoff was on for his The Last Rocket album cover) his sophomore solo effort has a base level of darkness but the diamond like glitter of stars keep hope alive. BNYX’s darkwave trap beats are prominent on the album, finding Quavo at the right moment to utilize them. The vulnerability from an artist who has made a name off a cartoonish presentation of a jewelry obsessed rap crooner is shocking and brings new depth to a career that was always a good time, but shallow at its core. In many ways it’s the rap equivalent of the way Jonah Hill went from comedic ham to a more serious thespian type with elite comedic powers ala Moneyball and Wolf Of Wall Street. The core of themselves is being a fun guy and still exists in everything they do, but the world around it is much more tense and realistic than ever. Dedications to Takeoff are on nearly every song, alongside praises for the family and friends around him today keeping him in high spirits through the toughest time in his life swap out the Gucci Man pastiche of long days bagging drugs and longer nights in parties.  - Anthony Seaman

Best Song: Mama Told Me

Best Beat: Fueled Up

For Fans Of: Juice WRLD, Young Thug, NAV

One Line: Everything around Quavo is crumbling, and for the first time he’s speaking of what he’s really feeling, not just living through.

Kemosabe / RCA

20. Doja Cat - Scarlet

Eminem was probably the last pop mega-star to so openly speak out about frustrations with not only fan culture at large, but taking aim at the para-social relationships their top .005% Spotify streamers have with them specifically. The stans that flood comment sections about her alt-right dating history, associations with abusers like Dr. Luke, and her new “demonic” persona have caused her to become so frustrated to the point she wanted to make a rap album to create a cushion from the pop zeitgeist and the devotees attached. She can calls them out with a subtle comedy that takes the edge of her rawest emotions, but will just as quickly say fuck it and delivery blunted venom for them to sip on. Her core values of pop-R&B songwriting still collude with her rap persona in nearly every song, keeping a porous membrane between these fragments of herself. Being extremely online is the foreground for her persona as well as her consumption and presentation of music. From her breakout hit “Mooo” to being in racial chat rooms showing feet, being tapped into the world wide web has done everything positive and negative for her, including fuel inspiration stylistically across this digital rap-pop hybrid album. “Agora Hills” is a perfect record for a myriad of reasons, but at the peak of the iceberg is her channeling the snappy “too cool to care” eye rolling it-girl character that Kilo Kish perfected when Terry Richardson photoshoots were peaking on Tumblr. “Often” sounds like a B-Side from The Internet’s Ego Death, “Love Life” is a cadence not far removed from Tyler The Creator. There's sprinkles of boom-bap traditionalism, and even a tongue-in-cheek takes on contemporary rap. To make a project to spur people who are living life too deeply on their phones by embodying aesthetics that were born and bred solely on desktops is an ironic generational beef that is merited and a long time coming. Honestly everybody should just go for a hike in the woods, and do it while playing “Balut”. - Anthony Seaman

Best Song: Agora Hills

Best Beat: Shutcho

For Fans Of: Odd Future, Kilo Kish, Nicki Minaj

One Line: An album for anyone who knows what A/S/L means and could code a music player into their Tumblr page.

Wikiset Enterpise

19. Wiki & Tony Seltzer - 14k Figaro

There’s been a resurgence in trend of one rapper+one producer projects in hip hop recently and it’s nice to see collabs that are a bit more out of left field. Wiki and Tony Seltzer are a match you wouldn’t think of, but one that makes sense in practice, like french fries dipped in a milkshake. Tony pulls glitchy, stuttering beats that sound like they could have fit on Ratking’s wonderful 700-Fill mixtape, which is funny considering longtime Wiki and Ratking collaborator Remy Banks also makes an appearance. Wiki being in his natural habitat frees him up to reminisce about the Polo that defined his childhood, the fried ice cream he used to eat (over a Raekwon sample with the weirdest of the Bruiser Brigade’s weirdos ZelooperZ), and make the connection between the cherry-eyed frog on the cover to his own metamorphosis. It’s like sitting with a friend, drinking and remembering the good ol’ days.  - G.N. Jones

Read more about Wiki and 14k Figaro from our November edition of Rapper Of The Month here.

Best Song: RL

Best Beat: Purity

For Fans Of: Papo2oo4, Heems, WiFi Gawd

One Line: He once claimed to be the mayor of his town, but now he's acting as a watchful tour guide through it.

RRR Music Group

18. YL - Don't Feed The Pigeons

Joe Budden has historically been one of the worst dressed rappers to ever step foot on a red carpet, and his most infamous look is probably him wearing the Houston Rockets foot-sketball jersey. Blacked out Yankee fitted to the side ala T.I., long sleeve fleece underneath, it’s an all time head scratcher of a choice. Everything YL stands for is the exact opposite of that yet so deeply indebted to that time period. Oversized tees, fitted caps, rare throwback jerseys, you name it. When Fabolous was actually cool he would have shopped in YL’s closet as a return for YL running off with the calculated cool guy persona he built many a hit song off of. For 19 tracks the Chelsea native revisits every sound he’s already trained within, now with the edges sanded down to perfection. It's an elegant and silky effort, where anything too gaudy is stripped away in the style of a big tent pop album; there's just the perfect amount of interesting parts in motion but it's never overbearing. "Last Man Standing" is the sepia toned transition tunes playing behind a morning montage of a stoner prepping to leave his home. This aim for angelic subtlety becomes more clear when Ankhlejohn barrels in on "Nothing Changed". It's a rare pebble in the shoe moment within a project that makes its bones on smoothness. While rarely lifting his voice, the life and times of New York’s most dashing nostalgist lives over a buffet sampler of the undergrounds most known unknowns. Roper Williams, JUNIE., Zoomo, and Eyedress are headliners in the credit section, all of which have been work horses across the internets analog adoring rap scenes, giving their smoothest selections for this career spanning project.  - Anthony Seaman

Best Song: Tearz
Best Beat: Open Arms

For Fans Of: Slum Village, Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon, Fly Anakin
One Line: That feeling when you're on an airplane and the seatbelt lights ding on showing the flight is at a cruising altitude and you open the window for the first time to see the beauty of the little world beneath you.

Wavy Gang / Empire

17. Babyface Ray - Summer's Mine

Babyface Ray is the hometown hero the way only a stud running back in the SEC can truly relate to. After grinding through different generations of Detroit sounds, collaborating with every player in the city's historic rap scene, the last few years saw him come out as the people champ. He’s your favorite Detroit rapper's favorite Detroit rapper. After releasing the companion projects FACE and MOB in 2022, forcing his stardom spread nationwide, Summer’s Mine feels like a low stakes victory lap, a pace Ray strives in. While the previous albums were attempts to branch out and test the limits of himself as an artist, Summer’s Mine lets the simple joys of great beats and a whole lot of playalistic shit talking take the lead. Getting back to his bread and butter, “All Star Team” and “Skateland” hit hard on classic sweaty electro samples while Ray take the opportunity to flip them into 2 minute flex sessions. “Bosses Linking With Bosses” is a bare knuckle brawl with mega-star in the making and Wavy twin Veeze. “Donda Bag” is a stormy reminder of the kingdom he built for his family and enjoying the spoil from his years of hustling. Though he alludes to the idea that being a rap star is just a pitstop in his journey on “I Can’t Rap Foreva”, for this moment there isn’t a voice in Detroit that echoes from the charts through the streets like Ray. - Anthony Seaman
Best Song: Luh Tyler Flow
Best Beat: Donda Bag
For Fans Of: Payroll Giovanni, ALLBLACK, CEO Trayle
One Line: A victory lap for arguably the most popular torchbearer of the Detroit scene.

Cactus Jack / Epic

16. Travi$ Scott - Utopia

It was revealed in an article from NoBells that Utopia, an album that has supposedly been slow roasted in Travi$’ laptop as he refocused on self-producing and traveled the world before eventually ducked away after the deaths and maiming of dozens at his Astroworld festival, that 10 tracks had been confirmed leaks from Kanye sessions dating back to the Yeezus era. Some cadences and beats stayed the same, though extra layers were draped over the leftovers to give it the Travi$ spin. As a standalone piece it pales in comparison to every full length effort from the Houston superstar, yet still holds enough subversions to keep it interesting. In the universe that has been orchestrated bellowing reverb and jarringly blank patches of production let every sound breath with purpose. Being a great writer has never been Travi$’ strong suit (the man has time and again shown he has the depth of a shot glass) yet as a performer he’s mastered the balance between producer, instrument and vocalist. The Dave Chappelle and Yung Lean lead “Parasail”, and the Frank Ocean indebted and Sampha featuring “My Eyes” exude the most emotion of any songs in his catalog. Every sound or vocal modulation is either pushing or pulling tension in the direction of verses that are either hedonistic galivants across the globe or even cursory mentions of internal “demons”. What was meant to be the ultimate comeback proved exactly what Travi$ Scott the entity means to people; indifference to the person who has shown time and again indifference on anything of merit, but interest in music that always ends up entertaining even if it is just amalgamations of things done by people so much more talented than him. - Anthony Seaman
Best Song: My Eyes
Best Beat: God’s Country
For Fans Of: Metro Boomin, Donda-era Kanye West, SAINt JHN
One Line: The Uncanny Valley version of Kanye’s 2016-Present catalog.

Part 3 of our 50 Best Rap Albums list will be posted over the next week.

Until then, check out our all encompassing, probably way too long, Best Of 2023 Playlist on Spotify.