Last year was the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and in honor of this anniversary, the idea bloomed in my mind that I should review the top 50 albums of that 50 years. As I crunched together a list from various sources, 50 proved to be too restrictive- many of the classics were getting squeezed out. So, to make a little more room, I opted for 100 albums, two for each of hip hop’s 50 years.
For its formative years, hip hop was a live entertainment form, with the first recorded songs not emerging until 1979, and the first albums in 1980. So my review will cover 1980-2023, with 50 posts of two albums each. The only ground rule I made for myself (besides looking for 2×50, aka 100, albums that were widely well-regarded) was that I had to have at least one from each year. As you’ll see by and by, some years get multiple albums, but since we have 100 spots for 43 years, it tends to all work out.
*June 2024 addendum: Due to some medical situations, I took a two month hiatus on blogging. It’s probably now unlikely I’ll finish this series this year. But I’m back at it, and I won’t mind extending into 2025 if you don’t!*
And with that, let’s embark on our next installment!
LL Cool J, Bigger and Deffer (1987)– Let me give credit where credit is due: LL Cool J’s second album is harder, more rocking, has more inventive mixes, and more complex lyrics that his first. In other words, it’s the sound of an artist reaching for something beyond their debut on their sophomore album, and succeeding. The album did well by him too- it remains well-regarded to this day, and in its own day was the fourth rap album ever to go platinum. For me personally, it doesn’t have the charm or originality of Radio, but then again that remains one of my favorite albums ever. I think Bigger and Deffer has done well enough that he’ll forgive me for the review.
Big Daddy Kane, Long Live the Kane (1988)- This is kind of peak 80s on pop radio friendly hip hop. It’s got the braggadocio and attitude, but pitched at PG for mass consumption. Which isn’t to say there are traces of conscious and political themes, but even they are streamlined and neutered. The mix too is very consciously compatible with 80s R&B. If it sounds like I’m damning with faint praise, well it’s true the sound isn’t a lot to my taste. That, ironically, may have to do with it’s success though- with producer Marley Marl, Kane put out a sound that featured classic soul samples in a way that presaged the 90s, his fast vocal flow was very influential, and even the very songs from this album have been extensively sampled by others. So if I feel like maybe I’ve heard this before, I heard it from things that came out after, and because of, this album.
If you’re curious about the sources I used to compile my list, you can check them out here:
Last year was the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and in honor of this anniversary, the idea bloomed in my mind that I should review the top 50 albums of that 50 years. As I crunched together a list from various sources, 50 proved to be too restrictive- many of the classics were getting squeezed out. So, to make a little more room, I opted for 100 albums, two for each of hip hop’s 50 years.
For its formative years, hip hop was a live entertainment form, with the first recorded songs not emerging until 1979, and the first albums in 1980. So my review will cover 1980-2023, with 50 posts of two albums each. The only ground rule I made for myself (besides looking for 2×50, aka 100, albums that were widely well-regarded) was that I had to have at least one from each year. As you’ll see by and by, some years get multiple albums, but since we have 100 spots for 43 years, it tends to all work out.
*June 2024 addendum: Due to some medical situations, I took a two month hiatus on blogging. It’s probably now unlikely I’ll finish this series this year. But I’m back at it, and I won’t mind extending into 2025 if you don’t!*
And with that, let’s embark on our next installment!
Boogie Down Productions, Criminal Minded (1987)– One common take on this album is that it’s the first “gangster rap” album, i.e. something steeped in the more violent side of inner city reality (the South Bronx in their case). The other common take is that after the untimely death of group member Scott La Rock while trying to defuse a violent situation, KRS One took the group in a more conscious direction in his identity as “The Teacher”. That may be, but there’s plenty of social consciousness, and crackling furious teaching going on here. The other thing that stands out for me on the mix side is how solid a “hardcore rap” vintage mid-80s sound it is, and how it’s one of the first albums we’ve come across to mix in the “ragamuffin” reggae style as well, which became a staple for many acts later in the 80s. All in all, a sterling outing.
Eric B. & RakimPaid in Full (1987)- If the previous album was perhaps the birth of Gangster Rap, this one is an early exemplar of the swinging and relaxed “New Jack” style. When DJ Eric B. put out an ad looking for “New York’s top MC” and was answered by long Island native Rakim, it was a serendipitous pairing. Rakim brought a lyrical complexity, relaxed vocal flow and complex rhyming schemes unlike the hard hitting rhymes that were in style, influence of jazz, and the empowering message of the Five Percent movement. Even more impressive given that it was recorded in a week, Paid in Full was an influential album for several generations of hip-hop to follow. Listening to it now, I can see why!
If you’re curious about the sources I used to compile my list, you can check them out here:
Wait, didn’t I already review the 2010s? Indeed I did! See here for my picks for the best albums of the 2010s from that first review. But we’re not quite done, and the reason why involves 2024…
It turns out that 2024 is the 25th year of the millennium. And that is just too rich a symbolic target for me to forgo- the chance to discover the 25 best albums of the past 25 years! I have all the source material I’ll need: I’ve reviewed the 2000s in several venues, did the above-mentioned 2010s review, and have top 20-23 lists for 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023, with the search for 24 for 2024 now underway.
But my 2010s list is a little light comparatively. While my 2000s list from various sources sports around 60 entries, my 2010s review of 52 of the the critic’s top-ranked albums resulted in 34 picks. In order to balance that out a bit decade by decade, I’ve decided to go ahead and review the next tier down of 2010s albums per my original source lists. That will give us 36 more albums to review, which I’ll do in 6 blocks of 6. And hopefully thereby have a few more picks for our Grand Review of 2000-2024 to come!
Got it? Okay, let’s go with part 3!
Get Disowned (Hop Along, 2012)– There is plenty here that’s interesting, and maybe even prescient, in its emo confessionalism married with pop sensibility and harder rock edges. So maybe it’s not the fault of an album from 2012 that so much of the 2020s sounds like it. But it does mean that it reaches my ears sounding like a lot of other things. However much it might have stood out in the teens, I don’t think it’s going to be remembered long into the 20s compared to more recent exemplars of the same sound.
James Blake (James Blake, 2011)– I mean, really? It sounds, in the main, like a lot of autotune and low-key mumbling. I’ll grant that some interesting stuff is happening with the audio mix. But despite that, which even occasionally flashes into brilliance, it just doesn’t add up to a consistent album.
The ArchAndroid (Janelle Monae, 2010)– The ambition of this debut is present from its grand cinematic start. But then, because one cannot live by orchestra alone, we are immediately challenged to “Dance or Die” on the next track. And it just gets more varied, excellent, and delightful from there. This album, if somewhat sprawling, definitely shows the promise of what was to come from her, and shows that her talent was at full force right from the start.
Watch the Throne (Kanye West & Jay-Z, 2011)– I mean, they practically defined the hip hop of the 00s. And therein lays the problem with this album. I’m not comparing it just to other outings from the teens. I’m comparing it to The College Dropout. To The Blueprint. To Late Registration. To The Black Album. On its own merits, it’s pretty good, if a tad unfocused, but I don’t know if it’s best of decade good, and it’s certainly not best of career good for either one of them. Which, granted, is maybe an unfair standard. I do feel like both of them was individually on the track of a solid album here, but the pieces don’t quite fit together. But I will give it another listen!
The Epic (Kamasi Washington, 2015)– Okay, look. I’m not the guy who’s going to well review a three hour long jazz saxophone album. I can well believe it may have been an important and pivotal jazz album in the decade. Not my genre, not going to make it on my top list, but I did like it fairly well for the first hour.
Born to Die (Lana Del Rey, 2012)– From being enveloped by her warm voice in the first track, with the whole thing undermined by the stark lyrics and traces of sonic unease in the music mix, to the bouncy pop ode to a horrible partner in the second track, there’s no let-up here. Lana Del Rey delivers lush pop perfection, dark subversion and unease, and multilayered complexity in every song.
So there we are with batch three of six of the 36 overflow albums for the 2010s that I’ll be reviewing! From this batch, I would say the ArchAndroid and Born to Die are definite “yeses”, and Watch the Throne is a “maybe”. What awaits us in albums 19-24?
For those just tuning in: In 2021 I set out to catch up on newer music. I listened to the critics choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and picked my favorites. I did the same for 2020, picking my top 20 from the critics most highly rated albums. And I listened to new releases monthly in 2021, eventually picking the 21 best albums of 2021. That was so much fun that I decided to do it again in 2022 and 2023, listening each month and picking out the 22 best albums of 2022 and the 23 best albums of 2023.
There are links to the albums in those posts above, but if you’d like a one-stop playlist, I’ve got that set up in Spotify for the 2021 top 21 and the 2022 top 22, and in YouTube Music for 23 Best Albums of 2023. (Eventually I’ll move the 2021 and 2022 lists to YouTube, because artists are asking us to avoid Spotify for very good reasons.)
Okay, so now you know what we’re doing. Well guess what? I’m doing it again! Here’s the previous edition if you missed it:
A quick word on the “yes” and “maybe” categories I’ve sorted things into, before we get going with February:
Yes– This isn’t a guarantee, but it represents the albums that, upon first listen, I think could definitely be in running for best of the year.
Maybe– These albums have something to recommend them, but also something that gives me pause. I’m putting them in their own category, because I have found “maybes” sometimes linger and eventually become “yeses”.
And now, without further ado, let us get on with my top picks from 75 new releases that I listened to from February!
Allie X, Girl With no Face– The snark of “Off With Her Tits”, delivered with brisk electronic beats that sound both modern and eighties avant garde is a great indication of what’s going on here! The whole thing sounds unbound in time, and it never let me down for a single track. Alexandra Ashley Hughes, known by her stage name Allie X, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and visual artist, and is up to something pretty fascinating here.
Bear1Boss, Super Boss!– This fragmented mix of video game samples, rally horns, and autotuned pop is not only fresh, the album is held together by repeated sonic motiffs. Look, I’m just saying someone’s got to manifest new sounds to get us out of our current musical impasses, and I think this Atlanta 24 year-old could be part of that!
Bonnie “Prince” Billy/Thee Conductor, Ennoia– The combination of earnest yearning Americana, crackling lo fi, and experimental flourish here is winning. I like the Bonnie “Prince” and I like this collaboration even more.
Brittany Howard, What Now– From the bruising and soaring soul opening, to the classic yet somehow off-kilter groove of the second track, on to the more challenging and contemporary electronic beat of the third, every song here delivers sterling sound from the past few decades of soul and R&B, but keeps feeling unexpected. This excellence is no surprise- this is the second solo album from Alabama Shakes co-lead Howard, and her mastery of her craft is evident.
Corb Lund, El Viejo– He was on my honorable mention list a year or two ago for Songs My Friends Wrote, and now with a batch of his own songs (some of which were inspired by the passing of one of those friends), he’s done it again. If you want country that sounds spontaneous, sincere, and not of the current formula, this could be for you!
Declan McKenna, What happened to the beach?– Well this is a welcome kaleidoscope of sound! I went in hearing that he had Hendrix, Bowie, and the Beatles as reference points, and loved rock operas, which was all promising. And indeed, you can hear all of that here, but it undersells how varied and creative it is at bringing many decades of pop strands together. The artist has talked about how the album came from an attempt to free himself from the expectations that came with initial stardom at 15, and diving more fully and confidently into sounds he loved. It shows!
Heems & Lapgan, Lafandar– Left of center neo-psyche hip hop with a heavy South Asian influence via this Queens-born, Punjabi American rapper. It is full of social consciousness and sonic inventiveness and reminds me of the high holy days of Madlib. Which is very welcome!
Laura Jane Grace, Hole in My Head– Solo album from the lead of Against Me! Eleven songs in 25 minutes! Good old fashioned third generation punk sound! With plenty of verve, wit, and music that pushes beyond the obvious with lyrics consciously looking back on the singer’s and the genre’s history. Heck yeah!
Liam Bailey, Zero Grace– A reggae album with both a sun-kissed fuzzy 70s AM radio sound, multiple contemporary touches, and some deeply probing lyrics. This 40-year-old English singer-songwriter from Nottingham noted for his soul, reggae, and blues-influenced vocal style has produced a touching and special album.
Mary Timony, Untame the Tiger– Beautiful guitar lines reminiscent of nineties rock, and going back to 60s and 70s classic rock beyond that. There is a vocal and musical spareness to it that keeps things straight-up and feels real as the singer’s literate lyrics describing the emotional insides of relationships.
Mdou Moctar, Funeral for Justice– This is musically such a breath of fresh air, a stirring mix of sounds invoking classic rock of yesteryear while incorporating African influences. It ends up feeling intensely familiar and yet new at the same time. My only regret is that the language barrier keeps me from the lyrics, which I’m guessing by the album and song titles have some serious punch to them as well.
The Dead South, Chains & Stakes– Well this is a thoroughly delightful batch of short sharp country/bluegrass (North) Americana songs delivered with a rock edge and punk spirit. This Regina, Saskatchewan band has been going since 2012, and the noise is joyful!
The Last Dinner Party, Prelude to Ecstasy– This is really something! It reads like sometimes over the top delivery times classic theatrical soundtrack times earnest exploration of the inner turmoil of love (with a great deal of queer content as well). This London group has been getting a lot of buzz since 2021, and I think it’s well-founded!
The Paranoid Style, The Interrogator– The Paranoid Style is the DC-based rock outfit of singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, labor organizer, and sometime journalist Elizabeth Nelson. That sounds like a promising start, and then i read that the album was inspired by ZZ Top’s Eliminator. Nelson explained what drew her: “Billy Gibbons’ incipient fascination with Depeche Mode and Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, and his desire to embroider the sound of those bands onto the Top’s inimitable Texas boogie. To me it sounds like heaven.” That is all a big up-front just to say if anything her description undersells how delightful the arch wit, no-nonsense vocals, and rocky sheen balanced by a way with melody are.
Maybe
Grandaddy, Blu Wav– The review that got me to listen to this said, “sort of like a weird, very post-modern take on the Flying Burrito Brothers if they owned a bunch of Flaming Lips records.” They aren’t wrong! And it is more haunting than that lets on. Sort of all in one tone sonically which is my one reservation with this indie band from Modesto which has been going since the nineties.
Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Past Is Still Alive– Beautiful indie rock with a strong Americana/alt country flavor. The music, lyrics, and vocals sound natural and unforced on every track, it comes out like a spontaneous classic. The back end had one big sequential slow-down that almost lulled it out, but that is my only complaint.
J Mascis, What Do We Do Now– Suitably weary veteran album from Dinosaur Jr. frontman Mascis, backed by a clear and crackling band. It’s full of hazy guitar yearning, and, if all a tone, it’s a welcome tone!
Lee “Scratch” Perry, King Perry– I am such a fan of dub in general and Lee “Scratch” Perry in particular that I have a lot of room in my soul for posthumous releases as long as they’re well-founded. This one certainly passes that test, billed as his final studio album, it’s comprised of tracks he worked on until days before his death in 2021. If the sounds aren’t the newest ever, it’s as beautiful (and often, challenging and interesting) set of dub as one could ask for, right down to the final “goodbye” on the last track.
Persher, Sleep Well– This is striking me like a pop screamo album. Not in the watered-down pop sense, but in the “fun, song knows how to move along” kind of way. And yet sludgy, dark, sometimes industrial, and appropriately grating. Listening to this is perhaps what stumbling across a young Nirvana might have been like. Persher is a side project of techno producers Blawan and Pariah, otherwise known as the duo Karenn, who have been working together since 2011, and while it might be a little rough listening for some, there’s magic here.
Pouty, Forgot About Me– Forgot About Me is Rachel Gagliardi’s debut LP as Pouty, but she has been around power-pop for a while as one half of Slutever and a collaborator of Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner and, in Upset, played with members of Hole and Vivian Girls. As you might predict from all that, I was knocked back to the 90s in a way I quite appreciated and was thereupon done for. It is by design not the newest sound in the world, but boy did I groove on it the whole way through.
Revival Season, Golden Age of Self Snitching– This album brings together the spirit of hip hop and rock in a way that feels like a continuation of the inventive and playful eighties experimentation. AMG says: “Atlanta rap duo whose exploratory sound blends dub, indie rock, and post-punk influences.” Yes, I’ll go along with that! And, if it starts to sound a little samey toward the end, it opens new sonic space in-between.
Usher, Coming Home– I kind of hate myself for loving this, but the perfect production here suits a master of 21st century pop. It’s all just too damn groovy track by track to dislike, even if I do have qualms about the length.
And there you have it, February out before the end of June! Let’s see if we can get March & April before July ends…
As of today, the General Election is 5 months out! If you’re a tl/dr kind of person, I’ll give you the headline: all the indicators today are about where they were a month ago, and it’s not great news for Biden. The main caveat to that is also the same as it was a month ago, but we’ll get more into that below.
Looking at the national polls, both the Real Clear Politics average (a straightforward averaging of various recent polls), and the 538 average (which weights things according to pollster track record and history of partisan lean, and adjusts for state polling) are both showing Trump leads, albeit within the standard 3% margin of error:
Polls of the swing states are showing a similar picture. Both RCP and 538 have Trump leading in 7 of 7. The glimmer of good news for Biden here is that the three Midwestern states are within the margin of error, and he’s narrowed the amount he’s trailing in two of them (Michigan and Wisconsin). Here are the current 538 numbers by state:
On the electoral college front, as per the swing state results, the current map hasn’t changed from a month ago, and has Trump well ahead:
Another instructive indicator is Presidential Approval ratings. Here Biden remains underwater by almost 19 points (this average is from 538):
And, as was true last month, he remains lower in net approval than the four most recent Presidents who lost after one term (Ford, Carter, H.W. Bush, and Trump):
So is it all doom and gloom? Democrats do remain ahead in the Generic Congressional ballot, although very narrowly:
And it remains true that Democrats have consistently outperformed in special elections over the past year, running an average of 5% ahead of the partisan lean of the races in question (per a spreadsheet compiled by Nathaniel Rakich of 538):
The other sign of some trouble for Trump is that Biden’s percentage in Democratic primaries is well ahead in total of Trump’s in Republican primaries, indicating that Trump may have more wavering partisan supporters to bring home than Biden:
The last area we can look at is the Presidential betting markets. Bettors are currently voting with their dollars, and their dollars think Trump is more likely to win:
So where does this leave us?
Go back up and take a look at the 538 national average again for a second. It shows two things that are, on the face of it, rather implausible: Kennedy getting almost 10%, and an implied 10% undecided. In 2016 voters disliked both candidates by double digits, and the total third party vote for all candidates was only about 5%. Add to that the fact that polls at this point before an election always vastly overinflate how many people support third parties, and it’s not unreasonable to expect that half or more of those avowed Kennedy voters are going back to one of the two main candidates.
As for the 10% who say they’re undecided, I’m equally suspicious. Both main candidates are very well known quantities at this point. My strong suspicion is that a lot of these undecideds are folks who aren’t thrilled about the choice, but in their heart of hearts do know what side of the fence they’re going to land on. They just aren’t quite at peace with it yet.
Given that national (and several of the swing state) polls are within a polling margin of error, until this almost 20 percent of the electorate sorts itself out further we really won’t know which way the wind is blowing. Especially since we have every reason to suspect things may come to tiny margins in specific states. In 2106 if 39,000 voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin changed their minds, I would be writing about who will succeed Hillary Clinton now. And in 2020, if 21,000 voters in Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin had gone another way, we’d currently be seeing how serious Trump is about saying he’s allowed a third term.
Maybe our July check-in will be a little more substantive, since it will include reaction to Trump’s felony convictions last week and (if he doesn’t weasel out) the first debate. We probably won’t be on really firm ground until both conventions have concluded though. Until then, these are the factors as they’re currently aligned:
Chris LaMay-West 