Best Of 2022: Hip Hop, RnB, and Reggae

Hip hop continues to dominate popular music, whether as itself or as an influence on production and songwriting. But there is great depth to the field as well, far beyond the commercial frontier. The same can be said for RnB, which now incorporates hip hop, pop, and the old DNA of soul and funk into its makeup. As for reggae, I've stopped worrying about where Jamaican music would go after dancehall and just listen for the sounds that hit my sweet spot. See below for what I discovered in these intertwined genres, starting with the releases I already covered. Find a track from each (except Isaiah Rashad) in this playlist or below.

Record Roundup: 22 For 22 (Part 1)
FKA Twigs - Caprisongs
Pusha T - It's Almost Dry
Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

Record Roundup: Evocative Voices
Moor Mother - Jazz Codes See also the powerfully skeletal Nothing To Declare by 700 Bliss (Moor Mother with DJ Haram)
Lizzo - Special

Record Roundup: Songcraft
Steve Lacy - Gemini Rights
Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen

HIP HOP

Isaiah Rashad - Music 4r Da Vibers Given that his best album included the word "demo" in the title and his second album was about writer's block, it's obvious Rashad sometimes gets in his own way. Following up last year's The House Is Burning with this leaked collection of demos and snippets may point a new way forward for him because it's even better than that excellent album. Warmth, immediacy, and a cutting self-examination are just some of the characteristics that have had me coming back to this over and over, along with the smeared, grimy beats. 

Megan Thee Stallion - Traumazine Wildly entertaining, vulnerable, and intricately assembled, Megan's second album proves her staying power. The best songs feature not only her sharp flow but also a kind of vocal counterpoint going on the the background, breath sounds, random words, and vocal tics creating an atmospheric tapestry. Ending with Anxiety ("They keep sayin' I should get help/But I don't even know what I need/They keep sayin' speak your truth/And at the same time say they don't believe, man"), the first 11 songs alone would have been enough to get Traumazine on this list. Things get a little patchier after that, with the pace slowing down and Megan becoming almost a guest on her own album. But when she's ON there are few others who can do what she does. 

Conway The Machine - God Don't Make Mistakes and Conway The Machine & Big Ghost Ltd. - What Has Been Blessed Cannot Be Cursed While this Buffalo-based rapper seems to be working all the time, God Don't Make Mistakes is only his second album proper after 2021's excellent La Maquina - and he's raised the bar significantly this time. When he ends Tear Gas with the line "I keep the guns and the drugs just for the paranoia," I couldn't help but think, "And for the lyrical content." But by the time you get to the extraordinary title track you realize there's nothing sensationalist about the gritty noir that defines his style. Over a grimy track by the Alchemist, Conway runs through a series of questions about the life-changing aftermath of getting shot ("Sometimes I wonder, if this Bell's Palsy didn't paralyze my grill in/Would there still be murals of my face painted on side of buildings?") ending with his mother praying over his grievously injured body in the hospital. It's a haunting finale that will have you hitting repeat so you can try to grasp how he pulled a new beginning out of that near ending. While God Don't Make Mistakes represents Conway's major label debut, What Has Been Blessed... finds him back with Big Ghost and showing no sign of losing touch with his roots. As he raps on Bodie Broadus: "I'm the main source of the culture, I'm love's professor/The one that every major label wanna all get next to/And that's just from recordin' pressure, all it cost was effort/Bars so electric, shit might could charge your Tesla." All never truer than on these two albums.

Freddie Gibbs - $oul $old $eparately After the haymaker one-two punch of Bandana, produced entirely by Madlib, and Alfredo, produced entirely by The Alchemist, I had some trepidation when I heard Gibbs was going the major label-multi-producer route. I was at least a little bit right to be concerned as there is definitely a more diffuse, diluted vibe to this collection. Even the concept - Freddie locked up in a Vegas hotel trying to finish his album - is not quite enough to make it cohere. But Gibbs is never less than committed when comes to the microphone there's nothing slack about his raps. The concept also imposes a number of skits on the album, which are amusing, but when you have a song as hot as Gold Rings, with its killer Pusha T feature, I kinda wish it didn't end with 30 seconds of tomfoolery, i.e. Jesus leaving a voice mail. They should at least put those on their own track so you can weed them out if you want to.

Prodigy - The Hegelian Dialectic 2: The Book Of Heroine While this collection is uneven, it's good to see Prodigy's planned trilogy finally coming to fruition. Following 2017's darkly elegant The Book Of Revelation - the last album released during his lifetime - this one addresses lighter concerns of "sex, drugs, and partying" as opposed to apocalyptic, political themes. Some of the beats feel demo quality but Prodigy's voice is always strong, rapping with intent. As on the romantic Low from the last Mobb Deep album, Prodigy actually, er, rises to the occasion of discussing sex and love on I Heart You: "Candle-lit rooms, shadows on the wall kiss/Her silhouette shape on the wall so thick/The flames on the wick dancin' to the music/Make our hearts melt like wax into each other palms." It's hard to know what he would have done differently, but I imagine he would be proud to have Big Daddy Kane, D.J. Premier, Faith Evans, his old running buddy, Big Noyd, and others on the project. Perhaps even more importantly, Prodigy's estate was finally able to resolve the business tangles that kept his work off of streaming services, making his indelible legacy available again. The final album in the trilogy, promised to confront death itself, is coming out later in 2023.

They Hate Change - Finally, New Even though their set was cut short at IndiePlaza last fall, at least the festival succeeded in turning me on to this Tampa-based duo. Vonne Parks and Andre Gainey combine tag-team, high energy raps with an eclectic landscape of beats that incorporate dub, drum & bass, and all manner of electronic dance grooves - sometimes in the same song. No dilettantes here, however, as they take full ownership of every sound. While they are aggressive in making it clear they stand apart from much of the hip hop universe (As Gainey raps in Blatant Localism: "It’s funny how y’all get excited about crime/I can’t deny, I thought them rhymes was really true to they lives"), it's less clear where they do stand lyrically - but the words sound good nonetheless, making for an assured package. No surprise, as they've been working their way up to this album since 2015 - hence the "finally" in the title. 

Pinkcaravan! - Bananaz and Eazy Bake Since 2018, when her delightful EP 2002 came out, we've been lucky to be gifted one or two songs a year from this unique artist. These two tracks do nothing to stop me from wanting more of her candy-coated hip hop confections. Perhaps 2023 will make that happen.

Saba - Few Good Things While nothing here quite matches the cinematic sweep and emotional depth of Prom / King, the standout track from his 2018 album, Care For Me, this third album is also more consistent. You can learn a lot about what he's giving us here just by the picture of his seemingly indomitable grandfather on the cover - and the ambiguity of the title. There is no bitter without the sweet, and vice versa, in Saba's universe. As he noted when describing the short film attached to the project, "An empty glass is full of air. An empty bank is full of lessons. An empty heart is full of memories." But this album is full - full of heart, soul, anger, humor, not to mention juicy beats, mostly cooked up by Saba and his Pivot Gang cohort. As Saba tries to just live life, I think you'll find him enriching yours.

Vince Staples - Ramona Park Broke My Heart While his last two projects didn't connect with me, in 2017 I highlighted Big Fish Theory for its "high tech" feel and Staples' "gritty and compelling" raps. Now, on his fifth album he's caught me again, although he's in a much more reflective mood. As the title hints, he's exploring his relationship to the Long Beach neighborhood that raised him. An example of the complexity and depth of his approach is When Sparks Fly, which uses Havoc's echoing beat from Mobb Deep's More Trife Life to provide atmosphere and drive for a love song between a man and his gun, playing with the many ways the language of romance can have a double meaning: "She said, "Baby, keep me closely, love it when you hold me/Know that I'm a real one, I don't do no ghostin'/I know that you love me, you don't gotta show me." Sampling the chorus from Lyves' yearning 2016 track No Love, with its "Lovers in arms" line, is yet another clever feint, making the song sound even more romantic. Of course, there's a subtext about why a young Black man in Long Beach would need a gun. As a bit of of autobiography in the otherwise bloody Magic notes: "Momma met my daddy, then they had me in the ghetto/Handed me a thirty-eight and told me I was special." Touches like that are what makes these songs, and the album, so haunting.

Billy Woods - Aethiopes and Church It's not uncommon for hip hop to come across as cinematic, the words making pictures in your mind that move with the music. Aethiopes, with a textured background by producer Preservation coming from a realm of deep knowledge of many musics of the African diaspora, comes across with the electric, intimate immediacy of an Amiri Baraka play. The Doldrums, for example, stitches together harpsichord stabs, Ralph Towner guitar fragments, throbbing drums, and brooding bass as Woods barks out a tapestry that links the slave trade with the drug trade, both of which can leave people stranded in the doldrums: "Thick mist, piff smoke, draw straws from clenched fists/Sinkin' ship, human souls in thе hull/He got the whole world in his hands, ice cold/Open them palms up, turned black as a ghost." Church features production from Messiah Musik and feels murkier and less coherent than Aethiopes, but still compelling.

Elucid - I Told Bessie Elucid is Billy Woods' partner in the long-running avant hip hop duo, Armand Hammer, and Woods appears on four songs and executive produced I Told Bessie. But as tribute to the love and support Elucid received from his grandmother, Bessie, who died in 2017, it's clearly very personal to him. The album is filled with languid, minimalist beats from a variety of producers, all of whom hew to Elucid's vision and give him space to spin his impressionistic rhymes. Impasse is one highlight, with Elucid interrogating his mortality over an off-kilter drum track and nocturnal horns: "Who will close the book, who ain't write my name down?/Who gon' hold the torch, what the cards say now?/Last good kiss, last call, the lights up/It's where the road splits, asphalt shakedown." With this album, Elucid has definitely written his name in the book of hip hop.

R&B

SZA - SOS In 2017, I praised SZA's "versatility and burgeoning mastery" on her debut, CTRL. Five years and, by all accounts, hundreds of songs later, we get more of the former and evidence that the latter needs no qualifiers. Of course, versatility can become a liability when you have trouble recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, which leads to some longueurs on this 68-minute album. But for every miss, like the rote pop of F2F, you get three hits, like the delicious revenge fantasy, Kill Bill (complete with Tarantino-esque video), the yearning Nobody Gets Me, or Ghost In The Machine, which finds power in sisterhood with Phoebe Bridgers, who guests on the song. Hopefully next time she doesn't feel the need to be all things to all people - after all, as proven by the best songs here, she's already perfect at being herself.

Kehlani - Blue Water Road While the first three tracks on this third album are in no way unpleasant, they feel unfocused, like a warmup. But when the rounded weight of the beat from Slick Rick's Children's Story drops on Wish I Never (one of a few well-deployed samples on the album) the momentum kicks in and doesn’t let up. Even Justin Bieber can’t interrupt the flow of song after song of sleek, emotionally engaged R&B. The ballads, like Melt, which starts off with little more than an acoustic guitar and a drum machine, have an urgency and a melodic inevitability that keeps you listening. When the burner is lit, Blue Water Road is a triumph for Kehlani and their main collaborator, Pop Wansel. The son of Philly Soul legend Dexter Wansel, Pop is in nobody’s shadow by now - and neither is Kehlani.

Phony Ppl - Euphonyus Over a decade into their career, it would be easy to take this Brooklyn-based R&B group for granted, but the fact is there aren't too many like them around anymore, such is the focus on solo acts in the genre. But that would all be immaterial were it not for the many varieties of charming tunes here, from upbeat electro-dance tracks like Dialtone and Warmest Winter, neo-disco like To Get Home (feat. Leon Bridges and The Soul Rebels, who lay down some nice horns), or a creamy ballad like Been Away, which rises to a glorious guitar-driven crescendo. Then there's Fkn Around, another electro track that airlifts Megan Thee Stallion in for a signature rap, complete with counterpoint, which only adds extra juice to the quintet's classic tales of infidelity. 

Yaya Bey - Remember Your North Star Bey comes across as self-effacing, with those lower-case song titles and that sweet voice, which assays jazz, reggae, soul, R&B, and hip hop with equal ease, but don't be fooled. The first words we hear are "Fed up bitch/I just won't let up bitch/I take my foot up off your neck when I feel like bitch," which clues you in to her steely resolve to realize her music and express her feelings, which center around the "deep wound" Black women have around finding love and being loved. Self-produced with assists from Phony Ppl’s Aja Grant and DJ Nativesun, the music ranges over all those genres in which her voice feels so at home. With 18 songs from 16 seconds to 4:25, there's almost a sense of cracking the code of someone's iPhone and scrolling through their voice notes. The vocal sound on a song like Street Fighter Blues only reinforces that vibe. Intimate, vulnerable, and powerful, you won't soon forget Yaya Bey or her music.

Michelle - After Dinner We Talk Dreams Having been lucky enough to catch this charming sextet in concert I am happy to report that everything you hear on this second album is real - the harmonies, the unity, the tunefulness, the grooves, the sheer delight they have in making music together, a feeling they seamlessly translate to the listener. It's also a remarkably consistent album so don't trust those Spotify play counts and only listen to the first four songs. Also give an ear to the Side Dishes single, which has two more great songs. There's a deep well here, so drink up.

Stimulator Jones - Round Spiritual Ring On his debut and subsequent instrumental album, Sam Lunsford displayed his dazzling, somewhat off-center facility at many forms of R&B and dance music. On his latest, he gives us another mix of related styles, from hearkening back to Shannon's Let The Music Play on Pain Inside to paying homage to the mid-70s Isley Brothers on Love Will Light Your Dreams, complete with a smoking hot guitar solo. The album's dreamy trajectory gets goosed by the uptempo rock of Peace, Love, Respect & Adoration, connecting him with other traditions. And it is all about connection - the album title may have originated in a misheard Prince lyric but is a good metaphor for the interchange between creator and listener and between inspiration and creativity. 

Lady Wray - Piece Of Me Twenty-four years on from her debut as a protege of Missy Elliott and Timbaland, nearly everything about Nicole Wray has changed - not just her professional name. Her voice is stronger and her artistic vision more her own, just to name two things. Some of what you hear on this third album was evident on 2016's Queen Alone, when she reemerged in the soul-revival orbit of Leon Michels, Lee Fields, and Charles Bradley. But while she's still recognizably in that world, the sound of Piece Of Me injects much that is new - whether a folk-like directness on Come On In or hints of dub and lovers rock on Through It All - into what can quickly become formulaic. This is also her most personal album, with her father and daughter making appearances, lending even further warmth. Follow her lead: invite the family, then put this record on.

REGGAE

Kabaka Pyramid - The Calling It took not only a 2023 Grammy nomination but an Instagram post from Damian Marley, who produced this third album, for this artist to gain traction in my eardrums. Granted, his output has been slow, with his debut coming over a decade ago. But this rich 15-song collection is a great showcase for his songwriting and toasting. Even if nearly every song has a guest, starting with the opening track, which features an effective sample of the late Peter Tosh,  Kabaka is a commanding presence more than able to hold his own with anyone in contemporary reggae. Grateful is a great showcase of his rhythmic flexibility, with verses seamlessly transitioning from rapid fire flow to stop-start segments. The song has a sweet hook sung by Jamere Morgan, grandson of Denroy Morgan, too, lending an additional sense of legacy to the track. For anyone waiting for Damian Marley's next album - his last, the excellent Stony Hill, came out in 2017 - this fills the gap very nicely.

Koffee - Gifted Nearly twice as long as her fine 2019 EP, Rapture, this gives us a chance to get to know Koffee's breezy, winning style better. Opening with X10, which has her casually singing over Bob Marley's Redemption Song, was a bold move, and many tracks have spare backing to keep the focus on her voice. Whether toasting intensely over Where I'm From or sweetly starting the party on West Indies, where she tosses in a hint of Lionel Richie's All Night Long, she's effortlessly versatile. 

Horace Andy - Rockers & Scorchers One of reggae's most legendary voices, Andy released two albums in 2022, Midnight Rockers and Midnight Scorchers, both brilliantly produced by UK dub magus Adrian Sherwood. This deluxe edition compiles both of them with two bonus tracks, giving us a cup that runneth over with passionate roots reggae. Several songs are updates, like This Must Be Hell, originally on his classic 1978 album, Natty Dread A Weh She Want. But he sounds so engaged, you won't hear complaints from me. He also covers Safe From Harm, the Massive Attack song, in convincing enough fashion that I wonder why he didn't do it in the first place. With so many of the great voices now gone, having Andy nearly at full strength is a gift indeed.

Dubokaj Meets Lee Scratch Perry - Daydreamflix With Perry's death in 2021, I was sure we would be inundated with subpar scraps from the master's workbench. Maybe they're out there - but this is not one of them. Recorded in 2017, Daydreamflix finds Perry working with Swiss-based dub scientist, Daniel Jakob, on a series of spacious, spacey dub tracks, heavy on the electronics and full of atmosphere. Jakob is not too reverent either, processing Perry's voice and treating it like just another color on his palette. A fitting addition to Perry's vast discography with the only mystery being why it took five years to reach fruition.

Dubmatix Meets Future Dub Orchestra - Frontline Dub Smooth, expansive, and never without forward motion, this collaboration between the Toronto-based producer and the Bristol, UK band is an object lesson in dub, if not quite as titanic as the Sly & Robbie connection from 2018.

Find more beats, rhymes, grooves, and rhythms in the 2022 archived playlist and follow the 2023 playlist to see what this year brings!

You may also enjoy:
Best Of 2021: Hip Hop, RnB, and Reggae
Best Of 2020: Hip Hop, RnB, and Reggae
Best Of 2019: Hip Hop, RnB, and Reggae
Best Of 2018: Hip Hop, RnB and Reggae
Best Of 2017: Hip Hop, RnB and Reggae
Best Of 2016: Hip Hop and RnB

Best Of 2017: Hip Hop, R&B and Reggae

I had only two albums from this category in my Top 25 for 2017: the undeniable DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar and Process, the powerful debut by Sampha. This is a little low for me, which I think was mainly due to where my head was at, needing music of a different sort to get me through the year. But that doesn't mean I didn't find several strong, even stunning, albums in this area, not to mention individual songs, which I feature at the bottom.

Hip Hop Albums

Both Rap Album Two by Jonwayne and The Hegelian Dialectic by Prodigy (RIP) were on my Best Of 2017 (So Far) back in July and they are indeed excellent albums. While they each had qualities that kept them out of the Top 25 (Jonwayne’s tendency to overthink EVERYTHING, some of Prodigy’s questionable lyrical choices), they will also more than reward your attention. 

Big K.R.I.T. - 4eva Is A Mighty Long Time This double album is a statement of purpose from Justin Scott, a veteran rapper from Mississippi. The first part is almost wall-to-wall classic Southern hip hop with beats worthy of OutKast or Goodie Mob, which makes sense as their producer Organized Noize worked on some of the album. K.R.I.T. practically chews up the mic with his raps, more than holding his own alongside some strong guests, like T.I., who lights up Big Bank like a Christmas tree, Bun B. and Pimp C. Nothing detracts from K.R.I.T.’s commanding performance, however. Then, in a dazzling display of his versatility, he takes a left turn into material that’s soulful, funky, jazzy, and even playful. Keep The Devil Off even finds him cooking up a gospel fervor, with church organ to match. This is the “Justin Scott” persona and his collaborators here are people like Joi and Jill Scott, and on the penultimate track, Bilal and Robert Glasper, Jr. But he takes the last song, Bury Me In Gold, on his own, never letting you forget whose show this is. He’s always been good, but this impressive effort vaults him into greatness. 

Big Boi - Boomiverse Speaking of Southern hip hop, Big Boi’s third album is a far more consistent collection than his last, playing to his strengths as the party-starting rapper with the tack-sharp flow. All Night, with its rickety ragtime piano, is a great reminder that hip hop was all about fun at one time. But Big Boi never gets too serious, even when Killer Mike drops by to spit fire. Speaking of guests, I got triggered when I saw Adam Levine’s name on the credits for Mic Jack, but even a Maroon 5 hater like me didn’t really notice him on the track. Plus, the presence of the silky-voiced Sleepy Brown (also a welcome presence on the K.R.I.T. album) more than made up for it. Even acknowledging the fact that he’s not reaching the heights he did in OutKast does little to dampen the pleasures to be found in Big Boi’s Boomiverse, which are many. 

Aminé - Good For You While this fresh new voice is definitely a post-Chance The Rapper rapper, he has more than enough of his own personality, as well as a serious way with a hook. Songs like Veggies, Caroline and Sundays will follow you through your day after a couple of listens. There are a few features, with the best ones being Charlie Wilson singing his ass off on Dakota and Kehlani getting cozy on Heebiejeebies, but this debut is all about Aminé. Get him on your radar. 

Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory Even with a raft of producers (from Zack Sekoff on five tracks (one with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon), to electro-poppers Flume and Sophie, among others) and guests (Kendrick Lamar and Ty Dolla Sign, Blur’s Damon Albarn, etc.), this third album from Staples is his sleekest LP yet. While the feel is high-tech throughout, his flow is gritty and compelling. Highlights are Big Fish, which is danceable, catchy, vaguely threatening - the perfect club single - and Homage, which finds a middle ground between drum’n’bass and techno, with Staples rapping at high tempo seemingly without effort. 

Mourning [A] BLKstar - BLK Muzak This is rainswept black asphalt music, full of startling collage-like shifts in texture and tone. It feels very original but also in deeply in the tradition of Afro-futurism. RA Washington, who founded the Ohio-based collective in 2015, obviously knows very well the size and shape of the envelope he’s pushing with such confidence. I think the time for M[A]B to come up from underground is nigh - don’t get caught by surprise when they do. 

Freddie Gibbs - You Only Live 2wice This short, sharp shock of an album puts Gibbs back in action after some legal troubles relating to an accusation of sexual assault. His relief at being acquitted is palpable as he raps with fury on every track. On Crushed Glass, the first single, his flow is almost exhausting, with only a well-placed Sade sample allowing you (and him) to catch your breath. Phone Lit is another standout, with a woozy groove and more hypnotism from Gibbs. There's something of a Charles Oakley quality to Freddie Gibbs - he may not be a superstar but he always gets the job done.

Raekwon - The Wild The last album by this Wu-Tang Clan stalwart was overstuffed and overworked, which may be why this one was slightly overlooked. Kicking off with This Is What It Comes Too (sic), a fiery blast over a tough-ass boom bap beat, The Wild, while uneven, has Raekwon not only living up to his reputation but expanding on it with songs like Marvin, which tells Marvin Gaye's life story in four sad, soulful minutes, Nothing, which has swagger to burn, and Reign, a regal statement indeed.

R&B Albums

I already wrote about the delights of Charlotte Dos Santos's Cleo, which opens with a sultry take on a 700-year-old song and ends with a cubist cha cha, and The Two Of Us, the latest mixtape from Chloe X Halle, with its touches of blues and reggae framing their gorgeous harmonies. Don't let these two gems get lost in the shuffle.

Kelela - Take Me Apart While her experimental spirit is somewhat dimmed from the badass heights of Cut 4 Me, her debut EP from 2015, this is still an album of great substance. The songs are well-conceived, with insidiously catchy choruses, and the production is still futuristic and haunting. Her stunning voice keeps getting better, displaying some new techniques, while continuing to communicate her individuality and ability to connect directly, human to human. If you're looking for points of entry, try Waitin', a frisky take on that moment when you realize you're not over the person you thought you were over, or LMK, which nails how relationships can bud - or not - in our cultural moment. Enough is a stellar, star-lit ballad, the kind of floating-in-space thing Björk used to be so good at. In fact, if I were going to fall back on an overused reviewer's trope, I might say Kelela is like Björk and FKA Twigs meeting in Janet Jackson's living room. If any of those artists intrigue you, get into Take Me Apart. I just hope she doesn't smooth out her edges any further, a common occurrence in this musical space.

Moses Sumney - Aromanticism Sumney's career has been a slow build since he dropped Mid City Island, a captivating five-song EP, in 2014. From the start, his was obviously a unique vision, putting his sweet voice in spare contexts that evoked folk-soul sounds of the past - Terry Callier comes to mind - while sounding utterly contemporary. Aromanticism is his first full-length and finds his voice ever more assured, with a jazzy, improvisatory insouciance that perfectly fits his androgynous sound. The backing tracks focus mainly on his guitar and multiple layers of his voice, with spare synths rounding things out, making for a supremely chilled-out experience. He has a lot on his mind, too, about how we live and love these days and how he refuses to follow any expected paths. While he occasionally slips into a solipsistic bubble that can make even a dedicated listener feel left out, Sumney is second only to Frank Ocean in dragging soul and r&b into the future.

Sza - CTRL  SZA, otherwise known as Solána Imani Rowe, has a supple singing style that owes as much to jazz as to forbears like Lauren Hill. That loose, intimate style, combined with the analog textures she curated for her debut full-length creates an immediacy that remains fresh even after multiple listens. Rather than writing strict verse/chorus/verse songs, she has a stream of consciousness approach that sometimes feels she's sending you a late-night voice mail. While the album is slightly uneven, the fact that her style works as often as it does is remarkable. Standouts are Prom, which is her version of a pop song, and Doves In The Wind, which features Kendrick Lamar rapping an ode to female...er..."power" as singleminded as Chris Rock's routine on Kanye West's Blame Game. Isaiah Rashad, her Top Dawg label-mate as well as a good friend, drops in on Pretty Little Birds, putting down an impressive feature as well. The album concludes with the aching 20 Something, which has SZA pouring her heart out over an acoustic guitar as she explores the pains and possibilities of being at a transitional time in life. Moving stuff, and another example of her versatility and burgeoning mastery.

SiR - Her Too Top Dawg Entertainment, home of Kendrick Lamar as well as SZA and Isaiah Rashad, is a true believer in artist development. So, they're bringing this contemporary crooner along slowly with EPs like this one and the results make it obvious that an album can't be far off. While he's not an R&B radical, he's versatile enough to put over a fun and frisky song like Don't Call My Phone or a moody one like The Canvas. Her Too makes a strong case for a more traditional - and damned sexy - approach to contemporary soul so let's hope TDE lets more of this smooth cat out of the bag soon.

Reggae Albums

Damian Marley - Stony Hill When this album came out I was surprised to find that it was Marley's first solo album in 12 years. Of course, his last album was the titanic Welcome To Jamrock, which he followed up with Distant Relatives, an excellent collaboration with Nas, so we'll cut him a break. We can also forgive that detour into Superheavy, with Mick Jagger and Joss Stone, which was neither super nor heavy. In any case, Stony Hill is very nearly a return to form and easily the best reggae album of the last few years. Marley is in excellent voice, whether singing or toasting, even carrying off Autumn Leaves, a grand ballad, and getting frisky with brother Stephen on the delightful Grown And Sexy. He really can do it all and his production is rich and detailed, displays a deep knowledge of music history beyond reggae. In short, Stony Hill is just Jr. Gong doing what he does best - hopefully we won't have to wait a decade for the next one.

Chronixx - Chronicle Marley should hire Chronixx's publicist because this album was everywhere! Chronixx, AKA Jamar McNaughton is also the scion of a reggae family as his father is Chronicle, known for the rootsy and soulful album Feel This One. A lot of the attention on this debut was deserved, even if the best songs made the weak spots more frustrating. The first five songs are all winners, nothing really new but just classic-feeling reggae sung with a spirited confidence and a disarmingly light touch. Things get a little cheesy with Smile Jamaica and then, with I Can, a shark is jumped in Montego Bay. It's unlistenable. The album mostly recovers, but there are still some ill-conceived moves and the saccharine bonus track I Know Love is no bonus. But Chronixx is still young and undeniably talented. If he buckles down on the quality control, his next album will be a classic.

The Expanders - Old Time Something Come Back Again, Vol. 2 These So-Cal reggae revivalists sound so good it's almost like a trick. But there is no curtain to look behind, just great roots reggae played with skill and style to burn. While their last album, Hustling Culture, was a terrific foray into writing their own material, they return to covers on OTSCBA Vol. 2 and their taste in songs is as impeccable as their playing. Crank up the bass!

Lee Scratch Perry & Subatomic Sound System - Super Ape Returns To Conquer This is also a cover album of sorts, as Perry re-records his own material, mostly from the legendary Super Ape album, with his current backing band. Perry sounds great, the Subatomics know their way around a groove and the dub controls, and there are fine guest appearances by Jahdan Blakkamore and Ari Up from The Slits. As the latter died in 2010, we can assume this has been in the works for a while, but it all hangs together and goes down easy. Also, it's no rote reconstruction, as Perry continues to take chances. Consider me conquered.

Party Mix

Singles are still a big deal in this category, making overnight sensations of artists like Fetty Wap and Soulja Boy - but that doesn't mean everyone should put out an album. Also, even if an artist has only one great song it can still be what you need to get a party started. Then there are the geniuses, like Frank Ocean, where we hang on every note, even during years when they don't put out a full-length. Here's a quick rundown of some of the highlights that enlivened my playlists this year.

Four singles from Frank Ocean seemed like a gold rush after the years of waiting between Channel Orange and Blond, his last two albums. Out of the four, my favorite was probably Chanel with its lo-fi piano and overlapping vocals, but put them all together and you have a legit EP from one of the great artists of our time.

In the excitement over DAMN., Kendrick's Lamar's instant-classic album, the single that proceeded it got a little lost in the mix. But The Heart Part 4 is definitely in the canon, with Lamar changing mood and tone over a shifting series of musical backings. It's like a four-minute mixtape.

Close But But Quite, the debut EP by Everything Is Recorded, the project of Richard Russell, founder of XL Records, found him orchestrating tracks for a number of different singers, including Green Gartside from Scritti Politti, who shows off his auto-tune skills to good effect among the rappers on D'Elusion. But the best song was the title track, which finds Sampha jamming with a lengthy sample of Curtis Mayfield's The Makings Of You - pure gold.

Missy Elliott is an American treasure who finally began releasing new music a couple of years ago after getting over some health issues. Unfortunately, it's been at the rate of about one new song a year! But I'm Better was a sly delight, with Elliott finding some new ways to mess with syllables in the spaces between a spare trap beat. Of course, the video was a visual treat, too. Album in 2018? We can only hope.

Cardi B, a former stripper turned rapper, was ubiquitous in 2017 on the back of Bodak Yellow, an undeniably entertaining single that both traded on her raw, untrained flow and the sheer freedom she felt from breaking with her past. "I don't dance now, I make money moves," is definitely a slogan strivers everywhere can get behind. But do we need an album from her? Probably not, yet if she puts out another song as killer as Bodak Yellow, you'll find it here next year.

Someone I would like to hear more from is pinkcaravan!, a budding artist from St. Louis who murmurs her way charmingly through tracks filled with electronic sunshine and rainbows (kudos to producer Namesake). candy land from her EP a very sad happy birthday is a hit in my book but everything she has released is pretty great. Hat tip to Lorum Ipsum for the pointer.

Lorum Ipsum also introduced me to Josh The Word and his clever Make You A Mixtape, which is like if your best friend shared a song with you and it was actually good. His album was kind of terrible, but that's OK because we're just looking for great songs for our own mixtapes at this point.

While I've liked albums by Your Old Droog in the past, his latest, PACKS, didn't really connect. But You Can Do It (Give Up), built around a perfect Richard Swift sample, features great storytelling and an interesting message.

"All my friends are dead/Push me to the edge," is the unforgettable refrain from Lil Uzi Vert's unpronounceable XO TOUR Llif3, which proved that putting real emotional heat behind the hip hop style of the moment can work. His album is an hour long, however, which was a long time to try and maintain this level of commitment.

In a year that gave us a lot of lemons that didn't always yield lemonade, Lemon, the single announcing the return of N.E.R.D. was definitely a bright spot. The rhythm was just this side of frantic and Rihanna's verse was fiery enough that I put the song at number five in my ranking of all the N.E.R.D. songs. And if the subsequent album didn't quite deliver, it wouldn't be the first thing that failed us in 2017. Time to shut up and dance!

You can hear all of the above here or below and if you want to know what other jams caught my ear last year, get to the 2017 Archive (Hip Hop, R&B and Reggae) playlist. Keep up in 2018 here.



You may also enjoy:
Best Of 2017: The Top 25
Best Of 2017: Classical

Best Of 2017: Electronic

Best Of 2017: Out Of The Past

Best Of 2016: Hip Hop & R&B

Best Of 15: Hip Hop

Kendrick Lamar bestrode the world of hip hop - and music in general - like a colossus in 2015. But there was much else that excited in the world of beats and rhymes, whether on full albums or just EP's and singles.

Pusha T can elevate even minor tracks with 16 bar features, which is mostly what we got from him this year. Until this month, when he dropped King Push - Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude. Supposedly made up of the songs that didn't quite fit on his next album (King Push, due in 2016), this has some incredibly strong stuff among its 10 tracks. Crutches, Crosses, Caskets, Untouchable, Keep Dealing - these are among the best songs he's released since Clipse sunsetted. Wild beats, words bitten off like beef jerky, and enough attitude to flatten Manhattan - at it's best Darkest Before The Dawn is all you could want from Pusha. Avoid the acronym songs, however. M.F.T.R. has way too much of The-Dream, with one of the least hooky hooks ever, and M.P.A., with Kanye West and A$AP Rocky, has to be one of the most depressing posse cuts I've heard.

But on Sunshine, the closing track, he gives us something special: an impassioned look at the post-Freddie Gray landscape of racial perceptions and relations between African Americans and those "sworn to protect and serve." That there may be even better material to come is a tantalizing prospect indeed. As Pusha says in Keep Dealing: "How I blew my first million/Luckily was something in the ceiling/Keep dealing."

London's own Kate Tempest stayed in the game with Bad Place For A Good Time. A moody masterpiece, it was also one highlight of her smoking set at Mercury Lounge back in March.

It was sad that Chance The Rapper let another year pass without following up 2013's Acid Rap. But it was difficult to stay down when he was making such joyful music with his friends Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment on Surf. Opening song Miracle was a dose of pure wonder, Slip Slip Slide featured Busta Rhymes sounding reinvigorated among its joyful horns and young guns, and Sunday Candy instantly became the greatest hip hop song about grandmas. Those are just a few of the highlights from a consistently sweet album. Chance also finished up the year strong with the single Angels, letting us keep hope alive for next year.

I'm always happy when Isaiah Rashad's Cilvia Demo comes up on shuffle, but he's been quiet since it came out in early 2014. He recently released one song, Nelly, that finds him in top form - hopefully prepping us for more in 2016.

I don't know if we needed a whole album of Fetty Wap's rap, but Trap Queen will long define the sound of 2015. Love that video, too.

A$AP Rocky turned out to be a lot more interesting on AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP than hinted at by his earlier work. Too long by about 20 minutes, but full of songs that zig and zag into realms both soulful and spacy, the album's pinnacle is L$D, which also had a brilliant video inspired by French bad boy auteur Gaspar Noe. This is new territory for NYC hip hop.

Speaking of new territory, California's Vince Staples ambitiously wanted his debut Summertime '06 to be a rap Dark Side Of The Moon. Not quite - but he shows a lot of promise, with more personality than many young M.C.'s.

Even though its best song was two years old, Raekwon's Fly International Luxury Art was a credible attempt at updating his sound, mixing his Wu Tang grit with everyone from his Wu Tang comrade Ghostface Killah with newer voices like A$AP Rocky, French Montana and 2Chainz. Unlike Ghostface, however, who found new life by collaborating with BADBADNOTGOOD, Rae may be holding himself back by trying to keep up with the mainstream.

Your Old Droog has no concerns about the mainstream, however, unless rapping about 90's alternative rock is a lot more popular than I think it is. The New Yorker released an album's worth of material over two EP's, Kinison and The Nicest. "I don't make music for mass consumption," he raps over a classy beat by EL RTNC on We Don't Know You. Maybe so - but that doesn't mean more people shouldn't listen.

"Call me the 27th character," Jonwayne raps on the opening cut to Jonwayne Is Retired, the six-song follow-up to 2013's Rap Album One. He's definitely a character and I'm glad he's not really retired as he is a singular presence, a wordsmith and beatmaker of much originality. If you want to try your hand at the words, he also released Here You Go, a two-part collection of spectacular beats. If he's giving this stuff away, what is he saving for his next album?

Killer Mike used to be underground, now he's interviewing presidential candidates. Between politics and touring constantly, it's no wonder we only got two new songs this year from Run The Jewels, his collaboration with El-P. Rubble Kings Theme (Dynamite) is a bit of a throw-away but the menacing Bust No Moves was no outtake, with Killer in especially fine form. There was a also a cat-themed remix album but I'm allergic to cats.

I guess we'll now have to wait until 2016 for Kanye West's Swish (or whatever he's calling it now) to be released. Fortunately, he dropped a few songs to spice up this year. The stomping All Day could have fit on the brilliant Yeezus, although it's a little less edgy and you can actually dance to it. The real pop moves, however, came with FourFiveSeconds, which had Paul McCartney strumming behind 'Ye and Rihanna, who actually sounds good in this raw setting. Strange bedfellows, maybe, but no one's hogging the sheets. Macca also plays a sweet keyboard behind the tender Only One and even with the liberal and creative use of autotune, Kanye is singing better than ever. Maybe all that time with Justin Vernon is paying off. Whatever direction the next album goes, count me in.

Another return I hope we can look forward to in 2016 is Missy Elliot, who's last album was 10 years ago. Her career was slowed by a number of things, including a bout with Grave's disease, a kind of hyperthyroidism, which was successfully treated. Her Super Bowl appearance in February showed she hadn't lost a step and reintroduced her to the world. Earlier this month she put out WTF (Where They From?), which was classic Missy from start to finish, as was the hilarious video. Pharrell's on the track, too, and brings his A game, but there's no question that Missy is the star. Hip hop can use more of her high-spirited, left-field stuff so I'm pulling for a big 2016 for Missy!

Here's a playlist to get you started.

 

You might also enjoy:
Best Of 15: The Top 20
Best Of 15: Out Of The Past
Best Of 15: Reggae

Summer Party Mix: Short Takes, Singles, Etc.

It's summer, prime mixtape season, so here are some short takes on recent albums and singles with party potential that should soundtrack your next shindig.

Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment - Surf While we wait for Chance The Rapper to follow up Acid Rap we can enjoy this sunny and eclectic group effort from him and his buddies (some of them famous, like Busta Rhymes and Janelle Monae). Perhaps some of the positive vibrations are little more than bromides ("Just be you!") but it's hard not to be infected by the joyous spirit that runs through Surf. With darkness emanating from TV's and headlines everywhere this is a welcome dose of sweetness. This is free on iTunes so don't hesitate.

Beck - Dreams Well, he said the next one would be different. After the triumph of the GRAMMY-winning Morning Phase (also my #2 album from 2014), the world was Beck's oyster and he's found a new direction: polished dance-pop. While that might make you think that this notorious appropriator is being cheesy and ironic, Dreams is beautifully produced and seems completely sincere. It's delightful. I think when he performs at the GRAMMY's next year, the Twittering masses will remember who he is.

Shamir - Call It Off This young singer/songwriter from Las Vegas is getting a lot of attention and rightfully so - he's bursting with talent. After a time playing country, he's thrown his lot in with a brand of stripped down electronic R&B that at its  best is irresistible. Call It Off is the most appealing song for me, an addictively danceable kiss off that will have you moving no matter where you are. Give his album Ratchet a try, too - there's some depth there. Shamir is one to watch.

Alekesam - All Is Forgiven I heard this haunting dub-inflected beaut on an episode of Don Cheadle's excellent House Of Lies. Turns out Alekesam is the duo of Sal Masekela and Sunny Levine, the respective offspring of Hugh Masekela and his collaborator Stewart Levine. So it's in their blood - get transfused.

Holly Herndon - Morning Sun A lot of the talk about Herndon focuses on her process. While it is interesting to learn how she uses natural and found sounds to create electronic textures, it doesn't always pay off for the listener. I could scold myself for a lack of commitment - or I could just dial up Morning Sun, the sleekest song on her album Platform. Who's going to pony up the remix? Breton - you in?

Vince Staples - Summertime OK, I know you can't dance to this moody one-off from Staples' interesting debut - but you need a song to listen to after (most of) your guests have left. Even if his ambition to "be Pink Floyd" is yet to be realized, the mere fact of it is to be celebrated. This could be forever, baby...

A$AP Rocky - LSD That Pink Floyd reference might make more sense on this woozy wonder (the Gaspar Noe-influenced video is aces, too). Can't say I've ever taken the A$AP world domination plan very seriously (RIP A$AP Yams), but Rocky keeps getting better. There's other good stuff on At.Long.Last.A$AP, too, but this is classic. 

Run The Jewels (feat. Cuz) - Bust No Moves Whaddya know, even El-P and Killer Mike are getting a little spacey. But Mike's verse is as down to earth as it gets on this great jam - originally a Record Store Day exclusive.

Raekwon (feat. Estelle) - All About You This lush gem has been floating around for a couple of years and is now a high point of the album Fly International Luxurious Art. It borrows some of its drama from the Isaac Hayes school - kudos to producer Jerry Wonda - and Rae and Estelle pair up nicely. While not a classic, there's other good stuff on the album as well. 

Alessia Cara - Here The borrowing from Isaac Hayes is more explicit in Here, as Cara draws on the same Ike's Rap sample that fueled trip-hop classics by both Tricky and Portishead. Here is an ode to introversion that I can relate to, but the passion in Cara's voice means she really wants to connect - and she does. 

Singers & Players - Reaching The Bad Man This dubby conqueror is just one of many great tracks on Sherwood At The Controls Vol. 1 1979-1984, a killer compilation of some of Adrian Sherwood's great post-punk productions. Singers & Players was Sherwood's super-group featuring Jamaican eminences (Mikey Dread, Bim Sherman) and British avant gardists (Ari Up, Keith Levene), a fruitful blend indeed. Want more? Grab this deadly mix from Test Pressing.

Jahdan Blakkamoore - Sweetest Ting The Guayana-born Blakkamoore has the perfect voice for post-dancehall digital reggae, burnished and powerful but capable of both delicacy and joy. This song is the purest dose of sunshine from his third album, Order Of Distinction, but there's more to love there and on his earlier records. 

Buena Vista Social Club - Lost And Found This mix of thrilling live performances and nearly top-flight outtakes is the perfect hit to quench your nostalgia for when nostalgic Cuban sounds burned up the airwaves. It's a really good time and can add spice to many a mix. Right now I'm hooked on Tiene Sabor, featuring the ever-magnificent Omara Portuondo.

Various Artists - Next Cut! Yet another devastating collection of reggae rarities from Pressure Sounds, focusing on sounds from Bunny "Striker" Lee & Friends. Take your pick for your mix. 

The Notations - Still Here (1967-73) Número Group has made their name with dozens of releases bringing obscure soul music to light, as they do on this great single-artist collection. The Notations might not be The Temptations but they had a lot to offer - one listen to I Can't Stop should make you a fan. 

Fetty Wap - Trap Queen I heard the executors of Francis Scott Key's estate petitioned to have this become the new American anthem, but Soulja Boy voted them down. Sour grapes, I say. 

Your Old Droog - Kinison There was a brief period where a dash of mystery had people wondering if this was Nas in disguise. Now we know he's his own man, as this pop-culture obsessed album demonstrates. He can be funny, as on Gentrify My Hood, or blithely vicious, as on Homicide. He does have some of Nas's crisp New York flow, which could make it easy for that legend to imagine biting some of the excellent beats by El RTNC and others - better be careful, boys. Also give an ear to The Nicest, a six-track EP that just came out. Busy man - get busy catching up.

Check out my playlist featuring all of these plus a few assists from the best records of the year. What's grooving you?