Best Albums of the s, Ranked by Rolling Stone - Rolling Stone

This decade's popularization of free internet mixtapes allowed bst whole new crop of rappers to compete with the mostly-stagnant rap mainstream of the late s and eventually overthrow it, and so many different types of rap emerged or had resurgences in the process. We saw Kanye West hit his highest peak and fall hard. We saw Drake become the decade's most omnipresent rap superstar. The genre started out in the underground, but it quickly rose to the mainstream as best rap albums of 2010s it like Beyonce, Rihanna, and Justin Timberlake started incorporating it into best rap albums of 2010s it own work and often started collaborating with the smaller artists albus helped pioneer it.

So your favorite artist might not be here, and since all lists are subjective, some of my personal bias of course factored in. But I aimed for this list to present a wide scope of music, from Best Rap Albums Of 2010s Class the poppy and popular to the underground and experimental, and plenty of the in-between.

Hopefully you gain something from the Best Rap Albums Of 2010s Reddit list, and if not, feel free to leave glaring omissions and hate mail in the comments. The Chicago rap scene thrived this decade, and one of the most delightfully weird albums to come out of the whole scene was Joey Purp's Quarterthing.

The ebst dabble in classic '90s rap, dance music, experimental music, and more, and Joey navigates the inventive production with deft rhymes that get stuck in your head and stay there.

From mosh-rap ragers to sing-songy hip-pop, Rico Nasty does it all, and on her breakthrough album Nasty she wrote the gap memorable songs of her career thus far. Largely produced by Kenny 2010d, the album is booming but with a raw, distorted edge, just like Rico's own delivery.

The album is jam-packed with hooks, and Rico's in-your-face raps Best Rap Albums Of 2010s Live consistently prove she's abums to fuck with, earning Nasty its title over and over. Freddie Gibbs is kind of an unexpected success story.

He signed to Interscope in '06 but was dropped before he was ever able to release the debut album he recorded for the label. He ended up releasing a lot of the songs intended for that album on a free internet mixtape in '09, and as the explosion of free internet mixtapes created a new rap underground, Gibbs was able to pick up some buzz in that community as a devotee of early s gangsta rap.

He seemed like he'd always be a niche guy, ot out of step with trends to make much of a widespread impact. Best rap albums of 2010s it time around, they were more familiar with each other's style and process, they knew what worked and what didn't, and it enabled them to knock it out of the wlbums. Digable Planets reunited for live shows this decade, but Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler's creative resurgence was with a newer group, Shabazz Palaces.

Digable Planets ut pioneer a type of jazz-rap that was considered "alternative" in the '90s, but Shabazz Palaces made Digable sound downright normal. With Shabazz, Butler and his partner in crime Tendai Maraire make heady, psychedelic head-trips that sound like they're floating in space yet always seem to have one foot planted on earth. They've been a consistently great group throughout the decade, but all their far-out ideas were laid out on their album debut album Black Upand it remains their most remarkable album because of how fully-realized and wlbums it sounded upon arrival.

And because of how well it holds up today. Sometimes music that's meant to sound "futuristic" can get outdated quickly, but eight years later and Black Up still sounds like it's lightyears ahead of most music today. But sometimes you don't want to think about your best rap albums of 2010s it for the future, you just want to let out your anger about everything happening right now.

That song is on YG's second studio album Still Brazywhich remains the most fiery, intense album in his discography. It's YG's most lyrically powerful and musically compelling album, and lf he nor anyone else this decade has really made anything else quite like it.

On a pure skill level, Rapsody has been one of the best in the game for 20100s while. But even as various factors prevent her from achieving the widespread recognition she deserves "dressed too tomboy, rap too lyrical"she keeps pushing herself to get better ral better.

Just about every project she's released has been even more breathtaking than the last, which makes Best rap albums of 2010s it her clear winner for the decade. Her delivery and lyrical content are as showstopping as they were on previous albums like 's Laila's Wisdomwhich appears slightly lower down on this listbut Ever has a clearer concept than any other Rapsody album.

Each song is named after a different iconic, powerful woman, and the theme of black, female excellence runs throughout the consistently strong album. Even when Rapsody isn't discussing powerful women directly, she's proving herself as one of modern hip hop's most powerful women as she cruises through her carefully penned lines and leaves the listener hanging on every word. Kamaiyah arrived fully formed on her debut mixtape A Good Night in the Ghetto.

She had recently dropped the instant-classic single "How Does It Feel," got a co-sign from YG who is one of two guests on this mixtapeand otherwise seemingly came out of nowhere with this song project, which remains some of the freshest G-Funk revival of the s. Kamaiyah has a hell of an ear for beats, and she chose a whole bunch of them that are drenched in hazy nostalgia for the glory days of Dr.

Dre and DJ Quik, but in rpa way that feels entirely in the now. And Kamaiyah came prepared with enough hooks to sustain an entire albumss. Three years later, this tape still sounds like a summer BBQ even in the dead of winter. No one really sounds like her, and no one shares the unique perspective she brings to the table with every song on this EP. Thank You 4 Your Service Epic, Jazz-rap legends Best rap albums of 2010s it Tribe Called Quest hadn't released an album since the '90s, but they got back together to reclaim their throne and make one last album with Phife Dawg before he sadly passed away.

We Got It from Here Thank You 4 Your Service didn't sound all that different than Tribe's classics, but it still felt fresh upon arrival inespecially thanks to guest appearances by Kendrick Lamar and Anderson. Paak, two clear descendants of the music Tribe helped pioneer and two best rap albums of 2010s it the leading artists of the current decade. Cole -- "gatekeepers of flow" on "Dis Generation.

Even though the s saw the advent of rap groups forming over the internet by people who had never met each other in person, it still remains a genre where the regional aspect is important, and -- from Illmatic to good kid, m.

From the production to the words Wiki is rapping, everything about NMIM sounds and feels like being dropped right in the middle of a busy Manhattan street. It's one of the most vivid, imagery-inducing albums released by a New York rapper 2001s decade, and it's a real treat that it came from Wiki, a talented young best rap albums of 2010s it who perfectly embodies the spirit and history of New York rap.

Like the great Best Rap Albums Of 2010s 2nd New York rappers before him, he sees the value in honoring your forebears but being weird and unique and different at the same time. When Big K. Wuz Here and the addictive rsp of its single "Country Shit," he seemed primed to be one of hip hop's next breakout stars.

Unfortunately, once he signed to Def 22010s, the quality of his music took a hit, and as trap became the best rap albums of 2010s it sound of the South, K. I had been rooting for K.

Wuz Here but blew it out of the water. Part one was a perfected version of the sound he was shaping on K. Wuz Hereand part two saw K. Megan Thee Stallion's sleeper hit "Big Ole Freak" got her foot in the door, but her album Fever blew the house down. It's only been about a year, but the time when Megan had just one signature song already feels like ancient history.

She murdered just about every feature she did inand she released a whole slew of future classics on her own album, Fever. She's got the charisma, the bars, the hooks, and Fever so clearly defined the rap landscape.

The only other rap newcomer on Megan's level is the very likeminded DaBaby, and he has the only other guest verse on Fever.

It's Megan and DaBaby in one place, doing what they do best, and it captures the essence of best rap albums of 2010s it rap is right now, just as the new decade approaches.

He takes a beat, usually something with bare but forceful drums, a booming, rubbery bassline, and not much else, and he starts rapping before the song even fully kicks in. On paper, he's kinda like a punk band. Baby On Baby hasn't even been out for a year, and it already feels like a greatest hits. It feels more like a quickly scrapped-together collection of songs than a Classic Album, but sometimes this much pure fun and sheer talent hitting you all at once is how classics are made.

As Best rap albums of 2010s it Hippy's second stringer behind Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q's immense potential was clear from the start, but he was always better at a few good singles or show-stealing guest appearances than at making best rap albums of 2010s it kind of fleshed-out, full-length albums that his most famous groupmate would make.

The closest he came, though, was 's Blank Face LP. Even the album's one pop-friendly song, best rap albums of 2010s it Kanye West-featuring "That Part," is more menacing than his usual standout singles. It's probably Q's last album you'd reach for if you wanted to dance, but it's his most focused, consistently rewarding work. Vince Albumx is a little like Kurt Cobain, in that as soon as he made a near-perfect album that put him on the map as one of his generation's greats, he seemed to immediately regret it.

Vince has never tried to make an album as traditional as Summertime '06 again, and the most he distanced himself from it was on its followup, Big Fish Theory. Which, as far best rap albums of 2010s it the Nirvana comparison goes, would be his In Utero. On some songs, he doesn't even rap best rap albums of 2010s it all. Big Fish Theory is more of an art piece than a rap album -- and a very compelling art piece at that -- but it's also home to some of Vince's best rap songs.

If you would've been told at the beginning of that a Drake and Future album was coming, you might've thought it'd be a chance for Future boost his algums by riding the wave of Drake's superstardom. What really happened, was Future -- who was at his creative peak at the time -- was the one doing most of the heavy lifting on this album and Drake was often trying to keep up with him.

Drake's popularity has still not waned, but creativity-wise, he started to plateau afterand this album sort of represents the moment that mainstream rap trends started to shift away from Drake's lush pop rap and move more towards Future's gurgling, codeine-coated trap. It's also the moment where Drake began to sound like a superstar coasting on auto-pilot, while Future still sounded as hungry as he did on DS2his magnum opus that had come out two months earlier.

Over the course of her masterful third album GREY areaUK rapper Little Simz shows off a vast musical spectrum and a best rap albums of 2010s it depth that leaves even many of the most popular rappers in the dust. Beginning with "Offence" and best rap albums of 2010s it the album starts out as raw and urgent as Civil Rights era psychedelic soul and as cutthroat as '90s New York rap.

From there, Gest explores glossy neo-soul "Selfish"Eastern-tinged best rap albums of 2010s it hop " FM"best rap albums of 2010s it rap balladry "Sherbet Sunset"and lush jazz rap the Michael Kiwanuka-featuring "Flowers"all without losing her focus or mincing her words. She still hasn't caught on in the US as much as she has in her home country, but when I saw her playing a packed Music Hall of Williamsburg show in Brooklyn earlier this year, you could tell that everyone in the room knew they were witnessing something truly next level.

If there's any justice in the next decade, Simz will skyrocket to the top off the strength of her pure talent alone. Brockhampton took the hip hop world by storm in with their Saturation trilogy, a loud, rowdy, in-your-face series of records that probably needed a better editing job but it didn't matter.

Like Odd Future who they were often compared tothey had that punk spirit that they might be here today, gone tomorrow, and you knew they'd leave a lasting impact even if they never made another record.

And as it turned out, best rap albums of 2010s it momentum was quickly damaged. They parted ways with a core member due to sexual misconduct allegations and ended up scrapping what would have been their next album. Still, Brockhampton persevered, and the album they did make was massive leap from the Saturation trilogy. And Kanye didn't make an album like that until he was well-established as a superstar; Brockhampton did it as young kids who were barely had a reputation a year and a half earlier.

It remains as breathtaking best rap albums of 2010s it it was when Brockhampton first unveiled it to the world, and one of the decade's truly unique gems. Two of the biggest rappers in the world rapping about being millionaires on some Alien vs Predator -style crossover blockbuster rap album? It's relatable to pretty much no one except the two guys zlbums made it, and it would've gone down in history as a flimsy, see-through cash grab Superstar 22010s rap albums continued to be a thing throughout the s, and they were almost always referred to by at least a handful of people as "the Watch the Throne of [whatever specific region or subgenre they were in].

Jay was not, but reuniting with the guy who produced some of Albumd Blueprint 's best songs must have fired him up, 'cause he delivered on this album. The then-rising Frank Ocean, the not-yet-fully-out-of-the-woods Bon Iver, and the fresh-off-releasing- 4 Beyonce are here too, and Watch the Throne still feels as crucial for those artists as it does for Ye and Jay.

Channel Orange contains bet embarrassment of riches. It's an album of characters and musical styles which almost seem built around their stories, but there's no detachment or distance in Frank's cinematic songwriting. It's a rich, enveloping listen; coming back to it years later, it's almost shocking how many great songs are here.

Oct 08,  · The Best Hip-Hop Albums Of The s, Ranked. One of the best albums of , Rap Or Go To The League finds 2 Chainz balancing his . The Best Hip Hop Albums of the s. View reviews, ratings, news & more regarding your favorite band. List of best-selling hip hop albums of the s in the United States. Jump to navigation Jump to search. This is a list of the best-selling hip-hop albums in the United States from to based on RIAA certification and Nielsen SoundScan sales tracking. Best-selling hip-hop albums by year.

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