It got a bit critical in the previous newsletter. Rightfully so, I would like to add. When I collected all albums of 2018 to create a list of the top ones, I can’t really say there’s that one album that really stood out. Not like previous years, where we’ve received classics like To Pimp A Butterfly, etc. There’s been some great music released this year, but not one that I feel is a ”certified classic” so to speak.I’ve already summarized the best tracks of 2018. But sometimes it’s nice to sit down, put on an album and listen through it from start to finish. Here’s the best albums from 2018.
Cocoa Sugar
Young Fathers has been around for a couple of years, although they group consists of young members. They’re modern because they include many genres into their sound. They’re great musicians by how they combine mellow, distance, longing singing with calm rap. They’ve put all their previous knowledge of music producing to this album. The track Picking You is the kind of track to listen to while driving through a starred, night lighted city and wonder. Other great tracks are Toy, See How, Tremolo, In My View and more.
Orpheus vs. The Sirens
Ka has been mentioned before, in previous newsletters. I find him one of the best lyricists of rap (ever) and got really excited when I heard he had released a new album under a different alias, Hermit and the Recluse. In this album, he has linked up with producer Animoss. The instrumentals are perfect to Ka’s clean, rough, old school type of rapping: it’s bare, but more than enough. It’s a daunting move to rap through metaphors of the Greek mythology, but somehow he makes it work.
TA1300
Denzel Curry has released quality music for years. He’s partly part of the ”Soundcloud rap” sub genre, but cuts his own lane with a bigger variety in beats, themes and content overall. In this album, he cuts into the struggles of being a youth and does it in a nice 3 part series which is really nice to listen through in a sitting. It’s like a movie with different parts and a red thread throughout. His skills as a rapper technically has improved a lot in the past years and this album is a exhibition of how good he has become.
Daytona
Pusha T is a man of controversy. He stirred up a lot of talks and discussions when he released his diss track on Drake earlier this year. Unfortunately, that attention should’ve been towards his album, because it’s such a clean, minimalistic to its sounds and core, and as much Pusha T as it can get. His clear, hard voice works so well over these chilling beats and the bars are as rough as ever.