3 Best Rap Albums in 2017 so far

3.  Painting Pictures- Kodak BlackI am going to preface this by saying I understand that many people were not very fond of this album, mostly critics, but I strongly disagree.  Several hip hop review sites were reluctant to even give the album a 3.0/5 rating.  Audibly, Kodak has a disadvantage because his heavy Hatian/Southern accent has always been a scrappy sound that has taken people some getting used to.  It also has taken people time to literally understand what he’s saying.  Due to these factors, his music gets a lot of hate.  However, his lyrical content and vocal versatility are displayed consistently throughout the album, an example of the former being the song “Why They Call You Kodak” and an example of the latter being the song “Save You.”

2.  Culture- MigosI really wanted with every inch of my heart to put this album at number 1, but I didn’t believe it deserved to be.  First of all, this album is actually my favorite on the list.  Offset, Quavo, and Takeoff(Migos), started off 2017 with a slew of party music on their January 31 album “Culture.”  The three relatives(Offset and Quavo are cousins, Quavo is Takeoff’s uncle) have seemingly improved their style of music each year since they became big in 2013.  Autotune and melodic hooks mixed with lyrical creativity create a nice hybrid between old and new rap, and has the album sitting at 11 on the top 200 Billboard even after 3 months.

  1.  DAMN. by Kendrick LamarI admit I grow a little tired of reviewing Kendrick’s music because a lot of times I have very few negative things to say, if any.  Kendrick’s latest album, however, deserves to be recognized.  Many may disagree, but I hated his previous album “To Pimp a Butterfly.”  I felt like he was trying harder to make a statement than to make music.  “DAMN” seems to take components of Kendrick’s last two studio albums as well as common trap music themes and make a setlist of lyrical masterfulness.  Some songs have a fast paced and intense vibe, while others may be more relaxed or similar to R and B.

My Top 5 for XXL Freshman Class of 2017

XXL magazine is a universal hip hop magazine, and a great source of news for rap/trap music.  They also have a youtube channel and a website as well as various other social medias.  Each year they select a “Freshman Class” of rappers who are new up and comers, and have them rap on a beat together.  Though the number of rappers they pick varies, right now I am going to list 5 rappers I believe should be selected and why.

5.  Famous Dex

Although know for being lyrically redundant, the Chicago rapper possesses an energy and charisma that is very rockstar like, and has had some help climbing up the ladder because of his frequent collaboration partner Rich The Kid, who will also be on this list.  Also, Dex has been able to show in recent songs that he is improving lyrically, so there is no reason why he should not make waves.

4.  Playboi Carti
20 years old and from the mecca of trap music(Atlanta), Carti has been compared to Lil Uzi Vert in his upbeat style.  Just like Vert, Carti focuses on his flow and making fast paced songs.  He also has just released his debut album, which right now sits at 12 on the Billboard top 200.

3.  A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie

Boogie has already had a few songs crack the top 100 Billboard, including “Water,” a collaboration he did with the infamous Kodak black.  The Bronx rapper combines his melodic voice with smooth rhymes and occasionally even vowel rhymes, not always making it a pure one.

2.  Tee Grizzley

The only reason Tee Grizzley isn’t number 1 on my list is because he is almost brand spankin’ new on the scene.  The Detroit rapper burst into the game, and also into the top 100 Billboard, with his single “First Day Out.”  Lyrics, singing, rapping, he can do it all, and quite possibly possesses the most talent out of all the new rap artists.

  1.  Rich The KidThe fact that Rich The Kid hasn’t been featured on XXL magazine already is actually a bit surprising.  His track record is strong, having done several songs with Migos, and even one with Kodak Black and Future, separately.  With a soft voice, Rich raps quickly and certainly never lacks lyrical creativity.  Though he may not be as talented as our number 2 spot, he is incredibly underrated, and his bid to XXL has been long overdue, therefore he gets the top spot.

Has Trap Music Taken Over?

The genre of hip hop has always come with some sort of controversy.  At first, the violent lyrics were seen as appalling to many people, but the style eventually became mainstream because of the lyrical creativity.  Trap music, a sub genre of hip hop with more focus on sound than lyrical content, has also received a substantial amount of negativity as it has become popularized.  Beginning with artists like Gucci Mane, Young Thug, and Future, and continued by Migos, Rae Sremmurd, and several other artists, trap music has quickly become the nations hottest genre.

The style incorporates frequent uses of melody, sometimes naturally and sometimes using autotune, along with a beat with a heavy bass.  Many rap artists have turned to this genre and style of music as it has hit the mainstream.  Kendrick Lamar, rapper of the deeply emotional yet brilliant album To Pimp a Butterfly, borrows some aspects of trap music in his new album.  His focus lie more with the vibe, and on the sound of his voice.  Even world renowned trap rappers like Migos and Kodak Black had much different styles in their early mixtapes before switching their style up.

Music producers such as Zaytoven, Mike WiLL Made-It, and Metro Boomin have also played a huge behind the scenes role in the rise of the genre.  Many of the most popular hits that have helped bring trap music into the mainstream have been produced by these innovative minds(Metro Boomin produced the ever famous Bad and Boujee by Migos).  Today, trap music rules the billboards, as over 40 of the 100 songs are from trap artists, and even more if you simply count hip hop in general I might add.

There is no question that hip hop has been accepted, though it took several years.  Now however, it seems its “little brother” is making a quick climb to the top of music, and it sure is fun to watch.

Rap and Poetry

On paper, these two things are polar opposites.  When it comes to the stereotypes of both, one being being sweet, sensitive, and expressive, and the other being violent, disrespectful of women, and a poor influence on children, they do not relate.  However, the components of both poetry and hip hop are appallingly similar, and the two concepts themselves even intermingle sometimes.

Lets start out with the basis of both poetry and hip hop.  When someone is performing a poem, whether it’s in class or at a club, the emphasis is the rhythm and the flow of the piece, along with the lyrics of course.  There are obviously some differences, for example the main point of hip hop is to rhyme and that is most certainly not always the case when it comes to poetry.  Spoken word poetry, or prose poetry, focuses more on language and content and often doesn’t have a meter or rhyme scheme.  Meter is the beat that the poem is read in, or the style, and the rhyme scheme is the rhyming structure of the end of each line.  There are several famous poets who used these concepts such as Robert Frost and Rudyard Kipling.

In hip hop, the same exact concepts apply when it comes to a well written or well delivered rap song.  The meter, or as it is called in rap “the flow,” is highly important to a rappers patented style.  It is the way in which they deliver their rhymes, and the way that they say words and syllables to compliment the music.  Many old rappers, such as Big L, Biggie, and Eminem, as well as some newer rappers, such as Takeoff of Migos and Logic, have made their impact on hip hop because of the manner in which they deliver their raps.  To step aside from the technical similarities, there are also content similarities.  Believe or not, many of hip hop’s most influential and respected figures were also poets.  Tupac Shakur released several thought provoking songs in his time as a recording artists, with hits such as Keep Ya Head Up and Dear Mama.  Shakur also released a book of his own poems called The Rose that Grew From the Concrete.  Also, Nas’s popular album Illmatic, while embodying many of the ideals of “gangsta rap,” also supplied a multitude of positive messages in songs such as “The World is Yours.”  To quickly shift back to a more technical side of our two subjects, Illmatic also contained other poetic aspects such as the use of perspective.  In the song “One Love,” an inmate at Rikers Island is reading a letter that he just received.  The letter is from Nas, and he began to rap as if the inmate is reading the letter.

Seemingly different, poetry and hip hop are actually almost nearly the same thing, just with primarily differing content.

Why Guwop is our Generations Dr. Dre

Andre Young, the infamous Dr. Dre, cofounder of N.W.A, founder of Slim Shady, Snoop Dogg, and Kendrick Lamar, former producer for 2pac, the list goes on and on for the Compton hip hop pioneer.  And each and every item on that list solidifies him as one of the most influential figures in hip hop culture if not also music culture in general.  When people think of “The Doctor,” they usually primarily think about the artists he has discovered as well as his skill as a DJ and Producer.  That’s not to say he isn’t a great lyricist, but that almost always takes a backseat when people think of Dre’s legacy.  As stated before, Dre was responsible for the discovery of several great hip hop artists who in their own right have had their own influence on hip hop.  If we look at the height of Dr. Dre’s career, which would most likely be the 1990’s and early 2000’s, Dre had already developed a sort of west coast sound in the 1980’s with N.W.A., and much of the West Coast was running with this style.  Artists like Warren G, Nate Dogg, and Snoop Dogg were dominant figures in the West Coast rap genre, even doing songs with Dr. Dre or citing him as a huge influence.  To even the most clueless person, just looking at Dr. Dre’s resume would convince them of the influential impression he has left on hip hop music.  And to hip hop fans, he is a god.  However, there may be another Dr. Dre rising to the forefront of the newest genre of rap, trap music.

Radric Delantic Davis, or Gucci Mane, was born in 1980 and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia.  I know, a rapper from 2017 was born in Atlanta!?  No way!  Now Gucci Mane may have a different brand of music from Dr. Dre, in fact people probably would never even bring the two up in the same conversation.  However it is their influence on hip hop and their pioneer status that makes them similar.  Just as Dre did with N.W.A., though maybe not on the same scale as the Doctor, Gucci had been experimenting with different types of sounds and trying to develop some originality in the early and mid 2000’s.  During this time Gucci and other southern rappers such as Nelly, Murphy Lee, and T.I. had been using a sort of “dirty south” sound, one that focused on aggressive beats featuring heavy percussion to mix with a rapper with a heavy southern accent.  Dre had discovered the roots of west coast rap with N.W.A., and Gucci discovered the roots of trap music with his original sound.  Eventually he founded the record company 1017 Brick Squad, where original members Waka Flaka Flame and OJ Da Juiceman helped him get a little closer to the trap music we know today.  If you listen to the above song with Waka Flaka and Soulja Boy, you can hear how it is a bit of an unrefined trap song, as much of the flow and style of the song is similar to the rap songs of today.  Speaking of which,  today Gucci has been responsible for the discoveries of Young Thug and Chief Keef, and even had a hand in Future’s come up.  Plus, Migos, Kodak Black, Lil Uzi Vert, and 21 Savage have all referenced Gucci as a significant influence in their decision to pursue music as well as citing him as a significant influence in their musical style.  Whether you like the new generation of rap or not, there is no denying that Gucci Mane has been responsible for the careers of several superstar rappers today.  To trap musicians, Gucci Mane is their Dr. Dre, because he was the pioneer of their genre of music.

My top 5 Hip Hop/Trap Groups

5. G-Unit

G-Unit is a rap group that gained popularity in the early 2000’s with hits like “Poppin’ Them Thangs” and “Smile.”  The group formed in the late 90’s in Queens, New York, starting out with members Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, and most notably, 50 Cent.  Though an East Coast group, G-Unit’s sound resembled a West Coast vibe, similar to the music of famous west coast rappers such as Nate Dogg and Warren G.  This is most likely because 50 Cent had been discovered by Eminem and Dr. Dre, so it makes sense that G-Unit’s sound mimics that of Dr. Dre and Eminem’s gritty and ruthless, yet melodic sound.  Another notable member of G-Unit, though only for a short time, was popular Compton rapper “The Game.”  Though not as popular as they once were, G-Unit still makes music today.

4.  A Tribe Called Quest

Ah yes, “the Tribe is the Vibe.”  A Tribe Called Quest does not only go down in rap history as almost every stoners favorite rap group, but they also go down in rap history because of their unique, laid back, “everything’s cool” type of style.  Q-tip, Phife Dawg, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad originally formed the group in 1985, and were later joined by MC Jarobi White.  While the height of their popularity peaked in the 90’s with their hit album “The Low End Theory,” they still make music today, releasing the album “We Got It From Here, Thank You For Your Service” in November of 2016

3.  Wu-Tang Clan

Wu-Tang Clan will always be remembered as one of the rawest hip hop groups to hit the booth.  The group formed in 1992 in New York City, where all the members (RZA, GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God and Masta Killa) were born and raised.  The group was known for their eccentric behavior and almost anger-like energy while rapping.  Their name is modeled after the movie “Shaolin and Wu-Tang,” and these words refer to Chinese culture such as Taoism and Martial Arts.  Though the group is still making music today, the majority of their popularity lies during the 1990’s and early 2000’s with albums such as “Enter the Wu-Tang,” “Wu-Tang Forever,” and “the W.”

2.  Migos

Though a relatively new group, Migos has caught the attention of many rap fans as well as music fans in general.  They’ve heard the mocking birds call them “The death of hip hop” when their songs are played, and they’ve been criticized for their simplistic rapping style.  However, my music teacher once told me the point of music is to appeal to the people, no matter how simple whatever your doing may be.  In other words, if it sounds good, why change it!  Migos triplet rapping style mixed with their clever use of the now heavily used autotune creates a brand new sound that can only truly be defined as the Migos sound.  Born in Atlanta and all being part of the same family, Offset, Takeoff, and Quavo have burst onto the scene yet again in 2017 like they did back in 2013 when they released the hit song “Versace.”  in my opinion, their new album Culture is the best overall album out there right now, lets listen to a song from it.

  1.  N.W.A

N.W.A, the world’s most dangerous group, whatever you want to call them, people know their name.  I just discussed Migos and their sound that is so original, however if we want to talk about a real original sound, lets look at the music of N.W.A.  Despite telling the world to “Fuck tha Police,” MC Ren, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and DJ Yella brought a political and sophisticated element to their music while portraying it through rough and appalling lyrics and personas.  The world had never heard such language in music before, and their lyrics shocked so many people that the F.B.I sent them a letter warning them about what they were saying.  Today, N.W.A does not still make music, however they will make guest appearances together occasionally, where they spit their lyrics that make me feel like they want to murder every person in the audience.  Anyway, here is a classic from the father’s of gangsta rap.

Who is “Lil’ Boat”?

This year’s XXL Freshman class was stocked with exotic looking young rappers with equally as exotic new styles.  Rappers like Kodak Black, 21 Savage, Lil Uzi Vert, Desiigner, and finally Lil Yatchy, or Lil Boat, headlined this years cover magazine for the hip hop based news source.  While I already have talked about Kodak Black, I will not be covering all the rappers from this years XXL magazine cover, however Lil Yatchy has caught many peoples eyes with his eccentric behavior and style.  Yatchy, born Miles Parks McCollum, grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and had seen his popularity sky rocket to superstardom at just the age of 18 when he released his first hit “1 NIGHT”in May of 2016.  Since then, Miles has collaborated with artists such as Young Thug, Rich the Kid, Migos, Chance the Rapper, and A$AP Ferg.  Perhaps Miles’ biggest criticism that he receives along with also his claim to fame, is his synthesized singing voice which he uses in the song attached above.  In many other of his tracks though, he raps with a low and lazy style where some people have compared his sound to that of someone who is sedated.  In these songs, he is more focused on his lyrics and his delivery rather than the melody of his voice.  An example of this would be “Fresh Off the Boat” where he teams up with rapper Rich the Kid.  Who is Lil Yatchy though?  Considered part of the death of hip hop by old heads?  Yes.  Raggedy Ann look alike? Certainly.  But the young trap musician isn’t your typical young man having fun and partying.  In fact, Yatchy has said on many occasions that he does not drink alcohol, smoke weed, or do any drugs at all.  His reason, simply because he doesn’t like it.  In this specific genre, popping pills, smoking weed, and living the party life in general are all preached in most songs.  Yatchy on the other hand, seems to be all business.  With all this peculiarity, it comes as a surprise to many to learn of Yatchy’s shy behavior.  In interviews, he responds almost always in a quiet voice with just one word answers, hardly ever looking up at the interviewer or camera.  A lot of people see different things when they see this young artist, both good things and bad things.  Personally, I see a young man focused on his work and pursuing the sound that he wants regardless of the hate that he receives from hip hop fans.  Plus, with a style so rangy that it has people saying “I like this Yatchy better than the other one,” he is bound to appeal to many different fans across the country and even the world.

The Case for Bad Boy Records

While Death Row may have been home to more well known artists, Bad Boy Records had a solid crew that was backed by the one-two punch of Biggie and Puff Daddy (P.Diddy).  Diddy produced practically all of Biggie’s songs, and the two were a well known team.  Also, Bad Boy was a pioneer hip hop record company in the sense that they were one of the first to sign female rappers to their label.  Such examples are Faith Evans and Lil Kim, who were also featured on many of Biggie’s songs.  Foxy Brown also had signed with the label at one point.  Though Bad Boy didn’t have the star power that Death Row had, they still had a solid supporting cast for Biggie with artists like Craig Mack and Mace.  Now Death Row may have produced more hip hop hits than Bad Boy, but Bad Boy also produced many R&B hits, showing that they were a versatile operation.  Overall, I would take Death Row Records Over Bad Boy Records personally, but both companies are legendary in the hip hop community.

The Case for Death Row Records

It is a question debated even today, a question formed in the mid 1990’s at the height of “gangsta” rap’s popularity.  Death Row Records…or Bad Boy Records?  DUH DUH DUH!  These record companies sparked a rivalry when the owner of Death Row, Suge Knight, called out the owner of Bad Boy, Puff Daddy (Sean Combs) for using his artists to get himself more face time with the public.  This rivalry heightened when it was rumored that Bad Boy’s The Notorious B.I.G had his people shoot Death Row’s Tupac Shakur.  Aside from all the drama, and the personal beefs, the question still remains, which record company produced better music and had more of an influence on our culture?  Lets begin with the case for Death Row.  First of all, Death Row Records was home to 3 of the most influential people in hip hop history, all of which are depicted above.  Tupac Shakur is quite commonly known as one of if not the best rap artist of all time, famous for his poetic ability and deep meaningful songs.  Andre Young, or Dr. Dre, is referred to by most hip hop fans as the best rap producer of all time, producing music in the legendary group N.W.A as well as producing for artists Tupac, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem.  Lastly, there is the still popular Snoop Dogg, who has put out several hits over the tenure of his 20 year career.  With star power like this, it is not surprising that Death Row Records was the backbone of West Coast Music in the 1990’s.

Why America needs Kodak Black

Well there he is.  The tattooed, grill-having, uneducated high school dropout jailbird from Pompano Beach, Florida, Dieuson Octave (Kodak Black).  That is what many people, and many of my friends specifically, think about when they think of the 19 year old rapper.  And I cannot blame them, because the masses have taken a liking to his less insightful music.  However, the young artist has released an astonishing amount of music for his age, and much of it is far more brilliant than people would expect.  Songs like “Too many years” and “Heart of the Projects” dive into racial issues involving the law and courts as well as black on black crime issues.  Kodak’s lesser known music suggests that he has a pretty mature view of the world around him, suggesting that his people are treated unfairly but at the same time there is too much inner violence in ghettos.  This country needs Dieuson, because he represents the fact that though he may look “gangster” and his accent would suggest that he is “uneducated,” he has a very perceptive understanding of current issues.  He is a perfect symbol to solidify that the way one looks does not define who they are or what they stand for.  It is easy to look at someone and write them off for their appearance, but it is necessary to refrain from that, and to attempt to get to know a person and their beliefs through conversation so that America can resolve the racial tension and generalizations that have heightened recently.