The phrase, “hip-hop is dead”, has been floating around music’s preeminent genre since hip-hop became a fixture in mainstream culture in the last 5 years.

In the past, hip-hop was a powerful subculture with numerous artists crafting music you could bump in the car, in the club, with your friends, and in your room by yourself on your worst or best day. Hip-hop had a way of moving people mentally and physically, for better and for worse. I love hip-hop because it's often music with significant meaning. It can be produced and written in such a malleable way to garner any vibe or emotion.

That’s what hip hop is to me. Young rap fans may see me as a purist while older heads may think I only have a foot in the pool of understanding the hip-hop of yesteryear. Personally, I just listen to shit I like and leave it at that.

This mini guide for the hip-hop that survived and thrived in 2018 is for those who don’t want to hear about Drake’s album, Cardi’s album, what Tekashi is doing, or Lil This or That. Hip-hop is not dead, nor will it ever be. Long live hip-hop.

Ice Cube: Everythang’s Corrupt

from HotNewHipHop

Ice Cube’s tenth studio album, his first in 8 years, is not just reminiscent of Cube’s potency as a rapper, but adds to his legacy as an all-time great.

The only disappointment is that more people aren’t listening to or talking about this record. Earlier this year, I thought about how people forgot how transformative a rapper Snoop is and always has been. The same goes for Cube. Their style and flow is so unique to them. They’ve delivered consistently from the ’90s to now. If I have to lead the charge for the Ice Cube fan club for 2018, I’ll rightly take my place as conductor because it’s a shame this album isn’t more highly touted.

The opening track off of Everythang’s Corrupt, Arrest the President, has my vote for rap song of the year. Before I have to mention the bold political remarks that are rarely exercised in mainstream rap music, the opening line before the first verse is an all-timer.

“When I drop the mic, it hits the floor like Thor, you can’t pick it up no more.”

My first thought was why wasn’t Ice Cube cast to play Thor? My second thought was that might be the hardest bar of the decade and it wasn’t even in a verse. It’s not simply the line itself, but Ice Cube’s mean vocal presence that amplifies everything he says. That presence carries Everythang’s Corrupt as it has through Cube’s career.

The beat for Arrest the President produced by ShawnSki is perfect, especially for Cube. When rap historians look back at 2018, whether they’re alien lifeforms or robotic terminators, they’ll wonder why we didn’t appreciate this track more.

The ending song is the other signature effort, Good Cop Bad Cop, which did get some YouTube fanfare (29 million views). Another spectacular beat, produced by T-Mix, with a smooth NWA sample on the hook, and Cube’s masterful narrative-based analysis of police brutality that continues to haunt America.

What amazes me about Ice Cube as a rapper is that he isn’t the technical wizard like many of the other names you’ll see on this list. I love what guys like Kendrick and Eminem can do with their wordplay and complex lyrical structures, but Cube’s delivery can be appreciated for what it is.

Everythang’s Corrupt isn’t perfect front to back, almost no albums are, but my other honorable track mentions are: Chase Down the Bully, On Them Pills, Ain’t Got No Haters (a Too Short feature!), Can You Dig It?, One for the Money, Still in the Kitchen, Non Believers (this song BANGS).

Royce Da 5'9: Book of Ryan

from MixtapeMonkey

Book of Ryan is the pure rap album that has garnered the most media attention in 2018. With a quiet 2018 for Kendrick Lamar, the door open was left wide open for Royce Da 5'9 to finally get some of the recognition he deserves as an all-time emcee. I say finally, and yet I’ve only become fully aware that Royce has a storied career only recently. In fact, I’ve been listening to Royce’s 2016 album, Layers, more than I’ve listened to Book of Ryan this year. I could talk a lot about how Layers is a classic and is practically a perfect record from front to back, but alas, Book of Ryan came out in 2018 so that’s what I’m here to celebrate.

Spoiler alert, Book of Ryan is a masterpiece too and it’s Royce’s seventh studio album. Another record nearly perfect start to finish. Mostly hits, with only an arguable miss or two, Royce is not only one of the most technically impressive rappers of our generation, but he’s a natural born storyteller and his delivery is flawless. If you’re going to argue if Layers or Book of Ryan is the better record, I would say the argument is based on preference.

What I find fascinating about Book of Ryan is that not one single track jumps out at me. For rap fans, younger fans might look toward Cocaine or Summer on Lock while old-school fans will be enamored by Caterpillar. Book of Ryan is a mostly narrative driven album, containing a lot of the thoughts and morals of Royce’s past and how it’s converted to his present.

I have a Royce Da 5'9 bias though if you feel like that needs to be taken into account. Royce has quickly climbed into an all-time favorite among Kendrick, Lupe, and Eminem.

Lupe Fiasco: DROGAS WAVE

from Gallery of Sound

Lupe Fiasco gets the perennial eye roll anytime I tell my friends he made another great album. Lupe obviously has my most bias as he is my favorite hip-hop artist, but I can’t argue with the results. My second and third favorite hip-hop artists, Eminem and Kanye, have had albums that I’ll happily admit have struggled. Ye was bland and Revival was a disaster.

From the jump, DROGAS WAVE seemed to be following in the footsteps of Tetsuo & Youth, which was an album that is hard to define by genre. DROGAS WAVE has the pristine production value that Tetsuo had but more of a hip-hop base. WAVE is the least like a traditional hip-hop record on this list but deserves its credit as much as any other album that came out in 2018. WAVE is Lupe’s seventh studio album.

DROGAS WAVE is a narrative album, even more so than Book of Ryan, and I’ll go ahead and give my poor man’s cliff notes explanation. The first half of DROGAS WAVE details the journey of a slave ship that was pulled down into the ocean where the onboard slaves survived and continued to pull down other slave ships to join their Atlantis. Being that it’s a Lupe album, the stories and metaphors far extend beyond just the sunken slave ship. I can’t act like I comprehend 25% of Lupe’s content, but I enjoy it all the same.

WAV Files is my ultimate mellow and cool out song.

Troi Irons’ hook on XO is one of my favorite hooks of 2018.

There’s a song called Stack That Cheese. It’s great. Most of the songs are great though so have that grain of salt.

DROGAS WAVE is an album that’s better to listen to than to sit here and explain its greatness. I humbly ask you to throw all your Lupe misconceptions out and just let the record spin. Maybe it’s the ingrown aversion to the so-called “conscious rap” that immediately influences hip-hop fans to steer clear of Lupe and downplay J. Cole, but I call music how I see it. I can enjoy Nelly’s Country Grammar as much as I enjoy Lecrae’s Anamoly. If there are no mainstream hip-hop albums for me to get behind then I’m not going to commend them. There are though, and I’ll discuss them later, but first…

Classified: Tomorrow Could Be the Day Things Change

from Amazon

I want to give Classified his just due. Most hip-hop fans have no idea who he is. He happens to be the best rapper and producer from Canada (more Drake attacks J. King, how dare you?). Wait a second, is this another one of my all-time favorite artists?

You caught me.

Tomorrow Could Be the Day Things Change is Classified’s sixteenth album according to Wikipedia. Maybe I’ll tweet Class and verify that but sixteen sounds right. Classified albums aren’t considered ‘studio albums’ since Classified is an independent artist who owns his own label. If you notice an ongoing trend here is that most of these rappers are deep into their careers. If you want someone fresh, I did like some tracks off of Nipsey Hussle’s Victory Lap, but I haven’t gotten a chance to listen to it in full. I probably got distracted by Twitter or Instagram. Victory Lap would probably be on this list if I would’ve given it a full listen.

Anyways, Classified has been around before white rappers were a thing, and he has a bar about that on one of his past songs. Not sure if it was on this album or not.

What’s most notable about The Day Things Change is that Classified released the first half of the album as an EP before finishing the album all in the same year. Class put out single after single after single before putting out the Tomorrow Could Be EP, and then another single, before putting out the second half of the album. It was quite the unique way to put out an album.

Class continues to analyze the world around him, his role as a father, his love of marijuana despite the occasional bar about its effect on his health, and of course his Canadian pride on the track Super Nova Scotian featuring other Canadian rappers. It’s not Classified’s best record, but is it the consistent quality I’ve come to expect from him? Of course. Classified’s ability to produce music is legendary in my not so humble opinion. He’s a pretty damn good rapper too.

J. Cole: KOD

from Amazon

I don’t have much to say about KOD other than being a J. Cole fan, I’m happy to have more J. Cole music. My slight criticism of KOD is that while it feels like more of Born Sinner or 2014 Forest Hills Drive, it doesn’t transcend either of those titles. That’s not meant as a harsh criticism, those three albums alone are representative of the fine career J. Cole has built for himself. When I get around to listening to 4 Your Eyez Only I could build some more context.

KOD is a Cole produced album. Could Cole benefit from having some help in the lab? Possibly. It’s hard to tell who makes what decisions behind the scenes, but it’s not like Cole is shooting himself in the foot. He has enough of a support system around him plus his own talent to make great music.

I think I’ll eventually go back to KOD for a second or third opinion. I didn’t spend too much time playing the album after release. KOD, Motiv8, ATM were the songs I gravitated to the most.

Eminem: Kamikaze

from Amazon

My detailed thoughts on this album were mostly covered in an article I wrote shortly after the album was released. It’s a shameful plug but I worked really damn hard on writing that piece so go read it if you like great content.

Despite being an album that’s oddly hypocritical considering the source of Eminem’s anger was backlash to an album that was honestly pretty awful, I’ll gladly accept the return of angry Eminem to the forefront of hip-hop.

Some blame Eminem for attempting to be “woke” on Revival, but it was a badly produced album lacking the same cunning substance hip-hop fans expect from Eminem.

Kamikaze was a win for Eminem because he finally rapped over the most contemporary beat he’s rapped over this decade. Fall is one of my favorite songs of the year because the beat sounds like a Drake beat but there’s finally a better rapper on the beat than the aforementioned broke man’s Lil Wayne flow-jacking wannabe.

The Jessie Reyez collab songs sour the ending of the album before the hook on Venom loses me which is disappointing on two fronts. First, I like Jessie Reyez’s voice and think she’s a good singer. Second, I like the beat for Venom. The hook for that song is god-awful though.

Speaking of awful, the worst song on the album is Normal. Should’ve axed that song and threw it on Revival to try and convince everyone it was a mistake.

The rest of the album is genuinely good. Seven good tracks to four bad ones is still a good musical rating if we’re diving into my advanced metrics. Mike Will Made It, Illa da Producer, and Boi-1da made a big difference over Rick Rubin and Alex da Kid.

Pusha T: Daytona

from Amazon

Book of Ryan is my album of the year but it doesn’t come without some stiff competition from Daytona. The argument is simple. Book of Ryan put out a lot more tracks which means a lot more room for error and it was amazing throughout. Daytona was amazing in its Kanye restricted seven songs.

Kanye sullied his own reputation as a public figure and artist in 2018 but produced some gems that include Daytona and Teyana Taylor’s K.T.S.E.

I didn’t listen to Daytona as much as I should’ve. I listened to Story of Adidon quite a few times though.

I’ve never seen Pusha T as an upper echelon rapper. I compare his flow and lyricism to that of Jay-Z. They have a pocket and lyrical content they rarely stray far from but it works.

In fact, seven songs of Pusha T is the perfect amount. Oversaturating Push would lead to a tiresome album. A seven-track album keeps the record fresh.

Lil Wayne: Tha Carter V

from The Musical Hype

I grew up not liking Lil Wayne. My stance has since reverted to enjoying his music for what it is and occasionally being surprised for how thoughtful Wayne can be in spurts.

There’s good music on Carter III, IV, and I liked a fair amount of songs on Tha Carter V that received a mired response by fans and critics alike.

I listened to The Carter V more than I did some of the better albums on this list. I was a sucker for Open Safe which was too catchy to not stop playing. Uproar was the obvious hit and I played it accordingly.

There’s a lot of introspective material on Tha Carter V such as Can’t Be Broken, Open Letter, Perfect Strangers, and Famous. Used 2 was probably the best of the emotional road Wayne goes down on this record.

—

Who do I need to apologize to because I didn’t get to their album and it may have been good?

I’m not going to apologize to Logic whether his music is good or not. Why? I don’t know. I don’t feel like it.

I will apologize to Brockhampton. A friend of mine introduced to me to a few of their songs and they’re pretty good.

I apologize again to Nipsey Hussle. I got through like three songs of Victory Lap but never finished the album probably because I was late on the way into work.

I’ll apologize to Jay Rock but every time Win comes on when playing Madden 19 and I hear the hook I want to shoot myself in the face so that may not be a win. I think I listened to like two songs on the album and I’m not sure if I liked either so the jury’s still out. Too late now though. Cheers to 2018!

Disclaimer: This list is not comprehensive. Did I miss something? Probably. Should I have put Streams of Thought Vol. 1 on this list even though it’s five songs? Definitely. Missed opportunity…