If you have a list for 2015, post it. This is pretty much assuming your best of lists, but it can be anything. All types of music are allowed btw so post your weird top 5 pseudo shoegaze experimental grunge rock lo-fi list here too.
Note that my list is gonna be primarily hip hop: That's just kinda what I listen to unless some new rock shit or whatever come out that I really like, but since I'm a dad-rock kinda guy that happens once in a blue moon.
Shad's TOP 5 FAVE ALBUMS 2015 WOW
I wanna start by saying this is a pretty hard year for me, and yet it's a really easy one. There are a LOT of good albums that game out this year from rappers, and even some old school motherfuckers came back and did an actual decent job! Still, it's really hard to pick 5: I'm gonna list some honorable mentions but that won't even cover EVERYTHING AMAZING that came out this year. I Didn't even get to listen to a lot of these albums cover to cover there was so much good shit to listen to and so little time. Good on you, rap game.
#5:
This is probably the hardest for this list, a lot of albums are good enough to fight for this spot this year, but I chose...
#5: Injury Reserve - Live from the Dentist's Office
This is partially thanks to Sam/Turk, he recommended this album to me and I love it start to finish. From the first song, "Yo", I knew I was gonna love this album. The album never lets up in it's sound, which is this nice mix of just really chill beats and very.. amateur sounding drum stuff? I dunno how to explain it better then that, but it's nice. The rapping really works to add to the music, and while they're not exactly rapping anything introspective or deep, the delivery is very solid and adds that extra layer to the music as said before. This is probably my "So It Goes" for the year, a new group coming out and killing it.
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg6Z6slaJxs
Speaking of RATKING...
#4: This one took a lot of thought for me until I remembered this came out, then my choice was made for me.
#4: Wiki - Lil Me
I know a LOT of people won't agree with me on this, but I LOVED Lil Me. These Instrumentals REALLY fit with the "Simple stories about my life" pieces he's got going in this Album. Wiki shows he still can rap, too. The highs are REALLY high, IE: 3 Stories and Livin with my moms. And while the lows ARE there, and they can really make the album stall, a lot of this just feels like wiki rapping about how he lives and shit about his life, ie: "Smoke the L", etc etc. The other problem with this is the length, since it's a mixtape and it's kinda just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks (hint: Cherry Tree DOESN'T). Overall, this mixtape shows that wiki has good ideas, talent and overall AMAZING high points that make me put this over the Injury Reserve album, and I'm a RATKING/Wiki mark so that also helped. I don't think this will be an top of the year album for most people, though.
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRIbNNDXV0E
#3: I pretty much gave it to these 3 from the start. Don't know whether 2-3 should be swapped but these are going here because fuck you.
#3: Dr Dre. - Compton: A Soundtrack
Holy Moly what a return. We now know that Dre basically stuffed Detox for this, and honestly? I'm kind of glad he did. Dre's Return AND Departure from rap was something people were waiting on for a long time (it's been what, 10+ years?), and after all that wait, I think he dropped a pretty solid album here. It's no Chronic, it's no 2001, but those albums are MASTERPIECES that have lived on, so there was no way it was going to be those after such a long wait. But this album feels really clean, really solid, the instrumentals work beautifully on this album, pretty much all the guest spots feel RIGHT, when dre actually does some rapping of his own it sounds pretty good, and Snoop actually RAPS again instead of being a doofus. I'm just sort of glad some sort of capstone album came out from dre after so long, and while it's not 2001 or chronic good, I definitely still think it's worth at least ONE listen through if you haven't already.
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGYQSJuQJGM&index=2
#2: If you know me you should've seen this coming
#2: Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth
I been waiting for Lupe to drop a worthwhile album since he dropped the mess that was fucking Lasers, alright? Food and Liquor and The Cool are probably up there in my fave albums of ALL TIME, so as a big Lupe fan when he released Lasers I kind of died inside. Then he released F&L2, and then I died some more. Then he started releasing singles, and most of them were pretty shit (I kinda like Next To It though, pretty cool trap type thing going on with that song and Ty Dolla Sign, I think Lupe has something there.)
Then he releases this. I've never been more happy in my life. This is fucking awesome. Mural is probably the best single song Lupe's ever recorded, and jesus fucking christ it's like 10 minutes. Deliver is really fucking Solid. I feel like after the powerful Prisoner 1 and 2 the "Fall" Second of the album kind of tumbles a bit, Body of Work is pretty solid, but I've never personally been a big fan of Little Death/No Scratches, though it's not like they're terrible songs or anything. The album comes out strong in the end, because the "Winter" Section of the album is sick. We got Lupe doing Trap stuff again with "Chopper", and that song goes fucking HARD. Then we go into the previously talked about Deliver, Into Madonna, which is slow to start with but when it gets going it's another good ass Lupe song where he's telling a story and making a compelling song at the same time, something he couldn't do with his previous 2 disasters. Adoration Of the Magi is another great song PERFECTLY describing Lupe in song form: It's just him being a doofus, making stupid video jame references and having some sick ass word play and telling a story over a nice beat. The final song is kind of let down too, but this doesn't lower the absolute brilliance and quality of the album at all for me. This shows Lupe has the power to bring back his career from the brink after two albums that can only be considered laughing stocks by most people, and I've never been more hyped for a release then to see what Lupe has up his sleeve next album.
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR84Yo41DxI
#1: WHAT A SURPRISE WOW
#1: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
This is obvious. I shouldn't have to explain why this is #1 in mine and probably most people's best of lists for the year (This MIGHT lose to Death Grips for some, or if you don't listen to rap you won't have this on here, whatever) I'm going to anyways, but let's look for a second at the state this album came out in. No one really expected this, it was announced like a week before it released? Kendrick said he was gonna release an album this year, and people were HYPED. Good kid came out and rocked people's worlds, and people had crazy expectations for Kendrick's next album. Honestly, when I turned this shit on for the first time, I was kind of.. Shocked. And a bit bummed. This wasn't Good Kid kendrick, he wasn't goin hard, he started using a jazzier,funkier composition; I had NEVER heard this from Kendrick other then Ab-Soul's outro way back in Section.80, and even then this barely sounded anything like that.
After Listening to it over and over, this album surpassed all expectations. Every song is amazing (I hate Hood Politics though, that intro fucking ruins me I BEEN A-1 SINCE DAY 1 YOU NIGGAS BOO BOO). Listening to this whole album tells an AMAZING fucking story about Kendrick's life, but you can listen to pretty much ANY song from this album by itself and enjoy it for itself (other then u and Mortal Man? I don't like Hood Politics at all either personally but I know people do). You've heard this album, I shouldn't have to tell you what an impact this has had this year. LISTEN TO IT.
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRK7PVJFbS8
Shad's Honorable Mentions
Take your fucking pick this year man. So many good albums, so little time. I haven't even listened cover to cover most of these albums but I still enjoyed them, but most of them I don't really have much to say other then "it's a solid album, a couple songs are hit and miss, listen to it" (there are a couple exceptions.) I'm not gonna do a big spiel, I'm just gonna list them by Artist - Album and you can click it to listen to a song from the album.
Joey Bada$$ - B4 Da $$
Travis Scott - Rodeo
Notes: Very Trap-Inspired. If you don't like trap you won't like this.
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3tM674WHBo[/url]Vince Staples - Summertime 06[/url]
Notes: This sounds like some Ignorant shit. I mean, it kind of is, but it paints a picture of Vince's town and it's pretty decent. Not for everyone.
Kasami Washington - The Epic
Notes: First non rap reccomendation! This is a great Jazz album. A bit too long for my tastes (Hence the damn name), but I dig it.
Ratatat - Magnifique
Notes: It's no "Classics". Ratatat will never make an album that good again. But, you know, it's decent for what it is, and a lot better then some of their more recent offerings.
The Game - Documentary 2.5
Notes: Documentary 2 is pretty passable, but I actually liked Documentary 2.5. It starts off solid and, while it slips slightly, it ends solidly as well I think. Doubt many will agree with me on this, but I don't even like The Game and I thought it was fantastic.
Caravan Palace - Robot
Notes: It's a new Caravan Palace album. It's the same shit as all the other albums. If you like Caravan Palace, you'll probably like this. If you don't, you won't.
CzarFace - Every Hero Needs A Villian
Notes: It's the best Wu-Tang related effort that came out this year (sorry Rae, Sorry Ghostface). It's pretty good, there's a doom feature, it's got some cool comic book related stuff going on if you like that sort of stuff DOOM does occasionally. I thought it was another amazing album.
Shahmen- All in the Circle
Was considering putting this at number 5 because I absolutely adored this thing. The problem is simply that it's all the same thing, very bassy violin/string/orchestral sounding stuff over a guy who's voice is so husky he gives Tyler, The Creator a run for his money. Probably one of my most listened to albums this year, though. It's really draining and samey, so it's not gonna hold your attention for long, but it's well made and a solid effort overall that I thought deserved more recognition.
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=036pdzkPiMo
Death Grips: The Powers That B.
JENNY DEATH WHEN
It's Death Grips. This wasn't making my Top of the year for the simple fact that I don't like Death Grips enough, they're too "weird" and "wild" and "wacky" for me to listen to them for a long amount of time (Though I do give their music a fair chance and I think it's great that they exist at all).
I honestly Much prefer the "Niggas On the Moon" Half to the "Jenny Death" half by like a big margin, but that's not to dismiss this effort. This is a massive double disk effort and it's solid throughout if you like this sort of thing. This is the album I expect a lot of people to take #2 or even #1 over TPAB.
Biggest Surprise Like of the Year:
Drake: If You're Reading This It's Too Late.
I'm sorry. I thought I had integrity. I actually like this quite a bit though. It's not exactly anything but ignorant ass pop-trap and Drake being stupid as fuck, but I like it. It's really catchy.
I'm so sorry.
Biggest Disappointment of the Year
RATKING - 700 Fill
Where As Wiki's solo effort was awesome, this Mixtape.. thing feels very rushed and very.. Lazy? Don't get me wrong, there's some good songs here. In fact, I like most of the last half of this tape, but the lows feel VERY low, and this coming off RATKING's EXCELLENT "So It Goes" A couple months previous kind of stung.
"What" Of the Year
Hopsin - Pound Syndrome
Hahaha what is this man this is whack as fuck. The worst part is that you can tell Hopsin has actual SKILL, the problem is he comes off as an edgy 15 year old trying to be 'deep' and he feels like more of Preacher then even LUPE FIASCO ever has. What the fuck is Fly. "Did the Man who invented college go to college"? The fuck is this shit nigga get the fuck outta here
It's worse yet that one of the better songs on this album is him making fun of shit like Future, on "No Words". That's kinda sad, man. Like I said, Hopsin is TECHNICALLY very good, but the shit he raps about might be good if he didn't make it sound like the corniest shit since this side of a fucking movie theater man. Oh, and those FUCKING HOOKS. Jesus.
BUT HOLD UP THERE'S ANOTHER ALBUM THAT WINS THIS AWARD:
Kid Cudi - Speeding Bullet 2 Heaven
I kinda wanted to put this on the Biggest Dissapointment but I wasn't hyped for anything since Kid Cudi's last couple of albums are fucking terrible by all accounts, and I didn't even know this was coming.
Kid Cudi has lost his mind. He's lost his fucking mind. This is some sort of low-fi punk... thing Cudi is doing, and it's awful. It's terrible. It's unlistenable. This is the only album Anthony has given a 0 to. Why are Beavis and Butthead in here. What the fuck am I listening to. Cudi already couldn't sing, why is he trying to sing with lo-fi shit in the background over really boring chords. Don't listen to this. Not even to check it out. Not even as a joke. I don't even know what Cudi was trying to accomplish. It's noise. But not like noise to anyone who isn't aware or doesn't 'get it', like a lot of metal can be... It's like... actual noise. Judgemental Cunt is... Alright? like it's decent I guess? If there were more stuff like that this probably still would've been bad but you know at least it would've been listenable and I could've commended Cudi for trying, but this isn't fucking trying. This is a train derailment in action.
