Oh boy, now it’s time to get into the long end of year lists.
And that’s because it’s time for the album lists, this one of course looking at the Best
Rap Albums Of 2018 in my opinion.
If you’re one of the people who complained about the fact that my previous end of year
list was a mere 15 minutes long, then yeah this probably won’t be for you.
I thought 2018 was a ridiculously solid year for rap music and so many excellent projects
came out, so I had an abundance of albums to choose from here.
I’ve managed to narrow it down to 10, so let’s get straight to it.
This is CDTVProductions, follow me on my social media accounts, and let’s take a look at
the 10 Best Rap Albums Of 2018.
10 - SOB X RBE “Gangin’”
I was first introduced to SOB through their Paramedic! song on the Black Panther album.
That had me thoroughly intrigued, so I instantly downloaded their projects and started by listening
to their self titled one, but something about it just wasn’t clicking with me, it didn’t
give me the same feeling Paramedic! did.
So, I decided to keep going and moved onto their next album, Gangin’, and from the
first few tracks this one had me hooked.
Everything here sounded much more fleshed out and complete than the songs on their self
titled effort.
The Bay Area summer vibe that the songs were giving off pulled me in, these guys were pretty
much making summer anthems about shooting people.
Don’t get me wrong, you still have some fantastic tracks like Can’t and No Discussion
which sound much colder and darker, but my favourites were the aforementioned bright
west coast anthems like Lifestyle.
If you want a rap group with great chemistry, easily distinguishable members and unique
flows, this is the perfect album for that.
9 - Rich Brian “Amen”
Rich Brian was someone who I originally thought would be one of those one and done meme rappers
when he dropped Dat $tick but I was surprised to see him quickly transition into making
much more serious music with really nice production choices, all the more impressive as Rich Brian
produces his own music.
And that was the case with Amen, an album which has its humorous moments like the song
Kitty, but for the most part tells Rich Brian’s unique story as someone from Indonesia who
taught himself English through watching YouTube videos and listening to rap music, and then
went on to become a successful rapper as a teenager.
One of my favourites here focusing on that topic is Flight, where Brian tells us what
the experience of moving to the US from Jakarta was like for him.
He has a pretty inspirational story, and we get to hear a lot about it on here.
And like I said earlier, the production across this whole project is pretty amazing, with
these lush sounds that are very reminiscent of Tyler the Creator beats to me.
Top that off with his very deep tone of voice which he uses to pull off some pretty unique
sounding verses and harmonised hooks, and you have an impressive debut album from someone
I never thought I would be taking seriously at first.
This album is all that is needed to prove Rich Brian has longevity in the rap game.
8 - Vince Staples “FM!”
So after dropping a weird and experimental but great album last year with Big Fish Theory,
Vince Staples would flip it around and drop a much more commercially friendly project
with FM!
And I love this for 2 reasons; 1) lyrically Vince is still very sharp and gritty, just
with much more accessible beats than Big Fish, Feels Like Summer & Don’t Get Chipped are
great showcases of this, and 2) it fits into the concept of the album, which is laid out
as if it’s a radio station takeover, complete with skits and everything to make it super
cohesive.
Much like SOB’s Gangin’ album, this allows the project to have west coast summer bangers
that still cover the darker aspects of life, a lot.
Looking at the production, this album is so ridiculously consistent, with almost all of
it being produced by Kenny Beats.
Interestingly, the only 2 beats on the album I’m not huge on, those being Relay and Run
the Bands are the only ones that don’t feature production from Kenny Beats, so he’s a producer
that I’m definitely gonna be keeping my eye on going forward, he kills it on here.
This is also one of the shortest projects we have on this list, coming in at 22 minutes
long, and while it is very short I still think this runtime works perfectly.
For some people, this might leave them wanting a little more, but for me by the time I’d
finished the album, it still felt very fulfilling despite the shortness.
If you’ve never heard Vince’s music before, I can fully recommend this project, short
and sweet but leaves you fully satisfied by the end.
7 - J. Cole “KOD”
Now this is definitely one of the strongest albums thematically on this list, it’s a
nice, tightly constructed concept album, with the whole thing focusing around different
kinds of addictions.
Whether it’s ATM, which talks about getting addicted to money, Photograph which covers
obsessing with a girl you found through social media, or Kevin’s Heart which talks about
the narrator cheating on his significant other, Cole takes the word “drug” and runs through
all the contexts it could be used under.
I really like this concept, because while it is put together really nicely, it’s not
so deep and so profound that it’s hard to follow, it’s a very accessible album.
We also get some of the strongest verses Cole has rapped on here, just look at the second
verse of BRACKETS if you wanna see what I’m talking about.
The album also sparked a crazy amount of discussion when it came out which I love as well, such
as figuring out who Cole’s kiLL edward alter ego is, or theorising about who he was targeting
on 1985.
This was definitely an album that got people talking.
6 - J.I.D “DiCaprio 2”
And following that up we have JID, a Dreamville label-mate of Cole’s.
JID is just a rapping machine, with one of the most recognisable voices in rap right
now, some of the most dexterous flows I’ve heard, and all his skills are on full display
with DiCaprio 2, giving us a great variety of tracks with a bunch of different moods.
You want some extremely fluid rapping over a hard beat, check out Westbrook or Off Deez.
If you want a smooth, jazzy track about love, Skrawberries is the one for that.
Or if you just want raw lyrics, and some of JID’s harrowing true stories, check out
the uncompromising 151 Rum.
This album is a perfect showcase of his talents, and while there’s certain tracks I don’t
like that much, such as the kinda disappointing Hotbox, most of the project is exceptional.
2018 was pretty great for JID, with him making the XXL Freshman List in the first half of
the year, and he capped it out with one of the strongest albums to release in 2018.
5 - Lil Wayne “Tha Carter V”
After numerous years of release date announcements and delays, I’m sure we all questioned if
this album would ever drop, but this year we finally got Tha Carter V.
Now prior to this, I’d actually never listened to a full Lil Wayne project, I’d heard a
lot of songs and features, just never an album from start to finish.
And I have to say, this was an incredible place to start.
Wayne comes through with some of the best flows I’ve ever heard from him, just listen
to Used 2 for proof of that, wordplay and lyrics that are sharp as ever, and his unique
delivery that’s full of character, providing an intriguing sound to each song.
Not to mention we also have some emotional highlights from Wayne which peaks with the
final track Let It All Workout, where Wayne reveals that he tried to kill himself when
he was younger by shooting himself in the chest.
It’s incredibly moving, but he ends it positively by reflecting on how things worked out for
him after that incident.
Furthermore, despite being an album that began production quite a few years ago, barely any
of it sounds outdated, except maybe for Start This S*** Off Right which sounds like it’s
from 2005.
In fact, the large majority of this album sounds incredibly current, tracks like Open
Safe, Used 2 and Let It Fly fit in perfectly with raps current landscape.
And even with it being 23 tracks long, or just under 1 hour and 30 minutes, there’s
not really many tracks that I would cut off the tracklist.
Listening to this gives me the urge to go through as many other Wayne projects as I
can, I was really impressed by this one.
4 - Post Malone “Beerbongs & Bentleys”
Now I’m sure there will be some debate as to whether or not this one is actually a rap
album, but look, Apple Music says it is and that’s all I need to know because Apple
Music is the best streaming service on this planet and we all know it.
Whatever it says is facts.
Also some people say I look like the discount version of Post, Pre-Malone if you will, so
it would be a betrayal to not include this album here.
Sure you’re not gonna get the best lyrics or a running concept throughout this album,
but what you do get is back to back hits, pretty much any track could be a big single,
and for an 18 song album there are barely any that I dislike.
The only ones I’m not fond of is Jonestown interlude cause I didn’t really feel like
it was necessary, and Stay because I just think acoustic guitars like the one found
on that song sound tacky and cheap.
Apart from that, I think every song is pretty great.
One thing I love is how this feels like quite a big step up from his previous Stoney album.
His vocals just feel much more refined, he seems to have a better vocal range here, something
that is evident on Paranoid or the somewhat aggressive track Over Now.
I honestly just love how everything on here sounds.
It’s definitely not an album where you need to dive deep and pick apart all the lyrics,
it’s just music that sounds great, so great to me that I really do think it’s deserves
to be this high on this list.
Oh and another thing, this doesn’t hugely affect my overall enjoyment of the album,
but I appreciate the fact that it’s one of the only albums I love that my non hip
hop listening friends also really enjoy.
So yeah, that’s nice as well.
3 - Pusha T “DAYTONA”
Much like FM! by Vince Staples, Pusha T managed to craft an incredibly short album that still
thoroughly impressed with Daytona.
With every beat on here being handled by Kanye West, it’s pretty much a given that all
the instrumentals will be great, with The Games We Play and Santeria being big highlights
in this aspect.
Speaking of Kanye, we also get a pretty entertaining verse from him on the almost arrogant sounding
What Would Meek Do?
He’s a perfect fit next to Pusha considering they both have a very brash and self assured
sound to their rapping.
Pusha T doesn’t waste a single minute or bar on this project, and that results in an
album with a lot of quotable lines, there’s so many witty lyrics delivered with Push’s
unflinching confidence.
Whether it’s talking about his days of dealing coke, or throwing some shots at Drake to reignite
their beef, Pusha sounds 100% sure of himself and his abilities every step of the way, and
it makes for some engaging music.
Interestingly, even the few things i wasn’t a huge fan of originally, such as the stark
contrast between the verses and hook of Come Back Baby have grown on me over time.
I absolutely love that beat switch now, I used to think it sounded a bit too abrupt
and forced, but now I feel like that contrast just really accentuates the change nicely.
If you wanna hear an album from someone that is very talented at rapping and doesn’t
hide the fact that they know it, all while having excellent, nostalgic production, look
no further than DAYTONA.
2 - Saba “CARE FOR ME”
I had never heard of Saba before this year, and honestly the main reason why i decided
to check him out was because I saw so many people on my Amino community put this on their
best of the year lists (link to that community in the description below).
And I am so happy that I decided to check out this album, because goddamn it’s rare
that I can relate to a rappers thoughts so much.
There’s so many songs where it felt like Saba’s lines were literally just thoughts
plucked from my head and put into a rap song.
The best example is the song Broken Girls, which had me with my mouth hanging open like
every 2 bars because what he was saying reminded me of past situations I was in a lot, plus
a lot of lines on the song Busy.
Out of the huge amount of rap music I’ve listened to, Saba’s definitely up there
as one of the most relatable artists.
There’s also the song Logout which I feel like will speak to almost everyone, covering
over-dependence on social media, and the mental difficulties that can cause.
Furthermore, we learn a hell of a lot about Saba’s life throughout the 10 tracks here,
whether it’s his frustrations at being racially profiled, explaining that he writes rap songs
to deal with pain and better himself, his multiple experiences with fighting, whether
those fights are physical, verbal or mental, and most significantly, the death of his cousin
Walter, with the last 3 tracks being dedicated to his story, the most hard hitting of which
is the final one where he raps from the perspective of Walter after he got stabbed, imagining
the thoughts that were going through his head as he was dying and after he died too.
The introspection and writing across this thing is absolutely mad, all delivered with
brilliant flows.
Not to mention, every track on here sounds fantastic, with a range of sounds throughout
the project.
Truly incredible honestly, I’m 100% gonna check out the rest of Saba’s catalogue now
cause this blew me away.
1 - Denzel Curry “TA13OO”
Ok, I know a hell of a lot of publications have put this as their number 1 pick as well,
but loads of people are choosing it as album of the year for a reason, it really is that
amazing.
With the way this album is constructed, you can tell it was something Denzel was truly
passionate about, and something he put a lot of thought and planning in to.
He split the album into a 3 act structure, those acts being Light, Grey & Dark, to reflect
his mindstate when he recorded those particular parts of the album, and to represent the cyclical
nature of life as pretty much everyone is constantly going through their own phases
of Light, Grey & Dark.
That’s why the album starts and ends with the sounds of static, so that the whole thing
can basically run on a loop to display this never ending cycle between phases.
As for the songs themselves, we get some of the most brutally hard tracks of the year,
but on top of that we got to see a smoother and more sensitive side of Denzel Curry, a
side which he’s never expressed more than on this project.
The highlight of this is the title track, which may just be one of the most revealing
songs he’s dropped.
On top of highly personal songs, we also get Denzel’s thoughts on politics with Sirens,
which has a fantastic feature from JID, and his view on the way the rap game is with Clout
Cobain and Percs.
Basically, a lot of content is packed into the 43 minutes this album runs for.
There are legitimately only 2 tracks I don’t frequently listen to on here, those being
The Blackest Ballon and Mad I Got It, and that second one is just cause I don’t really
like the hook, the verses are nice.
This is the only project I own on vinyl.
It’s the only project I’ve purchased an entire merch package for.
If that doesn’t tell you how much I love this album, then I don’t know what will.
This is Denzel’s most conceptually strong album to date, contains many of the best tracks
he’s ever put out, and is just an outstanding edition to his already exceptional discography.
And that, that is why I feel like TA13OO by Denzel Curry
is the best rap album of 2018.
(Outro)