Top 22 Albums of 2022
Kendrick Lamar released his album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers in 2022. (Photo courtesy of Complex)
22. 2 Alivë (Geëk Pack) — Yeat
Yeah, substance may be an afterthought when it comes to Yeat’s musical efforts, but the eccentricity and excitement of his 2022 catalog is undeniable. Some may consider the California rapper to simply be an extension of the “rage” hip-hop subgenre that Playboi Carti spearheaded, but Yeat has carved out his own creative space. Even if songs like “Doublë” and “Jump” wield unintelligible lyricism, they produce such an exhilarating vibe that is fully fleshed out by tracks like “Dub” and “Rackz got më”.
21. CAPRISONGS — FKA Twigs
CAPRISONGS is depressingly groovy. Songs like “tears in the club” and “jealousy” touch on the balancing act of extensive sadness combined with sporadic happiness with the help of luscious auto-tune and bouncy instrumentation. FKA Twigs is discovering a new method of bending traditional pop and dance cuts with a dystopian futuristic twist.
20. Mahal — Toro y Moi
Toro y Moi’s performances are characteristically direct on Mahal, but offer more identifiable satire and social commentary than his previous efforts. “Magazine” and “Goes By So Fast” epitomize these intentions, with cuts like “The Loop” still showing a more playful side.
19. Fair Exchange No Robbery — Boldy James & Nicholas Craven
Just like any great producer-rapper full album collaboration, Boldy James and Nicholas Craven are overtly complementary. Craven provides wistful chops of soul and oldies for James to rap countless stories of his crime-riddled upbringing with candid lyricism and a monotone bluntness that is scarcely tiresome.
18. Motomami — Rosalía
Rosalia is a refreshing break from the Bad Bunnies and Anuel AAs of the reggaeton world. The Spanish singer combines the genre’s traditional pedigree with homage to legends like Daddy Yankee, but with an added hip-hop and flamenco flair. The beats on “SAOKO” and “BIZCOCHITO” are playful and catchy, but the intensity of Rosalia’s passionate performances are never minimized.
The Weeknd’s last two albums, After Hours and Dawn FM, are a part of a trilogy. (Photo courtesy of CNN)
17. It’s Almost Dry — Pusha T
Although It’s Almost Dry is not as creatively tight and stylistically sound as Pusha T’s 2018 effort Daytona, it hits enough peaks to be compared to the prior project. Cuts like “Let The Smokers Shine The Coupe” and “Brambleton” give Pusha the support to repackage raps about dealing drugs; and it never gets old.
16. Dawn FM — The Weeknd
The quality of Dawn FM often gets lost in the magnitude of 2020’s After Hours. This does not say anything about the consistency of The Weeknd’s newest album, one that repeatedly hits the mark. The hypnotic choruses of “Gasoline” and “Sacrifice” mesh more than appropriately with the suspiciously trippy nature of a track like “Is There Someone Else?”.
15. Few Good Things — Saba
Whether you’re working out to the trials of tribulations of “Survivor’s Guilt”, having an introspection alongside “Free Samples” or grooving to “Come My Way”, Saba undeniably evokes powerful emotions on Few Good Things.
14. Tana Talk 4 — Benny The Butcher
Benny The Butcher’s respect for hip-hop history is on full display on tracks like “10 More Commandments”, but he never oversteps his limits as a contributor to the musical lineage itself. Not only does Benny hold his own against the likes of J. Cole and some Griselda associates, he also consistently establishes himself as the main attraction of the album.
“Bad Habit”, off of
Gemini Rights, was Steve Lacy’s first #1 song on the Billboard Top 100 Chart.
(Photo courtesy of People)
13. 2000 — Joey Bada$$
There may never be mass fanfare for Joey Bada$$’ 2000 like there was for ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$ or 1999, but that says nothing about the explicitly insightful and intimate moments that the New York rapper shares with listeners through this newest effort. The passing of label partner and best friend Capital Steez in 2012 has clearly tormented Bada$$ for years, and songs like “Survivor’s Guilt” (different tone, but similar themes to Saba’s) and “Show Me” beautifully articulate the eventual resolve of these painful matters.
12. God Don’t Make Mistakes — Conway The Machine
Grimy as hell. For fans of the legendary television series The Wire, God Don’t Make Mistakes embodies the show with the mental toll that the hardships of street life entails. Look no further than “Stressed” for a raw example of this personification, or turn on “Lock Load” for its assertive counterpart.
11. $OUL SOLD SEPARATELY — Freddie Gibbs
$OUL $OLD $EPARATELY sees Freddie Gibbs taking full control of the wheel in comparison to his previous collaborative efforts with The Alchemist and Madlib. In doing so, he sheds some of the instrumental consistency, but opens up his conceptual approach to rapping without the restrictions of a partnership.
10. Gemini Rights — Steve Lacy
Gemini Rights’s tracklistis so ridiculously compact that it sometimes feels like it will burst at the seams. The overarching themes and execution of the 10-track LP are so cohesive — from the bubbly mega-hit that was “Bad Habit” to the catchy bossanova of “Mercury” — that the only thing holding the album back is that you wish it could last a little longer.
Denzel Curry’s latest album was met with critical acclaim. (Photo courtesy of NME)
9. Melt My Eyez See Your Future — Denzel Curry
Denzel Curry seems to never be content with one form of presenting his ideas; every album sees a creative shift that wholly creates a new persona for the Florida rapper to embody. Even when “Troubles” sees Curry going pop for a moment, the authenticity of his work is never lost.
8. I Didn’t Mean To Haunt You — Quadeca
Who would’ve thought that a “YouTube rapper” would produce one of the more genre-bending albums of the year? Quadeca is still loyal to his hip-hop roots on cuts like “house settling”, but I Didn’t Mean To Haunt You mostly ventures into the realms of alternative rock and art-pop. Listening to this newest project will surely produce a grand return on investment for its audience.
7. Ramona Park Broke My Heart — Vince Staples
Vince Staples turns it up a notch on Ramona Park Broke My Heart. The clever analogy of “WHEN SPARKS FLY” and suaveness of “MAGIC” present the opposite ends of the expressive spectrum that Staples maintains throughout the album. The subtlety of the album’s sound also extends upon the style of his prior self-titled release with considerably more substance to be analyzed.
6. Luv 4 Rent — Smino
Luv 4 Rent lives up to its title in every way; it’s a journey of eccentric exuberance that young and old can appreciate. Smino manages to contort his vocal abilities in such an infectious manner on tracks like “90 Proof” and “Matinee” that sometimes it’s even more enjoyable when you focus more on the sound than the actual content.
Kendrick Lamar’s 2022 effort was his last with label Top Dawg Entertainment. (Photo courtesy of CNN)
5. Ants From Up There — Black Country, New Road
Ants From Up There is simply epic in nature. Black Country, New Road offers expansive ballads like “Basketball Shoes” and “The Place Where He Inserted The Blade”, but tracks like these still contain a melodic quality that gives them indefinite replay value. “Good Will Hunting” shows that even tracks on the shorter side of the tracklist (still about 5 minutes) never lack the complex and superfluous instrumentation that makes the longer inclusions so great.
4. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers — Kendrick Lamar
It took about a couple days for Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers to grow on me and grow on me it did. Kendrick Lamar decides that he doesn’t want to be the self-proclaimed savior of rap and the communities he represents, but tracks like “Mother I Sober” and “Auntie Diaries” still acknowledge that the stories that he has to tell are demonstrative of how he grew up; an experience that I’m sure that some can relate to. Regardless, “N95” and “Rich Spirit” show that Lamar will forever be able to transmit his pain into emphatic bangers that many casual fans can still appreciate.
3. Blue Rev — Alvvays
Alvvays sometimes sonically blends together, but that’s never an issue with the perpetual quality that is displayed throughout Blue Rev. Almost like if The Smiths were a product of the 21st century, Blue Rev never has a dull moment in terms of both lyricism and production. “Very Online Guy” offers a comedic criticism of those who are chronically online, while “Pressed” showcases the independence needed between lovers to make a healthy relationship work. Alvvays covers more than enough ground on this latest album.
2. The Forever Story — JID
The Forever Story is more of a chronicle than an album for JID. “Crack Sandwich” and “Sistanem” are traditional hip-hop storytelling exhibitions that are propelled forward by the Atlanta rapper’s relentless bars. “Kody Blu 31” pushes these attempts forwards with JID’s newfound tendency and prowess at melodically vocalizing shimmering portions of the track. Just as verbose as the rapper’s wordplay can be, it remains dizzying and engaging on harder hitting tracks like “Just In Time” and “Surround Sound”. There is not a crevice of this new project that JID does not fill with his vibrant personality.
1. Cheat Codes — Danger Mouse & Black Thought
Danger Mouse provides some of the most layered and nuanced instrumentation that I’ve heard since hip-hop’s sampling prime in the form of music from rappers like MF DOOM and the Wu-Tang Clan. More than this though, Black Thought never falls short of doing justice to this rich production by way of his intense and sprawling verses about his childhood that are accompanied by similarly talented guest stars like Run The Jewels and Conway The Machine. Cheat Codes is one of hip-hop’s finest representations of when great minds think alike.