These are my personal Top 10 Best Albums of the Year.  The rankings of these records only reflect my personal enjoyment of each album.

10. Kendrick Lamar - Mr Morale & the Big Steppers

Its aesthetic is very theatrical and reminds me of various stage shows and plays throughout the years created by prominent African American writers. Over time, the hotep friendly themes of this record did not age very well, but it still speaks to the vulnerability of this record and of Kendrick as a whole. He is very much thinking of the long term over time and is at a point in his life where he can be free and indulge artistically. His performances are in top form on this record and the features are also very tasteful. It’s another great album from one of the greatest rappers of all time.

9. RAP Ferreira - 5 to the Eye With Stars

RAP Ferreira scratches a very introspective itch that I enjoy in much of the hip hop that I listen to. I find him to be a very healthy contradiction to gangsta rap in terms of how soft a rapper can get without becoming cowardly or pathetic. What sets it apart from many records released this year is how excellent the production and instrumentation this album has. Lyrically Rory is as incredible as he has been for the past 13 years now. His rhyme schemes and flows are unparalleled in all of hip hop. His spoken word flow is as dramatic and hypnotic as ever and the beats are as lofi as lofi beats can get this year. Kenny Seagal is truly one of the most underrated hip hop producers of all time, and these are some of my favorite crops of beats that he has made to date.

8. Ibeyi - Spell 31

The harmonies are fantastic all over this record. This album is mixed like a monster and I can hear every sound in the mix so clearly. Naomi and Lisa’s performances and harmonies are so pleasant to listen to and they have very strong songwriting chops as well. They sound like two Sirens that don’t actually kill their listeners and just casually thank them for listening to their music instead. The production is so fresh and modern and catchy. I get a very strong Black regal vibe at times listening to this record and it has brought me back to this album repeatedly since its release.

7. SZA - SOS

First of all, I am glad that this album exists in the first place. The wait for this album was very painful, but the result was definitely worth it. While Ctrl was SZA’s incredibly tight hitmaking opus like Led Zeppelin’s IV, SOS is her Physical Graffiti: Bigger, Better, and far more satisfying. There’s talent all over this record. While the songs on this album are more spacious than Ctrl’s bountiful production, SZA CARRIES on these songs with really great performances. The features are great all over the album and very tastefully incorporated. Solana deserves the world, and I’ll leave it at that.

6. Ari Lennox - age/sex/location

Ari also deserves the world for this record as well. I love the neo soul backdrop all over this record. Ari sings her heart out all over this record and she sounds fantastic on every song. Her writing is also really compelling and creative, and she can out-Erykah Erykah Badu herself at times on this record. The instrumentation all over this record is incredibly produced and performed as well. It’s important to note how much Dreamville emphasizes the quality of the mixes and instrumental performances over their artists’ records. Personally this was my favorite release of theirs this year for exactly that (Honorable mention to the Forever Story it’s like #11 or #12 so no need to freak out)

5. Duke Deuce - Crunkstarz

This album is absolutely monstrous. The production is thunderous. The hooks sear into my brain like a hot iron. Duke sounds like a Memphis born Zeus all over this record. His “WTF” adlib is among some of the greatest adlibs of all time. The Next King of Crunk galvanized his fanbase and established the Crunk ethos on this record. At its absolute worst moments, this album still bumps in the whip. At its best it is the perfect soundtrack to a crunk moshpit and dance circle. This album makes me want to see his show because I know that it will go incredibly insane. And best of all, I love the reinforced themes of self affirmation, community, endurance, and positivity all over this record. It’s a gangsta rap album, but it’s also a very positive gangsta rap album that the kids would love.

4. Beyonce - Renaissance

This album fulfills its mission perfectly: Beyoncé makes fantastic house music that tastefully tributes the history and areas that created it. The features are fantastically performed and it sounds like dozens of people were involved in the production and songwriting of the record. Virgo’s Groove is growing to become one of my favorite Beyonce songs of all time. The transitions from song to song are perfectly executed. The debate over the best Beyoncé album has always been a popular since her debut solo album, and I have found this one to be my personal favorite Beyonce album.

3. Caprisongs - FKA Twigs

This is my pop project of the year, despite it being a mixtape. If pop artists beefed with each other the same way many rappers have, FKA Twigs just came in and Ethered the whole game this year right out of the gate. The production is in rare form on this record, and her performances set the bar for all of the other pop artists that released music this year. She always had a uniquely futuristic and psychedelic aesthetic that shined on all of her past projects over the past decade and it just pops off all over this record.

2. Tana Talk 4 - Benny the Butcher

Benny is in rare form on this record. Almost every song on this record was lyrically top notch. J Cole may have dropped arguably his best feature to date on the very first track. Biggie’s legacy was carried on Ten More Crack Commandments, a feat that Diddy himself self righteously appointed upon Benny like he was the President of Hip Hop. But hey, Benny carried it with one arm behind his back and his head up high. This project is a perfect followup to Tana Talk 3. It also has some of the best Alchemist production to date. And Benny is saying level headed cold blooded raps that are continuously engaging and entertaining.

1. Boldy James & Real Bad Man - Killing Nothing

Honorable Mention: The 3 Other Albums this absolute Lyrical Sweatshop Seamster dropped this year alone

I cannot stop listening to this album since it came out in May. Boldy James is the most cold blooded sounding rapper I have heard in years. His delivery has a very traumatized numbness to it that makes his gangsta rap and cocaine rap lyrics and figures of speech project a very strong level of darkness and raw humanity that few rappers are actually capable of doing. His music creates a very dramatic setting for the tales of a pusha man that pays attention to the absolutely tiniest of details. He reminds me of billy woods in that same sense only billy would take a more amplified preachy delivery with more prophetic themes in his music. Boldy on the other hand sounds very gritty and tied to reality. His flows are also incredibly wordy and hypnotic. He scratches a type of prolific streak that reminds me of MF DOOM’s legendary streak. Only this time it’s Boldy James: the legendary Detroit concreature with tales of the streets that his fans can only imagine or see in a movie. In a way, his consistent output of raps about pushing coke, subtle name drops, lowkey relationships, drug deals gone awry, and violence often suspends disbelief whenever I listen in a very entertaining and cinematic way. Real Bad Man’s production on this record was a very pleasant introduction to their discography which I’ve grown to become a fan of as well. This man Boldy can rap over anything, and the producers that he works with are all incredibly talented.

Just My Opinion

Top 10 Best Albums of 2022