By Trey Alessio
It’s 2019, and competition can be a glorious thing.
January has finally rolled around, which means it’s the time of year when we hip-hop heads come together to look ahead at our most-anticipated albums of the year. Who’s dropping? When’s it dropping? Will it be an EP or a full-length? What features will make the cut? Who’s behind the production? Will it be a concept album or a variety of songs? Who will emerge into the emerge into the ranks of stardom and/or critical acclaim? All questions we like to ponder when the calendar switches over to a new year.
January has finally rolled around, which means it’s the time of year when we hip-hop heads come together to look ahead at our most-anticipated albums of the year. Who’s dropping? When’s it dropping? Will it be an EP or a full-length? What features will make the cut? Who’s behind the production? Will it be a concept album or a variety of songs? Who will emerge into the emerge into the ranks of stardom and/or critical acclaim? All questions we like to ponder when the calendar switches over to a new year.
CREDIT: Kulture Hub
The biggest question mark and possibility, for me, this year is whether or not we’ll see albums from hip-hop’s most elite, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, and whether or not we’ll see TDE and Dreamville going head-to-head for rap’s most dominant label. Let’s investigate and speculate.
While Dreamville rapper J.I.D was on his promotional tour for his outstanding 2018 album DiCaprio 2, he told Complex, “We just really competing with TDE—this a whole other thing. We competing with TDE. That’s what needs to be known. Dreamville: we gotta step this shit the fuck up. Them n****s are fire. We gotta step it up—facts.”
This isn’t the first time the TDE vs. Dreamville talk has come to light, but, looking back, I think this could be a crucial bullet-point in the grand scheme of hip-hop—especially with the potential music in 2019.
While Dreamville rapper J.I.D was on his promotional tour for his outstanding 2018 album DiCaprio 2, he told Complex, “We just really competing with TDE—this a whole other thing. We competing with TDE. That’s what needs to be known. Dreamville: we gotta step this shit the fuck up. Them n****s are fire. We gotta step it up—facts.”
This isn’t the first time the TDE vs. Dreamville talk has come to light, but, looking back, I think this could be a crucial bullet-point in the grand scheme of hip-hop—especially with the potential music in 2019.
First of all, let’s break down the artists signed to each labe. The artists signed to Top Dawg Entertainment include Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, SZA, Isaiah Rashad, SiR, Lance Skiiiwalker and Reason. The artists signed to Dreamville include J. Cole, Bas, Cozz, Ari Lennox, Omen, J.I.D, Lute and Earthgang. Talk about talent. Both labels have G.O.A.T. contenders, first ladies that can sing their asses off and rappers with the potential to be in the same conversation as the current tier-one artists.
Next, let’s break down the discography of the labels dating back to 2016. On the TDE side of things in 2016, Schoolboy Q dropped Blank Face LP, Isaiah Rashad dropped The Sun’s Tirade, Lance Skiiiwalker dropped Introverted Intuition, Ab-Soul dropped Do What Thou Wilt and Kendrick Lamar dropped untitled unmastered, which is an EP in my book. On the Dreamville side of things in 2016, Bas dropped Too High To Riot, J. Cole dropped 4 Your Eyez Only and Ari Lennox dropped an EP Pho. 2017 for TDE included DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar, Ctrl by SZA and Her Too (an EP) by SiR. 2017 for Dreamville included The Never Story by J.I.D, West1996 pt. 2 by Lute and Rags and Robots (both EPs) by Earthgang. Last year for TDE, SiR dropped November, Jay Rock dropped Redemption and Reason dropped There You Have It. Kendrick Lamar also curated the Black Panther soundtrack with the help of most of the other members of TDE in 2018 as well. Last year for Dreamville, Cozz dropped Effected, J. Cole dropped KOD, Bas dropped Milky Way, J.I.D dropped DiCaprio 2, Earthgang dropped an EP, Royalty, and Lute dropped an untitled EP.
A lot of good music has been released between these two respected labels over the past few years. According to my top-10 hip-hop lists and my overall top-10 lists on the podcast, TDE scored two top-10 albums and one honorable mention in 2016, two top-10 albums in 2017 and one top-10 album and an honorable mention in 2018. Dreamville marked one top-10 album in 2016, nothing in 2017, and two top-10 albums in 2018. The quality matches the quantity for both squads with four GRAMMY nominations over this 3-year span across both labels. Kendrick won two GRAMMYs with To Pimp a Butterfly and DAMN. And that’s not even counting streaming numbers and chart-performance.
In terms of hip-hop power right now, I’d have to give the edge to TDE. According to my collective top-10 lists, TDE narrowly outscores Dreamville, 7-4. Anything Kendrick Lamar touches turns to gold, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and Isaiah Rashad have all solidified themselves in the rap game and SZA has the potential to be a mainstream star. If you asked 10 people what the best label in hip-hop is right now, I think eight or nine would say TDE.
That’s not a knock on Dreamville. I’d say Dreamville has the most potential in hip-hop right now. J.I.D established himself as a potential great with DiCaprio 2 last year, Bas showed a ton of upside with Milky Way and I’m very interested to give Ari Lennox a full listen—and then there’s J. Cole, a top-3 rapper right now and a rightful contender to be in the conversation for one of the best hip-hop artists to ever do it.
In terms of hip-hop power right now, I’d have to give the edge to TDE. According to my collective top-10 lists, TDE narrowly outscores Dreamville, 7-4. Anything Kendrick Lamar touches turns to gold, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul and Isaiah Rashad have all solidified themselves in the rap game and SZA has the potential to be a mainstream star. If you asked 10 people what the best label in hip-hop is right now, I think eight or nine would say TDE.
That’s not a knock on Dreamville. I’d say Dreamville has the most potential in hip-hop right now. J.I.D established himself as a potential great with DiCaprio 2 last year, Bas showed a ton of upside with Milky Way and I’m very interested to give Ari Lennox a full listen—and then there’s J. Cole, a top-3 rapper right now and a rightful contender to be in the conversation for one of the best hip-hop artists to ever do it.
CREDIT: Consequence of Sound
I want to see TDE and Dreamville go head-to-head. Not in an evil, Bad Boy vs. Death Row type of way, but rather a friendly competition type of way where each release, each feature elevates each member on opposing labels to step their game up one notch further than the previous.
I want to see Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole go head-to-head in 2019. Again, not in a Biggie vs. Tupac type of way, but rather a 1-a vs. 1-b, rap battle type of way. Remember when Kendrick dropped that epic “Control” verse (my personal pick for best verse of all-time)? His intent wasn’t malicious. K Dot was simply attempting to elevate the quality expected by his peers. That’s the type of competition I want to see with Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, TDE and Dreamville.
If this competition should come to fruition, it will have to start with the top dogs, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, both of which could be slated to drop albums this year.
Last year, J. Cole came out with KOD, and the final track was titled “1985 (Intro to ‘The Fall Off’).” Cole revealed that the theme for KOD came to him while he was working on The Fall Off, which leads me to believe we’ll see this album in 2019. It was also rumored that Cole may drop a mixtape called The Off Season after he released the song “Album of the Year (Freestyle)” over Nas’ “Oochie Wally” instrumental. Cole also hinted at a potential project from his alter ego kiLL edward, who showed up on KOD. Both of these didn’t come out in 2018, so could we see them in 2019?
In a recent profile in the Los Angeles Times, Kendrick Lamar claimed “he hasn’t been working on a new album, but says that he’s constantly working.” Top Dawg Entertainment CEO Anthony Tiffith also told fans not to get their hopes up for a new K Dot album back in September of last year when he took to Instagram to say, “ATT: KDOT DON’T HAVE A NEW ALBUM COMING NO TIME SOON. So keep playing DAMN until the kid is inspired again.” But Polydor Records, which distributes for Interscope albums in Europe, posted this now-deleted picture to its Instagram story recently. Kendrick’s distribution deal happens to be with Interscope. This is all speculation, but I’m holding out for a new Kendrick album in 2019.
I want to see Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole go head-to-head in 2019. Again, not in a Biggie vs. Tupac type of way, but rather a 1-a vs. 1-b, rap battle type of way. Remember when Kendrick dropped that epic “Control” verse (my personal pick for best verse of all-time)? His intent wasn’t malicious. K Dot was simply attempting to elevate the quality expected by his peers. That’s the type of competition I want to see with Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, TDE and Dreamville.
If this competition should come to fruition, it will have to start with the top dogs, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, both of which could be slated to drop albums this year.
Last year, J. Cole came out with KOD, and the final track was titled “1985 (Intro to ‘The Fall Off’).” Cole revealed that the theme for KOD came to him while he was working on The Fall Off, which leads me to believe we’ll see this album in 2019. It was also rumored that Cole may drop a mixtape called The Off Season after he released the song “Album of the Year (Freestyle)” over Nas’ “Oochie Wally” instrumental. Cole also hinted at a potential project from his alter ego kiLL edward, who showed up on KOD. Both of these didn’t come out in 2018, so could we see them in 2019?
In a recent profile in the Los Angeles Times, Kendrick Lamar claimed “he hasn’t been working on a new album, but says that he’s constantly working.” Top Dawg Entertainment CEO Anthony Tiffith also told fans not to get their hopes up for a new K Dot album back in September of last year when he took to Instagram to say, “ATT: KDOT DON’T HAVE A NEW ALBUM COMING NO TIME SOON. So keep playing DAMN until the kid is inspired again.” But Polydor Records, which distributes for Interscope albums in Europe, posted this now-deleted picture to its Instagram story recently. Kendrick’s distribution deal happens to be with Interscope. This is all speculation, but I’m holding out for a new Kendrick album in 2019.
If Cole and K Dot both released albums in 2019, it would be the first year the two have dropped albums in the same year since 2011 when Kendrick released Section 80 and Cole released Cole World: The Sideline Story.
Wouldn’t this be so ironic after all the hype for that joint-project between the two continued to build up after they teased us that one Black Friday back in 2015? Wouldn’t it be crazy if K Dot and Cole flipped the script and went toe-to-toe for hip-hop’s title belt, thus making the entire genre better? Don’t you think these two are destined to matchup against each other? Even their respective albums correlate, in my opinion. good kid, m.A.A.d. city is to 2014 Forest Hills Drive as To Pimp a Butterfly is to 4 Your Eyez Only and DAMN. is to KOD—and not just because they line up sequentially. I think each of these matchups line up stylistically as well. GKMC and FHD put K Dot and Cole, respectively, on the map in the mainstream eye. TPAB and 4YEO both had the least amount of radio potential but may be each rapper’s best album critically. DAMN. and KOD both were influenced by trap beats and stuck to a major theme to tell an overarching story. This can’t be a coincidence, can it? I don’t have the answers, but I can hope and pray for the betterment of hip-hip in 2019.
As for the rest of the labelmates on TDE and Dreamville, Schoolboy Q, SZA, J.I.D and Earthgang are all rumored to be coming out with new music this year. J.I.D just may get what he wished for in the interview with Complex. This may be the year we finally see Dreamville take on hip-hop’s most dominant label, TDE. Can the quality stack up? Again, I wish I had these answers, but I don’t. I will continue to wait patiently like every other rap fan. Let the competition begin.
Now, enjoy these dope videos from some TDE and Dreamville members while we wait to see what will go down in 2019!
Wouldn’t this be so ironic after all the hype for that joint-project between the two continued to build up after they teased us that one Black Friday back in 2015? Wouldn’t it be crazy if K Dot and Cole flipped the script and went toe-to-toe for hip-hop’s title belt, thus making the entire genre better? Don’t you think these two are destined to matchup against each other? Even their respective albums correlate, in my opinion. good kid, m.A.A.d. city is to 2014 Forest Hills Drive as To Pimp a Butterfly is to 4 Your Eyez Only and DAMN. is to KOD—and not just because they line up sequentially. I think each of these matchups line up stylistically as well. GKMC and FHD put K Dot and Cole, respectively, on the map in the mainstream eye. TPAB and 4YEO both had the least amount of radio potential but may be each rapper’s best album critically. DAMN. and KOD both were influenced by trap beats and stuck to a major theme to tell an overarching story. This can’t be a coincidence, can it? I don’t have the answers, but I can hope and pray for the betterment of hip-hip in 2019.
As for the rest of the labelmates on TDE and Dreamville, Schoolboy Q, SZA, J.I.D and Earthgang are all rumored to be coming out with new music this year. J.I.D just may get what he wished for in the interview with Complex. This may be the year we finally see Dreamville take on hip-hop’s most dominant label, TDE. Can the quality stack up? Again, I wish I had these answers, but I don’t. I will continue to wait patiently like every other rap fan. Let the competition begin.
Now, enjoy these dope videos from some TDE and Dreamville members while we wait to see what will go down in 2019!