The Don's Top-10 Hip-Hop Albums of 2016

By Trey Alessio

As 2017 approaches and we get ready to throw away, shred and/or burn our 2016 calendars, I’d like to take the time to look back on what was truly another amazing year for hip-hop.  This past year may have left a bitter taste in some people’s mouths socially, politically or possibly just because of the fact that many celebrities fell victim to 2016. However, one thing is for sure: 2016 produced some flat-out amazing music. I present to you, my annual top-10 list for hip-hop album of the year. 

10. “Run the Jewels 3” – Run the Jewels

• Surprise! The dynamic duo of Killer Mike and El-P faked us all out by announcing their third installment of the “Run the Jewels” series would be released on January 13, 2017, and then pulled a quick one and dropped the album on Christmas. It was a Christmas miracle! This album consists of vibes that make you want to get out of your seat and be crazy—mosh, fight, run a marathon, party, etc. It’s really the epitome of hype music. Laced with 14 tracks, “Run the Jewels 3” included powerful back-and-forth lyricism and crisp, trippy production—sonically one of the best albums of the year. There’s just something about the surprise album drop that gets me going. 

9. “The Sun’s Tirade” – Isaiah Rashad

• Isaiah Rashad, the dark horse of TDE, really hit the scene and proved that he’s not just a TDE benchwarmer with his debut album, “The Sun’s Tirade.” On this album, he shows that he’s the perfect hybrid of mumble, trap rap and lyricism. It’s also cohesive and very dense, which turns off a lot of people but only makes me appreciate this album even more so—especially with every listen. “The Sun’s Tirade” is to 2016 as Joey Bada$$’ “B4.DA.$$” was to 2015. This is my sleeper pick for 2016. I loved the southern roots embedded within the music and how he takes his influences and used them to tell his story. Rashad really showed what he was all about with his debut album. 

8. “Blank Face LP” – Schoolboy Q

• The GRAMMY-nominated “Blank Face LP” is the best gangster rap album of 2016. Schoolboy Q finds a way to mesh his style of fierce, not-for-the-weak minded type of sound with meaningful lyrics and excellent storytelling. There’s just something about this album that makes you feel one with the music to the point where you feel like you want to go out and commit a couple felonies here and there. I also really enjoyed the variation in tone and sound from song-to-song on Schoolboy’s “Blank Face LP.” He found the perfect way to go from the dark, hard tone of “Groovy Tony” to the introspective, socially aware tone of “Black Thoughts.” It was very much like a pinball experience from sound-to-sound, tone-to-tone and song-to-song throughout the entire album. 

7. “The Divine Feminine” – Mac Miller

• Mac Miller really gets better with every song, mixtape and/or album. After his nearly perfect album, “GO:OD AM,” he followed it up with a concept album about love. This album is short and sweet but doesn’t stray from its theme. Slated with 10 songs and multiple big-name features, such as Anderson .Paak, Ty Dolla Sign and Kendrick Lamar, “The Divine Feminine” is infectious and explores the depths of sex, love, relationships and women, in general. I also really enjoy Mac Miller’s signing voice—something he uses quite a bit on this album. Although I can’t say this is my absolute favorite Mac Miller album ever, I can say the man has solidified himself as one of the best artists in the game. “The Divine Feminine” will be a staple for the lovey-doveys out there looking for their soul mate.

6. “Birds In the Trap Sing McKnight” – Travis Scott

• One of my favorite things as a hip-hop fan is being apart of a worldwide premiere—something Travis Scott did with his album, “Birds In the Trap Sing McKnight.” I love listening to each song, being surprised with every feature (this album was jam-packed with enormous features), sharing the moment on social media and seeing what others had to say about the exact same thing. Sonically, this may be the best album of the year. Every song had a different tone, and even within the same song, sometimes it switched up and spat out another vibe or sound. Travis Scott didn’t blow me away lyrically with this album, but the beats and the production were on another level. It’s just great music to vibe out to when you’re in the mood to turn up. 

5. “Views” – Drake

• Was this my favorite Drake album? No. Do I think this was Drake’s best album? No. Do I think this was a classic? No. But I can’t ignore “Views’” commercial success. The GRAMMY-nominated album broke just about every streaming record known to man and stayed atop the charts week after week after week for quite some time. Don’t get me wrong, Drake made some great music with his album, “Views”—songs in which I still play on a regular basis. The production on “Views” is incredible, and the sounds are easy to sing along with. There’s no denying Drake is one of the biggest artists of this generation. There’s no denying he makes great music. Does this album help his résumé for that coveted “best rapper alive” list? That’s questionable especially because most of this album has an R&B vibe to it, but without question, Drake knows how to produce hits—something “Views” is chalk-full of. 

4. “The Life of Pablo” – Kanye West

• After possibly one of the sloppiest album rollouts of all-time, Kanye West came through and gave us a beautiful-mess-of-an album—something some say parallels his crazy lifestyle. While this album isn’t perfect and not even my favorite Kanye album, “The Life of Pablo” is still in the music rotation to this day. This album has great features, crisp production, and artistic value deep within the music. It’s not really cohesive and there isn’t really a concept, but it just works. My only beef on the album are the dumb, raunchy lyrics on certain songs that made me feel like Kanye wasn’t really trying, but, overall, “The Life of Pablo” just adds to Kanye’s great discography. 

3. “ We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service” – A Tribe Called Quest

• Eighteen years in the making, A Tribe Called Quest bless us with their final album, “We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service.” Laced with socially conscious songs and 90s vibes, the Tribe brought the nostalgia we love from them and put a modern-day spin onto the music. This album is extremely lyrical with meaning behind just about every song. I was also very surprised and excited when I came across each feature, as they aren’t listed on the official tracklist. This album was the perfect sendoff to the late Phife Dawg. 

2. “4 Your Eyez Only” – J. Cole

• Is J. Cole about to go double platinum without features again? Only time will tell, but he may be well on his way. When a pre-order link miraculously appeared on iTunes with the news of a new J. Cole album coming in early December, I was jumping up and down with excitement. My expectations and anticipation were at an all-time high. This was very similar to his rollout of “2014 Forest Hills Drive” in 2014—only a week’s notice with no real promotion and no single. The only difference this time around was J. Cole’s release of a 40-minute documentary before the album’s release, which consisted of two new songs, “Everybody Dies” and “False Prophets.” At the time, we all thought these songs would make the album—something that probably came to a surprise to most people based on the aggressive tone in which both songs had. However, the two songs from the documentary didn’t make the cut. Instead, we got 10 cohesively pure, humble, honest and introspective songs. The storytelling on J. Cole’s “4 Your Eyez Only” is next to none. We learn that he gets married and has a daughter throughout the album, and he pays tribute to a fallen friend from his hometown. Whether he’s truly speaking from the perspective of his drug-dealing friend, whether he’s just speaking to the daughter of his drug-dealing friend or whether he’s speaking to his own daughter and exaggerating things that come along with the rap culture that he experiences in his own life is kind of left for us to interpret, but the message is powerful and deep. It’s a complex and dense project, but, in my opinion, that only adds to the greatness of the album. 

1. “Coloring Book” – Chance the Rapper

• Sometimes we get caught up in the macho tough-guy, stereotypical rap attitude we get from our music, and we forget how to turn it off. However, Chance the Rapper finally made it cool to be a positive, uplifting person again within rap. He made it cool to talk about God in rap, and he did it all independently on a stream-only platform with his rap friends. It’s safe to say the now GRAMMY-nominated Chance the Rapper is changing the landscape of music entirely—partly because Chance snagged seven GRAMMY nominations and forced the GRAMMYs to reconsider free music.. “Coloring Book” just exudes positivity and good vibes. I listen to “Blessings,” “Finish Line” and “Blessing (Reprise)” every morning to start my day off with a smile. That’s exactly what Chance’s music does. “Coloring Book” has the ability to turn a frown into a smile—simple as that. Along with the infectious melodies, the lyrics, production, features, tones and messages throughout the project are just flat-out amazing. Do you want a radio hit? Turn on “No Problem.” Do you want something to turn up to? Turn on “Mixtape” or “All Night.” Do you want to praise the Lord? Turn on “Blessings,” “Angels,” “How Great,” “Finish Line / Drown” and “Blessings (Reprise).” Do you just want to vibe out? Turn on “Smoke Break” or “Juke Jam.” Do you want some introspection? Turn on “Summer Friends” or “Same Drugs.” There’s really a song for every mood. “Coloring Book” honestly has very few flaws. Chance the Rapper really burst onto the mainstream scene with this project and showed he’s a force to be reckoned with. 

Here are my honorable mentions. While these were all amazing albums, they didn't strike as hard as the albums in my top-10. It was a tough year to make the cut simply becuase of how many great pieces of work were brought to the forefront in 2016. Check them all out though!

• "Telefone" - Noname
• "Far From Familiar" - Sylvan LaCue
• "Do What Thou Wilt" - Ab-Soul
• "Bucket List Project" - Saba
• "1992" - The Game

Do you agree or disagree with the don's list? Let us know!