2023 may not have lived up to the stacked years of 2022, and 2021, but there was still a few great records that came out last year, and here we are going to discuss my personal top 10 favourites. Whether it was concise 11-track tapes, instrumental bending producer-rapper hook-ups, or mega-long world-building albums, there were a few trends that could define this year when we look back on 2023. As much as 2023 didn't evolve the US sound all too much, some of the UK drops this year were phenomenal, with some quality records on my list right here. I hope you enjoy this blog, please let me know what your favourite album of the year is? Further below the top 10 albums list, I've dropped some honourable mentions along with other categories such as best song, best instrumental and so on...
10) KAYTRAMINE - KAYTRAMINE (KAYTRANADA & Amine)
The perfect summer album, which came out at the perfect time (mid May). A great intro with Who He Iz with Amine dropping a wordy flow with an also-wordy hook over a bouncey instrumental that marks a fast and strong start to the project. letstalkaboutit is a sweet follow-up with a gorgeous instrumental with sharp drums and soft chimes, a sick hook and a smooth tounge-in-cheek Freddie Gibbs verse. Westside is a more ominous sounding track with Amine spitting a dirtier flow that sounds so hard over the beat. Rebuke is a super-chilled out sunny-day bop with Amine delivering some lovely cadences in his verse. Sossaup has a faster pace to it, with jazzy drums and synth chords shimmering in the background with Amine mainly riffing through his lyrics, Amaaree brings much of the same in her high-pitched, delicate voice but with a lot of attitude and confidence with some humorous sound effects in her verse as well.. My personal highlight came from the song EYE featuring Snoop Dogg. Amine provides the best hook on the project with some brilliant singing and then some catchy melodies in his verse too. Snoop Dogg talks through some his verse but provides a solid contribution nonetheless. Overall this album delivered on its assignment in my eyes and has given some awesome tunes for many summers to come.
Star Track - EYE
9) Drake - For All The Dogs
Is this album bloated? Yes. Is this what we expect from a full-length Drake LP? Yes. With all that said, For All The Dogs represents to me a really solid project that while extends its welcome in terms of run-time, has some extremely pleasant and impressive moments. We get some nice lyrical moments where Drake is spitting with a tough flow, some nice punchlines, and overall decent lyrics, we can hear that on tracks like 8am in Charlotte and All The Parties. We also get some nice melodic moments on songs like Slime You Out and Members Only, with the harder more intense tracks to go with it, the variety gives the album a nice well-rounded feel. Drake delivers some lovely cadences on Rich Baby Daddy and What Would Pluto Do where for me you get Drake at his best. Chief Keef, SZA, J.Cole, Teezo Touchdown, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and Sexxy Red features gave the project some extra colour and a different texture to the songs them artists appeared on. If Drake were to cut some of the tracks that felt mid to me and dull like Fear of Heights, Daylight and Gently, this album would have been a more appropriate length and probably would have been higher on the list.
Star Track - Members Only
8) J Hus - Beautiful and Brutal Yard
With the exception of Who Told You, I feel as though this album went relatively under the radar. Of course it was never going to reach the masterpiece levels of his first album Common Sense (2017), I do think Beautiful and Brutal Yard was a step up from his 2020 record, Big Conspiracy. J Hus brought an irresistible energy and some really well made songs. His undeniable skills when it comes to cadence and an ear for catchy melodies was back to form on this album and he was also supported by some brilliant features, most notably Burna Boy, Villz, and Naira Marley. We get the tunes where he's spitting in that intense tone with solid rhyme schemes to provide pure heat, like on tracks such as Come Look and Bim Bim, but we get them vibey bops like Militerian and Masculine too. His array of deliveries and voices he can bring make this album sound like a collab album with 3 or 4 artists sometimes and I think that benefits the overall listen of the record and J Hus' music. Cool album, albeit with a couple tracks I'd have cut like Cream and Alien Girl, I hope Hus can continue this form on his next project and really focus on the listenability of his songs, and give us some of them hard verses as well, then he will be spot on again.
Star Track - Comeback
7) Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist - VOIR DIRE
Earl and Alc clocking in at position 7 with a wonderful collab album. Alchemist provides a complex formula where Earl can drip his flow into the mix to make a sensual, and sometimes sombre blend. It's easy to get lost in VOIRE DIRE, following the music wherever it takes you, the production is so layered and produced that it sort of encapsulated me, I could feel the music around me, instead of it merely just playing in my ears. The samples were absolutely genius from Alchemist, the soulful Sentry provided a great surface for Earl and the featured artist, MIKE, to drop some relentless flows. Though Earl's flow can be repetitive sometimes and not sound hugely enthusiastic, I think it works over this full and charismatic production. The drugged-out track Vin Skully is one example of this, or the hopeful and uplifting Mancala featuring Vince Staples. The Caliphate featuring Vince Staples was another hit, with bass-heavy production, and Earl and Vince dropping dope verses. Even with a hypnotic flow, the music certainly draws emotion out of you in a way you may not feel straight away. A full Earl and Vince project would be very welcomed, especially when you factor in songs such as Burgundy and Hive from Doris (2013). Good to hear both Earl and Alchemist drawing good form out of one another, as always, it will be interesting to see what direction Earl goes in next.
Star Track - Sentry
6) GRIP - STILL (Five & A F*** You)
Star track - STILL
5) Nas - Magic 3
The final victory lap of Nas and Hit-Boy's legendary 2020's run. Nas delivers the best of the Magic trilogy with this project. Where the 2nd in the trilogy, that came out earlier in the year, felt somewhat unnecessary, Magic 3 was packed with well-written verses, forward-thinking production from Hit-Boy, who really has pulled a 'rare' form out of Nas, and it all amounts to some nicely crafted songs that Nas fans and Hip Hop heads can scran. His flow is always gonna be technical, fun and varied, we get that in abundance, but his story-telling skills are once again flexed on this album with the Based on True Events, Pt 1 and Pt 2. It cannot be understated how impressive the beats are too, I particularly loved Speechless, No Tears, Japanese Soul Bar, and I Love This Feeling. I plan on doing a deeper review of Nas' 2020 run, of course including the King's Disease trilogy as well, so look out for that. But yeah, as for Magic 3, it was great to see Nas keep up and complete the trilogy with momentum and hunger, with his technical penmanship at the forefront of his song ideas.
Star Track - I Love This Feeling
4) Frankie Stew & Harvey Gunn - The South's Got Something To Say
The third year in a row that these guys have made my list. This time instead of being in position 3, they fall back to 4th. I think that's a fair reflection of the album as well. Though it is a great project, it lacks some of the quality feature verses and slick hooks that Nothing New Under The Sun (2022) had. One thing that I wished for, for Frankie and Harvey's music was for it to take new directions, and that is what they did on this album. Yes you still had Frankie spilling his emotions on to chilled out, flagrant boom-bap, but there are a few examples that we can point to that show their music going in a direction we've not yet witnessed. The talkative flow on Nemo for example, "I'm tryna watch Shark's Tale, she wants to watch fucking Finding Nemo". It was nice over the dramatic, off-kilter instrumental. The quick tempo hook on Photo Finish as well felt fresh from Frankie and Harvey. On that song I would've liked to hear a feature on this to mix up the flow a little bit, or maybe Frankie himself riding the beat a bit faster, maybe being in the beat a little bit more instead of giving us a flow we've heard countless times before and merely strolling through his verse. I loved the legendary OutKast quote at the end of the song which also titled the album. No Idea was a classic Frankie Stew & Harvey Gunn track, wordy, clever lyrics, tight flow and a brilliant feature, from Bawo. The features on the last 4 albums now have been really well placed and made for some of the best tracks on the album. Another selection of solid tracks from Frankie and Harvey and no doubt they'll be dropping again in 2024 to delight us once more.
3) CASISDEAD - Famous Last Words
The long awaited album from CASISDEAD finally dropped in October and everyone was gassed. Given that his previous bodies of work were mixtapes and EP's it was interesting and exciting to hear how this illusive and dark character was going to pull his style off across a full album. Towards the start of the album we have classic sounding tracks like A Spark, tongue in cheek lyrics with a gritty and cut-throat edge to them. His wordplay is also on full form on the project as well, more so than I can remember from Cas, the track Loosin' for example has this bar "we made a racket thought all I did was racketeer". The opening part of the album runs very quickly with short and snappy tracks taking you all the way to Pineapple Juice where the songs get a bit longer and we hear more hooks and attempts at making catchier records. None come off better than the track Venom towards the end of the album, which details a disturbing and toxic relationship to say the least. Cas' delivery, rhyme schemes and flows make this album such an entertaining listen, his voice is so distinct that uniqueness as an MC is another big plus when it comes to his music. The eerie, dystopian, black mirror-like concept of the album adds another dimension to the album. I think the general basis is of characters who are trying to infiltrate a big chemical corporation (Deadcorp) who sell apathy as a drug, that they have previously escaped from. How much the concept is stuck to within the songs is one thing, but the odd skits every now and then definitely add to the intrigue and strange story that Cas paints of himself. We get a couple old tracks, Boys Will Be Boys and Pat Earrings on the tracklist too, both incredible 10/10 tracks, but personally I'd rather have an album that was completely fresh rather than include songs that are several years old. The new songs though were awesome, the sampling was amazing. Some tracks have an 80's type of feel, for example Marilyn, Traction Control and Sugar Free, some being soulful, some being more synth-pop samples, the results though were really good and although we hear a softer sound to Cas' music, the feel good instrumentals contrast with the darker nature of his lyrics. Really sick album from CASISDEAD.
Star Track - Traction Control
2) Mick Jenkins - The Patience
I thought his last album Elephant in the Room (2021) was solid enough with some brilliant highlights, but The Patience is a concise piece of excellence. Fast paced and aggressive deliveries kick off the album with Michelin Star, which has an awesome soul beat and floaty backing vocals, then Show & Tell featuring Freddie Gibbs goes as hard, containing some cute wordplay in Mick's verse too. Freddie brings the heat with his deep and menacing delivery with one of the illest flows of the year. Great tracks featuring Benny the Butcher and JID complete a run of 3 featured tracks, and a serious showing of lyrical talent on this album that Hip Hop heads would no doubt eat up. Produced by Yama//Sato and Nitai, Sitting Ducks has a cold instrumental, sounding kind of Preemo-esque, it was essential to the success of that fire song. The track with JID was another highlight, Mick providing his catchy refrain and JID bringing a melodic but still technical flow over the chilled jazzy drums and keys. When Mick was on his own on tracks I don't think he dropped the ball either. He kept up the energy and quality, particularly in songs like 007 and ROY G. BIV which has a nice refrain in there "colour theory" to break up Mick's short and clever verses. His wordplay in the final verse is cool, but the ABAB rhyme scheme is super nice, "them black lights come out and we see that we all stained, them pink slips come out and you can't have enough drive, they been pulling yellow cards on the squad all game, we just tryna kick it, channel orange got enough vibes". Guapanese is a one-verse song over dancing piano keys, similar to that of Zig Zag Zig by Roc Marciano and The Alchemist, but on the song we get plenty of money based wordplay and Mick calling out the obsession of money with society. The schemes and the flows are solid as well with his rhymes landing at the end of each bar so reliably. The closest we get to catchy refrain/chorus is on Mop, "I just keep moppin' these floors" and makes for a great closer too, in which we also get an outro of Mick updating the audience on his outlook on his creative process. Short and sweet album with minimal skips and high-quality verses, beats and overall song creation.
Star Track - ROY G. BIV
1) Noname - Sundial
Another short and sweet album, 11 tracks long just like Mick's, Sundial still packs in hell of a lot content. Hell of a lot of versatility as well, we get Noname reeling off one-verse, soothing cuts like black mirror, melodic and catchy tracks with some class features, like on hold me down and oblivion. The beats range from gospel instrumental and backing vocals such as gospel?, jazz basslines like on oblivion and potentially the interlude, which provides an interesting thought but also some self-reflection where Noname suggests "if you were just a little bit more pretty, wrote a little bit like Kenny, you would have a life worth livin' you would be a happy one". I really like the repetitive track, though it's only short and potentially an interlude, she packs in much to ponder and lyrically I see this track as a highlight, despite the fact you obviously don't need to rap like Kendrick to have a life worth living, to be happy, or to make good music. Though her fast, wordy flow in Namesake is hard, the refrain dissing Rihanna, Kendrick and so on is kind of corny and kills the enjoyment of the track overall. Another jazzy bassline and catchy chorus comes in the form of Beauty Supply, I think the best song on the album which appears to have everything. Great beat, great hook, flows are tight, and Noname is giving some conscious bars discussing beauty standards of black women in particular. Even with just 11 songs I feel you can get a lot out of this album, the performance from Noname and the features is really impressive, and I think this album works as background vibe creation but also if you wanted to intimately take in the bars as well.
Star Track - Beauty Supply
Here are some honourable mentions for projects I enjoyed in 2023 that didn't quite make the top 10:
- Lloyd Banks - The Course of the Inevitable 3: Pieces of my Pain
- Conway the Machine & Jae Skeese - Pain Provided Profit
- Russ - SANTIAGO
- Travis Scott - UTOPIA
- Logic - College Park
- JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown - Scaring The Hoes
Best Song
Noname - Beauty Supply
(Honourable Mention: Travis Scott ft Teezo Touchdown - MODERN JAM)
Best Beat
Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist ft MIKE - Sentry
(Honourable Mention: Frankie Stew & Harvey Gunn - Golden House
Best Ensemble Track
Conway the Machine, Jae Skeese, 7xvethegenius, GooseBytheway, SK Da King - Food
(Honourable Mention: Noname - Gospel?)
Best Feature
Bawo - No Idea by Frankie Stew & Harvey Gunn)
(Honourable Mention: JID - Smoke Break-Dance by Mick Jenkins)
Best Chorus
EYE - KAYTRAMINE ft Snoop Dogg
(Honourable Mention: CASISDEAD - Venom)
Best Album Art Work:
CASISDEAD - Famous Last Words
Thank you for reading my rap-up. I was away for much of 2023, so did not get as much content out there as I'd have liked. But I'm back now and in 2024 I will be regularly releasing reviews and other articles all about Hip Hop. See you soon!
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