MvP's 15 Favorite Albums of 2012
15. The Alchemist - Russian Roulette
Russian Roulette has a strange track listing of 30 songs - the majority of them being only a minute or two long - but anything that allows the Beverly Hills producer to showcase as many beats as possible is fine by me. ALC has really been on an experimental tip this year, occasionally resulting in some "over-produced" tracks, but he can get away with it on his own album.
14. The XX - Coexist
The XX certainly did not deviate from the uniquely minimalistic sound of their self-titled debut album. Fortunately, this is a good thing. I recommend putting this album on in the background while getting some work done. That's all I have to say because as a result of doing that literally each time I've listened to Coexist, I can't even describe the standout tracks or anything, it all just sounds like one great big track.
13. Roc Marciano - Reloaded
Roc is an interesting rapper. He has a lazy flow, writes simplistic multi-sylliable bars, and his subject matter is the typical street shit you've heard countless times before, yet somehow he makes it work on his sophomore LP, Reloaded. In essence, he's a 90's rapper stuck in the present day, but in the current state of hip-hop it's actually refreshing to hear.
12. El-P - Cancer 4 Cure
I've been a fan of El-P for a while now, but somehow never realized that he put an album out this year until about a week ago. I immediately fell in love with it, I'd even go as far as saying it's better than Fantastic Damage. The otherworldly production on Cancer 4 Cure, along with his work on another album further down this list, leads me to believe that El Producto was this year's best hip-hop producer.
11. Action Bronson - Rare Chandeliers
If you frequent the chatbox than you may remember how excited I was about this mixtape when it dropped. Bronsolino's combination of rap skills, ear for beats, obscure wrestler/movie/food references, witty humor, and application of his best friend Big Body Bes (Mr. We Out Here himself) has turned this former professional chef from Queens into my current favorite rapper. When I found out that he was pairing up with my all-time favorite producer, The Alchemist, it was like a musical dream come true. The result was a bit disappointing, however, as Bronson was often out-shined by some ridiculous(ly good) ALC production, and there were no standout tracks. All in all, it's still a very enjoyable listen from start to finish but it doesn't exactly showcase what Bronson is about the same way his other projects have.
10. Nas - Life Is Good
Nas had a pretty good comeback year with Life Is Good, but I can't help but feel like he was trying way too hard to stay relevant. The old Nasir Jones used to make timeless rap music, now he's rapping about his daughter posting pictures of condoms on Instagram. Speaking of Instagram, the QB rapper also got heavily into social media this year; so heavily that after a while I had to unfollow him on Twitter for posting or retweeting so much nonsense about his new album. That's also the same reason why I stopped following Rick Ross, Wale, and The Game after their respective album releases. It pains me to put Nas in the same list as those guys but that's what he's turned into as he modernizes his career.
9. Beach House - Bloom
Last week I gave myself about an hour and a half to study before I took my Hospitality Management final exam. I studied with this album playing in the background, went to class, took the final and miraculously knew the answers to every single question. Thank you, Beach House.
8. Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
After seeing Joe Budden constantly tweet about how good Miguel's new album was, I opened up Spotify and gave it a listen. Keep in mind, I had always thought Miguel was one of those Avant or Governor-type R&B dudes that sings the hooks for a bunch of rapper's tracks but never has a successful solo career, so my expectations were quite low. Turns out, I was very, very wrong. Kaleidoscope Dream stood out to me because literally none of the tracks sound similar to each other, a rarity in the R&B genre, but as a collective they sound perfectly in sync.
7. Ab-Soul - Control System
Ab-Soul's Control System is the strange combination of swag rap mixed with intellectual lyrics, although you could also say that this is the schtick of Black Hippy as a whole. Only Ab-Soul and Danny Brown could pull off
Terrorist Threats: an anti-government song featuring two verses that start with each rapper shouting "EXTRA PILLS, EXTRA PILLS" for no good reason. The rest of the album follows a similar path.
6. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music
I slept on this album heavily when it was released, listening to it once without paying much attention to it, and then forgetting about it until about a month ago. Since then, Killer Mike's vicious, politically-charged, self-reflecting raps have been playing out my speakers in steady rotation. Standout tracks
Reagan,
Anywhere But Here, and
Willie Burke Sherwood are Mike Bigga at his finest, and coupled with some outstanding production by El-P, it makes for some of the best music of his career. While I was skeptical of the Killer Mike/El-P pairing at first, it ended up resulting in an excellent product, and hopefully the duo will continue to make music together in the future.
5. Jack White - Blunderbuss
Some of you may know that I interned as a supervisor for a grocery warehouse over the summer. In the middle of the twelve long weeks that I was there, I was placed on the "Receiving" end of the warehouse for a week to get a feel for how they operate. I was stuck sitting in an office all week, occasionally clicking a few buttons on the computer, bored out of my mind. Two days in, I noticed that the manager I was shadowing had some songs on his Windows Media Player: strange folk music, an Elmore James greatest hits album, and Jack White's Blunderbuss. Needless to say, I played Blunderbuss nonstop (with Elmore James's
Shake Your Money Maker occasionally sprinkled in) for the rest of the week, and fell in love with the album. This also opened my eyes to the entire White Stripes discography, so throughout the summer I become a pretty big fan of Jack White.
Side Note:
Freedom at 21 is the coolest song of the year, watch the music video if you don't believe me.
4. Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City
You've all listened to and deciphered this album by now, so I won't get into much detail here. What I WILL do, however, is state that this album is overrated. It's still outstanding, practically flawless, the best rap album of 2012 (though not my favorite)...but it's overrated. Why? To me, it's being considered a classic only because the rest of the mainstream rap releases lately have been so mediocre. The storytelling illustrated on Good Kid, Maad City should be almost the standard for a modern debut rap album, not the exception (Joey Bada$$, Earl Sweatshirt…take notes). This is what J.Cole's debut should have been. This is what Big KRIT's debut should have been. It's not a knock on Kendrick by any means, but unless this album changes hip-hop for the better, and sadly I don't think it will, it won't be considered a hip-hop classic. It's simply an excellent album released by an excellent rapper who I expect will make many excellent albums throughout his career.
3. Jessie Ware - Devotion
I wasn't quite sure how to begin this writeup, so I went to Jessie Ware's Wikipedia page for some ideas/insight. On it, there is a quote by Clash magazine, which says that Jessie is "the missing link between Adele, SBTRKT, and Sade." I couldn't have described her any better. If you enjoy r&b/soul music with female vocals (lol) than you should love this album, simple as that. For those skeptical, key tracks to check out first would be
Wildest Moments,
Night Light, and
Running, but the entire album is also available on Spotify.
2. Action Bronson - Blue Chips
This is without question my favorite rap project of the year. It's not necessarily an album per say but Bronson isn't a guy that lives by necessarily's so I will consider it as such. Basically, Action Bronson hung out with two Williamsburg hipsters who call themselves Party Supplies for three weeks, and the result was Blue Chips. It's filled with creative and hilarious stories over some YouTube-sampled production that was horribly mastered, but the point is: Bronson can rap his fucking ass off, yet unlike most rappers, you can tell that he has the time of his life doing it, and the result is awesome to listen to.
Hookers at the Point is probably the best song of all-time to sing along to in the car, and is accompanied by my favorite music video of the year.
Thug Love Story 2012 is one of the most bluntly absurd love songs you'll ever hear within the genre of rap.
9-24-11 introduced to me the legendary Big Body Bes, resulting in me posting "WE OUT HERE" in the chatbox a thousand times and constantly shouting it much to the annoyance of my housemates.
Expensive Pens is packed with energy and features Bronson getting away with saying that he's "fully blown like Tom Hanks in Philadelphia". I can't get enough of this shit. Not to sound like "Tom Hanks in Philadelphia" over here but Action Bronson truly exemplifies everything I've ever wanted out of a rapper. Here's to hoping he doesn't suffer a massive heart attack any time soon, because I expect Bronsolino to be a mainstay on my favorite album lists for many more years to come.
1. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
Let me start by saying that
Pyramids is up there with Kanye West's
Gone, Pearl Jam's
Black, and The Rolling Stone's
Rocks Off as my favorite songs of all-time (weird list, huh?), yet some days I'll argue with myself over whether I prefer
Pink Matter or
Monks over it. That's how good this album is. Many claimed that Frank coming out of the closet right before the album release was a marketing ploy used to win over critics and fans. While it may have certainly benefitted him critically, the fact that he put out one of the finest albums in years cannot be denied. I hate to give the most popular choice for #1 the top spot here, but Frank Ocean deserves it. Channel Orange is without question the best and my favorite album of 2012.
