FREE ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLE EVERYWHERE (Chapter Nine)
“War clouds cruel sky
My ni**as survive like a moving target”
From ZIGZAGZIG by E L U C I D
20. TRAPMAT SAVIOR , Nicholas Craven & Mike Shabb – 1ST COMING
A year ago, we wouldn’t have expected to be writing about “mumble” rap with a heavenly sound. However, Montreal has produced some of the most exciting rap artists of the moment in recent years. Nicholas Craven has emerged as one of the most important producers of recent years; Mike Shabb is a rap and producer star whose albums we regularly praise, and last year TRAPMAT SAVIOR impressed us with his innovative approach. His breakthrough album, 1ST COMING, is the result of the work of three of Montreal’s greatest rap talents. Half of the record was produced by Craven, half by Mike Shabb. TRAPMAT SAVIOR jumped on the modern, almost heavenly-sounding beats with gorgeous samples and raps the emotional and introspective lyrics with his new-age mumble flow. To accuse him of making some bars harder to understand is out of place in this case. TRAPMAT SAVIOR fully connects his words with the beats and conveys the stories and emotions to the listener mostly melodically. 1ST COMING is by no means a blank album in terms of substance; on the contrary, with its almost revolutionary sound, it manages to leave a much more intense imprint on the listener than some heavily storytelling album. Throughout the album, especially when listening to the tracks Scraping and December 26th, we really felt like we were floating.
19. Kemp Dupri & juanrutina – REGAL DECAY
Kemp Dupri and juanrutina bring listeners another raw and uncompromising dose of musical energy we’ve come to expect from this well-established duo. Kemp reaches into the depths of everyday life and personal experiences. The lyrics offer a glimpse into complex emotions and thoughts that are intertwined with melodic beats and rhythmic passages. Kemp Dupri delivers crisp and poignant verses that resonate with listeners and bring a fresh perspective on current musical trends. Producer juanrutina gives the music a dense and uncompromising atmosphere that enhances the intensity of each word. Regal Decay is a work that showcases the growth and evolution of artists and their ability to create music that appeals and inspires.
18. ANKHLEJOHN – Pride of A Man
ANKHLEJOHN announced Pride of A Man in 2023 and raised our expectations. The resulting album has not disappointed us in a single aspect; it is a milestone in his career and an artistic highlight so far. From the intro of the album, where ANKHLEJOHN demands your full attention and a little patience, it is clear that LORDY knew his aces up his sleeve and decided to unload them. His distinctive voice immediately starts to cut through the incredibly imaginative and beautiful beats from producers like The Alchemist, August Fanon, Nicholas Craven, V DON, and Statik Selektah, and you will be hypnotized. The production line-up is truly stellar; the soundscape of the record is constantly changing and surprising, yet the whole project is cohesive. The record features guest appearances from Navy Blue, Willie The Kid, Domo Genesis, Fly Anakin, and Inspectah Deck, so expect only the best here as well. Pride of A Man shows what a modern rap record should be like in 2024. Even with the elite team of people who contributed to the album, the main star is ANKHLEJOHN himself. Pride of A Man is a kaleidoscopic probe into the core of his soul, taking you through every corner of his personality. You’ll catch glimpses of his childhood and his wry sense of humor. You simply must hear this record.
17. YUNGMORPHEUS & Alexander Spit – Waking Up & Choosing Violence
Every week we get several great, interesting and thoughtful rap projects that we love to listen to. Still, there are a few artists in the rap game that are a level above the rest. YUNGMORPHEUS is one of them. Last year he enlisted another rap alchemist, producer Alexander Spit, and together they released Waking Up & Choosing Violence, a rap masterpiece shrouded in mystery. YUNGMORPHEUS will never release an album the same as the one before. Each of his projects has a unique vibe, beats and visual presentation. Again, we must praise the breathtaking cover that perfectly captures the soundscape and mood of the album. YUNGMORPHEUS & Alexander Spit come across as ancient rap wizards who mix forbidden potions in their basement to take over the rap scene. Yet the record is honest, vulnerable, and YUNGMORPHEUS is charismatic in a way that only he can be.
16. CRIMEAPPLE & Preservation – El León
As we wrote in our TOP 100 Best Rap Albums of 2023 list, CRIMEAPPLE is a rapper we can always count on. He’s released numerous excellent projects each year, collaborated with many legends, such as DJ Muggs, and can rap fluently in both English and Spanish. Still, he really surprised us at the beginning of 2024. He has teamed up with producer Preservation, and together they will release a trilogy of albums. Yes, you read that right: CRIMEAPPLE, Preservation and three albums. Pres is one of the best producers of today; his beats on Aethiopes (w/ billy woods) took the genre one step further. Their first collaborative album, El León, is already on all streaming services, and we can confirm that it hasn’t disappointed us in the slightest. CRIMEAPPLE has given his best and takes the listener on a fascinating journey around the world. The rapper’s insight, life experience, and worldly knowledge are the magic that makes his lyrics and stories listen to themselves. Preservation has produced phenomenal beats that breathe a blend of different world cultures; the resulting album is such a lush rap travelogue. We look forward to the next two installments. The fact that CRIMEAPPLE released five more excellent albums last year is no surprise.
15. Phiik & Lungs – Carrot Season
Have you ever listened to revolutionary, mind-bending, and avant-garde rap projects as Dr. Octagonecologyst, Funcrusher Plus, or Fantastic Damage and wondered what it must have been like to hear them at the time they came out? Now’s your chance to experience something similar. New York innovators Phiik & Lungs, whose Another Planet 4 was ranked really high on our Top 100 Best Rap Albums of 2023 list, released their new opus last year. If you don’t know them, you better believe you haven’t heard anything like it. The album Carrot Season, with phenomenal production by OLASEGUN, is a groundbreaking rap work; it’s all weirdness set in the whirlwind of the big city, bizarre situations with a hint of the supernatural, and the chaos of New York City exposing injustice and corruption. Carrot Season is the pure art of rap, a genre gnawed to the bone yet full of nuance. A myriad of ever-changing beats, flows, and incredible bars await you in a field of fifty-five minutes. Phiik & Lungs have a million unorthodox punchlines, yet their rap is not lacking in emotion and sharp criticism of society. On the contrary, their lyrical skill allows them to reflect societal issues in a way that resonates with the listener. “Eric Adams in Versace telling me the city is improving.” The album also features a plethora of the best names in contemporary rap, such as YL, AKAI SOLO, Wavy Bagels, Michael Christmas, Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon, Homeboy Sandman, and Fatboi Sharif. Carrot Season is a groundbreaking work, rap at its most pure, yet it has nothing remotely in common with the old-school sound. Yo, from the dirt it’s carrot season, what?
14. Jadasea – Too Many Tears
The UK talent Jadase dazzled us three years ago with his album LOOKALIVE! and we included his The Corner: Vol. 1 (w/ Laron) in our TOP 100 Best Rap Albums of 2023. With his project last year, Too Many Tears, he proves that he belongs among the elite of the new rap generation. Jadasea is the voice of our time and masterfully captures the emotions that many of us experience on a daily basis. Do you feel like it’s too much for you? That every minute you have to think about several things at once, decode a lot of signals, and deal with every conceivable emotion? Too Many Tears is an emotional and introspective probe into the times when we feel many things at once and don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Right from the beginning of the album, Jadasea connects his charismatic voice to beautiful beats and hypnotizes the listener. We guarantee that this album will offer you a truly emotional experience.
13. obijuan – FLDSZN
Obijuan is for us the most important artist of 2023. We had already included his music as one of the best albums of 2022, but it wasn’t until the GUANAHANI essay that we fully understood the scope and power of his work while writing it. The year before last, he followed up GUNAHANI with XAONABO [RAW & UNXUT] (w/ dylantheinfamous) and APOXALYPSO [RAW & UNXUT] (w/ dylantheinfamous), completing the most significant rap trilogy of the decade.We named the masterpiece APOXALYPSO [RAW & UNXUT] the Best Album of 2023, and that’s high praise indeed, as we chose from roughly 1,500 albums. Last year, Obijuan slowed down the pace of releases, gifting us with the great EP ESG VOL. 3 [RAW & UNXUT], but we didn’t hear his first LP until until September. FLDSZN is coming, and it’s crushing everything you’ve known so far. FLDSZN is a monumental project of twenty-four tracks. It’s a celebration of Bahamian culture and a manifesto that Obijuan is the most distinctive rapper working today. Compared to the GUANAHANI trilogy, the album is less focused on colonialism and the Bahamas’ dark history, instead moving into a counter-attack, offering strength and determination. It is very dynamic and entertaining, thanks to a plethora of stellar producers such as Nicholas Craven, August Fanon, Camoflauge Monk, and many more. This is definitely the rapper’s most accessible work; if any record should be in the mainstream listeners’ consciousness, it’s this one. FLDSZN is raw in a completely new way, similar to when you first listened to Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) or Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… discovering the dirty streets of New York, slang, or a new soundscape. FLDSZN takes you to a third-world country with a history of injustice and betrayal in a similarly exciting way.
12. Gangrene – Heads I Win, Tails You Lose
It’s no secret that The Alchemist is a great rapper; he even has several rap projects to his credit. In 2019, he formed the duo Gangrene with producer and rapper Oh No, and since then they’ve released three albums and several EPs. The duo even released a collaborative project with Roc Marciano, and in 2013, they composed original music for Grand Theft Auto V with Tangerine Dream and Woody Jackson. When you’re driving around Los Santos and hear the iconic track Welcome to Los Santos, you’ll know that The Alchemist and Oh No worked on it. Now comes phase two. Gangrene is back with their new album, Heads I Win, Tails You Lose. All of Gangrene’s albums draw you into their iconic and adrenaline-pumped worlds. Both The Alchemist and Oh No keep specific beats for Gangrene projects that will blow you away with their uniqueness, punch, and unpredictability. Both producers have done an excellent job, and the album features some of the best beats of 2024. However, The Alchemist and Oh No are absolutely uncompromising behind the mic as well, and you can look forward to both funny and bone-chilling bars full of associations and visual parables. Gangrene doesn’t have to follow the rules of the real world, so you can look forward to prehistoric flexing, for example. Gangrene have you in the palm of their hands; don’t leave their fate to chance. They are the most advanced cyborgs who have come to the casino and know they have the technology to rob everyone in the casino. But maybe they won’t use the technology because that wouldn’t be so much fun.
11. Estee Nack & BoneWeso – SYSTEMATICALLY WE WERE NEVER FREE
Estee Nack teamed up with producer Boneweso last year, and together they released “SYSTEMATICALLY WE WERE NEVER FREE,” Nack’s magnum opus to date. Estee Nack will immediately impress you with his rap style, cadence, flows, and the beats he selects. No one raps like Nack; there’s just no doubt about it. But “SYSTEMATICALLY WE WERE NEVER FREE” is not just a formal rap exercise but an exceptional piece of work that will fascinate you in both form and content. As the title and the album’s cover and opening speech about the Constitution of the United States of America suggest, the album is a mirror of the unjust American system and the rotten world order. Estee Nack is not a rapper who walks straight though; he comes across as supernatural behind the mic, and this aura is reflected in his lyrics. The lyrics operate as complex mathematical formulas that permeate socio-cultural issues and as spirituality that is a bulwark against the system. It’s the novelty of phrases like infinity bullets that create the aura that Nack is not just rapping for himself, but for everyone who has ever and will ever take the illegal route. The record cuts to the chase and directly, so you can look forward to stories of the people of the Dominican Republic as well as references to the Gaza genocide. “SYSTEMATICALLY WE WERE NEVER FREE” is a one-of-a kind album that will go down in rap history. Boneweso produced the soundtrack of the ride to Armageddon, and Nack lent his words to it.
