REVIEW | TOP 10 ALBUMS AND OFFICIAL MIXTAPES OF 2018

By Alex Gordon • On Reviews , ,

top10

 

1.Payroll Gio­vanni & Cardo - Big Bossin’ Vol. 2 (Def Jam Recordings)
The duo set the bar high with an excel­lent slice of lux­uri­ous smooth­ness that pays homage to 90s West Coast G‑Funk. The high-pitch whines provide the per­fect back­drop for Payroll’s street dreams to cre­ate an album which sits deservedly at the top of the stack.

2. Curren$y, Fred­die Gibbs & The Alchem­ist — Fetti (ESGN / Jet Life Record­ings / ALC / EMPIRE)

This con­cise release dis­plays the ver­sat­il­ity of a trio of artists who con­tin­ue to excel in their respect­ive fields, col­lab­or­at­ing to pro­duce a pro­ject worthy of the inter­net hype.

 3.Sure Shot — Design­er Tapes Vol. 1 (Dun­bar Records)
Out­stand­ing NY boom bap which cap­tures the essence of hip-hop’s birth­place with per­fectly flipped samples, anthem-like hooks and an emcee who exudes cha­risma throughout.

 4.Knowledge The Pir­ate -Flint­lock(TREAS­URECHEST ENTERTAINMENT)
A grimey and impress­ively con­fid­ent debut pro­ject which fea­tures the key traits of clas­sic East Coast mater­i­al, densely laced full of soul samples and street narratives.

 5. Sky­zoo -In Cel­eb­ra­tion Of Us (First Gen­er­a­tion Rich / EMPIRE)

A mature and socially-con­scious pro­ject which sees Sky­zoo deliv­er yet anoth­er stand-out lyr­ic­al per­form­ance. Delivered with thought­ful­ness and clar­ity he cre­ates humble music over cohes­ive and var­ied pro­duc­tion.

6.Black Milk -FEVER (Mass Appeal Records / Com­puter Ugly)

Draw­ing on live instru­ment­a­tion and fus­ing it with elec­tron­ic, soul and psy­che­del­ic samples this is a diverse and inter­est­ing listen that adds depth to his impress­ive catalogue.

 7.eLZhi & Khrys­is are Jericho Jack­son -Jericho Jack­son (Jamla Records)

Razor sharp multi-syl­lab­ic lyr­i­cism and power­ful imagery from the ever-reli­able eLZhi and sparse, dusty pro­duc­tion from Khrys­is to get heads nodding.

 8.Benny — Tana Talk 3 (Griselda Records)
The strongest release from the Griselda camp this is argu­ably Benny’s most well-roun­ded release yet. Spit­ting with a rare clar­ity and con­fid­ence this pro­ject evokes memor­ies of the mid-90s.

 9.Planet Asia - The Golden Buddha (Brick Records LLC)

The West Coast lyr­i­cist brings wis­dom and diversity on one of sev­er­al pro­jects he released in 2018, fur­ther solid­i­fy­ing his status as one of the under­ground’s finest.

 10.Hermit & The Recluse- Orph­eus Vs. The Sirens(Obol for Char­on Records)
Bound­ary-push­ing rap­per KA con­nects with pro­du­cer Anim­oss for his sixth and argu­ably strongest release so far. The vet­er­an NY fire-fight­er weaves his myth­o­lo­gic­al, coded storytelling intric­ately between the per­fectly bal­anced sparse but intense production.

 Hon­our­able Mentions:

Dun­bar — Nar­cot­ics (Dun­bar Records)

Le$ - Trouble In Para­dise (Slfemp Music LLC., SxS)

Chris Crack - Being Woke Ain’t Fun (New Deal Collectives)

Fred­die Gibbs - Fred­die (ESGN / EMPIRE)

Evid­ence - Weath­er Or Not (Rhymesay­ers Enter­tain­ment, LLC.)

West­Side Gunn — Supreme Bli­en­tele (Griselda Records)

Apollo Brown & Joell Ort­iz — Mona Lisa (Mello Music Group)

Con­way — Every­body Is F.O.O.D. 2: Eat What U Kill (Griselda Records)

Roc Mar­ciano & DJ Muggs - KAOS (Soul Assas­sins Records)

Roc Mar­ciano - Behold A Dark Horse (Marci Enter­prises LLC.)

Apollo Brown & Lock­smith - No Ques­tion (Mello Music Group)

Curren$y - The Spring Col­lec­tion (Jet Life Recordings)

Drake - Scor­pi­on (Young Money / Cash Money Records)

Roc Mar­ciano - RR2: The Bit­ter Dose (Marci Enter­prises LLC.)

Con­way — Every­body Is F.O.O.D. (Griselda Records)

Curren$y — Fire In The Clouds (Jet Life Recordings)

Estee Nack x Sadhugold. — SURFINONGOLD.WAV (Not On Label)

 

Top 15 EPs

Curren$y & Harry Fraud — The Mar­ina EP (Jet Life Recordings)

Big K.R.I.T. - THRICE X (Multi Alumni LLC)

Wil­lie The Kid — Stu­dio 28 (The Fly LLC)

Wil­lie The Kid — Mid­w­est Wil­lie (The Fly LLC)

Fly Ana­kin & Big Kahuna OG — Big Fly 2 (Mutant Academy)

Jay Worthy, Mitchy Slick & DJ Fresh — The Ton­ite Show (Fresh In The Flesh)

Wil­lie The Kid & Klever Skemes - Gold Rush 2 EP (ROMAN­IC LLC)

The Alchem­ist – Bread EP (ALC Records)

Curren$y - Air Freshna EP (Jet Life Recordings)

Fly Ana­kin & Big Kahuna OG — Life & Times Of Big­Fly (Mutant Academy)

Wil­lie The Kid - Things Of That Nature (The Fly LLC)

Le$ — Lost In Japan EP (Slfemp Music LLC., SxS)

Big K.R.I.T. — DOUBLE DOWN (Multi Alumni LLC)

The Alchem­ist — Lunch Meat EP (ALC Records)
V Don — The Bone Col­lect­or (Ser­i­ous Soundz)

 

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Alex Gordon

Between 9–5 I’m a pas­sion­ate teach­er for teen­agers with spe­cial needs and dis­en­gaged young people. From 5–9 I’m a left-wing hip-hop head who fell in love with the music in the mid-90’s. Also have an equal love for jazz, soul and funk, am an avid record col­lect­or, lov­er of live shows and occa­sion­al DJ.

About Alex Gordon

Between 9-5 I'm a passionate teacher for teenagers with special needs and disengaged young people. From 5-9 I'm a left-wing hip-hop head who fell in love with the music in the mid-90’s. Also have an equal love for jazz, soul and funk, am an avid record collector, lover of live shows and occasional DJ.