Yeah, definitely.
I usually find those things so half-arsed - a couple of tracks tacked on that didn’t make the cut because they weren’t very good. But this is really great. They get AJ Suede on there, and Breeze Brewin, some remixes, some new tracks…
same tbh, not listened to it that much as there’s always a few new albums every week to listen to. it is very good though
Although the Pusha T album sits in my Played once, thought it was decent, never went back bracket, Diet Coke I must have played 1000 times.
The Roc Marci/Alc album is head and shoulders above everything else for me this year, no matter the genre. Just perfect from front to back.
The big, big hitters I’ve generally been really disappointed by. Pusha, Freddie, Denzel have made ‘big’ albums that don’t really feel like they have any purpose, really. Shame because like ‘Zuu’, ‘Daytona’ etc were so tight and lean and amazing - makes them feel doubly disappointing to me.
Earl is fine. It’s good. But I don’t feel any great desire to go back to it much.
Vince is actually really good. Liked last years too. But I keep hoping he’ll do more. It’s me, not him.
Kendrick…. I really like it. In patches it’s sensational. And it kinda works in the way that a record about imperfection being so imperfect is kinda the point I guess. But it can’t maintain its level, and some of it is pretty meh. Sometimes the saviour thing feels like a bit of an excuse for it not being more considered……
But it’s not a shocker by anyone’s standards. And when it’s great, it’s really really great.
I’m not that much of a hip hop guy but gonna recommend
King cobra - infinity knives and Brian ennals
Have had it on near repeat since it came out in the summer
That’s quite the list. So far I’ve listened to a whopping 9 hip-hop albums this year. Like JaguarPirate, I also have the indie guitar boy bias. There are quite a few more in my queue so I’m sure I’ll get to 10 or 11 by year’s end. And I’m glad to see I didn’t waste my time with any of the ones in your Played once… section.
Sampled a few things mentioned so far and these sound really interesting:
Wilma Vritra - Grotto
Sampled a few tracks and it sounds lovely. Lush. I do like the vibe.
Cities Aviv - Working Title for the Album Secret Waters
I only learned of him last year, via the DiS rolling hip-hop thread, and tried out The Crashing Sound of How It Goes. Thought it was decent but ultimately shelved it (virtually) as I was tired of it always coming up when shuffling my rotation playlist due to it having 26 tracks. I had Man Plays the Horn in my 2022 queue but ended up removing after hearing a handful on shuffle, think it was residual overdose from the last album. Didn’t know about this latest one till this thread, and seeing how it’s rated really high on RYM, think I’ll put it in the queue.
They Hate Change - Finally, New
Sampling now and it sounds really cool. Very old school 90s vibe to this and I’m here for it. Reminds me of when I lived in Houston. Aside from the electronic production, the southern rapping is brining to mind a lot of stuff I’d hear down there. UGK, Eight Ball & MJG, but more underground than that. It sounds hard, ghetto 80s production and great rapping. Southern mix-tape stuff. This is very nostalgic and I need to bump this up in the queue.
I’m not much of a Hip Hop person, but more than usual has caught my ear this year. In no order:
Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals - King Cobra
They Hate Change - Finally, New
Yungmorpheus - Burnished Sums EP
R.A.P. Ferreira - 5 to the Eye with Stars
Wu-Lu - Loggerhead
Kojey Radical - Reason to Smile
Iceboy Violet - The Vanity Project
Bakar - Nobody’s Home
Raw Poetic & The Fudgemunk - Laminated Skies
Obongjayar - Sometimes I Dream of Doors
not spent a ton of time with this yet but yeah, is good. his album from earlier in the year with theravada was very good too, should’ve probs included that in my honourable mentions. was a bit underwhelmed by the ‘slang casino’ album he did with obijuan although the title track was cool
This album is brilliant cheers!
Glad for this thread because it’s reminded me to go back to a few releases I forgot about 
I know this is a generally pretty positive thread, but what’s everyone’s biggest disappointments this year? For me, it has to be Freddie and probably Pusha too. Both just kind washed over me. Which is surprising considering the run Freddie has been on in particular. Feel as if everything since Piñata has been solid to superb and this new one was just a bit boring and nothing really stood out.
Freddie Gibbs by a mile.
Probs Denzel because I thought that would be great. But Pusha & Freddie both pretty meh for me too.
Denzel really impressed me with his KEXP and Tiny Desk sessions
I’m not sure the Denzel album was a disappointment for me because I wasn’t really looking forward to it in the first place. I remember liking it the few times I listened to it, but forgot about it not long after.
Lot of new names in this thread, looking forward to checking them out. Been mostly listening to other genres in 2022.
Was disappointed by Pusha and Freddie for sure, even setting aside the Kanye and Joe Rogan of it all. Melt My Eyez is good, but just. Billy Woods is my AOTY and I really loved the They Hate Change album which would probably be in my top 10.
Mr Morale I have a lot of complicated feelings about, and I haven’t been able to listen to it since it came out for personal 2022 circumstances reasons. There are moments in there that would hit really close to home and it might be a while yet before I can go back to it. Apart from all that, I thought it was sensational as ever and an improvement over DAMN. imo
I loved Zuu. Still think it’s amazing. Had built this one up as a potential all-timer, and it was just… fine.
Prob my fault.
Yeah, I listened to both Zuu and TA13OO loads when they came out, really liked both. But this didn’t stick with me like those two did.