Here is the big one. After counting down the best/worst songs, mixtapes, beats and videos in the last few days, we’re here with our albums list today, the final post in the year-end list segment. Take a look and tell us your thoughts on our picks.
1. These lists are in no specific order from 1 to 5 and are based on personal preferences of the HHNM staff which includes Navjosh, Joe Money, Jay Holz, AK and Maher.
2. The main criteria for these picks were: how often we pressed play on a particular song, video or album and how much it impacted our ears. They are not based on the amount of spins on the radio, how many copies it sold or the critical and fan acclaim it received.
3. These picks have been delivered to you unfiltered, without any bias or pre-determined notions and result of days of discussion.
4. Whether you agree or disagree, we appreciate you taking out the time to read this!
BEST ALBUMS
Drake – Nothing Was The Same
Frankly speaking, it’s hard to find anything wrong with Drake’s 3rd studio album Nothing Was The Same. Aubrey was able to keep your ears glued to the front till back of the disc. ‘Tuscan Leather’ was arguably the best intro to any project in recent memory, ‘Started From The Bottom’ and ‘Hold On We’re Going Home’ were big crossover hits and ‘Pound Cake’ shook the e-streets immensely. The production was phenomenal and the content relatable, making Nothing Was The Same a top album of 2013.
Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP2
Going by the title, we were all hoping The Marshall Mathers LP 2 to be the perfect sequel to the classic 2000 album but come on folks, this is 13 years later and Eminem is a much different person — we were reaching with those expectations. Focusing on the important parts of judging an album, from top to bottom, Marshall was spitting some excellent bars over the unique production overseen by Rick Rubin. We all missed Dr. Dre’s touch on the project but regardless, Eminem proved yet again why he can still call himself the ‘Rap God’.
J. Cole – Born Sinner
J. Cole moved his release up a week early so his Sophomore effort Born Sinner could compete with Kanye’s album Yeezus. Bold move to say the least and it paid off. The TLC-assisted ‘Crooked Smile’ was a powerful and important song for today’s society and the issues surrounding it, ‘Power Trip’ received a well-deserved Grammy nomination this year, the intro Villuminati’ showed us Cole’s passion and vulnerability from the gate. Born Sinner was the first project from J. Cole where he truly opened up to his listeners. It was a well put together album and had it not been for a few skippable tracks, we could have put this album in the “great” category.
Jay Z – Magna Carta Holy Grail
Next up is Magna Carta Holy Grail, the album Jay Z considers his fourth best in his discography and the one which received the most unique release. It was a great decision to hand over Timbaland most of the production, and thank heavens he did. ‘Holy Grail’ saw Jay and JT teaming up for another massive hit and ‘F*ckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt’ was one of the best songs of the year, without question. Although some of the bars from Hov showed laziness, the production on the album was incredible. When people began to wonder if Jay still had it in him, he gave us a cohesive, memorable album with Magna Carta Holy Grail.
Wale – The Gifted
Say what you want about Wale’s behavior off the mic, but his second studio album under the MMG imprint The Gifted was a solid piece of work. Wale has a knack for giving us at least one hit record from each of his projects and for The Gifted, we can award it to the seductive tune ‘Bad’. Other notable songs include the Just Blaze-produced ’88’, his club banger ‘Clappers’ featuring Juicy J and Nicki Minaj, and the jazzy single ‘LoveHate Thing’. Wale shouldn’t have blown up on Complex the way he did, but based on the quality of The Gifted, we understand his emotion.
Big Sean really disappointed us this year with his Sophomore effort Hall Of Fame. After putting out one of the best mixtapes of 2012, Detroit, we had high hopes that Sean would avoid a nasty Sophomore slump — we were wrong. Apart from a few songs worth more than a spin, the album just wasn’t good and seemed full of throwaway tracks. The experience was even more bitter because we all know Sean is capable of making outstanding records.
DJ Khaled – Suffering From Success
We are not taking anything away from DJ Khaled because the man is talented, but Suffering From Success is nothing more than an unorganized, compilation project. There are far too many tracks that have far too many rappers featured on there. Then to make matters worse, Khaled thought it would be a great idea to title a song ‘I Feel Like Pac, I Feel Like Biggie’. Not to mention, his awkward and fake ‘proposal’ to Nicki Minaj with ‘I Wanna Be With You’. You’re a mastermind and a great business man Khaled, but you missed with this one.
Lil Wayne – I Am Not A Human Being II
Lil Wayne, where are you? We miss you. Mr. Carter’s recent album I Am Not A Human Being II was a lousy piece of work and it’s disappointing when you reminisce about what Wayne has done for Hip-Hop in the past. We’re not sure what it is, but it’s obvious that Weezy has lost his touch to a certain degree. It feels like the highly successful star is basking in his glory, and not putting too much effort in his craft lately.
French Montana – Excuse My French
French Montana fell way short of having a great album this year with Excuse My French. Sure, his album spawned two hits, ‘Pop That’ and ‘Ain’t Worried Bout Nothin’, but there is nothing else memorable about the album. He seemed lazy and tired on each track, appeared to get outshined by everyone who was featured, and most importantly, he failed to keep us interested.
Kid Cudi – Indicud
We thought KiD CuDi would be back to what he does the best with Indicud after experimenting a bit on his collaborative album with Dot Da Genius, WZRD but not to be. Cudder failed to deliver what he’s special at — long lasting melodies and combine that with some awkward song structures, this wasn’t an album we would spend out money on.
Let us get this straight — Pusha’s debut album was pretty decent but really not as good as being worth called the “album of the year”. Some of the songs impressed us but there’s plenty of mediocrity as well and hence, it’s on our list of overrated albums of 2013.
Danny Brown – Old
Nothing against Danny Brown but we just can’t get into the Detroit rapper’s tone of voice and style of delivery. We did give his latest album Old a spin but found it hard to enjoy.
Tyler, The Creator – Wolf
Just like we mentioned in our worst songs list, Tyler is quite a creative artist who shows signs of great talent from time to time. But barring the solid production, his second album Wolf was pretty disappointing.
Kanye West – Yeezus
Kanye is a creative genius — most of us will agree on that but he went too far with his experimentation ways on Yeezus. Tracks 7 to 10 ie.‘Blood On The Leaves’, ‘Guilt Trip, ‘Send It Up’ and ‘Bound 2’ were the ones we enjoyed but rest of the album was conveniently kept aside. You can be different but still keep a balance by creating good music. Kanye was only focused on the former.
Dom Kennedy – Get Home Safely
The production on Dom Kennedy’s album Get Home Safely is actually quite outstanding but the lyrical content is very monotonous. For a first time listener, the LP starts off strongly but a few songs in, you suddenly realize that it’s lacking depth and really not going anywhere. Kennedy’s effort definitely got more recognition than it deserved.
We actually wanted to put this album in our best albums list but we thought it will get more shine if we include it in our underrated category. Released just last month, Bobby Ray’s third album is nothing short of greatness. The multi-talented artist did a tremendous job of balancing pop-friendly and traditional Hip-Hop, and made an album with absolutely no skips. It’s still not too late so wake up and put it in your playlist now.
Mac Miller – Watching Movies With The Sound Off
Mac Miller’s latest album came out on the same day as Kanye’s Yeezus and J. Cole’s Born Sinner which was the prime reason why it slipped under some people’s radar. The project itself gets a 4/5 rating from us where Mac showed his overall growth as a rapper and proved that he isn’t “just another white rapper”.
Yo Gotti – I Am
Yo Gotti has a good ear for production and is capable of making quality music as he showed us with his latest album I Am. The 13 song album doesn’t just represent the Memphis sound but has a national appeal with the current single ‘Cold Blood’ featuring J. Cole as a prime example.
Black Milk – No Poison No Paradise
We were a little disappointed with Black Milk’s previous album Album of The Year but he turned things around with 2013 follow up No Poison No Paradise. The flow sounded sharp, the production shouted diversity and tracks like ‘Money Bags (Paradise)’ and ‘Poison’ (Bonus Track) proved once again how lethal he can be as a producer.
A$AP Rocky – Long.Live.A$AP
Released top of 2013, A$AP Rocky’s major label debut Long.Live.A$AP was full of songs that are worth playing on repeat. Prior to the release, we had doubts whether the much hyped Harlem rapper would be able to deliver or not but he proved us wrong. It didn’t only have solid album cuts but was also able to spawn a huge hit in ‘F**kin Problems’.
