Complex's 50 Best Albums of 2013

A few years removed from *Acid Rap*’s 2013 debut as a free mixtape, it’s surprisingly easy to hear impending greatness in Chance the Rapper. This hindsight comes, of course, well after the BET, Soul Train, and NAACP Image awards for best new artist, the Best Rap Album Grammy, hosting *Saturday Night Live*, the noted influence on rap demigod Kanye West’s *The Life of Pablo*, the friendship with the Obama family, the Kit Kat endorsement, and so on. But it’s here, across 13 genre-melding tracks (14, if you count the second half of “Pusha Man”), on the follow-up to 2012\'s debut *10 Day*. In the moment, Chance the Rapper’s aesthetics—a distinct singing voice stretched in all directions over a jazzy confluence of choir melodies, R&B guitar lines, vintage soul samples, trap drums, golden-era hip-hop beats, and Chicago juke music—were something of an outlier within his city\'s emerging drill music scene. “I dropped *10 Day* the same year Chief Keef started blowing up,” Chance told Apple Music’s Nadeska. “All the labels came into Chicago and the drill movement came up and it was a lot of pressure. Also around that time was when Chief Keef worked with Ye, so there was a big question of, \'Yo, you\'re the dude that super loves Ye, you’re quote-unquote “conscious rap.” You should be doing this stuff.\' So I just had a lot of pressure to bring something.” Chance would inevitably link with Kanye, but most who found their way to *Acid Rap* were looking for an alternative to drill. Which is not to say that Chance didn’t acknowledge the plight of his hometown. Topically, the second half of the album’s “Pusha Man” (colloquially known as “Paranoia”) is one of the most affecting songs of the period, with Chance singing, “Everybody dies in the summer/Wanna say goodbye?/Tell \'em while it’s spring.” Elsewhere, he uses his melodic croak to reminisce on the simple joys of childhood (“Cocoa Butter Kisses”), the man he’s becoming (“Lost”), and problems within his relationship (“Acid Rain”). *Acid Rap*’s guests are mostly voices just left of hip-hop center (Childish Gambino, Action Bronson, Ab-Soul), but Chance also made it a point to include Chicago speed-rap legend Twista and to introduce listeners to the young genius of Noname. So who then, by way of this 13-song conflation of sounds and voices, could have have known that Chance the Rapper would go on to become one of the most celebrated voices in hip-hop and a force of pop culture in his own right? The answer, simply enough, is anyone who would have listened.

Coming out of Detroit, Danny Brown has gone from blog-friendly mixtape rapper to legitimate star in just a few short years. Now he\'s signed to A-Trak and Nick Catchdub\'s Fool\'s Gold Records, and *Old* is his third full-length (following *The Hybrid* and *XXX*). It\'s his first with major-label backing and officially for sale in stores. One of the most unusual, nontraditional emcees in the game right now, Brown has two distinct vocal styles: one mellow and laid-back, the other high-pitched and hyperactive. The songs here are also of the split-personality type; half are serious, darkly introspective, and thought-provoking (\"The Return\" with Freddie Gibbs, \"Gremlins\"), while the other half are spazzed-out let\'s-get-wasted-and-party anthems that wouldn\'t sound out of place on a LMFAO record (\"Smokin & Drinkin,\" \"Handstand\"). The production—from Oh No, SKYWLKR, Frank Dukes, and BadBadNotGood—is heavy on the freaky electronics, while vocal features come from A$AP Rocky, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and others. If you\'re already a Danny Brown fan, you\'re gonna love this.

When Eminem put out the sequel to *The Marshall Mathers LP* in late 2013, he joined a small handful of rappers—including JAY-Z, Q-Tip, and the late MF DOOM—who’d managed to still sound relevant after hitting 40. Age hadn’t matured him—at least not so much that he backed off the violence, misogyny, and homophobia that made him a lightning rod 15 years earlier. But on *The Marshall Mathers LP 2*, there was a sense of awareness about his place in the culture that could be interpreted as maturity. He wasn’t a dark, twisted rapper; he was the dark, twisted rap *guy*: That was his role. So while the album’s shout-outs to Phife Dawg (“Legacy”)—as well as the old-school feel of tracks like “Berzerk” and “Survival”—could be described as nostalgia, they’re also Eminem’s way of saying that, no matter how good he is, he knows he’s just a piece in a much bigger cultural picture. By the time *The Marshall Mathers LP 2* arrived, the tabloids and headlines that once followed Eminem were mostly gone. It was just him, his notebook, his memories, and a love for the music that made him. “They said I rap like a robot, so call me Rap-bot,” he proclaims at the top of “Rap God,” before offering five and a half of the most technically demanding minutes of his career. That’s the feat, but that’s also the joke—watch him go. Same, in a way, for something like “Legacy,” which listeners might realize squeezes five minutes of rhymes out of the same few syllables. In an interview with Eminem, conducted a few years after *The Marshall Mathers LP 2*‘s release, a *New York* magazine writer asked the rapper what he liked to do for fun. “Aside from writing? Mostly I love writing,” he said. “Yeah, writing is something I really enjoy.” It’s hard to tell whether or not he’s kidding, but on *LP 2*, the picture still comes through clear: Here’s a guy so consumed by rap that the rest of the world basically doesn’t exist.

This talented three-sister act received what felt like years of hype with its advance EPs before finally releasing its debut album, *Days Are Gone*—which sports a title seemingly aware of how much time passed while fans were waiting. With such expectations, *Days Are Gone* delivers on the hype, with self-penned songs so perfectly performed that it feels unfair that Haim has received so many comparisons to Fleetwood Mac, no matter how kind and worthy. A catchy tune like “The Wire” is so immediately likable that it\'d throw the rest of an album by a lesser act off balance. Except Haim is the real deal, and even the very next songs—“If I Could Change Your Mind,” “Honey & I,” “Don’t Save Me”—exhibit fresh excitement of their own propulsion. Producer Ariel Rechtshaid (Usher, Vampire Weekend) helped these songs flow with their identities intact. The album features the best attributes of \'80s pop; while those who lived through that era might feel a sense of untraceable déjà vu, everyone should marvel at the catchy, unforced fun heard throughout this remarkable debut.

Bringing the flashiness and exuberance of Harlem with him, A$AP Ferg debuts with *Trap Lord*. Displaying anthem potential with the animated dance hall-inspired “Shabba”, combative “Dump Dump”, and adrenaline-filled posse cut “Work (Remix)”, Ferg continues the winning streak that crewmate A$AP Rocky started with flexing production and flaunting lyrics. Although the album taps into a youthful eagerness, features from hip-hop legends Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Onyx help showcase a robust renaissance of street showmanship.

Singer, songwriter, and producer Dev Hynes’ follow-up to *Coastal Grooves* is a mix of hazy electronica, treading bass lines, and waves of stirring Prince-inspired vocals. From the stark midtempo rapping on “Clipped On” to the blog-buzzing harmonies of “Chamakay,” *Cupid Deluxe* is dimensional, hypnotizing, and amorphous. With contributors ranging from Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek to Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors, *Cupid Deluxe* is a distinct and mesmerizing album that proves Hynes is as talented at a soundboard as at a microphone.

Cupid Deluxe is the follow up to Devonté Hynes’ debut as Blood Orange, 2011’s Coastal Grooves. Since that album’s release, Hynes has written and produced music for the likes of Solange, Sky Ferreira, MKS, and more. Cupid Deluxe shows a more expansive aural palate than its predecessor while retaining the pop sensibilities that Hynes has showcased since his days in Test Icicles and Lightspeed Champion. Simply put, Cupid Deluxe perfectly highlights why Hynes has become one of the most exhilarating and prolific voices creating music right now. The album was produced by Hynes in his adopted hometown of New York City, mixed by Jimmy Douglass, and features amazing guest appearances by David Longstreth (Dirty Projectors), Caroline Polachek (Chairlift), Samantha Urbani (Friends), Clams Casino, Despot, Adam Bainbridge (Kindness), Skepta and many more.

After kicking in the door as a 16-year-old rap phenomenon, Odd Future\'s Earl Sweatshirt, now 19, is unleashing *Doris*. His first full-length album further establishes him as a promising talent in hip-hop. With production from The Neptunes (\"Burgundy\"), drunken ad-libs from RZA (\"Molasses\"), rapping by Frank Ocean (\"Sunday\"), and energetic cameos from Tyler, The Creator (\"Whoa\", \"Sasquatch\"), Earl\'s introduction is assertive. Swerving among hard raps, smooth melodies, and jazz-infused chords, *Doris* is eclectic, elusive, and hard to pin down. By the time the record finishes with the sweeping soul samples of \"Knight,\" Earl\'s outing makes for an entertaining ride.

A talent on the mic and behind the boards, J. Cole crafts smart and emotive hip-hop. Guest verses on Cole\'s second studio album come from 50 Cent (\"New York Times\") and Kendrick Lamar (\"Forbidden Fruit\"), but it\'s the R&B touches that imbue the project with its defining soul. TLC\'s T-Boz and Chilli bring a summer sheen to \"Crooked Smile,\" Miguel helps turn \"Power Trip\" into a melancholic lament on love, and the Dirty Projectors\' Amber Coffman graces the dramatic \"She Knows.\"

Rhye\'s music is so Sade-like and heavy with musical instruments that it might seem odd to label it electronic. Yet it shares the chillwave DNA of The xx, Inc., and even Toro y Moi. *Woman* is an appropriately earthly title for this silky-smooth debut, perfect for a laidback late-night lounge set. “The Fall” layers murmuring piano phrases with a woozy, danceable mélange of brass and synthetic strings. Meanwhile, violins and cascading harps introduce the finger-snapping swing of \"Open.\" Michael Milosh\'s falsetto vocals are androgynous and pitch-perfect.

Beginning with the eerily prophetic opening bars of *LONG.LIVE.A$AP*’s title track—“I thought I’d probably die in prison/Expensive taste in women”—A$AP Rocky struck a unique tone on his major-label debut album. Obviously, hip-hop and the Black community at large had no shortage of justice martyrs and Dapper Dans prior to his auspicious arrival. Yet the artist born Rakim Mayers stood out most for defying trends as much as he set them, refusing to conform to anyone’s perceived norms. Guided by young luminary A$AP Yams and backed by the A$AP Mob, the Harlem-based MC didn’t sound like what people expected from NYC rap music at the time. Many of his early critics grappled with the overt Houston and, more generally, Southern hip-hop influences on his work, like “Purple Swag (Remix)” with Bun B and Paul Wall as well as the preceding *LIVE.LOVE.A$AP* mixtape. The deep, syrupy vocal effect employed for the choruses of “Goldie” and “PMW (All I Really Need)” recalls the legendary DJ Screw’s codeine-laced wizardry, while Clams Casino’s dissonant and narcotic production honors that legacy on “LVL” and the Santigold-featuring “Hell.” Yet any attempt by journalists or listeners to neatly regionalize Rocky’s musical vision for *LONG.LIVE.A$AP* would be futile given the choices and the execution that define the album. Untethered and inspired, “F\*\*kin’ Problems” defiantly mashed together Atlanta’s 2 Chainz, Toronto’s Drake, and Compton’s Kendrick Lamar into something that sounded as if it had come from nowhere or, perhaps, anywhere. On the magnificent posse exemplar “1 Train,” he wields verses by Action Bronson, Big K.R.I.T., Danny Brown, and Joey Bada\$$, among others, into a blog-rap weapon of mass appeal/destruction. Uncannily attuned to the zeitgeist, he even tapped emo dude-turned-arena DJ Skrillex for the ubiquitous trap-EDM hybrid “Wild for the Night,” which set the high-water mark for all other such rapper collabs in that part of the electronic music scene. Then there’s, of course, Rocky’s public image. Curating between streetwear cred and couture savvy, he simultaneously had the block and the runway in a proverbial chokehold. Marked by a dry-clean-only laundry list of luxe references, the Friendzone-produced “Fashion Killa” laid out a wardrobe manifesto almost as audacious as Karl Marx pamphlets or Martin Luther’s theses. Amid the song’s poetic playfulness lies a genuine heart, with its romantic reference to Rihanna and a desire for progeny “flyer than their parents” proving wildly prescient. A decade later, the power and potency of *LONG.LIVE.A$AP* has its tendrils all but fully embedded in the culture. As hip-hop’s tastes become increasingly more expensive and even rarefied, Rocky’s resonant impact appears inarguably clear.

On her 2013 debut album *Yours Truly*, Ariana Grande reintroduced herself. Before working in music full-time, she had worked on both Broadway’s *13* and Nickelodeon’s *Victorious*, eventually earning lead status on the network’s spinoff series *Sam & Cat*. Plans for her first full-length were already underway when she released her debut single “Put Your Hearts Up” in 2011, but Grande felt its bubblegum-pop sound was at odds with her self-image. As she neared 20, she needed her music to grow up with her. *Yours Truly* did that and more. Assisted by Babyface, Grande created an album that’s more mentally—and sonically—in sync with her spirit: sleek pop-R&B that approaches love from a sweet, almost coy perspective. “Hey, what happened to the butterflies?” she asks on “Honeymoon Avenue,” the strings-led opener about fading feelings. But those butterflies return in full force on songs like “Baby I,” “Right There” (featuring Big Sean), and “The Way” (featuring Mac Miller), fluttering alongside skittering percussion and bright piano chords. The R&B here is a throwback to the ’90s, while on “Tattooed Heart” Grande croons and shoops over ’50s-inspired doo-wop: “I wanna say we\'re going steady like it\'s 1954.” Whether she’s serving her now-signature “yeh” ad-libs or effortlessly slaying whistle notes, her vocals are as playful as they are powerful. Vestiges of Grande’s past are sprinkled throughout the LP, too: Leon Thomas III, her *Victorious* co-star and a musician in his own right, has several writing credits (“Honeymoon Avenue,” “Tattooed Heart,” etc.), and “Popular Song” with MIKA samples “Popular” from the Broadway musical *Wicked*—a prescient moment as Grande would later be cast as Glinda the Good Witch in the film adaptation. Ultimately, *Yours Truly* helped Grande make a successful transition from child actor to full-on pop artist, punctuated by a No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 chart. Even as she spent her next albums fine-tuning her sound and finding herself, her debut laid the foundation for a future star.

A hip-hop veteran hailing from Brooklyn\'s Brownsville neighborhood, KA got his start in the early \'90s with underground favorites Natural Elements. In recent years he\'s made a major comeback, releasing several high-quality, self-produced albums that have won him props from such disparate sources as Okayplayer, NPR, *Rolling Stone*, and Pitchfork. Rocking a distinctly raspy, almost-whispered flow, he lays down an advanced assortment of autobiographical rhymes that address his appreciation for true hip-hop (\"Off the Record\"), nightly shenanigans in the city (\"Knighthood\"), and the inevitabilities of middle age (\"Our Father\"). As with last year\'s excellent *Grief Pedigree*, the beats here are extremely understated and minimal: just sparse drums sprinkled with darkly atmospheric loops to set the mood. Roc Marciano lends a hand on \"Soap Box,\" but other than that it\'s all KA, delivering a low-key avalanche of storytelling verses that also touch on chess, religion, and the sometimes grim realities of BK.

Sky Ferreira—a hugely talented pouty-lipped waif with an old soul—wrested what was to be her debut full-length away from her label and convinced them to grant her a do-over. The result was recorded in less than three weeks, then mixed and released in a whirlwind of alchemy. *Night Time, My Time* is an impressive and muscular collection. After a series of singles and EPs, Ferreira exudes her L.A. cool all over *Night Time*, from her nude photo on the cover to her edgy delivery. Her dusky throat and pop-be-damned attitude puts her squarely between artists like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Icona Pop, swerving between an injured coo and a bad-kitty snarl with smooth deftness. Whether she\'s belting out the wistful ballad “24 Hours” or the stomping hissy fit “Nobody Asked Me,” there’s an appealing anthemic quality to these songs, written by Ferreira and a songwriting team that incudes producer Ariel Rechtshaid (Charli XCX, Usher, Haim). She strays into Madonna’s fertile territory on tunes like “I Blame Myself” and reaches into the icy underworld of ‘70s postpunk pioneer Alan Vega on “Omanko,” a clear measure of her intentions. The girl’s got it.

One of hip-hop\'s most popular artists today, Kid Cudi has gone from a buzzworthy blogger\'s darling to mainstream pop sensation in just five years. Debuting in 2008 with his mixtape *A Kid Named Cudi*, he was mentored by Kanye West and Jay-Z, who used him extensively on their smash albums *808s and Heartbreak* and *The Blueprint 3*. If you\'re already down with Cudi\'s ultra-weird style, you\'re gonna love this.

Juicy J is a rapper/producer and founding member of Three 6 Mafia. *Stay Trippy* is his third solo album (following *Chronicles of the Juice Man* and *Hustle Till I Die*). His overall sound remains the same—full of the rowdy debauchery he does best. Check out \"Bandz a Make Her Dance\" (with Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz) and \"Show Out\" (featuring Young Jeezy and Big Sean).

Kelela Mizanekristos has previously experimented with indie, jazz, and metal while searching for an outlet for her voice. By setting the emotional expressiveness of ’90s R&B to the stark, adventurous sounds of UK bass music, she’s finally found the perfect formula. From the dank grime of “Enemy” to the title track’s snipped dubstep beats, the spaciousness of the music always allows Kelela’s melodic, love-bruised vocal to shine. As a result, *Cut 4 Me* never loses the biting point between invention and immediacy.

James Blake\'s second studio album, *Overgrown*, is a hypnotizing foray from an artist whose influences have grown from the subtle, futuristic textures of his eponymous 2011 debut to embrace everything from gospel choirs to post-dubstep. On *Overgrown*, Blake further expands his omnivorous influences and yields eclectic results—from a hip-hop track featuring RZA (\"Take a Fall for Me\") to a piano ballad that foregoes synths and electronics entirely (\"Dlm\"). *Overgrown* is challenging but accessible, confidently pacing through a multifaceted garden blooming with complex electronic layers, styles, and emotions.

Crisp drums, juicy chords, irresistible hooks—Disclosure’s debut album couldn\'t have sounded fresher. Brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence were just kids when their favorite styles were last in vogue, and they bring the right balance of innocence and insouciance to swinging drums and plunging organ basslines, while vocalists like Sam Smith and AlunaGeorge lend a soulful shine to the impeccably polished productions.

POLIÇA return with their second album ‘Shulamith’, the follow up to 2012’s universally acclaimed breakthrough debut ‘Give You The Ghost’. It is set to be released 21st October on Memphis Industries. First, a little recap for you. Founded by vocalist Channy Leaneagh and producer Ryan Olson out of the ashes of Minneapolis collective Gayngs, and featuring Drew Christopherson, and Ben Ivascu on drums and Chris Bierden on bass and backing vocals, POLIÇA’s ‘Give You The Ghost’ was released in April last year. Seemingly from nowhere it became one of 2012’s standout debut albums. They made their UK live debut in June 2012, with two packed nights at the tiny CAMP Basement in London, and less than a year later, March 2013 saw the band play a triumphant show to a sold out Shepherd’s Bush Empire. With US TV performances on Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel plus their UK TV debut on Later with Jools Holland under their belt, and having toured all four corners of the globe, including appearances at Coachella, Latitude, SXSW, the xx’s Night + Day event, the band found time in late 2012 to forge ahead with recording their second album. Born then, out of a tumultuous, head spinning 18 months, the album is named in homage to pioneering feminist activist and thinker Shulamith Firestone. Channy explains: “Her ideas and written word are hugely important to me and she is my muse and my mentor from the grave. I want people to know about her. Also Shulamith means peace and that is a good word for any band to put above their door for a few years.” Musically, ‘Shulamith’ demonstrates an increased mastery and extension of the unique sonic palette that POLIÇA mined on their debut album. The recording process was naturally a more collaborative process than their debut, with the band reacting to and working off Olsen’s beats, drawing on elements of modern R&B, electronica, dub and the extreme metal scene’s use of blast beats to create a sound that, already, this early in their career, is uniquely and identifiably their own. Leaneagh’s continued exploration of, and increased control over the effects processor to manipulate and enhance her already outstanding voice take her vocals to new and unusual heights. 'Tiff' was the first track to see light of day, in April of this year, and coupled with a startlingly intense video, it sets the tone for an album where unflinching emotional, sometimes violent, sharp-eyed lyrical self-exploration is articulated via enticingly brooding R&B inflicted electronic pop. From the flurry of warped metallic synths and razor-sharp groove of opener ‘Chain My Name’ with it’s stark and rushing refrain, the angular R&B-pop futurism of ‘I Need $’, its sweetly earworm hook belying lyrics of alternately helplessness and defiance, to the gliding, birds-eye meditation of closer ‘So Leave’, 'Shulamith' reaffirms Poliça as one of the most fascinating and vital groups in forward-thinking pop. Ultimately, Channy succinctly sums up the ideas and themes behind Shulamith, and POLIÇA as follows: “Drums. Bass. Synths. Me, Women”.

With just a glance, it’s evident that French Montana’s ascent came through a set of mixtapes set ablaze with high-caliber collaborations. The heavy-hitting cameos on his 19-track debut, *Excuse My French*, reads like a contemporary hip-hop impresario’s speed dial. Just how heavy? Listen for Diddy, Rick Ross, Drake, The Weeknd, Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Lion, Lil Wayne, and 2 Chainz—to name a few. But despite all these famous voices, the most exciting one might belong to French Montana himself; he alternates between quick-witted wordplay and sing-song verses that proudly confess his vices. This Editors’ Choice is packed with flashes of brilliance, but it’s hard to top the slow grind of “Paranoid” (feat. C.A.S.H.), or the full-on raunch Nicki Minaj brings to “Freaks.”

There is an early Daft Punk track named “Teachers” that, effectively, served as a roll call for the French duo’s influences: Paul Johnson, DJ Funk, DJ Sneak. Within the context of 1997’s *Homework*, “Teachers” presented the group as bright kids ready to absorb the lessons of those who came before them. But it also marked Daft Punk as a group with a strong, dynamic relationship to the past whose music served an almost dialogic function: They weren’t just expressing themselves, they were talking to their inspirations—a conversation that spanned countries, decades, styles and technological revolutions. So while the live-band-driven sound of 2013’s *Random Access Memories* was a curveball, it was also a logical next step. The theatricality that had always been part of their stage show and presentation found its musical outlet (“Giorgio by Moroder,” the Paul Williams feature “Touch”), and the soft-rock panache they started playing with on 2001’s *Discovery* got a fuller, more earnest treatment (“Within,” the Julian Casablancas feature “Instant Crush,” the I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-The-Doobie-Brothers moves of “Fragments of Time”). The concept, as much as the album had one, was to suggest that as great as our frictionless digital world may be, there was a sense of adventurousness and connection to the spirit of the ’70s that, if not lost, had at least been subdued. “Touch” was “All You Need Is Love” for the alienation of a post-*Space Odyssey* universe; “Give Life Back to Music” wasn’t just there to set the scene, it was a command—just think of all the joy music has brought *you*. “Get Lucky” and “Lose Yourself to Dance”—spotlights both for Pharrell and the pioneering work of Chic’s Nile Rodgers—recaptured the innocence of early disco and invited their audience to do the same. There was joy in it, but there was melancholy, too: Here was a world seen through the rearview, beautiful in part because you couldn’t quite go back to it. “As we look back at the Earth, it’s, uh, up at about 11 o’clock, about, uh, well, maybe 10 or 12 diameters,” the sampled voice of astronaut Eugene Cernan says on “Contact.” “I don\'t know whether that does you any good. But there\'s somethin’ out there.” This was the Apollo 17 mission, December 1972. It remains the last time humans have been on the moon.

There are deftly wielded forces of darkness and light at work on Vampire Weekend’s third record. Elegiac, alive with ideas, and coproduced by Ariel Rechtshaid, *Modern Vampires of the City* moves beyond the grabby, backpacking indie of its predecessors. In fact, whether through the hiccuping, distorted storm of “Diane Young” or “Unbelievers”—a sprinting guitar-pop jewel about the notion of afterlife—this is nothing less than the sound of a band making a huge but sure-footed creative leap.

After grabbing headlines with a critically acclaimed mixtape in 2010, Dom Kennedy is joining the ranks of skillful Southern California newcomers like Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q, who all seem intent on redefining West Coast hip-hop for the 21st century. An equally wary and affectionate tour of his Los Angeles hometown, *Get Home Safely* demonstrates Kennedy’s unhurried flow, hypnotic stream-of-consciousness lyrics, and easy facility on the mic. Over a backing of sun-dazed synths and heavy, languid beats, Kennedy offers a slow-rolling tour of L.A. neighborhoods (“Intermission for Watts,” “South Central Love”) and keeps it local with guest spots from fellow L.A. natives TeeFlii (“Still Callin’”) and Nipsey Hussle (“Pleeze”). And while *Get Home Safely* is largely a laid-back affair, Kennedy brings it hard with the blaring brass and stomping drums of “The 5 Year Theory.\"

Britain\'s Charli XCX can be regarded as the power behind Icona Pop\'s fantastic girl-power anthem \"I Love It\" (she cowrote it with two producers). And that song\'s considerable muscle and sass easily set it apart from music by scores of other female pop artists. While the 20-year-old professes a love for classic Spice Girls and Britney (and, we suspect, Madonna), she\'s nurtured a slightly edgier vision that puts her more in the camp of artists like Marina & The Diamonds. Synths, drums, more synths, pounding dance floor beats, and a husky voice capable of both withering heat and alluring warmth turn what could be humdrum dance pop tunes (like \"Take My Hand\" and \"Black Roses\") into something bigger that rattles more than your ankle bones. The sultry, winsome \"Nuclear Seasons\" rings with the memories of Talk Talk\'s \"It\'s My Life\" and murkier memories of Duran Duran, while the snarl of \"You (Ha Ha Ha)\" hints at the power of \"I Love It,\" though it sparkles and pinwheels on a sweeter bed of synth notes. Watching Charli XCX stretch out into new pop spaces is guaranteed to be a fun ride. 

Averting the sophomore slump with authority, Big Sean looks to place himself among the rap elite with *Hall of Fame*. On an effort that\'s ambitious from start to finish, the Detroit MC demonstrates his range on everything from the melody-driven single \"Beware\" to the gospel-inspired banger \"Fire.\" Joined by an all-star cast of guests including Lil\' Wayne (\"Beware\"), Nicki Minaj (\"Milf\"), Nas (\"First Chain\"), and Miguel (\"Ashley\"), Sean displays enough lyrical growth to establish himself as a hip-hop heavyweight in his own right. As he says on the introspective closer, \"All Figured Out\": \"It isn\'t about the award/It\'s about the award of being immortalized.\"