HipHopDX's Best R&B Albums Of 2019

Summer Walker doesn’t look the way she sounds. The Atlanta singer’s face tattoos are more in line with the aesthetic of her hometown’s many hip-hop superstars than that of ’90s golden-era R&B acts like Mary J. Blige, Xscape, and SWV, but the makeover feels right for the moment. On Walker’s heavily anticipated *Over It*, which follows her 2018 breakout mixtape *Last Day of Summer*—as well as the *CLEAR* EP—the singer recontextualizes some familiar-sounding frustrations and reckonings about hard-earned romantic truths by way of throwback sounds and contemporary real talk (all of which sounds even richer thanks to Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos). “Did I ever ask you to take me to go shopping in Paris?/Or go sailing overseas and just drape me in Gucci?” she asks on the Bryson Tiller duet “Playing Games.” “No, I never had an issue, go to the club with your boys, baby/I never wanted you to stay too long, just wanted you to show me off.” Later in the song she borrows a few bars from “Say My Name,” Destiny’s Child’s eternally catchy ballad of the underappreciated lover. *Over It* is indeed peppered with references to the R&B of Walker’s childhood: Producer London On Da Track utilizes a vintage 702 sample for “Body” and builds the beat for “Come Thru,” which features Usher, on the keyboard line of the ATL icon’s 1997 “You Make Me Wanna...” The album also boasts guest spots from Drake, 6LACK, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, and long-dormant moody-R&B hero PARTYNEXTDOOR. The vantage point of *Over It*, though, is wholly the singer’s own. The exchanges in Walker’s verses sound like they could have been grafted directly from text messages or pulled from a FaceTime conversation. “Am I really that much to handle?” she opines on the title track. “You wanna be a good friend to me/Why don’t you pour up that Hennessy/Light up a few blunts so we can get high,” she sings on “Tonight.” “Too much Patrón will have you calling his phone/Have you wanting some more,” she advises on “Drunk Dialing…LODT.” Walker’s words are so relatable they seem destined to become social media captions. *Over It*, then, is a project whose title betrays its maker’s constitution, one certain only to leave fans wanting more.

Ari Lennox is Dreamville’s resident singer-songwriter, rounding out the label\'s hip-hop-heavy lineup with rich, midtempo soul birthed from basslines, melody, wind instruments, and supreme heartbreak. “I never thought I\'d make money off of soul music,” the Washington, DC-based singer told Beats 1’s Ebro. “I always thought I\'d have to be this pop artist or make this super hit, but no.” Lennox was discovered after putting her music up online, signing with Dreamville in 2015. She\'s contributed “Shea Butter Baby” to the *Creed II* soundtrack and released the 2016 EP *Pho*. The positive response to tracks like “Backseat” showed that her retro R&B fits well in contemporary times. “There\'s so many opportunities that come to me,” she said. “And I\'m just like, ‘You guys like soul and R&B that much? That\'s awesome.’ I didn\'t know it could ever happen again, because I knew it was really booming in the ’90s and the early 2000s, and then it felt like people stopped caring.” On her debut full-length, her voice is strengthened and emboldened by both breakup and “u up?” texts. She celebrates independence (“New Apartment”) and processes pain (“Speak to Me,” “I Been,” “Pop”) with equal parts frankness and freedom. Cameos by JID (“Broke”) and J. Cole (“Shea Butter Baby”) and a classy Galt MacDermot “Space” sample on “BMO” give the album its pronounced bump. “It’s soul,” she told Ebro. “There’s no gimmicks. It’s feeling.”

Calling yourself the “king of R&B” is an audacious move. It takes brass cojones to verbalize, let alone slapping it on the cover of an album. But for ATL R&B singer Jacquees, it’s not bragging if you can back it up. “I even had to tell my girl, ‘I ain\'t cocky. I\'m just confident,’” Jacquees tells Apple Music. “I just think I could be number one. I\'m not trying to hate on nobody or knock nobody else. I\'m just telling you what I think I can do.” Jacquees steps up his game on his second album—called, of course, *King of R&B*—the follow-up to his well-received 2018 debut *4275*. His old-school sensibility—the drawn-out notes, the buttery mid-range, a highly tuned rhythmic intuition—has contemporary knock, thanks to a production squad that includes $K, Nash B, Troy Taylor, Xeryus, and Young Trill Beats. The album kicks off with words from T.I., who made similar waves back in the day for proclaiming himself the “King of the South.” Additional guests like Lil Baby (“Your Peace”), Future (“What They Gone Do With Me”), Young Thug and Gunna (“Verify”), and Quavo and Bluff City (“All You Need”) show Jacquees is simpatico with moody hip-hop. He and fellow R&B great Tory Lanez have a fun tête-à-tête on “Risk It All.” *King of R&B* feels like Jacquees’ coronation, and he’s prepared for any blowback that comes with it. “I just had to step up,” he says. “You can only be humble for so long. LeBron James is my favorite player, but you know how everybody be like, ‘Man, LeBron ain\'t got no dog in him.’ I just had to bring the dog out of me.”

If trip-hop had been created in sunny Inglewood, California, instead of downcast Bristol, it might sound a lot like *Chasing Summer*. It’s mood-intensive and takes unexpected stylistic shifts, yet stays true to the block. SiR, an R&B prodigy and TDE signee, doesn’t bunker down behind muted, eclectic sound banks. His supple reading is front and center, reveling in tales of love and torment. Stars like labelmate Kendrick Lamar (“Hair Down”), Lil Wayne (“Lucy’s Love”), Jill Scott (“Still Blue”), and Sabrina Claudio (“That’s Why I Love You”) are drawn to his magnetic personality, respectfully vibing with SiR on his level. *Chasing Summer* passes the bump test, no matter what the season. Stay for the album’s closer “LA,” his potent love letter to the City of Angels.

*Songs for You* may be R&B-pop eclecticist Tinashe\'s fourth full-length release, but for a musician whose career has been christened a cautionary tale (false starts, delayed albums, lack of radio support, critically acclaimed mixtapes closely followed by sporadic single drops), it feels like her first. Now an independent artist—five years removed from the clubby Drake-approved and -remixed \"2 On,\" which launched her career, and the major-label debut *Aquarius*, which sustained it—Tinashe\'s battle for self-expression has paid off. The result is an album that sounds like liberation, traversing genre (the G-funk \"Hopscotch,\" acoustic guitar-pop on \"Remember When,\" even the disco of \"Perfect Crime\" with the ease and confidence of someone newly unburdened by extramusical pressure. The album is a showcase of versatility: Opener \"Feelings\" is smooth, sex-positive emo trap.\* \*On\* \*\"Die a Little Bit,\" featuring Londoner Ms Banks, Tinashe delivers jagged \'90s house—she also raps, and grunts, and contorts her voice into a hoarse, breathy murmur—a combination previously unheard in her more polished recordings. \"Touch & Go,\" her collaboration with Atlanta\'s 6LACK, is the album\'s breakup ballad. \"Story of Us,\" produced by \"SICKO MODE\" mastermind OZ, is the album’s heart: its truest moment of alt-R&B. Scattered throughout are slinky Janet Jackson, Aaliyah, and FKA twigs impressions.

Released three months apart in 2018, the two *I Used to Know Her* EPs, combined here into a full-length, signaled where the R&B singer/multi-instrumentalist was at and pointed to where she’s going. She unveils a new skill, rapping, on “Lost Souls,” a tribute to Lauryn Hill’s classic “Lost Ones,” while “Against Me” and “Feel a Way” revert back to the sensual alt-quiet storm of her self-titled 2017 project. “Could’ve Been,” with Bryson Tiller, scans like a sad follow-up to her joyful duet with Daniel Caesar, “Best Part.” With “Carried Away,” you can hear the then-21-year-old pushing her sound in brand-new, unexpected directions. Her earlier projects’ after-hours, filtered-down synth pads are replaced with the rough, more human edges of acoustic guitar and piano, played by the artist herself. “Hard Place” is the new, livelier sound’s high point, with its mix of low-register verse confessionals and high-flying hook harmonies over a rim-shot-and-shaker beat. On the other end of the spectrum is “Lord Is Coming,” which starts with a spoken-word screed decrying materialism and racism (including immigrant family separations) before building into a haunting classic spiritual, complete with acoustic bass, humming choir, and Revelations-inspired lyrics. Bonus tracks include two collaborations with YBN Cordae (“Racks” and an update of “Love Is Coming”) and a sumptuous live version of “Uninvited,” recorded in London for Apple Music’s Up Next series.

Born to Iranian parents in Sweden and now based in LA, Snoh Aalegra represents the hopeful global face of R&B. Early cosigns from both Prince and Drake (who sampled her song “Time” for his *More Life* track “Do Not Disturb”) gave her 2017 debut album *Feels* extra eyes and ears. Her second album, humorously titled *- Ugh, Those Feels Again*, digs deeper into the groove she created. Her satin voice doesn’t need gimmicky production, so producers like NO I.D., D-Mile, and Doctor O create an open canvas for Aalegra to attack. And does she ever, rising above relationship woes with sculpted grace (“I Want You Around,” “Love Like That,” “Situationship”). She works abdominals with the body-roller “Toronto,” while “Nothing to Me” raises both heat and BPMs.

In the three years since her seminal album *A Seat at the Table*, Solange has broadened her artistic reach, expanding her work to museum installations, unconventional live performances, and striking videos. With her fourth album, *When I Get Home*, the singer continues to push her vision forward with an exploration of roots and their lifelong influence. In Solange\'s case, that’s the culturally rich Houston of her childhood. Some will know these references — candy paint, the late legend DJ Screw — via the city’s mid-aughts hip-hop explosion, but through Solange’s lens, these same touchstones are elevated to high art. A diverse group of musicians was tapped to contribute to *When I Get Home*, including Tyler, the Creator, Chassol, Playboi Carti, Standing on the Corner, Panda Bear, Devin the Dude, The-Dream, and more. There are samples from the works of under-heralded H-town legends: choreographer Debbie Allen, actress Phylicia Rashad, poet Pat Parker, even the rapper Scarface. The result is a picture of a particular Houston experience as only Solange could have painted it — the familiar reframed as fantastic.