Stereogum's 40 Best Rap Albums of 2014

The hip-hop industry is largely powered by bluster and bravado, which is why the matter-of-factness of *Hell Can Wait* is so compelling. Often, rappers as intelligent as Vince Staples treat their audience with a high level of sanctimony and condescension. Staples has a ferocious intellect, but he shows absolutely no interest in preaching. *Hell Can Wait* is about how he loves gangsta culture and hates it; how he loves hip-hop and loathes it; and how he\'s proud of his roots but disgusted. He speaks the truth—not only the sensationalistic details but the unbearable contradictions.

At first glance, the pairing of producer Madlib and rapper Freddie Gibbs seems unlikely. The former is the ultimate crate-digger, known as much for his reclusive tendencies as his endless collection of obscure soul, jazz, rock, and other musical ephemera; the latter is a street-hardened former dealer who rhymes about the perils of the dope game. But they say opposites attract, and in this case their two aesthetics complement one another. Gibbs is a nimble, gifted rapper, his syllables quick-stepping around Madlib\'s many twists and turns, from the grainy \'70s soul-funk of \"Scarface\" to the half-time disco of \"Harold\'s\" to the hazy West Coast G-funk of \"Thuggin.\" The duo\'s credentials are strong enough to pull some of hip-hop\'s finest into their orbit: oddball Danny Brown contributes a verse to the squirming \"High,\" while the crews from The Wu-Tang Clan, Top Dog Entertainment, and Odd Future are all represented (via cameos from Raekwon, Ab Soul, and Earl Sweatshirt, respectively). As a final shot of gravitas, Scarface drops a verse on \"Broken.\" It\'s a deserved blessing from one of hip-hop\'s finest MCs to one of its most unlikely but successful pairings.

*Incarcerated* dropped while Boosie Badazz (né Lil Boosie) was serving an eight-year bid on drug charges—but it did increase demand for it. While technically a mixtape, *Life After Death Row* is the first set the Southern rap legend has put out since his March 2014 release. Boosie raps about the degradations of time served and the revelations of freedom, outlining his murder charges on the opener. That\'s followed by a string of songs about reuniting with the opposite sex, including \"Facetime\" featuring Trey Songz. Designed to pacify fans eagerly awaiting Boosie\'s new studio album, *Death Row* is a welcome reintroduction to one of rap\'s biggest talents.

After more than 25 years of making records, DJ Quik remains relevant because he adheres to a timeless template of West Coast hip-hop and because he always finds new ways to put a twist on that classic sound. In comparison to *The Midnight Life*, many contemporary rap albums sound belabored and hackneyed. With “Back That S\*\*t Up,” “Broken Down,” and “Life Jacket,” Quik exhibits an unparalleled attention to sonic detail while retaining a rap style that\'s casual and uplifting but never dumbed-down. The album is full of little surprises, but nothing is more pleasurable than the smoother-than-smooth “Pet Semetary.”

On his first mixtape, Chicago rapper G Herbo eschews the heavy percussion of Chicago drill. Instead he floats on soulful sounds, like the chopped-up sample that forms the beat of “Fight or Flight” or the sped-up Stylistics loop that drives the somber and touching “Write Your Name.” At its core, the album is massively heartfelt, most notably when Herbo finds his way back to his family, like on “Momma I’m Sorry.”

Hailing from Chattanooga, Tenn., emcee Isaiah Rashad is the odd man out among the mostly West Coast Top Dawg label roster, which includes Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul. But other than his hometown, he fits right in: his prodigious understanding of hip-hop history is evident on tracks like “R.I.P. Kevin Miller” and “Brad Jordan”, the former a tribute to Master P’s murdered brother, the latter an ode to seminal Houston rapper Scarface. The album boasts a motley crew of producers, most of them newcomers as well; they have Black Hippy’s soul-funk aesthetic down pat, and Rashad’s rhymes explore the tension between hip-hop’s grown-man stoicism and the anxieties that accompany life’s many crossroads. Best of all, the guy can rap, with his dexterous flow flitting its way between somnolent jazz samples and skittering rhythms. From the melancholy soul-searching of “Tranquility” to the confident g-funk of the title track, *Cilvia Demo* is an ambitious, honest and unforgettable debut.

The star power of the guests on Future\'s second album—Kanye, Drake, Pharrell, Lil Wayne, and André 3000, among others—speaks to the near-insurmountable heights the Atlanta rapper has reached since his 2012 debut, *Pluto*. That he shows them all up explains how he got there. Take \"I Won,\" a solemn beat over which Kanye and Future exult their \"trophy\" wives. Where \'Ye rifles off shallow boasts, Future\'s verses are sincere, almost touching. On the sprightly surprise standout \"Benz Friendz,\" Future\'s ATL bro André 3000 dances around the whimsical beats like a peacock, but it\'s Future\'s husky baritone that brings the party. Dominated by Mike WiLL Made It\'s 16-ton production (tracks like \"My Momma\" and \"Honest\" lumber like they\'re dragging chains), *Honest* demolishes the line between hip-hop and R&B. Its Auto-Tune hooks, rat-a-tat verses, and confessional lyrics exemplify the best of both genres in 2014.

CLPPNG is the debut album from LA based rap trio, clipping. for Sub Pop Records. Blending precise, quick fire vocals with caustic burst of noise, clipping. are classic west coast rap music from the tradition where sounding different wasn't cause for fear. Order here: megamart.subpop.com/releases/clipping/clppng

Though beset by label delays and Twitter squabbles, no amount of innuendo could stymie the vividly original debut by Harlem pop iconoclast Azealia Banks. The snaking electro-house breakout \"212\" remains essential listening, flanked by a kaleidoscopic mélange of Latin, funk, trap, and hip-hop: forget naming styles, they\'re all here. Rapping and singing with equal aplomb, Banks anchors the spooky U.K. garage of \"Desperado\" as ably as she does the industrial skronk of \"Yung Rapunxel\" (the conflation of \"rap\" and \"punk\" there is no accident). The Ariel Pink collaboration \"Nude Beach A-Go-Go,\" with its echoes of Gidget and \'50s pop, is positively flummoxing in the best way.

Following in the footsteps of fellow Black Hippy member Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q makes his major-label debut with *Oxymoron*, an album as thematically ambitious and sonically adventurous as Lamar\'s celebrated *good kid, m.A.A.d city*. Detailing Q\'s days as a drug dealer, hustler, and father, the record doesn\'t just open a vein; it practically bleeds to death, as on the album centerpiece \"Prescription/Oxymoron,\" a menacing track about the litany of bad vibes caused by drug use: \"I cry when nothing\'s wrong.\" Not that *Oxymoron* is a downer–far from it. \"Collard Greens\" is addictively rambunctious, daring listeners to not bounce with its circular bassline and jittery beat. And Q\'s flow is a thing to behold. He snarls, wheezes, croons, coos, barks, and caws, playing the lascivious lothario on \"The Studio,\" the boisterous party-starter on \"Man of the Year,\" and the unapologetic recidivist on, well, pretty much on every track. Indeed, Q more than lives up to his rep as Black Hippy\'s unhinged id.

Avant-hip-hoppers Shabazz Palaces finally let it be known that they\'re the master duo of former Digable Planets member Butterfly (now known as Palaceer Lazaro) and instrumentalist Tendai “Baba” Maraire. After the critical success of their debut, *Black Up*, it’s likely the follow-up, *Lese Majesty*, will draw even more critical and commercial interest. The sounds themselves are low-key, letting the various instrumental patches respond to one another or enhance the atmospherics. Maraire excels at minimalism and texture, creating a complete track with the least amount of ingredients and thriving on providing seamless interludes. Lazaro provides a variety of vocals that shift from philosophical quips to word-associated ramblings where seriousness and clever thinking often work together. “Dawn in Luxor,” “Forerunner Foray,” and “They Come in Gold” form an intense opening trilogy, while “Motion Sickness,” “New Black Wave,” and “Sonic MythMap for the Trip Back” close the album with a similar focus.

'Lese Majesty' is the follow up album to 2011's 'Black Up' by Shabazz Palaces.

Kevin Gates holds nothing back on *By Any Means*, a mixtape released just as the Louisiana rapper was becoming a national star. Backed by dense, thunderous trap beats and horror-movie piano lines, Gates tackles subject matter that most MCs would leave untouched. \"Posed To Be In Love\" paints a disturbing portrait of a man being left by his girlfriend, while \"Wish I Had It\" zooms out, the rapper juggling flows as he narrates a tour of an impoverished \"different city within the city.\"

When Mac Miller released *Watching Movies With the Sound Off* in 2013, he\'d turned a corner personally and creatively. The bright, chipper style that marked the earlier part of his career pivoted to darker moods. Its follow-up *Faces*, released the following year, continued down that path, with the Pittsburgh rapper both basking in his growing profile and respect—“did it all without a Drake feature” and “did it all without a Jay feature,” he quips on the triumphant “Here We Go”—and grappling with his mortality. The declaration that he “might die before \[he\] detox\[es\]” on “Malibu” is haunting in hindsight, but in the moment, it was precisely that kind of rawness that made him so compelling. *Faces* captures Miller in transition. It\'s a collage of contrasting realities, a mind as capable of creation as it is annihilation. The woozy anxiety of “Friends” captures the pride of winning with the people who\'ve been there all along and the demons that have been there, too: “My grandma probably slap me for the drugs I got/I\'m a crackhead but I bought her diamonds, we love rocks.” Such clever turns of phrase make the project a kind of choose-your-own-adventure odyssey. Do you want to hear Miller as an agile wordsmith and producer fine-tuning the intricacies of his craft, as a blossoming artist defining success on his terms, or as a troubled young adult already beginning to see the writing on the wall? (“I inherited a thirst for self-destruction and I\'m scared of it,” he admits on the spaced-out “San Francisco.” “I\'m a bigger illusion than good marriages or what it means to be American.”) All would be true, and all are the bedrock and brilliance of *Faces*. Miller\'s generosity and willingness to evolve in front of an audience—a commitment to searching that extended from his beats and lyrics to his lived experiences—remains one of his greatest gifts to the world.

Though youthful stylists like Young Thug and Chief Keef have hogged the media’s attention, Washington D.C.’s Shy Glizzy has quietly become one of the most convincing and original street rappers in the country. *LAW 3* shows him fast maturing without losing his essential voice. And what a voice it is: youthful yet raspy, always on the verge of cracking. The desperation and vulnerability that radiates from Glizzy only intensifies his bravado. He plays the idol on “Cocky” and “Awesome,” but the most revealing moment is “Funeral,” a splendid and poignant foretelling of his own downfall.

If Riff Raff didn\'t exist, pop culture would have to invent him. Gleefully tipping hip-hop\'s sacred cows, he\'s as much a meme as a musician and equally talented at being both. On his official debut, *Neon Icon*, he pours salt on everyone\'s game (even his own), chopping up styles like an Iron Chef. \"Introducing the Icon\" sounds like Run-DMC, while \"Kokayne\" is built around an electric guitar riff and a punk beat. There\'s slinking trap throughout, but \"Time\" is a curiously fluid slow jam. Much of the record scans as an inside joke: What\'s an \"Aquaberry Dolphin\"? Or a \"Versace Python\"? Through it all, Riff dares you to take him seriously: \"When I wake up, it\'s a mystery/Every time I open my mouth? History.\"