Albums

The Weeknd delivered more shiny, danceable pop music with his signature moody edge.

Jay Electronica’s always got one more trick up his sleeve.

Bad Bunny cannot be critique-free.

Rap’s newest Martian has returned to Earth in spectacular fashion.

‘The Allegory’ is, for a lack of a better word, woke.

Brevity continues to be the soul of Medhane's wit across ‘FULL CIRCLE.’

‘UNLOCKED’ is an exercise in gut and viscera.

“World getting warmer, we goin’ the other way.”

Alchemist’s legacy has been long secured, and ‘The Price of Tea In China’ feels like a level-up for Boldy James.

‘Funeral’ is Lil Wayne, the mixtape rapper, puncturing original beats with consistent one-liners in a stream-of-conscious style that occasionally burns out.

On ‘Big Conspiracy,’ every rap is crisp; every hook is an earworm; every song is plotted.

“If only Eminem cared more about making the best music and not being the best rapper.”

At present, 070 Shake is another member of the orchestra. But when the time comes, she’ll be ready to take up the mantle as maestro.

Mac Miller’s sixth studio album, ‘Circles,’ is the moment he comes into himself as a man, as Malcolm.

A quarter of a century later, all heads realize.

Mick Jenkins is a chess player, not a lion tamer. On ‘The Circus,’ the Chicago emcee reinforces his brand of thoughtful lyricism.

‘WWCD’ is pure hip-hop essence, bottled and sold to the eager streamer.

There’s a tenderness to the construction of ‘Everybody’s Everything,’ how the album feels like a nod to every type of Lil Peep fan.

Happy birthday to ‘The Pinkprint.’

‘Heavy Is the Head’ will only serve to solidify Stormzy’s status as a domestic superstar and increase his already aggrandizing global profile.

KAYTRANADA’s sophomore album is preoccupied with mid-tempo grooves that settle in the bones and coax wall-huggers to the dance floor.

Although Roddy Ricch‘s rap-singing style is of-the-moment, there’s an identity to his sound on ‘Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial.’

If there is a running theme throughout ‘Marcielago,’ it’s a yearning for respect.

The Buffalo trio’s major-label debut is meat-and-potatoes rap served with a side of grit on a Balenciaga placemat.

With ‘Some Rap Songs,’ rapper Earl Sweatshirt figured out how to gather an audience on his own terms.

‘Netflix & Deal’ is as indulgent as a bucket of movie theater popcorn with just a little too much butter.

One time for Rihanna's fearlessness.

Kanye is an imperfect person. ‘Jesus Is King’ is an imperfect album. Christianity is an imperfect religion. But they can all inspire us to do better.

“I used to work at a shitty restaurant bussing tables and got fired because I missed a shift to work on our last album.”

Take him or leave him, but don’t ever say ROLE MODEL didn’t know himself.

Mos Def understood that hip-hop was a culture built on connectivity.

Every sound and voice on ‘Wow... That’s Crazy’ complements the world Wale is creating; a world that is sonically lush and lyrically transparent.

The brash, Detroit emcee doesn’t sound reinvented, but reborn.

On ‘KIRK,’ DaBaby sounds like a human torch.