By Gary Suarez in Newsletter — Dec 17, 2024

The Best Hip-Hop Albums Of 2024

Independent hip-hop and rap music had an incredible year. Here are the 25 albums that made it so.

Well, it's that time of year again, when I spend an inordinate amount of time handwringing over one of my least favorite practices in music journalism. Only this time, it's so much worse.

For my remaining peers in this aggressively dwindling field, I'm sure year-end list-making is a still a pretty good time, revisiting their favorite records from the preceding 11 months to determine which ones remain worthy of their critical love. For freelancers, a growing if marginalized class within the media system, landing work of this sort helps keep the lights on in January and, hopefully, February too. And unlike some of the scummy, scuzzy stuff we've all had to do to pay the bills, writing up the best music of a given calendar year can feel celebratory, almost self-validating.

Nowadays, at least for me, list season now feels more like attending a funeral in slow motion.

As was once the case with critical reviews in print or online, it used to mean a good deal for an artist's album to end up on a music or entertainment media outlet's "Best Of" list. It added an air of reputability, a miasma of clout, the chance of better treatment for said artist by the industry's various channels in the coming year. But as we watch the staff of site after site after site suffer layoffs, reorgs, and other such indignities, even my long-held grievances with the preferential coverage afforded to the three major record labels have become quaint quibbles. We'll be lucky to have this feature for much longer. At some point very fucking soon, we can expect AI tools to "write" these lists instead of human beings, for whom eking out a living as a writer continually proves an exponential impossibility.

Since 2020, CABBAGES has played the year-end list game as a reaction to the norm, in line with a broad commitment to independent and underground hip-hop/rap. Every newsletter I write, every podcast episode I produce under this digital shingle, it all serves the mission of genuine music discovery. As much as I grouse here about the practice, I know quantifiably and quantitatively that ranking and publishing this annual list turns open-minded listeners onto good new shit.

If you've skimmed this far, you're almost at the actual list, which I compile using a few simple rules:

No major label releases. Yes, that means nothing released via Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, or any of the large companies with major label pedigrees that behave like majors. Sadly, that means records I loved by, say, Doechii or Maxo Kream or That Mexican OT won't appear here.
The picks are mine and mine alone. I don't consult with anyone else when putting together the list, so what you see here is entirely my opinion. So if any of your personal favorite albums of 2024 don't show up here, including those featured on more popular lists, this is why that is.
Whenever possible, rankings are limited to one album per artist. Naturally, some exceptions may exist, particularly when there's overlap with producers. That said, I try to credit other notable releases I liked from those same artists underneath their numbered placements.

Okay, here we go...

25. Seafood Sam, Standing On Giant Shoulders

Embracing the aural aesthetics of throwback soul and smooth jazz fusion, the exceedingly cool Long Beach, CA rapper/singer grooves and soothes with a lived-in left coast lifestyle as his lyrical lodestar.

24. Hua Li 化力, ripe fruit falls but not in your mouth

Produced by Alexander Thibault and mixed by Lunice, this Montreal artist's LP converts deep feels and interpersonal experiences into a full-length relationship confessional, her self-described crying-in-the-club vibe evident throughout.

23. Your Old Droog, Movie

The oft prickly emcee goes cinematic, revealing an engaging origin story full of immigrant hardships and antisocial tendencies told in vivid big screen detail with production by Harry Fraud, Madlib, and Conductor Williams, among others.

22. AKAI SOLO, DREAMDROPDRAGON

Ostensibly focused on the first third of its titular portmanteau, the Tase Grip rapper's cerebral and surreal follow-up to Only The Strong Remain and Verticality///Singularity takes a therapeutic journey through hallucinatory sonics by the likes of August Fanon, Roper Williams, and Wavy Bagels.

21. Heems & Lapgan, LAFANDAR

After some restorative time away, the former Das Racist emcee draws rap career reboot energy from his newfound crate digging cohort, who curates an eclectic selection of (mostly) Indian sounds for the grown-up Queens kid and a jaw-dropping set of guests from Kool Keith to Cool Calm Pete.

20. Westside Gunn & DJ Drama, Still Praying

While Flygod spent much of the year building his bespoke wrestling brand 4th Rope, this gratifying 14-track affair hosted by a hip-hop mixtape icon maintains the excitement generated by his previous prayerful installments, with special sermons from some Griselda chums shared on the back half.

See also: Westside Gunn, 11.

19. Vayda, VAYTRIX

Tapped in with drill, plugg, and Jersey club, this cutting edge Georgia native employs a dancefloor-derived cadence in her engaging work as both rapper and producer, her evident skills in both lanes well worth noting.

18. Nappy Nina & Swarvy, Nothing Is My Favorite Thing

The Oakland emcee turned rapping Brooklynite reaches back towards the West Coast to link with a seasoned maestro of abstract hip-hop, who in turn brightens up her ornate, personal verses to great overall effect.

17. Phiik & Lungs, Carrot Season

Company Flow comparisons may have rankled the rank-and-file, but the Tase Grip duo surpass their viral Top Shelf Premium freestyle on this OLESEGUN-produced album of uncompromisingly impenetrable and dare-I-say indelible rhymecraft.

16. Hemlock Ernst & Icky Reels, Studying Absence

The Future Islands frontman returns to his rap moniker with an autobiographical audio essay collection that covers family histories, bad romances, and bygone addictions with meticulous literary flair and a squirmy, immersive soundtrack from the artist formerly known as Ay Fast.

15. K-the-i??? & Kenny Segal, Genuine Dexterity

By the grace of Backwoodz Studioz, Mush Records' legacy lives on as the frenetic Broken Love Letter emcee genuflects towards the vast universe with instrumental support from the gifted beatmaker behind some of this label's modern classics.

14. Beans, ZWAARD

This team-up between the Antipop Consortium emcee and Finnish avant-electronic composer Vladislav Delay validates both veteran artists in different yet confluent ways, breaking through the avant and abstract to show and prove.

13. Cavalier, Different Type Time

This intricate and inventive subversion of the stoner rap genre weaves hazy block tales, reggie eulogies, and decarceral sentiments into lyrical hemp tapestry of a fascinating life lived between Brooklyn and New Orleans.

See also: Cavalier & Child Actor, CINE; Cavalier & Quelle Chris feat. Denmark Vessey, Death Tape 2 | We 'Gon Need Each Other.

12. Roc Marciano, Marciology

On his first solo album since 2020, the revered underground rapper reminds why he ranks among the most luxurious lyricists of our time as he drapes Alchemist and Animoss' beats with sly phrase turns and street-level slang.

See also: Roc Marciano & The Alchemist, The Skeleton Key.

11. Jay Worthy & DāM FunK, Magic Hour

With features by such L.A. notables as DJ Quik and Ty Dolla $ign, the remarkable debut album from this pair of California boogie knights righteously brings the funk with their respectively distinct and specialized West Coast perspectives intact.

See also: Jay Worthy & MadeinTYO, Time After Time.

10. Chuck Strangers, A Forsaken Lover's Plea

One of Pro Era's finest comes to terms with the hip-hop industry–and also himself–through this holistic demonstration of his artistry both as emcee and beatmaker, locking in the likes of The Alchemist, Erick The Architect, and Zoomo.

See also: Bad Tofu (Milc & Chuck Strangers), Affordable Luxuries.

09. MESSIAH!, the villain wins

Much like his frequent hometown collaborator MAVI, this laidback Charlotte, NC rapper traffics in deeply considered lyricism, riding out his rhymes over soul-spiked beats and electronically wavy ones alike that make his words resonate.

08. bbymutha, sleep paralysis

Born-and-raised in Tennessee, bbymutha spiritually honors the raucous lineage of her Hypnotize Minds precursors on her latest album, dexterously refracting that ever-ready sensibility through the dewy lens of deconstructed club.

07. Previous Industries, Service Merchandise

With help from Child Actor and Quelle Chris, the creative braintrust of Open Mike Eagle, STILL RIFT, and Video Dave plunder failed retail as big box metaphor for nostalgic musings, self-deprecating personal inventories, and existential woes.

06. ShrapKnel & Controller 7, Nobody Planning To Leave

The formidable duo of Curly Castro and PremRock prove that the third time's a damn charm with their highly concentrated references and downright brilliant turns of phrase that feel more akin to Def Jux's brash brand of dopeness than the respected Anticon heritage of their chosen producer here.

05. E L U C I D, REVELATOR

Residing in the noisy margins and profound footnotes of revolutionary poetics and sound, the zealously verbose Armand Hammer rapper's I Told Bessie follow-up challenges fans of his already creative practice as it elevates him to new heights that further blur genre bounds.

04. Bruiser Wolf, My $tory Got $tories

Funnier and sharper than any of Chappelle’s last four specials, this idiosyncratic Detroiter pushes his uproarious Rudy-Ray-Moore-as-dope-boy act further than ever, revisiting well-trod topics with some astoundingly fresh takes and truly interesting features.

03. Boldy James & Nicholas Craven, Penalty of Leadership

With instrumentals as rich as any in the Quebecois producer's impressive discography, you can hardly tell that his Griselda-affiliated rapper counterpart recorded these rewind-worthy verses in a wheelchair, his drug dealer rhetoric and relentless wordplay as razor sharp and unforgiving as ever.

See also: Boldy James & Controller Williams, Across The Tracks; Boldy James & Harry Fraud, The Bricktionary.

02. Mach-Hommy, #RICHAXXHAITIAN

Defiant, never deferential, the masked Newark rap craftsman brings forth a veritable opus of rapturous, empire-resistant verse that rewards mindful, uninterrupted listening, its artful series of features by Black Thought, Georgia Anne Muldrow (as Hephzibah) and Tha God Fahim, among others, a testament to his microphone might.

01. Wave Generators, After The End

First off, you gotta understand how fucking cool Run-DMC were. Of course, Jason "Nosaj" Furlow already knows that part of what made them so cool had to do with the oft overlooked fact that they were a band. Formed in the late 1980s somewhere between Raising Hell and Tougher Than Leather, his New Kingdom clearly modeled itself as one such unit. On their two mid-1990s albums for Gee Street, and sometimes as esteemed guests of Bill Laswell or Tricky, bandmates Sebastian Laws and producer Scotty Hard kicked out the jams alongside him. Wildly under-appreciated in his time, Nosaj's low-key 2020s comeback opposite the likes of Armand Hammer, Mike Ladd, and Steel Tipped Dove rebuffed the very idea of an artist of his (or any) generation having only one singular time to shine.

With tremendously talented NYC transplant Height Keech by his side in Wave Generators, he has returned to full strength and then some. Not only does After The End find the veteran emcee in peak condition, it also simply rocks harder than just about any rap album in recent memory, inclusive of billy woods' 2019 LP Hiding Places with Kenny Segal. At a time when so much American rock n' roll is downright lumpen in the Marxist sense of the word, this radical debut in both sound and sentiment shakes the very foundations. Slashes of '70s-esque guitar, slamming drums flecked with sweat and/or blood, and outré elan characterize just about every track here, Keech's vocal delivery in stark yet inherently welcome contrast with Nosaj's stone-cold rhyming. With synth work credited to Philly's own ialive, who also joins them live on stage as a trio, Wave Generators isn't New Kingdom 2.0 any more than Public Image Limited was some Sex Pistols redux. These guys are the new Kings of Rock–and they don't want a fucking sneaker endorsement deal; they want the whole damn factory.