Top 3 Hip Hop Albums of 2015

Top+3+Hip+Hop+Albums+of+2015

Zach Sixbey, Staff Writer

2015 was a huge year for the much-anticipated releases of hip-hop albums from aspiring producers and artists surrounding the game. After getting a taste from a plethora of albums being released from some of my favorite artists and also artists I do not regularly listen to, I’ve concluded what the top three hip-hop albums of 2015 were.

Ever since Jacques Webster’s breakthrough mix tape, Days Before Rodeo, Jacques Webster, better known by his stage name, Travis Scott has surprised the music industry with his increasing popularity. Along with the second mix tape that gripped more fans attention with features including Big Sean, Migos, and Young Thug, came his first ever studio album, Rodeo. With 14 total tracks, Rodeo’s average length album delivers the audience Travis’s well thought lyrics along with big time producer’s beats. Some of the biggest producers in the game like Metro Boomin Kanye West. The album includes 14 features including rising artist, ScHoolboy Q, in the groovy bass-bumping song, Ok Alright. The first part of the song starts off with Travis and Q rapping about their non-stop lifestyle of being the life of the party, then switches up into a darker instrumental with Travis going into the depths of what he grew up around and the environment that lead him to rapping. Jacques shows us his twist in moods in several songs he has released in the past and continues to show his talent in doing so in the song, 90210, starting off with every rapper’s dream of life in Hollywood cycled around parties and fame then swings into a faster paced beat with Travis speaking on his success and family and we can see clearly see how motivated the artist is in the song. Rodeo’s ambient sounds along with Travis Scott’s brilliant lyricism with quotes that put you in the party scenes and quotes that put you in the situation he grew up in, this album set a clear mark at number three.

Staying true to his city, the ever so Canadian but ever so talented rapper, Aubrey Graham, most popularly known by, Drake, completely shocked his fans with the surprise drop of his fourth mix tape, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. This mix tape, released as an album, includes “easy-to-jam-to” beats created by some of Drake’s well known and extremely talented producers, Noah “40” Shebib and Boi-1da. This album set the mark for highest-selling digital album of 2015 with only 3 features: PARTYNEXTDOOR, Lil Wayne, and Travis Scott. The album generated instrumentals that brought high energy with Noah Shebib and Boi-1da’s combination of piano loops and sampled R&B songs. Drake makes it loud and clear about the city that he resides in, Toronto, also known as “the 6”. What Drake also brings to the audience is that he is the greatest in the game right now with his song “Legend” that leaves a clear understanding of what he is trying to say: “If I die, I’m a legend.” Drake not only sets the pedestal for surrounding rappers but over achieves with this being his fourth platinum album. If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late comes in at a solid number two on the short list.

Coming in at number one is the heavily anticipated sophomore album from Logic: The Incredible True Story. After his first album, Under Pressure, Logic released his second one exactly a year later. Based around a sci-fi epic featuring the main character himself, Logic, this album adds an extra taste to itself by painting a story that takes place 100 years in the future. The setting is in a spaceship that characters Thomas and Kai are traveling through space in, trying to arrive to the planet “Paradise” that is supposed to be Earth’s replacement. On this spaceship, they play Logic’s 14 tracks. Sticking by Logic’s side since the first album is his in-house producer, 6ix, along with C-Sick who served as a guest producer. The symbolism in Logic’s lyricism, along with 6ix’s hype beats that also play a role as the score for the film, delivers you the original complex mind of Logic. The album includes guest appearances such as Big Lenbo, Lucy Rose, Dria, and Jesse Boykins III. Logic pays tribute to one of his favorite rappers, Kanye West, by singing over a beat similar to Kanye’s “Flashing Lights” in the song “City of Stars”. In his first hit single coming before the release of the album, Logic releases a song, “Fade Away”, putting emphasis on the meaning of accepting death and doing something before you pass: “They gon’ know my name until it fade away.” Logic has made it clear, that being from the projects of West Deer Park, Maryland and dropping out of high school has only been a stepping-stone leading into his increasingly successful music career. The Incredible True Story puts new twists on today’s ever changing rap genre.