Have you ever worried about the sheer number of rap albums – too many to listen to? Have you ever felt like your music taste wasn’t refined enough? I’m sure you have, dear reader. 

I, on the other hand, have not. For my music brain is so vast, and so powerful, that I am able to tell the precise, 100% accurate, very objective rating of a piece of music. This is not some subjective opinion, like that of Anthony Fantano or the users of Album Of The Year, no, this is THE rating. The only one you’ll ever need. 

Presented before you, in easily digestible and fun to read fashion I might add, is the true list of the best rap albums of 2024. My generosity is so boundless in sharing this with you, that I even included some key reasons why each album is as good as it is, that you can barf up in a crude, primitive way in your little arguments about music.

Now say thank you.

*A note on the ratings*
These are graded on a true 0-100 scale, meaning any album with a score above 50 is an above average album

1. Dark Times by Vince Staples – 93: Vince Staples sounds beautiful throughout the course of Dark Times while displaying his best song writing the whole time. A perfect mix of accessibility, theme and sounds, Dark Times paints a picture of a young Vince Staples and the trying conditions he grew up in. Vince’s singing voice is greatly improved and he sounds focused and powerful. You can get as much out of this album as you want – if you’re a surface level listener it sounds great with some absolute bangers, but if you really want to dig deep Vince is strong there as well crafting emotional, personal stories about growing up in North Long Beach. | Best songs: Etouffee, Black&Blue, Little Homies | What could be better? Nothing. If I had to get truly picky, I would have liked a big feature on it, from someone such as Kendrick Lamar. Other than that, this is a nearly perfect album.
2. shadowbox by MAVI – 89: MAVI’s shadowbox effortlessly captures and holds feelings of hopelessness and despair through personal stories about MAVI’s life. He opens up about his drug abuse and depression but crafts his stories in such a way that they never sound whiny. It’s an extremely enjoyable experience through and through. | Best songs: the giver, too much to zelle, open waters | What could be better? Some more energy! MAVI sounds tired at times, which is great for contributing to the dark mood, but sometimes it makes the album feel a bit boring. One or too more songs with the energy of too much to zelle could have vaulted this album to #1 on the list
3. Samurai by Lupe Fiasco – 88: Lupe Fiasco shows up once again to remind us that he is one of the best rappers of all time. His technical skills really shine through on Samurai, a chilled out, jazz rap album produced entirely by Lupe’s longtime collaborator Soundtrakk. On the surface, Samurai is a concept album about Amy Winehouse becoming a battle rapper, but it strays from that to just be more about Lupe’s inner thoughts and concerns. The production is chilled out and Lupe absolutely glides over the beats dropping amazing bars left and right. The album comes together so well, and is the best technical album of the year. | Best songs: Mumble Rap, Palaces, Til Eternity | What could be better? I would have liked the concept to be more flushed out. It was somewhat there but at times this album felt like it was lacking in an overarching theme.
4. Blue Lips by Schoolboy Q – 87: Schoolboy Q is deep in his bag on Blue Lips, spazzing all over the tracks and dropping fire bars left and right. This album is full of bangers but still has the cohesive element to make it a worthwhile listen straight through. Q’s writing is phenomenal as he contrasts the highs and lows of fame and fortune and shows multiple sides of his personality. Schoolboy Q has one of the best pens in the game, and this album is proof. | Best songs: Yeern 101, Thank god 4 me, oHio | What could be improved? Cut it down a little bit. 56 minutes of hard rapping and lyricism can be daunting, especially when there are hardly any easily accessible songs for those unfamiliar with Q as he had in Oxymoron.
5. SCRAPYARD by Quadeca – 86: Quadeca shows how much he has improved in such a short time on SCRAPYARD. SCRAPYARD bends genres so easily and Quad sounds good both singing and rapping. The production is crazy and lyrically it’s very good as well, this is some of Quadeca’s best writing to date. | Best songs: GUESS WHO?, WAY TOO MANY FRIENDS, PRETTY PRIVILEGE | What could be better? U TRIED THAT THING WHERE UR HUMAN is not good. It doesn’t sound good, the lyrics try too hard to be deep, and it is soooo long. Just cut that part out.
6. Chromokopia by Tyler, The Creator – 84: Tyler, The Creator reaches back to his roots with Chromokopia. Tyler recaptures some of that GOBLIN era sound, while keeping his more polished and more mature song writing. This album does a great job of balancing bangers with deeply emotional introspective songs. Tyler has improved so much as a rapper and it is shockingly obvious on this album. | Best songs: Rah Tah Tah, Thought I Was Dead, Hey Jane | What could be better? At times Tyler, The Creator’s ego gets the best of him. While he thinks he is making poignant points about some issue or another, he comes off as conceited and falls into cliche a little too often.
7. Everybody Can’t Go by Benny the Butcher – 81: Classic Benny the Butcher: great songs about his wealth, coke dealing past and status presented in creative ways over great production. Everybody Can’t Go is nothing new for Benny, but it drew me in like no album of his had before. It was so diverse and creative despite its single minded purpose of bragging. Every song was something new and the production on this album SLAPS. Griselda really has the best producers. | Best songs: Buffalo Kitchen Club, Big Dog, Back Again | What could be better? I would love to see Benny explore his storytelling writing a little more on this project, his ability to craft tales of street life is so compelling. He really only has a couple moments of storytelling throughout the album which misses out on a huge strength of Benny’s artistry.
8. You Only Die 1nce by Freddie Gibbs – 79: Freddie Gibbs advances his reputation of having one of the most consistent discographies in hip hop with the release of You Only Die 1nce. This is a good Freddie Gibbs album. His bars are really solid as always, and he mixes up his flows super well (again, as always). Freddie is such a good rapper, maybe the best out at the moment, so there are hardly any misses on his albums, and that trend continues here. I really enjoyed the “devil” character (voiced by Slink Johnson), as I feel it adds a layer of complexity and theme, even if this album is not a full on concept album. Overall, this is somewhat of a filler album for Freddie, but a good Freddie Gibbs album is better than most other rappers’ best albums so it lands in the Top 10 anyways. | Best songs: Cosmo Freestyle, Steel Doors, Walk It Off | What could be better? The production was okay, but sometimes when Freddie isn’t collabing with a big name producer his beat selection is just boring, and that is the case a few times on You Only Die 1nce. His rapping more than makes up for the beat selection though.
9. when angels cry by jev. – 79: Call him a TikTok rapper all you want, there is no denying that jev. is very skilled. He takes a lot of inspiration from Kendrick Lamar and it is obvious in his music, however he does a better job carving out his own style on when angels cry than he did on the color grey. It’s all there on this album, the writing, the flows, the production, even some hints of an overarching concept or theme, something you won’t see in a standard 22 year old rapper’s album. jev. is truly one of the best rappers of the new age and it’s time he gets his flowers. | Best songs: ALICE, THE KILLER SHEWOLF, THE SAMURAI’S MONOLOGUE | What could be better? Sometimes he tries too hard to imitate Kendrick, and ends up sounding like a fan doing a so-so impression. As good as jev. is, he cannot be Kendrick Lamar.
10. Almighty So 2 by Chief Keef – 78: Chief Keef proves he is still relevant and innovating in 2024 with the banging Almighty So 2. With his own booming, grandiose production behind him, Chief Keef brags all over Almighty So 2. This album feels like something that should be played from the top of a skyscraper. It is over the top, loud, and beautiful to listen to. This album both keeps Keef’s signature early drill style, while innovating enough to make it a refreshing and very fun listen. | Best songs: Neph Nem, Jesus, Never Fly Here | What could be better? At some points it feels like Keef forgets he is supposed to try on this album. It would be nice if he made it a little tighter.

Honorable Mentions:

• We Don’t Trust You by Future and Metro Boomin – 75: This album got a lot of buzz for Kendrick Lamar’s diss at Drake on “Like That”, but it’s a really good album overall too. It suffers from being one dimensional in its writing at times, but is still a solid project and very fun to listen to.

• HARDSTONE PSYCHO by Don Tolliver – 74: A collection of dark moody songs that fit so well with the album title, Hardston Psycho will make you want to turn the volume all the way up. Unfortunately, there are a good number of misses on this project, and it really trails off in quality as it goes on.

• Mr. Skii by Luh Tyler – 67: Who would’ve thunk it? A Luh Tyler album getting an honorable mention? Yes the rapping, mixing, and production is not nearly as good as some of the albums in the Top 10, but this record is just so fun to listen to. Tyler’s energy is contagious and this project is a giant step up from the quality of My Vision. Also, there are some bangers on this project, my favorite of which is “Been Working.” Luh Tyler’s future in the rap game is undoubtedly bright.

• King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 by Denzel Curry – 76: Denzel Curry is so good at doing whatever style he wants. On KOTMS2, Curry goes back to his gritty street style that he came out with, a definite switch up from the jazz rap of Melt My Eyez See Your Future. The style works, but there are just so many features on this album that outshine Denzel at times, and make this album feel like a producer album. If Denzel didn’t consistently get the best out of every artist featured, this album could have been a disaster, but he did, so as it stands it is still a very solid album.

• MEET THE 6IXERS By BigXthaPlug, Ro$ama, and Yung Hood – 72: BigXthaPlug, Ro$ama, and Yung Hood teamed up and made a collection of hits! BigX is the most successful of the group so far, so it’s cool to see him try to push his friends into the mainstream. This album is so fun to listen to, and there’s not a single skip. The only downside is it doesn’t really feel like an album. It sounds more like three friends made a bunch of singles with each other and wanted to put them in a collection. That being said, it is a very worthwhile listen.

• Ultra 85 by Logic – 78: Logic’s long awaited sequel to The Incredible True Story, Ultra 85, finally dropped and it definitely met, and exceeded, expectations. Logic takes listeners on a journey through space in a future where the earth is destroyed. The music serves as a backing track to a pilot, a space soldier, and two robots’ journey to find a hospitable planet. In typical Logic fashion, along the way they learn lessons about kindness and motivation and such. The story is nice, but what really sells this album is the music. Logic raps better than he has in a long while, to go along with (mostly) great production. The way he presents his ideas is new and mature as well, finally understanding the concepts he has tried to explain for so long. If you were to listen to any Logic project, I would recommend this one.

• I Lay Down my Life For You by JPEGMAFIA – 77: JPEGMAFIA, the self proclaimed villain of rap, is back after his outstanding collab album with Danny Brown. I Lay Down my Life For You does not reach the peaks of that album but is still very solid. JPEG’s production is absolutely insane as always, but a lot of this album misses the mark for me. Sometimes it seems like JPEG is trying to do weird things just to be classified as experimental or boundary pushing. This is still a good project for those who like JPEG’s style.

• Penalty of Leadership by Boldy James and Nicholas Craven – 77: Penalty of Leadership flew a bit under the radar this year, but the rapper/producer superteam of Boldy James and Nicholas Craven made a very good album. It plays to both of their strengths, with chill, boom-bap style, sample heavy beats from Craven and complex bars about street life from Boldy James. That being said, this album played it very safe and does not push either of their boundaries at all, which makes it nice to listen to, but doesn’t leave a lasting impression.

Reasons I Didn’t Pick Albums

• It’s Us Vol 1. by Concrete Boys – Absolutely nothing special. It’s a solid mixtape but overall just mediocre. Very few standout moments
• American Dream by 21 Savage – A step back for 21 Savage from i am>i was in my opinion. Sounds like a cookie cutter album. 21 tried to make it big and grand with an overarching concept/theme but couldn’t pull it off.
• Vultures 1 by Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign – Seriously? This was not a good album. Some fun moments but overall it showed how far Ye has fallen from his prime.
• One of Wun by Gunna – The most boring and repetitive rap album of the year
• Why Lawd? by NxWorries – Not really a rap album, but if I qualified it as one it would have been an honorable mention. If the tracklist was shortened and .Paak’s lyrics were improved this could have been one of the best albums of the year.
• Might Delete Later by J. Cole – Possibly Cole’s worst album, I still liked it but it was not important enough to make the list