Hey! Remember when we were all home for a year and listened to more music than ever before? I made this list in a rush and I’m sure I missed some names, but here’s what I found myself throwing on repeat throughout the year. Some of these projects feel older than twelve months. When I was scrolling through Spotify / Bandcamp / SoundCloud, I kept saying, “That was released this year?” What a time. Anyway, here’s what I listened to in 2020. A few of many. Top 20 in no order, as well as other notables. Click the title of each project to listen.

Boldy James

The Price of Tea in China (w. The Alchemist)

Manger on McNichols (w. Sterling Toles)

The Versace Tape (w. Jay Versace)

Real Bad Boldy (w. Real Bad Man)

On Christmas Eve 2019, Boldy James released an EP with The Alchemist that turned some heads. An appetizer for a rise of mighty proportions. The Detroit rapper had an MVP year this year. With four albums fully produced by four producers, the 38 year old MC spent the year shooting half court shots and not missing. His full-lengths are nearly flawless (go listen to Manger), his signing to Griselda was huge, and his most recent drop with Real Bad Man contains “Thousand Pills” with Stove God Cooks. I could listen to that song forever.

Somni

Home

Beats, Vol. 1

Somni’s Home holds the title of my favorite album of the year. It’s a dense and dreamy, woozy and hallucinatory voyage unlike any other. Like CocoRosie and Radiohead making a lofi album. It’s equal parts hip-hop and electronic, ambient and trip-hop. I wouldn’t be able to compare it to anything else. More than any other release this year, it got me through the pandemic. Not to mention every song comes with an animation you can find on YouTube. Along with Home, Somni also released a tape of dusty beats and bumps. Something to spin this winter and into spring.

Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon

Infinite Wisdom

A Moment in Time

Seventy Fifth & Amsterdam

The Seven Principles (Loop Tape)

The Charlotte, North Carolina artist caught my attention at the beginning of the year with the stellar project Infinite Wisdom. From there, he dropped an eight song tape Seventy Fifth & Amsterdam and later A Moment in Time, perhaps his finest yet, fully produced by Machacha. “Getting Bread Like Mansa Musa” might be the hardest track of the year. Just when I thought that was all for his output for 2020 (as well as singles along the way), Jah-Monte concluded with a loop tape. One to vibe to. My favorite artist that I didn’t know about last year.

R.A.P. Ferreira

Purple Moonlight Pages

The artist formerly known as Milo introduces his new moniker (his true government name) with the poetic and jazzy Purple Moonlight Pages. Earlier this year, I wrote about how it feels like two EPs instead of one LP, or two chapters within one story. It’s a decadent sword that helped me this year and it’s one of my favorite vinyl in my collection. I must praise the framing of “Cycles” into “Absolutes” and “Mythical” into “Pinball”. Good lord.

Olafur Arnalds

Some Kind of Peace

My end of the year list is always 90% hip-hop/beats and 10% sleepy time music. Olafur Arnalds’ newest falls under the latter. It’s the one I play when I want to relax, unwind, feel a sense of distant beauty while cooped up in my Chicago apartment. The final moments of “Spiral” get me every time. This one felt like tipping over the boat and exploring a new world. I will hold this album close for years to come and can’t wait to listen to it when I, lord willing, take my next plane ride.

Armand Hammer

Shrines

Most memorable album cover of 2020? Easy. Shrines showcases billy woods and ELUCID at their finest, precise and eloquent, hopeful as they overtake the underground. One of the most consistent and intricate duos in the game, Armand Hammer’s Rome, Paraffin, and Shrines should be displayed as a triptych in a museum. “Dead Cars” into “Parables” might be my seven favorite minutes of hip-hop. Period. And to have it at the tail-end of an already impressive album? Damn.

Zelooperz

Valley of Life (w. Dilip & Matrax)

Moszel Offline

Gremlin

ZelooperZ was near the top of my list last year and he’s near the top of my list again. The experimental and progressive and tongue-twisting abstractionist went wild in 2020, releasing a trio of projects that range from deranged to soulful. The most recent of the three, Valley of Life, might be Zelooperz’s strongest drop yet. I’ve never heard a song like “McDonaldz”. Ever.

Moor Mother & billy woods

Brass

Just like last year, billy woods is all over this list. Appearing alongside ELUCID as Armand Hammer, and now here, with Brass, alongside Philadelphia soothsayer Moor Mother. The two are at their most poetic, most folkloric, dipping into the witch’s brew for fable, fairy tale, ghost story, and dream. Brass is only a few weeks old and upon first listen, I knew it had the sauce. Every listen since has verified that assurance, pulling me further and further into the rabbit hole.

Goya Gumbani & Kiina

The Lesser-Known

Weed rap is alive and well with Goya Gumbani’s album The Lesser-Known. Fully produced by Kiina, it’s up in the clouds, moving in slow motion. Like a weed high lullaby. Jazzy and drowsy, smooth and cool. With a Boiler Room set and a Colors performance, I’m looking forward to seeing where these talented UK-based artists next appear.

AMANI + KING VISION ULTRA

An Unknown Infinite

An Unknown Infinite is the perfect way to describe my first listen to this album. Enigmatic, ominous, unafraid. Foggy, cloudy, uncertain of time. This album is an experience. I’d place it next to Boldy James’ Manger on McNichols (or Shabazz Palaces Black Up) in regards to immersion and narration and unsettling production, throwing you into a space unfamiliar and cold. Start to finish, this album dilated my pupils.

Freddie Gibbs

Alfredo (w. The Alchemist)

The Alchemist is all over this list and rightfully so. Gibbs continues to rise with his newest collaborative offering, Alfredo, where he basks in the luxuries of hard work paying off while still dealing with the struggles of staying afloat. For those keeping score at home, Gibbs has gone from Freddie (2018) to Fetti (2018) to Bandana (2019) to Alfredo (2020). Four A/A+ albums. He’s the only reason I’m proud to be from Indiana.

CLBRKS

Performance Enhancing Diet (w. Morriarchi)

Microwave Cooking 2000 (w. Morriarchi)

Out for Lunch (w. Conrad Mundy)

David Hockney (w. ogbloops)

Holy Fountain

London MC CLBRKS approaches the mic with a cocky wobble, a cigarette and a story. With a duo of projects with producer Morriarchi and a melee of EPs (the one with Conrad Mundy is especially worth your while), the memorable rapper had a hell of year - including, most recently, this music video.

Himalayan Beach Ensemble

End of the Atlas

I said I’d refrain from including projects I helped with, but I’m making an exception for this one. HBE’s sweeping End of the Atlas is an immersive and adventurous listen. A broken compass. A tattered map. I found myself playing this one early in the morning throughout the year. Waiting for my coffee, knowing the quiet beginning of this album would take me far, far away. It’s a blissful escape.

Pink Siifu & Fly Anakin

FlySiifu’s

I miss rap skits. I miss lazy summers with friends. This album cures my longing for both. Featuring hazy bars over a plethora of production from various loop gods, this projects is packed with crackling samples, flips, bumps, jokes, quotes, mantras, mottos, bravado. Dusty vinyl in a pile in the back. What a flex it is to save a Madlib beat for the end. Too cool.

Obijuan

languid.oceans (w. looms)

Deus Animi (w. dylantheinfamous)

Paradice Island (w. dweeb)

Odysseia (w. dylantheinfamous)

ESG, Vol. 1

OBELiSK (w. Døøf)

Dravidi Palace (w. revenxnt)

Obijuan is the kind of prolific rapper where you constantly have to keep your ears ready. He might drop something out of the blue and double the price on Bandcamp with the passing of every day. Often working with single producers for entire projects, his 7+ (I’m sure I’m missing one) releases were rough and raw and atmospheric and sharp. languid.oceans in particular remained on repeat.

Conway the Machine

LULU (w. The Alchemist)

No One Mourns the Wicked (w. Big Ghost Ltd.)

From King to a GOD

Before the year started, I was more enthusiastic about Benny the Butcher and Westside Gunn than Conway the Machine, but between the three, I found myself listening to Conway the most in 2020. He really went crazy. His three projects - one fully produced by The Alchemist, one fully produced by Big Ghost Ltd., and the other a stunning and cohesive ‘debut’ - were all on steady rotation on my way to and from work. Something about blasting “Lemon” with Method Man while stuck in Chicago traffic. It helps.

frumhere

the last waltz

saunter (w. Joe Nora)

better unsaid

I couldn’t tell you how many times I listened to the last waltz. frumhere lends his vocals over soothing, sleepy beats and the result is a pleasant dream. An escape. Like the artwork implies: a smoke break. Along with that wonderful little EP, he also released a downtempo collaborative project with the legend Joe Nora, and another EP with Justnormal, which is a bit more funky and upbeat. Serious, serious range.

Ka

Descendants of Cain

Ka’s Descendants of Cain restates his stately status in the rap game. Confirms. Solidifies. This is yet another poetic and meditative and sweeping album from Ka, a meditative and reflective storytelling rapper who does not miss. Much like Roc Marciano’s LP this year, these legends display greatness with every new album, every new track, every new line.

Tree

The Blue Tape

This album feels like it was released three years ago. 2020 has been a decade long. Tree had an insane run in 2019 where he dropped album after album, and this one, The Blue Tape, released back in January, was the final exhale of that prolific outpouring of music. There’s still another project that never dropped (Dirtiest Throne), but this album alone kept the soul trap goat floating in his cloud for the length of this year.

The O'My's

From the Vault (2010-2018)

I bought this one after Bandcamp told me I listened to it too many times for free. As the title implies, these are rough takes, quick demos, intimate acoustic versions. Maybe it’s Chicago, maybe it’s the sincerity, the personality, but this album feels like home.

Kaelin Ellis

Moments

After Thoughts

House (w. Lupe Fiasco)

If I had to make a list of people who kept me dancing throughout the pandemic, Kaelin Ellis would be near the top. His beatmaking performance videos kept me vibing during a year of steady isolation. Along with the beat videos, of which there are many, he also released two instrumental EPs, displaying his range and his bounce and his consistent and persistent heat. “Bebop” is ringtone worthy. And did I mention he produced an EP for Lupe as well?

Adrian Younge - Jazz is Dead (001-005)

Akai Solo - Eleventh Wind

Alexander Spit - Basement Shit

Black Thought - Streams of Thought, Vol. 3

Chebaka - Everything Will Be Okay

Chester Watson - Japanese Horror Story

Curren$y & Harry Fraud - The OutRunner / The Director's Cut

Cut Worms - Nobody Lives Here Anymore

Da$h - Walk the Plank // Beta

Elaquent - Forever is a Pretty Long Time

Jay Electronica - A Written Testimony

Jetson - Throwed Tape

Jim Swim - Softee Boy

Joe Nora - magic carpet ride // Erosion (w. Sogyal) // No Rush (w. Alex Lev) // Inner Ocean Sessions (w. Yuutsu) // Ultramarine (w. Arbour) // Nooks (w. Barnes Blvd.)

Judy - Ard Bet

KeiyaA - Forever, Ya Girl

Lil Wayne - Funeral

Lojii - Lo & Behold

Lord Apex - Darkskies (w. Bushivibes) // Supply & Demand (w. V Don)

Lord Ra - Ugly Little Brother

Loving - If I Am Only My Thoughts

Ludovico Einaudi - 12 Songs from Home

Mach-Hommy - Mach’s Hard Lemonade

Martin $ky - In Real Time

Navy Blue - Ada Irin // Songs of Sage: Post Panic!

o k h o - Alprazolam [3]