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March 28, 2024
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DISNEY/ABC TELEVISION GROUP/CC-BY-ND-2.0 Ty Dolla $ign starts off our list of the Top Five Rap Albums of 2016.TY DOLLA SIGN

This past week, the arts section of The News-Letter convened to create our list of the Top Five albums in three different fields. These are our Top Five Rap albums of 2016.

5. Campaign by Ty Dolla $ign

This is one of the most fun, well-produced projects of this year. Ty Dolla $ign seems to magically and effortlessly consistently make pleasant, catchy music that never gets old. While the lyrics are often hedonistic, empty and braggadocious, they sound great when he sings them in his melodic voice. By the end of the album, you somehow feel uplifted.

The production on Campaign is phenomenal, with rattling high hats, perfectly harmonizing instrumentation and trunk-rattling bass-lines. Songs like “Campaign,” “Zaddy” and “Watching” always cause the same reaction: first the crack of a smile, then your body starts to relax and finally, your head starts to bob, while you mouth the hook. But Dolla isn’t all fun and games on this record. The song “No Justice,” with TC, Dolla’s brother who is serving a life sentence in jail, tackles the heavy topic of racism and injustice.

It is a beautiful moment, when Ty’s glazed and detached character breaks down, and some serious passion shines through. He croons the hook: “Ain’t no justice for the brothers,” with genuine feeling.

4. DC4 4 by Meek Mill

“Momma ain’t stressin’ she know that its all good / My Number one goal is to get her out the hood” are the opening bars of deceased rapper, Lil Snupe’s, verse on DC4’s final track “Outro.”

Post-probation, post-beef, post-memes, Meek Mill dropped the next entry in the Dreamchasers series, DC4. It is a fitting entry into the long lineage of great Dreamchaser projects. Meek crafts fourteen diverse and impressive tracks, riding over a wide range of incredible instrumentals. The album hits like a gust of wind or the splash of an unexpected wave.

“On The Regular,” the first song, is another emblematic Meek Mill intro. It starts quiet and unassuming, before slapping you across the face with quick-fire lyricism and kick drums. Songs like “Blue Notes” and “Lights Out” are undeniable masterpieces, with impressive verses over an eclectic collection of banging beats.

Tory Lanez’ explosion on “Litty,” was one of the highlights of the year, the song already burning hot before he jumps on it. Although there are a few missteps throughout the project (Lil Uzi Vert’s wailing voice on “Froze” is the marquis example), they are quickly forgotten behind the flood of impressive and beautiful set pieces.

Meek blasts past the high expectations of his fans, with his legs hanging out of his gleaming Maybach, wearing his often mentioned Rolex. Drake can eat his heart out.

3. Still Brazy by YG

One of the greatest West Coast albums of the 2010s. This is significant praise considering the great output of the whole West Coast over the past few years (T.D.E., The Game, Dr. Dre and many more). YG perfectly rides the line between ignorant and conscious.

While replacing every ‘C’ with a ‘B,’ slurring his words and twisting his fingers, YG still finds a very real and touching way to describe the pain of street life. It’s incredible to think that the same artist who made “Toot it and Boot it” (a great song in its own right), now records conscious and powerful tracks like “Blacks & Browns,” and “Police Get Away Wit Murder.”

While he hasn’t grown into an impressive lyricist, he is nonetheless a great rapper due to a contagious charisma and effortless flow and lines that are blunt and frank. The beats are a definite highlight — classic West Coast with synths harmonizing under string melodies, basslines bouncing around 808s and tinkling riffs in the high frequencies.

2. Atrocity Exhbition by Danny Brown

This is the most experimental and exciting record of the past few years. No other rapper could rap over the beats that Brown chooses, which bounce, clip and scratch — absolutely glitched out and twisted. Danny Brown doesn’t just spit over them, he tears through them, with lyrics that alternate from touching and emotional to hilarious and audacious.

It is important to head into this project with an open mind, since much of it will sound like nothing else you have heard. Not only is there this overarching electronic theme, but Danny also starts mixing genres that usually sound horrible together, specifically rock and hip hop.

Nevertheless, under his wild flow, they somehow perfectly complement each other. This is probably Brown’s most grating project. It takes several exposures to the sensory overload before one begins to accept the madness contained in this one record.

1. The Sun’s Tirade by Isaiah Rashad

This album was basically unanimously agreed upon by the staff as the best album of 2016. It is a deep, layered piece of work centered on depression, a significant topic that is rarely touched in rap music. This is done in a powerful and beautiful way.

The instrumentals are simultaneously smooth and hard-hitting. Something about the mixing of the kick drums around and between the bass lines makes everything sound heavy. Rashad has a quiet and smooth voice that perfectly contrasts with this low, brooding production.

Unlike all of the other artists on this list, his rapping style is more understated, carried by flawless delivery and great lyricism rather than melody and charisma. Songs like “Park,” “Dressed Like Rappers” and “4r Da Squaw” will be revisited throughout the next decade. This will be the album to show Rashad is a unique and strong part of T.D.E.


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