End of a Decade - Albums 10-1

Huge thank yous to everyone who has been following my list so far! I wouldn't do this without you guys so thanks for the feedback, engagement and attention. Here's some fun stats for you. Over the past 10 years, I've lived in four cities, had three dogs, gotten two degrees, and one girlfriend! Happy decade, y'all!

Here are records 50-11: Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4.

10. Young Thug - Barter 6 (Atlantic Records, 2015)

Young Thug's flow seems almost quaint, now that he's been imitated to death by his Atlanta understudies and a handful of less creative biters. There was a time, however, when Thugger's high-pitched warble sounded unlike anything else. In 2015, you could have told someone Barter 6 was an alien transmission played over arpeggios and they would have believed you. The album scores major points for being the breakout and high water mark for one of this decade's most influential rappers. It also scores major points for creativity and execution. Thug's flows are never-ending. His assortment of vocal runs, harmonies and ad-libs don't stop either. Producers Wheezy and London on The Track build Thug his own musical universe. They flesh out his otherworldly voice to its fullest potential, allowing him to seemingly travel through dimensions. Thugger  tackles and conquers beats that mere mortals never would. Songs like "Halftime" and "Amazing" border on avant-garde pop art, but still knock as hard as more conventional tracks like "Numbers" and "Check". Barter 6 is the best trap album of the last decade, and five years after its release, has left a major mark on hip hop's evolution.

9. La Dispute - Wildlife (No Sleep Records, 2011)

Wildlife is melodramatic. Before La Dispute recorded it, they spent weekends cutting a series of acoustic EPs at someone's Northern Michigan cottage. Peak whiteness. The music is aggressive but it's not tough. It's moody but not angry. For vocalist Jordan Dreyer, there's not an emotion to earnest or metaphor too on-the-nose. At points, it seems like he's reading right from his diary. On paper, it's too much. La Dispute came from a family of bands who mixed a type of melodic hardcore derided for its fans' propensity to cry at shows with the teen angst of Thursday. There's no way, almost a decade later, this could possibly hold up. Or so you think. Then, you find yourself on a train platform, fighting back tears, trying to hold your too-cool composure as Dreyer shreds his vocal chords into your headphones: "Can I still get into heaven if I kill myself?/Can I still get into heaven if I kill myself?/Can I ever be forgiven cuz I killed that kid?/It was an accident, I swear it wasn't meant for him." Wildlife is melodramatic, but there's a reason soap operas stay on TV for 50 years. For every cheesy moment on the album (there are a few), there's a moment so bright it burns in your psyche forever.

8. Title Fight - Floral Green (SideOneDummy, 2012)

Title Fight won the kids over before Floral Green. Their earliest releases did Lifetime worship so proficiently that a soon-to-be prominent pop-punk band would name themselves after a Title Fight song. Then they dropped Shed, inspiring dozens of bands to name-check Seaweed and Helmet. Still, the old heads weren't convinced. Queue Floral Green, a mature, fleshed out album blending the energy of hardcore with the melody of pop-punk and the dynamics of alt-rock. Suddenly, Title Fight were undeniable; beloved by gateway kids and gatekeepers alike. The album saw the band add reverb and delay to their pedal chain, inspiring countless imitators. Bands like Nothing and Whirr were already in the hopper in 2012, but I doubt they'd have been half as successful without Floral Green. The countless Run For Cover Records bands who all of a sudden claimed to be "dream pop influenced", should have just been honest and said "we heard Floral Green and started a band". Title Fight were always one step ahead of their contemporaries. It's one facet of what makes them arguably the most important independent band of the last decade.

7. Self Defense Family - Heaven is Earth (Deathwish Inc., 2015)

Self Defense Family vocalist Patrick Kindlon has never been shy about his lack of traditional talent. SDF got more and more melodic with every release, but for years, Kindlon's sandpaper bark stayed the same. Sometime around 2015, he started working with producers who were able to coax him out of his comfort zone. Nobody would ever confuse Kindlon's vocals on Heaven is Earth for Mariah Carey's, but it's hard to deny his dynamic ability. Whispers, groans and a host of production tricks supplement Kindlon's yelp, allowing him to adapt his poignant, hard-hitting lyrics to both the subject matter and the music. Speaking of the music -- is it possible for a post-hardcore band to write their hardest material after they've completely embraced alt-country weirdness? The answer, according to Heaven is Earth, is yes. The guitars have a sheet-metal sheen that wouldn't sound out of place on a Negative Approach album. The drums hammer and crash with furious intensity. Even the softer material is arranged in such an isolating fashion that Kindlon's hardcore heroes, 108, would have to give props. Self Defense Family released more great music than anyone else this decade. Heaven is Earth is their greatest.

6. The Menzingers - On the Impossible Past (Epitaph Records, 2012)

There's nothing better than listening to music that gives you nostalgic feelings. Being transported back to a time and place by a song is something everyone appreciates. That's why Backstreet Boys tickets go for hundreds of dollars. When music gives you nostalgic feelings the first time you hear it, you've found something special. On the Impossible Past is one of those musical moments. Lyricists Tom May and Greg Barnett do a masterful job of capturing the life of any teenager who drinks irresponsibly and has an abundance of black in their wardrobe. Young love, restaurant jobs, watching shitty bands -- it's all here. The 13 masterfully crafted PBR-punk tunes are perfect for drunken singalongs, long walks and late nights. The Menzingers apply a pop sensibility to their gruff, gravelly production for an album full of push-pit anthems that could just as easily work on an acoustic guitar around a fire. OTIP is a true classic, the type of album you can show to your non-punk friends and have them fall in love with.

5. Drake - Nothing Was the Same (OVO Sound/Cash Money Records, 2013)

Hip-hop's traditional classics have been bloated, 20 song smorgasbords where the artist and a gang of producers throw everything against the wall and see what sticks. In the 2010's, the standouts began to take the Illmatic approach -- shorter tracklists with a unified production sound and almost no room for fat. Drake told Q's Jian Gomeshi around the time of Nothing Was the Same's release that he had been challenged to write such an album. The result is a full-fledged listening experience that's engaging start to finish. NWTS is when Drake's production team nailed down his signature sound. The jagged edges of previous projects are smoothed away, replaced by cleaner, sultrier beats. There are no skippable moments on NWTS. Everything sounds like it belongs. There's also a lot of structural experimentation -- "Worst Behaviour" and "Tuscan Leather" being the best examples. Then there's the perfect moments of pure pop bliss Drake is known for, like "Hold on We're Going Home" and "Started From the Bottom". Nothing Was the Same is --start to finish-- the best album from the decade's biggest rap superhero.

4. Coliseum - House With a Curse (Temporary Residence Ltd., 2010)

Coliseum's third full length, compared to the rest of 2010's hardcore, doesn't fit. The band started as a somewhat remarkable d-beat project and finished as a Torche/Mastadon-esque alt-metal outfit. Smack dab in the middle, they dropped House With a Curse, a straightforward hardcore album that borrowed from 80's legends like Fear, Negative Approach and the Misfits. Nothing (except maybe Burning Love) sounded like it at the time. I still haven't heard anything that sounds like it. Perhaps the reason for House's uniqueness is its daring ability to pull from bands who aren't easily replicated. Perhaps it's the perfect (I'll say it again -- PERFECT) guitar tone. Perhaps it's the Nirvana-like mastery of the loud/soft dynamic, making the songs creak just as hard as they knock. Maybe Coliseum just wrote better songs than anyone else. Whatever the case, House With a Curse is truly a special album. Brilliantly crafted and perfectly executed -- it's outsider art for those outside the outsiders.

3. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city (Top Dawg Entertainment, 2012)

Kendrick Lamar made three essential hip-hop albums this decade. 2017's DAMN. won a Pulitzer Prize, perhaps on the strength of Lamar's back catalog. 2015's To Pimp a Butterfly is, from a political standpoint, the most important piece of music released this decade. good kid, m.A.A.d city might be the least critically acclaimed of Lamar's big three albums. However, if you strip away the context and focus on the music, it makes a strong case for being his best. The Compton rapper's major label debut is his certainly his hungriest. Lamar was sitting on the album's concept for years, slowly developing the tools to execute it. When he finally unleashed it, people began calling him a generational rapper. For good reason. Lamar speaks like a street scholar. His bars are hard but intelligent, technical but catchy, and autobiographical but tasteful. The beats on GMKC are also Lamar's strongest. The album's production totally out-muscles the the tin-can-rattling of TPAB and the pop corniness of DAMN. The Cali-by-way-of-Atlanta sound perfectly compliments Lamar's perky delivery, resulting in the most sonically digestible project of his career. GMKC is a rapper's rap album. No bullshit, no throwaway lyrics, and no bad songs.

2. Taylor Swift - 1989 (Big Machine Records, 2014)

Major label pop music is an interesting beast. It's always subject to commercial expectations and the bullshit that comes with them. However, its artists have access to the best songwriters, producers, musicians and recording equipment. So while pop albums are often plagued by structural monotony, cliches, and the idea diarrhea of too many cooks are in the kitchen, they always sound incredible. When a pop album can buck -- or more accurately, excel within -- the confines of a major label, there's a great chance it will stand out. 1989 does way more than just stand out. For one, it's mixed and mastered perfectly. Its songs certainly don't reinvent the wheel when it comes to structure, but there's more than enough variety to keep the album interesting. "Style" and "Shake it Off" nail the pop formula with machine-like precision. "How You Get the Girl" is a big buildup with an even bigger payoff. The bridge on "Out of the Woods" is unforgettable. Every song on the album could have been a hit single on a lesser album. In fact, half of the album's 13 songs were released as singles, 5 of which reached the top 10 on Billboard. 1989 was critically acclaimed, commercially successful, and cleaned up at award shows. It also bangs harder than anything else released in the past 20 years.

1. Title Fight - Shed (SideOneDummy, 2011)

Title Fight's genre changes depending on who you ask to define it. Hardcore kids will tell you they're a hardcore band. Pop-punk kids will tell you they're pop-punk. A less codified listener might say they're "post-hardcore" or "alternative". The true answer is that Title Fight is simply greater than the sum of their parts. They synthesize a ton of disparate ideas into something familiar and cohesive. Then they execute with the type of rhythmic precision and ear for dynamics that makes you want to engage in a primal release, like jumping around your bedroom or driving your car really fast. Shed doesn't compromise an inch. It's 27 minutes of unrelenting punk rock that somehow manages to have just as many singalong moments as a Taylor Swift album. It's the Start Today of our generation, except infinitely darker. It only makes sense that hardcore legend and Gorilla Biscuits mastermind Walter Schreifles produced it. Shed is an essential piece of hardcore cannon, shaped by four kids who worshiped at the genre's altar, but knew how to stretch its limitations to create something unforgettable.

~~~

Thanks again for reading! Here's some fun stats about my list that you might find interesting.

• The most represented year on my list was 2011, with nine albums finishing in the top 50.
• The least represented year was 2016, with only two albums.
• No albums from later than 2015 cracked the top ten of my list. Only two of the top 20 records were released after 2015.
• The record label with the most albums on my list was Triple-B records, with four albums. Deathwish Inc., was second, as they put out all three Self Defense Family records.
• Eight labels put out albums by multiple artists on this list. Those labels were: Top Dawg Entertainment, Triple-B Records, No Sleep Records, Closed Casket Activities, Southern Lord, Reaper Records, and Def Jam.
• SideOneDummy, Deathwish Inc., and Cash Money/Young Money Records all had multiple releases from the same artist.
• The artist with the most albums on the list was Self Defense Family (credited as End of a Year on You Are Beneath Me). They had three entries on the list. They're featured on the Mixed Signals comp as well.
• Title Fight and Drake are the only other repeat artists. Each had two projects on the list. Interestingly enough, all four of those albums cracked the top 15. Drake's 2015 retail mixtape If You're Reading This... it's Too Late barely missed the top 50.
• Only four of the albums on my list are from female artists or bands with permanent female members. Self Defense Family has two records with contributions from women. The other two artists on the list were Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift. I see this more as a personal problem than a reflection on the talented women in music.

I know I've said this twice already, but THANK YOU SO MUCH. THANK YOU SO MUCH to anyone who has read, shared, commented on and encouraged my writing over the past ten years. Thanks to all the bands who let me interview them in the last decade. It means the world to me. This blog has been one of the most enriching things in my life. This particular "End of a Decade" project was so fun and fulfilling for me to complete. Here's to another 10 years!

End of a Decade - Albums 20-11

Surgeon General's warning: the majority of albums on this section of the list are ass-beating, depressing and inaccessible to normies. Herein lie the heaviest records the decade had to offer. Proceed with caution.

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 5.

20. J. Cole - 2014 Forest Hills Drive (Dreamville Records, 2014)

J. Cole always had the tools to be a generational rapper. He started with lyrical skill, and a tendency to be intelligent, if not conscious. This made his early material a hit with the Genius crowd. His hook-writing and ear for melody later garnered him radio attention. Still, his early projects were bogged down by lack of cohesion, too many words, and some high-key cheesy moments. 2014 Forest Hills Drive is where he put it all together. Cole, who's always had a major hand in production, crafted 13 beats that sound like they belonged together. Then he took his great lines, and turned them into great songs. Tracks like "Wet Dreamz" and "'03 Adolescence" are heartfelt coming of age stories, while "Fire Squad" and "No Role Modelz" are poignant reflections on society. 2014 Forest Hills Drive sees Cole step into his rightful place as one of the greatest MCs of our generation.


19. K Camp - K.I.S.S. 4 (FTE/4.27 Music Group, 2017)

As I mentioned in a previous write-up, the 2010's were the decade hip hop and RnB became almost indistinguishable. Crooners like Jeremih and Trey Songz started incorporating hip-hop jargon and swagger over DJ Mustard beats. Rappers like Chance and Kanye started basically singing their verses. This decade was also the dawn of a new breed of artist -- the chameleons, like Dej Loaf, Kid Ink and Tory Lanez, who melded genres seamlessly depending on what the song called for. K Camp is nowhere near the highest-profile of those artists, but his 2017 tape K.I.S.S. 4 is arguably the perfect snapshot of their genre. The tape is overflowing with equal parts RnB sex appeal and hip hop aggression. Camp spins caricature-level tales of tricking, pimping and general fuckboy behaviour over the sensual, party-hungry vibe of MusicMajor's production. The result is a project that could rival a few choice Motown records in terms of bedroom vibe.


18. Teenage Bottlerocket - Freak Out! (Fat Wreck Chords, 2012)

Teenage Bottlerocket's 2009 masterpiece They Came From the Shadows made the Wisconsin band a household name. Their follow-up, 2012's Freak Out!, didn't garner nearly as much attention, but it's arguably just as good. Freak Out! is 13 tracks of the band's trademark Ramones meets Bad Religion pop-punk, meshing speed and gritty guitar tones with crystal-clear production, hook-laden songwriting, and a knack for silliness that makes even the most self-serious punx chuckle. It also spices up the formula, from parts that border on crooning to parts that could actually get hardcore goons swinging in the pit. 30 plus years after Ramones made Ramones-style pop punk formulaic, Freak Out! proves why so many bands lean on this style. When it's done right, there's no better vessel for a great melody than a fast, straightforward pop-punk song.


17. Trapped Under Ice - Big Kiss Goodnight (Reaper Records, 2011)

The fact that Trapped Under Ice's magnum opus has been omitted from every major "Best of the Decade" list goes to show how clueless the music press can be. Big Kiss Goodnight is a consensus classic among hardcore heads for not only the 2010's, but the genre's entire 40 year history. The album was recently voted hardcore's best of the decade by a bunch of rabid hardcore nerds on Axe To Grind's "Mosh Madness", and rightfully so. TUI started out indebted to mid-90's NYHC, but by BKG they were their own juggernaut entirely. The album juggles bouncy groove, bonecrushing heaviness, and infectious melody for 33 minutes of near-perfection. Seeing artists like Turnstile, Power Trip and G.L.O.S.S. on these "best of lists" is great, because any press for hardcore is good press. It's also a head-scratcher, because among hardcore circles, those bands live in the shadow of the almighty TUI.

16. Defeater - Empty Days & Sleepless Nights (Bridge 9 Records, 2011)

When Defeater started, they were heavily indebted to the melodic hardcore that dominated their hometown of Boston for the previous decade. They continued to evolve, stepping out of their influences while simultaneously holding a thread to their roots. The most interesting step in that evolution is Empty Days & Sleepless Nights, an album that, on repeat listens, reveals the diverse influences of "the wave" bands Defeater was reluctantly lumped in with. How a band makes arpeggios and cymbal-heavy, "jazzy" drumming sound hard and heavy is beyond me, but Defeater manages it on Empty Days...  The album is devastatingly bleak, moody, and unfriendly. Empty Days... came out around the same time as Big Kiss Goodnight, which turned the tide of hardcore away from Boston melody towards something harder. It would be fair, then, to interpret the train-whistle on "White Oak Doors" as the death-knoll of the Bridge Nine sound. An appropriate legacy for an album where death is the inescapable theme.


15. Xibalba - Hasta La Muerte (Southern Lord, 2012)

Latinos have been integral to the history of hardcore and extreme metal. Agnostic Front, Slayer, Morbid Angel and Madball all feature(d) prominent Latinx members, and no one would ever downplay the importance of those bands. Xibalba carries the tradition, with the added twist of wearing their heritage on their sleeve. From naming their band after the Mayan underworld, to singing a large portion of their songs in Spanish, to tackling race issues in their lyrics, Xibalba have become an example of how great hardcore becomes when it's informed by diverse perspectives. But to pidgeonhole Hasta La Muerte as a great Latinx hardcore album would be a disservice. The album perfectly blends the atmospheric and tonal heaviness of death metal with the groove and dynamics of hardcore. Most "hardcore influenced death metal" falls victim to corniness and riff-salad. Most "death metal influenced hardcore" can't play its instruments. Xibalba doesn't just avoid all the pitfalls on Hasta La Muerte. They go above and beyond. The album is an hour long and doesn't drag once.


14. Drake - Take Care (Young Money Entertainment/Cash Money Records, 2011)

Take Care didn't prove hip-hop could top the charts. Nor did it prove a rapper could be the biggest artist in the world. The genre had at least a decade of mainstream success by 2011, and it would take Drake five more years of grinding before he could anoint himself as the new king of pop. Take Care didn't prove anything. It did, however, set the stage and pave the way. The album topped the charts in the US, ushered in a new golden age of rap, and catapulted Drake to an international superstardom he would use to break records set by the Beatles and Michael Jackson. The album's seven singles are among the most infectious and innovative pop songs this decade. Its deep cuts are filled with introspective gems, unmatched bravado, and all the talent of a truly great MC. Take Care is a great record in its own right. In context, it shaped this decade's pop landscape more than any other album. Billy Eilish, Lizzo, Post Malone, and of course, Drake himself, owe a great debt to Take Care.

13. Nails - Abandon All Life (Southern Lord, 2013)

If you put a punk, a metal head and a hardcore kid in a room, and ask them to come up with a list of bands they all like, that list would be pretty short. Alongside Motorhead, Black Flag, Slayer, Napalm Death and Converge, would be Nails. That's high praise, considering Nails has never drawn as many kids as those other bands. It speaks volumes to their talent in a world where the internet is diverting our attention in a million different places. Nails released three stellar albums this decade -- none better than Abandon All Life. The album sounds like rage distilled. It's grimy, relentless and miserable. It's also extremely well written -- full of dynamic bursts, dance parts and even a few choruses. That being said, this album is not easy listening. Producer Kurt Ballou has a huge hand the album's bristly timbre, distilling the talent of Southern California's best hardcore musicians into something utterly unapproachable. But those who get it, get it. Abandon All Life speaks volumes to everyone who's modus operandi is anger.


12. ScHoolboy Q - Oxymoron (Interscope Records/Top Dawg Entertainment, 2014)

Sure, Young Jeezy made the ad-lib his thing way before the turn of this decade. But the 2010's saw rappers take his idea and run with it. Some ad-libs became catch-phrases. Some were notable for their absurdity. On Oxymoron, ScHooboy Q takes the ad-lib to a whole other level. Through a haze of reverb and delay, Q weaponizes his signature "yahs" and "yaks" to shift song structures, create buildups, and add flavour to verses. The result is the closest hip-hop has ever gotten to a "wall of sound" production style while being accessible. Songs like "Hoover Street" twist and turn while the ad-libs pull multiple parts together. Other songs like "Gangsta" use the ad-libs to provide bounce and propel scream-along parts in the vein of gang vocals. Whether this production style was meticulously crafted, or just the product of some loped-out studio fuckery is a mystery to me. I can only say with confidence that it works.


11. Candy - Good To Feel (Triple-B Records, 2018)

Hardcore is a genre which pays homage like no other. This leads to a codified sound where purists can easily identify a band's lineage. Even hardcore's biggest fans have to admit, rigid dedication to form results in scores of unremarkable bands. The beauty of hardcore is when a band can meld sounds in a new or remarkable way. Candy is one of those bands. They blend obscure Japanese hardcore, crust, and the moodiness of Integrity, into something special. On Good to Feel, the NYC-by-way-of-Richmond-and-Buffalo band find the rare trifecta of speed, heaviness and edge. Candy's sound is undeniably versatile. That they can tour with the melodic Abuse of Power and the crushingly heavy Knocked Loose is a testament to this versatility. It's also a testament to how well-respected Candy is among its peers. That respect is wholeheartedly deserved.

End of a Decade - Albums 30-21

Music taste is something highly personal and subjective. I'm starting to think there's some records on this list that nobody on earth except me gives a flying fuck about. Here's 10 more records you may or may not have heard.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 Part 5

30. End of a Year - You are Beneath Me (Deathwish Inc., 2010)

Through their prolific existence, Self Defense Family/End of a Year have transitioned from the red-headed stepchildren of hardcore to outliers in a slightly adjacent freak scene. Smack dab in the middle of that transition they released You Are Beneath Me, a perfect time-capsule of early 2010's post hardcore. For their first Deathwish full length, the band slow down and start experimenting beyond power chords. The result is a true coming out party for bassist Sean Doody. He handles the melody and keeps the band chugging along underneath tense guitar interplay and the charming but grating bark of vocalist Patrick Kindlon.  This album, perhaps accidentally, captures the 2010 zeitgeist with an undeniably punk, yet equally ambitious offering.


29. Wild Side - Who the Hell is Wild Side? (Triple-B Records, 2019)

Niagara Falls' Wild Side rarely arrive anywhere on their debut full length in a straight line. The songs wind and detour through multiple parts, keys and tempos, with plenty of time for guitar solos, bass breaks, and other fun stuff. The formula is a risky one, especially for straightforward hardcore, which tends to thrive on simple songwriting. Somehow, the songs on ...Wild Side? all arrive at their destination, Moshville, ON, sooner or later. Every song on this album has a part you can dance to. Many of them also have singalong parts, stagedive parts, and other fun shit that makes Wild Side's live show so intense. To stuff as much into one song as these boys do and still make it sound cohesive is a testament to the songwriting muscle they flex again and again on this album.


28. Blind Justice - No Matter the Cost (Flatspot Records, 2018)

Jersey Shore natives Blind Justice probably spent an equal amount of their formative years at the beach, the skatepark, and the local VFW hall. At least that's how it sounds on their second full length. The album gives off a laid back party attitude, melding upbeat skate punk 2-step riffs with ass-beating east coast hardcore a la Floorpunch and the Mongoloids. The result is a well rounded, criminally underrated record that will make you mosh around your bedroom for 20 minutes straight.


27. Turnstile - Nonstop Feeling (Reaper Records, 2015)

It's hard to think of a more polarizing album this decade than Nonstop Feeling. In the run-up to its release, Turnstile were shit on by old heads left and right. Sergeant D dropped a piece on Metalsucks accusing the band of dressing like assholes and ripping off the shitty Leeway records. People were begrudgingly comparing Turnstile's sound to Rage Against the Machine and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Some clever troll even did this. The problem with disparaging a band for pulling in 90's alternative influences is that most of Turnstile's target audience (present company included) actually LOVE 90's alternative. Plus when you listen to Nonstop Feeling, you'll come to understand the not-so-cool influences are sprinkled across an otherwise studious and well-crafted hardcore record. Turnstile won over the kids, and eventually, most of the old haters (including Sergeant D, who often wears a Turnstile longsleeve on his new channel, the Punk Rock MBA).

26. Chief Keef - Finally Rich (Glory Boyz Entertainment, 2012)

If Lil Uzi Vert vs The World is mumble rap's Vitruvian Man, then Finally Rich is the primordial ooze from which it rose. The album sounds like a troubled Chicago teen, who grew up equally on Lil' Wayne and Waka Flocka Flame, expressing himself in earnest. But to the hip-hop establishment at the time, it signaled something more sinister. It was derided for being obnoxious, absurd and simplistic. In fairness, Finally Rich is all those things -- but it's also revolutionary. The album introduced rap to a type of delivery, production and bravado never before seen. Young, boisterous rappers would spend the remainder of the decade trying to replicate the magic Keef had on Finally Rich, but very few -- if any -- came close to matching it.


25. Vein - Errorzone (Closed Casket Activities, 2018)

Errorzone comes out in an era when the market is seemingly saturated with bands who sound like Vein. What sets Vein apart is their ability to write interesting riffs. Their guitarists are actually working the fretboard pretty hard, instead of sticking to the open-note chug b/w panic chord formula most of their less interesting contemporaries seem to be stuck on. The band conjures up the chaos of early 2000's metalcore a la Converge or Every Time I Die, with a healthy dose of bounce and sampling effects borrowed from nu-metal. This album puts the listener in a feedback-induced confusion one second, then has them kicking their foot through the wall on a devastating mosh part the next. Of all the "chugga-chugga-weeooh" albums released in the later half of this decade, Errorzone is almost certainly the best.


24. Freddie Gibbs - ESGN (ESGN/Empire Distribution, 2013)

Freddie Gibbs' decade highlight, to most of the music press, is 2014's Madlib assisted Pinata. That's because they're all living in downtown lofts, drinking soy lattes, and pretending to like JPEGMAFIA. For the kids who spent the first half of the decade hotboxing shitty cars and driving around the suburbs, it's ESGN all the way. Equal parts 2pac and UGK, ESGN is catchy, raw, and hard hitting. It's a gritty portrait of life in the urban Midwest, with features from legends, high-profile stars, and seemingly, Freddie's trap homies. In all seriousness, Gibbs has proven twice (Pinata and 2019's Bandana) he can do the Dilla thing pretty well. But when Gangsta Gibbs ratchets up the GANGSTA, people like me feel him the most.

23. Kanye West - Yeezus (Def Jam Recordings, 2013)

Keeping Kanye West in the public eye has hardly been worth it. His last three albums have been awful. His executive producer talents have been severely overrated. His public persona has ranged between hilarious in a cringey way and just plain disgusting. His shoes are overpriced. Yeezus makes it all (almost) worth it. There's moments of pure, stripped down energy that border on punk rock. There's layered, perfectly-sampled compositions which are engaging for all of their five plus minute run-time. There are a few classic four minute long radio bangers which got severely underrated when they were released. Ye's beatmaking, songwriting and production are all nearly perfect. There are a lot of dumb lyrics on Yeezus, but the general gist of what he's talking about is quite profound. Racism, consumerism and religion are all tackled here in an insightful and meaningful way. West's late-era magnum opus is a stern reminder of why people don't scoff when he calls himself a genius.


22. Trash Talk - Eyes and Nines (Trash Talk Collective, 2010)

My favourite podcast, Axe to Grind, recently echoed a sentiment many people in hardcore have about Trash Talk. That is, they don't have enough songwriting chops to be remembered as a great band. That's because when Vice-core norms latched onto Trash Talk circa 2009, tr00 hardcore kids stopped paying attention. The band's mid period, Eyes and Nines and the spectacular 2011 EP Awake are far more than just 45 second long mosh riffs. These offerings are full of hooks, bridges, and even a slow song or two. The short ass mosh songs for kids to beat the piss out of each other in the pit are still there, but the actual hits stand out. It's easy to see why Vice dudes loved this band, too. There's a clarity to the vocals and plenty of bounce to go along with the blast-beats. Trash Talk burned bridges with hardcore heads, and their Vice fans evaporated faster than piss on hot asphalt. This leaves them in legacy purgatory. I won't be surprised when kids rediscover Eyes and Nines in a couple years, though. This album is just too good.


21. Danny Brown - XXX (Fool's Gold, 2011)

Everyone loves a good story, so it's easy to see why the tale of an aging drug addict party animal putting everything on the line for his last shot at glory makes XXX so appealing. Frankly though, if the tracks weren't there, no one would care. XXX has the tracks. It also has the quotables. You can tell Danny Brown was scribbling in his notebook till his fingers bled. It feels like every line on the album is meticulously crafted. The close production ties to house and other EDM styles made XXX stand out like a sore thumb in 2011, when mainstream rap was still riding the crunk wave of horns and 808s. To say it was responsible for a stylistic change in production is irresponsible, but XXX certainly kicked the door open. Then Danny Brown walked through that door, blunt wraps and brown bag in hand, ready to fuck the party up.

End of a Decade - Albums 40-31

I'm reading a bunch of "Top XXX albums of the decade" lists, and they're all being led off with 3,000 word manifestos. Should I write a manifesto? This is part two of my End of a Decade top 50 list. Part 1 is here. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5.

(NOTE: I have two #36's on this list because I fucked up my counting, and I didn't want to delete any albums off my list. So deal with it!)

40. Magnitude - To Whatever Fateful End (Triple-B Records, 2019)

A number of bands from America's geographic South have recently devoted themselves to mid 90's New Age/Victory Records worship. The general consensus from hardcore heads is that most of this material is simply derivative. This is, until Magnitude's To Whatever Fateful End. The North Carolina group channels Strife, One King Down and Earth Crisis through a modern production and performance lens, with dynamic results. The album brings a classic sound to a new generation with an execution old heads can't deny.

39. Boosie Badazz - BooPac (Atlantic/Trill, 2017)

Boosie made waves on VladTV when he suggested he would borrow the namesake of a deceased rap icon for a highly personal, introspective mixtape. When the risks he took on BooPac didn't pay off commercially, the Louisiana rapper lamented he would only make "turn-up" records from then on. A damn shame, as BooPac is a gem. The lyrics about personal growth and community stand out like a sore thumb in an era when rappers of Boosie's vintage are becoming more and more detached from reality. BooPac is a win from a compositional standpoint as well -- the complexity of the rhyme schemes are unmatched by anything this decade.

38. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book (Self Released, 2016)

According to Wikipedia, Chance the Rapper's religious re-awakening happened slightly before Coloring Book was written. It must have been a perfect storm, because his third mixtape is a perfect transition point between someone who was "xanned out every fucking day" and someone who thought it would be a good idea to write a 70-minute concept album about his wedding. The gospel rap sound is all over this album, but it also has a strong low-end and a lyrical edge that isn't there on many of the other rap sermons we've had to endure in the past five or so years.

37. A$AP Ferg - Trap Lord (RCA Records, 2013)

Anyone who knows me, knows I love stupid music. Trap Lord is among the stupidest albums ever made. The first line of the lead single is "short n***a but my dick long", pretty much setting the tone. The choruses to two of Ferg's songs are simply "I fucked yo bitch, n***a" repeated over and over again, and "get the fuck out my motherfucking face" over and over again. But for all the stupidity, there are many redeemable qualities. Ferg says it best himself: he's "kinda silly doe, but [he's] lyrical". There's also a fair amount of compositional intelligence and risk-taking in the song structure, which breaks up the monotony and gives the album a flow. Ferg dials up the stupidity on Trap Lord, but there's more than enough substance to go with it.

36. Various Artists - Mixed Signals Compilation (Run For Cover Records, 2011)

This decade marked the beginning of the streaming age, and the compilation gave way to the curated playlist. 2011's Mixed Signals may be the last great example of a truly important punk comp. Curated by a fledgling Run For Cover Records, Mixed Signals presents 12 previously unreleased songs from that era's creme de la creme of indie-leaning post-hardcore. Half of the bands lent the comp songs that could be considered in the top five of their catalogs at the time. The compilation album may be a lost vessel for getting people into new music, but Mixed Signals proves that when done right, comps can be a special time capsule.

36. Lil Uzi Vert - Lil Uzi Vert vs. The World (Generation Now, 2016)

All you need to do to piss off an old head or Eminem stan is mention "mumble rap". Then watch the boomer's eyes roll into the back of his head as he spouts gibberish about coloured braids, lean and face tattoos. To be fair, he's not exactly wrong. Mumble rap has been responsible for it's fair share of musical atrocities this decade. It's also had a number of high water marks -- perhaps none higher than this 9 song tape. The  hallmarks of mumble rap are all there -- the kazoos, recorders and unintelligble lyrics about diamonds. However, the production is raw and laser focused, and the hooks are plentiful, making vs. The World a standout among a sea of flexing and gibberish.

35. The Rival Mob - Mob Justice (Revelation Records, 2013)

Seeing the Rival Mob on the third day of this is hardcore in 2012 was a revelation to me. I had bought a one day ticket to see Bane, Title Fight and Code Orange Kids (who I missed). So when I walked in part-way through Rival Mob's set, I was taken aback by how raw and distilled they played hardcore. I was also taken aback by the sheer amount of people beating the shit out of each other in the pit. I downloaded their new album when it came out a year later. It took about four years to grow on me, but eventually I came to love earworms like "Boot Party" or "Brutes of Force" along with mosh anthems like the intro and title track. Mob Justice is our decade's best representation of the straightforward, Lockin' Out, New York by way of Boston sound.

34. Joyce Manor - Joyce Manor (6131 Records, 2011)

I think the consensus favourite for Joyce Manor is their third album. I disagree. Their self-titled debut is overflowing with a type of rage they tried to replace, first with sarcasm, then earnestness. They never quite scratch the same itch. Most of the songs on the self-titled are under two minutes long, but they have the pop sensibility to make them anthemic. The production on this record is the only thing holding it back, as almost every one of the albums' ten songs can get caught in your head.

33. Kodak Black - Project Baby 2 (Sniper Gang Records, 2017)

Kodak Black seemed to be poised for superstardom in 2017. He had released a string of promising mixtapes, but had his career derailed by numerous legal problems. In 2017, he released his first proper album, the well-received Painting Pictures, and followed it up with PB2, a sprawling, expansive mixtape that dealt with personal pain, incarceration, and alienation in a realer fashion than anything else this decade. Kodak was destined to break through, but he faced more jail time, and never seemed to have the same focus with the pen or in the booth as a result. If 2017 remains Kodak's banner year, he will go down as one of this century's biggest broken promises. At least we'll have this tape as a reminder of what could have been.

32. Pianos Become the Teeth - The Lack Long After (Topshelf Records, 2011)

The five bands who comprised "the wave" are introspective, navel-gazing, and sometimes, melodramatic. To say they put a premium on lyrics is an understatement. Those five bands probably account for hundreds of lost notebooks, scribbled in the margins, overflowing with prose. Pianos Become the Teeth's greatest lyrical contribution is perhaps the realest and most heart-wrenching the wave produced, as vocalist Kyle Durfey chronicles the loss of his father to MS. Durfey's lyrics, backed by a carefully-crafted wall of noise and a booming percussion section, etch PBTT into the halls of screamo cannon.

31. Xerxes - Our Home is a Deathbed (No Sleep Records, 2012)

While "the wave" is an important musical statement in its own right, the five bands also inspired a legion of kids who grew up on Thursday to dive deep in the crates and pull from bands like American Nightmare and Pg.99. Xerxes aren't the first band to mix the pacing of "Metal-Zone youth crew" with the atmosphere and melody of skramz, but they are the darkest, ugliest, and I would argue, the best. Deathbed sounds like Touche Amore with basement production and better lyrics. Main songwriter Will Allard is a dynamic mastermind, and vocalist Calvin Philley is a bona-fide poet. Our Home is a Deathbed is currently, barely a footnote on a genre cast aside. However, my hope is when kids rediscover this type of music, they'll pick up this record and fall in love with it like I did.