10. Wristmeetrazor - Misery Never Forgets (Prosthetic Records)
I don't think I could come up with a more melodramatic band/record name if I tried. It's fitting of the music though. This scratches that old "wave" itch of mall-emo influenced hardcore for me, but with more chugga-chuggas and an intense scene aesthetic.
9. Polo G - Die a Legend (Columbia)
One thing that pisses me off about rap these days is how lazy and forgettable the choruses are. Two of the choruses on this album are among 2019's most singable ("Pop Out" and "Finer Things"). The rest are kinda standard issue boring, but Polo's flow, bars and beat selection make the songs enjoyable anyways.
8. Knocked Loose - A Different Shade of Blue (Pure Noise)
Two years ago, Code Orange was the coolest heavy hardcore band and Knocked Loose was "for posers". Those roles have now been reversed thanks to the fickleness of hardcore kids. Code Orange has gone off the deep end into twiz territory and everyone hates them now. Knocked Loose are the heavy hardcore kings, thanks this album, where they sped up and trimmed the cheesy parts away. ADSOB will probably be remembered as a tent-pole hardcore release in a few years.
7. Youngboy Never Broke Again - Realer (Never Broke Again LLC.)
Up to this point NBA has always struck me as a singles rapper, putting out great songs amid a ton of sameness and mediocrity. He finally nailed a full project on Realer, with no skip-able tracks and four or five legit good songs. He then followed it up by releasing a shitload of watered down mixtapes amid some genuinely interesting singles.
6. Denzel Curry - ZUU (PH Recordings/Loma Vista)
I didn't get enough time with this album, but I really liked it. Denzel is like a throwback to 2012, when people were actually trying to be lyrical AND make great songs at the same time. He reminds me of a young Cole or Kendrick before they got too heady. This earnestness and creativity is gold in a landscape of 35 year-olds too high on coke to be hungry and literal children being exploited by their labels for baby formula.
5. Abuse of Power - What on Earth Can We Do? (Triple-B)
AOP took the Turning Point formula and made it fast as fuck. There's nothing revolutionary about this, but it's still really good. I feel like the band will be more remembered for their EP, but the full length might actually be the more interesting release.
4. Freddie Gibbs - Bandana (ESGN/RCA)
Of the aformentioned 35 year-old cokeheads making easy-listening rap in 2019, Freddie Gibbs is the only one who feels like he has a stake in it. He's getting structurally inventive, improving lyrically, and not entirely up his own ass. He spits some unhinged "aging hip-hop dude" nonsense occasionally, but it only adds to the charm.
3. Magnitude - To Whatever Fateful End (Triple-B)
The only thing more idealistically satisfying this year than listening to a 35 year-old rapper freak out about slutwalks and vaccines was hearing a group of 22 year-old hardcore kids shriek about their commitment to straight edge and veganism. It's deeper than that, too. If nothing else, this album gets by on sheer conviction. I'm interested to see how this will hold up in five years, but in 2019, it was thoroughly enjoyable.
2. Never Ending Game - Just Another Day (Triple-B)
This album took me back to the time when I was an earnest 21 year old spinning that Xerxes LP three times a day. It's not at all sonically similar. It's just that I haven't been as excited about an album in easily six or seven years. This sounds like kids who grew up on Trapped Under Ice trying to sound like Cold as Life. Which is fucking sick. It's so unique and so re-listenable.
1. Wild Side - ...Who the Hell is Wild Side? (Triple B)
If I'm being objective, the NEG album is better than this one. But I'm not being objective, my g. I saw Wild Side three times this year and that definitely coloured how I'll remember their long awaited full length. It's a pretty great album, regardless. It's classic NYHC, coloured by some high-risk/high-reward songwriting and an undercurrent of classic rock worship.
Honourable mention:
42 Dugg - Young and Turnt, Fury - Failed Entertainment, Hangman - One By One, Young Thug - So Much Fun, Pandemix - In Condemnation, Blueface - Famous Cryp, DaBaby - Baby on Baby, Kodak Black - Dying to Live, Sunami - Demo 2019.
Top Five EPs
5. Ekulu - Half Alive
4. Rejection Pact - Threats of the World
3. Gulch - Promo 2019
2. Friction - Demo 2019
1. Deniro Farrar - Re-up
This was a great year for music. Probably the best in the last half of this decade. Everyone PLEASE check this shit out.
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