2018 hip hop highlights (so far):
Moosebumps: An Exploration Into Modern Day Horripilation is basically an apology for 2005's
The Return of Dr. Octagon which pretty much universally disappointed fans of
Dr. Octagonecologyst. Easily my hip hop AOTY and anybody who loves Kool Keith's crazy mid-90's Octagon stuff will undoubtedly get a kick out of this shit. Kinda hard to even believe he was able to pull this off.
Basically peak nostalgia-mining with vintage beats, endless cartoon and comic book references, a general feeling of cynicism about the new school rap scene and so on. Rebel INS and MF DOOM doing what they do best: just rapping their asses off. Obviously 7L & Esoteric are also on point,
Czarface Meets Metal Face is pretty much what I want in a hip hop collaboration, it's meat and potatoes stuff, nothing mind-blowing or game-changing. Czarface is kinda like the Darkthrone of hip hop, it's for the aging heads who get all grumpy over new trends.
It's also cool to see DOOM getting off his ass and working again, the guy was either burnt out or just lazy as fuck. I can't even remember the last time he put something out where he rhymes over his own beats (and the beats aren't old ass shits he revived from a floppy disc as opposed to crafting new stuff).
Ramson Badbonez is probably my favourite U.K. emcee (and maybe my favourite non-American emcee in general) and he started out doing a little bit of horrorcoreish stuff before just developing his own non-gimmicky style but this year he actually returned to his roots and put out a horrorcore themed record called
Jason Bonez. Really catchy, cool references, great wordplay and flow, it's all there.
He's also a killer freestyler.
Has DJ Muggs ever released a bad "Soul Assassins" project? I don't think I've disliked a single one, anyway this one is another gem with grimy dungeon sci-fi beats and a cast of guests you can't be disappointed by; Kool G Rap, MF DOOM, Raekwon, Mayhem Lauren, Freddie Gibbs etc.
Soul Assassins: Dia del Asesinato.
Ramson Badbonez also managed to pump out a mixtape this year called
Ramson Badbonez & Company which is as good as any proper album I've heard from this year.
I've never checked out The Doppelgangaz before this year as far as I can remember but this album instantly stood out to me because of the production. The beats are absolutely fucking dark and gritty, like when everybody in the late 90's was trying to sound very nocturnal.
Aaaaggghh is really good, the rhyming isn't too technical or gimmicky it just flows nicely and rides the beats perfectly, definitely going to check out their older shit because of this one.
Dreams & Vibrations by Damu the Fudgemunk & Flex Mathews. The name of the album pretty much sums it up perfectly, a very sunny summer positivity record but the beats still slam and Flex still flexes. Damu is the highlight because I'm just such a huge fan of his productions but he chose a great emcee to collaborate with. Album is a bit long for what it is though.
For anybody unfamiliar with Damu, he's basically a beat wizard that can use any kind of format: