7. MC Yallah – Yallah Beibe (Hakuna Kulala)
The Kenya-born, Uganda-raised MC Yallah has come up with a total barnburner with Yallah Beibe. A wild middle ground between rap, Afrobeats, and industrial, these 12 tracks are a thrilling ride through a futuristic, global vision of rap music. Flicking between Luganda, Luo, Kiswahili, and English, Yallah’s dextrous flow puts most Western MCs to shame, as does the unpredictable production. The dark “No One Seems to Bother” (featuring a member of Kenyan metallers Duma) is one of the boldest and most memorable tracks you’ll hear all year. An absolutely essential listen for all open-minded English-speaking listeners. – Tom Morgan
6. El Michels Affair and Black Thought – Glorious Game (Big Crown)
Glorious Game is the second long-gestating project from Black Thought to be released in less than a year. The results are impressive. El Michel’s Affair‘s smooth, 1970s-indebted R&B gives Black Thought a classic hip-hop template to rap over. Consequently, he’s often inspired to reminisce about his younger days. The combination of live R&B and an experienced rapper still at the top of his game is potent. There’s plenty of variety in what El Michel’s Affair and Black Thought are doing, keeping what could be a static-sounding record fresh and exciting. The album blasts through its 12 tracks in a brisk 31 minutes. El Michels Affair change the approach here and there, but they keep the focus on Black Thought’s verses. There aren’t any extended instrumental passages to be found; the music is serving the vocals. – Chris Conaton
5. Avelino – GOD SAVE THE STREETS (More Music / OddChild Music)
Avelino has remarkably never released an official debut album. However, his latest mixtape is an absolute stunner. The Londoner’s voice is laden with pathos, reeling off powerful street tales that are almost novelistic in their character-driven detail – check out his and Wretch 32’s observations on “VICIOUS CYCLE / A WORD FROM WRETCH 32”. He and his production team never succumb to the bleak misery of many similar UK rappers, however, and balance out the harsh lyrics with colorful, American-influenced production (“TWIN FLAME”, “SIN CITY”). A brilliant, if slight, release that showcases the best of contemporary UK rap. — Tom Morgan
4. Kassa Overall – Animals (Warp)
Kassa Overall’s music sounds free. On Animals, Overall’s third album and first for Warp Records, the drummer, producer, MC, and bandleader demonstrates the limitless potential of jazz, hip-hop, and beats, exploring and pushing new spaces for improvisation and experimentation. Attempts to blend jazz and hip-hop are certainly not new, but despite the common heritages from which both genres draw, they have often reinforced formal boundaries rather than expanded them. Kassa Overall is part of a newer generation of music-makers who have approached things a little differently, such as Flying Lotus and his Brainfeeder label or fellow jazz drummer and producer Karriem Riggins.
Similarly to these contemporaries, Kassa Overall’s approach to music is imaginative, expansive, and eclectic. A deep appreciation of and skill with jazz and hip-hop are seamlessly woven together on an album that goes in multiple places with many different voices thrown into the mix. – Alex Brent
3. Billy Woods/Kenny Segal – Maps (Backwoodz Studioz)
The life of touring is a dream come true for most musicians: The reality of getting paid to perform your music and even having venues from other countries pay for you to perform is such a career summit that it’s hard to imagine the negatives. Unless you get to that point and then have to endure all of the tedium, the exhaustion, the disorientating “where am I now?” feeling of zooming from town to town. On Maps, Billy Woods and Kenny Segal’s second full-length effort, the jazzy segments get weirder, the atmosphere is more claustrophobic, and the bars kick a bit harder than on their excellent Hiding Places.
Lyrically, Maps ranges from the deceptively petty (like when Woods repeatedly stresses why he won’t be at soundcheck on the aptly-titled “Soundcheck”) to the hazy introspectiveness of “Facetime”. And in the gut-punch of a closer, Woods looks at his son and gravely states, “I watch him grow wondering how long I got to live.” As a travelogue and modern navigation through middle age, Maps takes you on a journey that few albums could compete with in 2023. – Sean McCarthy
2. Armand Hammer – We Buy Diabetic Test Strips (Fat Possum)
Armand Hammer’s star has risen in the past decade and has been helped by increasing interest in left-field hip hop. We Buy Diabetic Test Strips is an incredible offering in both a prolific and boundary-pushing career for the New York rappers. Building on their gifts as MCs and lyricists, Billy Woods and Elucid have further cemented their place in alternative hip hop as one of the headiest yet most exciting groups right now.
We Buy Diabetic Test Strips is, in the best way, an unsurprising record for Armand Hammer. The beats can be hazy and harsh, while Elucid’s cerebral rhymes continue to complement Woods’ bleakly satirical poetry. A consistency of quality and a varied and rich palette of experimental production will surely please the duo’s dedicated fanbase, but there is plenty to recommend to new listeners, too. Woods’ ability to craft intricate rhymes and extensive vocabulary should not be overlooked either. It may put him in the league as the late, great MF Doom (reverently sampled on “Y’all Can’t Stand Right Here”. – Alex Brent
1. Noname – Sundial (Independent)
A rapper needs a name. How else will we know who is saying all the fly shit? Yet, the newest album, Sundial, by Chicago’s very own nameless rapper, Noname, speaks for itself. With just 11 tracks and a length of under 32 minutes, it contains multitudes. Sundial is as much a work of catharsis as it is a proclamation and a celebration of black joy.
On Sundial, Noname raps like her voice is holding the sky from falling. Love of oneself and one’s community, no matter their failings, is a struggle front and center in Sundial. Noname and the guest artists let the listener know they will fight for what they believe. The LP embraces a community working for a better future. Listen to Sundial if you want to know what time it is and if you want to have a good time. No exploiters of the community are allowed. – Luis Aguasvivas