NEWS
EVENTS
The Year Of The Rap
RnB/Hip Hop | Saturday 10th August 2013 | Annalisa
This year, 2013 is the Year of the Snake or at least most of it starting from February; well that is since the Chinese insist on using a calendar which while has colourful year names remains out of sync with the rest of the world. But this year is looking like it is going to known as more than that.
Never before (in my lifetime at least) has there been such a preponderance of hip hop and rap material released or about to be released in the space of one calendar year. And we are only seven months into the year.
It was Nas who proclaimed in 2006 that Hip Hop Is Dead with his first album for Def Jam Records but that assertion is being put to the test by the deluge of releases by old and new cats.
What this article aims to achieve is not to provide a comprehensive list of all material released in the rap universe but to just give an idea of how very much alive the genre is.
ASAP Rocky, one third of the hip hop collective ASAP Mob kicked it off in earnest in January, releasing his well received debut album Long. Live. ASAP. The album had the breakthrough single ‘Fuckin’ Problems’ featuring Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
Joe Budden of Slaughterhouse released his third solo album, No Love Lost in February and received mixed reviews from music critics. The album included the single “She Don't Put It Down Like You” featuring Lil Wayne.
And it was the turn of Lil Wayne as he dropped his highly anticipated eighth album, I Am Not a Human Being II in March to tepid reviews. The album would still go on to achieve gold status. Somewhere in midst of all that, the almost forgotten underground rapper, Papoose, released his debut album, The Nacirema Dream about a decade after being touted as being the next thing in hip hop. The less said about the album, the better for everyone.
But someone else came along to justify the hype surrounding him. Tyler The Creator’s Wolf album was released in April to generally positive reviews and sold over 100,000 copies in just two weeks after release.
An unexpected release also in the month of April, was the reggae album of Snoop Lion, formerly Dogg, Reincarnated. While the album will not blow the mind of any reggae head, it still represents a credible debut effort in the genre.
Other notable releases in that period were Will.i.am’s Willpower, LL Cool J’s Authentic, Tallinn Kweli’s Prisoner of Conscious, Eve’s Lip Lock and French Montana’s Excuse My French.
The summer was when hip hop really came alive with a raft of albums. On June 18, Kanye West released his sixth solo studio album, Yeezus which received high praise for its originality and content if not for its’s commerciality. Or lack of. The very same day J. Cole released his sophomore album,Born Sinner, as a gesture of friendly rap competition. Maybach Music rapper Wale would be next up releasing The Gifted a week after.
The mother of them all was Jay Z (now sans the hyphen) releasing his 11th number album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, selling a million copies even before release and blowing everyone out of the water.
When one realises that it’s only summer and there is expected to be further releases from the likes of Eminem, Big Sean, Pusha T, Fabulous, 2 Chainz, Drake, DJ Khaled, Nelly, Common, Birdman, Raekwon, Future, 50 Cent, E-40, Ice Cube, Ghostface Killah, Jadakiss, Ludacris, Lupe Fiasco, Method Man, Nas, Obie Trice, Pharoahe Monch, Redman, Rick Ross, T.I, Wiz Khalifa, Wu-Tang Clan, Young Jeezy, to name only a few, then you agree that the genre is alive and kicking.
I for one do not envy the judging committee for the hip hop categories for next year’s Grammys and other awards.
Now, if Dr. Dre would release the Detox album this year. Too much to ask for?
