Clipping's latest album, Visions of Bodies Being Burned, is a terrifying, razor-sharp sequel to their previous ode to the horror film genre.
On Marlowe 2, L'Orange finds an inventive range, interleaving the hip-hop with textures that bring his landscapes into tuneful definition; Solemn Brigham, brings his deft skills as one of hip-hop's brightest poets.
Nnamdï's BRAT is a labyrinth detailing the insular journey of a young, eclectic DIY artist who takes on the weighty responsibility of reaching a point where he can do what he loves for a living.
MaestroAeks' Sapodigo is a collection of blunted hip-hop tunes, sometimes nudging a fulsome boom-bap and other times trading on laid-back, mellow grooves.
Fat Tony proves a bright, young artist making waves amongst the new generation of hip-hop upstarts.
100 gecs' follow up their debut with a "remix album" stuffed with features, remixes, covers, and a couple of new recordings. But don't worry, it's just as blissfully difficult as their debut.
Run the Jewels have always had a taste for action-movie hyperbole, but as they've powered through their careers, the lines between slapstick and real have almost ceased to exist.
RICEWINE's uneven yet generous third LP, Lovesick, perfects an infectious and consistent sound, allowing the groove to propel the album forward.
Epic, sleek, weed rap, emo, sociopolitical, gangsta, or house party? In which direction will hip-hop go? 2010 was a year for all of the above.
Run the Jewels' "Ooh LA LA" may hit with old-school hip-hop swagger, but it also frustratingly affirms misogynistic bro-culture.
San Francisco alt-R&B/electropop group, the Seshen tie musical and emotional threads together beautifully on Cyan.
Giovanni Marks, the William S. Burroughs of hip-hop, offers up his thoughts on the trials and tribulations of an indie hip-hop artist.
Detroit rapper Danny Brown's uknowhatimsayin¿ is a spare, principled record that's mostly about hard beats and harder bars.
On All My Heroes Are Cornballs, experimental rapper and producer JPEGMAFIA broadens his visceral online image and sounds into a more vulnerable, humanizing, and melodic project.
With Nashville producer Dave Cobb in tow, California quintet Dirty Heads beef up their chill party vibe with some unique sounds on Super Moon.
Few rappers have been brave enough to try what Sayyid has been doing for years; his hip-hop suffers brutal and fantastic experiments of Asimov-proportions.
After a decade-long gestation, a collaboration between Detroit rapper Mister and UK producer Curt Cataract is bearing fruit. Hear their latest track "Holding It Up".
On Trench, arena-pop duo Twenty One Pilots shift to a more tasteful, sensitive approach to mixed but mostly positive results.
milo is an art-house MC who savors the magic of the middle-class, refraining from helipads and bottle service in favor of video games and stewed tomatoes.
The debut album from producer Sami Baha reveals an undeniable grasp of hip-hop fundamentals and trap aesthetics, while propelling these concepts forward.
Cocoa Sugar is an album that retains an enigmatic quality. Provocative when it needs to be, it steers well clear of addressing current world issues explicitly. This album will resonate for years to come.
With "In My View", trio Young Fathers performs a masterful balancing act, turning a powerful ballad into a lightly banging dance track and back again.
Aggressively experimental, "Since C.A.Y.A." is dissonant and schizophrenic with beats going all over the place and plenty of tasty sonic treats weaving in and out of the track.
Rapper Mr. Lif teams up with Balkan brass band Brass Menažeri for a thrilling new genre mash on their new album Resilient.
In many regards, Common is still caught up in the hyper-masculine universe that has historically pervaded much of hip-hop. But in Like Water for Chocolate, he finds fluidity over stasis.
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