In 2023, people celebrated the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. Here and there, all over the year, specialized as well as generalist medias commemorated that day, in August 1973, when DJ Kool Herc started to showcase his art. Of course, this is just a nice story. This musical genre has complex and multiple roots. It was certainly not created in one day, out of a trivial event. But all this fuss about the origins of hip-hop signaled at least two things: that it is already an old culture, and that its past might be more exciting than its future.
In 2023, hip-hop is a victim of its own history. It gets challenging to identify new trends and forms. It is made of so many layers and so many audiences, so many of its fans are just here to relive their best moments with that music... Boom bap devotees rejoice about the (too) many releases from The Alchemist or the Griselda crew. Trap music enthusiasts enjoy recent records from past idols such as Young Scooter, Young Thug, or the Paper Route Empire team.
The past is everywhere. Sexyy Red, one of the 2023 rising stars, is presented as a "female Gucci Mane" – rightfully, her music being reminiscent of the Atlanta master's. RXK Nephew became a hip-hop hero by rapping on house music beats, as some already did in the late 80s. And his freestyles reference the entire history of rap - as well as the cover art of his last album, one among many hijacking Ready To Die's.
Sure, hip-hop is all about pillaging, recycling, and reinventing. It started feeding on other musical genres, and then it fed on itself. It always practiced self-quotation, extensively. But now, we get to an upper level. In the eighties, a British band named itself Pop Will Eat Itself: as a matter of fact, any culture ends up being a cannibal. And hip-hop might have reached this stage. Nothing it produces looks very new.
What's left, in 2023? The Michigan scene, that excited us so much by the end of the 2010's, is being normalized now that success looks close, as Veeze and a couple of others rightfully hit the headlines. And abroad, some local rap scenes remain quite active – we know this too well, here in France. But apart maybe from the UK, which rap production is finally almost worth the comparison with the US, it is rare that they are relevant to people who didn't grew up with them.
Rap music was triumphant and omnipresent in the last decade, but in 2023, it looks to be dwindling and declining. Blogs and forums that were dedicated to it disappeared long ago. People on social networks seem less excited about it, except on TikTok, that looks to be its ultimate media. Even our website has gone a bit sleepy. And we don't know yet if it is hip-hop as a whole, that is weakening, or if it is just us.
OUR 12 ALBUMS
We said it: 2023 was a strange year. And at times, for whatever reason, it is hard not to lose faith into rap music. Also, year after year, it gets more challenging to identify our favorite albums. Here they are, nonetheless. At least for now. This is our list, until we change and enrich it once more.
Since Perdants magnifiques, there's been no filler in Sameer Ahmad's records. And that EP, that is supposedly the first half of his next album, is clearly no exception. Once again his nested sentences, stream of consciousness, and assonances, are confirming how skilled the rapper is. And that he has a much better musical ear, than other French rappers with a comparable lyrical style.
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Even though he is from Dallas, and not from Houston, its stronghold, BigXthaPlug tried to find his place in the glorious hip-hop tradition of the Lone Star State with his most notable song, "Texas". And he insists with the next step, an album he named after his son, that is full of routines and good old tricks, but delivered with strong tracks, and a thirst for revenge in each word.
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The intimate album, that big exam for any rapper that counts. Digga D passes it, with his fourth release. At the same time, he moves away from the subgenre that he contributed to define. Indeed, when he says that he is going back to square one, the Englishman actually talks about returning to rap music - the US one - and to depart from UK drill. And he does it rather successfully.
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This is Kodak Black at his purest and barest. Over the entirety of this album, he delivers confessions through strangled words hummed with a lump in his throat, paradoxical braggadocios declaimed in a bleak way, and extraordinarily sober beats. Here is what this unexpected release has to offer, ten years after the Floridian entered our lives and became a crucial rapper of our times.
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We can reasonably claim that 2023 was RXK Nephew's year. The prolific rapper from Rochester continues to rap with the same frenzy as the two previous ones. Relentlessly, he delivers his hallucinated freestyles on all manners of beats, but mostly house music or techno ones. However, despite this complete mess, he managed to record, for once, what looks like a proper album.
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SEXYY RED - Hood Hottest Princess
Among all the female rappers who, for laudable feminist reasons, are getting overmarketed in the post-#MeToo era, let's opt for Sexyy Red. Influenced by the most excessive and irreverent forms of rap music - those originated by Gucci Mane and Three 6 Mafia -, and with her tasty sense of humor, this lady from St Louis rejuvenates the debauched and provocative "bad bitch" formula.
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Slowthai's third album is made of the social comments of the first, and the introspection of the second - the rapper's own angst coming actually from the underprivileged class he belongs to. But with his furious guitars and his impassioned voice, he ventures even further into the lands of rock music. Before, that influence was implicit. And with UGLY, it is absolutely obvious.
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THAT MEXICAN OT - Lonestar Luchador
That Mexican Outta Texas is exactly what his alias means: he is a Mexican who grew up in Texas. His album is entirely dedicated to reminding and demonstrating this. It is also a great display of eclectic and colorful rap music, cooked the Latino way. And it is, through the rapper's themes - and his guests, and his music - a tribute to the lively and everlasting hip-hop scene of Houston.
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Past singles along new tracks, diversity and versatility, some humor with a bit of self-deprecation, trap bangers and contemplative moments, plus the ideal number of guests and an enriched version of his defining song "Big Business", featuring Rick Ross. There is everything that we need, on Professor Trap. Quietly, Trapland Pat is securing a place among our favorite Floridian rappers.
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VALEE & HARRY FRAUD - Virtuoso
We assumed that the rich sounds of Harry Fraud wouldn't fit Valee's lethargic flow. But actually, it is quite the opposite. They match quite well the rapper's appetite for nice cars and luxury goods. Virtuoso is an unassuming but pleasant album, that two up-and-coming rap artists from the previous decade concocted together, with a few guests from Chicago and some other places.
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Rap music is like haute cuisine, somehow. It is the work of a craftsperson, who adds a personal touch to a collection of recipes, most of the time regional ones. Young Nudy, as a matter of fact, often delivers different flavors of the same violent and threatening post-trap music. And on that service, with some help from his sauce master Coupe, he highlights that culinary analogy.
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YOUNG THUG - Business Is Business
Young Thug is imprisoned, and for some, it is time to pour water on this drowning man. However, even if this was built with bits and pieces from previous records, with a few superstars to cover it up, even if there's nothing new there, Business Is Business is an honorable album, thanks to the undeniable talents of the craziest rapper from Atlanta - and to his producer, Metro Boomin.
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YOUR 5 ALBUMS
And you, what are your 5 favorite rap albums of 2023?