Top 20 Hip Hop Albums of 2013 | Under the Radar Magazine Under the Radar | Music Blog for the Indie Music Magazine
Thursday, March 28th, 2024  

Top 20 Hip Hop Albums of 2013

Jan 08, 2014
Bookmark and Share


It almost feels strange to list Yeezus as the “best hip-hop album of the year,” as Kanye has become the rare artist that transcends both the genre and pop culture to which he belongs. Like no artist since Michael Jackson, he’s a household name, a punch-line, and a musical visionary-and nearly every album he makes is now an instant classic. Yeezus is a curious album from an artist that has reached that status, though, as West strips back the creative excess that usually accompanies his ambitions and ends up with a minimalist setting that actually provides more space for his outsized ego. He might not be the greatest rapper ever, the greatest lyricist ever, or the greatest producer ever, but he keeps turning out album after album that reimagines and redefines what hip-hop can be, all the while establishing him as one his generation’s most compellingly conflicted personalities. Still, it’s a shame that no matter how great he is, he’ll still fall short of how great he thinks he is.

The rest of the year belonged to eccentric upstarts, from Chance the Rapper’s instant leftfield classic to Danny Brown and Earl Sweatshirt’s genius-confirming turns as post-fame success stories. Storytellers (Kevin Gates, Le1f, Ka) had a good run in 2013, too, but even the year’s most serious artistic statements (Run the Jewels, Migos) had a thick undercurrent of fun running through them. Overall, this is a top heavy list but a deep one, with five classic or near-classic albums and over a dozen more that suggest that hip-hop has rarely had so many distinctive personalities pulling in so many different directions at one time. By Matt Fink

1

Kanye West

Yeezus

Def Jam

2

Chance the Rapper

Acid Rap

Self-Released

3

Danny Brown

Old

Fool\'s Gold

4

Kevin Gates

The Luca Brasi Story

Atlantic

5

Earl Sweatshirt

Doris

Columbia

6

Run the Jewels

Run the Jewels

Fool\'s Gold

7

Migos

Y.R.N.

Self-Released

8

Le1f

Fly Zone

Camp & Street/Greedhead Music

9

Ka

The Night\'s Gambit

Iron Works

10

A$AP Ferg

Trap Lord

Polo Grounds/RCA

11

Black Milk

No Poison No Paradise

Computer Ugly/Fat Beats

12

Pusha T

My Name is My Name

GOOD Music/Def Jam

13

Drake

Nothing Was the Same

Republic/Cash Money/Young Money Entertainment

14

A$AP Rocky

Long.Live.A$AP

Polo Grounds/RCA

15

Young Fathers

Tape Two

Anticon

16

Blu

York

Nature Sounds

17

Prodigy & Alchemist

Albert Einstein

Infamous

18

J. Cole

Born Sinner

Roc Nation/Columbia

19

Quasimoto

Yessir Whatever

Stone\'s Throw

20

Tyler, the Creator

Wolf

Sony

Comments

Submit your comment

Name Required

Email Required, will not be published

URL

Remember my personal information
Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please enter the word you see in the image below:

Laptom
January 29th 2014
3:34pm

great , personally i like the Drake album ” Drake
Nothing Was the Same ” it’s very wonderful , thanks for that

Icariin Canada
September 29th 2017
5:58am

Defo agree on the Tyler and Kanye picks, not so sure on the others, I will have to give them a re-listen.

freidoras sin aceite
November 10th 2017
11:18am

Para mi los mejores de la historia.

AirsoftTactico
August 23rd 2018
12:57pm

I really love Tyler, the creator Wolf

4 Mejores
January 20th 2019
9:27am

The best of the history! I agree :)

Oferton
March 19th 2019
6:13am

Esta lista me encanta

kendal
June 9th 2019
5:43pm

kendal

airy room
June 10th 2019
10:38am

Like this “Drake Nothing Was the Same”

Luis
June 13th 2019
9:15am

Nice list and better bands

Imprimir Flyers
July 5th 2019
4:07am

Quasimoto es la bomba, os lo recomiendo!!

Dante
September 30th 2019
11:30am

perfecto para mi

Alfredo Alonso
November 5th 2019
8:41am

Great list!!!

Aminoácidos pelo
November 29th 2019
12:02pm

Una de las mejores listas, of course :-)

PelisPlus
December 17th 2019
11:22am

I Love Migos! Today and everyday!

Pelis Plus
December 17th 2019
11:42am

I love migos, today and Everyday

KenyPelis
December 18th 2019
7:23am

Sabia que migos estaria en esta lista! Es el mejor! Me encanta su musica!

repelis
December 20th 2019
9:29am

Danny Brown’s album in my point of view is super good, I think it’s excellent that he is in thirteen place in this list

Carlos repelis
December 22nd 2019
5:08pm

Kanye West did a bigger surprise with his album “yeezus” which is really incredible in all senses

repelis
December 23rd 2019
11:20am

El álbum numero 11 Leche negra- Sin veneno no hay paraíso. Es excelente.

Trampas para gatos
March 9th 2020
2:04pm

I do not totally agree on this list, although each person should make their own choice.

pulsera de actividad
September 16th 2020
1:55am

Una lista fantástica!

Web design
January 12th 2021
11:37am

Great choice

linkbuilding
January 25th 2021
8:49am

La mejor lista de reproduccion que he visto en años. o much thanks