Splash Tapes Top 10 Project List Thing

End of the year lists are stupid, yes, I am aware, but if I ever want to be taken serious(?) by the Internet music zeitgeist I need to play the game baby. So here it is a list of my top 10 projects of the year (with numbers!) and also as a bonus, a list of projects I liked but didn’t really want to think about placing them within numerical ranking nonsense. Hipster pettiness aside here it is the SplashTapes(trademark)-end-of-the-year-because-everybody-else-does-it-list.

10. Kendrick Lamar- Damn

Internet nerd’s favorite rapper dropped an album this year and it sold well (MORE THAN DRAKE!). Kendrick having successful album sales is something I thought would bring me joy, not because I’m one of those internet Kendrick stands(eww). It’s more due to the fact that I thought I would never have to hear the phrase or variation of “real hip hop doesn’t sell”. Nevertheless, I was wrong, I still hear it word to Lil Pump Gucci Gang haters. Kendrick is good, at rapping words. I don’t know what else to say, I guess you can play this album backwards, or buy the special edition which comes with the track list in reverse.

9.Goldlink- At What Cost

While this is a great album and I look forward to more Goldlink in my life, this deserves a spot in the list just off the strength of Crew. Yes, Crew is better than Kendrick’s whole album.

8.Tyler the Creator- Scum Fuck Flower Boy

It’s nice to see how much Tyler’s subject matter has changed over the years, his growth from Bastard to SFFB has been interesting and I’m always interested to see what he’s doing next. Scum Fuck was definitely an improvement over his former album, Cherry Bum. While I enjoyed this album, I honestly feel that Tyler will one day drop a classic project but this one just isn’t it. Hopefully he doesn’t lose interest in music and become a perpetual “cool guy” a la ASAP Rocky.

7.Trippie Redd- Love Letter to You

Trippie Redd is annoying, he starts stupid IG beefs, looks like a human sized Good Guy doll, and has unhealthy obsession with the number 14. On a side note doesn’t it seem weird that some new rappers are embracing numbers lately? I would’ve never guessed numerology to be prevalent in hip hop word to Tekashi and his horrible 69 face tats, I digress. Trippie Redd is the new and groomed Soundcloud superstar, already primed for a huge 2018 following cosigns from the likes of Travis Scott, Drake, and Lil Wayne among others. So, if you’re like me and find Trippie annoying, then brace for a heavy 2018 filled with loud yelps and the number 14. Petty whining aside Love Letter to You, LLtY for short, is one of the projects I kept coming back to in 2017 consistently. Trippie is very versatile, he can hit you with bangers, love songs, and even rappity rap spiritual miracle BARS. He shows it all in LLtY, and clearly knows how to make a good song. I can see him becoming huge maybe even boring very fast, regardless Love Letter to You is indeed, good.

6. Migos- Culture

Migos are the culture, at this point no one really argues that. They are pretty much everywhere in 2017 and everything that could be said about this album has been said, so I’ll keep it short. It’s good, I like it, and Big on Big being the best song is basically undisputable. Also, Takeoff “won” this album lest not forget that.

5.Smokepurpp- Deadstar

2017 has been the year where the “soundcloud rapper” strikes back, gone are the days of the term being used as demeaning or indicative of struggle. There has been a lot of quality music released throughout the streaming service along with a large group of new stars. Deadstar to me seems like the perfect capsule of this soundcloud scene. Smokepurpp along with Ronny J captures the prevalent sounds in underground/internet rap today and showcases them all in this project with songs barely reaching the 2-minute mark. Honestly, it’s this simplicity that kept me coming back to Deadstar, aside from the excellent production which at times sounds like a horror movie score. While other rappers are busy taking their stupid raps seriously, Smokepurpp indulges in his stupid raps all while ingulfed in a druggy haze and keeping everything short, sweet, and to the point. That’s project of the year material right there. Also, someone please give Ronny J some type of award.

4.Future & Young Thug- Super Slimey

You know trap production is getting tiring when upon my first few listens of Future and Young Thug album it felt boring. Instrumentals on Super Slimey aren’t outright bad it’s just the rapping is so good I really want to hear it on something other than (mostly) Southside beats. My gripes aside, Future and Thug shine bright in this, it really shows how far ahead of other rappers they are, stretching words until they sound like brand new ones, switching flows mid song with ease, dropping catchy melodies in bunches, dropping amazing verses while sounding so sick and hoarse one would assume Future was dying. There aren’t many others doing it better than these two, a fact that’s pretty much undeniable once you step out and see how much they have already influenced rap.

3.Sahbabii- Sandas

At first glance it can be so easy to dismiss Atlanta rapper/crooner/baby-thugger Sahbabii as just another Atlanta rapper gene spliced from the DNA of recent stars like Young Thug and Future. One isn’t even wrong in that assumption, Sahbabii sounds nearly identical to a Barter 6/ Rich Gang leaks era Thugger to the point it actually was off putting to me at first. That being said, SANDAS at 12 tracks, SLAPS. Songs like Marsupial Superstar, King of the Jungle, Purple Ape have been in steady rotation for me throughout the entire year. On one hand I can see how many can call this tape derivative, but there is definitely something here that sets SANDAS apart from others. Sahbabii’s catchy melodies, memorable quotes (“how you suck dick but don’t eat string beans?”), and occasional zoological reference set Sah’ apart from some of his peers.  If there is one thing I am excited for in the coming year(s), it’s to see what Sahbabii can evolve into once he takes this sound and molds it into his own thing. Much like Young Thug did molding Lil Wayne’s sound into his own creative entity. Play this tape in your car or with some quality headphones and shut the fuck up while enjoying these celestial melodies.

2.Future- HNDRXX

Finally, the world has brought us the Future album where he sings. I feel as if I’ve been waiting for this ever since I first heard Pluto, specifically Turn of the Lights. Hearing Future croon about past, present and future (intended) love woes is the welcome change we have all needed. Don’t get me wrong I’ve loved most of what Future has dropped through ought his prolific 2015-2017 run, yet the full-blown love album is something he’s never done in his career and is sorely needed. Future excels in HNDRXX drowning the sweet pop productions with his heavy vocals, never quite letting one escape the foggy codeine laced underbelly in Future’s music. HNDRXX brings a pop sound to Future’s world and not the other way around, that is what keeps me coming back to it rather than discarding it as I would any other pop/ radio friendly album. “Before I tell a lie won’t tell you nothing” Future belches out in the intro track “My Collection”, a smooth sounding intro with pulsating bass where Future reminds us that even though this is his “love album” you are in his world just a part of his collection. Also Use Me is the most beautiful song of 2017 and I would’ve like to see it get more attention, nevertheless this is the future(intended) and no one really cares about anything anymore.

1.Playboi Carti- Self Titled

It took close to 2 years for Playboi Carti to drop his debut project, after gaining significant buzz without ever having released a full project. Count me amongst the elite few who consider those 2 years completely worth it because this is one of the best albums I’ve heard all year. Playboi Carti has perfected the ad-lib and has made a masterpiece where songs sometimes feel as one long running mesh of adlibs and chants dripped in so much perpetual “coolness”. ASAP Rocky, resident “cool guy”, signed Playboi Carti to his ASAP Worldwide imprint close to a year ago. Its pertinent that I mention that because Carti has achieved what we all thought ASAP Rocky would do, make cool music for cool dudes to wear cool clothes too. Unfortunately, Rocky is too busy wearing the clothes and making uninspired mid ground music covered in cool dude shine while Playboi Carti is revolutionizing the game by barely rapping, coming up with THE BEST adlibs, and carefully sprinkling them over our lord and savior Pierre Bourne’s heaven-sent instrumentals. I say all that to say this, Playboi Carti dropped album of the year.

Other stuff I liked this year:

• ·         Slime Ball 1/2 and Nudyland
• ·         Live Shyne Die and UnotheActivist feats.
• ·         Wintertime (all the time 365)
• ·         This Old Dog
• ·         Benny Sings- Art
• ·         That Drake song with Black Coffee and Jorja Smith
• ·         Young Thug feature verses
• ·         Ele A el dominio
• ·         Almighty feature verses
• ·         Lil Peep (RIP)
• ·         Dua Lipa
• ·         Havana (oh nana)
• ·         Cardi B
• ·         SZA’s CTRL
• ·         Milo’s Who Told You to Think
• ·         Soulja Boy IG beefs
• ·         17
• ·         Thouxanbanfauni
• ·         Tay k’s Santana World
• ·         Tame Impala’s Currents
• ·         Kodak Black
• ·         BBB
• ·         Ronny J beats
• ·         Smino’s BLKSWN
• ·         NBA Youngboy 2017 output
• ·         Bad Bunny
• ·         Ozuna, also our lord and savior
• ·         Chief Keef 2017 output especially Dedication and Thot Breaker
• ·         Street rappers making love albums
• ·         Beautiful Thugger Girls was great albeit not my favorite Thug album and also shame on 300 or Thug himself for not dropping more videos for the bundle of potential hits in that album (RELATIONSHIP)
• ·         Bandcamp artist (ILY)