Despite honorable mentions by Cardi B and Kacey Musgraves, 2018 belonged to R&B. After last year, people seem eager for a return to the simplicity of the 90s. This year, people just wanted to hear people sing.
The Internet, the band whose members you've heard on everything else, rolled out another solid funk release to round off this year's top 10. While the album comprises 13 tracks of consistent groove for all your background vibe needs, there are some standouts that'll make you sing along. For whatever you're doing, Hive Mind is rarely a bad choice.
Music power couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z's marriage now officially extends through to their careers. To cap off their On The Run tour, J & B dropped a surprise album under the combined moniker "The Carters". It's about what you'd expect given their previous duets - good, that is - just a little bossier.
Maybe you knew Teyana as a dance feature in Kanye Videos, maybe you knew her as the wife of Iman Shumpert (of the championship era Cavs) - whatever the case, you probably didn't know her for her voice before this year. I certainly didn't. What's perplexing is her lack of notoriety. Despite being #8 (content too erotic for me), from opening to close, this album tells you one thing: this woman has a wonderful voice; there's a depth, a near rasp, reminiscent of 60s soul, and production to showcase it. Despite her talent, and making music for a decade, this is the first time she's hit the front pages. A true rose from the concrete.
Smino's had a good run of LPs and EPs over the last few years, none quite cracking my personal Top 10. While NOIR still has that signature Monte Booker bounce, everything's been tightened up just enough to make it a solid listen all the way through. His voice is so specific it's more an instrument than a vocal, so I won't comment on lyricism (although, similar to Teyana, he's too crass for my taste). To me, it's music for doing any of the things in the album cover, and by that metric, it's a success.
As the name would imply, this album is a more subdued follow-up to last year's About Time (#9 on my 2017 list). No Rain, No Flowers' whispers of love lost sits in a mood somewhere between fog and dew, inviting you fall asleep, but nudging you to stay awake. Ms. Claudio's effortlessly sultry voice, combined with a partially seamless album, make it the ideal choice for a candlelit bath, or related affair...
Hhuuuuuuuuunhhh... The late Mac Miller has been making music worthy of critique for half his life. Until recently, I undervalued his contributions; The Divine Feminine was a beautiful album, and the co-existence of Mac Miller and Larry Fisherman was a testament to his authenticity. Once I let go of expectations, what was left for me was simple: he was a true musician. Swimming, and its lead single, Self Care, will forever be immortalized as a reminder that life has boundaries - if you think someone's approaching them, help them.
Rest in peace Mac.
Ariana's past work has been mostly white noise for me. It's the classic pop dilemma: great voice, derivative production (plus I couldn't really understand her).
<Insert Pharrell>
There have been talks of cultural appropriation, comparison to Taylor Swift, etc, but (ignoring some music video choices) here's what really happened: Ari started working with people who do her voice justice. While not as impactful as Mac Miller's album, the production is too refreshing to overcome. I don't think Mac would mind being one spot down to Ari anyway.
If you know me, you know I go back and forth on Drake. Should I just accept him for whatever he is, or do I fight it? Well for once, I didn't have to analyze that internal conflict cuz Drake made an album I can just bump. It's not pure bangers, but of the 25 songs split across 2 discs, a significant portion are either layup line or cuffin season music. And of the songs that do skew a little more introspective, they're not so bogged down by the Toronto-famous, underwater-synth, sing-song fluff vibe that force them into auto-skip territory, as in album's past.
This will be controversial. From the moment I heard the first song, I loved this album. As someone who owns all but 2 of the 8 Kanye LPs (purposefully), I'd say I understand Kanye West, as an artist, pretty well. So considering this is the man who made the maximilist masterpiece MBDTF, this little 7 song throw-together should have felt more inconsequential. Had this been, say, his 3rd album, I'd feel differently, but given its place in history, it just works for me. For someone who claims to be unapologetic, constantly, this is the first time I've really felt that. And to be honest, when he's being honest, I feel like I relate too much.
Masego is a great new musician making great new music. Though the singer, drummer, keyboardist, saxophonist, producer can reproduce his entire tracks live in minutes, no one gets to my #1 on technical ability alone. With the sweet, smoked paprika voice of Pharrell and heavy influences from Cab Calloway and 3 stacks, his self-appointed "Trap House Jazz" deserves nothing less than album of the year.