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.

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.

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...

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.

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.