Rolling Stone's 40 Best Rap Albums of 2015

Rolling Stone's 40 Best Rap Albums of 2015

Original Source →

39.

Berner & The Jacka - Drought Season 3
July 10, 2015
Critic Score
73
1 review

36.

Ty Money - Cinco De Money
July 16, 2015
Critic Score
78
1 review

33.

Travis Scott - Rodeo
September 4, 2015
Critic Score
62
16 reviews

On his major-label debut, Travis Scott ... doesn't rap so much as scream, moan and yelp like he's fronting an Eighties hardcore band.

32.

The Game - The Documentary 2
October 9, 2015
Critic Score
70
12 reviews

Part high-concept, part low-concept, it’s a valiant attempt to connect all the dots between the Los Angeles seen in Straight Outta Compton and the one Kendrick Lamar imagined on To Pimp a Butterfly.

31.

Scarface - Deeply Rooted
September 4, 2015
Critic Score
78
4 reviews

28.

T.I. - Da' Nic
September 11, 2015
Critic Score
70
4 reviews

27.

Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth
January 20, 2015
Critic Score
75
15 reviews

Lupe Fiasco's fifth album is a swirl of double meanings, extended metaphors about yoga and math, and increasingly labyrinthine ways to say "I'm dope".

25.

Jme - Integrity>
May 4, 2015
Critic Score
80
1 review

24.

Wiki - Lil Me
December 7, 2015
Critic Score
69
3 reviews

23.

Sean Price - Songs in the Key of Price
August 21, 2015
Critic Score
75
2 reviews

21.

Meek Mill - Dreams Worth More Than Money
June 29, 2015
Critic Score
74
13 reviews
Philly MC stacks bullhorn flows, urgent imagery to the sky.

20.

Pusha T - King Push - Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude
December 18, 2015
Critic Score
80
25 reviews
Though hip-hop gets more melodic and vocally expressive every year, Pusha keeps his cadences steely and his bars hitting like haymakers, maintaining that ice-cold Nineties feel even when he’s taking on modern troubles.

19.

Vic Spencer - The Cost of Victory
January 30, 2015
Critic Score
79
2 reviews

18.

Raury - All We Need
October 16, 2015
Critic Score
63
12 reviews

17.

Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.$$
January 20, 2015
Critic Score
71
24 reviews
His official debut LP still sounds like it's stuck in the past, with solid production from old-school legend DJ Premier and his latter-day disciple Statik Selektah.

15.

DeJ Loaf - #AndSeeThat'sTheThing
July 24, 2015
Critic Score
68
3 reviews

14.

A$AP Rocky - AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP
May 26, 2015
Critic Score
74
30 reviews

At.Long.Last.A$AP takes the gritty East Coast classicism and syrup-drippin' Houston screwiness of his killer 2013 debut, Long.Live.A$AP, and adds an extra level of psychedelic sprawl via a newfound taste for acid.

13.

Fetty Wap - Fetty Wap
September 25, 2015
Critic Score
63
13 reviews

With a set list running up to 20 songs, it borders on Fetty overkill, but there are plenty of fine moments you haven't heard yet.

12.

DJ Esco - 56 Nights
March 21, 2015
Critic Score
77
2 reviews

11.

Dr. Dre - Compton
August 7, 2015
Critic Score
79
30 reviews

It adds up to an album by turns confounding and enthralling. It's no Detox. It's something realer, and better.

10.

Young Thug - Barter 6
April 16, 2015
Critic Score
70
14 reviews
Too often, it all sounds boastful and sad in the same moment, like a promising young fighter warning you he can hit so hard it doesn't matter if he's too messed up to form a fist.

8.

Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside
March 23, 2015
Critic Score
76
28 reviews

On his excellent second LP, Earl Sweatshirt keeps deepening his game — spooling out dense, mordant rhymes over zombifically blunted tracks as he somehow sucks you into his sunless reality.

7.

Rae Sremmurd - SremmLife
January 6, 2015
Critic Score
76
12 reviews
Producer Mike Will Made It's phantasmagoric funk is a perfect backdrop for rhymes about safe sex and paychecks, emptying out the ATM, and the raw thrill of making it big.

6.

Vince Staples - Summertime '06
June 30, 2015
Critic Score
84
23 reviews
It adds up to a hard-hitting 20-track portrait of life and love in a mad city.

5.

Future - DS2
July 17, 2015
Critic Score
78
19 reviews

It has little of the far-reaching ambition of Honest, but what it lacks in bold strokes, it more than makes up for in consistency.

4.

Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment - Surf
May 29, 2015
Critic Score
82
18 reviews

Chance the Rapper's 2013 mixtape Acid Rap marked him as one of the brightest new voices in hip-hop. For his next move, he's swerved left, collaborating with a crew of Chicago pals led by Nico Segal (a.k.a. Donnie Trumpet) on a warm, evocative pop-soul-jazz album that comes straight from the heart.

3.

Lin-Manuel Miranda - Hamilton: An American Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
September 25, 2015
Critic Score
90
4 reviews
It proves that a cast soundtrack LP can work as a powerful, cohesive, exhilarating pop experience in the 21st century.

2.

Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late
February 12, 2015
Critic Score
76
30 reviews
For the first time in his career, Drake doesn't sound like he wants to be remembered as one of the greats. This time, he just is.

1.

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
March 15, 2015
Critic Score
95
45 reviews

If we're talking insurgent content and currency, Lamar straight up owns rap relevancy on Butterfly, whatever challengers to the throne barely visible in his dusty rear-view.

Original Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/40-best-rap-albums-of-2015-20151223
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