Best Songs from the Best Albums of 2018 (to me)
Rap is clearly the best genre of music worldwide and the only genre of music I actually listen to when new versions of it come out on a yearly basis and as I sit here, I feel the need to voice my opinion to absolutely no one. Admittedly it is weird to do a review for best songs on my favourite albums before actually doing a 'best album' list but… therearenorules
Rap is clearly the best genre of music worldwide and the only genre of music I actually listen to when new versions of it come out on a yearly basis and as I sit here at 1:09 the night before a Christmas party while the year draws to a close, I feel the need to voice my opinion to absolutely no one. Admittedly it is weird to do a review for best songs on my favourite albums before actually doing a best album list but… therearenorules
December 24 by Earl Sweatshirt on ‘Some Rap Songs’
Every single review of this song says this but this fire leaked in 2016 and at the time I was so pumped cause he had just dropped IDLSIDGO a year and a half earlier and i though something new was coming but little did I know the real version wouldn't be out till November 2018 smh plus after seeing the leak I was almost certain this wasn’t gonna be on the album but Early Man blessed my cochlea. Anyway, this song is multi facetted and touches on a wide range of topics that are central to the theme of the album such as death of family, Earl’s disdain for the police and his ever-growing obsession with being ‘ten toes’. The thing he does best is what drew me to his music in the first place and thats the ole reliable BARS.
Flatbed Freestyle by Playboi Carti on ‘Die Lit’
Carti is a magician i’m telling you right now. He makes the type of music where you can do literally anything and still find a way to enjoy it. The second of his two magical abilities is for him to talk about absolutely nothing throughout a whole song and you not notice until someone tells you about it cause I thought either Home (KOD) or No Time were the best songs on the album until one faithful day. I was lurking on instagram and a dude I go uni with put up a screenshot of Flatbed Freestyle and captioned it something like “someone tell me what he’s talking about on this song please” and initially I wanted to go full Carti Defence Squad on him but i sat back and listened to the song and boy oh boy was he right. What surprised me was… I literally did not care that this song really had no structure or depth cause it slaps. Long story short, Playboi Carti is Dr. Strange in disguise
Coffee Bean by Travis Scott on ‘Astroworld’
I have a theory about this song and I don’t know if anyone thinks the same as me but the Kardashians hate my mans Jacques and he’s genuinely hurt that they would treat him a certain way cause he truly loves Kylie. Its nice and refreshing to see Travis Scott deliver a song with so much substance and emotion behind it cause I cba to recall all the times Ive heard people say he has not substance in his music and the only good thing about it is that it just sounds good.
Hun43rd by A$AP Rocky on ‘Testing’
My thoughts on Rocky’s music has been a rollercoaster ride for ages now and testing wasn’t anything special for me and is probably number three out of four of my favourite Rocky projects. Anywho, ‘Hun43rd’ takes me back to 2011 with how nostalgic this song got me cause i think this song would’ve fit perfectly on Live.Love.A$AP and sounds like Houston Old Head part two imo. Nothing too too special about this one, just a huge nostalgic factor. *kanye shrug*
All Mine by Kanye West on ‘ye’
This track just sounds like any picture i’ve ever seen of Kanye smiling cause i just feel like he just said “i’m Ye… Ye can talk about whatever Ye wants to talk about” and made a song about the possibility of having relations with other women or how no matter what he does, his depiction in the media would still be villainous. I find it kinda jokes how he throws shots at Nike for no reason on this too cause that last verse felt like he added it cause the song was too short. YE DOES WHATEVER YE WANTS TO DO.
Jet Fuel by Mac Miller on ‘Swimming’
First of RIP to the young goat. This one is a deep cut about Mac’s dealings with the conflict between his drug addiction and his legacy. Lines like “you don’t come close / y'all don’t even know i’m the goat / y’all don’t need to know how I go / cause I know what you want / all i wanna do is the most” and “I was out of town getting lost till I was rescued / now I’m in the clouds, come down when I run out of jet fuel / but I never run out of jet fuel” encompass his brain and exhibit the extent to which one extreme compromised the other and let to the untimely downfall of someone who was undoubtably on the pathway to extreme levels of greatness.
BIggest Alley Oop by Quavo on ‘Quavo Huncho’
Bro, honestly, intros like this really do it for me. This sounds like the final mission background music of a Grand Theft Auto game set in Atlanta or something like that. When I was listening to the album for the first time and heard that opera or choir I was like oh yeah this is gonna be a lit one chief cause it just had that feeling to it. None of what I just said about the way this song makes sense and theres nothing I can do about it except accepting it.
Too Cocky by YG on ‘Stay Dangerous’
For this one we have the second magician on the list. YG has some weird ability to the listener to feel like just for 2 minutes and 53 seconds that you’re a blood or a gangsta fashionable business man and I just don’t know how they do it. See cause I know I haven’t done anything like YG has to get the fame or the money or the notoriety but… just but… when I listen to YG, I feel like im dat boi fr fr.
Ghost by Mick Jenkins on ‘Pieces of a Man’
One thing I love about this album and feel like Mick Jenkins does exceptionally well is closing the curtain on the idea of what and who men are supposed to be and open the door to new possibilities and insight into what men are truly like as well as debunking theories of what men are really like. Yes men struggle with the balance of maintaining friendships and getting money, yes men love their personal space and men don’t have to behave in the way that typically defines what a man is to actually be a man. Being a man is being who you truly are through and through. No one defines the man you are except you. Ghost is my favourite song on here cause I resonate with it the most on the album. The first line “i dig my personal space” hit me first directly on first listen, obviously cause its the first song line on the song but cause its also big facts. It seems like these people never seem to understand that when you are focusing on yourself and need to focus on yourself for a bit it literally means just that and not that you don’t mess with them any more. I just need some me time my guy.