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3. Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music

Holy shit is this a rap album. Killer Mike has always been a top-notch MC, but his production has been too inconsistent in my opinion throughout the course of his career. Mike lucked out and found El-P to produce this whole album. The result is the biggest collection of rap bangers this year. This album is an incendiary mix of smart-as-hell lyrics, passionate delivery, and beats that will tear your system up. While El-P went crazy on his solo album this year, the beats he crafted for Killer Mike are more restrained, more in line with a Southern rap sensibility. They’re still progressive as hell for the hip-hop scene, but they are bass-forward and free of clutter. They knock, man. Blast this in your car and you’ll feel like the baddest dude on the block. I can’t say enough good things about this album. “Big Beast” is a tour de force. “Reagan” is the best political song of the year. “Willie Burke Sherwood” and the title track show that El-P can create some deeply emotional beats, and that Killer Mike is up to the task as an MC to make sure listeners feel those emotions. Top to bottom this is a future classic rap album. A classic. It’d be the best pure hip-hop album of the year, too, if not for one young MC whose eager to change the game…