The Best Albums of 2015

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Label: Cinematic, Pro Era, Relentless, RED
Released: Jan. 20

It's been nearly three years since Joey Bada$$ emerged on the scene with a style reminiscent of the '90s, exhibited on his debut mixtape, 1999. On his proper studio debut, Joey sticks to his script, referencing Biggie on “Paper Trail$” and keeping things gritty on the Statik Selektah-produced “No. 99.” But B4.DA.$$ finds a way to balance out the confines of revivalist '90s rap with deeper tracks that play up a more introspective Joey, where death and tragedy weigh on his mind and we see there's more to him than nostalgia. —Edwin Ortiz

Label: Columbia

Released: March 30

It was clear when Madeon released “Pop Culture” back in 2011 that the then 17-year-old wunderkind producer from France was bound for glorious days ahead. That prediction became a reality with work alongside A-list acts like Lady Gaga and Coldplay, and most recently on his debut album, Adventure, an ambitious project that fuses pop, nu-disco, and electro house for an audio journey that can best be described as rapturous. 

The one-two opening sets the table with a cheery disposition and glossy melodies to match. “Ok” and “Beings” never reach a low point, while “Zephyr” sounds like it could be used as a theme song for an anime series. Madeon also expands his sound through features, with contributions from the familiar voices of Passion Pit’s Michael Angelakos and Dan Smith of Bastille.

The tail end of the album shifts to a more reflective tone, as our protagonist (a.k.a. Madeon) seemingly matures on his journey through life. If Madeon brought out the dreamer in you after listening to Adventure, well then…. —EO

Label: Jet Life

Released: April 4

Quiet as kept, the New Orleans rapper has an impeccable ear for beats. While Ski Beatz did most of the heavy lifting on the trilogy's first two installments, Curren$y went with a mix of vets and up-and-comers on its last installment. Like he brought Cool & Dre out of retirement. They gave him some fire too. Pilot Talk 3 isn't anything different from what we've heard from him, but it's still a necessary edition to his catalog. Curren$y does what he does and does it well. Curren$y has a brand and he sticks to it, making music for stoners because he's one himself. Weed, cars, and dope beats. Really can't go wrong with that. Pilot Talk 3 flew under the radar, but trust this album will grow on you just in time for the summer. —Angel Diaz

Label: The Other People's Money Company
Released: June 2

Dom Kennedy’s music is reminiscent of that one friend, the chill bruh, the girl or guy that’s always on the stoop or roof—in the cut—with a blunt in hand. Dom’s not stoner rap per se, but his music is a soundtrack to those lighthearted, reliably laidback lituations. After dropping a mixtape or album at least once—sometimes twice—a year since 2008, Dom put two years between this record and 2013’s Get Home Safely. By Dom Kennedy is less of a comeback and more of a return to form; he’s still rapping about girls, warm weather, cook-outs, driving around, looking fresh, and, on “Thank You Biggie,” hanging out at Dizzee Rascal’s flat. The furthest he goes from this template is on “Alhambra,” a fizzy DJ Dahi track that’s dedicated to a late homie. It’s always nice in Cali, but Dom keeps summer’s memory alive year-round for the rest of us. —Anupa Mistry

Label: Brainfeeder
Released: May 5

Kamasi Washington's latest album opens with several bangs and, like a muscled Camaro, sustains its momentum through every curve and turn. It's called The Epic because, for one, it's three hours long, but also because Kamasi's notes are bold and dashing from his opening track, “Change of the Guard,” through to the very last. Highlights of the odyssey include “Re Run Home,” “The Magnificent Seven,” “Final Thought,” and “The Message,” but ideally you'd run The Epic straight from start to finish. —Justin Charity

Label: N/A

Released: April 15

For the past five years, Toronto’s been a one-rapper kind of city. That is to say, no one has presented as significant a challenge to the 6 God’s omnipotence as Jazz Cartier. This is important to note because it’s hard won, and Jazz is poised to keep winning. A fluid musician and experimentalist, and charismatic to boot, Jazz unveils his vision of Toronto on Marauding in Paradise. And it’s a city that simultaneously feels turnt, stifling, like a rat race, and, well, paradise. Closer “See You in Hell,” about the shit that goes down in the dark months between Toronto summers, is one of the most vulnerable rap songs I’ve heard this year. Lantz, his producer, pulls off radio ratchet, Toro Y Moi flips, and boom bap, but leaves grimy fingerprints all over everything to tie it together. You can hear it best on “The Downtown Cliché.” —AM

Label: N/A
Released: June 1

There's been an onslaught of talent coming out of the Boston area over the last two years. The city's most promising star, Cousin Stizz, found viral success with his menacing banger “Shoutout” last year. After Drake rang in his birthday playing the track, Stizz saw the firsthand benefits of a co-sign from the 6 God, but he didn't let his career stop there. Over the next year, he kept pretty quiet until the release of “No Bells,” which may be his latest album's best track. Then he dropped Suffolk County, a 13-track, no-filler project that boasts his uncanny ability to craft catchy hooks surrounded by some of the toughest verses from an emerging artist. The nonchalance of his rhymes paired with low-key production is what makes Suffolk County a grower not a shower, and one of the year's best mixtapes so far. —Lauren Nostro

Label: Awful

Released: March 17

Awful Records' takeover is imminent, and they led the way this year with Father, the down-to-earth, dadbod of a rapper behind the viral hit “Wrist.” There's a lot at work within Awful, Atlanta's new star crew, and it's all on display throughout Father's 12-track project, which he described perfectly as “32-mins of pure, unfiltered debauchery.” That's the entire project, in a nutshell, over explicitly minimal production from Father, alongside KeithCharles Spacebar, and a standout verse from Richposlim that fights against slut-shaming. It's about sex, and lots of it, and Awful's here to flip the script on how we're rapping about fucking in 2015. More than that, it's a casual, serene project amongst friends not afraid to be having some fun, blacking out, and loving women. —LN

Label: Ultra

Released: May 19

Bless the digital age, where a Los Angeles-based singer with the voice of an angel can discover her musical soulmate from Denmark on SoundCloud. Alina Baraz and Galimatias offer up sensual vibes for days on their debut EP, which ranges from the innocence and bliss of “Fantasy” to “Can I,” a song that will inspire love-making sessions for you and your boo. In each instance, Alina’s sweet vocals flawlessly float over Galimatias’ ethereal backdrops; I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about the drop on “Maybe.”

At eight songs in length, Urban Flora satisfies just enough, while you yearn for more seductive tunes from the duo. “You’ve gotta crave it and chase it/Until you’re close enough to taste it,” Alina sings on “Make You Feel.” Bruh. —EO

Label: Doggystyle, i am OTHER, Columbia
Released: May 12

Snoop Dogg’s 13th album sounds mostly as if Pharrell rummaged through some unused Pro Tools sessions from the past two years and gifted them to the artist formerly known as Snoop Lion. That may sound like a knock, but it’s not. Bush works wonderfully. Each song floats by like the many tendrils of marijuana smoke from one of Snoop’s blunts. The project is lent a major hand by high-profile guests like Charlie Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Kendrick Lamar, and T.I. In fact, the guests are the most interesting part of the album. As Snoop does that sing-songy flow that he employs for non-rap songs, he blends into the tapestry, as if his vocals are just a key on Pharrell’s keyboard. But when you hear Charlie Wilson belting out on “Peaches N Cream” or Tip effortlessly spit a jet-setting verse, things pick up considerably. Pharrell could have given this album to anybody, it seems, but we’re happy it wound up with Uncle Snoop. —Damien Scott

Label: Nappy Boy

Released: March 27

T-Pain's always been a more varied and experimental pop singer than crunk stereotype and all those Auto-Tune jokes would suggest. The Iron Way is a choppy, black hole convergence of all his styles and signatures. Here we find T-Pain the rappa and T-Pain the sanga in concert; he's swaggering and fantastically violent on “Kill These Niggas” and “Wait a Minute,” he's a fast-talking fetishist on “Booty Butt Ass” and “Did It Anyway,” and overall he's in rare form, though T-Pain's model is arguably outdated. “Sun Goes Down” is the song of my summer, fuck whatever else ya heard. —JC

Label: Carpark

Released: April 6

I don’t know if 2013’s Anything in Return can be topped—Chaz is at his best making unassuming dancefloor heaters—but What For? isn’t even an attempt. Instead it’s Chaz veering further away from synths than ever before and flexing his breadth, something he’s always been good at. And not that there aren’t any synthesizers on this, but they’re vintage and sharing space with a traditional guitar-bass-drums set-up. The resulting retro sound reaches its apex on dewy new-psych dirge “Lilly.” Emotionally—it’s Toro, so we have to talk emotions—it seems like he’s reached a new level of romantic existentialism. “What’s not happening? What’s happening?” he asks on “Spell It Out.” Later, “What is it you want to do?” But the biggest quandary hangs over the entire thing: What For? —AM

Label: Boy Better Know
Released: May 4

2015 could be considered the year that America actually started kind of trying to properly fuck with the U.K. grime scene. Although “properly fucking with the U.K. grime scene” for most Americans means “I know who Skepta is.” While those Americans wait for Skepta to follow up the viral love that “Shutdown” is getting, his brother and Boy Better Know fam JME is dropping fireworks with his Integrity>. This album won't help the “this music sounds weird” crowd—album opener “Pulse 8” (produced by up-and-coming bass don Mystry) is mastodon fight music, while the Wiley-featured “The Money” is a mid-range start-stop badman riddim. JME doesn't waste time with a bar, or a track; only one track goes over four minutes, and just like he spits on the Giggs-featuring “Man Don't Care,” JME comes through with his ABCs instead of firing off multis and similies. This is pure, unadulterated bars over proper grime music. Mans could learn something. —khal

Label: Parlophone, Warner
Released: April 27

Any time an old band announces a return from a long hiatus, the reaction is always a mixture of cynicism and wary excitement. (And, unfortunately, the product is rarely ever good.) When '90s Britpop band Blur announced The Magic Whip, their first album in 12 years, the anticipation was clouded with skepticism. But the foursome's frontman, Damon Albarn, is far from out of touch; he'd been releasing music under various projects over the years (including Gorillaz). Not that these guys planned on a big comeback—a few days stranded in Hong Kong (due to a cancelled festival date in Tokyo) put them back in the studio to bide the time. Songs from that casual, unintentional jam session ended up on The Magic Whip, which became their glorious return to form. This record sounds like the Blur we know and love, while reflecting the foreign sounds from their Asian influences. But the most important question is, “Are the fans happy?” This one is. Welcome back, boys. —Kristen Yoonsoo Kim

Label: TSO

Released: March 5

At Pitchfork, critic Sheldon Pierce has noted that Maxo Kream, a Houston native, is “far more derivative of the A$AP crew than Z-Ro”; and sure, that sort of cannibalization of Houston is an increasingly stressful development for the city. But Maxo is a better rapper than Rocky, his verses are more interesting, even on a song (“Trigga Maxo”) where nearly every single bar ending rhymes “motherfucker” with “motherfucker,” or like on “1998,” when he reminisces about “[whopping] a nigga's ass for some Pokemon cards.” Maxo 187 is a diary of psychopathic gangland raps that are as indebted to Scarface as everyone else is these days. —JC

Label: Sub Pop
Released: Jan. 20

After a decade-long hiatus, Sleater-Kinney returned with an album that wasn’t a mere retread of their past successes, but instead a worthy and triumphant successor to the band’s legacy. No Cities to Love is no hollow reunion. Quite the opposite, in fact: No one in the band has mellowed with age (their “magnificent” tour is resounding evidence of this fact). Corin Tucker, Carrie Brownstein, and Janet Weiss rail against consumerist obsessions, idol worship, uneven power dynamics, and arbitrary labels and limitations (“No one here is taking notice/No outline will ever hold us/It’s not a new wave, it’s just you and me”). They celebrate their return with characteristic grit (“We win, we lose/Only together do we break the rules”). Don’t be fooled by the song though, as this album is hardly fangless. —Gus Turner

Label: Odd Future, Sony

Released: April 13

While Cherry Bomb might not be as lucid as Goblin or as slick as Wolf, Tyler’s ideas always count for something. One of the best things about him is his fearlessness, and now, five years on from Odd Future’s cultural coup, he’s still trying new things, finding new flows, and incorporating new sounds. The NERD influence is strong here, in expansiveness if not aesthetic, but when has it not been? Tyler’s a devotee to the Neptunes like everyone else idolizes Dilla. What’s important is the outcome. Who else would whisper come-ons in a monstrous growl like on “Blow My Load” or get Wayne and Kanye to get as loose as on “Smuckers”? Not everything has to be a hit, but Tyler’s playfulness and intuition are invaluable to music. —AM

Label: Capitol

Released: April 14

It’s been awhile since The-Dream was a part of the driving force of modern R&B. He knows this. That’s why he linked back up with Tricky Stewart to deliver an EP full of songs that take you back to a time when his songs ruled the radio. The six-song EP, Crown, doesn’t break new ground. Some songs like the T.I.-assisted “That’s My Shit” have the keyboard bounce that could have made it onto his second album, while other songs like “Fruition” sound like the next chapter of whatever book “Fancy” is from. This is not to say it’s bad—everything here is very good and exactingly made. It’s just that we’ve heard this before. Although, “Cedes Benz,” with an Anita Baker interpolation, should have been a bigger smash than it was. The industry is now littered with artists who’ve taken bits and pieces of his style and made full-on careers. That’s just the way it goes. Whenever The-Dream lets us in on what he feels is next for the genre, we’re sure he’ll rule again like he once did. —DS

Label: Carpark

Released: April 21

Don't mess with Sadie Dupuis, captain of the Massachusetts-based band Speedy Ortiz. The No. 1 pull quote from their sophomore record is “I'm not bossy, I'm the boss,” and it's one that perfectly captures the frontwoman's top dog attitude. She's more cutthroat on Foil Deer than on the band's previous album, 'cause she has no time for the haters in her life. Her witty wordsmith-ing has always been key to Speedy's trademark, and just as ever, her tongue is as sharp as a knife here. But Foil Deer is arguably even better than their buzzy debut, Major Arcana, because this time the band sounds more confident, taking more risks with melodic arrangement—and those risks are paying off. —KYK

Label: Freebandz

Released: March 21

I fronted on Future up until this recent run of mixtapes. Monster and Beast Mode are solid, however, 56 Nights is special, probably Future's best work to date. There isn't a skippable song on this tape. “March Madness” is a valid candidate for song of the year, but if you ask five people what's their favorite song on the tape, you'll likely get five different answers. 56 Nights is crazy, no doubt. This is the tape that'll make fans out of naysayers. He and DJ Esco were inspired to make this tape after Esco, a.k.a. “The Coolest DJ in the World,” was locked up at a Dubai airport for marijuana possession after they performed at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He was incarcerated for 56 nights, hence the name of the tape. Five out of the 10 tracks are hits. That's rare for a mixtape. They're usually too long these days. Thank Future Hendrix for blessing us with what is essentially a free album. —AD

Label: Asthmatic Kitty

Released: March 30

You don’t even need to listen to the lyrics to know that this is another sad Sufjan album. The notes are tickled with melancholy and made especially so when paired with his whispered singing. But listening to the words makes Carrie and Lowell possibly the saddest of this Indie Sad Boy's oeuvre. The singer-songwriter uses his seventh studio album almost like a therapy session, talking out issues with his faith, his dead mother, Carrie, with whom he's barely had a relationship (“I forgive you mother”), and tales of doomed romance (“You checked your text while I masturbated”). And while the album is mostly hushed, there are moments of real pain screaming through, like on his single, “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross,” when he unravels at the end with “Fuck me, I'm falling apart.” —KYK

Label: Below System

Released: March 24

Chuuwee's latest mixtape is a sunlit map of Sacramento, so precise that you'll memorize a couple bus lines listening to The South Sac Mack. The beats are bright, and Chuuwee's raps are fantastically youthful: “I walk around fresh out a dream, barely out of puberty but feeling 22/Young gun loaded full of cum; wild teen.” And, importantly, Chuuwee's got a plethora of flows; his syncopation on “Regional Transit” is some of the slickest shit I've heard this year. —JC

Label: Mom + Pop

Released: March 20

Courtney Barnett's speak-sing rock 'n' roll ramble is a trademark that makes this Australian singer a standout among her indie peers. And damn, she's one hell of a lyricist, too. Barnett can make you giggle while waxing poetic about the most mundane things, and she delivers her lines like a cathartic stream of consciousness. It's almost like musical Tourette's. The grungy guitars make Sometimes I Sit an easy one to rock out to, but this is also an album that should be studied—because there's something new to catch on each listen. And it's usually a good dose of droll humor. —KYK

Label: Street Money Worldwide

Released: April 24

Trap or Die for a new generation? Quite possibly. Bankroll sounds like he's from New Orleans and raps over Atlanta beats. That's not a knock on either; that's the best way to describe his sound. In all honesty, I'm here for a Hot Boy resurgence. The tape is 20 tracks long and could've benefited from shaving five tracks off. The real story here is Bankroll following up Life of a Hotboy with an even better tape, a tape that'll eventually put him on everyone's radar. “Real Trapper” is something to catch felonies to, and “Everytime” is something to cry to. Bankroll Fresh got next in the trap. Get down or lay down. Trap or die. —AD

Label: Maybach, Atlantic, Every Blue Moon

Released: March 31

Seven years after dropping his breakthrough Seinfeld-inspired mixtape, Wale finally got Jerry on an album to wax poetic about, well, everything and nothing at the same time. Each track on The Album About Nothing plays out like a diary entry from Wale, and he sure does have a lot to get off his chest, whether the subject is his volatile fanbase (“The Helium Balloon”), societal ills (“The Pessimist”), or a relationship in limbo (“The Need to Know”). Jerry Seinfeld acts as a voice of reason, sliding in at the top of several songs to share a piece of advice or anecdote that the D.C. rapper plays off of. The chemistry works, and with a trimmed down guestlist, as well as a true sense of honesty in his rhymes, Wale’s The Album About Nothing makes for an admirable listen from an artist who needed this collaborative moment to happen sooner rather than later. —EO

Label: 300, Atlantic
Released: April 16

If you're going to troll, it'd better at least be worth it. As it turns out, after several contentious words exchanged via the Gram, The Carter, sorry, Barter 6, is and isn't. Something must be said for an album that includes the understated manual deposit gloriousness that is “Check,” so fire that I honestly couldn't even get past it to the rest of the album for weeks. And boy is that other side a steep roller-coaster drop if there ever was one. More like, The Barter 6 Flags, amirite? Not so much in quality as it does in overall energy. (Prior to “Check” is “Can't Tell,” which confirms Thug and T.I. collabs are needed on each of their projects henceforth.) It's understandable that Thugger would miss a step after spending so much of 2014 making music with Rich Homie Quan as the Rich Gang collective. So, no, Barter 6 isn't the Carter 3 moment Young Thug touted it to be (or we, reasonably, inherently, assumed it would be). Just another solid project—the “real album's coming soon” plea has already been copped—in the road to his validation. Halftime, as it were. —Frazier Tharpe

Label: Warp
Released: June 16

For someone who's got the G.O.O.D. Music stamp of approval, it's intriguing to see Hudson Mohawke purposefully eschew rap lyrics on his long-awaited sophomore album, Lantern. Instead, he focuses on what got him where he is today: forward-thinking instrumental production and tracks that blossom with a proper vocalist on them. Snagging features from Jhene Aiko, Miguel, and Antony (just to name a few), HudMo's found that beautiful middle ground, where the heads who are here for turnt albums like “Ryderz” or superhero anthems like “Scud Books” can rock alongside those who want the bedroom-ready “Very First Breath” or seduction suites like the Miguel-featured “Deepspace.” It's one of those projects where, if HudMo hadn't gone through the TNGHTs and the Kanyes and the LuckyMe sides of his production, he wouldn't have gotten to NOW. —khal

Label: Interscope

Released: Feb. 24

One of music's biggest behind-the-scenes collaborators finally went for dolo and—surprise—the outcome is pretty damn good. You don't need to know Haynie's rap sheet; one listen to We Fall and it's evident that he was one of the chefs in the kitchen for the likes of Man on the Moon and Born to Die. Despite a wide berth of collaborators (whatup, Randy Newman), this album hews closer to the latter's sound and vibe over exploring the sounds of Haynie's wide range of collaborators. The result is an album wavering among alternative, pop, and a fusion of both that serves to illuminate Haynie himself while still playing up his greatest asset: playing well with others. Sampha, Dev Hynes, and Charlotte Gainsbourg on one track is a Khaled move if there ever was one to translate into the alt world. —Frazier Tharpe

Label: N/A

Released: April 28

It’s tough to pin down the sound of the Save Money crew. Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa both operate in two different lanes, one of bounding church-flavored optimism, and the other, seemingly whatever Kanye thinks is dope. But there are more artists in the growing collective that are waiting in the wings to blow. One of them is Preston Oshita, b.k.a. Towkio. In an attempt to put his hat in the ring for next to blow out of Chicago, he released his new tape. The project works best as an experimentation in voice. Towkio isn’t quite sure what sounds or feels best on him, so he works his way through a number of genres and sounds. There’s the electro disco of “Free Your Mind” and the sample-heavy, Sunday morning gospel of “Heaven Only Knows.” He sounds best somewhere right between the two, as on “I Know You.” He’s not as talented a rapper as Chance, but once he figures out what he does best, he’ll be good. —DS

Label: Epic, Syco

Released: Feb. 3

At the mid-year mark, the Best Pop Album Of 2015 is, in this humble writer's opinion, a showdown between Major Lazer and Fifth Harmony, the latter having struck a golden ratio of bangers per total album tracks. “Sledgehammer,” “Worth It,” and “Like Mariah” have, at this point, overwhelmed the promise of Meghan Trainor (who's featured on “Brave Honest Beautiful”) and even returning champion Carly Rae Jepsen. “I want a Kanye, not a Ray J,” the girls sing on “Bo$$,” with a blast of claps and buckets to drum the point home. —JC

Label: Atlantic, Vice

Released: March 23

Action Bronson’s zany antics are on full display on Mr. Wonderful, his major label debut album that sounds like anything but. For one, it opens with a musical nod to Billy Joel and ends with a record that has psychedelic influences written all over it. There’s also no label attempt to manufacture a radio single. If anything, Bronson goes even more left than usual, as the project features way more singing from the Queens rapper than we’re used to, not to mention an interlude wholly dedicated to a dude “pouring his heart out to me in front of Katz Deli.”

And that’s what makes Mr. Wonderful so special; it’s unapologetically Bronson. His big personality shines through on tracks like “The Rising” and “Falconry,” where he rattles off quotables for the fuck of it. (“I know you see me on the TV, lookin' like a hunk of beef/When I smile your baby mama shit her dungarees.”) “Terry” is him straight rapping his ass off over A1 production from Alchemist. And we’d be remiss not to mention “Baby Blue,” his exceptional collaboration with Chance the Rapper on heartbreak. It’s clear that Action got to make Mr. Wonderful on his own terms. Now ride the Harley into the sunset, Bronsolino. —EO

Label: Tan Cressida, Columbia
Released: March 23

On I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside, Earl Sweatshirt doesn’t come across like a dude with lots to love in his life. But even if he won’t admit it, he still raps like he loves words. “Drop this when the sunlight gone/Better run right home when the sky turn black/Screaming fuck 5-oh till my line go flat/In a ash-gray Bimmer, we’ll be calling that the pigeon coupe”—that is verb exuberance worthy of celebration. But unless you can love language like this, the album is largely a 30-minute sink in the quicksand of late-night despair. The production, mostly courtesy of Earl under the moniker randomblackdude, recalls early El-P and the gnarliest elements of the Def Jux sound. Los Angeles is nowhere on this album. Which isn’t to say this is East Coast. This is singularly the headspace of Earl Sweatshirt, mourning his grandmother and feeling his circle of support get ever smaller as Odd Future becomes a distant memory.

Mike Kelley, the Michigan-born artist who built his career in California before ending his life in 2012, famously said, “I make art in order to give other people my problems.” Sounds about right for Earl’s project as well. —Ross Scarano

Label: Atlantic, Mad Decent, OWSLA
Released: Feb. 27

While the world of EDM is going through a weird phase of unoriginality, Skrillex and Diplo's Jack Ü project is hitting homeruns by just doing what they always do: being themselves. Their live DJ sets (as solo artists and as Jack Ü) are cornucopias of whatever they're into right now; it's nothing to hear extended mixes featuring a multitude of dance music BPMs thrown against classic rap, R&B, and dancehall. A little bit of all of that is featured on their first full-length, which is one of the most exciting rides for two of the biggest names in the scene. Not too many EDM producers could pull out the radio-ready brilliance that is their Justin Bieber-featured “Where R Ü Now” on the same project where Missy Elliott is recruited for the remix of their other smash hit, “Take Ü There.” If the old school laurels of dance music was one multi-colored nation under a groove, Jack Ü is that mantra manifesting itself to the turnt degree.—khal

Label: Trill, Bad Azz, Atlantic

Released: May 26

Life After Deathrow was a bouquet of workaday trap chants and sincere autobiography, whereas Touch Down 2 Cause Hell is so predominantly the latter that it's a sort of gospel record. Boosie Badazz is the most vulgar deacon you'll ever meet, a storyteller who is compassionate and wise due to his own intensive mistakes, hard knocks, and subsequent exhaustion. —JC

Label: Parlophone, Warner

Released: March 2

Much like Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment's Surf, Brodinski's Brava is a triumph of curation and crowdsourcing; here's a French DJ streamlining raps from Paul Wall, Bricc Baby Shitro, Peewee Longway, and Makonnen into a singular V.I.P. darkness. “Bury Me” is a concussive blur. “Follow Me” and “Us,” both featuring Bloody Jay, are nightclub spirituals, so sentimental about sex, then love, then marriage, and all subsequent baby carriages. Longway stomps around the campfire, kicking up mulch as he casts his little spells on “Cheddah.” Brava is booming sorcery. —JC

Label: One Little Indian, Megaforce, Sony

Released: Jan. 20

Bjork made Vulnicura as a post-breakup salve, following the end of her longterm relationship with artist Matthew Barney, with whom she has a 12-year-old daughter. The title is said to be Greek for “cure for wounds,” and for a complicated and often abstract artist like Bjork, the cure seems to be talking about her hurt in plain terms. “Once it was simple, one feeling at a time,” she sings on “Lionsong. “These abstract, complex feelings, I just don’t know how to handle them.” Co-producers Arca and the Haxan Cloak respect her space with a minimalist backdrop, keeping everything from the synthesizers to the violins warm and sorrowful. Bjork has always had an air of mystery about her, and watching her cast it off in favor of open devastation is both incredibly sad and terribly beautiful. —Christine Werthman

Label: RCA

Released: Jan. 13

That voice, sticky, earthen, and sick with emotion, has kept Jazmine Sullivan in the upper echelon of contemporary R&B singers. Reality Show was sort of a comeback—it’s been five years since Love Me Back—and she did the damn thing. A heart-eyed romantic, Sullivan’s third album chronicles the complex emotions, both good and bad, of love and lust (“HoodLove” might’ve been the precursor to Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen”). But unlike the past, Sullivan finds catharsis on this record instead of sinking deep into heartbreak. Nope, like she sings on the Meek-assisted lead single, “Yo, I know you know you ain’t right.” —AM

Label: Domino

Released: Jan. 9

Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper isn’t nearly as morbid as its name would suggest; rather, it’s meditative—a journey of self-discovery focused on Noah Lennox’s hunt for the man in the animal. Sonically, all of Panda Bear’s reliable charms are still intact: the churning, water wheel rhythms; his characteristic echo; a sixth sense for poetic repetition. Still, a sense of restlessness persists that can’t be attributed to his jumpy sort of neo-psychedelia alone. The album is ripe with conflict: man vs. nature (“Beasts don’t have a sec’ to think/But we don’t ’preciate our things”); man vs. man (“At once, a bend of mind/And one gets left behind”); man vs. himself (“Because you can’t be a growth and the same as before”). Panda Bear isn’t mourning an untimely end. He’s describing the process of leaving yourself behind—a kind of death that we must all come to terms with as we grow older. —GT

Label: N/A

Released: March 16

Despite lacking a massive single like “2 On,” Tinashe’s Amethyst is an improvement on her debut album, a sign that she really might be carrying the torch of Janet Jackson in 2015. (Yeah, Jackson is releasing an album this year, but the wide- and simultaneously steely-eyed vision for a better world through self-possession, sex, and music that powers Control, Rhythm Nation, and janet. is fundamentally a young person’s perspective; and Tinashe is 22, while Jackson turned 49 in May.) “The future’s mine” is the mission statement, and Tinashe sings those words in an unusually low register on the opener, bellowing it like a rapper’s ad-lib.

On Twitter, Tinashe said she recorded these songs in her bedroom over Christmas vacation, which further cements the project as a brew of youthful ambition, conjuring images of a college kid on break journaling upstairs while her parents fix dinner downstairs. Except this isn’t undergrad work—these songs are honed: “Wanderer” excels with its rubbery, slinky DJ Dahi beat; “Worth It” has perfect details about lunch with friends; and “Just the Way I Like You” is the sexiest song she’s recorded yet. Pay attention to what comes next. —RS

Label: 1st & 15th Entertainment, Atlantic
Released: Jan. 20

Tetsuo and Youth is the album Lupe Fiasco should have made five years ago. He’s always been an A+ lyricist, an inventive songwriter, and a challenging artist, but he’s spent the majority of his career fighting with his label, Atlantic Records, leaving the Chicago rapper with an uneven catalog unworthy of his talent. But with T&S being his last album on Atlantic, he finally freed himself from commercial constraints and made the album he was born to make.

T&S has Lupe firing on all cylinders; playfully crafting intricate wordplay on songs like “Mural” and “Blur My Hands,” finding creative approaches to discuss social issues on “Prisoner 1 & 2” and “Deliver,” and there’s even a banjo playing on “Dots and Lines.” It might barely be accessible to anyone outside of Lupe’s core audience, but it’s rewarding if you’re willing to buy into the type of album where there’s a theory that it’s actually meant to be listened to backwards. It’s dense, it’s difficult, it’s glorious. —Insanul Ahmed

Label: Sub Pop

Released: Feb. 10

Father John Misty’s first album, Fear Fun, documented Josh Tillman's drug-fueled trip to the end of the line. His second album, I Love You, Honeybear, shows what came next: the finding of a partner to whom this entire album is dedicated. An album like this could be a real slog—the breakdown is usually more fun for the audience than the resolution—but Tillman is still a flawed, self-deprecating, uncomfortably honest protagonist with a gift for Americana melodies. “I can hardly believe that I’ve found you, and I’m terrified by that,” he says on the gorgeous, bluesy “When You’re Smiling and Astride Me,” where a choir of voices sways behind him.

He’s untidied his folksy arrangements, letting things get bigger and more exploratory without ever losing the thread, though he comes close on the delightfully chaotic “The Ideal Husband,” with drums and piano crashing around him. But he’s back to restoring order with subdued piano on “Bored in the USA,” as he asks “Is this the part where I get all I’ve ever wanted?” Maybe not, but Tillman did get what he needed, what everyone hopes for when they hit the bottom: a hand to reach out, pull him up, and put him back on his feet. —CW

Label: N/A

Released: April 28

Kehlani is a star. After her impressive Cloud 19 mixtape, the Bay Area songstress built a buzz all on her own leading up to the release of her latest project, You Should Be Here, a conceptual album centered on the relationships that have led up to her shining moment. Like we said in our review, “In Kehlani’s world, dudes are just trying to keep up” and her rise to stardom comes at a time where R&B stars don't have the same comeups as SoundCloud rappers—plus, she wrote and recorded this without any major backing. But the organic nature of You Should Be Here is its strength—it's a true-to-life relatable project from start to finish, an honest and enjoyable take on a woman's world in 2015. And in an era where we have to hear Drake taunt his ex all over a song like “How Bout Now,” hearing Kehlani croon on a song like “How That Taste” is the ultimate slap-across-the-face to anyone—man or woman—who doubted her. —LN

Label: G.O.O.D. Music, Def Jam

Released: Feb. 24

It sounds trite, but Dark Sky Paradise is the album Big Sean has been waiting his whole career to make. The Big Sean hallmarks are still there—there’s a nearly corny big pop record in “IDFWU,” for example. But the album exceeds where the other fails because it’s the first time Sean gives listeners a fully panoramic view of his life. A lot has happened to Sean Anderson since he dropped Hall of Fame, and it’s all laid out across this project. There’s a touching song dedicated to his grandmother. Because people don’t believe he’s an elite rapper, he invites the elite rapper on board for a track, and keeps pace. He even helps Lil Wayne clear the cobwebs and start his recent ascent back to the top of the game. Sean is one of the best rappers rapping right now, but one who’s been unable to provide a reason for his existence. While his contemporaries are looking for ways to elevate and expand the genre, Sean came through and proved there's still room for classically good rap albums. —DS

Label: Young Turks
Released: May 29

For his first full-length album, the xx's Jamie xx does what he does best: draw an array of emotions from the music that influences him. If you're familiar with the varying forms of U.K. dance music sounds, you can look at In Colour as a delicate ode in mixtape form. Chilled, sleepy drums open up the wisps of found vocals on the “back to mine” ditty “Sleep Sound,” whereas the steel drum-driven “Obvs” is more of a driving, contemplative number. Romy shines on a pair of tunes; where the dusty breakbeats and bright melodies of “Seesaw” are a jamming, Aphex Twin-esque bed for her vocals, the dynamic “Loud Places” truly shines in all of its “let's rock out on a bunch of bottles” glory. The obvious standout is the Young Thug and Popcaan-assisted “I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times),” the undeniable summer hit that might never make it to radio. Thug's in his quirky, glorious zone, while Popcaan rides a gem of a riddim that's ready to get rinsed by the finest selectors in Jamaica. Somehow, Jamie xx made all of our auras shine, no matter what color they're emitting that day. —khal

Label: XL

Released: May 19

There was never any doubt that Shamir was going to become a star—it was just a matter of when. Thankfully, it didn't take long for people to realize there's something truly special here. Only a year and a half ago, Shamir emailed Godmode Records label head and producer Nick Sylvester out of the blue, and Sylvester, having a real ear for picking up talent, decided to take a chance on this unknown Vegas teen, turning him into the rising pop star he is today. Now the boy's on indie powerhouse XL, gracing billboards and the pages of all your favorite magazines. Meanwhile, his breakout debut, Ratchet, is infectiously spreading across dance floors. But his “post-gender” countertenor is the punctum of the whole record, and it's what makes this stellar album one to keep revisiting. —KYK

Label: Cash Money

Released: Feb. 13

So, this is quite possibly Drake's weakest album. Or is it a mixtape? Who knows, or really cares, for that matter, in 2015. The fact remains, even with that caveat, this shit is still wall-to-wall bangers. If stagnant Drizzy sounds this good, then fuck it, stamp the project's opening self-proclamation: He is a legend. The first five tracks alone (definitive ranking: “Legend,” “No Tellin,” “Energy,” “Know Yourself,” “10 Bands”) are as formidable a stretch of undeniable heaters as any true blue mainstream project so far this year. Things get shaaaky, no 6 side in the middle with a mix of good but not so great songs (I'm OK with never hearing “Now & Forever” again). It's Drake, as we've come to expect him.

But it's OK to call dude out for remaking “Worst Behavior” two or three times while sticking to the same subject matter (“Money and women, that's just how shit happened to go”) while still admitting that he remains very good at talking about those things. And the last three tracks mark a welcome switch from the formula that bodes well for his forthcoming proper album. He fits seamlessly into Travi$ Scott's gothic hellscape on “Company,” before he's right back to warmer subject matter, but progressively so, on “You & the 6” and especially the album standout, “Jungle.” And he's got another pinned location freestyle for you if you thought the bars were slacking. That OVO boy is still the business, man. —FT

Label: A$AP Worldwide, Polo Grounds, RCA

Released: May 26

Rocky went left and it worked. Rarely does that happen. Albums that divert from what you've expected from an artist are often times polarizing. But the A$AP frontman delivered with one of his best projects to date. He shows his lyrical growth from the beginning. “Holy Ghost” is like going to church on Sunday after a night of partying. It's a song of reflection, and it's a song about doubters and hypocrites. The A$AP Mob has had its fair share of the latter. No one knows what their destiny holds. The passing of Yams has a lot to do with that notion. However, if Rocky can stay in the zone that he was in when creating A.L.L.A. they'll be fine. Hopefully a collab album with ScHoolboy Q is on the way because they cannot miss. “Electric Body” is going to tear the summer up. Expect to hear this album blaring from car speakers and Harlem windows for the foreseeable future. —AD

Label: N/A

Released: May 28

To sell Surf as a “feel-good” album, as if it were summer camp or a romcom, seems a disservice to a project that excels on the strength of musical ambition and masterful curation of several, dissimilar songwriters' spiritual vulnerabilities. And their confidence, too. From the parade bombast of “Sunday Candy,” Slip Slide,” and “Wanna Be Cool,” to the tender instrumental touches of “Rememory,” “Caretaker,” and “Nothing Came to Me,” Surf is a complex exegesis on adolescence, courage, and love. Chance the Rapper leads the revelry, with J. Cole, Quavo, King L, and even Busta Rhymes bringing their best PG-13 game. In this sense, Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment are Rap Game Studio Ghibli, so uncanny and warm. —JC

Label: EarDrummers, Interscope

Released: Jan. 6

The popular refrain when discussing Rae Sremmurd is something akin to “it wasn’t supposed to be this way.” These two Mississippians weren’t supposed to make another song as infectious as their debut single, “No Flex Zone.” Then came an arguably better offering in the woozy drunk-at-the-bar-at-2:30 anthem “No Type.” And that was supposed to be the extent of their run. However, when Mike WiLL Made-It is lacing you with the finest intergalactic trap money can buy, it’s not hard to understand how Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmy were able to cook up an 11-track joyride full of indelible hooks and exuberant verses. Sure, the stakes are low—the song concepts aren’t complex, there’s little self-reflection, and there’s not much talk of struggle—but that’s fine, as the duo never attempt to punch above their weight. The project is intensely focused—focused on fun. It’s tough to believe it was supposed to be any other way. —Damien Scott

Label: Top Dawg, Aftermath, Interscope

Released: March 15

To Pimp A Butterfly is the rare album where an already coveted artist reaches an entirely new plateau. K. Dot internalizes his struggles with celebrity and mediates on ideas of self-actualization and what it means to be a black man in Amerikkka. With a jam band approach to songs, he incorporates various styles of black music from funk to jazz, creating one of the most eclectic rap albums in recent memory where few of the tracks begin and end the same way.

Take “Hood Politics” for example, which opens with a breezy bounce, shifts into the actual beat, features a haunting interlude before switching back into its actual beat and ending with spoken word. For a lesser artist, any one of those three beats could rightfully have been their own song. But Kendrick is so full of ideas, so willing to expand his palette, every moment is an opportunity to reach greater heights.

Much has been made about the album’s themes on black life, it’s introspective lyrics, and Dot’s varied flows, but it’s his relentless ambition that truly sets it apart. You know you’re already in the pantheon of all-time greats when your latest album is the best rap album since your last album. —IA