2023 had its ups and downs for music releases this year. While fans are still waiting for some of the more mainstream artists to drop new music after a long hiatus, many new and upcoming artists still placed themselves on the map with their releases this year. After listening to over 500 albums this year, let’s dive into some of the best albums that were released during 2023.
Honorable mentions
Desire, I Want to Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek
14k by Wiki & Tony Seltzer
Heaven Knows by PinkPantheress
Space Heavy by King Krule
One Last Dream Before Dying by Day Aches
Now let’s dive into the top 10, in no particular order:
Let’s Start Here by Lil Yachty
Despite a mediocre music career up to this point, Lil Yachty took a risk and switched up his sound of music. This held up as one of the most surprising albums of the year. Let’s Start Here explores the realm of psychedelic rock but with Yachty’s own twist. Instead of using his pen skills, Yachty transitioned to creating an atmospheric sound. His voice mixed with the auto fits perfectly throughout the album. The rifts, instrumentals, and background vocals are some of my favorite elements of this project. Yachty did a wonderful job of not trying to copy and paste an existing sound but instead taking elements and working with the tools he’s known for years now. I would love to see another release by him in this same genre in the future.
Scaring the Hoes by JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown
As weird as the album and song titles sound, the content is only weirder in Danny Brown’s and JPEGMAFIA’s Scaring the Hoes. However, this is some of the best experimental hip-hop music out there from two of the genre’s best artists. This is honestly a match made in heaven and the duo reached every expectation set when the collaboration was originally announced. Their chemistry could pass as their 10th album together. Peggy’s production and unique sample choices on this album are incredible. He needs to start being considered as one of the best producers in the genre right now. The lyrical contribution by Peggy and Danny is top-tier, creating a fun and weird listening experience. It’ll be fascinating to see what these two release together in the future.
UTOPIA by Travis Scott
Typically when an artist takes as many years off as Travis Scott did, more than likely their music is considered underwhelming only because the expectation got so high it seemed almost impossible to match. Utopia on the other hand blew away all expectations for the five-year layoff. Travis used this opportunity to go outside the box with his sound. He went to some of his older elements when he was a frequent collaborator for Kanye’s Yeezus, using many experimental and psychedelic elements on many of the tracks. His writing and delivery were also a major highlight. After some lackluster features on other albums, it became a question whether Travis Scott could rap like he once did on prior albums. However, Utopia blew away all expectations and showcased some incredible creativity in his verses alongside a star-studded feature list. It’ll be very interesting to see what comes next for Travis after again taking the world by storm with his new album.
STRUGGLER by Genesis Owusu
After listening to Smiling with No Teeth in 2021, I was very intrigued to see what Genesis Owusu would give us with Struggler. I enjoyed the unique production and writing throughout the album. While it is somewhat considered underground rap because Genesis Owusu is not super popular, this style is more upbeat and alternative which is not very heard of either by many in the hip-hop genre. Struggler is not much different from this style of alternative rap. I enjoyed a lot of the production choices and Genesis Owusu’s energy made this a very fun album to listen to. His voice and delivery are unique and he stands out in a genre where everyone is trying to mimic the most popular sound. It’ll be interesting to see if he continues to move forward with this sound on his next project or expand to new avenues.
Lahai by Sampha
Similar to Utopia, Sampha took about 6 years off before releasing a new album and he did not disappoint with Lahai. Sampha has been featured on many production and feature credits for the last few years now, including a feature on Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers in 2022, one of my favorite albums from that year. Sampha has always done an incredible in using a variety of instruments and keys to bring the most out of his instrumentals. With an underrated voice and lyricism, I thought everything was well put together to create a very cohesive and intriguing album. While Sampha has a lot of different avenues to go down with his work, his consistency is not one to doubt as more great music will come from him in the future.
Hellmode by Jeff Rosenstock
I was first introduced to Jeff Rosenstock after his 2021 release, Ska Dream, which introduced me to ska rock as a subgenre. I enjoyed the chaos and insane speeds of the music throughout the album. Safe to say I was very excited about this new release by Rosenstock in September. Hellmode lives up to the same expectations as Ska Dream. I enjoyed that despite all the loud energy on the tracks, the sound was completely overblown as often seen in metal music. This album also avoids any repetition or similarities from track to track that would make the album boring in any way. This was also one of my favorite album covers of the year. I thought it was very fitting with the music throughout the project. I am very excited to explore music by Rosenstock and other artists within the genre.
MICHAEL by Killer Mike
I was very excited to hear that Killer Mike of Run the Jewels was releasing another solo album. I have been a big fan of their work for a long time now. I thoroughly enjoyed MICHAEL. I loved the versatility of the production and the features of this album. From Young Thug to Curren$y to Andre 3000, I thought MICHAEL brought a lot to the focus of some of hip-hop’s best across all different subgenres. Of course, it also wouldn’t be a true Killer Mike album if it didn’t feature El-P on it as well. Don’t Let the Devil was one of my favorite songs where he has both a feature and production credit. While I am very excited to hear the next installment of Run the Jewels, Killer Mike deserves his flowers for a great album left for us to enjoy.
April Mixtape 3 by Snow Strippers
After a positive review from Anthony Fantano, I was immediately starstruck by the insanity and high energy that Snow Strippers bring to their album. In the third installment of the April Mixtapes series, I was blown away by the chaotic but extremely creative production of the entire album. Throughout my listening, I was worried this would follow the same cut-and-dry formula that EDM music does, but learned this was far different and more enjoyable because of the uniqueness of every individual track. I was also pleasantly surprised by a cool Lil Uzi Vert feature and found out that Snow Strippers had done some production work for Uzi’s latest album, The Pink Tape. I am very excited to explore the genre of electroclash and similar artists and music after an amazing experience listening to Snow Strippers for the first time this year.
Maps by Billy Woods and Kenny Siegal
One-half of the Armand Hammer duo, Billy Woods is one of the best rappers in the genre today despite not receiving a lot of mainstream attention, which I’m sure he honestly prefers. His team-up with Kenny Siegal on Maps is an amazing collaboration for the genre. Woods continues his incredible run of continuous grimy bars and elusive rhythms all across this project. Siegal does an amazing job of matching his kind of energy with various instruments used across the board. While the production is very creative, both seem comfortable with what each other provides for the album. I am extremely excited to see what these two collaborate on in the future as they both have amazing solo careers in their works.
We Buy Diabetic Test Strips by Armand Hammer
One of my favorite duos for over a year now, Armand Hammer did not disappoint with another release in We Buy Diabetic Test Strips. I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of JPEGMAFIA production credits throughout this album. This of course only enhanced my listening experience as he was able to perfectly curate the sounds needed to elevate this album. Armand Hammer never misses with their lyricism and wordplay, as this is some of the best writing on any of their releases. These two currently rule underground rap. While I think they’ll never get the mainstream attention they deserve because they’ve talked about the desire to remain under the radar, Billy Woods and Elucid are some of the best rappers in the genre right now. I am stoked to see who they work with going forward if they choose to branch out.
Ethan Hartley 