Well louder, I'm sorry man, but Pusha T has pulled a D'Angelo and dropped a fucking bomb on 2015. It's funny, because I usually can't bring myself to let week old albums win out over records that have had 6-12 months to prove their awesomeness and staying power (except for last year when I made "Only One" my song of the year about three hours before the ball dropped. Ha!), which is why Black Messiah initially was #9 for me instead of #3, which is what it would probably be if I retakes 2014 now... right behind Ben Frost and Aphex Twin.

But I just can't ignore it. Darkest Before Dawn is my goddamn favorite hip-hop album of 2014.

So, it looks like my 2015 hip-hop list is going to look something like this:

1. Pusha T - King Push - Darkest Before Dawn: The Prequel
2. Vince Staples - Summertime '06
3. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
4. Drake - If You're Reading This it's Too Late
5. Joey Bada$$ - B4.DA.$$
6. Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth
7. Kool Keith & L'Orange - Time? Astonishing!
8. Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge - Twelve Reasons to Die II
9. A$AP Rocky - At.Long.Last.A$AP
10. Dr. Dre - Compton

I'd love to include Cities Aviv - Your Discretion is Trust, but if that's "hip hop" then so is Young Fathers, and if Young Fathers goes on this list, it's going to dominate. Both artists released albums that were way too non-hip hop to be called hip hop. The label is inadequate.

Anyway, sorry Mr. Wonderful, but I never returned to you after the first couple of weeks. Sorry Raekwon but... well, you're not trying very hard. Sorry Big Sean but you're not there yet. Sorry Earl, but you bother me. Sorry Tyler, but you really bother me. Sorry Underachievers, but you need to get your heads out of your asses and stop preaching mystical bullshit. Sorry Kid Cudi, but your album was just really really really really bad!

*sigh*

When's Ye coming home?

I forgot about that Kool Keith!

Did you guys not like The Documentary 2.5? Seen a lot of praise for it.

Listening to it right now.. Quik's Groove is so good. Not sure how anyone can dislike this album. Better than The Doc 2.0 for sure. Also better than Jesus Piece and R.E.D. in my opinion. Nice stuff.

I prefer Jesus Piece. I still think that's a totally underrated album. I recently re-read the pitchfork review of it, which lambasted the title track for the "huhn!"-heavy Kanye chorus, but that still sounds absolutely epic and awesome to me.

I still haven't spent a lot of time with 2.5 though.

But why isn't anyone else talking about Pusha T?

I love this!! How did I forget about it? Oh right, because I have been leaving for work at 6am and getting home from night class at 10pm four nights a week ;)

New Game?? I might dab in it.. I was so turned off by Jesus Piece that I just don't know.. I always loved me some Quik though..

OK.. this Game is that hot shit. fuck da rest some more of that Throwback shit!! Bout time Game get back to what that ninja is on point with.. some of that Throwback Jersey 90s shit!!! These beats???? I'm stuck in an Ac Integra on 18z with Pioneers and mirror tint on this.. i could get lost in records like this!!!!

Thanks Game, more than makes up for the utter shitte that was Jesus Piece.. conscious too???? It seems Game let go of that wannabe Yeezus shit and got back to speaking the real about that crooked azz cop shit..

I also forgot about that Game Documentary 2.0.. checking that out right now too.. its aight not as good as Doc 2.5 but definitely better than Jezus Piece.. these beats are kinda too fast but still better than all this mumbling shit on the radio

REAL.

How da FUGG you finna like Jezus Piece better than Doc 2.5?????? Are we listening to the same records here?????????

I like Jesus Piece. I'm the guy. That title track alone makes it better than everything else he's dropped in the last few years. But I like all Game, really. I like Documentary 2.0 and 2.5 just fine. But yeah- Jesus Piece is better in my opinion. So what?

The fact that nobody's mentioned Darkest Before Dawn yet has me really questioning the sanity of this crowd.

Are you guys sleeping?! What gives?!

I told y'all already, past 18 months I have been leaving for work at 6am and getting home at 10pm.... ain't had time for shit! I ain't literally been sleeping let alone had the chance to just sleep on new music.



Jesus Piece sucked.

I think I like Jesus Piece more than Documentary 2. I think. I haven't had enough time to digest.

I'm sorry about Big Sean, sev. I've not had time to take in ANY new music in the past month or so. I'll get to it... late.

also I agree - basically every Game album is great. Seriously. I do think that.

I'd rank Game..

1. Doctors Advocate
2. LAX Files
3. Documentary 2 & 2.5 (though mostly here for 2.5)
4. Mix Tapes as a compilation
5. ReD
6. Documentary
7. Jezus Piece (and to be sure i don't bump G-Unit era Game so that tells you how much i wasn't feeling Jezus Piece)

Whoah, whoah... Not Big Sean.
Repeat: NOT BIG SEAN.

I'm talking about Pusha T. Just dropped an album on 12/18. It's insane. Hip hop record of the year with a bullet. Surpassed Kendrick and Vince Staples after, like, one listen.

Everyone! Hear ye! Go buy or stream or pirate Pusha T's new studio album King Push- Darkest Before Dawn: The Prequel.

Kind of a convoluted title. I think Darkest Before Dawn works fine.

I'm sorry - I knew you were talking about Pusha... brain was moving faster than I could type is all.

Ah, it's ok. Just listen to the fucker before the year ends!

I didn't preview any of the singles or watch any of the videos because I didn't want to spoil what I was sure would be a glorious first listen.

So when I heard about "that Biggie sample" and how blessed Pusha felt that he actually got it cleared, I had to just force it out of my mind. I wasn't going to listen to any of it until I could take it all in.

And damned if "Untouchable" didn't live up to the hype. Ho-ly shit.

You guys just have to hear it. All of you. I think it will unite us. I can't imagine any old-school hip hop fan not loving the fuck out of this album.

What the fuck was I thinking when I wrote this? The best album of 2012 was obviously The Seer. Jesus.

And I actually think 2013 might go to DJ Koze - Amygdala. I mean, Yeezus is just incredible, but Ye's well-represented in my lists, and Amygdala was a tour de force. Gets better with every single listen. I'll have to revisit both albums closely before making a final decision on that one, but I think the reduxe version of my list is looking like this:

2010: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2011: Women - Public Strain
2012: Swans - The Seer
2013: DJ Koze - Amygdala / Kanye West - Yeezus (call it a tie for now)
2014: Aphex Twin - Syro
2015: Hudson Mohawke - Lantern / Jim O'Rourke - Simple Songs / Viet Cong - Viet Cong (three way tie at the moment because I don't have any fucking idea...)

Thank god for half days. Otherwise you guys would never get updates on my random thoughts.

I think I'm supposed to make a new thread..