Lists
[Year End List] DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2018
Like we said for the singles list and in years past, not an objective or definite best of list, just our favorites.
Also like last year, we don’t have much else to say about this year in music except, even though both are on our list, we were kind of disappointed in the albums Anderson .Paak and The Internet released. Both artists have been major favorites around these parts over the past couple years and anticipation was sky high for their new albums. If they’d made the records we were hoping for and expecting, they would have been our #1 and 2 picks for this list by a country mile. As it was we had to replay both several times just to make sure we even wanted to put them on this list at all we were that disappointed. In fact, if we were forced to pick only a Top 10, it’s not clear either would make it on there to be frank and that was even more of a bummer to realize than just overall feeling of having been severely let down by both albums.
The only other thing we’ll add is that pop music was on fire this year. While we didn’t put them on the list like Ariana Grande, whose album was an unexpected (to us) stunner, albums by Shawn Mendes and Charlie Puth were both excellent. Big budget, major label pop music where, for once, you could really hear the money in your headphones/speakers. Ella Mai‘s debut as well as the debut by fellow UK urban/pop artist, MNEK, were both nothing to slouch at either! We don’t envy pop music songwriters and producers trying to compete with the level of quality out there nowadays.
On the hip-hop side of things, our faves are pretty much all listed below* but if you put a gun to our head, we might admit that Earl Sweatshirt‘s Some Rap Songs was our favorite full length in the genre for the year although shouts to Pusha, Drake (yes it’s possible to be from The 6ix and like both!), Meek Mill and Nipsey also for excellent efforts and Canada’s own Lou Phelps for a sleeper album (not really, Apple Music bigged it up!) that I only discovered in the late hour and is RIYL Goldlink. Being the little bro’ of MTL’s Kaytranada definitely paid off for homeboy it seems.
Last year when we did this post we said 2018 would mark the 15th year we’d been doing this site and that we had some exciting plans in store to celebrate. Those plans were the release of the QUINCEAÑERA: MARVELOUS ISH compilation album to acknowledge that milestone. A trip out to LA by Kitchen capo, Ian in pursuit of a new career direction he’s embarking upon curtailed a lot of the promo and PR we had planned for the comp but don’t worry, we’re not done yet. There’s more to come because yes, as you can see by our placement of the album on our list below, it was one of our favorite albums of the year and we’re not near done telling the world about it. We put our name on it so why wouldn’t that be the case?
More seriously, we put a lot of work into making the album as did all the artists who generously contributed music to it and we couldn’t be more proud or happy with how it turned out so it’s on our Favorite List without any reservation or guilt and we’ll continue to celebrate the artists who helped us put it together well into the new year. Here’s hoping that the new year also brings even more great music!
The List (in alphabetical order)
– Birthday Boy & Trish – Joseph
– Blood Orange – Negro Swan
– Cardi B – Invasion of Privacy
– The Carters – Everything is Love +
– Different Kitchen presents… – Quinceañera: Marvelous Ish
– Drake – Scorpion
– Ariana Grande – Sweetener +
– Nipsey Hussle – Victory Lap
– Zaki Ibrahim – Secret Life of Planets
– The Internet – Hive Mind +
– Ella Mai – Ella Mai
– Masego – Lady Lady
– Masta Ace – A Breukelen Story
– Meek Mill – Championships
– MNEK – Language +
– Anderson .Paak – Oxnard
– Lou Phelps – 002 / Love Me +
– Pusha T – Daytona
– Jay Rock – Redemption +
– Kae Sun – Whoever Comes Knocking
– Earl Sweatshirt – Some Rap Songs
– Teyana Taylor – K.T.S.E. +
– Top Shelf 1988 – Top Shelf 1988
– Kali Uchis – Isolation +
– Charlotte Day Wilson – Stone Woman
– Witch Prophet – The Golden Octave
– Yellow Shoots – everything
(+ Album links go to Soundcloud or Bandcamp streams. Those marked ‘+’ are Soundcloud Go snippets only.
* For the Travi$ Scott fans out there livid at its ‘omission,’ we liked Astroworld fine, it just wasn’t one of our favorites [ditto J. Cole‘s KOD except less so]. This and this weren’t exactly helping win us over either to keep it a buck so don’t @ us!)
Previously on the Kitchen:
– DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE SONGS OF 2018
[Year End List] DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE SONGS OF 2018
You know the drill: not ‘best’ (whatever that nebulous terms means), ‘best-selling’ (however that is measured nowadays) or the coolest (except to us, natch), just our favorite of the songs we heard in 2018. We no doubt we missed many, let us know what in the comments below (or on our Facebook page or the ‘Gram).
True to eclectic mission statement of this site, this list has everything from trap to socially conscious hip-hop and pop, R&B and toe-tapping indie rock. Yeah there are wide swaths of popular music we missed from which we might have discovered even more favorites (sorry dancehall/reggae, electronic, grime and others) but such is life. There are plenty of other sites to peruse to get caught up on music that didn’t make it to the Kitchen.
One thing we are very proud of though is being able to say that 13 of the 46 tracks are by Canadian artists (although 3 of those are by Drake, granted!) and 2 more feature Canadian artists so a good third of this list is Canadian on some level. That’s a good great thing. Now, how many of those acts were legit nurtured and developed within the Canadian music industry system is a whole ‘nother discussion we’re not gonna get into here!
Anyway, we’re not sure what’s gonna happen with this site over the next year or so, we’ve been at this a looong time, but bring on 2019 and more great music. If we’re around, we’ll do our best to cover the best, as we see and hear it, just like we always have. In the meantime, hit play on the Apple Music or Spotify players below to hear that those songs were for 2018. Then hit the jump for the full list sorted alphabetically because no songs really ‘stood out’ other than the top section which were more or less our 10 favorites for the year but ask me tomorrow and maybe that list would be different. On a final note, we have to concede that Black Thought‘s “Rest in Power” tribute to Trayvon Martin, from the Paramount Network documentary about his murder at the hands of George Zimmerman, brings tears to our eyes virtually every time we hear it. If that’s not worthy of desigantion as the best song of the year, we’re not sure what is.
Previously on the Kitchen:
– DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE SONGS OF 2017
DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE SONGS OF 2017
Let’s face it, in 2017 it was Cardi‘s world (salute, Belcalis), we were just living in it. I was late on it (thanks, C and Ice for the heads up) but I still ended up being the only Hype Machine blog on “Bodak Yellow”, a song that ended up being the biggest one of the year by a country mile. What does that say about the state of blogging in 2017??! I can’t call it except to say that’s what we do and have done for 15 years now here at The Kitchen: champion the music we think is fiya and deserves acclaim regardless of where it comes from and who releases it, indie, regional, major label, hard rock street or candy pop commercial, if we f-cks with it, we f-cks with it and want to tell the world how we feel. And while “Bodak Yellow” was the best song in our (and many others’) estimation, there were lots of other great songs. Our favorites are all listed below but the rest of the tracks we loved the most in 2017 that we couldn’t put on our Pazz and Jop ballot* are in the Spotify playlist embedded below. Here go….
THE BEST:
Cardi B – Bodak Yellow
Big Shaq – Man’s Not Hot
The Roots feat. Bilal – It Ain’t Fair
Black Thought – Hot 97 Funk Flex Freestyle
Tee Grizzley – First Day Out
Li Uzi Vert – The Way Life Goes feat. Nicki Minaj and Oh Wonder
Killy – Forecast
Neisha Ne’Shae – White Sticks
Stefflon Don – Real Ting
Creek Boyz – With My Team
Keys N Krates – Glitter feat. Ambre Perkins
But that’s not all! Most of what we loved we posted here on the blog and you can hear streaming on the Hype Machine feed of our posts or on the archive Spotify playlists linked below. And to keep up to date on the latest hottest music were rockin’ to here at The Kitchen, follow our FRESH PICKS Spotify Playlist weekly HERE.
FRESH PICKS – Vol. 1
FRESH PICKS – Vol. 2
FRESH PICKS – Vol. 3
FRESH PICKS – Vol. 4
FRESH PICKS – Vol. 5
FRESH PICKS – Vol. 6
FRESH PICKS – Nov.-Dec.
Previously on The Kitchen:
DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2017
DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2017
As we always say, not the best, just our favorites. Not much else to say about last year in music except, there wasn’t a stand-out-from-the-pack album for us in 2017 as there was in 2016 but we were very partial to and impressed by many of the albums on our Top 10 and we want to say a massive big up to our home country of Canada and the incredible amount of amazing music that dropped from there this year. We almost by default already are, but if The Kitchen decided to become a blog focused solely on Canadian music, there would be no negligible drop in the quality as most of the best music we’ve supported this year, especially in the latter half, came from within these borders already.
Thanks to everyone who has supported The Kitchen here on the blog or the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or the new FRESH PICKS Spotify playlist with follows, views, shares, likes and comments. 2018 will mark the 15th year we’ve been doing this and we have some exciting plans we’re hoping to execute on for later this year to celebrate that. Stay tuned for more as the year progresses and we wish everyone an amazing year ahead. Here’s to more great music in it!
THE BEST (in no particular order):
Rapsody – Laila’s Wisdom
Allie – Nightshade
Daniel Caesar – Freudian
Tyler, The Creator – Flower Boy
Vic Mensa – The Autobiography
Father John Misty – Pure Comedy
Gucci Mane – Mr. Davis
Clairmont the Second – Lil Mont From The Ave.
Drake – More Life
THE REST (in alphabetical order):
2 Chainz – Pretty Girls Like Trap
88Glam – 88Glam
Joey Badass – All-Amerikkkan Badass
Big KRIT – 4eva Is A Mighty Long Time
Big Sean – I Decided
CyHi The Prynce – No Dope On Sundays
Dave East – Paranoia: A True Story
MC Eiht – Which Way Iz West
Future & Young Thug – Super Slimey
Jay-Z – 4:44
Jeezy – Precious
Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.
Le Couleur – P.O.P.
Steve Lacy – Steve Lacy’s Demo
Meek Mills – Wins & Losses
N*E*R*D – No One Ever Really Dies
Sean Price – Imperius Rex
Dizze Rascal – Raskit
Rick Ross – Rather You Than Me
Smokepurpp – Deadstar
Snotty Nosed Rez Kids – Average Savage
Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory
Syd – Fin
SZA – Ctrl
Maylee Todd – Acts of Love
Previously on The Kitchen:
DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2016
DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2016
Just like last year, picking our Top 10 favorite albums for my Village Voice ̶P̶a̶z̶z̶ ̶&̶ ̶J̶o̶p̶ Music Critic’s Poll ballot this year was tough! 2016 was yet another especially good year for music overall and quality full length albums specifically. Many of the ‘Honorable Mentions’ below were more than worthy contenders for a spot on my Top 10 (actually Top 12, I added Maxwell and I think my stupid ass actually forgot to include Childish Gambino‘s throwback funk-rock-inspired opus, Awaken, My Love! on my ballot so I had to make amends here on the blog).
I don’t have that much to say about the individual albums here except:
– Vets and newbies alike put in work! A Tribe Called Quest dropped a masterpiece/tribute to their late member, Phife Dawg that should’ve been a coda on the joke-cum-nightmare that was the Donald Trump presidential campaign but instead became a balm for our souls as we contemplated what it meant for him to, instead of becoming a footnote in history, actually be taking office as commander-in-chief and ‘leader’ of the free world. Sibling act to Tribe in the Native Tongues, De La Soul, as they always do, rewrote the playbook for making hip-hop and proved veteran MC’s can still drop impeccable wordplay while their original producer and mentor, Prince Paul, showed he still had the same innovative, fun and inventive spirit in his music as he ever did with his latest Latin/world music-meets-hip-hop album project, Brookzill with Digable Planets‘ Ladybug Mecca, Don Newkirk and Rodrigo Brandão. Meanwhile underground stalwarts like Dave East, Torae, Stalley and long-time Kitchen favorite Mickey Factz (with acclaimed producer, Nottz) all dropped excellent projects that garnered varying degrees of buzz.
– R&B/Soul kicked ASS this past year! Solange ended up towering above them all for my money although the Beyhive would probably be up in arms that I’m not according her sister that accolade for LEMONADE (for the record I loved that project more as a short film visual than as an album but I wouldn’t fight anyone who disagrees with my take on it). For most of the year before, Anderson .Paak‘s Malibu and A Seat at the Table were released, I thought ANTI was going to be my album of the year and it still amazes me how many wouldn’t give it a chance just because it was made by Rihanna. Be clear: ANTI is an alternative pop-soul tour de force that would be getting universally heralded if it had been made by Solange, SZA, FKA Twigs or some other boho black girl beloved by indie/alternative media types and not pop’s resident, gives no f-cks, bad girl (Riri). She gets love in those quarters too but not quite so across-the-board. And, speaking of beloved by indie/alternative media type artists, while it didn’t blow me away like Channel Orange or as much it did other people, Frank Ocean‘s Blonde was further proof that he is one of the most creative talents in music, period. If you liked your R&B a little bit more down the middle of the traditional road (or as traditional as it gets in 2016) though, albums by Maxwell, new jack Maxwell heir apparent, Gallant, John Legend, Alicia Keys and Tweet, in a very welcome comeback after a looong hiatus, were all well worth your time. That last album, Tweet’s Charlene was so criminally overlooked, it almost hurt my heart.
– Toronto and Canada represented! Albums by Drake, The Weeknd, TOBi, Roy Woods, Daniel Caesar, Dvsn, Clairmont the Second, Kaytranada, LAL, River Tiber, Harrison, SATE, Tona Tencreddi, Zeds Dead, A Tribe Called Red and many others I didn’t even include on my list, confirm we now have the best urban/Black music scene in the world, no discussion!
So all that said, here’s the list:
FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2016:
Top Albums (in no particular order):
A Tribe Called Quest – We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service
Childish Gambino – Awaken, My Love
Anderson .Paak – Malibu
Rihanna – ANTI
Solange – A Seat at the Table
Best of the Rest:
J. Cole – 4 Your Eyez Only
De La Soul – and the Anonymous Nobody
Dave East – Kairi Chanel
The Game – 1992
Maxwell – BlackSUMMERS’night
Stalley – Saving Yusuf
Tweet – Charlene
Honorable Mentions:
A Tribe Called Red – We Are the Halluci Nation
Beyonce – LEMONADE
Blitz the Ambassador – Diasporadical
Brookzill – Throwback to the Future
Daniel Caesar – Pilgrim’s Paradise (note: rel. Nov. 2015)
Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
Clairmont the Second– Quest For Milk And Honey
Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker
Consequence – A Good Comeback Story
Domingo – Generation Next
Drake – VIEWS
Dvsn – Sept. 5th
Gallant – Ology
Harrison – Checkpoint Titanium
Kaytranada – 99.9%
Alicia Keys – Here
Kendrick Lamar – Untitled Unmastered
LAL – Find Safety
John Legend – Darkness and Light
Mickey Factz & Nottz – The Achievement: Circa ’82
Frank Ocean – Blonde
Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
River Tiber – Indigo
Royce 5’9” – Tabernacle: Trust the Shooter EP
SATE – Red, Black & Blue
TOBi – FYi EP
Tona Tencreddi – The Ivy League
Torae – Entitled
The Weeknd – Starboy
Roy Woods – Waking at Dawn
ZEDS DEAD – Northern Lights
If you missed any of these during the past year, you really should consider giving them your time and attention now. I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll dig. Did I miss or overlook any albums you think should have been mentioned here? Let us know in the comments or Tweet / Facebook us.
Previously on The Kitchen:
DIFFERENT KITCHEN’S FAVORITE SONGS OF 2016