For The Record(s): Best Hip Hop Albums of 2011

By Alif Omar Mahfix  •  in Music
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KENDRICK LAMAR
SECTION.80
Kendrick Lamar is the West Coast’s current golden boy. Despite being informed by hip hop acts like Tupac, NWA and Bone Thugs, his music is strangely forward-thinking. Never sounding like it was a remnant of a bygone era, Section.80 instead features production quality that wouldn’t be out of place on an LA post-Low End Theory hip hop album. ‘ADHD’ has quickly become our de facto anthem of a dazed out night run.

DANNY BROWN
XXX
While Tyler, the Creator’s shtick is completely make belief, 30-year-old rapper Danny Brown is an actual f*ck-up. A druggie who failed his G-Unit deal, Danny has always been something of a freak even before rappers are allowed to wear non-baggy pants and grow hair. XXX is his musical reaction to his life, a reflection of his proclivity towards depravity – ho’s and drugs are a recurring theme – that is heightened by his rabies-infected voice. If hip hop had a Jello Biafra, Danny Brown would be him.

BEASTIE BOYS
HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE VOL. 2
Something of a throwback to their old sound, Hot Sauce Committee Vol. 2 is Beastie Boys emulating their silliness during the peak of their career. While it’s a bit jarring to hear 40-something white boys acting like their former collegiate selves, it never detracts from the fun of the album.

SHABAZZ PALACES
BLACK UP
Sup Pop’s first hip hop signee is a prodigy of the early ’90s. A brainchild of former Digable Planets member, Butterfly (now absurdly named Palaceer Lazaro), Shabazz Palaces is an experimental potpourri that can best be described as prog-hop. Hell, it even follows the tradition of prog-rock in track naming; the best song off of Black Up is the synth-heavy-nigh-dubstep-logic-defying ‘Swerve…the Reeping of All That Is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding).’ As hyperbolic as it may sound, to praise Shabazz Palaces further would be as mouthful as the names of their songs.

DAS RACIST
RELAX
Shut up man, sit down, and relax! Das Racist proper album debut is comedy rap at its best. A proper spiritual successor to Beastie Boys, Relax continues Das Racist’s progress of the imprint left behind by Beastie – adding actual intelligence, arcane references and song structure to the canon.

CHILDISH GAMBINO
CAMP
While rappers occasionally make for great actors (think Mos Def), it’s never the same the other way ‘round. Up until now that is. Comedian Donald Glover’s rap persona Childish Gambino is as darkly funny as he is disturbed. Sounding something like a cross between Drake, Lil Wayne, Richard Pryor and Louis CK, Camp is like the last’s recent TV show – more intriguingly screwed-up than funny but all the better for it.