*Sigh* what a year in music huh? This year was very, very, very..rough. Sure we did have the big artists drop their albums, but a lot of the artists who aren't "mainstream" had way better releases than the major artists. I am mainly known for covering one genre, I do listen to many others as I got older but the genre I cover just sucked. Hell, It took almost six-seven months for a rap song to chart number one first week, that's rough. I thought this was the number one genre? Another issue I have with this year in music is so many albums came and went faster than ever, everyone nowadays has the attention span of ant thanks to YouTube shorts and goofy TikToks. The big albums would be cool to listen to for a couple of days but we move on to the next one rinse and repeat, The cycle never ended. So many anticipated albums that just fell flat on their face. Other albums that were just trash, and artists you know they’re past their prime. I am glad I discovered so many new artists and genres this year, which helped so much with my mental state and taste.
It is that time of year when everyone drops their favorite stuff from certain types of media of 2023, I am in no rush to drop my favorites just yet, we have to talk about the bad first. I am going to try my best to not ramble on and on about these albums because I want to move on. This year was so mid and disappointing as far as I am concerned. I have a very tiring job and I've been sick a lot as of late so I wanna get this shit out of the way. Without further ado, Here We go!
Pink Tape by Lil Uzi Vert: Ah man, this one. Oh boy. I will give them credit for doing "metal" and "rock" songs, sampling the WWE's own Nakamura's theme was pretty cool, Chop Suey's cover was laughably bad, the tik tok song was an ass, some of the non-rap features were a huge standout than the rap features, and Bring Me The Horizon collab was one of the better songs here but the album is all over the place, long, and boring. It legit gives me a headache. I didn't want to hear them growl in my ears dude, you are near 30. It sucks cause the album starts off good but it just falls apart, I hate it when a piece of media gets overhype for years and the day it drops, it's just a wet fart. Sucks that their next album got put in the vault after it got leaked cause that shit was so much better than this. Just a hard record to judge, some highlights, some lowlights but it's just not that great of an album as a whole on it wanted to be or do. I praise it a bit for trying, keyword: TRYING, to do new sounds and ideas but to be honest, it doesn't pay off. Bloated mess, if this album was shorter, I would've loved it. "MAKE MY ASS GREAT AGAIN, MAGA" will stick with me forever.
Michael by Killer Mike: I had high hopes for this, Killer Mike dropped his first solo album in a decade, and Run the Jewel's act was starting to get boring and tedious. One of the lead singles with Andre 3000 was solid, so going to this I was very hopeful.....boy the hope died here. You know the saying "Never meet your heroes"? Or "Wear a mask to hide who they are"? This is how I would describe this entire project. One major word for this is "Contradiction", He has songs where he gets personal about his past struggles, and next song he talks shit about people being fucking "losers" for struggling... what the fuck? Also, there's a very extreme homophobic punchline that's so tasteless, it's such an eye roll. Also for a guy who went from being a Bernie Sanders guy to shouting out a piece of shit politician who is so bad but funny in a way. To be fair, I saw this coming from a mile away. He hides his centrist views with his Southern charm and gets away with it. He's a very self-centered guy, I can't stand him anymore. Also, this album is very boring as fuck, I get what it was trying with the gospel samples but when you dig deeper into this record, it ruins the impact the album could've had.
If Looks Could Kill by Destroy Lonely: Look, you know this was going to be on this list. I did say in the past that this guy has a slight edge over the other artists on Carti's label but god this sucks. Maybe I am getting too old for this shit. Even if I was ten years younger, I don't think I wouldn't like this. 83 minutes of slop where he sounds like he's just talking and the most boring "rage" production you've ever heard. The lead single, The Masks, and the short movie were at least ok.
A Great Chaos by Ken Carson: To give him credit, it's a slight improvement. I didn't get a headache while I played this, Just halfway through, I got the idea what it was doing. It's still bad but two, maybe three? The songs stood out and were much better than his friend's album. There are even some funny bars that make no sense or are out of context, that's the nicest thing I can say. Boring album, production carried. Carti please save us already.
Lil Pump 2 by Lil Pump: Water is wet. The only thing worth your time and get a good laugh is the metal/rock song, It's so goofy, and I love the attempt. Rio's verse is another highlight too. Tesla with SmokePurpp could’ve been a hit but fell apart after 20 seconds. This album is the true definition of a guy who peaked in high school. The Celtics Shaq meme plays in the background. Listen to Yunomiles instead if you want someone who is self-aware of how bad he is.
All the Albums the Trippie Redd this year: *sigh* what happened? "MANSION MUSIK" had the Avengers of his era and contemporaries, I was thinking “Oh this could be fun”. Sure most of these features can outshine him on his own song, they did, but god this shit stunk. Another bloated album that didn’t need to be, with all the beats blended together. Was this shit made in FL Studio with a Chromebook from 2017? The album is 25 songs of him biting Playboi Cart’s and Summrs whole flow, it’s so bad. A few months go by and he drops the fifth installment of his “A Love Letter To The You” series. A step up but very forgettable. Bland production vocal sounds like shit and the bars are terrible. The whole album just felt rushed and incomplete. “Saint Michael” is next, only thing I could really say is the beats could’ve had a better artist on them. and finally, we end here with part two of the recent EP, and man, this shit sucked too. 0/4 this year. We need to study how bad this man fell off. Another guy who fits the description of a guy who peaked in high school. It doesn’t help he is stuck in an era that has moved a while biting others who passed him by, it sucks cause he is someone who I was a huge fan of his but you can hear that the magic is gone. *sigh* SAD!
Austin by Post Malone: It's funny when I first started this whole blog, I hated this guy, but he slowly got me into music. He had hits, they slapped. Also, it helped because my mom was a huge fan of his, funny she is a fan of Future too....what the fuck Mom? This album hurts me because lyrically, it's his best. He sings about depression and his addiction with love, care, and passion. It’s such a chore to sit through and becomes boring so fast, I don’t like this new change he’s doing with his music. All the production blends together and it all sounds the same, I legit fell asleep when I got halfway into this album. He tricked me into the singles. If he wants to keep going the indie rock lane, he needs to find better production and maybe a better mixer and step up to the plate so his next album doesn’t have the most lazy, generic, and bland sounds I’ve heard, I hope Post is ok man, if he is, I’m glad but can we move on my dude?
Sreem 4 Life by Rae Sremmurd: This one hurts. A lot. I remember these dudes guys use to make fun tracks....this shit? not fun! A perfect example of trying to recapture the spark that was there at the peak of your career but the passion is now gone and you fall flat with your egg on your face. Bland songs, Bland Hooks, and the chemistry is gone now. Don't play off each other like they used to, Makes me wonder if they were even in the same room recording this album. No tracks stand out to me, maybe the "Lean Got Cold" song, which just sounds like a shitty Weird Al joke song. I wasn't anticipating a masterpiece or anything mind-blowing, I just wanted fun tunes for the summer. I've said this already, but other artists (s) were like the guy who peaked in high school. Would've been nice for them to evolve without trying to chase trends but they've made changes and seems like they didn't make another album together. Swae is a solo act while Jimmi is just there now. I wanted to like this everyone but this shit was a huge skip and a disaster.
Magic 2 and Magic 3 by Nas: I will get shit for putting these two albums on a list like this. I do like Nas, do like Hit-Boy. These collab tapes are just getting more and more tedious and annoying. We get it Nas, you can rap on good beats now! I don’t know, I’m glad we are moving on from this series and Nas can finally free Hit-Boy out of his basement.
And the worst album goes to.....: It's hard to say what is the worst album I've heard. I could pick the easy choice like that Tom Macdonald and Adam album aka racism part two, Coi Leray's Painful album that has some of the worst samplings I've heard in a lifetime, Macklemore's "Comeback" album where you have no idea on what album it wanted it to be, the huge mess of that Avenged Sevenfold where the vocals and songwriting legit sound like dog shit, The long-awaited Teezo Touchdown, wasn’t a bad album but god it was such a mess, That Young Thug “album” was basically old songs with verses that didn’t fit at all or that redux version of Dark side of the moon.....why the fuck did Roger Waters do that? It's fine as it is! Overall this year of music was the worst thing this year. Travis and Drake's albums were cool but that's about it. 2024 seems like stuff is cooking up right now as of writing this. Like I said, It would've been nice to have that album of the summer but we didn't get that this year. Song/singles-wise, that did pretty well though, nothing can top "Cupid".
This was a short writing piece, I'll try to write more next year if my health doesn't fuck with me more. Hope you'll enjoy looking out for the best albums of 2023, that shit was hard to do and think about. Stay safe ya'll.
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