Thursday, 10 December 2020

The obligatory best Rap songs of 2020 list

2020: the year when Kevin Gates created Coronavirus or sumfink.

You probably wanna read another opening blurb about The Year None Of Us Will Ever Forget™ about as much as I wanna write one so let's just get on this this eh? In no particular order of preference, here's the songs which are soundtracking my 2020, including a handful of songs from the dying days of 2019. The list also features a handful of artists I don't particularly like for whom the stars aligned briefly on one glorious song I couldn't resist; however, please believe this doesn't mean that the list contains any Drake, Griselda, Lil' Baby, Gunna, Run The Jewels, London Drill songs, or Pitchfork poptimism - a man's gotta have some standards.

Best Rap songs of 2020 IMHO:
Duke Deuce - Bad News
Max B - Phenomenon
Flo Milli - Not Friendly
Mic Terror - Ride
Gzus Piece - Hot Tub TIme Machine
YG - Swag
79rs Gang - 79rs Bout To Blow
Mozzy - Big Homie From The Hood
Trap Beckham ft. Flo Milli - Back It Up
Homeboy Sandman - Waiting On My Girl
Eatem - Spent It All
Rio Da Yung OG - Groovy
Mick Jenkins - Carefree
Mac J - Free Bris
Bris - First 42 Hours Freestyle
Boldy James & The Alchemist - Speed Demon Freestyle
Dee-1 - Corona Clap (O.G video version)
Heavy Steppers - Whateva
Megan Thee Stallion - Savage
Yhung T.O - You Know
DJ Preservation ft. TREE - Money In The Wild
P-Lo - Get Me Lit
GetEmTree - Opp Watching
AZ - Different
Quelle Chris & Chris Keys - Sudden Death
NHale - Dealin' Wit A Hoe
Sada Baby - Whole Lotta Choppas
Nefew - Blockaholic
Open Mike Eagle ft. Video Dave - Headass (Idiot Shinji)
Ka - I Love (Mimi, Moms, Kev)
YN Jay & Louie Ray - Reflection
Pop Smoke - Armed N Dangerous
DJ Chose ft. BeatKing - Thick
DB Tha General - Upgrade Em 3
Ether Da Connect ft. Mr. Swipey & Waka Flocka Flame - WAKA (Remix)
Nef The Pharaoh - ABC
Sleepy Hallow ft. Sheff G - Molly
Yung Cat - Ya Know
Cuzin Jiggy - Cadillac Slidin'
ShuggyBo - What I Like

Best non-Yank Rap songs of 2020 IMHO:
J Hus ft. Burna Boy - Play Play
S1mba ft. DTG - Rover
Pa Salieu ft. BackRoad Gee - My Family
M1llionz - B1llionz

Best Other Genres™ songs of 2020 IMHO:
Dua Lipa - Good In Bed
SAULT - Wildfires
Jenevieve - Baby Powder
Usher ft. Ella Mai - Don't Waste My Time
Khruangbin & Leon Bridges - Texas Sun
Koffee - Lockdown
UNiiQU3 - UNiiQU3'S Groove (Get Down)
Moodymann - Just Stay A While
Maurice Fulton & Peggy Gou - Jigoo
Beabadoobee - Care
Juiceboxxx - Deal With The Dream
Archers Of Loaf - Rayleigh Days
The Chats - The Clap


Bonus beats: the obligatory 2020 late pass list.

25 comments:

  1. and here we go! you have your standards! no black metal again

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have a blanket ban on Norwegian men in make-up going bluurgh-bluurgh-bluurgh over chugga-chugga-chugga Metal.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's time for you to embrace Uzi.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fair enough lol.

    I really got into Abracadabra this year. All his singles banged.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Three trends I hope go away in 2021 is songs that barely break the 2 minute mark, every single producer using the exact same drum kits, and all these snoozefest Roc Marci copycats.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Agree X 3.

    Rap needs more hooks across the board too. So many songs this year that sound, at best, half-finished and, at worst, half-arsed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Waiting on French guys with zipfiles.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What’d you think about that Ka album?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Random but I don’t get why Jay Electronica gets all this love when Ka has been bodying his lane for years now.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Jmil, I never checked the rest of the Ka album. I've heard nowt but good things about it but I'm happy with just that 1 song ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    ReplyDelete
  11. Last time they weren't so French!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Another trend I'd like to see reversed: more coherent songs centered around one topic instead of the constant stream of consciousness we currently see.

    Re: the list, choice as always.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I wanna see a 2020 songs list which includes Max B's Didn't Mean To Kill A Man.

    ReplyDelete
  14. ^ Which would be on mine if he also didn't release Phenomenon and Goodman this year.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I wish he'd put Phenomenon on the EP. Peak Wavy/Jiggy hybrid music.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Worst thing was to see it show up on French's CB5 with a weaksauce verse bolted on to it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Leave Griselda alone!!

    WSG is annoying tho I agree lol.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Added AZ's Different to the list.

    And just realised I missed Rover from the non-Yank Rap list, so I've added that too.

    ReplyDelete
  19. no love for Cuzin Jiggy?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn_3_RVuYC0

    ReplyDelete
  20. Added Cuzin Jiggy and Beabadoobee's Care since I've spent the past week jamming them. Last songs I will add though. Onwards and upwards to 2021.

    ReplyDelete