I'm not ready to become a misery guts who only likes five new songs + one unearthed old Godfather Don demo track per annum, but my year end lists are getting shorter as I get older. And that's fine - year end lists are supposed to be a record of your favourite songs, not a résumé of every new song you've listened to four times in the last twelve months. So, while there's other 2022 songs I've enjoyed here and there, it'd be disingenuous of me to call 'em favourites. Enough babble, usual rules apply: one song per artist, no particular order of preference, features a handful of songs which dropped late December 2021, and no Drake ever.
Special shout out goes to Mr. 2-17's Still Spaz'n for being the only instrumental Rap song of 2022 which really doesn't need any rapping. He tried to make a Yeat Type Beat and accidentally created a Jean-Michel Jarre Swag-symphony.
Monaleo - We Not Humping
Mouse On Tha Track - Big Blossom
Level ft. Mouse On Tha Track - I Don't Miss
Homeboy Sandman - Satellite
2Rare - Oochie Coochie
Ezale - Ironic
Eatem - Lil' Phat Flow
Seiji Oda - Wake Up
Hitkidd & GloRilla - FNF (Let's Go)
Slimeroni, Aleza, Gloss Up & K Carbon - Shabooya
Tony Shhnow - Sometimes
Wavy Bagels - Slice
Young Jr - Bird Walk
Deviosy ft. Young Jr - GlockLover
Asian Doll ft. Bandmanrill - Get Jumped
AD - All I Do
Yuno Miles - Road To Riches
Duke Deuce ft. GloRilla - Just Say That
Consequence - Blood Stain
Nef The Pharoah - Old Enough
Young Bleed - Dat' Water
Boosie - Big Unc
P-Lo ft. Larry June - Good
Spitta - Power Ranger
D4M $loan - Swiper
A-Wax - Streets Callin'
Westside Boogie ft. DRAM - Aight
Texas Boyz - Awready
Kenzo B - Bump It
Stunnaman02 ft. Lil' Kayla - Roll Wit It
Phat Baby - Proper Play (FWS)
Marlowe - Past Life
Sha Ek - Too Oppy
Cash Cobain & Chow Lee - Just Blick It
Kendrick Lamar ft. Kodak Black - Silent Hill
Kookei - Incredible
Luh Tyler - Back Flippin'
Benzz - Je M'appelle
Knucks ft. SL - Nice & Smooth
Lady Ice - Up North
Hazey - Packs and Potions
The Chats - 6L GTR
Paramore - This Is Why
Beabadoobee - The Perfect Pair
Mr. Fingers - Coastline Paradox
Cookiee Kawaii - Fly Away
Kia Bhn - Jersey Anniversary
SZA - Nobody Gets Me
Burna Boy ft. J Hus - Cloak & Dagger
Real Lies - Dream On
Disasterpeace - Dork
On one hand, it's probably too soon to include SZA's Nobody Gets Me since it only dropped this past friday. On the other hand, I've had it on repeat all weekend and it's already become my favourite R&B single of 2022. Never expected to hear a SZA song possessed by the holy ghosts of Mazzy Star's Fade Into You and Natalie Imbruglia's Torn.
Bonus beats: non-2022 songs which became favourites in 2022.
Bonus bonus beats: a round-up post of all the Audiomack playlists I've made in 2022.
Great list, happy to see Big Unc made the cut.
ReplyDeleteTinashe's "Naturally" is the R&B joint I've been coming back to throughout the year. Cannot get it out of my head.
Cheers for the Big Unc recommendation 🍻
ReplyDeleteGreat list as always!!
ReplyDeleteMinus the presence of Travis Scott and his minion Don Toliver, SZA’s album is pretty good
ReplyDeleteTravis Scott needs to retire from music and stick to designing ugly Nikes for hypebeast idiots.
ReplyDeleteTop 10 worst Rap songs I heard in 2022:
ReplyDeleteAnything Drake released
Fivio Foreign ft. Alicia Keyes & KanYe Pest - City Of Gods
Yeat - Rich Minion
Gunna ft. Young Thug & Future - Pushin' P
Kendrick Lamar - Savior
DJ Premier ft. Run The Jewels - Terrible Twos
Polo G - Bad Man (Smooth Criminal)
Homeboy Sandman - Epiphany
Stormzy - Mel Made Me Do It
Some new A$AP Rocky song I heard once on the radio
Lol at the Sandman making the best and worst rap lists. What about this song is so bad?
DeleteLmao what is going on with that Jason Derulo Louis Theroux track?
ReplyDeleteMy best song of 2022 is PYS by Freddie Gibbs and DJ Paul.
Even though it's a weed song, Ironic feels like a ray of sunshine that could melt all the snow out there.
ReplyDeleteSpart, It's true. Even Ezale's weed songs are basically Other Drugs™ songs in disguise.
ReplyDeleteL.A, it was a viral hit by some Mancunian production duo which Jason Derulo bought.
Because I can't listen to it without cringing. It's a reminder that Sandman can be painfully embarrassing at times.
ReplyDeletePitchfork agree with you on some songs
ReplyDeletehttps://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-rap-songs-2022/
🙄 @ the Just Say That blurb. No, m8 - GloRilla empirically does not "steal the song" from Duke Deuce and you are not fooling anybody by performatively pretending she does. Another laughable example of some P4k indie critic bloke trying to score brownie points.
ReplyDeleteLol she is def not the star of that song.
ReplyDeleteYour list needs some Z Money.
Lyin' On Oath was cool but I've not really returned to it.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that P4k list isn't 60% songs featuring Cardi B 😄
Thanks as always, will have to check these out.
ReplyDeleteI've totally lost touch with rap this year (and last year and the year before if i'm honest) other than New York drill, some incredible stuff there if you're in the mood to be screamed at, esp. Sha Ek ('Too Oppy' indeed), Edot Babyy (R.I.P.) and Dougie B ('I'm Back'/'Uzi' my fave rap tunes of 2022).
Big accidental Next Hype energy on Too Oppy.
ReplyDeleteDougie B 'Uzi' sounds like a yank spin on early 00s grime to my ears
ReplyDeleteJust listened to it. He sounds better on that beat than the Lil' Uzi Vert original.
ReplyDeletelol I didn't even know that was a lil uzi vert tune
ReplyDeleteshows what i know (nothing)
running out of eastenders puns so will shutup now
looks like they're connected https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EWLO1Wnnlbs
ReplyDeleteEastenders did have a Dougie B when I watched it during the mid 90s - Dougie Briggs the psychotic rapist nutter who was in the army with Grant Mitchell
ReplyDeleteI love it when a plan comes together. Now I've seen this legendary clip and you can too
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7ngjQ-t6Wo
He tried to rape Sharon and then held her, Grant and Michelle hostage in the pub. Michelle even got shot. He was a proper wrong 'un and taught me the valuable life lesson that you should never trust squaddies.
ReplyDeleteUnrelated but R.I.P. Grandaddy I.U.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. That first album is a gem.
ReplyDeleteHaven't bought much new Rap in 2022. The four releases that I've enjoyed most are:
ReplyDeletehttps://plague11.bandcamp.com/album/def-ii
https://buck65.bandcamp.com/album/king-of-drums
https://pseudointellectuals1.bandcamp.com/album/pseudo-intellectual-property-rights
https://wreckingcrew.bandcamp.com/album/sedale-threat
I'm still mostly listening to Killah Priest, Iceberg Theory and Cambatta from the past couple years though. tbh, I spend a lot more time watching gear reviews and synth tutorials these days than checking for the latest hop hips.
RIP Victor Lewis-Smith and Ruth Madoc.
As long as you don't turn into my 40yo brother in law who tries to deviate every conversation about music to talk about Big L, It Was Written or Eminem - true and sort of sad story - then it's ok to like less "newer" stuff every year.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that for me I used to get my dose of current rap music from a variety of blogs and websites, now you're almost the only one left. A couple releases I've been listening to a lot that I got into from other sources:
BandGang Lonnie Bands: Scorpion Eyes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsghFrHrhxQ
(introspective / emotional gangsta rap is a style I'll always be into)
NBA Youngboy - 3800 Degrees https://youtu.be/c2F7WUCZ3UM
Never checked out his music before but this mixtape hits the spot, where Mannie Fresh beats, Atlanta flows and Bay Area synths collide.
Favorite older rap discoveries:
Fly Nate Tha Banksta - Nothin' But The Money https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEycwGvxj2g
Dee-Lyrious – Delirious https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnn3CwUZD2A
There's no bigger sign of being a square than guys who always wanna talk about It Was Wriiten 😄
ReplyDeleteNice find on that Fly Nate.
love as always reading a list that offers some point of view or perspective backed up with empirical proof of a song's longevity via personal experience ... a little disappointed to see you soften on ny drill but I supposed once it became a novelty song genre (tone: neither pejorative nor praise) some good stuff was bound to break through ...
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/going_gc/status/1603460049858400261
ReplyDeletenever quite got on the sza hype train but starting a song with a line about being "balls deep" over mazzy star is so fucking baller lmao
ReplyDeletefeels like kind of a spiritual successor to jeremih's "paradise" for me where if u didnt pay attention to the words it might just be some generic coffee shop core bullshit
--F2F immediately afterwards rocks my fucking world too giving me that veronica mars soundtrack ass corporate 00s girlrock i need
did kendrick leave TDE cuz he was afraid how much better SZA is at rapping on the ODB sample than him??
does all kinda make me wonder about his supposedly scrapped "rock" album he was working on in the last couple years tho
NOT ATTACHING MY NAME TO THIS LMAO but
ReplyDelete*cough cough* that leaked r kelly album might be the r&b album of the year it's like fucking "here my dear" crossed with OJ's"(if) i did it" on sterroids
somehow listening to r kelly is less depressing than listening to kanye at this point
David, N.Y Drill and U.K Drill are only ever any good when they embrace the fact that they're glorified novelty Rap. I wouldn't say I've softened on N.Y Drill per se, because it only tends to provide me with the very occasional song I like.
ReplyDeleteXanax, 😄 @ "veronica mars soundtrack ass corporate 00s girlrock". Strong vibe. A Kendrick Lamar rock album, however, sounds like the wrongest vibe ever.
i'm the devil i want kendrick to go full juice wrld... what if instead of dressing up like jesus he made "veronica mars soundtrack ass corporate 00s girlrock" too, and the world could live as one
ReplyDeleteAlternatively, you could just listen to Paramore's This Is Why comeback single.
ReplyDeleteweirdly paramore has never clicked for me even tho lil uzi is how i got into pop punk and he is obsessed with them... will investigate further
ReplyDeletewhat do u think of "just wanna rock" being mostly project pat adlibs, snaps and footwork kicks? lol
Uzi's voice is nails on chalkboard to me. Can't stand him 🚫
ReplyDeleteit do not matter... lmao for real tho project pat's voice might be on that song more than uzi
ReplyDeleteIf only Project Pat's voice could replace Uzi's verse on EVERY song
ReplyDeletelmaooooo be careful what you wish for, that sounds suspisciously like it would result in project pat's "rebirth"... all rappers owe one raprock album to the departed souls of jam master jay and dee dee ramone
ReplyDeleteyes to Bleed and Kookei. the rest is not my cuppa
ReplyDeleteRay, good. I don't want to share taste in Rap with guys who listen to Bizarre and Black Metal 😆
ReplyDeleteXanax, bring back Fieldy from Korn 🔊
I’m so out the loop this year so thanks for the great list. Going in on Noz’s next. This old man likes the Young Bleed the best haha. Ezale and the other bar slaps are a given but otherwise I liked the shouty Texan / Memphis girl tracks harnessing Gangsta Boo and La Chat, the angry Oppy drill song and the Nice and Good Uk track the most. Is the oochie coochie thing NJ/Philly club bass rap? Got me in a YouTube loop of similar things, cool but stressed me out after about four songs lol
ReplyDeleteYeah, Oochie Coochie is Philly Club Rap. Ditto D4M $loan's Swiper.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the luv for Lady Ice's Up North, Bob eh eh?
Added Back Flippin' by Luh Tyler. That and Law & Order are owning my speakers right now.
ReplyDelete