By TJ Love
2022 was the light at the end of the tunnel of our three-year COVID nightmare. The year also, slowly but surely, the world returned to normalcy. You could say the same for Hip-Hop. The same pall that was cast over society was reflected in the culture as well. Outside finally came back to life. Venues reopened. Hope reached critical mass and we moved forward, tentatively at first, but ultimately with confidence representative of the indomitable human spirit. It was time to get on with the business of living, not just surviving. This past year, music helped bring us life. Is this Rap Up a little tardy? Yes. But like Grandma’s cooking, anything worth doing should be allowed to simmer, and it’s better than microwave hot takes.
The Planet Ill Best Hip Hop of 2022 Rap Up runs the gamut from legendary elder statesmen, prodigal sons, indie darlings, coke rappers, uber-talented, creative young bucks, and a gone-but-never-forgotten legend whose last gift further cemented his legacy. 2022 was a year which saw the return of project-length rapper/producer collaborations. It was also a definitive referendum on the level of craftsmanship in the art of rhyme. There haven’t been this many superlative spitters in a while, be they mainstream, underground, and in between. But what’s a rapper without good beats? Insofar as these releases go-it’s a rhetorical question.
Nas-Kings Disease III
The fourth LP from Nas and Hitboy in two years and some change. And over the course of their relationship, they’ve created a synergy that has elevated their craft with each successive project. Nas has always been considered one of the greatest to ever rhyme, but the knock on him has always been his beat selection, a decades-long Achilles heel that’s been nigh inescapable. It’s time to throw that narrative in the bushes. The quality of the music he and Hitboy create rival legendary producer/rapper combos Guru and Preem, Dre and Snoop, Prodigy and Havoc. We’ve been long overdue for a partnership capable of taking its place along the greats. KD3 is seventeen tracks in length with a focused Nas channeling life experience and knowledge with a level of skill representative of a cat whose debut crowned him as the nicest out. He’s only gotten better with age. With no guest emcees to shoulder the load.
Phife Dawg-Forever
Posthumous though it may be, Forever is the best coda to the seminal, impactful career of a man who helped bring about a revolutionary sound and aesthetic whose reverberations will be felt, well, forever. Phife’s passing in 2016 left a large hole in the soul of Hip Hop that could not be filled by the lackluster final ATCQ effort, a dumpster fire that people felt compelled to pretend they liked.. This last project lives realized as close to his own terms as could realistically be hoped for. Two thirds of the album was completed while he was alive with DJ Rasta Root, bandmate Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and frequent A Tribe Called Quest engineer Bob Power masterfully piecing the rest together from Phife’s notes and previously laid vocals. The production includes contributions from Nottz, Khrysis, 9th Wonder, Dilla, and others serving as the perfect platform for his ever-positive, playful everyman perspective. Guest shots from 90s-era contemporaries Redman, Posdnous, Busta Rhymes, DJ Maseo, and of course Q-Tip help bring back that old feeling along with Native Tongues-inspired progeny Phonte and Rapsody. From on high, Phife managed to bless us yet again, one last time.
IDK-Simple
The list of rappers from the DC area to breakthrough is criminally short given the amount of talent in the region. IDK’s made it on his own terms though, sans big name cosigns(*coughs* Wale) and an outsize industry push (*coughs* Logic). Simple, IDK’s third album, is an ode to The Urreah. Executive produced by Canadian wunderkind KATRYNADA, this project by the DMV representative continues to solidify his presence in the rap game, ten toes down. In a number of aspects this young man is a unicorn. He’s a conscious, highly skilled rapper cognizant of the reality of the streets, while simultaneously possessing an everyman appeal. IDK doesn’t take himself so serious that he’s incapable of having fun with it, at times you can feel the joy that’s part of his individual creative process in his music. Clocking in at a brisk eight tracks Simple falls somewhere between an EP and LP, however in that brevity is a portrait of an artist showing the listener all sides of himself. Solid throughout, definite standout tracks are “Dog Food” featuring fellow up and comer Denzel Curry and “Taco”, the epitome of an emcee and beat consummating the perfect marriage.
Ab-Soul-Herbert
Ab-Soul rode the bench on TDE, never receiving the level of popularity as his Black Hippy cohorts, or his just due. But after a six year hiatus Herbert is Ab-Soul stepping onto the court with the 24 on his chest. As a rapper he literally checks all the boxes, even the ones we didn’t know were there. His fifth studio album, the title a nod to his government name, is as good as anything that’s come out of the Golden State in a long, long while. He’s painfully self-aware, brutally honest, and a top tier craftsman in the realm of the confines of sixteen bars. There’s this duality in his identity as an emcee that’s refreshing in large part because it’s so rare. On the one hand he’s confessing on wax things most sane people would only feel comfortable sharing with a trauma therapist or in a twelve step meeting. On the other hand, when it comes to punchlines, metaphors, and wordplay it’s clear his mind is just on a different plane than most. He can RAP, rap. Herbert’s got a decent amount of features including the likes of Joey Bada$$, Jhene Aiko, Russ, and Big Sean along with a myriad of producers with DJ Premier and Hit Boy among the lineup. All that being said, the album is cohesive, sublimely well balanced, and engaging.
Elzhi and Georgia Anne Muldrow-Zhigeist
J.Dilla dropped Welcome To Detroit on February of 2003, and immediately after a legion of heads had a pressing, singular question. “Ayo who is this that cat on track number five?!” And thus was the genesis of a legend. In the past two decades Elzhi has done nothing but only enhance his position on the Mount Rushmore of your favorite rapper’s favorite rappers. Along the way pushing the bar he’s set for himself ever higher, pulling off the spectacular with the ease and skill of Kyrie’s handle in traffic. His most recent offering is in collaboration with Georgia Anne Muldrow, no slouch herself, with the multi-genre, multi-instrumentalist, jack of all trades creative force lending the Syllable Sensei a canvas to do what he does best. Zhigeist is similar to Elzhi’s 2016 release Lead Poison in the way the mood and tone conjure the feeling of a season. While the latter was decidedly theme music for a Detroit winter, Elzhi’s latest is a springtime affair. It’s airy, verdant, radiating warmth and light at the nexus of Hip Hop and the psychedelic. This is El’s Electric Circus, albeit more grounded, and the gravity of his pengame keeps everything in orbit.
The Doppelgangaz-Black Cloak Lifestyle
Planet Ill first covered The Doppelgangaz ten years ago, giving HARK! A solid 3.5 out of 5. Black Cloak Lifestyle is proof positive of the significant improvement of the duo. HARK! felt like a couple grimy dudes chugging 211 Steele Reserve in an abandoned house, asking where the chicks are, and busting raps. Their latest is more like drinking foreign beer in a dive bar where people do shitty coke in the bathroom off the top of the toilet tank. Guru says at the beginning of “You Know My Steez”, “We have certain formulas, but we update ‘em with the times ya know? So ya know the rhyme style is elevated, the style of beats is elevated. But it’s still Guru and Premier.” The Doppelgangaz have followed Gangstarr’s lead in that regard. Matter Uv Fact and EP show a large degree of growth as individual emcees and producers-the beats are more diverse, carry more pep overall and their rhyme styles have become more advanced. The themes are the same as they ever were, low tax bracket fever dreams from individuals with low morals, and as always the storytelling and metaphors give the listener an inside view into their grimy, at times humorous, world.
JID-The Forever Story
The trash heap of artists who’ve toiled on boutique labels under the wings and tutelage of firmly established acts is a who’s who of never-made-its or, if they’re lucky, has-beens. On occasion the exceptional can beat the odds, and Atlanta rapper JID is simply too irrepressible for the world not to have taken notice. A signee to J.Cole’s Dreamville in 2017, he’s released two albums that were critically well received but it’s been his freestyles on YouTube over the years that have raised and maintained his profile. You can trace his lineage directly to Andre 3k and Yaasin Bey and The Forever Story, his third studio album under Cole’s label, is his magnum opus. Flawless from top to bottom, the album is conclusive evidence this guy is the goods, the genuine article. It’s got a rich, Dungeon Family-esque, palpable aural landscape that sticks to your ribs. The ideal vehicle for JID’s intricacy and nimble dexterity, stylistically and topically, the production is the catalyst for the heft and depth of the project as a whole. The Forever Story boasts an A-List of features including Lil Durk, 21 Savage, labelmates EARTHGANG, and the aforementioned Yassin Bey. “Kody Blu 31” is a highlight amongst a smorgasboard of song-making par excellence, it’s the spiritual successor to ‘Kast’s “Spottieodiedopalicious”. There’s a clarity of purpose and maturity in The Forever Story that belies his age.
Westside Gunn-Hitler Hermes Wears 10
It takes a certain level of not-give-a-fuckishness to have a whole series of projects called “Hitler Wears Hermes”. It’s even more ballsy to release the tenth volume in a news cycle that made being a Black man associated in any way with Nazis a bad, bad look. But it’s that devil-may-care disdain for propriety that’s intrinsic to Westside Gunn’s approach to making music. HWH10 is Hip Hop in it’s basest form, listening is akin to what Jay-Z would refer to as “sniffin’ a 100 grams of cocaine raw/rip your whole brain off”. Griselda’s been compared favorably to Wu-Tang, and out of all the releases from the Buffalo Big 3 this year this is the project that comes closest to the essence of that gritty 90s ambiance. Thanks in large part to the producers tapped to provide the soundscape; Pete Rock, Alchemist, Swizz Beatz, RZA and others all help in rejuvenating that Timbs, hoodies, and camo energy. You can almost hear the vinyl cracking while listening. Thirteen songs in length, HWH10 is a mixtape in name only, full to the brim with album quality cuts like “Super Kick Party”, “Switches on Everything” feat Run The Jewels, and “Science Class” feat Busta Rhymes, Raekwon, Ghostface, and Stove God Cooks.
