What is the new canon of rap music 2010-2019?

I have had a million things happen in the past couple years that have stopped me engaging with one of the things I love most. I went from Gucci and Lil Wayne to real life being a bitch and being a bit who dat to Migos and Gunna or whoever. I still don't really get Drake as the biggest artist in the world.

But also I want to know if there is a consensus? 1994 is Ready To Die and Illmatic, 2017 is...? Rap has definitely changed but what should I be listening to? Cupcakke or Post Malone? Offset or Earl? I feel like there is a new consensus and I feel like ilm could engage it

This may just be a personal recommendation thread of great things I missed but I also know end of decade lists are coming up and y'all gonna wanna chat about it

hey a hoy hoy

I feel like the way culture is now resists canons but maybe I'm just old

but I suppose Kanye....Future...Drake obv like it or not.... Kendrick...

I feel like very little that's "canon = popular" has meant much to me in the 10s, the way high- (or at least mid-)selling 90s albums did. Kendrick's about the only thing that immediately comes to mind--but I've always disliked Kanye, and Drake has bored me to tears from the beginning. All that said, a lot has excited me in the last 5 years or so as much as 90s golden age work, that probably won't make any "canon" but hopefully will achieve some continuing niche cachet (i.e. Saba, Roy Kinsey, Noname, Open Mike Eagle, Lando Chill, Mick Jenkins, Pete Sayke, Oddisee, Tierra Whack, Tyler The Creator, et al.)

But--hopeful this thread will help me hear the popular-and-good stuff I've missed.

the kids like kendrick, the former odd future dudes, brockhampton, danny brown. thats probably more likely to be what the canon becomes than whatever ppl on this site are up to

Seems like Chance is destined for this.

Also "Fuckin' Problems," "Trap Queen," "Truffle Butter"

From what I can tell those singles are like the "TROY" and "My Minds Playin Tricks On Me" of the 10s

i just checked RYM and danny brown atrocity exhibition is literally in the top 100 albums of all time there. that record had like maybe a small handful of posts on ILM and a medium end of year poll placing

rym is not a good indicator imo

Seconded on Danny Brown and then peacing out of this thread before I’m revealed to be obviously out of my depth

dirty sprite 2 is a classic

barter 6 too

teflon don maybe too

I'm not a huge fan, but Drake will be considered an era of rap, he's as dominant as any rapper ever, even huge hits that aren't technically Drake songs like Sicko Mode or Going Bad are pretty much Drake songs

Drake is obviously a hugely dominant force in music/pop culture this entire decade but i don't think he's going to be really that canonised beyond probably Take Care and a bunch of singles

yung humma, fetty wap, chief keef, lil peep, diddy dirty-money, the fall, carly rae jepsen

Yeah maybe canon is the wrong word in 2019. Thanks for trying to answer though, I've already got some digging to do.

Are you saying you've missed literally everything in the past decade? Because - and I'm trying to be constructive here - 10s rap is completely unlike the rap music of every previous decade and starting in the wrong place is going to leave you all at sea. ie don't start with Young Thug or Lil Peep because if you've missed the linking material it might not make much sense (also there's nothing wrong with not liking or engaging with any of this stuff).

For the love of god don't start with Danny Brown in any context.

I mean if you're asking about Illmatic/Ready To Die then the one totally unambiguously canonised rapper in that mode is obviously Kendrick. Start with Good Kid M.A.A.D. City and forward from there. More generally YG's My Krazy Life and one of the Mozzy albums (Bladadah or 1 Up Top Ahk) as far as rap-qua-rap that would've been recognised as such a decade ago.

Autotune weirdo stuff - start with Future's 'Pluto' and work forward from there, maybe skip 'Honest' but if you can get into 'DS2' or the 2015 mixtapes then most other 10s rap will at least make a degree of sense from there. Either going wibblier and into Young Thug or Soundcloud rap or into harder trap or drill stuff like Chief Keef or Migos from there.

Also there is considerably less stigma around backpackerish/conscious/nerd stuff then there used to be - Chance The Rapper's 'Acid Rap', the Run The Jewels albums (also Killer Mike's 'R.A.P Music') and yes Tyler The Creator/Vince Staples/Earl Sweatshirt if you really must. Most of the time I fail to see the appeal with Odd Future-linked stuff but people seem into it.

Also Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Rico Nasty for sheer force of personality.

I'm not mentioning the UK here on the assumption you aren't especially interested but the last decade has been a sustained commercial and creative boom for black British music and not just grime and its various offshoots.

For the love of god don't start with Danny Brown in any context.

Don't believe his lies.

I'd vouch for every Schoolboy Q album apart from his last one which was a very disappointing mediocrity by his standards. But not that I authoritatively know shit about rap canon is.

rym is indicative of what the younger gen of internet nerds is listening to is what i meant

A little curious to see how well 'Sir Lucious Left Foot...' would do in an ILM 10s poll now.

I’ve obviously not missed all of rap. I know and like that rap has been able to splinter into many sub genres. However it has made it hard to keep up. Every major American city seems to have its own scene now, like what are the major records to come out Florida, or Chicago, or why is this mumble rap tape better than this other one? I guess this is why I’ve found something like grime a lot easier to keep up with. But I also feel like I’ve missed out on loads.

Thanks for the recommendations Matt.

Deej isn't here yet but I'm going to sub and say Chief Keef

I mean I like Megan but are we canonizing artists that are just really getting big now?

also she is great but in many ways sort of a anacronism, really great early 00 Southern rapper

I personally love Roc Marciano but obv his sort of gnostic, silk bathrobe formalism isn't for everyone

Ka is a genius

but again I don't know if this is just recommending rap we like or stuff that will be the canon

also back to Drake i think there's always been this huge gap between ILM and the real world with how big he is, historically dominant, it's sort of absurd to believe he's not going to be a major part of rap history when ppl look back on this era

I love Atrocity Exhibition -- good driving album imo

i just checked RYM and danny brown atrocity exhibition is literally in the top 100 albums of all time there. that record had like maybe a small handful of posts on ILM and a medium end of year poll placing

― ciderpress, Sunday, July 28, 2019 3:19 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

rym is not a good indicator imo

― billstevejim, Sunday, July 28, 2019 3:20 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, but still, interesting how the 2010s rap cannon, if there is one, seems to be different on ilx and rym.

Here are the top 10 rap lps of the 2010s on rym

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city
Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
Death Grips - The Money Store
Tyler, the Creator - Flower Boy
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata
A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service
Kanye West - Yeezus
Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts

11-20 has 2 more Death Grips, 2 Brockhampton, another Danny Brown and Run The Jewels

its just that ryms taste skews very much towards a particular reddit/fantano axis of rap for people who dont like rap overall that much

What axis of rap for people who don't like rap overall that much does ilx skew towards?

those 2 kendrick records are def gonna be the most enduring rap from this era tho

the illmatic and ready to die and what have you

Sremmlife y'all

just listen to every single listed here that registered on the US Rap charts:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Will_Made_It_production_discography

ilx has its own idiosyncratic taste like with most things, idk which would be the most idiosyncratically ilx rap picks of this decade though

about uk rap i'm no expert on the scene but J Hus's Common Sense absolutely should be in the decades canon though critics still dont really pay enough attention to the uk afro scene

2013 an extremely dismal year for rap chart wise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_R%26B/hip-hop_songs_of_2013_(U.S.)

rap wasn't particularly album-oriented for the first half of this decade, and lots of canonical artists, like gucci and thug, had some of their best work spread across several mixtapes, but here's an idea of what albums might turn out to be "canonical," regardless of my opinion on them. Prob missing some obvious ones because i'm using my itunes and i think j. cole sucks.

2010: Kanye - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Rick Ross - Teflon Don, Big Boi - Sir Luscious Left Foot, Waka Flocka Flame - Flockaveli, Wiz Khalifa - Kush & OJ, MAYBE: Juicy J - Rubba Band Business

2011: YESL A$AP Rocky - LiveLoveA$AP, Danny Brown - XXX, Kanye West & Jay-Z - Watch The Throne, MAYBE: Don Trip & Starlito - Step Brothers, Meek Mill - Dreamchasers, Shabazz Palaces - Black Up, Big KRIT - Return Of 4eva (in my dreams)

2012: YES: Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, MAAD City, Drake - Take Care, Killer Mike - RAP Music, Future - Pluto, Chief Keef - Back From The Dead/Finally Rich MAYBE: Action Bronson - Blue Chips, El-P - Cancer For Cure, Meek Mill - Dreamchasers 2, ScHoolboy Q - Habits & Contradictions

2013: YES: Kanye West - Yeezus, Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap, Drake - Nothing Was The Same, Earl Sweatshirt - Doris, Migos - Young RIch N****, Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels, Young Thug - 1017 Thug, Drake - Nothing Was The Same Danny Brown - Old MAYBE: A$AP Rocky - LongLiveA$AP, A$AP Ferg - Trap Lord

2014: YES: Young Thug & Rich Homie Quan - The Tour Pt. 1, Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata, Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 2, YG - My Krazy Life; MAYBE: Isaiah Rashad - Cilvia Demo, Nicki Minaj - The Pinkprint,

2015: YES: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly, Vince Staples - Summertime 06, Drake - I Think You Should Leave, Chief Keef - Bang 3, Future - DS2/Mixtapes, Rae Sremmurd - SremmLife, Young Thug - Barter 6 MAYBE: Dr. Dre - Compton, Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside, Lil Uzi Vert - LUV is Rage

2016: YES: Chance The Rapper - Coloring Book, ScHoolboy Q - Blank Face, A Tribe Called Quest - We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service, Young Thug - Jeffery MAYBE: Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition MAYBE: Kevin Gates - Islah, YG - Still Brazy

2017: Kendrick Lamar - DAMN, Future - Future/HNDRXX, Jay Z - 4:44, Migos - Culture, Tyler The Creator - Flower Boy, Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory, MAYBE: Playboi Carti - Playboi Carti MAYBE: 2 Chainz - Pretty Girls Like Trap Music, Brockhampton - Saturation series

2018: Pusha T - Daytona, Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy, Nipsey Hussle - Victory Lap, Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs MAYBE: too early to say, maybe Saba, Vince's FM!, Kids See Ghost

2019: too early to say

looking over that list, i know i'm missing stuff by people like mac miller and xxx. and there are probably a bunch of underground albums that'll get dug up and reexamined, and some mainstream albums that were dismissed that rise in stature. i'm also missing gucci mixtapes and several works from the chicago class of 2012 that i'm less familiar with. but there's an attempt.

I'd add Juicy J - Stay Trippy album to 2013, vc.

that was a good album, but i feel like juicy fits in the category of people like gucci or keef where most of their "canonical" '10s work came on a series of mixtapes.

its just that ryms taste skews very much towards a particular reddit/fantano axis of rap for people who dont like rap overall that much

― ufo, Sunday, 28 July 2019 13:41 (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

claiming that rym doesn't like rap is absolutely ludicrous

r&b however, different story. KING are almost unknown on there for a start. its flaw isn't so much hating rap as misogyny

that said the (amazing) new Little Simz album is in the RYM top 5 for this year and I think it could be regarded as canonical in the future, it really is great

a typical rap listener would probably not have 3 different brockhampton albums and 2 death grips albums in their top 20 of the 2010s

maybe not but that's consensus polling for you

also, the kidz loooove both those artists so actually?

the internet kidz love them

the kids love drake

yeah but surely the implicit canon asked for here is that of at least slightly non-casual music fans, otherwise go wild with lil dicky and post malone and whatever other horrific nonsense the idiots chill to

it makes more sense to look at something like xxl or hiphopdx than rateyourmusic, which skews more experimental and is populated mostly by people for whom hip-hop isn't their top genre of choice.

people who read and write for those rap sites aren't casual, but they aren't so internetted out that they think that death grips made all the best albums of the decade.

One of the criteria could be the number of featurings the main rappers have done on other hits.
I have no idea but Nicki Minaj, Cardi B and Future have been on plenty !

good lord, the idea that Sir Luscious Left Foot is part of this discussion is crazy to me. that record came out in a completely different world than we live in today.

I'd agree that rap in the last decade is more about sublime tracks than albums. But I'd say Young Thug - 'Jeffery', first two Rae Sremmurd albums and Migos' 'Culture' come close

― frame casual (dog latin), Monday, July 29, 2019 10:59 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

my man

Are you saying you've missed literally everything in the past decade? Because - and I'm trying to be constructive here - 10s rap is completely unlike the rap music of every previous decade and starting in the wrong place is going to leave you all at sea. ie don't start with Young Thug or Lil Peep because if you've missed the linking material it might not make much sense (also there's nothing wrong with not liking or engaging with any of this stuff).

For the love of god don't start with Danny Brown in any context.

you can actually jump in anywhere it doesn't matter

wait, what?

2015: YES: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly, Vince Staples - Summertime 06, Drake - I Think You Should Leave

here's an idea of what albums might turn out to be "canonical," regardless of my opinion on them

drake did the og "the night the skeletons came to life"

lol now i see the problem. the album is called if you're reading this, it's too late.

i do think that drake should leave, though

i was gonna be mad if drake inspired the name of the sketch show on netflix

ooh, one album i missed that will probably be regarded as canonical by a certain set of fans is astroworld.

*travis scott voice* it's lit!

I feel like 'Zan With That Lean' is like the ur-text of a lot of different '10s rap trends, I would honestly start with Soulja's early-'10s mixtape run, it was sneakily super-influential.

― sovereignty flight, Monday, 29 July 2019 14:47 (four hours ago) link

This isn’t really accurate. Early Soulja was super influential to a generation but musically the sound of “xan with that lean” is Kwony cash’s—and Atlanta’s late 00s sound in general. By the early 2010s Soulja was mainly trend hopping from one wave to the next. First he sounded like wiz, then Asap, then GBE ... Ppl were calling him Shang Tsung bc he was the stealer of souls

The most influential rapper of the 2010s is imo keef

NBA Youngboy look up to Chief Keef 👀 pic.twitter.com/jkdW7hKgl8

— NBAxBBG🐍🦍 (@YoungboysWorld) July 23, 2019

. @JuiceWorlddd Top 5 rappers dead or alive: @kanyewest @ChiefKeef @fredo @LupeFiasco @gherbo #HotOnes #ComplexCon pic.twitter.com/JKelYdVcM7

— First We Feast (@firstwefeast) July 20, 2019

.@JuiceWorlddd took the Hot Ones challenge and shouted out fellow Chicago native Chief Keef’s influence 💫 #ComplexCon pic.twitter.com/sbA7L4DgyB

— Pigeons & Planes (@PigsAndPlans) July 21, 2019

https://www.vladtv.com/article/234438/lil-uzi-vert-calls-chief-keef-the-most-influential-rapper-of-his-generation

Etc

But whether or not you agree I think the canon of rap from this decade is unquestionably shaped by chicago’s emergence early in the decade; the language everyone uses now (thots opps lacking on folks n nem leskettit hittas glo ups goofies fu top broskis thotiana poles tweaking capping etc) can mainly be sourced back to Chicago’s drill scene, evidence that it became the basic framework even as other regions brought their own flavor to it, none had the level of subcultural impact. What is soundcloud rap but rootless drill music detached from the stigma of its origins, of the requirements of authenticity etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ3PTJ7gWoM

As signposts for the era, both the songs and videos, are "Close Your Eyes (and Count to Fuck)" on the heels of Ferguson and "The Story of O.J." as NYC in the Hudson Yards years.

I'd take any Drake album over any Vince Staples album (so dry) but I guess he does do nice interviews. Were they legitimately big outside of pitchfork reviews though?

vince is legitimately popular. just checked spotify and vince has 5 mil more monthly listeners than his good friend Earl, which surprised me.

But can the milkman whistle any of his songs?

"Nipsey Hussle's death really seems to have resonated with people in a way I haven't seen in a long time. A barber shop on 38th and Chicago in South Minneapolis just got a Nip mural done on the whole side of their building, I feel like he's going to be sort of an West coast icon from now on"

There is a Nipsey Hussle mural on the side of a small grocery store in Lexington, KY on Georgetown Rd. that has gone up in the last few months.

https://scontent-lga3-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/e9a7514be5b5cb68bb0ee18a92aebf8e/5DE1BB7D/t51.2885-15/sh0.08/e35/s750x750/59337471_634828820275452_1950850505761915204_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.cdninstagram.com&ig_cache_key=MjAzODY1ODkzNTEyODM0OTQ5MA%3D%3D.2

yeah it's interesting because there have certainly been other rappers as big or bigger than him who have passed, but his passing reminds me of Pac and Biggie, people seemed to connect with him on some different level

everyone loved him. victory lap will become canon imo.

I think “mailbox money” is kind of the sleeper canonical nipsey tape

that or crenshaw, which had all the $100 album hype and Jay Z buying 100 of them or whatever.. not my fav release of his tho. Mailbox Money probably my fav tape of his as well, but think that will be a personal canon type of thing I dont imagine it having a higher standing than Victory Lap at any point in the future.

no mention of Lil Yachty in this whole thread. He was going to be a megastar

He should buy a cowboy hat and change his name to Lil Yacht Y

a guy who seemed like a lock early on in his career but whose career really faltered was kodak. although skrt & no flocking were massive & influential (no flocking ofc was the basis for 'bodak yellow')

youngboy is one of the biggest rappers in the country.

Lil Durk I haven't seen mentioned but was hugely influential. Same w/ G Herbo.

No one mentioned Lil B which is surprising considering in the mid 00s ppl were saying he was the most influential rapper out

xxp his albums keep flopping!

kodak suffered cause of his constant legal problems (plus a sexual assault allegation will often damn you in the eyes of canon-making types). all these rappers you mention are certainly canonical, and further proof that the 2010s rap canon is less album-driven (or even mixtape-driven) than either of the previous two decades.

j. cole is going to be in the conversation like it or not

kodak suffered cause of his constant legal problems (plus a sexual assault allegation will often damn you in the eyes of canon-making types). all these rappers you mention are certainly canonical, and further proof that the 2010s rap canon is less album-driven (or even mixtape-driven) than either of the previous two decades.

― jakey mo collier (voodoo chili), Tuesday, July 30, 2019 5:27 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i mean, those guys have good albums, i think its just that the critical discourse & the streaming reality are often at odds

Wasn’t saying they don’t have good albums, they do, but a lot of those guys are so prolific that people have trouble agreeing which project is best. That kind of consensus is how canons are formed

bay rap suffers from that too. Iamsu and all the HBK Gang crew - SOB RBE - e40 - jacka - dj fresh

some other releases of note:

2010 currensy pilot talk 1 and 2 were pretty big iirc
2013 prodigy and alchemist - albert einstein
2016 kamaiyah - a good night in the ghetto. not really a big fan but this album was really hyped and on a lot of year end lists
2017 2 chainz - pretty girls like trap music. again dont think it's his best but seems to be the one people agree on?

lol I liked that album but I already forgot about Kamiyah until I read that post

i forgot about it until i typed it tbqh

oh duh I forgot: Watch the Throne

q: what do if i do not want to watch the throne?

Kamaiyah is some shit that is a good example for the opposite version of whatever this thread is ... uhhh stuff ppl told you would be canon that has proven itself irrelevant

Ie post “try me”/“back up” dej loaf; young ma post “ooouuu”; a hundred things that were given some random press attention then immediately forgotten ... ibn inglor or whatevr

Didn’t mean to pick on women mainly in that post, just read into it that the men were even more forgettable

bison, sorry you gotta watch it

DAMN.

*pencils in planner “8 AM - 6 PM watch the throne”*

this shit better be good

Kamaiyah is some shit that is a good example for the opposite version of whatever this thread is ... uhhh stuff ppl told you would be canon that has proven itself irrelevant

bison don't let him get in his zone tho

well shit

*pencils in "REMEMBER" DO NOT let him get into his zone"*

My hot take is that if a listener has missed a lot of 10s rap then the precise question of whether or not an artist is in the canon is largely irrelevant.

I played this game more times than I'd like to admit

http://www.kanyezone.com/

check out those hourly top scores

(its ya boy)