Finally, here are the best full-length projects this year had to offer. As the album format continues to valiantly fight onwards against a seemingly impending demise, many of the most innovative artists used the form to tell striking stories from front to back, flip the structure upside down, or simply load it up with the … Continue reading BensBeat Top 25 Albums of 2021
Month: December 2021
BensBeat Top 50 Songs of 2021
A sentiment I've seen crop up a couple times as year-end lists are published is that the year 2021 had such a consistent stream of great music, it was difficult to really sit with and connect to the best material like in years past before the next great thing came along. It's a strangely agreeable … Continue reading BensBeat Top 50 Songs of 2021
Roddy Ricch – LIVE LIFE FAST
After exploding overnight to kick off 2020 with a bevy of big hits, Roddy Ricch is trying to do the same again with another late-year drop two years later. While his debut was so widely celebrated that it generated a meme about having “no skips,” Ricch’s status has seemingly dimmed a bit since then after … Continue reading Roddy Ricch – LIVE LIFE FAST
Rick Ross – Richer Than I Ever Been
15 years and 11 albums into his career, there’s not a lot that Rick Ross can do anymore that’s going to be new or surprising. Still, he’s arguably built up one of hip-hop’s strongest and most reliable brands, and he delivers more of what people are expecting on his latest project. With a litany of … Continue reading Rick Ross – Richer Than I Ever Been
Juice WRLD – Fighting Demons
As the somewhat stomach-churning trend continues, it’s becoming harder and harder to justify reviewing posthumous projects and giving them the time of day at all. After downright disrespectful compilations from the likes of Pop Smoke and XXXTENTACION in recent memory, the label cobbling together snippets with a litany of guests to build it out, by … Continue reading Juice WRLD – Fighting Demons
Khalid – Scenic Drive
Not long ago the most streamed artist in the world, it seems that Khalid’s fall from pop dominance has been incredibly sudden. Criticisms of his work being too stagnant and derivative had followed him for his whole career, but a couple tracks on his last project Free Spirit seemed to finally start breaking out of … Continue reading Khalid – Scenic Drive
Polo G – Hall of Fame 2.0
After topping the charts for the first time last summer with Hall of Fame, Chicago rapper Polo G returns once again with a sequel to the project that elevated him to the level of today’s hip-hop elite. As far as trendy trap stars go, Polo G is often one of the finest, sometimes shifting into … Continue reading Polo G – Hall of Fame 2.0
Arca – KICK ii
Avant-garde Venezuelan electropop artist Arca has been one of music’s most boundlessly forward-thinking personalities for years now, and she continued to surprise this past week when she announced that her long-anticipated KICK ii album, a sequel to last year’s excellent KiCk I that jumpstarted the series, was actually going to be four albums, released one … Continue reading Arca – KICK ii
Alan Walker – World of Walker
As the year winds down, the big releases are starting to become fewer and farther between. Essentially the only one to make a dent on the charts this week, British DJ Alan Walker, still only 24 years old after scoring a massive worldwide hit in “Faded” at age 18, has dropped his sophomore album – … Continue reading Alan Walker – World of Walker
Ben's Beat - Music Reviews 