Finally, here are the best albums that 2022 had to offer. Looking forward to another year of great music in 2023. Honourable Mentions: Alvvays - Blue Rev Conway The Machine - God Don't Make Mistakes Dreamville - D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape Florence + The Machine - Dance Fever Joey Bada$$ - 2000 Koffee - … Continue reading BensBeat Top 25 Albums of 2022
JID
BensBeat Top 50 Songs of 2022
As some long-awaited projects from superstars and indie darlings alike sprang to the forefront as those pesky pandemic delays wore off for good, there might not have been a year in recent memory more packed with a sheer volume of new music to check out. And with artists like Kate Bush, Steve Lacy, Joji and … Continue reading BensBeat Top 50 Songs of 2022
JID – The Forever Story
Steadily building his profile in recent years through collaborative efforts with fellow members of the Dreamville label headed by J. Cole, JID hasn’t put out a proper project of his own since back in 2018. Arguably the label’s most talented member – certainly, its most technically skilled – The Forever Story serves as a sequel … Continue reading JID – The Forever Story
Joey Bada$$ – 2000
After dabbling in various acting projects like Mr. Robot and the Oscar-winning short film Two Distant Strangers for a while, New York rapper Joey Bada$$ returns to the studio after five years. The sequel to his widely celebrated debut mixtape 1999, Bada$$ takes things into a new millennium on its 10-year anniversary, bringing back his … Continue reading Joey Bada$$ – 2000
Dreamville – D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape
While GOOD Music is fracturing and TDE’s marketing strategy seems to be out the window, there hasn’t been a top-tier hip-hop label consistently delivering quality and quantity to its fans like J. Cole’s Dreamville lately. Starting up its own festival, growing the profiles of artists like EarthGang, Ari Lennox and JID and releasing another compilation … Continue reading Dreamville – D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape
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
James Blake – Friends That Break Your Heart
One of the music industry’s most sought-after collaborators, both James Blake’s touching and heartfelt folksy ballads and his tendency for experimentation and daringly jumping across genre lines to blend his malleable style with some of today’s biggest innovators have been drawing in more and more fans as his career progresses. Now on his fifth studio … Continue reading James Blake – Friends That Break Your Heart
Various Artists – Judas and the Black Messiah: The Inspired Album
This might be a music blog, but we’re deep into Oscar season – and a star-studded soundtrack from one of the year’s frontrunning films has broken into the public consciousness in a big way. Curated by all-star hip-hop producer Hit-Boy, a wide array of rap and R&B’s young rising stars and absolute legends come together … Continue reading Various Artists – Judas and the Black Messiah: The Inspired Album
SAINt JHN – While The World Was Burning
As SAINt JHN so aptly points out himself on one of the songs on his latest project, he should have blown up about five years ago. Although the worldwide smash hit that is the Imanbek remix of his 2016 single “Roses” doesn’t necessarily sound like his music at all, there are still quite a few … Continue reading SAINt JHN – While The World Was Burning
REASON – New Beginnings
While the world waits patiently for the return of its flagship artist, Top Dawg Entertainment rapper REASON is here to fill the void with his debut, New Beginnings. One of the more obviously similar artists on the label to Kendrick Lamar himself, REASON dots his album with musings on society delivered in a similarly earnest … Continue reading REASON – New Beginnings
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