2022’s ThrowUp Mag favorite Hip-Hop albums

It’s the Brooklyn rapper, Rome Streetz, the first horseman of the Apocalypse invested by Westside Gunn to take up the inheritance of Benny The Butcher and Conway and sow panic among the Hip-Hop music industry with gritty raw rhymes and dirty and dusty sounds. Rome Streetz certainly did not miss the appointment and stabs every track with its own famelic flow as if it were to tear off the soul and all the belongings from the listener.

In times like these, any shrewd investor knows, however, that there is a safe haven that ,more than any other, has demonstrated its solidity and has kept its value intact throughout the history of humanity: Gold, the precious metal par excellence. Equally in music and in Hip-Hop, as in life, there are values, characteristics and qualities, which are immune to the volatility of momentary fashions and which will always remain valid in the face of the test of time. As demonstrated by the album in question, entitled “GOLD“, these values ​​and qualities are exemplary embodied by DJ Muggs, legendary producer of Cypress Hill, whose incredible cultural contribution to the Hip-Hop scene in recent years we have already extensively talked about in our pages and by Rigz, a young MC from Rochester (NY), member of the Da Cloth crew. If you want to make a safe investment, listen to this album!

“It’s Almost Dry” is a clear proof of the genius and perfect synthesis of this chemical formula: Pusha-T’s braggadocio rap and everlasting coke-game references are crystallized in time by the brilliant beats of Pharrell and Kanye West, who share the production of this incredible new album by the Clipse rapper.

Two years after Tana Talk 3, even if Benny The Butcher ‘s prices have now skyrocketed, including a fresh millionaire contract signed with Def Jam, Benny The Butcher does not disavow his career and his reputation as a phenomenal street lyricist who legitimized him as an idol of the underground Rap scene, before, and a rap game rising star now, confirming himself with Tana Talk 4.

Blame Kansas is the third “official” album by the Los Angeles member of Lord Mobb crew, and Schoolboy Q homie, T.F.. This jewel, excellently produced by Roc Marciano and Mephux, Lord Mobb home producer, will very quickly clarify why T.F. have the highest respect and favor of these personalities.

Intros, Outros & Interludes, the album by Los Angeles MC, former member of Odd Future, Domo Genesis, is not only proof of the latter’s lyrical qualities but is also an unquestionable testament to the incredible qualities of Evidence on machines. The beats crafted by the Dilated People member perfectly marry the stream of consciousness of Domo Genesis, best interpreting the light, reflective and intelligent spirit of this beautiful project.

Mickey Diamond, rapper of the label/crew revelation of this 2022, the Umbrella Collective, equipped with an immediately recognizable vocal timbre and style, mince rhymes with an almost intimidating coldness, capable of making you perceive the gray streets of Detroit with extreme rawness. Over the excellent beats selected for this project, No Liquor Before 12 exchanges blows in sparring with some of the most valid emcees of the current underground scene, but also reveals some more personal traits of his history. That’s why we selected this album above his many other solid releases of this amazing Detroit rapper’s year.

In the international Hip-Hop panorama, today, it is difficult to find an artistic entity like that of Al.Divino: MC, producer, painter, artist at 360°, maybe “philosopher” and much more, no one interprets and models the Hip-Hop material like this eclectic native of Massachusetts. Often the genius lies in the ability to think in a totally alternative way to the masses. Geniuses mostly see what for others is unthinkable and inconceivable and act in a way that does not conform to the dominant thought. And Al Divino, perhaps, in his totally unorthodox way of interpreting this musical genre, from the unconventional choice of his productions (for the project in question  the are made up by him, Daringer, Graymatter, Ewonee and others producers of the Mini Mansion collective) to his unique and singular rapping, passing through the dirty way in which he mixes songs or markets his art (at prices often prohibitive for the mass), emits vibrations destined for the perceptive abilities of a few. The times that you are able to get in sync with the intuitions of Al Divino, intellectual and sensorial doors that have not been explored before can open up. The double album Guns & Butter can be a good start if you’ve never approached this eclectic artist.

This project by BoriRock, Boston MC of Puerto Rican origin, which Michaelangelo orchestrates in a superb way with his productions, entitled On Dogz is one of the albums that has gassed us the most in 2022. Write down the name of this boricua rapper, because, at least for as far as we’re concerned, it could be the revelation of the next year: BoriRock indeed brings bars, street attitude, style and charisma in profusion.

Conway the Machine gave birth to his most intimate and personal album in early 2022, showcasing not only his already widely known lyrical skills, but also his own human side with the weaknesses that accompanied him in his incredible and miraculous story of revenge and redemption. As the title suggests, Conway’s personal story would have, in fact, shaked the convictions of an already convinced atheist: a musical career apparently cut short prematurely by a bullet behind the neck (which will cause permanent facial paralysis) and the consequent depression, it would have made 99% of the people surrender. Conway, on the other hand, managed to transform this story into a miraculous parable, which brought him into the elite of Hip-Hop, giving him the status of Legend. God Don’t Make Mistakes.

Approaching Kendrick Lamar‘s works takes time and patience to fully immerse yourself in complex thoughts and to understand the multiple semantic levels of the rhymes of the most iconic rapper (which iconic doesn’t want to be) of this era. Kendrick Lamar (portrayed on the album cover as a Christ of the ghetto) strips off the messianic aura of holy man, which has been sewn on him over the years, and comes to us with all his sins and weaknesses, to confess, essentially to all those who had elected him as “Savior”, to be a common sinner like all of them … Word of K-dot! Among the different possible interpretations of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers this is the one we like the most.

The “P-Funk” revisited in a modern key by Jay Worthy, Larry June and the LNDN DRGS producer Sean House in 2 P’z in A Pod is a fresh juice of samples, gangster language and pimp adapted to the contemporary, where the G’s and P’s, they no longer walk around with unsheathed guns and control prostitution rings on the sidewalks, but they are successful self-made men with digital wallets and maybe manage accounts on onlyfans.

The winning streak of projects he has published in the last couple of years is worth more than entire rappers careers, but in a corrupt environment where skills, solidity and content matter less and less, Ransom is still terribly underestimated by many insiders. This, it seems, has become a personal challenge for the New Jersey rapper, who torments him as he would a rightful claimant to the throne disinherited from succession. Indeed, with each release, as “No Rest For The Wicked” demonstrates, Ransom continues to raise the bar and intensity of performances, leaving his listeners awestruck by his incredible lyrical prowess and ability to preach facts and pearls of wisdom. through his rhymes.

Westside Gunn, in his ingenious ability to think outside the conventional box, surprises listeners once again. Taking care of the artistic direction of 10, in fact, the Buffalo rapper and patron of Griselda Records manages to make Doe Boy’s “trapped” tamarre coexist beautifully on the 808s arranged by his son, with the conscious rhymes of Mos Def & Talib Kweli; the “science lessons” of Busta Rhymes, Ghost & Rae and the coca rap of his sharpshooters, Stove God and Rome Streetz, with A$AP Rocky and the Run The Jewels; the screams of DJ Drama with the poems of Keisha Plum, all cut with the usual brilliant samples played by the various chosen producers and blended with the iconic “boo-boo-booms” or the freestyles of a real crack addict. As Westside Gunn himself would pronounce: “there is only one and only Fly God” and we adore this cult.

Our list cannot miss Beyond Belief, the project of the rapper from Rochester (NY) 38 Spesh, accompanied for the occasion by the unmistakable productions of Harry Fraud. In fact, if the brand of the New York manufacturer is a universally recognized guarantee of quality, we will never tire of repeating to you how much, in our opinion, 38 Spesh now deserves his “flowers” and recognition as one of the best lyricists in today’s rap game . And when we talk about lyricism, we are not referring to simple technical skills, but to those qualities, which are not only the result of natural talent, but above all a synthesis of the personal baggage that a rapper carries with him and the ability to convey his own experience and life lessons learned from it.

For some years, rumors had been circulating of a joint album between Meyhem Lauren, a prominent MC of the Big Apple’s Hip-Hop scene, and Daringer, the in-house producer of Griselda Records. Finally, these rumors have materialized, giving us just what we would have expected from this lethal combo: the dark, cold and dusty loops packaged by Daringer constitute the ideal soundstage for the hardcore rap and killer bars of the Queens rapper, returning that raw Hip-Hop essence, typical of the streets of New York, today an increasingly rare commodity.

It is perhaps no coincidence that, in addition to having an out of the ordinary personality and an incredible artistic propensity, same as that of the Atlanta rapper, The God-Fahim, in the veins of Mach-Hommy, Port- au-Prince, Haiti, native, flow, even more rooted, the rhythms and influences of Afro-Caribbean origin that played a central role in the formation of the musical culture of Jazz, first, and then of Hip-Hop. Perhaps you will be able to get in tune with our journey, letting yourself be carried away by the rhymes and rhythms of Dollar Menu’ 4 too.

Collective, movement, crew or an independent record label, call it what you will, but from every point of view observe the energies they emanate, or the musical aesthetics and strategic vision that the members of this formation are pursuing with almost military abnegation, you will notice how Umbrella is slowly gaining more and more ground and consistency in the American rap scene. One of the lethal weapons available to this “cartel” of MCs is definitely Pro Dillinger. The firepower of his voice, combined with the coldness of his rhymes, make this NY area rapper one of the most dangerous individuals with a microphone in hand, right now. His latest work Forever Foul is just a taste of his potential.

The Detroit rapper, member of Griselda Records, Boldy James, meets the Montréal producer, Nicholas Craven who, thanks to soul samples, selected and cut, as usual very well, creates the perfect carpet for the calm voice and the raw tales of the lyricist of the Motor City streets, giving us one of the most soulful albums of the year.

For now, we don’t know much about GREA8GAWD, except that he almost certainly comes from New York, his raw vocal tone reflects the content of his rhymes, cold and icy, and that he certainly doesn’t like to show his face, covered by a balaclava. His tape “SNOWDAY” is like a cold shower for those who, like us, didn’t know him: where was he hiding and where did he come from? Winter and cold have brought a new predator to the lands of American underground rap.