Rolling Stone Lists The “40 Best Rap Albums Of 2014”

Rolling Stone has compiled a list of their picks for the best 40 Hip Hop albums of 2014.

With selections ranging from DJ Quik’s The Midnight Hour to Lecrae’s Anomaly, Rolling Stone’s end-of-year list is topped by the crowd-favorite Run The Jewels 2.

“The second album from hip-hop’s knottiest insult comics expands the emotional palate of their previous collaborations — coming with a protest song for Ferguson and New York (‘Early’) and a ballad that flips rap’s drug tales into a struggle with guilt (‘Crown’),” the magazine’s Chris Weingarten wrote. “But the appeal is still in their giddy disses, labyrinthine boasts, alliteration, bravado, alpha male antics — basically the stuff that Killer Mike and El-P enjoyed about rap in 1989. It’s a throwback in that it cares about set-ups, punchlines and feats of skill — but its distorted explosions of synth noise keep an eye to the future, maintaining a brand ‘where destruction’s the number one commitment.'”

Elsewhere on the list, newcomer Your Old Droog’s debut LP was listed at number 13.

“This remarkably skilled Coney Island mystery emerged from nowhere with a engaging new twist on the Kool G Rap, Big L and Sean Price school of punchline rap,” the site wrote of Droog. “He mixes an e.e. cummings-esque zeal for assonance with references are as deep as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, making him possibly the most quotable rapper of the year. (Some examples: ‘2014 George Thorogood/Thorough, good in any borough or hood’; ‘Stifle yourself like Edith or get played/Like a Paul Reed Smith, you and them cats you smoke weed with’). A ‘rewind that!’ record for the age of iTunes progress bars and Wikipedia.”

Other mentions on the list include the early 2014 release of Step Brothers, Kevin Gates’ latest project, and Shabazz Palaces Lese Majesty.

Read the full list here and watch the DX Daily below for more Run The Jewels coverage.