No one intentionally goes into the studio to make a bad album. Lofty ambitions, label hiccups, lack of focus (especially for a touring artist) or a combination of the three can all play a part in a wayward full-length project leaving fans with mixed emotions.
And since there’s no such thing as good without the bad, we’re here to remind you which rap albums fell short of what they set out to achieve professionally, sonically or in terms of engaging listeners.
It’s garbage time, ladies and gents. Behold, The Most Disappointing Rap Albums Of 2017.
Young M.A – Herstory
No, this isn’t the project that blew up “OOOUUU” — the catalyst behind HipHopDX’s Best Beat of 2016. This is the project that slipped “OOOUUU” on the tail end of the tracklist virtually a year after the song was released because the momentum couldn’t be maintained. The album name wasted a title for Young M.A and didn’t delve too much into her Pandora’s box. It remains as a stark warning to all up-and-coming rappers that playing the hit-making game is a slippery slope. Cardi B should take note. Iggy Azalea didn’t and…
Big Sean & Metro Boomin – Double Or Nothing
Metro Boomin had enough wins in 2017 to overcome this ridiculously imbalanced joint feature, but Big Sean, having seen his buzz fade after releasing I Decided. way back in February, didn’t need to represent the “or nothing” aspect of this album release. Wack lyrics about smoking dope with Rosa Parks, fidget spinners and making his girl feel blessed that he didn’t sodomize her will forever haunt this LP’s legacy.
Fat Joe & Remy Ma – Plata O Plomo
From all the way up to not mentioned at all. Blame Remy Ma for sabotaging any buzz surrounding the album by releasing her “SHETHER” Nicki Minaj diss a week later, but truth be told, this collaborative project fell flat from the start. “Cookin” featured French Montana (much like the Grammy-nominated and platinum smash “All the Way Up”), and felt every bit the carbon copy it was. Assistance from Ty Dolla $ign, Kent Jones, Sevyn and BJ The Chicago Kid did nothing to propel the quality either. Not every single movement needs an album.
KRS-One – The World Is Mind
Thirteen albums in and the one and only T’cha is understandably at a crossroads in his career. But instead of doubling down on the classic sensibilities that made Boogie Down Productions such a legendary force, or focusing on what he considers the direction 2K17 needs to be rooted in, he just wallowed in between the two for a forgettable album, whose ultimate footnote will be for killing off the wrong Beastie Boy.
Tyga – Bitch I’m The Shit 2
Mr. T-Raww has given the world plenty of opportunities not to take his rap career seriously and you’re muthafuckin’ right Bitch I’m The Shit 2 upheld that trend. Were you aware Quavo, Pusha T, Vince Staples and Ty Dolla $ign were on this project? No? That’s probably because you’re not taking Tyga’s career seriously!
Playboy Carti – Playboy Carti
A hot, platinum single in “Magnolia” and a shoutout from JAY-Z couldn’t mask the notion that Carti’s self-titled debut was simply “a glorified beat tape with ad-libs.” Simply put, this project epitomizes the “SoundCloud mumble rapper” generation and hopefully, the day will come when Carti grows up and denounces any affiliation to the album. Hopefully.
Macklemore – Gemini
No Ryan Lewis? No prob…oooh…not so fast, Ben Haggerty. Naming the album Gemini isn’t an excuse for the music to be divided between a G-rated carnival of suck (“Zara,” “Good Old Days” with Kesha and “Intentions”) and failed trap auditions for Quality Control Music (“How To Play the Flute,” “Willy Wonka” with Offset and “Marmalade” with Lil Yachty). Success has damaged many an artist and it’s shaken Macklemore to the point where he’s not even making music that’s as fun as his artistic persona. Get it together, mate!
Fabolous & Jadakiss – Friday On Elm Street
For more than a year, Fab and Jada masqueraded around with Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees masks like they were about to 187 an album full of bars. The end result felt like a colorful Bob Ross canvas — nothing stood out unless you want to count to bodacious trap records such as “Stand Up” featuring Future (smh). It got really painful when the duo decided to get “woke” and preach peace on the song “Talk About It” after they filled the graveyard on the opening title track. Fire the executive producer, fellas!
Nav – NAV
This guy! Someone needs to remind us what this album’s name means again. Was it “perfect timing” for a collaboration no one asked for? Or was it “perfect timing” to hit the stop button on your Apple Music stream partway into the opening track? On this particular project, Young Metro rose to the occasion, but Nav — who still can’t find anything to rap about aside from abusing drugs and sliding off with someone else’s girl — will fully achieve “perfect timing” when he decides to stick to producing.
Biggest Fuckin’ Disappointment: Eminem – Revival
Eminem told Elton John that he set out to make “a little something for everyone” on his ninth studio album, Revival. After seeing the reactions following the pop-oriented project’s release, it’s clear that everybody doesn’t want “a little something.” They want that ‘ol Slim Shady feeling, or at least a matured version of his impressive raps.
Between puzzling beat choices supplied by Rick Rubin and Alex da Kid, to the decision for picking P!nk, X Ambassadors and Skylar Grey over his own in-house roster of Slaughterhouse, Yelawolf, Westside Gunn and Conway, it’s apparent Em chased the chart instead of trusting his natural talent. Better luck next time and Em, we need that next time to actually happen.
Check out more of DX’s Year End Awards here.
When your the greatest rapper of all time, you will have haters waiting on your downfall. Eminem has created another masterpiece and the haters can’t stand it. But haters…just suck it up, keep hating, as long as Eminem is on your mind and coming out your mouth, he will still be the Rap God. Put that in your corn cob pipe and smoke that. Eminem at his worst still has his foot on the throat of the rap game. Like it or not!
The greatest rapper of all time lol man please. he may have the best rhymes but …… SONGS and ALBUMS not even close to 2pac, Scarface, Jay, Nas,
Aight you don’t agree that he’s the best rapper of all time which is ok… but at least you agreed with the rhymes part! But with all the garbage that went out this year do you agree that he had the worst album of 2017?! That’s just funny, I really feel bad for y’all!
No Jay no Nas either
you love Em’s balls.
Na, i just like seeing his balls sitting on your chin
I feel you bro. I’m listening to that believe track now and Em actually replied to those fackers with this ‘’Man, I know sometimes
These thoughts can be harsh and cold as ice
To me they’re just ink blots
I just fling ’em like slingshots and so precise
So you might wanna think it over twice, yeah
When you retards can roll the dice
But beef will at least cost you your career
‘Cause even my cheap shots are overpriced
But this middle finger’s free as a bird’’
Damn i lost all respect for this site..
Putting em’s album in this list makes these guys f’ing idiots.
Come on..
He should be on best album list..
I’m done with this shitty site.
F U DX
Also Futuristic, Hopsin, 21 Savage, Dizzy Wright , .Well I think Futuristic was a EP but still everyone talked about this guy like he was so great I picked up that mess. The production was so stale and concepts uninspired .He sounded more white than the white rappers give this guy some flavor .21 savage is no savage and Hopsin needs some real friends to tell him he is sounding overly weird for no reason. Also I agree with the projects on this list.Eminem is out of touch if he had a time cawspule and rewound to when he was a young hungry emcee he would be embarrased by this soccer mom crap with the worse beats possible.
lol @Detroit Futuristic thats the guy from Nerds in Compton cmon what do you expect. He is not a real emcee he does spoofs. He has a new one called Grandma. He is just supposed to be funny lighten up and dont take him serious. lol of course he is wack.but I disagree with Hopsin I thought it was ok. so was Eminem. not their best
Get the Fack outta here! Em’s album was not up to HIS own standards but it puts about every single rap album released in 2017 into shame! I’d say it had about 7 fire tracks out of 19 (everyone knows what those tracks are) so can you tell me which rap album had that many in their albums in 2017?! Mumble rap youngsters or Drake’s singing/dancing ass?! It’s a shame how you skipped so many horrible albums and had the balls to say that his album was the worst! Hiphopdx, I came to the conclusion that you either have a hidden agenda or have no clue what you’re talking about!
This white boy really made me put my email address in to respond to this terrible comment. Boy its time to realize and admit that you’re an Em fan and not a HIP HOP fan. Don’t ever disrespect Krit, Sean, Cyhi, or anyone else out here in 2017 putting competent and coherent albums together. Your taste in music is trash as I’m sure you spend your days listening to Maroon 5 and Pink’s single featuring eminem. Lamo
Not a hip hop fan? Revival is the worst album of 2017?! That’s a joke? Maybe it would be if it came out 10-15 years ago! Hiphopdx ignores the trash that came out throughout the year and choose Em’s album as the worst! 19 track were not all great but it had enough ones to be called the best in 2017 looking at the trash that comes out those days! It’s funny how people think that it makes them cool now days to diss Eminem and ignore the garbage out there! Em said this ‘’Man, I know sometimes
These thoughts can be harsh and cold as ice
To me they’re just ink blots
I just fling ’em like slingshots and so precise
So you might wanna think it over twice, yeah
When you retards can roll the dice
But beef will at least cost you your career
‘Cause even my cheap shots are overpriced
But this middle finger’s free as a bird’’
Your comment is as funny as your name! LoL! And how did your racist ass assume that I’m a white boy? And why do my race matter? We’re talking about music you punk? Obviously Em’s shit is not to your liking as he’s dissing ignorant punks like you! Ok Revival was the worst album of the year and all the albums that came out this year were muuuuch better! Happy now?!
Yall trippin about that Fab and Jada joint everybody I know who are fans of the two love the album I don’t get this analysis at all
I’m a fan of both of them and was excited for the album, but I was disappointed by it too. Very lackluster album.
short list considering half the artists been makin music longer than majority of the gurbige you pander been decomposing humanity
most of the fuckin mainstream should be here.
Here come all the white boys to defend yet ANOTHER mediocre Eminem album… listen, he’s a great rapper but he hasn’t made a great album in over 10 years.
Yeah but he deserves to be on the list with the shit the came out this year that’s not included! Funny!
First off take Eminem and Big Sean off of here, because they actually did their thing. The Freddy vs. Jason is actually good. Rest of the list is fine. Even tho they weren’t disappointments, just bad artists.
“Voorhies” wtf lol. Good list though, Em deserves to be on this list. People can’t accept that the “Rap God” tried and failed. This is coming from someone who’s known of him BEFORE the Shady LP. 21 should also be on this list. Besides Bank Account, that shit was boring and forgettable.
Have fun watching some mumble rap that’s not on the list and we will listen to the brilliant lyrical content of Revival and fack the beats.
I’m still waiting for an Eminem masterpiece. He has never made an artistically brilliant album to this very day. He may have a few classics (by popular approval ie hits, radio play, great hooks etc) but nothing artistically next level like “TPAB” or Illmatic. For Em to have his first masterpiece.
1) Keep album under 12 tracks
2) Make a conceptual album
3) Get Kanye, Dre or Pete Rock to produce the whole shit.
His first 2 albums are masterpieces. His third was solid. His fourth was good. The rest is garbage.
I can’t see how anyone hates this Em album unless they’re a fan of this new music that’s all beats an no bars. He literally has something for all of his fans on here. I’ve always been an Em fan, but haven’t been huge on any of his albums since the Eminem Show. Wether you enjoy old em or new em, introspective em or personal em. I mean this album has more bars and punch lines than basically any album I’ve ever heard. I’ve listened to it like ten times and am still picking apart punch lines with double and triple meanings. I guess everyone just jumped on the bandwagon because of the features, but what they realize is that Em put out 19 songs full of his own music. Basically every guest just hops on the chorus. The only other thing I can see anyone having an issue with is possibly the beat selection but that’s personal preference. Between the singles and features I feel like no ones giving it a chance. And from the reviews I see these sites doing its obvious they’re just jumping on the bandwagon with each other in trying to bring down the album. Em even came out and said this album is for the fans not for th critics. I mean this has hardly been a banner year for hip hop. Jay Z throws ten turds on an album and people claim he’s evolved. Em puts out an album full of lyrics and everyone wants the old em. You can’t appease anyone, especially these new jack fans of young thug, migos and others that don’t care about anything lyrically. As long as the beats bouncing and they hear Percocet or molly once or twice in the album they’ll buy it. Let’s be honest if Em wasn’t white a lot of you guys would be claiming this as the greatest album of all time. Look back at my example of Jay. Hell look at the Life Of Oj, one of the worst beats and songs I’ve ever heard. It’s literwlly five bars of rap with the chorus repeated over and over and people are acting like it’s fire. Jay’s fallen off a hundred times more than Em, and you don’t hear shit about that. And I was huge on jay all the way up to the black album, and then again on American gangster.
Hey Tella, well said! But you’re wasting time with these haters. They skipped all the trash of this year and decided that Revival was the worst album of the year hahahahhahaha those losers don’t care about lyrics and punch lines! They just need something to shake their asses to, so let them be!
As a big Eminem fan since I was a teenager and just a hip-hop fan in general, this album is not good. The last 2 songs and Framed are pretty good, but overall the project is wack. Sorry, I’m just being honest, it’s not hating. His voice totally sucks now and I know that he’s using that tone on purpose. His lyrics are getting corny too. I went back and listened to Relapse last night and thought it was way better overall (the bonus track on it may be his best song in 10 years). Recovery was where it was apparent he completely fell of to me (the bonus track Ridaz was dope tho..Talking 2 Myself was good besides Em’s singing). Thank you DX for having the balls to admit this was a major disappointment!! Freddy vs Jason wasn’t great and could’ve been better but I liked it a lot more than Em’s project
If you replaced Em with Wutang in your convo, then you’d be me. It takes a true fan (not stan) to support an artist always, but also to admit when something they dropped was meh or terrible. And you giving examples makes me believe you’re a fan. So kudos
You were on a roll but you justdiscredited your whole speech by going at Jay the same way people are going at Em.Leave out the Jay hating, and you’ve got a pretty solid argument 😉
Revival got bars! Chloraseptic alone should keep Revival off this list.
Man y’all muhf*ckers better be kidding me! If Eminem just put Believe, Castle and Arose on a 3 track album it would eat every single trash album that came out this year! Now it’s the WORST in 2017! LOL! Get off his D*ck and go listen to some Drake!
Because 3 great songs don’t make a great album. It’s better than anything on the radio but that ain’t saying much. It ain’t his worse nor is it near his best.
Ok here is my opinion, I’m black and not a stan…. but…. Is that a joke? Maybe it’s good news for Eminem as it seems like hiphopdx listened only to his album this year, yeah it’s not his best but you have to be retarded to leave out everything that came out this year and call it the most disappointing! Beats is important but Do you understand that rap is all about lyrics? Go listen to Revival once again and then all the other rap albums (if they can be called rap) and redo the f*ckin list!
And correction I meant to say ever since I heard “my name is” and assumed he was black
I don’t agree that Revival is on this list as the worst?! Especially with the ass shaking and no lyrics albums that came out this year… however if the same lyrics on this album was put on Dre and the Bass Brothers beats it would’ve been one of his best albums. so Eminem, put out a new album as soon as possible (no one will wait another 4 years) with your original producers and it’ll be the best response to your haters.
Wait. G Eazy and all these lil so and so’s didn’t make the cut? Love how y’all went in on Nav though. He’s equivalent to 2 day steamed broccoli trapped in a plastic bag someone farted in and microwaved. Hot garbage.
Every mumble rap album
Not really. You can only get disappointed when you expected something but everyone with taste knows a mumble album gonna be trash before release
I agree with Some Futuristic should have been on this list, Along with Hopsin Tech9ne
Lol, look w/e you think of hopsin whether it’s him being corny or just his music not being for you the album he released this year was no where near as bad as the albums mentioned in this list.
Reading some of these comments make my head hurt. Saying “yeah Eminem’s album sucks but it’s not as bad as these mumble rappers” makes you every bit of the stan the word means. And yes it was the biggest disappointment for me because I stayed up til midnight and downloaded the pre order and still can only stomach like 4 songs. Call it for it it is a disappointment people!!
The fact that these Stans can compare the Album to Mumble Rappers proves how garbage the Album is. Imagine 15 Years ago someone would compare Eminem to Rappers like Migos, People would laugh at you and call you delusional.
I don’t think anyone is comparing Em to mumble rappers, It’s just people wondering why their albums were not included on the list while Revival was chosen as the worst which is a valid point… long story short neither the ones commenting or hhdx know what they’re talking about!
I agree M should be on this list. M is not my favorite artists by far but every rapper from the rap years 2000-2018 should be on the list as well. I don’t like M because he sold out the game but at least he has lyrical skills. The rest of these punk ass rappers have no skills at all. Hip hop dx should redo the list and add in all the pop rappers that appear on the rap charts as well. LONG LIVE HIP HOP CLASSICS AND DEATH TO THE RAP YEARS!
So we not gonna add 4:44 to this list right?
JAYZ’ s worst album by for…beats included!!!
You’re fucking stupid.
Lmao…y u mad? JAYZ 444 is ass bra….deal with it and stop crying bum.
20 years from now youll view it differently, I can only presume you havent been thru the subjects he speaks on, the album had a classic sound so you must be young…
What the fuck is wrong with thes journalist? And the hate for eminem?? How does Eminem end up in the same category as these trash ass rappers?? And as the WORST on the list??? This is complete bullshit, and I’m tired of seeing the hatred Em is getting. 14/19 tracks on Revival are dope songs, and his 5 great songs aren’t being seen by the likes of the Tech 9’s and the Kendrick’s. FOH you none rap knowing MF’s. You’re the sole reason hip hop is a dying genre, disgracing the likes of Eminem when he graces a mic because he’s not rapping the way you want him to rap 15 years ago. Get a real writer that actually knows what an emcee is HHDX. WACK REVIEW
If you really think 14/19 of revival are dope, you are a certified stan.
Or you just didn’t listen, one time spin and your a critic now. FOH with your dumbass
Revival is Em’s worst album in my opinion. Hell, I even go torture myself by listening to Encore! That one at least has some nice beats on it, unlike Revival.
Still better than every album mentions above by a long shot. It doesn’t belong on this list, especially as the “biggest fucking disappointment”. That’s just hating. People hated Relapse, then they hated Recovery, then they hated LP2, now they hate Revival. Then they always go back and realize the albums dope. Actually listen to this dudes bars, you obviously don’t know what real rapping is. I feel bad for you
Revival is way better than Encore…..
Relapse > Recovery > Revival
KRS One!?! seriously! what are you guys smoking, add them lil, young and 21 dumbs albums up there, SMH!
This is pretty on point. And I have to say, I was happy to see a few of these albums fail, for the sake of Hip-Hop.
Article pretty much on point. I’ve been a huge Em fan for many years, but this album really was a let down. I was worried first time I saw that track with so many pop features yet again. Eminems lyrical ability is one of the best ever, but to stick with Rick Rubin and Alex Da Kid for most of the production, is really starting to hurt him. Those rock beats were just completely rubbish and many of the chorses also were awful. Wish he could get more beats from Dr. Dre and get away from Rick Rubin/Alex Da Kid. And why not use any beat from The Alchemist? Hell maybe even a beat or two from Preem! Shout out to FredWreck for the beat on Framed” though, that was one so sick, but that was pretty much it, together with Chloraseptic, the 2 best songs on the album. Super dissapointed about not getting more rap features on the album like Royce da 5’9, hell maybe even Nas and Jay Z so Em really would have to step up a bit!
my bad, my man that was for Ether…
When it comes to Metro Boomin, he needs to stop doing work with shitty rappers like Nav, not even his best beats are able to carry this guy. Just stop it. Can’t wait til PRhyme 2 comes out in 2018, that’s gonna be the biggest highlight for me next year. I guess many trapfans are waiting for Migos Culture 2, but PRhyme 2 is for the real hiphop fans. Preem and Royce FTW!
4:44 is Jay’s 2nd best album ever…
2nd worst after the blueprint 2
Finally somebody agrees the BP2 was TRASH!!!!!
BP 2 WAS THEEE WORST SHIT BUT SAYING 4:44 IS HIS WORST ALBUM AFTER THAT ??? U GOTTA BE A YOUNGIN TALKING STUPID LIKE THAT ! 4:44 IS JAYS BEST ALBUM IN A WHILE. STOP UR SHIT OR JUST JUST LISTEN TO MORE MUMBLE RAP !
eminems giving himself the facepalm
fab and jadakiss was fire, yall tripping..
Not surprising HHDX is hating on a dope MC in Young MA. It was an EP not an LP. Learn what the difference is. Or maybe that’s a reason why the writer shouldn’t be writing articles on hip hop
fab and jada disappointing? huh? it’s one of the best shits to come out all year. big sean and metro was decent yall expected way too much
I could’ve wrote the paragraph about the Fab and Jada album…I feel the exact same way. 1st track got me so excited and then it went downhill. And “Talk About It”? 90’s-est thing to say, and in 2017 it’s just laughable. As if we’re not bombarded with article after article about racism and police brutality…but according to Fab and Jada we don’t wanna talk about it. That’s literally all we wanna talk about now…I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s when this song and title would’ve fit a little better so it’s very cringy for me.
I like the Fab and Jada album. I will take it over Molly’s day Percocet mumbling.
JAYZ 444 was the worst album this year FACTOMUNDOZ!!!!
U MUST BE A YOUNG BOY, BCUZ THAT ALBUM IS CLEARLY FOR GROWN ASS MEN. HIS MOST PERSONAL ALBUM ANDDDDDDD…IT WAS DOPE. STICK TO THAT GOOD OLE’ MUMBLE RAP THO. THEY ALWAYS HAVE GREAT SUBSTANCE TO HEAR ON THEIR RELEASES !
LMFAOO @ WORST ALBUM OF THE YEAR !
Anyone who thinks the em album is trash is fuckin retarded. This album was amazing. So adverse sounds so different than all his work. Lyricism is there. Concept is there and even the pop feature songs are great. A year from now everyone will be saying this is a classic… Smh it’s a shame the people that critique this album they are terrible. This blew MMLP2 OUT THE WATER
To add to this I wonder if the person who wrote the review on ems album only listened to it one time? How can you EVER critique an Eminem album with one listen. Dude is a creative genius you need and his work gets better the more you listen… Im so disappointed in DX right now.
Lmao hows ems semen taste? Its the fact your honna switch up personas do it under a different moniker then everyone knows eminem for what they know him for all he was trying to do with this album was ride the SJW wave
I disagree with the Fab & Jada choice. That was one of the few albums this year I thought was dope.
And bone thugs new waves is still most underrated of the year…shit is too dope…still making beautiful music
biggest bone fan EVER here… New waves prolly the worst bone album ever made, terrible katy perry sounding pop garbage!!
lol yeah right :)) new waves is fucking dope ur not a bone fan
PLATA O PLOMO WAS A DOPE ALBUM
The most disappointing thing this year was my attempted erections, according to my wife. Good list.
Fuck out of here with that Nav hate. You work a 9-5 and are telling guys like Nav or em how to make music? Gtfo… MYSELF by Nav was an emotional song along with pretty much every other song in that EP. If you don’t know what that type of music is like don’t critic it. Perfect timing was a mix of Toronto and Atlanta, similar to What a Time to be Alive. People hated on both saying it sounds bland but really both just had a really 50/50 blend of Toronto sound and Atl sound. Songs like HIT, Perfect Timing Intro, Minute, Call Me, Held me down, and I Am are all songs anyone could enjoy. You can’t set a Drake/Kendrick standard to artists that just came to the spotlight one year ago. You need a wide category of music from years and years of projects to really critic artists with a mainstream criteria.
Glad you was first comment, I was thinking this the second this popped up in a google search for NAV.
Everybody is just as disappointing as revival, why ain’t it on this list