Speaking with HipHopDX Editor-in-Chief Justin Hunte in the most recent edition of the DX Daily segment (October 14), News Editor Soren Baker reacted to A$AP Yams’ recent claims that 2014 “is probably the worst year of rap music ever.”
Running down a list of recent releases to argue the point, Baker said “I think he’s way off base.”
“I definitely disagree,” he added. “Just this year alone already, and we’re not even done, we’ve had Vince Staples come out with Hell Can Wait, Shyne Coldchain II mixtape. We’ve had Common come out. We’ve had Dilated Peoples come out. We had Step Brothers. Freddie Gibbs. We have so many great projects coming out, I don’t even understand how he could make that comment. Crazy”
Admitting that every year has its ups and down, Baker maintained, “there’s always quality rap.”
“One year might be good for gangster rap and not good for Southern rap,” he said. “Or it might be good for political rap but not so good for commercial rap. So for me there’s really never a bad year. There may be years I like more or less but I think every year there’s so much material that comes out and there’s so much good material that you just have to look for it. You may have to look a little harder or it may not be your type of thing that’s the best that year. But there’s always quality rap.”
Last week, A$AP Yams detailed the recent delay of an A$AP Mob group album and the status the collective’s solo release plans. Talking about the group album he said, “Nothing has inspired us to drop nothing.”
“It wasn’t any trends; musically it was a lot of dry-ass shit,” he later said of the year’s releases. “Everybody [who] was supposed to drop, dropped the ball. This is probably the worst year of rap music ever. Let’s be honest. This is the worst year of rap music ever. It’s just been allegiances and people hyping shit up. Man, that shit trash.”
RELATED: A$AP Yams Says 2014 Worst Year In Rap History, Fans Respond
I think the year is definitely bottom heavy which may have led him to conclude the year as a whole has been disappointing. T.I., Ross, Vince Staples, Gambino, Common, and Jeezy all dropped or are dropping in the 3rd and 4th quarter so there’s that.
really u mention them but no run the jewels, jay rock, joey bada$$, big krit wqhat about royce and premo huh? what about logic!!
^^^ r u really serious about joey badass? the nigga cant make a song format to save his life. his mixtapes are nothing but incoherent ramblings, 2 minutes into the song u have no idea wtf hes rapping about and neither does he. hes an average mc and needs to figure out how to do proper songs otherwise he aint shit.
^ You’re probably thinking of Young Thug or Rich Homie Quan with their incoherent asses.
how about a$ap yawn do something about it instead of complaining?
Pssshhh, that fool’s retarded.. and I cant even think of one good ASAP anything. Admittedly, I dont know much about that camp, because I choose not to… but still, I don’t see or hear much about them. I know their last BET cypher was dumb as fuck…
This year had GREAT shit come out!
– Cyhi’s Black Histori Project
– Q’s Oxymoron
– Gibbs & Madlib’s Pinata
– Pharoahe Monche’s PTSD
– Slaughterhouse’s House Rules
– Apathy’s Connecticut Casual
– Evidence & Alchemist’s Step Brothers/Lord Steppington
– Awol One & Gel Roc’s The Cloaks
– Swollen Members’ Brand New Day
– Ab Soul’s These Days…
– Dilated & NehruvianDOOM both just dropped, which I’m still absorbing
– As well as Joell Ortiz’s House Slippers & Vince Staples’ Hell Can Wait
and THEN… these few Run the Jewels singles that have been released, good GOD!!! Not to mention Scarface’s two tracks released this year, BOTH just so fuckin great. Common had an album, that i barely had enough time to get into, plus Prhyme is coming out this year….
I know some of these are EP’s and “mixtapes” and maybe those full albums weren’t all-time instant classics, but cmon…. to say NOTHING came out this year, please. I myself have had TONS to listen to all year, so much I feel that i miss out on other albums, like Common’s for example.
There’s a fine line between sounding confident and sounding like a douchebag.
Run the Fuckin’ Jewels!
all them albums u listed are mediocre at best. those albums woulda been never heard of in the 90’s but the game is so wack now u consider those weak albums like they somethin special. foh here with that weak ass list cuhh u want real hiphop go back to the 90’s albums simple as that.
MF Doom’s work with Bishop was trash. The beats are shit
swollen members are fuckin terrible. u losin
this is the whitest thing written on here in a long time. you probably started listening to hip hop in 2005
That Gibbs and Shitlib album is still the most disappointing album of the decade, thanks to its bad production.
u troll but no one believes uuuuuuuuuuu
I agree with him.
Agree with everything you said except the fake gangsta line and the 80s and 90s line.
Besides that I agree hip hop has been wack for a good 10 years now.
Your naming below avg to avg projects and trying to say hip hop isn’t bad now? You could combine the best songs from all of those releases and you still wouldn’t equal a 2001 or a college dropout. Not even close. Actually, I don’t know if one song from those releases would even make it onto those albums.
There are no more classics. The sound has been moved, gangster rap has been phased out, and now everyones confused on where to go and what to put out. radio plays songs that are far from singles, and rappers put out a ton of avg shit instead of waiting a few yrs and putting out a classic that will last. Production? Don’t even get me started. Name the next Timbaland/Kanye/Dr Dre/Just Blaze. Just Blaze does techno, Timbaland has lost a lot of his skill, Kanye made a weird non rap album(though I think his next album will be classic after all the hate), and Dr Dre makes headphones.
Rap is without a doubt dead.
Everyone says this but Good Kid Mad City was a classic album imo. (maybe you just meant this year)
I just listened to Sing About Me for the thousandth time and am still amazed at how poetic they are and the depth he put into those verses.
GKMC came out like 2 years ago bro. 2012 was a good year in hip hop. Last year was a pretty good year in hip hop also. This year im losing hope for hip hop.
You sound like a bitch. The South aint solely to blame. NY been coming out with some trash too. There has been quality music coming out of the south. Maybe you should find a different outlet to listen to music from. You comparing jeezy to big sean alone shows me you dont know wtf u talking about. You sound like more of a hater of hiphop in general then the last ten years. Move on then sucka! we dont want you!
That’s one good looking white boy blogger if I ever seen one.
Realest Talk Ever
y’all bringing up Vince Staples & Dilated Peoples saying HipHop ain’t dead? LOL that’s like pulling a candy bar out saying there’s still food on Earth when people CAN SEE all the livestock and produce is long gone.
ha ha ha ha ha ha……..who the hell is this guy to even comment on what good hip hop is? you gotta be kidding me. Cormega, Ed og, Common, Diamond D………….
You just named some old ass rappers that peaked in the 90s.
Statik Selektah – What Goes Around, Cormega – Mega Philosophy, Diamond D – Diam Piece, Barrell Brothers (Skyzoo & Torae), Common – Nobody’s Smiling, Mobb Deep – The Infamous Mobb Deep, G-Unit – The Beauty of Independence, 50 Cent – Animal Ambition, Buckshot & P-Money – Backpack Travels, Bishop Nehru & MF Doom – Nehruvian Doom, Your Old Droog EP, OC – Ray’s Cafe’, Stepbrothers – Lord Steppington,ONYX – #WAKEDAFUCUP……Raekwon – F.I.L.A. coming next month and the new Wu-Tang the month after?????? That’s a good year in my book. But maybe they aren’t “relevant” enough for his or some of your taste. I’ll stick to the good shit. F**k sales, age, money etc.
soren baker looks like spocks lost child.. FOH
This dude is a clown! It’s going to be a GREAT year for Hip Hop if you know where to look:
Diabolic: Fightin Words
Fashawn: The Ecology
El-P and Killer Mike: Run The Jewels 2
Pharoahe Monch: PTSD
Statik Selektah: What Goes Around
Skyzoo & Torae: Barrell Brothers
Your Old Droog EP
2 AOTP albums
Apathy: Connecticut Casual
Diamond D: Diam Piece
Cormega: Mega Philosophy
Dilated Peoples: Directors of Photography
Freddie Gibbs and Madlib: Pinata
Evidence & Alchemist’s Step Brothers/Lord Steppington
Slaughterhouse: House Rules
Tons of Horseshoe Gang Stuff
Tonedeff different EPS which will equal Polymer his 2nd LP (Don’t sleep on this killer lyricist)
Common’s new album had some solid tracks on it
Apollo Brown and Ras Kass have what should be a sick album coming
Wu-Tang’s “A Better Tomm”
Sadistik: Ultraviolet
ShadyXV
New Slaughterhouse
Royce and Preemo
New Ransom
Locksmith: A Thousand Cuts
Nino Bless mixtapes
Elzhi (hopefully!)
There’s been alot of dope hip hop if you know where to look.
#WAKEUP
and let me guess..you did not SUPPORT NOT ONE of those artists by going to a show or BUYING their album. wait, you might buy Eminem’s. that’s why he can make the claim that it is the worst year for rap music. No rappers are selling records. All rap is getting digested and bypassed by fans in 2 days. Only rappers really getting money like ASAP wants to are the ones who be at every festival and tour constantly.
I can list all the new shows on TV in 2014, doesn’t it mean it was a hot year
nigga wtf you talking most releases aint out yet so how can you Judge them?
anon:
Go listen to young jeezy and all those wack motherfuckers.
You want real hiphop go listen to illmatic or ready to die and then listen to your crap cds from young jeeezy. lol these nigga acting if young jeezy is the shit. Nigga in 1994 the whole rapgame would have taken a big dump on your raphero young cheezy
like some of the projects listed below, there were some good releases. but it has been a pretty fucking weak year for hip hop, and i was excited at the start of 2014 when Freddie Gibbs and Schoolboy Q dropped. The big artists have been pretty much quiet. Hoping Kanye West or Kendrick will drop this year, that would definitely improve 2014 on the hip hop front.
@anonymous I never understood or understand how someone like you could praise Illmatic but then put Nas on your fake gangsta list. On Illmatic Nas was talking about robbing people in the hood and in the trainstation hanging around big time drug dealers like Fat cat and Prem and hustling. But you put him in the fake gangsta category.
I just don’t understand how someone could respect illmatic and not respect It Was Written. Usually when you lived the life of illmatic in NY, you become the person on It Was Written in NY. You go from a small time thug into a big time gangsta. And after that since Stillmatic, Nas whole personnel has been not to be a gangsta but if he to take it back there he would.
By the way Im one of the many people who thinks It Was Written is Nas’s best album but I understand why illmatic is the bible of rap.
Cormega and Mobb Deep albums were great albums everything else were ok but nothing ground breaking.
Oh yeah Schoolboy Q album was good nothing special. Common Album got 4.5 mics on here but to me was pretty disappointing. Freddie Gibbs album at the beginning of the year was hot but the second that come out was meh. Overall it was still a shitty year in hip hop
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, Step Brothers, Dilated Peoples, The Underachievers, Atmosphere, ScHoolboy Q, Apollo Brown, Cormega, MAYDAY! & Murs, Sadistik, Shabazz Palaces, the Ugly Heroes EP. 12 projects off the top of my head that were great to listen to.