The Dopest of 2012: Albums

Many artists dropped albums during 2012, whether it was their debut or just another one off the long list of music they put out. Some were a let-down and some many jumped to call a classic, but here’s what we at Dope Drops thought were worthy of our top ten list:

After spending years putting out a plethora of mixtapes, Big K.R.I.T. finally released his studio debut, Live from the Underground. Handling much of the production and delivering the rhymes we know and love, this album sits at number 10 on our list.

A fan of the lo-fi sound, SpaceGhostPurrp created music similar to that, and as soon as he started gaining recognition, people quickly fell in love with both the NASA Mixtape and Blvcklvnd Rvdix 66.6. Shortly after, SpaceGhostPurrp took some of his biggest tracks and re-recorded them in a stuido as opposed to his laptop, and from that we got Mysterious Phonk: The Chronicles of SpaceGhostPurrp. Brining something to 2012 that nobody else did, this album stood out above the others.

Many people had their 2 cents to say about this album when it dropped, but those same people are still playing the singles off this album such as “Mercy” and “Clique”. Whether or not you loved every track off of Cruel Summer, you can’t deny that Kanye West (once again) along with the rest of GOOD Music put out some of the best music this year.

It’s been eighteen years since Nas released his debut album Illmatic, and there’s a reason why he’s still releasing music. With Life Is Good being his eleventh studio album, he continues to come out with an album that both new and old fans could fall in love with.

2012 has been a big year for Ab-Soul and it is largely in part due to the popularity of his latest album Control System. Impressing old fans and bringing in many new ones, this album definitely showcased a ton of improvement as well as delivering subject matter that was very relatable. We’re excited to see what Ab-Soul’s got in store for us in 2013, but either way, we won’t stop playing this album.

Jesus Piece was definitely one of the most highly anticipated albums of 2012 and The Game definitely did not let alone down when it finally released. From the album cover that had everyone shocked, to features from Kanye West to Kendrick Lamar, this album is a hit from start to finish.

Although ScHoolboy Q was already well-known, when everyone heard him on A$AP Rocky‘s track “Brand New Guy” he not only killed Rocky on his own track, but grabbed the attention of many new listeners and had everyone anticipating the release of his second studio album Habits & Contradictions. Q definitely did not let anyone down with this release, with people still not being able to turn this one off even though it’s been out for almost a year now.

One of the best producers out right now, Flying Lotus continued to impress fans with his fourth studio album Until the Quiet Comes. With features from Erykah Badu and Thundercat, having a short film accompany it all only added to the greatness of this album.

It’d be a lie to say that Kendrick Lamar was not hip hop’s biggest star this year. With the success of his single “Swimming Pools (Drank)”, people were already predicting it was going to be the best rap album of 2012 before it even dropped. And once it did drop, people couldn’t help but to say that they thought it was a classic. While only time will tell if it eventually will be a classic, it is safe to say that was the best rap album of the year.

There is a reason why Frank Ocean is nominated for 6 Grammies, and that reason is his album channel ORANGE. Any fan of Frank new he could sing, new he could compose a song, and new this would be a great album; but nobody was truly ready for what was to come until this album dropped. The only word that truly describes this album is perfect, and that’s why channel ORANGE is number one on our list.