(ThyBlackMan.com) Almost four months into this year, I think that we can all agree that this year has been pretty dry as far as major albums go. Sure, we are getting a greater variety of different artist releasing music but there is nothing like those heavy hitting releases or that release from the up and comer that we have been waiting for.
Here are five artist/groups that need to drop a new album ASAP!
Griselda
The last album released by the Buffalo, New York collective made of Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher, and Conway the Machine was WWCD in 2019. Although the album lacked mainstream appeal and the song on the album closest to being a hit was still far from being a hit. This is the great thing about them, they aren’t for everyone and they know that. Whenever someone say that they want “real MCs” or “real rap”, this is most likely what they mean. They are all about the bars and even though I don’t listen to rappers that are all bars for extended periods of time, I love Griselda.
Individually, all three members released over six projects, and they have said before that they are not a collective but I enjoyed WWCD more than any of their individual projects and that is saying a lot because they are very good. Together, they have such great chemistry, sound distinctive and completely different from each other. We need a new group album right away!
JID
Going into 2019, many fans thought that JID was going to follow up 2018’s DiCaprio 2 with a new album but instead, J. Cole chose to release a compilation album of all of the Dreamville Records artists instead. The album was great, but I would’ve rather had a solo album. With no album released from JID in 2020, fingers are crossed that he drops this year and soon.
Although JID may not be known to many people, I think that he has the most potential of anyone on Dreamville Records. He has lyrics that can stand toe to toe with label boss, J. Cole, a unique rapping style, the ability to switch flows out of nowhere, and this thing that he does where he raps off beat but turns it into rapping with the beat. To me, the top trait that he got is that he has shown flashes of being able to make hit songs. I can’t wait to see which direction he goes with his album and career because I think that he is going to be huge.
Young Thug
Once again, his last solo studio album was So Much Fun in 2019. Many people loved the album but I thought that is was just alright. I know that he could do so much better than that. What I want for him to release this year is Barter 7. Ironically, there is no Barter 1-5 but who cares! To me, Barter 6 was an almost perfect album. He had so many different flows and styles on there and the beats were a great collection of some of the hottest southern beats at the peak of the trap music movement. Something that I don’t say often is that the features on the album are all great and add so much to the songs except for Boosie’s verse at the end of Can’t Tell.
The one reservation about any Young Thug album is that he is also the head of his own record label, Young Stoner Lifestyle or YSL for short. I’m not sure if he the one making the decisions and putting his artist’s music out, but this is the first time that you will hear me saying that he should slow down on that and focus on putting Barter 7 out. He does a great job of trying to get his artists out. Last year Gunna dropped and he also dropped a YSL compilation mixtape featuring a bunch of his artists. Thugga, please be selfish just this once.
Don Toliver
In 2020, Don Toliver dropped Heaven or Hell around this time. I loved the album and it was my #3 album of last year. Although there are artists that have a larger gap between their releases that could be on this list, I would much rather listen to Donny Womack’s unique sound develop even more than hear a lot of other artists new album. His music is so refreshing, especially in a genre where so many people basically copy whatever the hot sound is to a very low success rate. I don’t see many people copying his sound because he isn’t just a singular sound. If you listen to Heaven or Hell, you’ll notice many different things that make Don Toliver himself and why people won’t be able to do what he does easily.
Don Toliver has been getting many features over the year, rising his status. What is next for him is his new album that he recently announced in February called L.O.A.D. or Life of a Don. Not a fan of him? Listen to Travis Scott’s song Can’t Say off of Astroworld or Billboard Top 10 hit Lemonade from Internet Money.
Kendrick Lamar
Where has this man been. Of course, he has probably just been in the house like the rest of us, but at least leave us with some music to listen to in the meantime. 2017 was the last time that he dropped a studio album and it feels like much longer than that. Over that time, I’ve been debating whether DAMN was a better album than Good Kid, Mad City or not. This year has to be the year that he drops a new album. Hopefully, it will be more DAMN and not To Pimp A Butterfly. TPAB was a great album but didn’t have the best replay value and was a rough listen at times unlike DAMN or Good Kid.
Something that I will help ease the eagerness of getting a new Kendrick album would be if we could get a new Jay Rock album. For me, either would do and I would kind of lean towards Jay Rock, but I would like the Kendrick just to find out what direction he goes in.
Staff Writer; Tardell Swift
This brother is new to writing yet has many different interests such as gaming, hip hop, wrestling, and manga.
You can follow him on Twitter; PhirewoodGaming and keep up with his thoughts there as well.
