Posted by By Adam Looft, Co-Editor-in-Chief
2025 gave us another year of amazing music, and with it coming to an end, I would like to review some of my favorite albums that were released. I will only be considering hip-hop albums for this review, as that is the genre I listen to the most, and I don’t want to discredit any amazing albums from other genres that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to listen to. As of October 10th, with all of the Albums, EPs, Mixtapes, and Deluxes that have been released this year, I’ve listened to about 44 new projects that I would consider Hip-Hop, so I will only be able to talk about some of my favorites from the year. I reviewed 9 notable albums, ordered by release date, followed by what I think was the best release of the year.
On January 17th, Mac Miller’s estate released his second official posthumous studio album, Balloonerism. The album, written by Mac Miller in 2014 and 2015, gives us another glimpse into his headspace before he passed.
The tracklist is pretty consistent with Mac Miller and the few features delivering solid verses throughout. Writing-wise, the best tracks are probably “Funny Papers” and “Rick’s Piano,” both of which have Mac Miller discussing some deep emotions and somber themes. On the production side, I think the album is consistent with the rest of Mac’s discography. The song “Stoned” features an addictive guitar riff repeated throughout that really draws me in and has made it easily my overall favorite song on the album. Balloonerism was a strong start to the year and left me wondering what type of music Mac Miller would be making today if he hadn’t passed away. 8.2/10
Larry June and 2 Chainz released their first collaborative album on February 7th, titled Life Is Beautiful. The album was entirely produced by The Alchemist with no featured verses from other rappers. This collab surprised me at first because Larry June and 2 Chainz are two rappers I generally think about being from different subgenres of Hip-Hop, but they actually worked pretty well together. The best part of this album is definitely The Alchemist’s production. His beats perfectly match Larry June and 2 Chainz’s laid-back luxury raps to create a unique sound that gives a relaxing summertime feeling.
The atmosphere that the three of them can make on standout songs like “I Been” and “Life is Beautiful” is one that I have rarely seen by other artists. With these strengths, the album also has some shortcomings. The album has a rather short tracklist at only 11 songs, and even then, some of the tracks feel repetitive. Sometimes the rapping does feel a bit weak from both artists, and it might have been nice to have some features for more variation. In all, it is still a great album, and I think everybody should give a listen to it for its unique soundscape. 7.9/10
Westside Gunn has been one of my favorite artists this decade, and when his Mixtape titled12 was released on February 14th, it remained my favorite album of the year for a while. This album was masterfully curated, with many amazing features from artists I’ve never heard before and beautiful beats throughout.
I thought that specifically “055,” “Gumbo Yaya,” and “Dump World” were outstanding compared to the other tracks. A big reason these songs shine is because of the performances from Stove God Cooks and Brother Tom Sos. They both appear on numerous songs, and on top of their rapping, they have great singing performances, which really elevate the album. “Bury Me With a Stove” is my least favorite song, with a weak and slightly annoying feature from Estee Nack and a very repetitive beat. Besides that song, the album has only a few lows and very high highs. 8.6/10
Playboi Carti’s long-awaited album, MUSIC, was finally released on March 14th, marking his first album since Whole Lotta Red in 2020. Carti had built anticipation for this album from years of hinting at its release, and fan expectations were higher than ever. If I said he didn’t disappoint me a little, I’d be lying. That’s not to say the album is bad, but I think it is the weakest in his discography. The main issue with this album is that it’s just too long, and too many songs sound the same or just don’t sound good. Carti does manage to explore a range of different and interesting sounds, production styles, and vocals, though.
While this makes the project feel largely incohesive, it also gives something for all types of Carti fans, which is respectable considering the widespread fan expectation for MUSIC. The songs that manage to stand out the most for me are the ones that have either a really good feature or production. Many songs do fit that description, with “Trim,” “Rather Lie,” “We Need All Da Vibes,” and “HBA” being some of my favorites. I don’t have one least favorite song from this album, but instead, many of the songs are just forgettable. 7.4/10
Upcoming rapper John Michel and producer Anthony James released their collab album Egotrip on May 23. They are both relatively new and small artists, with this album being the first time I had ever heard of them. John Michel has some great rapping, with all of his verses sounding well-written and passionate. As a producer, Anthony James does an incredible job at sampling songs to create instrumentals that sound most comparable to Kanye’s chipmunk soul style.
The best song on the album has to be “World’s End.” John Michel’s delivery on this song’s only verse is very emotional and introspective, and his flow is so much better than some of the biggest mainstream rappers right now. The duo has some areas they need to improve on, with some of the album’s tracks sounding repetitive or slightly underwhelming. Overall, for 2 artists who are still in college to make an album this good is really impressive, and I am excited to see where their careers lead. 8.4/10
Tyler, the Creator experimented with a more electronic dance rap sound on his latest album, Don’t Tap The Glass. This album is only 11 tracks and just under 30 minutes, and remains really consistent throughout. Tyler noticeably didn’t care as much about the writing on this album and really just wanted fun-sounding songs, and I think the album executes that pretty well.
“Sugar On My Tongue” is my favorite song, but not by far. All the songs on this album are of similar quality, making it a great album to listen to all the way through. I was glad to see Tyler diverge from his normal album style, but I don’t think any of the songs here are truly incredible or groundbreaking. This makes for an album that’s fun to listen to when you want some upbeat dance rap, but not a very significant addition to his discography. 8.1/10
Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist worked together to drop their second album, Alfredo 2, on July 25th. The original Alfredo has been one of my favorite Freddie albums, and I think the sequel is nearly as good. As always, The Alchemist’s production is top-tier, with each beat sounding unique and thoughtfully crafted. Freddie Gibbs consistently has some of his best delivery on this album. He has a fast-paced flow that perfectly fits into the pockets The Alchemist’s beats create for him.
“Ensalada” is the easy choice for my favorite song on the album, which has a great feature from Anderson .Paak and one of the best beats. One thing I preferred about the original Alfredo is how concise they kept the tracklist, which really made every song feel special. This album’s slightly longer tracklist has led me to forget some of the songs over time, but its highlights are definitely still in rotation. 9.0/10
JID’s God Does Like Ugly dropped on August 8th, marking his second solo album of the decade. In 2022, he released The Forever Story, which has been considered one of the best albums of the decade so far.
Here, he dropped another amazing album, but I don’t think it exceeded his previous release. The album starts and ends strong, but in the middle, there are a couple of slower tracks like “What We On” and “No Boo” that feel slightly out of place. This made the tracklist feel a little less consistent, but that is the main extent of my issues with the album. JID was able to create a strong feature list with many diverse artists, all of whom performed strongly; the rapping and production are all around strong; and tracks like “Of Blue” and “Community” are some of his best to date. 9.2/10
On August 28th, Westside Gunn continued to impress me with his second album of the year, Heels Have Eyes 2. Compared to his earlier album this year, 12, Gunn’s rapping sounds a lot better. He has fewer features this time, carrying most of the album with his own verses. The beat selection is again very good, and is selected in a way that complements his different rapping styles on different songs.
“Mandela” is my favorite song off the project, with it having what I think is one of Gunn’s best rapping performances from his recent releases over a catchy Conductor Williams beat. Although the tracklist and rapping are strong, I don’t think this album’s peaks are as good as 12’s best songs. 8.4/10
As of the time of writing this, Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out, released on July 11th, is my album of the year. The group Clipse is composed of brothers Pusha T and Malice, and this is their first time coming together for an album since Til The Casket Drops in 2009. The album is entirely produced by Pharrell Williams and has eight features from other artists, not including the 5 verses that Pharrell delivers. As for Pusha T and Malice, their rapping is as good as ever. The album has some of the best writing I’ve seen all year, and the duo is able to work together so flawlessly. They find a way to work in the diverse feature list near perfectly, with the only feature I didn’t love being The-Dream’s feature on “All Things Considered,” which also is my least favorite moment on the whole album. My favorite song, on the other hand, is “FICO,” which features Stove God Cooks.
The duo manages to maintain a rhyme scheme throughout each verse, split up by Stove God’s singing on the chorus, all done over one of Pharrell’s best beats on the album. It’s a serious song of the year contender for me, with every aspect of it being near perfect. There are multiple other songs on the album that I think deserve similar praise, but I won’t go into depth with them all. This album had a level of rapping that I hadn’t seen in any recent releases from the last couple of years, and it’s crazy to see how dominant Pusha T and Malice still are after taking such a long break from their collaborative career. 9.6/10
The Maroon 