Staff Picks AOTY 2015 - @Best_ofda_Worst

2015 was a great year personally for me, it was a year I found my stride and decided what kind of man I wanted to be. I made a lot of memories in 2015 each with the intention of making sure that I am doing whats best for me professionally and doing what makes me happy. In addition to myself having a great year, there were so many gems that dropped in 2015 as well to my regret many of which i was not able to listen to, unless I felt as though I just had to hear that album thus bearing my top 5 albums of 2015.

Number Five Future: Dirty Sprite 2

In 2015 i was on a different wave where i spent most of the year listening to old school hip-hop and occasionally whenever I turned on the radio or went out this guy Future was playing and honestly speaking he might be tied with only one person in terms of who dominated air waves this year.  With so many future singles out I had to give this a listen. Trap N*ggas, Blow a Bag, Freak Hoes, etc this album had nothing but hits. Club banger after club banger and for the kind of artist Future is he did a great job with this one. Although I wouldn’t count Future as a lyricist he knows exactly what his fans want and he did not disappoint when it came to DS2

Number Four Fetty Wap - Self Title

Again not the greatest lyricist of 2015, but he dominated every radio station with only 4 songs (679, Again, My Way, Trap Queen) in addition to his airwave takeover this man opened up the door wide for all Jersey Artist to follow and thankfully so Garden State MCs are bum rushing forward on to finally be able to put Jersey on the map and solidify its place in hip-hop next to NYC, Cali, ATL, Houston, and Chicago. It's been long over due since an artist from Jersey the whole state is proud to claim and with his distinctive vocals and trade mark “yeah baby” Fetty was able to break records and be He became the first male rapper with three songs occupying the top 20 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart since Eminem did so in 2013. To be honest, I just really like the album.

Number Three Chance the Rapper, Donnie Trumpet and The Social Experiment: Surf

My whole summer probably sounded like this album, just feel good vibes song after song.  This album just makes you happy when you hear it. I mean really, listen to songs like Slip Slide, Wanna Be Cool, and Familiar; just jam out with your peoples and stop acting tough for a minute. That enjoy your life and spread good vibes kind of album.  I enjoyed this album very much as it always boost my mood when I hear it.

Number Two The Game: The Documentary 2

I remember the 1st time I ever heard Game rap. I was sitting there playing Def Jam Fight For New York in my boy’s house and I just heard the bass kicking from the radio, at 1st i thought Joe Budden had a new song out, like who else was that nice at that time? Then my boy told me naw, this is Game, he’s 50’s new artist.  The song was Higher which would later be on the album The Documentary. Ten years later, Game releases the Documentary 2 and 2.5. Hearing this you would hope that this isn’t some sort of marketing ploy because Game might be losing some of his edge and then you hear the album and all fears are put away. This album brought back that feeling I first had when i heard Game for the 1st time. Listening to this album, in the car, in the gym, walking down the street; it gives you that aggressive rhyme style that Game is famous for while backing up his style with bars. This was my 2nd favorite album that I heard this year a true gem from 2015.

Number One Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly

I've always liked Kendrick Lamar because he makes music I feel like I can directly relate to, almost as if he is telling a story I was there to witness as well so when I heard To Pimp a Butterfly, I was amazed at how much it correlated to my life at the time.  Listening to TPAB I really thought that maybe Kendrick was stalking me all of 2013 and 2014 because how else could he have known to make a song like u, or Alright? How could he have known I needed a song like I? I connected to this album on a emotional level because when I first heard it it was at a time where my life was finally on a come up. I was on my way to graduating college, I was finally comfortable, with my religion, and most of all I learned the true value of loving myself and then this funky album drops and its like Kendrick was going through the same thing too. I’m happy a rapper like Kendrick is in the game, someone I can relate to who makes music for people like me who don’t have that ability to rap at his level, so I thank him for making such a great album, its nice to know that a point in my life has a soundtrack and I can always use this album as a bookmark to where I was at a point in time

All of the albums I chose as a top 5 of the year vary greatly from each other from trap music to pure lyricism but I feel as though in essence this is hip hop, and dynamic collaborations of different lifestyles and emotions to describe the human experience through the environments that one may have been placed in.  Hip Hop is a phenomenal genre of music that is has the ability to reach so many demographics of people. 2015 was a great year in hip hop as it showcased that, Hopefully 2016 will take note on all the positives of '15 and replicate and enhance the good that Hip-hop has done.