Trying to cherry-pick highlights from "DAMN." is an exercise in futility: practically every track is superb, more a matter of taste than anything else. It's simpler to isolate the one bum note: "God" sounds like an Akon joint from the mid-Noughties.

Black Messiah is an incredible album, and an essential addition to D'Angelo's discography.

It's a historical artifact on an otherwise up-to-date album, one which is more important now that hip-hop needs a refresher on the essence of skills and the value of balancing the materialistic with the intellectual.

channel ORANGE is filled with brave music.

While Labor Days isn't perfect it is definately the underground Ghostface's most satisfying release to date.

I admire how empowered and unencumbered Ray BLK is, taking her time to release this album the way she wanted, choosing her own lane and not being forced to speed up or slow down for anybody else. I think you’ll enjoy it too.

He may be young and he may like to have fun, but he's also gotten depths of thoughtfulness that you don't have to dig deep for before they shine.

Little Simz is at her best when she is coming out all guns blazing, but a little too often on this album her hyper lyricism is unnecessarily hampered by mellow beats that don’t match her fire. “Grey Area” deserves all of the accolades it has received. Little Simz is a talented rapper with a broad range. She is raps with fierceness, attitude, sensitivity, and intelligence.

The reason ArchAndroid is so good is because, from minute one, it is so apparent that its author loves music. And for those of us that love music, that's a real treat.

This album succeeds in its goals despite the heartbreaking passing of Phife Dawg while it was being recorded, and even though I had accepted "The Love Movement" as their last chapter all those years ago, this is a much more fitting end.

Rapsody succeeds in crafting a love-letter to the oft-overlooked, oft-denigrated minority that is the Black female.

Big Boi has exquisite taste in music, guests, lyrics and choruses--not to mention the knowledge and expertise of how to put a classic album together. And whoever bet against him just lost. Big time.

The only thing you really need to know is that no matter how you cop RTJ2, whether it's as a free digital download, a physical copy from Mass Appeal or the super-expensive "I'm On The Guestlist" supporter package you're getting more than your money's worth.

Because of the themes it addresses, “RTJ4” is indeed a hip-hop album chaotically reflective of the modern times and much needed for the same reason.

Several aspects of the sonic structure on otherwise well-made beats and well-laid vocals sound blurred and mashed together. It is not a pretty listen by any means unless the listener is willing to bear the pain of a weak recording process.

Big Fish Theory sees Staples evolve as a rapper and an artist, and prove himself as a singular talent in hip-hop.

Here's an album of beautiful R&B songs, and she's chosen to intersperse them with messages of black empowerment.

Illmatic by Nas is a 10/10 classic hip hop album. It's essential, and that's undeniable. Illmatic XX when taken as a whole, isn't.

One listen is all that is needed to convince you that the Clipse have dropped one of the best rap albums of the year.

Saigon has had the time to craft an epic hip-hop album that's a fitting testament to his skill and his sheer force of will.

One can't fairly make the claim that "Pt. II" picks up right where the original left off, but this is the best Raekwon we've heard lyrically and musically in a long time, and barring a late entry this should be the best Wu-Tang related album of 2009.

This is an overall above average album that needed a little more of something--a little more 9th Wonder, a little more swagger, a little more about the world of today--and possibly just a little less angst.

She’s not mired in self-pity, but she is also not blindly overconfident and thoughtless. This combination of bravado and humility makes “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert” such a fantastic album. It shows an artists who is not afraid to grow, take chances, and let it all out there. All of that make it one of the better albums I’ve heard this year.

“Call Me If You Get Lost” is undoubtedly a strong showing by Tyler, The Creator, to say the very least. Despite this album’s fantastic structuring and delivery, however, something that is always to be expected with this artist is that what he creates next will undoubtedly be even better.

The irony of releasing three beautiful albums it that even a great album like "RTJ3" can still wind up being ranked third in descending order. As good as it is nothing here can top "Crown," "Angel Duster" or "Early" for me. By no means is this in any way a negative. It's like saying you're going to listen to your third favorite Ice Cube or third favorite Michael Jackson album--you're still going to wind up listening to some brillaint s#$t over and over again no matter what.

Gibbs and Alc show no signs of allowing the credits to roll.

In a year of political and social upheaval in 2016 he reached deep down to make a very personal statement from beginning to end on Black America Again and it shows in every word he wrote.

If one can express disappointment in undun, it's that it sets out to tell a story and tells it well, but delivers a short story or a novella where fans of The Roots would have undoubtedly preferred a full length novel.