On his new album, Life Is Good, we're hearing the most locked-in Nas has been in years, and the results are awe-inspiring.

While his darker material seems unchanged by fame, it’s really his lighter, more radio-friendly material that gets taken to the next level on Oxymoron.

This is more than an album, this is a moment in music history. Enjoy it.

The truth is that while far from perfect, this is a more complex and well executed album than the vast majority of anything we'll get this year. Or put more simply, who's really challenging Kanye West and Jay-Z for hip-hop's throne. Seriously. Who?

At a time when many of his rap peers are even more desperately changing their sound to stay relevant, Ghostface Killah is cementing his relevancy by diving even deeper into what always made him such a unique artist.

This has the feel of a full, complete body of work, one embedded with nuances, themes and a larger, interwoven framework that nobody could digest in one listen.

Together the two vets have created a work that's worthy of some serious recognition.

From "Jeopardy" on, Run the Jewels 2 is uppercut after uppercut.

Overall, Born Sinner is an impressive effort.

It’s ambitious, it’s diverse, it’s exciting and when you hear you hear what made Dre a legend in the first place. No matter what the era, stream, CD or vinyl, Dr. Dre is just on another level.

The music on Black Messiah is quietly powerful, which is the most powerful form of power.

This isn't a great rap album, it's just a great album. Period.

We’re clearly listening to one of the most purely talented artists of our generation working at her peak, or at least somewhere close.

For two solo albums now Andre Patton has not merely proved that he's a capable solo artist, he's helping to redefine what a hip-hop album can sound like.

undun clocks in at well under an hour, Questlove said he wants it to be "ADD proof", a running time that also magnifies the importance of the third of the album that's purely instrumental. It's on these vocal-free tracks that The Roots truly show what they're capable of.

It has its own moments of pop-leaning lightness, but there's more than enough revolutionary material here to leave the faithful satiated.

Section80 may not be a sacred text but I've got the feeling that in five years it may just prove to be prophetic.

While it would have been easy for Tech to overpower listeners with fast rhymes and monstrous beats, on the whole Something Else is an intensely serious and sometimes even quiet album than isn’t afraid to tackle issues more rappers wouldn’t come near.

Ultimately, Trilogy is more of a sonic landmark then it is a new work.

K.R.I.T.'s created another album that will stand the test of time with 4EvaNaDay.

There is no denying that with his knack for catchy melodies, descriptive songwriting, and excellent beat selection, Chance displays qualities on Acid Rap that have the potential to catapult him into superstardom. As a project itself, Acid Rap is one sweet, smooth musical journey that grapples with some serious topics in a pleasing manner.

There's no doubting that he's gone from a freshman to a full-fledged member of R&B's graduating class with Kaleidoscope Dream.

The album’s content is narrow, and while there are certainly no duds here, things do get a bit predictable as the album progresses. However, the constant non-sequiturs and familiar production doesn’t take a whole lot away from the overall value of the collection.

A well-produced, collective backdrop is the foundation of Cilvia’s creative world, but it is Rashad’s poetically penned, energetically delivered raps that gently tip the scale towards a point of well-rounded balance.

Gambino's strength is also his weakness. As a TV writer and a comedian he's naturally focused on punchlines and creating moments, which at his best is enormously entertaining and at the worst forced

Payback sounds more like a catharsis, an extended musical middle finger filled with the kind of instrumental interludes, frenetic humor and unconstrained personality that will leave heads nodding, and Clear Channel running in the opposite direction.

On the whole though, while it might not be a classic, Seen It All will go down in hip-hop history as yet another dope album from an artist who's had an enormous (although under-rated) impact on rap.

Radioactive [is] simultaneously the most and least mainstream friendly album of the year. It's a seeming contradiction that only someone who was supremely confident in their identity as an artist could pull off.