Image via Complex Original/Corbin Portillo
This year, we learned an important lesson about giving too much credence to out-of-touch cultural authorities. The Weeknd, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Baby, and Roddy Ricch all getting snubbed by the Grammys for their chart-topping, widely-praised albums was just the latest in a long line of reasons why we should stop seeking the opinions of decision-makers heading up archaic music institutions. There's certainly a larger conversation to be had about this and much work to be done, but here's an easy place to start: instead of letting stodgy, old white guys determine the value of today's art, let's allow the artists to do it themselves. After giving you our picks for the Best Canadian Albums and Songs of 2020, Complex Canada decided to reach out to some of the country's finest MCs—from OGs to emerging stars—to get their takes too. Here are the best albums of the year, according to 25 Canadian rappers.
Roy Woods
Favourite Album: Brent Faiyaz, Fuck The World
A lot of music has dropped this year. Due to the pandemic it's been a rocky road for the world but it's given us time to reflect, relax, get things done, whatever it may be. There's nothing like a good playlist to clean or relax and have a glass of champagne to. Brent Faiyaz dropped an album called Fuck The World that fits for me to do just that. There's a lot of music I appreciate and add to that playlist but this album took the cake for me. Songs like "Let Me Know" and "Been Away" take me into a whole new world where nothing but the soothing, nostalgic instrumentals and melodies with the slick, smooth talk Brent offers throughout the project are the only things that matter at that time. Can't wait to see what he has in store for the future.
TOBi
Favourite album: Benny the Butcher, Burden of Proof
My favourite album this year, bar none, was Burden of Proof by Benny The Butcher and Hit-Boy. Him and Hit-Boy are like LeBron and Wade in Miami. The project ages like wine every time you play it through. Hit-Boy’s production throughout makes the album seamless and Benny’s storytelling is as vivid as it gets. Inspiring for real.
Haviah Mighty
Favourite Album: THEY., The Amanda Tape
To be honest, I'm not sure I had a favourite album this year. I liked a lot of singles, spent time working on my own music, and definitely found selects from albums that became favourite tracks for a time period. But an entire project? That's tough... Looking back at my playlists from this year, I was heavily bumping the THEY. album, The Amanda Tape. "Count Me In" was one of my top-played songs this year, and the first song I heard from the album, so that record definitely pulled me in. When "FWM" came out, I enjoyed that record almost equally. And there’s a track called "Losing Focus," with Wale, that I really enjoy as well. Those are my top three songs from the project. And while they were released in 2019, Kaytranada's Bubba and So Much Fun by Young Thug also got a lot of spins on my devices in 2020. I was all over the map with what I listened to this year, and getting inspiration from everywhere.
Pressa
Favourite album: Houdini, underGROUND
Houdini's tape's the hardest to me, because mans came in with a whole different sound. A melodic sound. He's a GOAT from Canada. Just because Americans don't know him doesn't mean he wasn't a legend, you know what I mean? A lot of American people don't know who the fuck we are, but we're the big legends back in Canada. If you really look into our history, we're really in the field doing shit and rapping. This shit is real—a whole lot of historical moments that the world's missing. So they need to tune into us and go listen to Houdini's underGROUND. That shit's fire as hell. They got the video for it coming soon too. My dawg was taken too soon, but his music is gonna live forever. Long live Hou.
Kardinal Offishall
Favourite album: Busta Rhymes, Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God
Ay yo, 2020 was a wild year, but so much fire came out—and I mean in terms of music. Honourary mention goes out to Emanuel for his Alt Therapy EPs, parts one and two. Nobody knew about this kid eight months ago, and now he's on fire globally. But! My album of 2020 was my big bro, the legend, the icon himself, Busta Rhymes with Extinction Level Event 2. We waited for mad years for this, but yo, the beats was crazy, the rhymes was crazy, the features was wild. I enjoyed this album top to bottom. And in all the press that he did, I got to learn so much about Busta. This is somebody I've loved since I was a little kid, so shout-out to Busta!
k-os
Favourite album: The Strokes, The New Abnormal
Julian Casablancas is still the most sagan sadboy in town. The New Abnormal finds the twisted Sinatra and his gang of Gen X virtuosos sounding like 1978’s The Cars dipped in Rick Rubin's Neumann-U87 microphone Sriracha. It’s the scriven from a party cake they blew up in 2001 with the ghost of John Frusciante’s amplifier on cleanup. This isn’t my album of the year just because "Ode To The Mets" starts off with a ping-pong Atari keyboard line that’s quickly bullied out by arpeggio guitars falling from OK Computer Valhalla. Nope! Though, it could be how "Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus" connects the dots to 2009’s 11th Dimension that nerds me in. The Strokes definitely returned to form here by leaving their signature backbeat behind, and keeping their sardonic NYC indifference at play. A bold move in an era where nostalgia gets you lots of love, likes, and comments. It’s an athletic album that the jocks still won’t understand.
KILLY
Favourite album: The Weeknd, After Hours
My favorite album this year was The Weeknd’s After Hours. It was completely refreshing in a time of such disposable music. I found myself never getting tired of any of the songs, no matter the setting. Good music.
Backxwash
Favourite album: Black Dresses, Peaceful as Hell
Black Dresses have been influential in making groundbreaking soundscapes and this is just an addition to an amazing discography. Ada Rook and Devi McCallion have enough chemistry between them that this sounds incredibly sincere and very deliberate, but still maintains the organic nature of what makes them incredible. The lyrical content can be unsettling at times, but the instrumentation gives you hope, as a listener, almost as if it is saying, "Life can be hard, but there is light at the end of the tunnel." It is sad that we won’t get another album from them, but I am lucky to have experienced this legendary moment. Long live Black Dresses, long live Ada Rook, and long live Devi McCallion!
Dijah SB
Favourite album: Hayley Williams, Petals for Armor
I don’t think rap and hip-hop, mainstream-wise, had a great run this year for albums. But my favourites of 2020 easily include Hayley Williams' Petals for Armor, Flo Milli's Ho Why Is You Here, and Chloe X Halle's Ungodly Hour. And before you ask or are shocked, yes, I am a huge Hayley Williams fan. I think she had the best album across all genres. Paramore is my shit.
Tommy Genesis
Favourite album: Sevdaliza, Shabrang
One of my besties Hoza was playing this album in the car. Sevdaliza is one of those artists you hear and you immediately ask, “Who’s that?” She’s powerful, iconic. Her visuals grabbed me and twisted me in. Her voice is angelic and the album is just dipped in something you can’t wash clean of. It’s beautiful. I love it. My favorite track off the project is "Oh My God" but it’s really all a vibe.
Merkules
Favourite album: Machine Gun Kelly, Tickets to My Downfall
One of my favorite albums this year was Machine Gun Kelly's Tickets To My Downfall. The nostalgia on that project is crazy. I feel like he's single-handedly bringing back a genre that we all miss from our childhood. Super-heavy Blink 182 and Good Charlotte vibes. I feel like the features were picked carefully and the project is well executed all the way through. I'm also a fan of everything else he put out throughout 2020. My close second would probably be Pop Smoke's Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon. It's really hard to put together a posthumous album and I think 50 and everyone else did an incredible job. RIP Pop.
J Neat
Favourite album: J Neat, Lost Soul
The best album of the year, I would have to say is mine. This album, I put a lot into it—the grind was serious. Long days, nights up, you know? I feel like I had the hardest tape this year. How I started taking rap serious over the last year, this was a big accomplishment for me. My album was the best album of the year, no cap. I got a video coming out soon for "Eye for Eye."
3MFrench
Favourite album: Lil Baby, My Turn
I’d say Lil Baby's album was da hardest album of the year. I couldn’t skip a song. Just seeing a real nigga progress shows hard work and consistency can get you far, you know? My dawg CP put me onto Lil Baby's track "My Dawg" back in 2017.
Naya Ali
Favourite album: The Weeknd, After Hours
It’s a whole universe, from the sounds to the impeccable artistic direction. It’s clear that Abel consistently pushes the limits of what R&B is and how it should look like. That’s something that inspires me to push further, dig deeper, and combine all artistic elements of visuals, sounds, and textures to create a complete universe.
Classified
Favourite album: Royce da 5'9", The Allegory
My favourite album of 2020 was The Allegory by Royce da 5'9". Always been a big fan of Royce and his MC skills, but to hear him get behind the boards and produce the whole thing himself made it more personal and special. And lyrically and flow-wise, no one is really touching Royce. He's touching on a lot of real topics but at the same time showing the skills he has when writing.
Yung Trybez, Snotty Nose Rez Kids
Favourite album: Dreamville and J. Cole, Revenge of the Dreamers III: Director's Cut
As huge fans of Cole and all the artists on his label, we had to put ROTD3 on the top of our list of albums to come out of 2020. Cole did some legendary shit by sending out invitations to 100-plus artists and producers to lock them down in a studio for 10 days and just create! It was a really creative move to release the mini-doc along with the album showing their experiences, and that 18 songs were selected out of an incredible 124-plus songs created in only 10 days.
Young D, Snotty Nose Rez Kids
Favourite album: Mac Miller, Circles
Mac was a huge inspiration to us and one of the reasons why we were able to build the courage to jump into our music career. The passing of Mac was tragic to us and to everyone his music helped in the way it did. Although Circles is his posthumous album, it made it feel like Mac was still with us, even if it was just for an hour. 2020 has been a messy year that left us with a lot of time to sit in isolation. Circles really helped with that. Thanks Mac.
Zach Zoya
Favourite album: PARTYNEXTDOOR, PARTYMOBILE
My favourite album this year would have to be PARTYMOBILE by PARTYNEXTDOOR. I had been waiting for this album to come out for so long and it just came at the perfect moment. I think we went into quarantine less than a month later! PND is in my opinion the best R&B artist we got out here. He really has a knack for coming up with the catchiest melodies and there are rarely skippables on his projects. He’s very agile with his voice and can really bring out different textures to correspond to the vibe of the song. Straight-up 10/10!
Charmaine
Favourite album: Queen Naija, Misunderstood
I loved it because it reflected a lot on the daily struggles of the everyday woman. We fight to be heard, understood, and empathized. She went through so much and still managed to reach her dream. It’s not easy being a mother in music. We have to be both caretaker and breadwinner. But evidently it’s not impossible. I watch her journey from prior to now and I am more than inspired. She allowed me to understand that as a mother, you don’t have to count your dreams out... You determine your future. Nothing can stop you and that’s what I applied to myself. Having a four-year-old son is not easy. At all. I struggle everyday to juggle it... All I know is it’s not impossible. Therefore, I can achieve it with the RIGHT amount of work. And I plan on that. Every. Single. Day.
Lou Phelps
Favourite album: YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Top
This album... wow. This album grew on me to the point where I would listen to it every single day. Lots of heaters in there. From “Right Foot Creep” to “Big Bankroll,” no skips. This one is my favourite. Honorable mention: Aminé's Limbo. Both pretty powerful albums but I had more fun listening to Top.
Friyie
Favourite album: Nas, King's Disease
Nas has always been one of my favourite MCs. I fell in love with Illmatic and Stillmatic growing up, so King's Disease was full circle for me. The new perspective of him actually achieving what he set out for was satisfying as an artist/entrepreneur. That project is so hard; Hit-Boy went nuts on the production and I believe they work really well together. Hearing Nas get in his storytelling bag was dope, and the message of downsides in being Kings and Queens making us who we are is exactly what the game needed.
Just John
Favourite album: Yves Tumor, Heaven to a Tortured Mind
This album arrived right when I needed it. Yves Tumor is an inspiration and the truth—the writing is so well structured and the production is a whole dreamy universe. It just puts an anchor to the post-genre era we've been in for years. It's exciting to see artists like Yves Tumor break through because it paves the way for more experimental projects to be embraced. I can't think of 2020 without thinking about it. My favourite record from the offering is "Strawberry Privilege."
Swagger Rite
Favourite album: Benny the Butcher, Burden of Proof
My pick for best rap album of 2020 is Burden of Proof by Benny the Butcher. It has a classic '90s feel that may be new to this generation, but it stood out to me. I definitely see his vision on this one.
Justin Trash, UPTOWN BOYBAND
Favourite album: Curtis Water, Pity Party
My favourite album of 2020 is Pity Party by Curtis Waters. The project is one of the most genuine pieces of music I’ve heard in a long time. Curtis is a guy being himself with absolutely no filters.
ShaqIsDope
Favourite album: Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist, Alfredo
I have to give it to Freddie Gibbs. That’s one of my favourite rappers and he actually just got nominated for a Grammy this year for that project, so I have to give it to him. It gave me that old-school feel, like that real essence of hip-hop. You can really tell that the project was conceptually thought out very well. It was produced by The Alchemist and it was very cohesive for me. The lyrics hit. He told his story and added even more depth on certain things and his journey on making it to the rap game, which I really appreciated from a fan point of view.