A pall has been hanging over hip-hop this year: the ongoing criminalization of being a rapper looms large. The genre has faced over-policing and sensationalism before, dating back to the NYPD’s rap intelligence unit in 1999, but the scope of the crusade has expanded: lyrics continue to be treated like transcripts by the law, rappers are painted as crime lords and their imprints are characterized as mob outfits. There has been no shortage of abuses, including New York City getting drill rappers removed from the Rolling Loud bill, but one in particular has reverberated across the rap landscape: Young Thug, Gunna, and the members of YSL record label being rounded up and charged in a RICO case. It feels like the Atlanta rap scene, the epicenter of hip-hop, is still recovering. 26 YSL associates were arrested on criminal conspiracy charges in May, and 25 remain in jail, despite the absurdity of those charges. Its reverberations have been quietly felt throughout the rap world. Thug’s lyrics are being weaponized against him. What does a genre built on words do when those words can, and almost certainly will, be held against its artists in court?
But hip-hop’s story is one of surviving adversity, of creating under disadvantageous circumstances, and so the culture has persisted, as it always does, and rappers continued to raise the bar for bars. Some observers have been looking at the tea leaves (streaming metrics) and wondering if the genre’s dominance is waning. That’s an industry concern, not an artistic one. In reality, rap’s influence has never been stronger, and its selection has rarely been more compelling. The rap of 2022 found veterans setting new career benchmarks, breakout rappers rising to meet a fractured monoculture, and rising rappers making bold, position-redefining statements. Some rappers chose to stay the course this year, growing bolder within their signature styles, and others chose to detonate the monuments built in their image and reimagine their messages. In the wake of everything, rap reunited and revitalized old partnerships, revisited and critiqued old haunts, unearthed powerful new voices and even helped plug a new Minions movie. These are hip-hop’s 20 best albums of 2022, a formidable bunch reminding everyone rap can’t and won’t be stopped. —Sheldon Pearce
”DISAGREE WITH THE LIST BUT CHECK THE LIST OUT AND SEE IF YOU AGREE WITH IT: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/09/1134903130/the-20-best-hip-hop-albums-of-2022
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