Seen on some of the biggest projects to release in the recent years, Chicago rapper, Noname (FKA Noname Gypsy) finally released her debut album “Telefone”. As expected, the album was nothing less than great and filled with features from Smino, Saba, Raury, and more. Telefone has opened a lot of doors for Noname — giving her rave reviews, stand-out songs, and even a headlining tour!

Anderson .Paak has had an amazing year with the release of his grammy nominated album “Malibu” as well as various high acclaim from major publications and also earning a spot on XXL freshman 16′ list. If none of that grabbed you, then maybe the collab album between .Paak and producer Knxwledge will. “Yes Lawd!” is the duo’s debut project together, but they have been making music for quite sometime. .Paak a and Knxwledge bring fourth singles like: “Suede”, “Link Up”, and more that make the album complete.

T.D.E’s reigning champ packs a huge punch with the release of his third LP, Blank Face LP. After releasing singles’ “THat Part” and “Groovy Tony”, it was almost certain that Schoolboy Q would be releasing one of the biggest albums to drop in 2016. The slept on Blank Face LP welcomed plenty of big names as far as production and features go like; Kanye West, Miguel, Jadakiss, Metro Boomin, Swizz Beats, DJ Dahi, and so much more. Scoring number 1 on billboard and also receiving a grammy nomination, these are just amongst the many reasons that Blank Face LP made our list.

This talented Maryland rapper has shown nothing but greatness coming off of his 2015 break-through album SubTrap, followed by this year’s conceptual project Empty Bank. Empty Bank is nothing less than classic rags to riches stories and unique rap about fame/fortune. But, Jay IDK delivers his braggadocios raps in depth about what the fame and fortune really means and what it brings. This man’s a surefire star in 2017, mark our words.

Ty Dolla $ign delivered one of the year’s best projects with Campaign, and for whatever reason it seemed to have gotten overlooked. It came at a crucial time in the year as it spoke to the various things related to the historic 2016 election. Led by the title track, featuring Future, Ty gave us a gem-filled body of work this year that should not go unnoticed.