If you're reading this, you're right on fuckin time! Also, if you're reading this, you have managed to survive another year with your boy (Thank you, Korean Jesus) and like I usually do at the beginning of each year, here's my recap of 2015, regarding music and social media. I will honestly say that this year's lists were more thought out as I've spent the last several weeks literally listening to every rap and R&B album that I happened to miss throughout the year, and I didn't miss much (1 time for Apple Music, which in my opinion may have been the greatest thing since Napster). If there was something I missed, then those motherfuckers need to work on their distribution cuz I fine tooth combed everything rap and R&B, so with that said, I'm proud to say that this is the most accurate, thought out "Tubby Blog Awards" out of all of them. Unlike last year, where R&B seemed to be the more dominate genre, rap music came out strong and in my opinion, was the better genre, with several great albums, especially in an era where the full length album is becoming more & more obsolete. Here are my picks for the best and worst in music and like I normally do, I even add some social media commentary as well, cuz let's face it, some of you are just begging for the attention… Ha!
Disclaimer: My picks are based strictly off my taste, and have nothing to do with social popularity and/or soundscan numbers. This is nothing more than the opinion of one man. One man who happens to know and care more about this music shit than most. One man, who sees everything that's going on with music and social media. One man, who has been around, lurking on social media since the Friendster days… And one man, who doesn't give a flying fuck about anyone else's opinion but his own, ha. So agree, disagree, whatever, but these are my picks and the reasons why. Happy new year, kids. Let's get to it!
Top rap albums:
1. At Long Last ASAP - ASAP Rocky
2. All Love Lost - Joe Budden
3. The Incredible True Story - Logic
4. Documentary 2 - The Game
5. Darkest Before Dawn - Pusha T
6. When It's Dark Out - G Eazy
7. Shadow Of A Doubt - Freddie Gibbs
8. The Album About Nothing - Wale
9. Up For Days - Belly
10. Black Market - Rick Ross
The #1 & 2 slots were tough for me, as I went back and forth with who would be numero uno. Rocky put out a solid ass album that came out at the beginning of the year, and Joe (who has been one of my favorite rappers/entertainers for a long time) put out the best (and maybe final?) album of his career with an emotionally driven LP that I listen to from front to back, regularly. Overall, Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye came out on top due to the fact that his album was almost double in length and still solid all the way through (which usually in my opinion, the longer the album, the more potential for "filler records") and for being out for almost the entire year, never lost it's value as I continue to listen to the album now.
R&B/Vocal album of 2015
1. Beauty Behind The Madness - Weeknd
2. Badlands - Halsey
3. Purpose - Justin Beiber
4. Fetty Wap - Fetty Wap
5. Royalty - Chris Brown
Haha, y'all knew gotdamn well, Abel was gonna take that shit, right? Ha. If you listen to R&B, then there's really no need to explain this one.
Favorite Rap Records (In No Particular Order)
1. Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2 - ASAP Rocky
2. The Ride - Wale feat. Jeremih
3. Slaughtermouse - Joe Budden
4. Narcos - Freddie Gibbs
5. Might Not - Belly feat. Weeknd
6. Back 2 Back - Drake
7. King Kunta - Kendrick Lamar
8. Best Friend - Yelawolf feat. Eminem
9. March Madness - Future
10. Pullin Up - Meek Mill feat. The Weeknd
11. MFTR - Pusha T
12. Play No Games - Big Sean feat. Chris Brown & Ty Dolla Sign
13. Blacker The Berry - Kendrick Lamar
14. M's - ASAP Rocky feat. Lil Wayne
15. Sorry - Rick Ross feat. Chris Brown
16. Drifting - G-Eazy feat. Chris Brown
17. Retribution - Pusha T feat. Kehlani
18. Know Yourself - Drake
19. God (Remix) - Jeezy feat. Nas
20. Birdman Hand Rubs - Wati Heru
Favorite R&B/Vocal records
Acquainted - The Weeknd
Hotline Bling - Drake
Hold You Down - DJ Khaled feat. Chris Brown, August Alsina & Jeremih
As You Are - The Weeknd
Love Yourself - Justin Beiber
In2 - WSTRN
LSD - ASAP Rocky
Here - Alessia Cara
Hello - Adele
Catfish - Tamar Braxton
Favorite Instrumentals
Rearview - Freddie Gibbs (Produced by Blair North)
Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2 - ASAP Rocky (Produced by Nez & Rio)
Back To Back - Drake (Produced by Daxz & 40)
Electric Body - ASAP Rocky feat. Schoolboy Q (Produced by Hector Delgado & Danger Mouse)
Slaughtermouse - Joe Budden (Produced by Araab Muzik)
March Madness - Future (Produced by 808 Mafia)
The Blacker The Berry - Kendrick Lamar (Produced by Boi 1da & Kaz)
Retribution - Pusha T feat. Kehlani (Produced by Timbaland)
LSD - ASAP Rocky (Produced by Finatik N Zac, Hector Delgado and Jim Jonsin)
King Kunta - Kendrick Lamar (Produced by Sounwave & Terrace Martin)
Overall Albums of the Year
Beauty Behind The Madness - The Weeknd
At Long Last ASAP - ASAP Rocky
All Love Lost - Joe Budden
Purpose - Justin Beiber
The Incredible True Story - Logic
Badlands - Halsey
When It's Dark Out - G Eazy
Documentary 2 - The Game
Darkest Before Dawn - Pusha T
Shadow Of A Doubt - Freddie Gibbs
My overall favorite artist brought his A-Game this year, with "Beauty Behind The Madness", a flawless (not 1 bad record on that entire bitch) album that was leaps and bounds better than his previous album, which was still a great LP ("Kissland") that received some constructive criticism. The 3rd most beloved wigger in the game (1 time for Mathers & Timberlake) dropped a very impressive album with "Purpose" and Weeknd's homegirl, R&B new jack, Halsey surprised everyone with a great album called "Badlands". Shit, even that whiteboy from the Bay, Gerald, surprised us all (and probably even himself) with "When It's Dark Out" a great ass album that even I was excited about, and I'm not really a G Eazy fan. As you can see though, rap music was the dominate genre with this particular list.
Favorite Rappers in 2015
Joe Budden
Action Bronson
ASAP Rocky
Pusha T
The Game
Budden made his way to the top of this year's rappers list, off the strength of his great album, the final chapter to his "Love" trilogy, "All Love Lost", along with his very entertaining podcast, "I'll Name This Podcast Later" and his appearance on VH1's "Couples Therapy" which I surprisingly, found pretty entertaining. Budden is an acquired taste, for sure, but as a 30-somethings rapper who prefers making music about his dealings with women, relationships, the struggles of life in general, and being an outcast in the culture, over lying about thuggin, ballin and living lavishly in his music, Budden is my go to guy this year. Bronson was a very close 2nd, with his delightful show on Munchies "Fuck, That's Delicious" along with his album "Mr.Wonderful" and the hilariously entertaining videos that accompanied it. I'm excited to see what Bam Bam brings in 2016.
Best Album/Single artwork
To Pimp A Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar
Fetty Wap - Fetty Wap
Love Story - Yelawolf
All Love Lost - Joe Budden
Wildheart - Miguel
Favorite Visuals (video)
Actin Crazy - Action Bronson
Easy Rider - Action Bronson
Hotline Bling - Drake
Alright - Kendrick Lamar
In2 Remix - WSTRN feat. Various Artists
2015's Most Disappointing
What A Time To Be Alive - Future/Drake
If You're Reading This It's Too Late - Drake
Compton - Dr.Dre
Note: I'm not saying these albums sucked (well, the Future/Drake album sucked. There's no other way to say it. I blame Future & Metro Boomin for that, though. "30 for 30" was the only record I enjoyed and that sounded like a bonus track, that was taken off a Drake album, am I right?) but they didn't live up to my expectations. I felt like Drake's wannabe mix tape (shit's not a fucking mix tape by the way. If it has a barcode on it, and it's all original music, and it's a full length, fucking LP… It's not a mix tape, breh.) had way too many filler tracks and as good as "Compton" is (the production is incredible), I think we all wanted 2001 Dr.Dre. Sorry guys.
Tubby's Annual Death Wish List
Tyga
Tyga
Stitches
Martin Shkreli
Tyga
Top Podcasts
Brilliant Idiots - Charlamagne Tha God & Andrew Shultz
Joe Rogan Podcast - Joe Rogan
I'll Name This Podcast Later - Joe Budden, Marissa Mendez & Rory
The Fighter & The Kid - Brenden Schaub & Bryan Callen
Rap Radar Podcast - Elliot Wilson and B.Dot Miller
Biggest L's of 2015
Suge Knight
Meek Mill
Tyga
Stitches
Lil Wayne
Haha, I don't even need to speak on these guys. Twitter did enough of that for me, this year. Hahahahaha!
Hottest Chicks on Social Media (Local)
Note: these individuals were placed on this list because they caught my attention, either from their pure beauty, the wittiness of their material and/or because of their ambition and drive. I'll let you determine and decipher which one applied to which, ha!
@RavenMcAfee
@julz9oh7
@BrookeBurnett93
@CatastropheKait
@Erin_Wolverton
@Killllaa_
@AliceSojuKitten
@Anastauciakmcd (IG)
@lilbrowneskimo
@letuligasenoa
@delaneydmac (IG)
Favorite People To Follow On Social Media
These individuals were placed here cuz they kept me entertained. Plain & simple. I was either laughing with them, or laughing at them. Either way, they did what they were supposed to do, and for that, I salute them.
@AKBrizzle
@SamsonDarrah
@KeezyFLYdiv
@HeyyDarius
@AK_BMoney
@Dougiefresco_
@howyurderighn
@BrookeBurnett93
Michael Cofey (Starbuks) (FB)
@SnarleyBrown (IG)
Tubby's Annual Guilty Pleasure Award
It felt so wrong, but it feels so good, haha!
1. Fetty Wap
2. Unlock Da Swag - Rae Sremmurd
3. Cheerleader - Omi
4. March Madness - Future
5. Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) - Silento
I mean c'mon… How could you NOT like Fetty, aka 2015 Nelly. And yes, I sing and dance to the Nae Nae song with my daughter. No shame… Okay, maybe a lil shame.
Top Local Rappers in 2015
1. Darius
2. Keezy
3. Muldoon Manny
4. Tak Havoc
5. Snarley Brown
6. Ben Swann
7. Starbuks
8. Fleetwood Malone
9. Bishop Slice
10. Money Mann
Okay… So before some of you rappers get all riled up, I'ma tell you how this list was calculated. It's quite simple. Quality of work + quantity of work + social relevance + drive/ambition. These are artists who put out material in 2015, stayed consistent with their product/brand and stayed on my radar though out the year. This is not my "Favorite Local Rappers" list cuz if it was, a few of these gentlemen would not be on that list. This is top rappers of the year. Argue amongst yourselves, rappers.
Tubby's Favorite Local Rap Songs in 2015 (That were not released via 907hiphop/Blade Gang)
1. Dirty Bird - Madd Angler feat. Darius (Produced by Johnny Kohler)
2. Top Floor - The Sky Division
3. Back On (Eastside) - Darius
4. Private Caller - The Sky Division
5. Bitch, I'm From Fairbanks - Bishop Slice feat. Starbuks
2015's Hottest Chicks In The Game
1. Tinashe
2. Ayesha Curry
3. Amber Rose
4. Halsey
5. FKA Twigs
2015's Worst Songs List
Classic Man - Jidenna
Wanna Know (Drake Diss) - Meek Mill
Jumpman - Drake/Future
Sausage - Lil Mama
Anything by Young Thug
Tubby's Favorite MMA Fighters in 2015
Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Conor McGregor
Ronda Rousey
Luke Rockhold
Robbie Lawler
Aaaaaand there you fuckin have it, kids. These are my lists for this year. I put a lot of time into em'. I hope you enjoyed them, I hope they made you happy/angry/depressed and I hope you spend the next 3-6 months analyzing this and using it to motivate you to be even greater/more ignorant and entertaining as we roll into this new year. Hopefully the music/iTunes Gods bless us with wonderful music in all genres (I think next year, I may add more genres to the list. We'll see) and hopefully we all live long enough to meet here, this time next year. Special shout out to Raven, aka "Lil Mama 3-peat" aka my Mexican Ronda Rousey (Holly Holm's coming sooner or later, mamacita, ha!), to AKBrizzle for keeping me laughing (that #TubbysManCaveProject episode is up next, bruh bruh!) and to Darius Dossman, who in my opinion was the hardest working rapper/producer in Alaska this year. Finally, like I normally do at the end of these things… here's a new record from us over here at Blade Gang. "The Deal" by Starbuks, Fleetwood Malone and Kenfolk, produced by Keezy of The Sky Division. Enjoy, and good night!
- Scarface.
