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Best Albums from Each Month in 2025 · Hip-Hop Now Podcast

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Jipop Now podcast. If you from the future,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: you know what you do show as out of so
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: disrespect to leg.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Like hip hop and say this today.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Let's get right into the business. Ky, what up y'all?
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I am your host Vegas and this it's hip Hop
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Now Podcasts, a podcast specifically designed to keep you caught
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: up on all things hip hop music and culture that
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: happened throughout the week. But welcome to a sort of
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: kind of bonus episode.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Uh real.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Quick shout out to those who have been listening on
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  Speaker 2: audio form, whether it's Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I appreciate
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  Speaker 2: you in any other audio podcasting platform you prefer. But
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  Speaker 2: also out out to those watching right here on YouTube
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  Speaker 2: if you haven't already, please subscribe today. We are at
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: twenty one thousand subscribers and climbing slowly now.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: But so what still going up? You know ours?
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: I guess so what I'd further do. Let's get right
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: into the business now. At the beginning of the year,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I had all these ideas and I'm not even going
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: to pretend like they're original ideas, but I think they're
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: cool ideas that I see other podcasters other people on
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: YouTube do when it comes to content. And of course
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: opinions are subjective, just like mine. But I wanted to
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: every month just tell you, the hip hop fan that's
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: always kind of got your ear to the street, what's
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: good was happening in the music, what's dope?
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: You know?
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: And sometimes at the end of the year, when you
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: see all these lists, it could be overwhelming for someone
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: who maybe only has time to listen to one or
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: two at a time.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: So releasing a best of the month.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Podcasts or you know, as a part of my podcast
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: every month was a great idea to me, because that
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: way you could say, Okay, let me see what was.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Good in January.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Boom bat, I'm gonna go listen to those, and then
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: by the time we get to the end of February
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: you might be ready for some more's like, oh well,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: let me see if anything hot dropped in February, and
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: so on and so forth. While with that being said,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: if you subscribe to this channel, you listen and watch frequently,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: you know, I didn't do that, Okay, A lot of
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: other opportunities came up.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: I tried a couple of things.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Like interviews, which I may have another one coming up
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: for you pretty soon. But I think the best way
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: to do this ahead of a new year starting in
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: January is to just recap up until September. That means
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: January twenty twenty five to September twenty twenty five, of
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: what were the best albums of those months. Now, I
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: know kind of contradicts the things where it says, yo,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: you know there's still a lot of albums to go
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: and listen to.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Well, you listen to what you want, but please.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Believe in each month it is not I'm not gonna
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: name all the albums that were good or dope, because
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: in some months, like July, they were a lot. So
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna pick what I thought was the best from
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: each month and hang in there with me. I'm not
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: gonna say much about everything, but I'm gonna say enough.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: So let's get started. January twenty twenty five Jim Jones
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: at the Church Steps, hands down for me, best album
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: of that month, released in a slow month after the holidays,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: but nevertheless a good enough album that it has been
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: in my Best of the Year category so far.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: I mean we almost over.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: So February I Am God and Ill City City of
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: God did an interview where I Am God. You should
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: check that out also when you go check the album out.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Davies and Ransom Final Call. That one I was a
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: little on, but then it grew on me and I
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: was like, Yo, this is dope. What am I thinking?
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Smith and Wesson Infinity probably forgot about that? Right dope album?
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: And Westside gunn twelve you already know how I feel
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: about that. March Saba and no Id from the collection
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: of Saba and no Id Very dope album. DJ Fresh
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: Late Night Freeway Vibes Part six. I was rocking to
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: this in February. You could have told me it wasn't
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: like summertime or something, and maybe the weather had changed
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: by then, right, because I don't think our February was
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: that crazy. Nevertheless, very dope album. That's an instrumental album,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: by the way. April Lloyd Banks AO and Part three
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Very dope for the Boom Back We want Bars? You
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: got them right there? What's Khalifa Cushion Orange Juice? I
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: was like so so on this and I kind of
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: liked it, but over time it's really grown on me.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: It's cool, it's dope. I think it's a decent follow
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: up to the original. Even though I may have reviewed
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: it in a way that seemed like it wasn't that good,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: I thought it was cool for what it was. And again,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: even when I review album, sometimes you know, time passes
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: and I go back and I say, let me give
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: you another listen, And now it's not new, and I'm
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: hearing things maybe I haven't heard in the previous three listens, right,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: But nevertheless, sometimes it's bees like that with music. Sometimes
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: you go back and be like, now, I messed with this.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: This is cool. Not one of the best of the
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: year to me, but cool. Also in April, Fly Anakin
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: The Forever Dream.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: I didn't listen to this INNA because I didn't know
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: it was out. I might have heard it in the summertime.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: I saw somebody else. Matter of fact, when the best
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: when everybody started putting out their best of twenty twenty
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: five so far, and I watched a couple of videos
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: and I saw this album pop up by fly Anakin,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: and I was like, I kind of like the way
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: they talking about it. I'm not the biggest fan of
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: that dude, but let me check it out.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: It's good.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: It's good, and I'm mad I didn't really get to
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: it until the summer, but hey, there you have it.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: May of twenty twenty five.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Master Killer Balance another album that in May I did
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: not listen to. I might have listened to this in August, No, lie,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: and I just when I heard it, I was like wow.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: In April, I think the Wool dropped that album and
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: I thought it was okay. But as you can see,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: I haven't mentioned it because there's no desire to go
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: back to It's just better music out, including Master Killer's Balance.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: Master Killer's album Balance sounds like what the Wool album
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: should have sounded like. And I don't even hate that
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Wool album. It's just I think this is better one
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: hundred Grand Royce. It's Personal Part two, very dope album.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Bars the beats. He's excellent beat picker, like he knows,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: first of all, he knows how to choose dope beats,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: but also he knows how to rap over them joints.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: And it's almost like how Rick Ross right, Rick Ross
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: will have some of the dopest beats, even if you
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: feel like he might be saying the same thing it
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: doesn't matter. He knows what he's doing when he's rapping
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: to those beats. So same thing for one hundred grand
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: Royce here. Also it may exhibit Kingmaker Very Dope album
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: June Davies and Young Chris Fine dining.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: This is the only thing I have down for June.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: I probably listened to it the entire month they put
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: out a deluxe. I was like this, this fits this album.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: I like this collaboration better than Davi's and Ransom, And
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: you know, Ransom is crazy.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: With the bars.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: But what I like about this versus that collaboration, this
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: collaboration with Young Chris. It's still got some rapping, It's
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: still got some bars, but it's like real cool, you
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, Like when I mean cool, like
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: I'm talking like phone tap cool, you know, more money more.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying they nas and AZ, but they sound
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: good as a group. I think they sound more balanced,
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: whereas Ransom and Davi's can sound like extremely monotone because
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: their flows, really their flows and the inflection and their
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: voices never really change. So it feels more like they
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: just taking turn rapping even if you like it, right,
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: because I like it something about the Young Chris project
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: just is more of my speed as far as my
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: listening experience.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: And then also it was June.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: They might've got warm outside and the music just fit
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: like the oh I could put the T shirt on,
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: y'all and come outside. So pause if that needed a post.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: But you know, I'm saying that's what I'm talking about.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: So July July is crazy. Freddy Gibbs and Alchemist Alfredo too.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna hold y'all. I wasn't the I'm a
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: huge Freddy Gibbs and Alchemist fan, but I wasn't the
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: biggest fan of Alfredo. I felt like it took away
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: from Freddy Gibbs a little bit because of you know,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: he's like he's pure energy when he rapping, and the
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Beasts was just kind of real dreary. This one, though,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: Part two is dope. Is it gonna be my top five?
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Is definitely gonna be a part of my best in
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: the year.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: I just don't know.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Top five but got a lot of spins, continues to
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: get a lot of spins. The clips like God sought
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: them out. Look here, I'm look. I already don't call
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: the album a classic. Already I've been listening to it
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: months in a row, like even with new albums dropping
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: that I like a lot, Like Mob Deep.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: I'm listening to Mob Deep all the time.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: But when I'm like, all right, let me get that
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: album a rest, start hearing, you know, the birds don't
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Sing playing in my head and that press play and
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: it's like a rollercoaster that you can't get off. And
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: it's just that album's just dope. So also in July,
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: ray Kon's The Empress Closed. I like this album a
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: lot from ray Kon. In the beginning, it was just like, oh,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: it was cool, But over time it's also kind of
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: grown on me. You know, I found myself listening to
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: a lot, even though those skits I skip them. But again,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: if you like ray Kwon, you like his style of rapping,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: you like hearing him on Salts with Knives and ghost
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: Face and method Man, to name a few, you should
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: check this album out. I think it's pretty dope. August
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Jid God Does Like Ugly a surprise album.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: I've known about Jid since he came to the rap scene.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Always thought he was nice, but I was never really
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: interested enough to, you know, like listen, not only listen
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: to his albums, but Wonderlight one is he dropping another one?
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: You know, I didn't really care most of the time,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: and sometimes when I saw that he was dropping an album,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't even go listen. But I was hearing so
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: much leading up to this album that I was like,
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: this album might be crazy, and it is.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: July was crazy, y'all.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: I mean, well, July was crazy, but following up July
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: with August was even crazy. Or because also on that
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: list it's Westside Gun, Hills Have Eyes Too. Hills Have
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Eyes one was ep and barely that. The beats were dope,
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: but you were getting like one verse per song from
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Westside Gun and it was just forgettable. Hills Have Eyes
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Too gives West Side Guns twelve, which I think is
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: one of the best of the year top five, a
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: run for its money. West Side Gun got too, y'all
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: in the same year. To me, that are dope and
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: worth checking out. Shaye now the other and the other
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: guys no validation. She released a couple of projects. This
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: is the one, This is the one you should listen to.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Thank me later, ghost Face Killer, Supreme Clientele too. Even
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: though I am not a fan of Gruff, voice ghost Face,
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: and you don't get only gruff voice ghost Face, but
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: you get some older tracks too that give you that
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: old ghost vibe. As far as voice quality, it's a
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: good album. It's a decent follow up. It's not a
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: classic to me, but it's it's ghost Face and it's
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: not what was that joint set the tone. It's not
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: that where you know, you get one half of some
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: of the ghosts you remember, and then you get like
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: experimental wrap for the kids over this beating that nah.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: This This is pure ghost Face personality in every record,
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: in every skit, which most of these skits are not
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: skippable because they're also funny. I thought it was a
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: dope album. I could see a lot of people having
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: this in their best of the years. So also August
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: is stacked, y'all. Also in August, couldn't leave out low
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Blow and what vern try a sample again. I didn't
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: even hear this in August. I might have heard this
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: in late September into October, and I'm glad I did
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: because when I heard the GZ and Drama mixtape or
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: album they put out where Jezi's rapping over all these
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: eighties soul beats, I thought some were cool, but for
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: the most part they were just gathering so like looping
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: them and he was just wrap over him. But on
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: trya sample by low blowing what a vern It's familiar,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: it's the same, it's the same formula, but production wise,
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: they transformed the sound of the beats to be more
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: of a hip hop track. It almost feels like like
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: the original right now.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: No, when I say that, I don't mean like the
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: original record.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Like no, like the hip hop beat sounds like it's
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: an original beat with no samples, and then you hear
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: the familiar you know loop where you're like, oh, you know,
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: ain't no stopping us now. But it's done with such
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: a nets that I just thought it was very dope
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: project worth mentioning. And lastly in September, and I'm not
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: going to do October because it's not over yet.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Right, but I know what's on there.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: I want to give it you out to Currency nine
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: to fifteen now Currency. Within the last couple of weeks
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: is probably least four or five projects that had dates
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: dating all the way back to July, because he did
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: a July joint. I think he did August joint. Obvious
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: September but he might have done two. He might have
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: done two in July and two in August and then
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: this one in September, and maybe there's another one coming
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: in October. But the joint from September is the one.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: All the other records were cool, typical, you know.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Currency nine to fifteen is the one where I feel
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: like that was a that was a bag. Like if
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: he didn't do all of these projects related to dates
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: and he just did that one, I think that would
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: be enough because it opens with a every dope record
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: and it's consistent throughout. It's not long, they're more so
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: EPs and albums, but you should definitely check it out
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: if you're a Currency fans.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: So there you have it.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: You've gotten the best albums that I could think of
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: for each month in twenty twenty five. So that means
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: starting with the end of October, I will do it
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: straight up October list, and then in novemberless and then
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: in December I will do my best of the year.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: So what are some of the best albums released throughout
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: this year?
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: To you? Did I leave something off that you're like? Yo?
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: You should?
• 17:44
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