mainstream has been especially ass but the ug and interground has had a lot of great ass projects the thing about that tho is they still feel spread out kinda and a lot feel like in between eras or lead up to bigger things type projects ykwim
def not as good as 2025

i will say tho, some really great insane s*** too and we havent hit the proper fast quarter of releases.

a lot of stuff is being weirdly slept on also that i simply didnt expect to be

mad crazy eps this year specifically for some reason

Been a lot of disappointment this year ngl, not even just rap

foxbd, rylo, and drake got me covered this year

Mainstream dropping mid, but the underground's thriving.

Tierra Whack I enjoyed

Need to listen to Denzel Curry

fox bd has been rapper of the year besides redacted

I been bumping this Ransom album. He spitting but this s*** need some drums.

iceman prolly gonna be seen as the best rap album of 2026

Nah r&b and pop LEBRON JAMES STYLE carrying.

If iceman been the best album of the year then throw this whole year away

aye man im bout to call charli xcx a rapper and say she has AOTY cause judging by a lot of yalls takes….this s*** is in trouble

s*** ain’t even drakes AOTY

I said its his best of this decade.

I’d still put it in the lower tier of his discography

Between her, GENA, Devin Morrison, and a few others it aint even been close.

Even the underground been kinda mid

it ain’t even his best this year maid of honour is right there

That s*** doodoo butter bro.

If Kanye West and Drake just dropped and it wasn’t an “event” that lasted for more than a week or two who has the power to even do an “event” album unless its a totally new artist

Only thing I can think of is if Veeze Travis Lucki Carti or Yachty (the people currently holding the Big 3 purgatory relevance wise lol) get like 10x better at traditional lyrical rapping/beat selection diversity and tried to do their albums like Kanye and Drake used to with well rounded types of songs and versatile list of features

But they arent gonna do that

This year showing that this s*** really is Wild Wild West now. The foundation of rap for the past twenty years (Drake and Kanye) both dropped and they were pretty great albums too and it kinda really doesn’t matter like that dare I say “came and went”. Lol the rap game not only needs new stars but also new platforms and someone to just even show us what the hottest rapper’s behavior and symptoms are in 2026-2030 as far as how to drop and it not “come and go”, how to make an album that sits with people not how many hits it got, etc. but inversely plenty of people making artsy personal albums that also come and go.

Veeze Lil Baby Fox BD & Fatt Rylo Drake Kanye Billy Woods Wayne xav so based ninevicious che LUCKI Carti Travis lol no one you can think of no matter skill level or approach could collectively captivate us right now

I’m listening to Earl/Mike and Zay basically daily.

Name the better album

It and BULLY are head to head for the closest thing to a well rounded lyrical enough mainstream rap album that dropped this year

This is also true

He is the next one to go on a run if there’s a prospect out there. Just depends on how well he rides the line between niche street nigga music (2 minute punchline spam songs that is cool for a few weeks at a time before you go bump some more traditional/lyrical s***) vs trying to be more versatile and risking the lil baby fell off syndrome

But stylistically he the most intriguing mainstream trajectory dude this year

Subtly I’d be kinda shaking in my boots if I was Veeze lol he gon surpass him in that shock value caption street rap lane

Yeah but it’s not like there’s been a bevy of mainstream rap releases this year. There’s been like less than 10

The rings where Kyrie and KD got injured still count lol

But yeah true

Lmao I see what you mean

But yeah it’s been quiet for mainstream rap this year