Rolling Stone Names Its 20 Best Hip Hop Albums Of 2013

by Soren Baker

"Yeezus" & "Nothing Was The Same" Named Rolling Stone's Best Hip Hop Albums Of 2013.

Rolling Stone has named its “20 Best Hip Hop Albums Of 2013.” Kanye West’s Yeezus earned the #1 spot, while Drake’s Nothing Was The Same landed at #2.

"Kanye's electro masterpiece is his most extreme album ever, which is saying something,” Rolling Stone says in its Yeezus blurb. "No wonder the late, great Lou Reed embraced Yeezus, since it's basically the Metal Machine Music concept translated into futuristic Hip Hop, all industrial overload and hypertense egomania and hostile vibes.”

The article compares Yeezus to Nothing Was The Same. "With Kanye breathing fire in rarified air, Drake is the people's rapper, a smart kid conflicted about his fame, heart, family, everything except his mic potency,” Rolling Stone says. "But what makes his lonely fantastic voyage matter is its emotional weight, which gets crucial amplification from Noah ’40' Shebib's whirlpool beats.”

Danny Brown’s Old album was the #3 album on the list, while Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP 2 landed at #4. Chance the Rapper’s Acid Rap earned the #5 spot. "The second mixtape from this 20-year-old Chicago MC is the ultimate in psychedelic Hip Hop,” Rolling Stone says. "Chance spins Lil Wayne-meets-Hendrix language swirls punctuated by the real-life observations of a kid who grew up in a world where 'it's dark a lot . . . easier to find a gun than it is to find a fucking parking spot.”

Rolling Stone's “20 Best Hip Hop Albums Of 2013” is as follows:

1. Yeezus, Kanye West

2. Nothing Was The Same, Drake

3. Old, Danny Brown

4. The Marshall Mathers LP 2, Eminem

5. Acid Rap, Chance the Rapper

6. My Name Is My Name, Pusha T

7. Born Sinner, J. Cole

8. Doris, Earl Sweatshirt

9. Trap Lord, A$AP Ferg

10. Magna Carta Holy Grail, Jay Z

11. B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time, 2 Chainz

12. Long.Live.A$AP, A$AP Rocky

13. The Luca Brasi Story, Kevin Gates

14. Run The Jewels, Run The Jewels

15. Wolf, Tyler, the Creator

16. I Am, Yo Gotti

17. The Night’s Gambit, Ka

18. Excuse My French, French Montana

19. Watching Movies With the Sound Off, Mac Miller

20. Self Made Vol. 3, Maybach Music Group

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