The 5 hottest hip hop albums of the summer

Carter Landis, Sports Editor

The summer is a great time for rap artists to drop projects for their fans. This year, many artists dropped albums and mixtapes to either establish themselves in the game or continue to flourish as a musician. Five tapes stood out among all the others because of how unique they are.

5. Blank Face
Artist: Schoolboy Q
When it dropped: July 8
Top song: THat Part
A member of the record label Top Dawg Entertainment, Schoolboy Q brings his aggressive, unusual style back with Blank Face. His underrated flow is shown on this tape on the song “THat Part” featuring Kanye West. Q has been away from the game for a while, but his fans are glad he’s back with this one.

4. Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight
Artist: Travis Scott
When it dropped: September 2
Top song: Goosebumps
Travis Scott and producer Mike Dean delayed ‘Birds’ from its original August 26 release, and the wait was well worth it. Everything meshes together perfectly, from the features to Travis’ flows. The list of features is also rather impressive, with artists such as Andre 3000, Kendrick Lamar and 21 Savage. Travis has worked with Kanye West a lot recently, and it shows on Birds by how much Travis Scott has improved.

3. Jeffery
Artist: Young Thug
When it dropped: August 26
Top song: Kanye West
Young Thug made a statement when he dropped Jeffery, posing in a baby blue dress on the cover. Thugger believes, “There is no such thing as gender.” The tracklist is named after all his idols (including one called Harambe). Like Travis Scott, Thug has worked quite a bit with Kanye, and since then, he’s flourished as an artist and is pushing himself when it comes to lyricism and flowing. Jeffery is a staple in Young Thug’s artistry, and he can only go up from here.

2. Blonde
Artist: Frank Ocean
When it dropped: August 20th
Top song: Nikes
After four long, countless, meme filled years since he dropped Channel Orange, Frank Ocean finally dropped the long awaited album Blonde. This album features lots of odd yet wavy sounds like Frank is known for. Blonde is this high on the list due to the fact that everyone waited such a long time for it to drop, otherwise it wouldn’t be as high due to the bland production.

1. The Sun’s Tirade
Artist: Isaiah Rashad
When it dropped: September 2
Top song: Wats Wrong
Top Dawg Entertainment signee Isaiah Rashad easily put out the best project in the summer of 2016. His abstract sound plus being a prodigy of Kendrick Lamar makes him one of the best rappers out today. His lyricism rivals that of Kendrick Lamar himself. Isaiah has that black hippy vibe like his TDE colleagues like Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul. He doesn’t have that name recognition with casual fans, but it seems that’s what The Sun’s Tirade could give him.