Straight to the Mu’Fuckin’ Greatest: The Best Mixtapes of 2014
Year-End Top 5
5) 2 Chainz
Freebase
Street: 05.05.14
Even on a list of free records, 2 Chainz is a tough sell for some reason. I see why people might be turned off by him—he spends a lot of time poking fun at hip-hop culture. Still, his passion for rapping is undeniable, he’s consistently hilarious, and this might be his best work ever. Here, we have 2 Chainz backed up by absurdly fabulous trap beats, rapping, “I don’t respect my elders / These (shoes) right here Maison Margiela / I cannot get no earrings / It’ll make my Rolex jealous.”
4) iLoveMakonnen
ILoveMakonnen EP
Street: 07.06.14
For a while, I couldn’t decide if I liked this. That’s when I realized that I’d been obsessed with it for weeks. Makonnen raps in a slow monotone caked in autotune—sometimes it’s stupid, but it’s always sorta mesmerizing. Then again, I’d probably sound awesome, too, if Sonny Digital, Metro Boomin and Lex Luger hooked me up with all their dopest beats.
3) 100s
IVRY
Street: 03.07.14
Time is money, ladies, and the last time 100s checked, “Your love don’t pay [his] bills, and that’s real.” Or maybe it’s not, because two songs later, he’s rapping about how some lucky gal is paying his bills and how “that’s real.” Frankly, I’m confused, but it doesn’t much matter. When funk of this caliber comes along—and it rarely does—don’t question it.
2) Vince Staples
Shyne Coldchain Vol. 2
Street: 03.13.14
Vince Staples has said that he doesn’t record unless he has something to say. I believe it. In the wake of Ferguson, he released his much-discussed single, “Hands Up.” Yet it was six months earlier that he gave us this excellent mixtape, where there isn’t a lazy rhyme or forgettable beat to be found. On, “Oh, You Scared,” he reminds us for the millionth time what desperately needed to be heard before Ferguson: “The ones preach protect and serve—the main ones tryin’ kill you.”
1) Birdman / Young Thug / Rich Homie Quan
Rich Gang: Tha Tour Part 1
Street: 09.30.14
Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan are easily the two most polarizing figures in rap. It’s complicated, but for a culture that’s been holding on to 1994 for 20 years now, these guys are causing a stir. Their personalities aren’t just wildly unique, there’s a virtuosity in the syncopation of their flows—the same stuff you’d expect from classic jazz and R&B. Inexplicably, this has earned them a surprising amount of homophobic aggression. Hollow criticism like that only underscores what’s really going on: Few can step to these guys.
