Year In Review: Top 20 Hip-Hop Albums Of 2025 - Page 8
Hip-hop in 2025 either had one of its greatest years in recent memory or one of the worst on record; it really just depends on what angle you look at it from. Tricking from the after-effects of a rap feud that literally divided a genre and its fans down the middle, there was a stark difference between how the year went based on which side your fave fell on.
On the side of Kendrick Lamar, there was literally nothing but success from month to month. “Not Like Us,” the diss track heard across the globe, surpassed anyone’s expectations when the cards finally fell during awards season. GRAMMYs for “Record of the Year,” “Song of the Year,” “Best Music Video,” “Best Rap Song” and “Best Rap Performance” were all bestowed upon the song, and it only got better days later when K. Dot performed it on the biggest of stages as headliner of the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show. Top honors resonated further at the NAACP Image Awards, American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards and BET Awards.
On the side of Drake, his year was spent primarily in litigation pursuing a federal defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group for helping to promote “Not Like Us” into becoming the song of 2024 and, if we’re being honest, much of 2025. From Drizzy’s view, UMG took sides in a war of words that alluded to him being a pedophile. From UMG’s view, Drake is being a sore loser that quickly forgot he used similar tactics in his “Charged Up” beef with Meek Mill just a decade prior. Nonetheless, he did have some success on Billboard this year with the chart-topping release of his collaborative album alongside OVO labelmate PartyNextDoor titled $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. While all four singles did fairly well on the Hot 100 — “Nokia” and “Somebody Loves Me” landed at 24 and 85, respectively, on the year-end tally — lackluster reviews for the project and a sole AMA nomination for “Favorite R&B Album” didn’t reflect expectations from a duo who achieved quadruple platinum status just a decade ago with “Recognize.”
Time’s sure do change, don’t they.
RELATED: YEAR IN REVIEW – Top 20 R&B Albums Of 2025
The rest of game made for a series of hits and misses, unfortunately more of the latter if we’re being honest. Despite a huge legal win to start the year off with and co-starring roles in not one but two A24 feature films (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Highest 2 Lowest), A$AP Rocky still managed to delay the release of his highly-anticipated fourth studio album, Don’t Be Dumb, for an entire calendar year. Still, becoming a dad for the third time alongside his billion-dollar pop star wifey Rihanna does make for a huge understanding on the delay.
You get a pass for now, pops.
Doechii has been following up her victory lap of a year that was 2024 by collecting on the fruits of her labor throughout 2025 awards season. She took home the “Best Rap Album” GRAMMY for Alligator Bites Never Heal, “Outstanding New Artist” at the NAACP Image Awards, “Social Song of the Year” at the AMAs for her viral hit “Anxiety,” a BET Award for “Best Female Hip Hop Artist” and a two-shot win at the VMAs with “Best Hip Hop” and “Best Choreography” for the visual component to “Anxiety.”
The ladies saw a good year overall, like Megan Thee Stallion winning “Favorite Female Hip-Hop Artist” at the AMAs and her short-lived run as one of only two rap songs with “Lover Girl” to crack Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 during Hip-Hop History Month. Rapsody and Erykah Badu shared the GRAMMY for “Best Melodic Rap Performance” thanks to the magic they cooked up on “3:AM,” and pioneering femcee Roxanne Shante even received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Even with no album out, GloRilla managed to have a blockbuster year that included a successful run on her Glorious Tour and a surprising win in the gospel category at the BET Awards — backlash from religious folk, yes, but a win no less. While her album took forever to come, Cardi B in comparison also managed to shut any and all naysayers up (while pregnant!) when her record-breaking sophomore album, Am I The Drama?, officially dropped. Since its release three months ago, the chart-topping LP has already gone triple platinum in record time and pushed one of the singles (“Outside”) onto Billboard’s year-end Top R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
All this excitement even before her highly-anticipated Little Miss Drama Tour is set to begin!
The sisters are in fact doing it for themselves, but the kings of the game also received honorary love. Eminem took home AMAs for “Favorite Male Hip-Hop Artist” and “Favorite Hip-Hop Album” thanks to his 2024 comeback LP, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), meanwhile Snoop Dogg’s legacy was reflected with his BET Ultimate Icon Award and Busta Rhymes was bestowed with the Rock the Bells Visionary Award at the MTV VMAs.
And of course, we take a minute to remember the fallen icons in hip-hop culture who we unfortunately lost this year. We send a sincere farewell to “Walk It Out” emcee DJ Unk (January 24), Murder Inc. founder Irv Gotti (February 5), Pro Era-affiliated rapper Chelsea Reject (February 12), Outlawz member Young Noble (July 4), Mass Appeal / Ego Trip co-founder and hip-hop connoisseur Sacha Jenkins (May 23) and the many others we might’ve missed but never forgotten.
