# Modern Hip-Hop — 2015 to Present > Brad's knowledge of modern hip-hop — Kendrick, Tyler, Earl, The Alchemist, Griselda, drill, the new lyricists, and the trends shaping hip-hop now. The period from 2015 to now is one of the richest eras in hip-hop history if you know where to look. The underground has never been stronger, the ceiling for ambition has never been higher. ## Kendrick Lamar Kendrick is the closest thing to a consensus GOAT in modern hip-hop, and he's earned it. **good kid, m.A.A.d city** (2012) is a cinematic coming-of-age narrative about a day in teenage Compton life. Subtitled "A Short Film by Kendrick Lamar." "Swimming Pools" is a critique of alcoholism disguised as a club anthem — the rare song where the hook works on two completely different levels. "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" is a 12-minute epic and one of the greatest rap songs ever recorded. "Money Trees" with Jay Rock still hits. **To Pimp a Butterfly** (2015) is a masterpiece. Jazz, funk, soul, spoken word, and hip-hop across 79 minutes. The production team — Sounwave, Terrace Martin as bandleader, Flying Lotus, Pharrell, Thundercat, Kamasi Washington on saxophone — is staggering. The album builds an extended poem to Tupac line by line, culminating in a posthumous interview on the closing track "Mortal Man." Why TPAB is a masterpiece: "Wesley's Theory" uses 70s funk to explore how America entraps successful Black men. "King Kunta" is an oxymoron — a king who is also an enslaved man. "u" is a drunken breakdown in a hotel room. "Alright" became the protest anthem — chanted at Black Lives Matter marches. "How Much a Dollar Cost" was Obama's favorite song of 2015 — a parable about encountering God as a homeless man. "The Blacker the Berry" ends with a gut-punch self-indictment. Every track earns its place. The Pulitzer it won (first for a non-classical/jazz work) was deserved. **DAMN.** (2017) is more accessible — Mike Will Made It production on "HUMBLE," the Alchemist on other tracks. But "FEAR." (three verses spanning childhood, adolescence, and adulthood) and "DUCKWORTH" (the story of how Top Dawg and Kendrick's father crossed paths — if events had gone differently, Kendrick never exists) are deep. Won the Pulitzer. **Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers** (2022) is a double album structured as a therapy session. Generational trauma, infidelity, accountability. Features Beth Gibbons of Portishead. Eckhart Tolle narrates multiple songs. "Auntie Diaries" addresses trans rights. The most personally vulnerable Kendrick album. **GNX** (2024) was a surprise drop — West Coast hip-hop, heavy G-funk influence, a tribute to LA. Named after the Buick Regal GNX. Victory lap after the Drake beef. Featured regional Mexican music and mariachi alongside classic West Coast production. The Drake beef in 2024 was one of the most significant moments in modern hip-hop. The short version: Kendrick dismantled Drake across several tracks — "Euphoria" (six-minute dismantling), "meet the grahams" (addressed to Drake's father, mother, son, and Drake himself), and "Not Like Us" (the knockout blow, went #1). Kendrick performed "Not Like Us" at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show — the ultimate closing statement. Drake's responses ("Push Ups," "Taylor Made Freestyle" which used AI-generated Tupac and Snoop voices and got a cease-and-desist from Tupac's estate) failed to shift the narrative. ## Tyler, the Creator One of the most impressive artistic evolutions in hip-hop history. **The Odd Future era** — Tyler founded OFWGKTA around 2006-2007. DIY punk ethos applied to hip-hop. Launched careers of Tyler, Frank Ocean, Earl Sweatshirt, Syd (The Internet). **Goblin** (2011) with "Yonkers" (the cockroach video) was dark, transgressive, shocking. It was what it was. **Flower Boy** (2017) changed everything. Entirely self-produced. Lush synths, live guitars, warm textures. His implicit coming out ("I been kissing white boys since 2004"). Loneliness, self-acceptance, growing up. It revealed an artist of immense emotional depth hiding behind the shock-rap persona. **IGOR** (2019) — he explicitly said "this is not a rap album." Synth-heavy, neo-soul, a love triangle narrative about a man in a relationship. Won Best Rap Album at the Grammys. Tyler criticized the category — called it a "backhanded compliment" motivated by race. He's right. It's one of the most daring albums in any genre. **Call Me If You Get Lost** (2021) — a return to rapping, DJ Drama hosting in the Gangsta Grillz tradition. "WILSHIRE" is an 8-minute confessional. Won his second Best Rap Album Grammy. **CHROMAKOPIA** (2024) — narrated by his mother. Tyler at 33, confronting aging, fame, legacy. His biggest first-week ever (299,000 units). Debuted #1. The artistic evolution from Goblin to CHROMAKOPIA is almost hard to believe — it's the same person going from shock rap to symphonic, emotionally mature music production in 13 years. His production has gotten genuinely stunning. He's not just a rapper who makes beats — he's a producer who shapes entire sonic worlds. ## Earl Sweatshirt From Odd Future prodigy to one of the most important voices in abstract hip-hop. Born Thebe Neruda Kgositsile, son of South African poet laureate Keorapetse Kgositsile. His debut mixtape **Earl** (2010) went viral at age 16 — prodigious technical skill, dense rhyme schemes. Then his mother sent him to a therapeutic boarding school in Samoa. The "Free Earl" campaign among Odd Future fans. **Doris** (2013) was hazy, jazz-inflected, a deliberate departure from the Odd Future shock aesthetic. "Chum" — confessional about his absent father, identity crisis. **Some Rap Songs** (2018) changed things. Abstract hip-hop — short songs (most under 2 minutes, 15 tracks in 25 minutes). Lo-fi, deconstructed, buried vocals. His father died during recording. The album essentially created a new subgenre — art rap that rejected conventional structure, polish, and accessibility. The influence of MIKE and the NYC sLUms collective is audible. It spawned an entire movement. **SICK!** (2022) — slightly more accessible. Pandemic anxieties, recovery. **VOIR DIRE** (2023) with The Alchemist — the underground's premier producer meets its most cerebral MC. 11 songs, 27 minutes. More polished than Some Rap Songs but retaining the cryptic, compressed approach. Earl's influence is everywhere now — MIKE, Navy Blue, Mavi, Medhane, AKAI SOLO, Pink Siifu. He encouraged rappers to reject polish, embrace imperfection, prioritize texture and mood. The lo-fi abstract movement traces directly to him and DOOM. ## The Alchemist Might be the defining producer of the 2020s underground. Alan Daniel Maman — active since the 90s (started as a duo with Scott Caan, became Mobb Deep's producer, worked with Dilated Peoples, Eminem, Jadakiss). His production: sample-heavy, dusty, cinematic loops. Psychedelic soul meets grimy street rap. He never chases trends — just refines his sound. 2020 was his year. Three of the best rap albums: - **The Price of Tea in China** (with Boldy James) — gritty, ruminative. - **Alfredo** (with Freddie Gibbs) — Grammy-nominated, cocaine-rap-as-fine-dining. Metacritic 88. - **Pray for Paris** (Westside Gunn) — multiple Alchemist tracks on this Griselda classic. Then **Haram** (2021) with Armand Hammer brought together the underground's most uncompromising duo with elite production. **VOIR DIRE** (2023) with Earl. **Bo Jackson** (2021) with Boldy James. **The Great Escape** (2023) with Larry June. He functions as a connector — bringing together Griselda, Freddie Gibbs, Earl, Boldy, Armand Hammer into a loosely connected underground ecosystem. His sample-heavy aesthetic became the sonic template for the underground revival. ## Freddie Gibbs The rare case of a street rapper who elevated into art without abandoning the streets. From Gary, Indiana — the decaying post-industrial city. **Piñata** (2014) with Madlib — Madlib's obscure soul and jazz samples warped to psychedelic degrees, paired with Gibbs' electrifying gangsta-rap lyricism. Gibbs called it "a gangster Blaxploitation film on wax." **Bandana** (2019) with Madlib — even better. Gibbs wrote much of it while incarcerated, expecting a ten-year sentence. Features Pusha T, Killer Mike, Anderson .Paak, Yasiin Bey, Black Thought. NME called it "the best rap album of 2019." **Alfredo** (2020) with The Alchemist — cleaner, more refined. Grammy-nominated. Cocaine-rap-as-fine-dining. Proved Gibbs could operate at the highest level with different producers. Each producer reveals different dimensions: Madlib brings psychedelic unpredictability, The Alchemist brings cinematic clarity. ## Griselda Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine, Benny the Butcher. Buffalo, New York. They revived grimy, sample-heavy, minimal-hook East Coast hip-hop. **Westside Gunn** is the aesthetic architect — his ad-libs ("BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM"), the fashion references, the wrestling references. **Pray for Paris** (2020) was inspired by a trip to Paris and Virgil Abloh — art-world references alongside drug stories. More curator and vibe-setter than technical lyricist. **Conway the Machine** is the most technically skilled rapper in Griselda. Survived being shot in the head in 2012 — it affected his facial nerves, giving him a distinctive delivery (he raps through partial paralysis). **God Don't Make Mistakes** (2022) is his most personal album. Conway is the emotional and lyrical center of Griselda. **Benny the Butcher** is the most commercially viable — vivid drug narratives, precise flow. **Tana Talk 3** (2018) was the breakthrough. **Burden of Proof** (2020, produced entirely by Hit-Boy) went more accessible without sacrificing quality. **Tana Talk 4** (2022) — "Johnny P's Caddy" with J. Cole was a hit. Benny was shot in Houston in 2020 and survived. Their in-house producer **Daringer** and frequent collaborator **The Alchemist** define the Griselda sound: dusty soul samples, minimal drums, no Auto-Tune, no singing hooks. They proved there's a massive audience for uncompromising street rap. ## The New Wave Lyricists **JID** — Atlanta, signed to J. Cole's Dreamville. Incredibly fast, technically dexterous flow. Switches cadences mid-bar. **The Forever Story** (2022) is his masterpiece — vocal performance and lyricism as the highlight. **Denzel Curry** — Carol City, Florida. Range from mosh-pit energy to introspective lyricism. **TA13OO** (2018) is a concept album in three acts. **Melt My Eyez See Your Future** (2022) was a mature pivot. **Little Simz** — London, of Nigerian parentage. **Sometimes I Might Be Introvert** (2021) won the Mercury Prize and was widely deemed the best album of 2021. Symphonic soul, Nigerian afrobeat, black British gospel. Undoubtedly one of the best MCs on Earth. **Noname** — Chicago, started in slam poetry. **Room 25** (2018) is compact and brilliant. Jazz-inflected poetry fused with hip-hop. Founded Factory — a community bookstore/radical space in LA. **Saba** — West Side of Chicago. **Care For Me** (2018) is a concept album about his cousin John Walt, fatally stabbed on a Chicago train. Metacritic 93. One of the most emotionally resonant rap albums I've heard. Grief channeled into meticulously crafted music. **Smino** — St. Louis. Wildly inventive vocal delivery — bends and twists words, sings and raps simultaneously. **Luv 4 Rent** (2022) was his most diverse sonically. Features J. Cole, Doechii. ## Drill Evolution **Chicago drill** started around 2011 — Chief Keef, Lil Durk, Young Chop producing. "I Don't Like" (2012) broke through. Dark synths, heavy 808s, emotionally detached delivery. Inseparable from real street violence. **UK drill** adapted Chicago's sound — faster tempos, sliding 808 basslines, UK slang. Drew from grime and UK garage traditions. Headie One, Digga D, Central Cee. **Brooklyn drill** blended both. **Pop Smoke** was its global ambassador — "Welcome to the Party" (2019), deep raspy voice over UK-influenced production. Shot and killed in 2020 at 20. His template — NYC energy over UK-influenced beats — defined Brooklyn drill. Fivio Foreign, Sheff G, Sleepy Hallow carried it forward. ## Production Innovations **The Alchemist** — defined the 2020s underground sound. Sample-heavy, dusty, cinematic. **Hit-Boy** — revitalized Nas's career with the King's Disease trilogy (2020-2022). Nas won his first Grammy. Also produced Benny's Burden of Proof. "The producer-rapper album model" sustained at the highest level. **Madlib** — continued influence. **Sound Ancestors** (2021) with Four Tet showed he's still innovating. The spiritual godfather of the 2020s underground production aesthetic. **Pierre Bourne** — "Yo Pi'erre, you wanna come out here?" Melodic, spacey beats. Playboi Carti's "Magnolia" changed beats overnight. The entire Pluggnb genre traces to his approach. **Metro Boomin** — cinematic trap. **Savage Mode** albums with 21 Savage. **WE DON'T TRUST YOU** with Future (2024) sparked the Kendrick-Drake beef via "Like That." Brought cinematic grandeur to trap. **Kenny Beats** — extreme adaptability. Can produce boom-bap, experimental, grime, Southern trap. His YouTube series "The Cave" showcases real-time beat-making. ## Key Trends **The lo-fi abstract movement** — Earl Sweatshirt's Some Rap Songs as watershed. MIKE, Navy Blue, Standing on the Corner. Lo-fi as artistic choice. Short songs, deconstructed samples, buried vocals. Anti-commercial by design. Traces back to DOOM and Madlib. **The Griselda revival** — proved there's a massive audience for raw, sample-based street rap. Connected to Roc Marciano's earlier work and the Wu-Tang aesthetic. **Streaming's impact** — song lengths decreasing, playlist culture, bloated tracklists from some artists. Counter-movement of tight, focused albums (Alfredo = 10 tracks, SICK! = 10). Hip-hop became the most-streamed genre globally. **AI and hip-hop** — Drake used AI-generated Tupac and Snoop voices in 2024. Tupac's estate sent a cease-and-desist. Fundamental questions about consent, authorship, and the rights of deceased artists. ## Details - **Category:** Topics - **Tags:** music, hip-hop, modern, kendrick-lamar, tyler-the-creator, earl-sweatshirt, alchemist, griselda, drill, rap **Also read:** [All writing](https://bradanderson.org/writing?format=md) · [About Brad](https://bradanderson.org/about?format=md) --- **Navigate:** [Home](https://bradanderson.org/?format=md) · [About](https://bradanderson.org/about?format=md) · [Work](https://bradanderson.org/work?format=md) · [Projects](https://bradanderson.org/projects?format=md) · [Breeds](https://bradanderson.org/breeds?format=md) · [Writing](https://bradanderson.org/writing?format=md) · [LLM guide](https://bradanderson.org/llms.txt) _Ask BradBot directly: POST https://bradanderson.org/api/agent/ask with {"question": "..."} (details in https://bradanderson.org/llms.txt)._