The 2025 Grammy Awards nominations were revealed on November 8th. The Best Rap Album category has, historically, been a source of contention among hip-hop fans for their inconsistency. For every great moment, like Nas finally capturing the award for the unexpectedly fantastic comeback album King’s Disease in 2021 (the award did not even exist when Illmatic released in 1994), there is an equally perplexing moment, like Macklemore’s The Heist beating out Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city in 2014.
J. Cole’s Might Delete Later, Eminem’s The Death of Slim Shady: Coup de Grace, Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal, Future & Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You, and Common & Pete Rock’s The Auditorium, Vol. 1 make up the Best Rap Album category this year. Here are five more albums released in 2024 that I believe could also have been nominated for the divisive, but prestigious, award. The submission eligibility period this year covers albums released between September 16, 2023, and August 30, 2024. Therefore, anything released after that (i.e. LL Cool J & Q-Tip’s The FORCE and Blu & Exile’s Love (the) Ominous World) did not make the list.
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ScHoolboy Q – Blue Lips
ScHoolboy Q has received two Best Rap Album nominations in his career. The first came in 2015 for Oxymoron, the album that doubled as Q’s breakthrough into commercial viability (thanks in part to the success of “Studio,” the track with BJ the Chicago Kid that gave Q his first top 40 single as a lead artist). The second came in 2017 for the stunning Blank Face LP, one of the greatest hip-hop albums of the 21st century. Blue Lips, his first album in nearly five years, feels much more like a spiritual successor to Blank Face than a follow-up to 2019’s CrasH Talk.
Blue Lips is enigmatic and uncompromising, much like its creator. ScHoolboy Q deftly moves between booming beats (“THank god 4 me,” “Back n Love”) and jazzy introspection (“Blueslides,” “Germany 86’”). It’s emblematic of a maturity that Q, like many others in his age range, has found in his personal life. Raps about his daughter, mother, lost friends, and continued growth as a man show where he is now. They even offer a bit of insight into where he wants to be in the future.
An album as ambitious in its sound as this one can sometimes come across as varied to the point that it borders on disjointedness. That does not happen here. Q crafts a cohesive listen, delivering a piece of work that never feels overbearing. Blue Lips, in all its eclectic glory, is a work by a master of his craft operating with a new outlook on life and his art. It would have been more than worthy of Best Rap Album consideration at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
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Vince Staples – Dark Times
Dark Times is Vince Staples’ final album for Def Jam and a triumphant love letter to the city that raised him. It’s a remarkably mature project and a culmination of over ten years of development both professionally and personally. The more pointed reckonings with the trauma that still influences his decisions today contrast with a younger Staples. Ten years ago, he would have addressed his reality with a sardonic, sarcastic response that masked greater uncertainties.
The vulnerability displayed on Dark Times from the usually very guarded Long Beach rapper leads to some of the sharpest writing of Staples’ career. The nihilism that underscored everything he released from 2011’s Shyne Coldchain, Vol. 1 to 2022’s Ramona Park Broke My Heart gives way to a sense of cautious optimism. “Life hard, but I go harder,” Staples raps on “Little Homies,” a standout cut from the album’s back half. That willingness to go hard resulted in one of 2024’s most award-ready albums. Dark Times would not at all have been out of place among the year’s Best Rap Album nominees, especially since Staples has never been nominated for a Grammy.
Rapsody – Please Don’t Cry
There are few rappers active today who can go bar for bar with Rapsody. Please Don’t Cry, the North Carolina native’s fourth album, is another shining example of this. It’s raw and bold, comfortably her most upfront album to date. And it is also her most diverse, moving from the boom-bap stylings of her mentor 9th Wonder and his fellow Justus League member Khrysis, into a dynamic soundscape, with beats from S1, Hit-Boy, BLK ODYSSY, and a surprising amount of 808s. She embraces the difficulty of life, recalling her younger years. Rapsody rhymes about insecurities that come from her spot in the game, and the several probes by the public into her dating life and sexuality. She brushes it all off, with witty middle fingers to her detractors (“Asteroids,” “Look What You’ve Done”). By the end, she comes to terms with who she is as a woman–despite how messy she may be (“Forget Me Not”). Please Don’t Cry is an excellent album that easily could have netted Rapsody a second Best Rap Album Grammy nomination.
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Logic – Ultra 85
In 2018, Logic received two Grammy nominations, one for Best Rap Song and another for Best Music Video. Both of those nominations came from “1-800-273-8255,” the Alessia Cara and Khalid-assisted hit single that inspired thousands of calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline upon its release. The song is by far the biggest of Logic’s career. Its impact on the people, particularly those who were struggling at the time, is undeniable. Since that dalliance with the mainstream, Logic has not really come close to another nomination at the awards show. Ultra 85, the vibrant and thoughtful ninth album from the Gaithersburg MC, is one of 2024’s most creative albums. It is a release that could have easily found a spot in the field this year.
The self-assured nature in his lyrics and flow (“Paul Rodriguez”), willingness to dive into some truly uncomfortable territory on a wide range of topics (“Favela,” “Teleport”), and smooth old-school-tinged production primarily handled by longtime collaborator 6ix and Logic himself, come together in the most “Logic”-feeling album to date. It is the direct result of over fifteen years of honing his craft and coming out of his shell. He went from drowning in his influences to using them to shape music that is true to who he is: a man with a very hard upbringing who had his life saved by hip-hop. It is a remarkable release, among the most complete offerings in rap this year, and one worthy of recognition.
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Lupe Fiasco – Samurai
Lupe Fiasco has not been nominated for Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards since 2013. There, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album received a nod. Since departing from Atlantic Records in 2015, Lupe has released some of the most fully realized work of his career. Samurai stands as arguably his strongest release since embracing life as an independent artist.
Produced entirely by Soundtrakk, Samurai aims to answer the question of “What would Amy Winehouse sound like if she was a battle rapper?” It is a concept lifted from a quote in the 2015 documentary Amy. In the quote, the late singer likens her lyrics to “battle raps” in a conversation with producer Salaam Remi. Based on this Lupe Fiasco album, the answer appears to be “outstanding.” Lupe is in rare form across the project. His already sharp pen has only gotten sharper in middle age. It feels like a direct rebuttal to the notion that hip-hop is a “young man’s game.” Tracks like “Mumble Rap” and “No. 1 Headband” are truly virtuosic. Lupe raps over some of the jazziest, most pristine beats of the year. Perhaps Samurai does not reach the highs of his first two albums. Even with that, Lupe Fiasco is an undeniable force as an MC. He took his place among the genre’s best years ago and not letting go of that spot. It is yet another album worthy of recognition, and one that, like the preceding four albums on the list, could have found a seat among this year’s Grammy nominees.
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