The Best Experimental Hip-Hop Albums
12 albums · Updated
Experimental rap is not a sound so much as a refusal: of hooks, of song length, of the drum patterns or subject matter that rap usually expects. Some of these albums were hits anyway (Stankonia, Yeezus); others found their audience slowly.
Our scorecard does not reward strangeness for its own sake. Originality is 10% of the score, the same as for every album, so these records rank by whether the experiment produces music worth returning to.
How this list works: Albums that break from rap's conventions of structure, sound or subject, reviewed on the site, ranked by current score. Scores come from each review's six-part scorecard; see the methodology.
- 1
Madvillain – Madvillainy (2004)
Score: 9.7 · Read the review · Madvillain albums ranked
MF DOOM and Madlib's 22 short tracks, most under three minutes, with almost no hooks and loops that end mid-thought.
- 2
Kanye West – Yeezus (2013)
Score: 9.3 · Read the review · Kanye West albums ranked
Abrasive, minimal and industrial, made with Daft Punk, Hudson Mohawke and Rick Rubin among others, and stripped back in final mixing.
- 3
Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition (2016)
Score: 9.3 · Read the review · Danny Brown albums ranked
Named after a Joy Division song, Danny Brown's off-kilter, Paul White-produced album is about addiction and dread.
- 4
Tyler, The Creator – IGOR (2019)
Score: 9.3 · Read the review · Tyler, The Creator albums ranked
Written, produced and arranged by Tyler, it tells a love-triangle story through distorted synths and soul; it won the Grammy for Best Rap Album.
- 5
billy woods – Aethiopes (2022)
Score: 9.3 · Read the review · billy woods albums ranked
Produced entirely by Preservation, billy woods' album moves between Africa, America and memory in dense, cinematic fragments.
- 6
Aesop Rock – Labor Days (2001)
Score: 9.2 · Read the review · Aesop Rock albums ranked
A dense concept record about work and the working week, built from Aesop's own beats, a few by Blockhead, and his thesaurus-heavy writing.
- 7
Armand Hammer – Haram (2021)
Score: 9.2 · Read the review · Armand Hammer albums ranked
billy woods and ELUCID over beats produced entirely by The Alchemist: dense, abstract and unusually musical.
- 8
OutKast – Stankonia (2000)
Score: 9.0 · Read the review · OutKast albums ranked
Drum and bass, gospel, rock guitars and "B.O.B.": OutKast's most restless album also gave them "Ms. Jackson".
- 9
Young Thug – JEFFERY (2016)
Score: 8.7 · Read the review · Young Thug albums ranked
Every song is named after one of Thug's idols, and the cover's gown made it a fashion statement as much as a mixtape.
- 10
Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory (2017)
Score: 8.7 · Read the review · Vince Staples albums ranked
Vince Staples pulls rap toward Detroit techno and UK garage with SOPHIE, Flume and Jimmy Edgar.
- 11
Earl Sweatshirt – Some Rap Songs (2018)
Score: 8.7 · Read the review · Earl Sweatshirt albums ranked
Twenty-five minutes of warped, looped samples; Earl's grief for his father shapes the album.
- 12
Rico Nasty – Nightmare Vacation (2020)
Score: 7.8 · Read the review · Rico Nasty albums ranked
Rico Nasty's debut studio album mixes punk rap, hyperpop and sugar-trap, with 100 gecs' Dylan Brady among the producers.