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The Best Rap Albums of 2014

8 albums · Updated

2014 was a hinge year. Free mixtapes (Future's Monster, Mac Miller's Faces) competed directly with label albums, TDE had three artists in the conversation at once, and J. Cole went platinum with no features and almost no promotion.

Eight albums from that year have full reviews on the site; this is how they rank on our scorecard.

How this list works: Albums and major mixtapes released in 2014 and reviewed on the site, ranked by current score. Scores come from each review's six-part scorecard; see the methodology.

  1. 1
    Faces by Mac Miller album cover

    Mac Miller – Faces (2014)

    Score: 9.3 · Read the review · Mac Miller albums ranked

    A free mixtape of druggy, jazz-tinged beats, many self-produced as Larry Fisherman, that many fans consider Mac Miller's darkest and best work.

  2. 2
    Monster by Future album cover

    Future – Monster (2014)

    Score: 9.2 · Read the review · Future albums ranked

    The mixtape that started Future's dark run with Metro Boomin and others: blurred, melodic and bleak.

  3. 3
    Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels album cover

    Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 2 (2014)

    Score: 9.0 · Read the review · Run the Jewels albums ranked

    El-P's industrial production and Killer Mike's politics, harder and angrier than the first record, with Zack de la Rocha on "Close Your Eyes".

  4. 4
    My Krazy Life by YG album cover

    YG – My Krazy Life (2014)

    Score: 8.7 · Read the review · YG albums ranked

    DJ Mustard's ratchet production frames a coming-of-age story in Compton, told as a sequence from party to arrest.

  5. 5
    Cilvia Demo by Isaiah Rashad album cover

    Isaiah Rashad – Cilvia Demo (2014)

    Score: 8.7 · Read the review · Isaiah Rashad albums ranked

    The Chattanooga rapper's TDE debut is soft-spoken and Southern, full of family history and depression.

  6. 6
    Oxymoron by ScHoolboy Q album cover

    ScHoolboy Q – Oxymoron (2014)

    Score: 8.7 · Read the review · ScHoolboy Q albums ranked

    Q's major-label debut puts gangbanging and fatherhood side by side; "Man of the Year" and "Collard Greens" were the singles.

  7. 7
    2014 Forest Hills Drive by J. Cole album cover

    J. Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014)

    Score: 8.7 · Read the review · J. Cole albums ranked

    Named after his childhood home in Fayetteville, Cole's third album went platinum with no guest features.

  8. 8
    Under Pressure by Logic album cover

    Logic – Under Pressure (2014)

    Score: 8.3 · Read the review · Logic albums ranked

    Logic's debut studio album is a nostalgic, technically focused record built on '90s boom-bap reference points.

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