This album is a polished, lateral step with an accompanying barcode for Weeknd’s fans. And outsiders looking to understand his appeal are likely better off downloading the three mixtapes that preceded the album.

What My Own Lane ultimately lacks is a true sense of creative risk from Kid Ink.

Side B is a 16-track expansion that delivers familiar territory with some pops of Em at his sharpest.

Childish Gambino still manages to mostly hold our attention, though, because he concerns himself instead with his own terms.

There isn’t a ton of lyrical progression for La Flame on this album. ... But he soothing digitized finish and woven through the most polished contemporary drums in Hip Hop, it’s truly hard to hate. That puzzling beauty is the best part about Scott’s music.

In short, WE DON’T TRUST YOU should have been shorter. The first half dozen tracks, with a few other gems scattered scarcely throughout, show just how musically connected Metro and Future truly are but fans will be able to tell when the focused material ends and the frivolous filler starts.

Here I Am is a solid effort by Destiny's other child.

At the end of the day, I Am’s overall passable production and flashes of potency and strength keep it afloat for a time.

While B.I.B.L.E. doesn’t break any new or exciting ground and lacks any song of the summer contenders, it is solid enough to command streams and further prove his commercial viability.

Pink Tape is a sprawling listening experience that struggles to ever find its footing – and tries to be too much at once without taking the time to offer much of any substance.

When Love Story is great, it’s when the unique pieces of Yelawolf’s life discover similarly off-kilter spaces in which to manifest a new voice.

The execution isn't as good the second time around, but Banks has reestablished his sound, and made clear that he is still a major force to be reckoned with in the Rap game.

This is a strong return to form for the self-proclaimed King of the South.

Music To Be Murdered By is far from the star-studded, commercially sustainable album Recovery was, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. On this album, despite its handful of flaws, Em shows strong signs of adapting to the times through modern musical choices and smarter songwriting.

The Saga Continues is not the home run that Wu-Tang Clan fans have been waiting for, but to keep the baseball analogy, it’s an RBI double. Mathematics does some much-needed course correction.

Even at over an hour long and spanning a multitude of genres, it lacks any depth of feeling that grows tiring over 64 minutes. There’s a truly great 12-track version of INSANO hiding away somewhere.

Ab-Soul expounds on his cranial compound Do What Thou Wilt and fully revealed himself as an artist who plays mind games with himself and listeners. Although figuring Soulo lyrical intent continues to be a guessing game, at least there are some critical takeaways that linger far after indulging in the music.

Give the Drummer Some finally officially opens the door for Barker to enter to world of Hip Hop he's always said he wanted to walk through.

Moody and downbeat with lots of anger and frustration, yet still rousing and conceptual, Copper Gone is just open and honest enough for fans to really feel for Sage, yet guarded enough to contribute to a real sense of mystery.

It's another solid collection, complete with radio hits, club bangers, and introspective ballads on her favorite subjects: love and sex.

It's serious when necessary, occasionally triumphant, and impressive enough that you have to consider him a force to be reckoned with.

Rodeo's back end after “Antidote” begin to mesh together and gets repetitive.... Nonetheless, the originality of Scott’s sound within this new movement provides for a strong rookie effort leaving the listener excited for a career that is just getting started.

There isn’t much more context to be found in the music, which isn’t nearly as fun or inventive as his previous work. It’s unclear exactly what Thug was trying to communicate here; if it’s meant to be a good bit of escapism, both for artist and audience, it’s a little too brooding.

If only its last few tracks were just as focused and compelling [as "Wake Me Up"]. Lift Your Spirit only suffers when it winds down, as it panders to Blacc’s booming audience.

Sure the heavenly feel of “No Mistakes” harkens back to his gospel soul days, 070 Shake’s passionate cameo on “Ghost Town” unveils a star-in-the-making and honest thoughts about raising North and Chicago on the serene album anchor “Violent Crimes” make for a alluring sonic experience. But ye merely excels in surface-scratching instead of the transcendent territories that spawned the Kanye everyone loved. Sometimes less does not equate to more.

It’s when Bieber’s honesty feels less-than-honest and the tracks feel less-than-groundbreaking that this album falls short of the heights it should by all means be capable of reaching.

Overall, the album lacks the shine and luster of the previous two Maybach Music Group compilations.

Yes, it’s true the mini-album doesn’t break any new ground, and--as he’s done in the past — revisits elements of previous projects. However, without the bloated tracklist of Starboy, and any attempt to please an audience outside of his core, the lack of innovation doesn’t seem take away from the concise, focused, conceptual nature of this well-produced R&B gem (thanks to Frank Dukes, Mike Will Made It and several other notables).

Despite impressive features and banging singles, JACKBOYS seems too lean of a project to feel like a noteworthy introduction to Scott’s label and collective.

Less of a happy medium and more of a hard reset, RetroHash is the beginning of what may shape up to be the rebirth of Roth’s career.

Personality aside, Chris Brown’s ability to succeed artistically at delivering sounds in all three sectors of urban Pop makes this release a great, yet disjointed listen.

At times the style itself feels like a copy of Rae’s hits instead of an organic creation, but The Chef does a good job of balancing the radio-friendly Rap with material his diehard fans crave.

His seemingly unshakeable integrity and forthright spirit in music making shrouds Ludaversal in serious tones, marking a stark departure from the Georgia emcee’s status quo, making this one a novel and welcome addition to his catalog.

There’s no number of stars that can save this album from aiming high, falling short, and still somehow being quite entertaining at moments along the way.

When Macklemore deviates from his familiar sound, he gets mixed results.

The headliners don't seem like they're really trying, so even when the other acts are, they're still smothered by their leaders' apathy.

The result is a fun, irreverent showcase of women’s empowerment and underdog grit with plenty of room to grow.

SAVE ME, opposed to previous collaborative EPs such as 2016’s Purple Reign with Metro Boomin, feels incomplete for it’s lacking the divine energy felt from previous Future projects.

The self-proclaimed "White trash heartthrob" kicks off his show with a display of lyricism and content that aligns very closely with Yelawolf has always been about - sincerity, family, community and of course Chevrolet Caprice Classics.

Lacking any cohesion, Kiss The Ring is a series of single tracks that hit or miss.

His involvement in the actual song-making process may be limited, but his ear for the finished product shouldn't be understated.

Fans clamoring for the old Marshall Mathers should stream the old album or hell, rent it from the library or something. After being faced with nothing to prove as the highest-selling rapper of all-time, Eminem’s found another challenge in perfecting the new style he’s put on display.

Notwithstanding a couple musical blemishes, IV Play diligently continues The-Dream’s tenure as one of the premier acts in R&B.

With a sound that’s one-third punk, one-third underground and one-third Yeezus, Doomtree’s All Hands is a work of lyrical importance covered up by synth notes and drum crashes, its messages left to be decoded by their fans.

There is more to Black Rob than "Whoa," but there is nothing that quite lives up to it on Game Tested, Streets Approved.

Though French Montana fits well on "Diamonds," his presence distracts from the youngster's appeal with similarly dull results stemming from rivals Young Jeezy & Rick Ross on "Understand Me" and an updated "3Hunna" respectively. These flaws along with the senseless experimental delivery of "Laughin' To The Bank" water down an otherwise exciting listen for anyone willing to humor Keef's madness.

The heart of the issue with Lip Lock is that Eve hasn’t restored the command she once had, which subsequently allows these new sounds to lead her down a road of uncertainty.

With Selling My Soul, Masta Killa seems to have winged his way through songs that are lazy and conceptually not well put together.

Whether or not listeners make it through all 24 tracks on Funeral, it’s easy to see what Wayne is definitely in his own world. His rhyming remains unlike anyone else in the entire genre and despite this album not being his strongest, you don’t have to go far to find a Wayne quotable that inherently makes one admire his seasoned lyrical dexterity.

In Pieces misses the mark sounding too much like a rebrand for Chloe instead of earnest songwriting.

There are so many interesting, fascinating, and captivating things Yeat does with his voice, but very rarely does that consist of compelling words coming out of his mouth. If he consistently put bars together, this would easily be one of the best albums released this year so far. That’s how good everything else about the record is.

30 tracks is just indigestible and frankly unacceptable, especially with a stark lack of variety. Perhaps it’s a streaming/algorithm strategy or maybe even a way to fulfill his contract with Atlantic Records in attempts to leave the label early; either way The Last Slimeto can’t be enjoyed as a full “project” but instead a half dozen songs scattered across playlists that have the same album cover.

Everything from the production to the subject matter on this new album is frustratingly similar to the first two projects.

Despite its delay, it's by no means a swan song, contractually and musically. R.E.D. is a lot of many things, only adding to the anticipation already for Game's final offering to Interscope.

Some songs border on perfection. A few more are just solidly average. Yet, it all balances out, and the rhymes on full display make Shady XV a great compilation release.

It doesn’t hit as hard as some previous albums, but it surely proves just how good Rick Ross can be as a songwriter and collaborator. It also proves how sharp he has become as a rapper.

Genre-blending albums (no matter how commonplace they might be these days) are not easy to pull off and for that, Juice WRLD should be given credit. From the seemingly sincere lyrics to the equally candid delivery, Juice truly goes with his gut in whichever way (rap, sing, hum, sob).

The album itself morphs from Dubstep, to R&B, to ballads, EDM, to Pop-Reggae--and that is its biggest achilles heel. It isn't something that other jumping-genre albums couldn't get over if it weren't for the the fact that it suffers from a serious sequence problem.

What it lacks in lyrical depth it makes up for by being a catchy, entertaining and completely in the moment snapshot of the current turned up, hybrid of R&B and Rap for clubs and bedrooms.

Black Cocaine is still raw in the right ways.

There’s no creative expansion, just two acts trying to exist in their own worlds simultaneously instead of finding a new and interesting middle ground. Mixing classic Big Boi verses over old Phantogram songs would’ve probably been just as effective.

Throughout Free Weezy, Wayne is merely drawing in the spaces on a coloring book rather than in unique hues.

Man Bites Dog Records assembled a talented array of under-the-radar producers (sans Ayatollah) that crafted a cohesive sound for Vast Aire's unapologetic lyrical griminess. Nostalgic or otherwise, it works for right now.

At this point listeners are either down with his movement or they aren't, and while We The Best Forever is a solid piece, it's not different enough from his previous work to change any minds about him.

Regardless of whether his hands are tied creatively to coded lyrics, such as “500 Homicides,” the music undoubtedly suffers as a result. But there are ephemeral periods on Remember My Name where Durk is more illuminative of his world, like “Resume.”

This is Me… Now hears Jennifer Lopez constantly tell fans how great her love life is. She rarely bothers to explain why.

Neon Icon seems aimless and not very well thought out.

Although its admittedly a mixed bag, Tory’s latest successfully pays homage to ‘00s R&B while also delivering plenty of bedroom jams, club bangers, and pregame bops to keep his fans vibing.

Troy Ave’s self-confidence skews towards myopic arrogance, as high points like “Young King” are practically ruined by intentionally off-key vocal melodies and “Real Nigga” comes off as Maybach Music Group karaoke.

The first half of the album, Khaled showed precise execution, stacking banger after banger. Had he sliced the album down to 15 or 16 tracks, he could have secured a very special project.

Once again Drizzy has found a way to craft songs that will deeply resonate with some and less with others, continuing to get listeners to press play — quality be damned. Even with its faults, Dark Lane Demo Tapes has already built anticipation for his next album scheduled for this summer.

It’s obvious Justin had quite a bit to say but sometimes, some things are just better left unsaid.

CLB can feel formulaic, as if checking off boxes on an executive producer’s clipboard. Despite the frequent predictability, it’s exciting to see a consummate professional at work.

Though his delivery, wit, and overall presence are exciting and the EP is good for surprises such as Gucci Mane exceeding expectations over El-P's contribution "Telephuck," the continual insistence on raunch risks becoming stale.

What will disappoint Wayne fans on S4TW2 is his predictable beat selection.

Quavo shows consistency on this album through trap-a-long choruses and fresh sounds but there are definitely some misses that will likely never be streamed again.

Pop Star Nicki is still going strong so her fans should have nothing to worry about, but those of us who started collecting with the original line should probably just find a new hobby-Mixtape Nicki has been discontinued.

While not setting the world on fire, it nestles its way warmly into your heart, soul and dancing feet.

New English is a welcomingly satisfying first impression, but hopefully his GOOD Music debut Life of Desiigner brings more original ideas to the table.

Durk just has no grasp on what he wants this album to be, leading to a project made strictly to appeal to everyone, but satisfying no one.

Jackman. sounds disjointed and dull.

Scott Mescudi made an EP’s worth of material feel like an album, and he did it without surrendering his artistic integrity in the process.

The faults in Trendsetter come mostly because she relies on the star power brought by her guests but negates her ability to identify herself within the music.

All in all, the Wu remains palatable. They each have their own skillset they bring to the table, and all of them do so with varying degrees of grit on the album.

Magna Carta Holy Grail is where Jay-Z’s emceeing finally meets his “High Rap” ambitions. This is easily the best rhyming Jay’s done since American Gangster. But a sharp Shawn on the mic isn’t a surprise. What is a surprise is that this is the most cohesive project Jay’s put together since The Blueprint.

On what is Lil Wayne's ninth studio album, there's very little of the spontaneity you would expect from someone whose calling card is non-written, unrehearsed, free-associative rhymes.

Overall, The Buffet is a satisfying dish.

Even if Lil Boat 3 came out in a time without so much surface tension (is such a thing still possible?), it’d still feel sloppy and forgettable. The presence of personalities like Lil Yachty’s should be welcomed, but the execution still needs to be there.

Hardcore Taylor Gang fans will be happy to add this to their collection, but if you're expecting another round of Kush x OJ, this album will probably disappoint you.

Not only are the song structures disappointingly formulaic but the samples picked for the project rank as some of the laziest in recent Hip Hop Years.

Live From The Kitchen is just about the most predictable rap album you could ever listen to.

Violence Begets Violence may not draw too many new fans in, but it will serve to satisfy longtime supporters.

It attempts to do many of the same things [as Kilt II] sonically but falls short of the mark.

While Rubba Band Business: The Album is far from the iconic and groundbreaking material this man has created over his storied career, Juicy still champions a project fans of the Memphis rap legend can still find appetizing in a few morsels.

Demons Protected By Angels alludes to an artist self-aware enough to acknowledge his flaws, but the passivity of his music suggests he’d rather stew in the toxicity than work through it.

The title harbors on his crash-landed placement in the mainstream where he simply wants to co-exist while the music, albeit a times disjointed, makes up one of the most self-aware, socially conscious rap albums in recent memory, if not ever.

Established formulas of pandering singles and assembly line choruses aside, The Beautiful & Damned possesses enough serious assertiveness and classic Bay area slick talk to get burn well into 2018.

No Mercy takes T.I.'s recent experiences and frustrations, and effectively bottles them up into a potent and complete work.