The 13th Best Album of 2025
We're closing in on the top ten, and at spot 13 we have a highly anticipated rap album. McKinley Dixon's Magic, Alive!
I first heard McKinley in 2023 with his album Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? Which was one of my favorite rap albums of the year. The jazzy beats and McKinley's smooth delivery proving to be quite the formidable combination. Thats back here in spades, as Dixon proves to be quite the storyteller on this album. The beats are as smooth as ever and in so many ways it hits just as heavily as BPJ. But idk, theres just something a little off, something small missing. Maybe its just me hanging on to the first album I hear from an artist and claiming its their best, but this album just didnt quite grab me the same way. There are some absolutely beautiful songs on here, Sugar Water, We're Outside Rejoice, the title track all showing McKinley at his best. But when I think of McKinley its inevitably that first album; the original run run run, sun i rise, that incredible closing title track that I come to first.
Magic, Alive is still an absolute powerhouse of an album, and idk maybe if I hadnt heard Beloved Paradise Jazz first itd be higher, maybe it still should be. I still immensely enjoy it, but I can't bring myself to pull it up any higher.