The 31st Best Album of 2025
The 31st best album of the year probably benefits from some recency bias as one of the latest releases on the list, Danny Browns Stardust.
I entirely missed the rise of Danny Brown during my musical dark period, with Atrocity Exhibition being roundly hailed as one of the best rap albums of the 2010s. I've listened back and while I liked it, maybe even a lot, I felt like I was missing something. The first new stuff I heard of his was his collab with JPEGMAFIA on 2023s Scaring the Hoes. Which was super dope, one of my favorites of the year. #2 if I remember correctly. Then Quaranta came out later that year and I was pretty ambivalent about it.
Then Starburst came out this year and im like, okay this is pretty cool. Then copycats came out and I was like oh damn this fkn bangs actually. The album came out and the features list went wild with names like underscores (twice!), Jane remover, quadeca (also twice), femtanyl, frost children. And I was into that. Some of the collabs hit harder than others, and Danny's tapping style definitely isn't for everyone and takes a bit to get used to in my opinion. But I dig the more dance vibe this album has, the hyperpop/electropop vibes work well imo but I think thats a fairly unpopular opinion overall. But its my list so here's where it sits.