Top 10 Rap projects of the year 2019

The year 2019 was an interesting year for the Nigerian hip hop/ rap scene , it’s safe to say there was a sort of resuscitation for the genre as the scene in the past few years had been less vibrant compared to other genres of music in the Nigeria music . From back and forth rap diss tracks between newbies and even the  ogs which brought about people paying much attention to the rap culture to a number of rappers dropping projects , doing good numbers and even topping charts . It was indeed a sign of greater things to come in the coming years for the hip hop scene in Nigeria . Personally as a hip-hop enthusiast, it was my favorite music year since 2012 which was actually the last year there was too much heat in the hip hop scene in the country .2019 was a remarkable year for Nigerian music in general from having  Alist artistes getting more international recognitions to getting a grammy nominated artist from this side of Africa . Indeed, Nigeria was put on the map. Rap albums started dropping from the first month of the year, the heat to follow suit was a notable one , more and more top projects were released and airplays were worthy . Here’s a review of the top 10 rap projects that were released throughout 2019 .

10)YP SZN 2 - Psycho Yp

Yp followed up his 2018 yp szn with his ypszn 2 in October,  a relatively impressive project the Abuja based artist continues to show he is here to stay with this project. Project featured notable artists ;Boj, blaqbonez , Dami oniru fellow label signee , Zilla Oaks and a couple others . A good follow up to his last work , it was also well received by fans and critics


9) Ycee vs Zaheer - Ycee

After a short hiatus following the fall out he had with his old label ,Tinny entertainment, Ycee  finally hit us with a follow up from his not too bad debut project “First wave” . Heavily anticipated following months of teasing   , Zaheer finally dropped the album on the set release date in November . A project which basically shows two sides to the dreaded man having been accused of rapping less by hip hop fans , he decided to show how great he can be when it comes to doing both rapping and singing . Personally I loved the r&b side of the album , but nevertheless ycee didn’t do too bad showing how decent  he is , bar for bar .The project was well received by fans who were heavily rooting for him following his label issues .

8) Chameloen - Alpha Ojini

Alpha ojini, a jack of all trades when it comes to music art dropped his sophomore album chameleon which was a follow up to his impressive debut project “half price” . An impressive bod y of work chameleon is , having featured a couple of artists on the project ranging from rap veterans to his fellow contemporaries. Alpha really showed he took time and put in enough work in creating the project. Awesomely, he wrote , produced, mixed amd mastered most of, if not all the tracks on the project. Still wondering why I referred to him as a jack of all trades when it comes to the music thing? .Chameleon was well received by music enthusiasts, which was only right. Although visuals for any of the songs off the project is yet to drop , we hope to see some of them soon. 2020 should be a stellar year for the yougin.

7 Illosophy - Ill bliss

Dropped his first project 10 years ago , dat ibo boy” which had the hit track aiye po gan , illbliss has followed that up with eight other projects. Definitely, ill bliss has shown he  doesn’t mess around when it comes to creating a body of work, he’s one of the many Nigerian creatives that really knows how to put out a body of work , personally I always heavily anticipate an Oga boss  as he’s fondly called project beacuse I know he never disappoints. Illsophy was the second project ill bliss dropped in 2019, following up his teaming project with zilla , “Illy zill” , a decent project too.  Illosophy is amatured project laced with wise words , past relationships, and thoughts of a grown man with several experience . The album definitely didn’t fall short of its expectations.

6) Erigga - The Erigga 2

The king of the south , as I’d like to refer to him followed up his 2017 A trip to the south album within this album . A much more decent rap project than the latter , The erigga 2 was laced with street vibes , dope  features ranging from newbies to rap veterans also. Project was well received by fans and critics , Erigga definitely did something right with this one , hopefully he’d follow it up with much better projects in the future

5) Vibe before Teslim- Vector

October was really an interesting for the rap culture in Nigeria, diss which is one of the ingredients of the rap culture was in full flair , from youngins to ogs , the most notably was definetely that of of veteran rappers ; Vector and Mi . These folks were on everyones lip as people were waiting for what would On fold , truly the advent of this event brought about an interesting time for hiphop as both dropped fire releases aiming heavy lyrical jabs at themselves. Vector got the deserved pr he had been lacking all these years follwing the beef , and a month or so after, he dropped ;Vibes before teslim ,a prelude to his next year’s album Teslim . Arguably his best music project till date, project was laced with concrete content , ranging from spitting about vicissitudes of life , to feel good songs  , the album was truly a pure vibe

4) Deal with it - Phyno

Safe to say Phyno’s entering any top5 list of best emcess in the last 3-4 years, his last project "the playmaker" dropped in 2016 , a very impressive body of work , he followed it up after a 3year break of releasing projects with Deal with it. Although, the album didn’t get enough promotions for reasons still baffling to me ,it was nevertheless a solid one content wise.

3) Alternative ending - The lost and found (paybac and boogey)

Boogey and Payybac team up again for the second time under their moniker the lost and found", a follow up to their first collabo project “face off” . A beautiful piece of work by the duo , album reeks of heavy lyrical gems , great features and even dope art cover , one that’s definitely going down as the best Nigerian act cover I’ve seen in recent times . The album was definitely a case of judging the book by its cover .


2) These buhari times - Show dem camp

Rap veterans followed up their clone war franchise with the fourth edition , the theme "These buhari times" . A relatable theme , the duo for the umpteenth times showed why they're a force to reckon with in the Nigerian music scene.  Laced with an incredible concept, beautiful production , features didn't fall short of expectations neither, from having to listen to the distinct voice of Tems to heavy bars from poe ,boogey and even rap vets Mi and vector . The project was indeed one hell of a body of work.

1) Moral Instruction- Falz

A socio political body of work, falz really brought about thought provoking questions left , right and center with this album. With the country been at a low point following series of uneccesary political brouhaha, rampant killings and in short questionable democratic governance, Falz who has over the years  been known to chip in socio conscious messages no matter how witty they may sound in his songs released this project in the early months of 2019 . Anger is definitely one of the themes of this album , anger from the country's downcast. Falz also addresses other issues ; peer pressure, hypocrisy etc. Production and vocals from the guest artist was superb too.