As a music lover, I appreciate the art of an album. I believe they are projects that tell a story and I listen to respect the artist and their story.
This has led me to develop my “Three Listen Rule”, where I listen to an album three times before I can comment on it. This would explain why Spotify described me as a hypnotist in my Wrapped for the year.
To some—or most people who hear my rule, three listens is a lot. Especially when applying the rule to fat albums like Travis Scott’s UTOPIA that are well over 15 songs—for the record, I haven’t even gotten through that album once. So no, I don’t follow the rule for every album but I try.
In my experience, the first listen is a toss-up because you may be biased or you might not have been in the best headspace to take in the album.
The second is when favourite and least favourite songs are fresh picks and are not always accurate picks—haven’t you ever judged a song a little too early?
By the third listen the story begins to settle and you have a better idea of how you feel about the album as a whole.
At the start of the year, I wanted to listen to more albums and finally get around to listening to the ones I’ve put on the back burner. I tracked all the albums I listened to each month following my rule.
In 2023, I listened to 23 albums…three times each.
Here are the ones that stood out to me and got the most repeat love after their third listen (Note these are in order of listen completion but the lists of my favourite songs for each album are in order of favourite):
1. No thank you – little simz
The album “NO THANK YOU” by London rapper Little Simz is a December 2022 release that started my album listening quest in January.
I’ll be honest, I never heard of Little Simz until this album came out. But after all the buzz and high praise around this project, I knew I had to listen.
Little Simz is lyrically precise and creative. The album does a beautiful job of her expressing independence, frustration, and strength. This is Little Simz standing for her self and defending her craft and her hard work in her career.
My favourite element is her transparency with confidently exposing the truth of having a career and navigating a music industry that is quick to take credit for it.
I’d like to add, as a Black woman, this album speaks greater volumes on the importance of ensuring Black women get credit and advocate for their work.
For me, her story in this album encouraged and reinforced my own feelings of independence and frustration. With Little Simz claiming and defending her work and art, it is a constant reminder for me to do the same.
My favourite songs: Angel, Broken, Heart on Fire, Gorilla, X
2. Legitimate cause – Bawo
In January, UK rapper Bawo released the album, “Legitimate Cause”. Despite the month it came out, I only got around to listening to it in February.
I discovered Bawo when browsing Spotify as a mode of procrastination one day after a class. At first, I thought the album was just ok, and that remained true months after my third listen. It wasn’t until the fall that I revisited the project and found a real love for it.
The most memorable part of this album for me was the sound.
The project is anchored by smooth, mellow, and even creamy production for each track matched with that same lyrical approach. Musically, Bawo pulls on the feeling of relaxation orchestrating an environment of simple tranquillity.
Overall, I found the album to be storytelling with internal commentary on life. It explores experiences in life like hard work, wanting to be successful, and navigating relationships in an honest and reflective way.
In my experience, it is perfect study and background music and is great to listen to on your way home from a long day.
My favourite songs: Phase.1, Not Just Yet
3. The color grey. – jev.
Congolese-Canadian rapper, jev’s debut album “the color grey” was released in December 2022. Though I can’t remember the story of how I came across the rapper—probably another find from my regular Spotify browsing sessions—but I eventually got around to listening by March.
I don’t know what I was expecting from this album, I definitely gave it a chance because I liked the cover. Regardless, I have no regrets.
The project showcases jev’s creativity. I found that each song displays a new part of his artistry. Paired with his sharp lyricism makes for a great debut album, truly displaying jev’s best qualities as a rap artist.
The project is fun and exciting. It kept me entertained in the long cafeteria lines in my first year. Also, was sort of the soundtrack that made regular moments feel like a movie.
My favourite songs: and then i got revenge, where’s the confetti?, black samuarai.
4. A Brief Nirvana – Khamari
This Boston native singer, songwriter, and producer is no stranger to assembling a project after his Eldorado EP came out in 2020. However “A Brief Nirvana” is Khamari’s first album which was released in May 2023.
Despite listening to the album two months later in July, I can say the love this album was reserving from listeners was well-deserved. I enjoyed every second as each song can stand alone while still contributing to a cohesive story.
This album tells the honest and emotional story of love, loss, and learning about yourself in the process. Which I found matched perfectly with Khamari’s simple and soft-toned vocals.
For me, it is how beautifully curated the story is that made the project so memorable. Though almost half the album was released as singles throughout 2021-2023 (5/11 songs), no song felt out of place. The difference between the 2-year-old songs and the fresh ones was nonexistent.
“A Brief Nirvana” was not only my July album of the month but I listened to zero albums in August because Khamari had me in a chokehold with this project.
It’s safe to say this album will still be getting played in 2024.
My favourite songs: Doctor, My Eyes, Wax Poetic, A Sacred Place, These Four Walls, Drifting
5. The Plugs I met – benny the butcher
“The Plugs I Met” is Buffalo rapper, Benny The Butcher’s 10th album which was released in June 2019.
Regardless, of the fact I can’t remember which month I completed this album’s third listen—I’m going to confidently say January—a good four years after this album’s release, this is a perfect example of “better late than never”.
I really fell in love with Benny after hearing his song “Flood The Block” on the album Pyrex Picasso, when I was walking back to my dorm after class at the end of my first year.
Though I enjoyed that song and its album, “The Plugs I Met” is too memorable and had too much replay value for me not to mention it.
The seven-song album is packed with iconic rap features—my favourite being Black Thought—with classic head-bop track production.
As someone who loves New York-styled rap with that old-school ‘95-‘05 sound, this album is gold.
(S/O to my good sis Rylie for putting me on Benny and leading me to all of Griselda. I will always be grateful for this, all love).
My favourite songs: Crowns for Kings, Dirty Harry, 5 to 50
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If you’ve made it this far you must a) love music, b) have some time to kill or c) both. Either way, I hope you found an album that you’ll put on your listening list for 2024.
Also, if you have listened to any of these projects or artists and you have thoughts and burning hot takes to share just reach out, I’d love to hear them. And if you have an album you’re not currently gatekeeping, I’m always ready to get put on.
See you in Part Two.