2016 - The Year We Got Served By Galaletsang Kgoathe
While being “served” might be slang that’s more associated with hip hop, it’s also a term that perfectly describes music in 2016. That’s because 2016 was a year where we were served 1 great album after another. It was a year where we feasted on the freshest tracks and where our ears were filled with the dopest music. Which begs the question “If music was food what would be on your menu?” And while you chew on that, here are the 5 albums that would make mine.
For starters, the first album on my menu is Rihanna’s Anti. It makes the cut because of how simple and uncomplicated it is. It’s a well-thought out album that’s packed with a mix of emotions and tracks that complement each other well. If anything, I dig how it shows Riri’s versatility and range. Anti gives you the feeling that Riri knows who she is, what she wants and where she wants to go as an artist.
Next, we have the appropriately named The Journey by Tumi and Chinese Man. And what I love about this album is that it fuses Tumi’s rhythmic flow with Chinese Man’s tribal beats brilliantly. I can almost picture the 2 of them in studio feeding off each other’s energy while cooking up a storm and putting together this great album.
The Journey is followed by Chance The Rapper’s Coloring Book. An album that was highly anticipated because of Chance’s growing reputation in the hip hop game and his recent work with Kanye West on The Life of Pablo. So, the pressure was on when Coloring Book dropped and boy did Chance deliver. He served up an album that was highly inspirational and incredibly addictive too. Just like any good meal Coloring Book had me humming along to every song and always lifted my mood, even if I was already feeling great.
Then just to switch things up a little and to spice things up I would add Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight by Travis Scott. An album that isn’t just hot but is full of flavour too. Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight is a mix of banging beats, high-octane verses and vigorous flows all wrapped up into 1 mind-blowing meal. It’s a scintillating album that tingles the sense and brings them to life in a spectacular way.
Last but not least, is Childish Gambino aka Donald Glover’s Awaken, My Love. The cherry on top of my 2016 music menu. The crazy thing about this album is that Childish purposely goes out of his way to make every track different. So, while the album had a common theme musically, the execution of the various songs varied from 1 to the other. It’s a highly experimental album that more than paid off as Donald left us with an album that our music palettes will relish and savour for years to come.
So, Voila, my 2016 music menu filled with my top 5 albums from the same year. But like I said at the beginning of this article 2016 served us 1 great album after another and so naturally there are some hot records that didn’t make the cut. Albums like 99.9% by Kaytranada, The Weeknd’s Starboy, the Miles Davis and Robert Glasper Everything’s Beautiful collab and highly palatable joints like Khuli Chana’s One Source. Anyway, if 2016 is anything to go by then 2017 is going to be magnifique. Until then…bon appetit.