7 Best Rap Albums of August 2024

So much rap music comes out all the time, and especially with frequent surprise releases, it can be hard to keep track of it all. So, as a way to help keep up with all of it, here’s a roundup of the 7 rap albums from August 2024 that stood out to us most. We also probably still missed or haven’t spent enough time with some great August rap albums that aren’t on this list. What were some of your favorites of last month? Let us know, and read on for the list (unranked, in no particular order).

JPEGMAFIA – I Lay Down My Life For You (Peggy/AWAL)
The Baltimore rapper/producer’s first solo album in three years is a melting pot of rap, rock, psychedelia, and a wide range of electronics

2023 was one of JPEGMAFIA’s biggest years yet, thanks to a collaborative album and accompanying tour with Danny Brown that found both rappers at their most chaotic. He said he would release his own new album last year too, which he planned to apologize for not releasing on December 31 and then surprise-release on January 1 of this year, but January 1 rolled around and Peggy realized the album needed more work. Eight months later, after working on it nonstop and posting several updates throughout the year, JPEGMAFIA’s first solo album since 2021’s LP! is here and it was well worth the wait. It’s one of his most jaw-dropping pieces of work yet.

Across 14 songs, the almost-entirely-self-produced album (with a little help from Flume, Kenny Beats, and a few others) is a musical melting pot with everything from ’60s psychedelic pop pastiche to RZA-style hip hop beats to Daft Punk-worthy stadium electronics to plenty of shit that sounds futuristic by today’s standards. There’s Judgement Night soundtrack-style rap rock with shredding guitars, industrial rap with glitched-out effects and synthesizers, and dreamy indie pop thanks in part to guest singer Buzzy Lee. Very few songs embrace a typical looping rap beat, and Peggy’s rapping has just as wide a scope as his production. He’s ready to out-rap your hardest fave on one song, and scream maniacally on the next, and he’s got a toolbox of vocal effects that add to ILDMLFY‘s overall head-trip. Just two guest rappers join him, and they’re both unique, trailblazing rappers that have been in their own lanes for years, just like Peggy himself. One is Vince Staples, who shows up on the clamoring standout “New Black History,” which also makes great use of the same sample of Future’s “Covered N Money” that Vince had on “Señorita” almost a decade ago. The other is longtime JPEGMAFIA collaborator Denzel Curry, who puts his head together with Peggy on the crazed, triumphant, horn-fueled “JPEGULTRA!”. They’re such a natural fit at this point that, if JPEGMAFIA ever does another full collab album with another rapper, I hope it’s with Denzel. At the beginning of the last song, when Peggy employs a retro-psych-pop vocal loop with the words “funny how time flies when you’re having fun,” you’ll find yourself aggressively nodding in agreement.

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MAVI – Shadowbox (Mavi 4 Mayor)
The North Carolina rapper opens up on his most devastating album yet

It’s time to stop calling MAVI “abstract rap.” The term perfectly described his 2019 debut project Let the Sun Talk, but MAVI got increasingly direct over the years, and Shadowbox is not only his most personal, honest album yet; it’s some of the most personal, honest music I’ve heard all year. He opens up about the death of a loved one, a breakup, mental health, alcoholism, and family issues, and he speaks plainly and bluntly without ever relying on clichés. There’s a subtle melodic quality to the way he raps, and his delivery is so expressive that the pain in his voice is always palpable. He has one guest singer (Malaya on “Open Waters”) and handles all the rapping himself, over an array of soundscapes (from an array of producers) that range from jazzy to dancey to orchestral to neck-snapping boom bap to glitched-out bliss. Whether or not you think it’s the best MAVI album yet, it’s definitely the most musically varied and the most devastating. And there’s nothing abstract about it.

Navy Blue – Memoirs In Armour (self-released)
The New York underground rapper’s latest is a compact offering of personal, poetic screeds and lush backdrops

For the followup to his 2023 Def Jam debut Ways of Knowing, NY rapper Navy Blue (aka Sage Elsesser) goes indie again with the self-released Memoirs In Armour. It doesn’t really matter what label he’s on though; Sage’s major label debut didn’t sound any more commercial than his independent albums, and he didn’t need a major label budget to make Memoirs In Armour sound as grand and gorgeous as it does. With no guests and pretty much no hooks, Sage delivers one personal, poetic screed after the next over a lush backdrop of smoky jazz piano and chopped-up soul samples. Similar to past collaborators like Earl Sweatshirt, billy woods, MIKE, and Ka, Memoirs In Armour is rap music that requires deep listening and sinks in more and more over time. With just 10 songs in 26 minutes, it’s easy to just keep hitting that repeat button, and it gets better and better every time you do.

Michael & The Mighty Midnight Revival (Killer Mike) – Songs For Sinners & Saints (Loma Vista)
Killer Mike returns with an “epilogue” to his deeply personal album ‘MICHAEL,’ featuring his touring gospel group

Last year, Killer Mike took a break from Run The Jewels to release the very personal, memoir-like album MICHAEL, and the same night that he won three Grammys for it, he was arrested at the ceremony after an incident with a security guard. He was released later that night, and the very next day, he found himself back in the studio with a new burst of inspiration. The first song he released since then was “Humble Me,” an emotional recount of his arrest, and this week he revealed that he has a whole new 10-song project that he considers an “epilogue” to the MICHAEL era. “After the celebratory atmosphere that followed MICHAEL I was reminded that tribulations never cease, but God is always with me and this is a testimonial of my tumultuous times, my trials, and my continued triumph in spite of doubt, outright hate, and fear,” he says.

The new project is credited to both Killer Mike (billed simply as Michael) and The Mighty Midnight Revival, the gospel group he’s been touring with, and it also features several guests, including Offset, Blxst, Key Glock, Project Pat, Anthony Hamilton, and more. As you’d assume from the billing, there is indeed a gospel element, and those parts are seamlessly incorporated with the Killer Mike that you know and love. Ranging from hard-hitting trap to pensive, soulful rap ballads, Songs For Sinners & Saints scratches a very similar itch as MICHAEL and this epilogue is just as impactful as the main event. One of its songs (“Slummer 4 Junkies”) is a medley of two MICHAEL songs (“Slummer” and “Something For Junkies”), inspired by the way he’s been playing it live, and it’s more than just an alternate version. It’s evidence of what can happen when you really allow a song to organically grow.

Ka – The Thief Next To Jesus (Iron Works)
The veteran Brooklyn rapper continues his prolific second act with a soul/gospel-infused meditation on religion, freedom, and life

Since beginning his second act as a solo artist in the late 2000s/2010s, former Natural Elements member Ka has become one of the most prolific and consistently great underground rappers around. Every project he’s release in the past approximately-15 years has been gripping and immersive and The Thief Next To Jesus is no different. Like 2020’s Descendants of Cain, religion is a major theme on this new album, as is the way religion relates to race, freedom, and life itself. Ka remains the type of rapper who favors hushed storytelling over hook-fueled instant satisfaction, though the soul, gospel, and blues samples on this album give it a sense of melodic immediacy that stands out from his other recent records. Like every Ka album, it has a darkly gorgeous exterior and a very deep interior that only fully reveals itself across multiple listens. As always, the time it takes to dive in is worth it.

The album is currently only available as a $20 download on Ka’s website.

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Heems – VEENA LP (Veena Sounds)
The Das Racist / Swet Shop Boys member’s second album in his comeback year of 2024 is also one of his most serious and reflective records yet

When Heems returned in February with LAFANDAR, the Das Racist/Swet Shop Boys member’s first solo album in nine years, he was just getting started. Heems was working on a comeback album called VEENA–which is also the name of his new label/lifestyle brand/digital magazine–when he met producer Lapgan (aka Gaurav Nagpal), and his original plan was to have Lapgan contribute to VEENA. But the two ended up having so much chemistry that they made an entire project together, and that became LAFANDAR. Now, just six months later, he returns with the long-promised VEENA. This one was made with producer Sid Vashi, and it ranges from neck-snapping rap beats to jazz musician Vijay Iyer’s lush piano on “MANTO” to the clattering percussion of “BOURDAIN.” Adding to its wide scope, the album is broken up by voicemail skits from other icons of the South Asian diaspora, including Riz Ahmed, No Doubt’s Tony Kanal, Hasan Minhaj, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Arooj Aftab, Nimes Patel, Poorna Jaganathan, Zoya Akhtar, and more, several of which Heems says were actual voicemails he received. Heems’ goal with the album, according to a press release, was to confront various forms of trauma (generational, familial, complex), and VEENA finds Heems delivering some of his most reflective, serious songs to date. He’s still got his sense of humor intact, but if you’ve still got it in your head that Heems is “joke rap,” this album will erase that once and for all.

Doechii – Alligator Bites Never Heal (TDE/Capitol)
TDE’s latest rising star follows up two breakthrough singles with an extensive 19-song project

Florida rapper/singer Doechii has been on the rise since the late 2010s, and that rise has been severely escalating lately. She scored her biggest hit yet in 2023 with the Kodak Black-featuring R&B song “What It Is (Block Boy),” and she turned a lot of heads (including SZA’s) with this year’s even better house/pop/rap fusion “Alter Ego” ft. JT of City Girls. Neither of those songs are on Alligator Bites Never Heal, her new 19-song major label project that she’s calling a “mixtape,” but maybe she’s saving them for something she’ll call an “album.” In any case, Alligator Bites Never Heal is a rich-sounding, multi-faceted project that serves as another great showcase for Doechii’s many talents. She switches it up between trad-rap, airy R&B, and some more modern electronic and trap beats, and she peppers the songs with skits and interludes that serve the project’s larger narrative. At any given moment, she can be found rapping as hard as your favorite ’90s street rapper or sounding as theatrical and charismatic as peak Ludacris and Missy Elliott. If you’re looking for more where “What It Is” came from, she balances out her barrage of bars with a handful of reminders that Doechii can really sing too. At this point, Doechii is actually pretty established and prolific, but Alligator Bites Never Heal gives you the sense that she’s just getting started.

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Honorable Mentions
Benny the Butcher & Black Soprano Family – Summertime Butch
Big Sean – Better Me Than You
Cash Cobain – Play Cash Cobain
Juicy J – Ravenite Social Club
J.U.S. & Squadda B – 3rd Shift
Larry June – Doing It For Me
Latto – Sugar Honey Iced Tea
Lun Tyler – Mr. Skii
PlayThatBoiZay – VIP
Polo G – Hood Poet
YG – Just Re’d Up 3