2015 might have been the best year for music in recent memory. Actually, I’ll scratch that. I find it hard to say that there are ever bad years for music, because there’s always the possibility that I just haven’t been exposed to the right music in a particular time frame. So, I’ll correct: I heard more good music in 2015 than I’ve heard in any 12 month span in recent memory. I’m not sure why that is-I can’t say I’ve been paying any more or less attention than I have in the past. I’m also well aware that there’s great music that’s slipped under the radar for me: as of the time I write this, I’m only about 72 hours into owning the Vince Staples album, which might’ve made this list had I written it a month from now.

My favorite music of the year came from a variety of sub-genres, but I will say that R&B had a banner year. For a type of music that many now consider dead, I don’t know: maybe the lack of commercial possibilities (at least relative to the days when shitty Ginuwine and Monica albums could sell a million copies with ease) has opened artists up to being a little freer artistically. Whatever the reason: great soul music was in excessive bounty this year, and the Brits are catching up to us Yanks in that realm quickly. American artists, get on your job! But there were also great pop albums, great jam band-esque albums, great singer/songwriter albums. Metal’s not really my jam, but I’m sure there were great albums in that genre as well.

Anyway, here’s a quick list of albums that I enjoyed this year which ended up not making my final 25. Despite being left off my final list, these are all great records, completely enjoyable.

Blood by Lianne La Havas, The Magic Whip by Blur, Star Wars by Wilco, 1989 by Ryan Adams, Chasing Yesterday by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Kindred by Passion Pit, Into Focus (EP) by Panama Wedding, Kintsugi by Death Cab For Cutie, Ibeyi by Ibeyi, Beta Play (EP) by Beta Play, B4DA$$ by Joey Bada$$, Then Came The Morning by The Lone Bellow,  Paper Gods by Duran Duran, Music Complete by New Order, Jekyll & Hyde by the Zac Brown Band, Ego Death by The Internet, Dornik by Dornik, Wiped Out! by The Neighbourhood, Radius by Allen Stone  and All Your Favorite Bands by Dawes.

…and apologies to Vince Staples and Father John Misty: two artists whose albums I enjoy immensely, just discovered too late to add them to this list in good conscience.

My favorite singles of the year (in no particular order): “Dreams” by Beck, “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar, “Coffee” by Miguel, “Things Happen” by Dawes, “Hotline Bling” by Drake, “Style” by Taylor Swift, “Hello” by Adele (and Joe’s awesome cover), “Truffle Butter” by Nicki Minaj feat. Drake and Lil Wayne, “Bitch Betta Have My Money” by Rihanna, “Body On Me” by Rita Ora feat. Chris Brown, “Hell You Talmbout” by Janelle Monae, “Adventure Of A Lifetime” by Coldplay, “Alive” by Sia, “Sober” by Childish Gambino, “At Your Best (You Are Love)” by Frank Ocean, “Can’t Deny My Love” by Brandon Flowers,  “No Sleeep” by Janet Jackson feat. J. Cole, “Every Little Word” by MNEK,  “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, “Can’t Feel My Face” by The Weeknd.

Best Books I Read This Year (not exclusive to 2015 releases): Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces Of A Man by Marcus Baram, The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton & Janet W. Hardy, Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby, J Dilla “Donuts” (33 1/3) by Jordan Ferguson, I Never Met A Story I Didn’t Like: Mostly True Tall Tales by Todd Snider, The Fabulous Sylvester by Joshua Gamson, Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz.

And now-on to the main event: my favorite albums of 2015.

25. Emily King The Switch (listen on Spotify/buy on Amazon)

Here’s a little music industry insider baseball for you: back in the day, BMG would preview their fourth quarters by shepherding retail big-shots, journalists, and other assorted VIPs into an auditorium for a day (or two), feeding them vittles and alcohol, and having them listen to (recorded or live) music by their major artists and up-and-coming priorities. The events were hosted by the label heads: the years I went, most of the talking was done by either L.A. Reid or Clive Davis. At either the 2003-2004 event, I was introduced to the music of Emily King. I remember thinking she had promise, but that Clive was trying to force her into the Alicia Keys lane, and feeling like that might be an ill-fit.

Flash forward a decade later, and Emily flashes back onto my radar with a new album called The Switch. Initially, I held off on listening to it, still hung up on the mediocrity of her debut. Finally, I fired up Spotify and gave The Switch a listen*. I was impressed enough to then drop ten bucks so I could own the album. Her style has matured (after all, it’s been a decade) into a blend of pop, R&B and funk that draws from soulful renegades like Prince, Joni Mitchell and Teena Marie. Actually, The Switch feels a lot like the album I always wished would come from Nikka Costa. All the comparisons probably aren’t the fairest to Emily King, who is a lot more than her influences. What I’m saying is-give The Switch a listen. You’ll be glad you did.

*newer artists (or really, anyone other than Adele or Taylor Swift), this is how the streaming model can work for you. Exposure!

24. Honne Over Lover (EP) (stream | buy)

I dunno a ton about Honne. They’re a duo, they’re British, they’re clearly influenced by ’80s soul and new wave. Their Over Lover EP (which I became aware of as a result of fellow music writer Kibbe) sounds like the love child of Tears For Fears and…like, Ready For The World. All four songs are awesome. You should check it out.

Man, are British artists bringing the heat this year or what? U.S., let’s catch up!

23. Toro Y Moi What For? (stream | buy)

We’ve been conditioned to believe that music requires labeling, right? I’m happy about the fact that most of the music on this list defies easy categorization. Case in point: Toro Y Moi’s What For? I discovered this artist via a sterling cover of the ’80s classic “Saturday Love”, and wasn’t sure what to expect from a full-length release. Was I going to get indie synth-pop a la Passion Pit? A more straightforward R&B sound? I got neither, exactly. If What For? reminds me of any specific artist, it might be ’70s renegade Todd Rundgren or fellow ’70s renegade (I’m sensing a theme here) Shuggie Otis . The album is soulful, funky, and just a bit retro (“Buffalo”‘s got that AM Gold lite-funk sound down pat) but it doesn’t sound like a throwback or a pastiche.

22. Phony Ppl Yesterday’s Tomorrow (listen on Spotify | buy on Amazon)

Phony Ppl was one of several new acts I got hipped to by my podcast co-host/musical adventurer Michael Parr. This collective hails from the Brooklyn neighborhood I grew up in (East Flatbush) and delivers a meld of R&B and hip-hop that’s a bit more melodically structured than most music currently made in that vein. Yesterday’s Tomorrow has a chill vibe not unlike, say, The Internet’s current album, but it’s also got a bit of a N.E.R.D. vibe, down to the singer’s uncanny vocal resemblance to Pharrell Williams. If you like the vibe of PBR&B but also like songs that you can, like, hum along to, Phony Ppl just might be your jam. Brooklyn represent.

21. Adele 25 (buy)

Quite simply-Adele is runnin’ shit. She appeals to damn near everybody-young folks, grandparents, dudes, ladies, gay folks, straight folks. She gets play on R&B and alternative radio–and it’s hard to dislike her because she’s a) talented and b) seemingly unaffected by the craziness her career has wrought.

I’m not sure I enjoy 25 as much as its world-beating predecessor (which may wound up getting outsold by this album–how about that!), but it’s a good album nevertheless, even if you have to bite through a bit more hype to properly enjoy it. Adele’s voice is truly a force of nature-she’s got pipes for days, and she’s matched with sympathetic collaborators ranging from Tobias Jesso Jr. to Danger Mouse (with one surprising misstep: Bruno Mars). While I would’ve loved to have a little more tempo on 25, but let’s just give it the title of “sad bastard album of the year” and call it a day.

20. Bilal In Another Life (stream | buy)

For his fourth officially-released album, Philly soul rebel Bilal Oliver linked up with Adrian Younge, best known as the producer behind Ghostface Killah’s most recent series of albums. The classically soulful production sensibilities of Younge proved to be an odd yet effective match with Bilal’s space-age R&B from space (yes, that’s what I meant) on In Another Life. Oliver’s elastic vocals unify tracks like the eerie “Star Now” (think “Gamble & Huff meets The Twilight Zone“), the synth-happy Big K.R.I.T.-assisted sex jam “Pleasure Toy” and the low-slung rock workout “Lunatic”. Overshadowed by a bunch of quality alt-soul LPs (and Bilal’s involvement in Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, In Another Life is a quality addition to Oliver’s top-notch catalog.

19. Jamie Woon Making Time (stream | buy)

Jamie Woon was part of a wave of soulful British men that included Jamie Lidell and Sam Sparro. His debut album, Mirrorwriting, was a razor-sharp collection of downtempo electronic soul (shout out to my man Mike Antonich for putting me on to that record.) All those men are talented as hell, and of course a sanitized, less soulful version of that archetype (in the form of Sam Smith) wound up achieving massive Stateside success.

Woon’s long-in-gestation follow up, Making Time, was released this fall, and is sort of a prism image of its predecessor-as acoustic and organic as Mirrorwriting was electronic. The track “Celebration”-one of the album’s highlights, finds Woon using the little-heard deeper end of his voice, producing a track with a sound that I think Chris Martin was gunning for on the latest Coldplay album. Elsewhere, Jamie delivers a versatile and accomplished effort that proves him just as capable with live-band soul as he was with his previous mash-up of PBR&B and EDM.

18. Guster Evermotion (stream | buy)

The pride and joy of Tufts University (Medfahd in the house!) dropped the djembes and banjos and took a slight detour on Evermotion, which dropped at the very beginning of 2015. “Endlessly” feels like a lost a-ha hit, while “Simple Machine” (which hit Guster’s fan base in advance of the album’s release) wouldn’t be out of place on a Vampire Weekend album. The aggressive diversity displayed throughout the LP resulted in an album that sounds more urgent and engaged than just about anything the typically laid-back band has ever released (and freaked-out Gusterrhoids could take solace in the fact that songs like “Doin’ It By Myself” and “Gangway” sounded a lot more like the band they know and love.)

17. Disclosure Caracal (stream | buy)

I love to dance. My experiences with any sort of communal dance (whether at a house party or in a club) have been best when the movement feels like a spiritual release. Most club-oriented music made during the past 20 years feels too…clinical. I can’t get off on dubstep or any of its variants. Disclosure makes dance music with soul-and they successfully avoided the sophomore jinx with this summer’s Caracal.

The main difference between this album and its predecessor, Settle, is the star-power of the vocalists. The brothers that comprise Disclosure did a good job choosing collaborators who have simpatico with them: Miguel is typically Miguel-icious, newcomer Kwabs gives me serious D-Train vibes (to name drop a classic ’80s dance act) and, most impressively, Disclosure brings out the best in artists I’m either ambivalent about (The Weeknd) or outright dislike (Lorde and especially Sam Smith). Smith repaid the act for launching his U.S. career (with the delightful ear worm “Latch”) by coming up with the equally addictive “Omen”. Can someone make sure all Smith’s work going forward is with Disclosure? My ears would appreciate it.

16. Jazmine Sullivan Reality Show (stream | buy)

Philly native Jazmine Sullivan famously announced her retirement from music after two promising albums, and I’m glad it didn’t take. During her layoff, Sullivan lost none of the internal fire that separates her music from the rest of the R&B pack, and even the most radio-friendly of album cuts feels like it was recorded with heart. Because you can melisma your ass off, but that doesn’t automatically make your music soulful. Shit, she’s responsible for the only song I can stomach with a Meek Mill guest appearance! The heartbreaking “Forever Don’t Last” is the album’s (and if you ask me, her career’s) high point, but there’s nary a bad track to be found on the songstress’s third effort.

15. Kwabs Love & War (stream | buy)

I discovered Kwabs via Disclosure’s latest album, which appears further down on this list. His album, Love & War, is only available for purchase via import (and is not available via streaming services in the U.S.) so good luck finding it. If you happen to get a hold of it, though, you will be rewarded with pure gold.

The British soul movement is very much in full swing, and Kwabs’ husky voice (which is comparable to Luther Vandross or James “D Train” Williams) is one of the most emotive instruments to emerge from the younger U.K. contingent. He’s also a great songwriter, as evidenced by songs like “Cheating On Me” and the emotionally raw “Father Figure” (not to be confused with a hit song recorded by another great male vocalist).

Someone release this album in the States NOW. Staggered release dates (or not releasing something at all) based on geography makes NO sense anymore!

14. Cool Uncle (Bobby Caldwell & Jack Splash) Cool Uncle (stream | buy)

Bobby Caldwell’s moment in the pop culture sun was fairly brief-1979’s “What You Won’t Do For Love” is the only song of his that might be recognizable to your average pop music fan. Success on smooth jazz radio and the appropriation of several Caldwell jams by hip-hoppers like Common and The Notorious B.I.G. kept the singer’s name alive through the ’90s and beyond, and a team up with writer/producer Jack Splash (best known for offering a capable assist on Cee Lo Green’s The Lady Killer) resulted in one of 2015’s surprise gems.

Cool Uncle lands firmly in the space between classic soul and yacht rock, like Silk Degrees or Aja updated for the 21st century. It doesn’t hurt that Caldwell, Boz Scaggs and Donald Fagen all have a slight vocal resemblance. Guests ranging from Mayer Hawthorne to Deniece Williams show up to pay homage, and while Caldwell and Splash generally stay in the love song zone, “End Of Days” is a post-apocalyptic celebration that would sit nicely next to Prince’s “1999” and Marvin Gaye’s “A Funky Space Reincarnation” in the soulful afterlife’s musical library.

13. Jason Isbell Something More Than Free (stream | buy)

There’s at least one singer-songwriter album each year that reaches into my body, pulls my heart out of my chest, and plays origami with it for 50 minutes. In 2015, that album was Jason Isbell’s Something More Than Free. Although I can’t imagine everything he writes is explicitly autobiographical, there’s the sense that these songs are lived in, coming from a place of truth. It’s not exactly country, it’s not exactly rock, Something More Than Free is simply great music. While the (relatively) upbeat, more jangly songs are cool, Isbell hits my heart the hardest when the tempo slows and the lyrics become more prominent-“Children Of Children” moved me to tears the first time I heard it. And the second. And it still does.

12. The Foreign Exchange Tales From The Land Of Milk & Honey (stream | buy)

Phonte and Nicolay are two of the hardest working dudes in the music biz. I certainly wasn’t expecting new music from them in 2015, barely even two years after the solid Love In Flying Colors. Besides, as the year began, Phonte was working on the sadly short-lived animated version of Black Dynamite, while Nicolay released the latest volume of his acclaimed City Lights series (a testament to how good 2015’s music was–I felt tremendous guilt leaving that album off of this list).

By summer, we were jamming to a brand spankin’ new FE+ jam called “Asking For A Friend”. The deep house vibes of the track (and Phonte’s Rockwell-esque accent) raised quite a few eyebrows, but there was no doubt in my mind that the resulting album was gonna be dope. Quite simply, The Foreign Exchange doesn’t disappoint. Milk & Honey leans a little to the left-especially on “Asking” and the Steve Arrington tribute “Work It To The Top”-but there’s plenty of the plainspoken heart-on-sleeve music that’s become the group’s calling card, and there’s at least one bangin’ between-the-sheets ballad called “Body” that’s worth the entire purchase price of this LP.

11. Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment Surf (stream)

Prior to (maybe) this time last year, I knew who Chance The Rapper was, but didn’t pay him much mind. I had a few friends that pushed him as the head of the vanguard of modern hip-hop, but my disappointment with other folks that’d been given that designation (from Lil Wayne to Pusha T to ASAP Rocky) prevented me from giving Chance a…well, chance.

Not that Surf is even a Chance The Rapper album, per se. The fiercely independent artist gives the shine to horn player Nico Segal (AKA Donnie Trumpet). Here, they’re all part of a collective-joined by a crew of rappers, musicians and singers that includes legendary oddballs Busta Rhymes and Erykah Badu, to name a few. The end result can lovingly be described as a beautiful mess; a life-affirming set that transcends hip-hop (as the best hip-hop often does), transcends jazz, hell…it almost transcends music. Surf also gets better with successive listens-it’s moved up quite a few spots on my list since I even decided to start working on one in earnest.

10. Blackalicious IMANI Vol. 1 (stream | buy)

Blackalicious might’ve slid slightly under my radar during their heyday. but they (and Gift of Gab’s solo work) resonated enough with me that I blindly (deafly?) donated cash to the PledgeMusic campaign they put together in order to fund IMANI Vol. 1, their first album in a decade. It was not money spent in vain. Gab and Chief Xcel put together a mature, musical set that called in guest appearances from the cream of the left-of-center set (Zap Mama, Imani Coppola, Lateef The Truth Speaker). Gab’s verses on this album were super-tight, and songs like “Blacka” guaranteed his elevation up a couple dozen spots on my “greatest emcees of all time” list.

9. Van Hunt The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets (stream | buy)

“I am the captain of this relationship!”, Van Hunt roars towards the beginning of his fifth proper album (for the record, I’m counting the unreleased masterpiece Popular as one of his albums.) The Grammy winner continues to blend genres effortlessly on The Fun Rises (also the best album title of the year), shifting from punk-inspired jams to slinky soul (“Teach Me A New Language” will give you all of the sexy feels) to…country? Or whatever the hell “Pudd’n” is.

You’ll find Miguel’s album a bit further down this list, and there’s a distinct musical correlation between the two artists-I’d imagine they both listened to a shit ton of Prince as they were forming their musical identities. One can only hope for a collaboration in the future.

8. The Bird & The Bee Recreational Love (stream | buy)

If not for Wikipedia, I wouldn’t have known that The Bird & The Bee’s singer, Inara George, is the daughter of legendary Little Feat frontman Lowell George.

If not for Wikipedia, I wouldn’t have remembered that the duo’s other half, Greg Kurstin, is now a big-name songwriter and producer who’s worked with Kelly Clarkson, P!nk and Sia, and produced my favorite song of 2015, Beck’s “Dreams”.

If not for the release of Recreational Love this summer, I would’ve assumed that The Bird & The Bee split up following the release of their perfectly pleasant Hall & Oates covers album four years ago. You, discerning pop music fan, may not be aware that this album is out. I, helpful neighborhood music nerd, implore you to find it. Stream it, buy it, download it. Then sing along with it, dance to it, fall in love with it. Not to shit on Clarkson, P!nk or Sia (all of whom I like if not love), but Inara George and Greg Kurstin have a chemistry together that can’t be replicated anywhere else. George’s slightly disaffected vocal style gives the songs on Recreational Love an edge that your everyday top 40 diva (no matter how thunder-lunged) just can not replicate. Listen to “Jenny” and tell me if you don’t get all the “great synth-pop song” feels.

7. Cee Lo Green Heart Blanche (stream | buy)

Talk about a fall from grace: a sexual assault charge and some questionable social media decisions changed the public’s perception of the former Goodie Mob rapper from cuddly weirdo to straight-up creep. Whatever you think of Cee Lo as a person (and God knows he’s only the 10,000,000th public figure to do something extremely regrettable in his personal life), Heart Blanche makes it clear that he realizes he fucked up and he’s really, really sorry about it.

No, Heart Blanche is not MJ’s HIStory reset for 2015, but songs like “Cee Lo Green Sings The Blues” put the man’s feelings on blast and almost make you feel bad for the guy. Beyond sympathy, the fact is that the guy can sing his ass off and writes a hell of a song, too. Whether he’s name-checking a series of iconic ’80s figures or sampling Bob James’ “Angela” (AKA the theme from the classic sitcom Taxi), Cee Lo’s Heart Blanche is an excellent piece of music that’s deserving of a better fate than the one it received. Someone shoulda told the guy to stay off of Twitter.

6. Tame Impala Currents (stream | buy)

Prior to Currents‘ release, I was only familiar with Tame Impala by name, not by sound. So the apparent re-jiggering of their sonic template on this album didn’t freak me out the way it seemed to freak out some of the act’s long-time fans. What did I hear? A synth-tastic blend of indie dance-pop with some prog/jam/acid trip vibes thrown in. I also found-and if you haven’t figured it out yet, this is key when it comes to music resonating with me-lyrical themes that I could relate to. Songs like “Yes I’m Changing” and “The Less I Know, The Better” hit me in my heart and mind in addition to massaging my ear-holes(?) Just confirmed…yes, there are holes in my ears.

5. Janet Jackson Unbreakable (stream | buy)

I thought we’d lost Janet forever.

Even before the rumored retirement-the Queen of Pop spent a decade or so resting on her laurels-chasing trends, relying on her sexuality as a musical plot point, ditching her longtime collaborators Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis for younger, “hipper” writers and producers. Maybe she needed a break. Maybe she realized that she was now the only artistically viable of her siblings. Whatever it was-I’m glad we got Unbreakable. And super glad that Janet, Jimmy and Terry proved that they had even more to give within their relationship, which has just entered its fourth decade.

Unbreakable makes no obvious plays for modern-day commercial appeal. The only of-the-moment collaborator, J. Cole, appears on the type of mid-tempo slow jam that top 40 radio has grown way too “young” for. Janet simply buckled down and made a Janet Jackson record befitting her maturity. There were tributes to Michael, tributes to Prince, callbacks to Rhythm Nation and “That’s The Way Love Goes”, and enough spirit and soul to make up for the Missy Elliott collabo that ranked as the album’s single misstep. I’m so glad she’s back-and judging from the album’s warm critical and commercial reception, I’m not the only person who feels that way.

4. My Morning Jacket The Waterfall (stream | buy)

Having been an MMJ fan for nearly a decade, I can’t say I was fully open until lead singer Jim James dropped his debut solo album a couple years back. The Waterfall was the first album from the band I can clearly say I anticipated, and it didn’t disappoint. James writes songs that transcend the “jam band” label that they’ve been somewhat unfairly saddled with-The Waterfall is nowhere near as noodly and meandering as-say-a Phish album (and while I think I’d be hard-pressed to enjoy an entire Phish show; MMJ’s marathon concerts are solid from beginning to end). MMJ jumps from psychedelic rock ‘n roll to reggae and funk-influenced tracks effortlessly. “Big Decisions” might be their most pop-hooky song ever, and they even managed to fit Giorgio Moroder into their world when the disco legend (who released his own fine album in 2015) remixed their “Compound Fracture” for a single release.

3. Miguel WILDHEART (stream | buy)

So, apparently WILDHEART (caps intentional) is a concept album about Los Angeles? If so, I’m moving there tomorrow because apparently all people do there is fuck. Miguel’s third album gives me more Dirty Mind vibes than any album made since Prince’s 1980 opus. Tons of low-slung guitars, some wildly evocative lyricism, and of course, Mr. Pimentel’s croon helped make songs like “The Valley” and “Coffee” the perfect soundtrack for some hot ‘n heavy youknowwhat. Thankfully, Miguel’s talented enough that you can enjoy WILDHEART even with your clothes on.

Since the music world generally only has room for one Black weirdo at a time, The more pop-friendly The Weeknd stole some of Miguel’s shine and WILDHEART underperformed commercially. Not to say that Beauty Behind the Madness is a bad album-it isn’t-but Miguel’s hitting you with hooks, great musicianship, and a special kind of tingle you can’t achieve if you can’t feel your face…know what I’m sayin’?

Oh, and bonus points for bringing Kurupt out from whatever rock he was hiding under.

2. D’Angelo & The Vanguard Black Messiah (stream | buy)

YES. Black Messiah was released in 2014. However, there were less than 3 weeks left in the year when it dropped, it was a surprise release, and fuck it, this is my list, my rules. If there’s anything I feel bad about in regards to D’Angelo’s opus appearing here, it’s the fact that it would’ve been #1 on my 2014 list had it come out a few weeks earlier.

While I’ve had respect for D’Angelo’s artistry from jump (I had a pre-release promo CD of Brown Sugar back in the day and jammed it hard in the DiscMan), I thought 2000’s Voodoo was a bit overrated, and the expectations for a follow-up were pretty well managed, especially since a) it’d been almost fifteen years and b) D’d spent most of the time in between albums in various stages of fuckin’ up. My well-managed expectations were pretty much blown to bits during my first listen of Messiah. The album is an artistic masterpiece from the feedback that opens it through the sitar and piano notes that close it.  Black Messiah is funny (“Back To The Future Pt. 1”), sexy (“Really Love”), funky (“Ain’t That Easy”) and fiercely political. Coming on the heels of the birth of the #blacklivesmatter movement, it was also extremely timely. It would take a lot for me to forgive a fifteen year absence from any artist I admired, but Black Messiah almost makes you wish D’Angelo would go away for another decade and a half just so we could see what he comes up with.

If you’re reading this, though, D’Angelo: I’d much rather you came back sooner than later. Thanks.

1. Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly (stream | buy)

There’s been a lot of ink spilled over To Pimp A Butterfly since its release, and I’m very happy to add to it. But first…

I’m quite perplexed as to why “I” wasn’t appreciated more upon its release in the fall of 2014. Critics of the song lambasted the prominent use of a hit Isley Brothers song and called the lyrical content oversimplified, or (gasp) too positive. No one seemed to have an issue with the even more obvious Janet Jackson sample (from a song that was a bigger hit than “That Lady”) in “Poetic Justice”, and plus, the usage of “That Lady” isn’t a sample, but music replayed by a live band. And while “I love myself” is a simple message, and one you hear iterations of quite often in hip-hop music, that sentiment is rarely expressed with as much context and heart as it was in “I”. As I marched in protests last fall, and as I dealt with my own issues with self-worth and feeling devalued by society, “I” began to feel like the musical version of a stone gathering moss as it rolls. It became a mantra, a hymn. I can only speculate as to whether that feeling was Kendrick’s aim when he wrote and recorded it, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

With that in mind, using a live (or “live”) version of “I” on To Pimp A Butterfly feels like a bit of a cop-out. So does the placement of “u” on the album, offering a sort of counterpoint to the relentless positivity of its predecessor. It’s a credit to Kendrick’s musicality (and the overall creativity when it came to recording and sequencing this album) that these apparent capitulations still work, and work well. At the end of the day, I’m bitching about nothing, because when it comes down to it, To Pimp A Butterfly is solidly not only the best album of 2015, but arguably the best album of this decade, which is now 60% over for those keeping score.

Conceptually? Amazing. Even the lengthy virtual interview with 2Pac doesn’t annoy me much (although I almost always skip it when I play the album-easy enough to do as the last track) because I understand the context. Musically? Kendrick is leaps and bounds ahead of his peers, thanks to a laundry list of sympathetic collaborators ranging from Thundercats, Bilal and Kamasi Washington to Snoop, Dre and Pharrell. Lyrically? Not to shit on the guy who’s arguably K-Dot’s top competitor, but Aubrey Graham couldn’t see Kendrick lyrically with bifocals. To Pimp A Butterfly is a statement of artistic maturation on a level with (dare I say) Talking Book, or What’s Going On. It might be the best West Coast hip-hop album of all time, depending on how I’m feeling about Death Certificate or Cypress Hill on any given day.  It’s experimental, it’s personal, it’s flawed, it’s confident, it’s unapologetically political, and unapologetically Black at a time in musical history when popular music and the artists that make it all seem to be spinning around in an endless pool of whatever makes The Weeknd not be able to feel his face. Only they don’t seem to be able to feel the rest of their bodies, either. Or their emotions. Or anything that won’t get them paid.

When To Pimp A Butterfly semi-surprise-dropped, I ordered the CD and streamed it in the days while I waited for the disc to ship. For whatever reason, I never feel as though I can probably take an album in without owning it. So while I was biding my time till the CD came, I easily concluded that this was an album that was not going to be easily digestible. Months later, I’m still digesting, which is a good thing-and a rare thing-for an album that I’ve consumed as much as I already have. My favorite song has changed at least four times-from “The Blacker The Berry” to “Complexion-A Zulu Love” to “Alright” to “These Walls”. To become so invested in a piece of music, to relate so well to a piece of music, to want to actively listen to a piece of music (to the exclusion of doing other things–a hard task given my perennially multi-tasking mind) is quite a feat indeed. I think I’ll be peeling layers off of To Pimp A Butterfly well into 2016-even after all the listens, I’m not sure that I’ve done much beyond scratching the surface. They don’t make albums like this anymore. But I’m sure as hell glad Kendrick did.

On a personal level, 2015 was an interesting year. As screwed up as our current socio-political climate is, I think that, for me, this year was marked by two things: change and acceptance. Both of those are positive, if occasionally frustrating. I’ve certainly learned a lot-about taking care of myself mentally and physically, about dealing with loss, about adaptability, about knowing and loving myself. My hope for myself-and all of you-is that the learning will continue.

I am grateful to all of you who read (and listen to) what I post here. I’m extraordinarily grateful to my podcast partners Zack, Michael and Mike, who are not only members of the music nerd fraternity, but have also become members of my chosen family. We’ve got some great stuff coming in the New Year on the podcast front, and I’m super-excited to share it with you.

Have a wonderful holiday season, everybody.