NUMBER FIVE
J.U.S - GoFundMe Corvette Bandcamp

Technically a 2021 release, but late enough in the year to consider it for 2022. As the first artist to drop out of the Bruiser Brigade’s rapid fire release wave las year, it only made sense for Detroit’s J.U.S to drop his sophomore project quickly to keep his name in the conversation. When compared to his label mates, he doesn’t command the same presence as Fat Ray, or have the malleable flow of Bruiser Wolf, but what J.U.S does bring is his sense of humour and a laidback flow that fits the lo-fi production perfectly. J.U.S can sample Dr. Disrespect, outrap Danny Brown, and make a song about his gambling addiction and make all of them sound amazing.

Bruiser Brigade Records, 16 songs, 37:15
Features Danny Brown, Bruiser Wolf, Fat Ray, Nolan the Ninja, and more
Production by Raphy, Skywlkr, and more

NUMBER FOUR
Madhattan & Spanish Ran - Dark Times of Mike Dowd Spotify

I first heard of Bronx producer Spanish Ran a couple of years ago, but 2022 was when I really turned to a fan, largely off the strength of this album with Madhattan. Named for and loosely themed around dirty cop turned d*** dealer Mike Dowd, Madhattan provides the sort of bars and street content you would come to expect from this sub-genre. While he’s not the strongest MC, he compliments the real star of the show, Spanish Ran’s beats, perfectly. All the drums hit hard, and the samples give the album a cold, nostalgic feeling. The sequencing is also worth noting, the album never drags, and each song only gets better, culminating in the outro, “July 1992”, which is one of the best beats of the year and Madhattan’s best performance on the album.

The Church, 10 songs, 29:47
Features Dot Demo, UFO Fev, Tree Mason
Production by Spanish Ran

NUMBER THREE
Mike Shabb - Sewaside II Spotify

If you told me a year ago that Montreal rapper/producer Mike Shabb would be rubbing shoulders with Boldy James and producing a Westside Gunn x Run the Jewels song, I wouldn’t have believed you. Before this album, most of the music I’d heard from Shabb was plugg-esque beats and collaborations with the late Jeune Loup (LLJL). But on this album, he showed that he could keep up with the best of this wave as a rapper and a producer. His flow still recalls the punch-in/DMV/Hoodrich Pablo Juan flow that was everywhere a couple of years ago, but on soul-sampling beats like these, he makes it sound fresh. It’s rare to find an artist who can rap, produce, and engineer records of this quality all by themselves, but Shabbo has that magic touch.

Independent, 16 songs, 39:03
Features Kevin Na$h
Production by Mike Shabb, Nicholas Craven

NUMBER TWO
36 Cypher & Futurewave - Hell Sweet Home Spotify

On the global level, Toronto may be best known for the dark, R&B-influenced sound of Drake or the Weeknd. Locally, trap and drill sounds are what most gravitate towards. But the underground boom bap sound has also flourished here, mostly thanks to producer Futurewave and rapper Daniel Son. Naturally, anyone they work with becomes a must-listen, and that is definitely true of 36 Cypher. This album, his debut, is one of the strongest listens of the year. With his kind of staggered, shouty delivery and his strong Toronto accent, no one out there quite sounds like him. His verses are mostly just stream of conscious, but sometimes he’ll come in and out of different schemes like he wasn’t just spitting some crazy s***. This album works great as a full listen as well. Unlike some of his peers, we still hear hooks on a good amount of songs, and the sounds clips, mostly from news shows, just tie the whole theme of the project together.

WAVGODMUSIC, 12 songs, 34:15
Features Falcon Outlaw, Daniel Son, Asun Eastwood
Production by Futurewave

NUMBER ONE
al.divino & Estee Nack - TRIPLE BLACK DIAMONDS 2 Bandcamp

al.divino and Estee Nack are probably the most known artists on this list by a decent amount. They’ve been around for the longest and have collaborations with a lot of the biggest names in this scene, including Westside Gunn and Mach-Hommy. As solo artists and as a duo, they’ve been incredibly prolific, with songs, albums, and entire aliases dropping (and sometimes un-dropping) out of nowhere. So when they hype up a drop for as long as they did TRIPLE BLACK DIAMONDS 2, a sequel to their first collab album from 2017, you know something special is coming. These two knocked it out of the park. divino and Nack have always been a bit on the weirder side of this neo-dust wave compared to peers like Gunn, but this album actually ends up being somewhat accessible, at least for their standards. Sure, the two use the instrumentals more as suggestions than actual indicators of where to stop and start their bars, but production-wise, a lot of it is pretty standard. What really gives al.divino and Estee Nack an edge is how they can pull from so many different sources of inspiration. Whether it’s art, fashion, graffiti, anime, Dominican culture, video games, Five Percenter teachings, soul music, boom bap, trap, all of it sounds right when these two bring it into their world. Even though the album is only 30 minutes, with so much going on, it feels longer. There’s never a dull moment, and if you think you’ve found one, you should probably take another listen

VNGRD, 12 songs, 30:09
Features ???
Production by al.divino, Plazbo, DJ Mastamind, Ewonee, and more

Where is city girls

this a hoe scaring music only thread

Neo Dust as a name is still so wild to me Lmao

it’s honestly the best descriptor of the sound, i feel like that let’s it include people from griselda to earl who may be quite different but still i find the fanbases and influences overlap

calling it “drumless” and “boom bap” are both wrong half the time, “sample based” and “alternative” is too vague, etc

you're very thoughtful and self-aware op start posting twitter threads get one of the last remaining blawgs to sign you up

@op
Listen to this album

dope thread

that 36 Cypher beat disgusting in the best way possible

already in my library bro haven't had a chance to listen all the way through yet but have heard good things

this is cool so far

neo dust is such a great name lmao