The 2010s were a fascinating time for hip-hop. The increased use of the internet radically altered how fans engaged with the music. The blog era created new stars in the “Big 3”: Drake, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and more. Moreover, it bridged the old industry standards with how fans engaged with media. Consequently, the underground was just as accessible as your mainstream acts, every region at your fingertips. All you had to do was search for it.
Still, not everyone has that innate curiosity where they’re inclined to search for fresh, new hip-hop. Unless explicitly fed to them, they’ll be happily content within their bubble. Consequently, the 2010s are chock-full of records that went under the radar. Thankfully, Noisey has you covered with four underrated rap songs that should’ve gotten more love at the time. Maybe it’ll spark the next stylistic wormhole you find yourself in. Or it’ll compel you to dive into the rest of an artist’s incredible catalog.
4 of the Most Underrated Hip-Hop Records From the 2010s
‘Broken Again’ by Pharoahe Monch
Sometimes, hip-hop can be particularly cruel towards its veteran acts. The craft might still be there, even if what they rap about might grow weary or redundant. But sometimes, artists can operate like film directors, where their best work comes over a decade into their career.
For Pharoahe Monch, he’s endured as one of the best rappers working in the underground today. Records like “Simon Says” and its many remixes became a rap staple back in the early 2000s. But a song like “Broken Again” deserves the same kinds of flowers—a devastating reflection on the woes of heroin addiction. “Constantly searching for the answers how I could kiss the sky without enhancing/But, it’s so hard to learn,” Monch sighs. “Broken Again” sits comfortably in the pantheon of gut-wrenching songs about drug dependency.
‘Melo’ by Lil Snupe
Lil Snupe could’ve been one of the great stars from the 2010s. Signed under Meek Mill, he had a raw, uncanny energy that recalled Lil Boosie and battle rapping on street corners. His deep Louisiana drawl and high energy were contagious on records like “Melo,” where the tale of his rise to fame doesn’t register as trite or cliché because he raps so earnestly. “Kids look up to me, they say that I am they image/So tell me what the f*ck I look like gettin’ a sentence, huh?!” Snupe boasts.
Unfortunately, his life was cut far too short at 18 years old. It’s vital we remember rappers like Lil Snupe so that their talents don’t fade as a distant memory in history.
‘Since’ by Blu
Blu’s everyman rapping has never sounded cozier than on his 2011 album (technically, it was a mixtape in 2009 before its official release) Her Favorite Colo(u)r. Through a collage of movie clips from Punch-Drunk Love, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and more, Blu muses on romance, depression, and all of life’s mundanities. He mixes the record with this graininess, as if we’re trapped in his brain fog as he sinks into the couch.
Few records display this better than “Since,” where the 1957 James Brown sample cuts and crackles in the foreground. “One time tried to lock me, couldn’t knock me/Did a little bid but I got free/Now I’m on the block bustin’ hot frees,” Blu shrugs off. It doesn’t have the same kind of coming-of-age allure as his classic with Exile, Below The Heavens. But for those in the thick of adulthood, a record like “Since” acts as the soundtrack to uneventful off-days.
‘Fetti’ by Playboi Carti, Maxo Kream, & Da$h
Nowadays, Playboi Carti has a legion of imitators regurgitating blown-out bass and mildly catchy refrains, donning black leather, and claiming the punk aesthetic. However, in 2015, he was one of those ‘if you know, you know’ artists bubbling in hip-hop’s broader underground. But even back then, his penchant for crafting irresistible hooks was extremely evident.
Take “Fetti”, the kind of record that could give you a mere contact high from the sheer amount of smoke blowing around. Carti’s deliriously addictive “I can’t go in, I ain’t ready, fetti on fetti on fetti” juxtaposes Da$h’s dreary, raspy voice and Maxo Kream’s hefty boasts about drug-dealing and using alike. An Atlanta rap stylist with a hazy New Jersey rapper meeting Maxo Kream’s droopy Houston flavor. It’s the kind of meeting of the minds that only the internet could truly inspire.
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