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2016 will be etched in our collective memories for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is the cratering of the centrist political establishment that has largely governed post-World War II Western democracies. This was most notably illustrated by the Brexit referendum that defied pollsters, allowing for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (pending Theresa May evoking Article 50, which as of now hasn’t actually happened yet) and of course the rise of Donald Trump to not only to become the nominee of the Republican Party but the President Elect of the United States.

The surprises did not stop there. In the sports world, the Chicago Cubs ended a 108 year old drought by winning the World Series. The Cleveland Cavaliers, led by their prodigal son roared back from a 3-1 deficit to capture the NBA Championship, the first in team history. It’s like all that was not supposed to happen, happened—well, with the exception of the woeful Jets and Knicks.

On the music side of things, tragedy and loss marred the year. In a twelve month period we lost David Bowie (my hero), Prince, Phife Dawg, Sharon Jones and the elegant Leonard Cohen. Just as we were recovering from one death, another happened and so it went.

Still, despite all the chaos,drama and uncertainty a ton of great music saw the light of day. Artists continued to utilize different ways to distribute their work; some chose the more traditional route of tantalizing and letting the hype build i.e. Drake. Others like Frank Ocean and Beyonce dropped unannounced, resulting in this momentary mass hysteria. The heterogenous distribution methods highlighted that the music industry is still adapting and grappling to the swiftly moving information age.

Though I tried to keep up with all the notable releases, I didn’t get around to fully absorb and appreciate everything—something that occurs each subsequent year. If i think about it, the album that I played the most this year was Julia Holter’s Have You in My Wilderness, which came out in 2015. I liked it then but I completely fell in love with it this year. So I’m sure the same thing will happen with some of the releases that I did not fully embrace in 2016.

Okay so, of the albums that made my top ten, more that half are Hip-Hop or R&B records. There were more releases that I could have drawn from these genres such as Lemonade by Beyonce or Malibu by Anderson Paak but I opted not to do so, for the sake of balance and diversity. This by no means undermines My Woman by Angel Olsen or Light Upon the Lake by Whitney, both albums were well crafted and highly enjoyable.

Albums such as the stunning Blackstar by David Bowie, Blonde by Frank Ocean, We Got It from Here…. by A Tribe Called Quest and A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead impressed me off the bat. I loved them right away and in real time I knew that I was listening to something special. Coloring Book by Chance the Rapper was fantastic at first but lost some of its replay value as time passed, not really sure why that happened, possibly a result of his ubiquity— dude was everywhere, from political rallies to Kit-Kat commercials.

Blood Orange’s Freetown Sound was very impressive, though it lacked the intimacy of Cupid Deluxe.

The Joy Division and J.G. Ballard referencing Atrocity Exhibition by Danny Brown took me some time to get used to and that was for the better. It is an improvement from his sophomore effort, Old, that unfortunately dabbled with EDM. On Atrocity Exhibition, Danny Brown goes off to the deep end resulting in the most experimental hip-hop record of the year, probably abetted by his move to Warp Records. I especially enjoyed “Really Doe” which features adroit verses from Kendrick Lamaar and an emboldened Earl Sweatshirt plus I frequently jammed out to the manic single “When It Rain” which, to me, is Danny Brown at his best. His exuberant double time flow almost careens out of control but he manages to just hold it together, on top of a fantastic instrumental.

And then, there was The Life of Pablo, my number one record of the year. On my initial review, I was skeptical but did not outright dismiss it. I felt that Kanye West rushed the effort and should have perhaps spent more time trimming the fat. Boy was I wrong. Some of the tracks on their own are still not the greatest we’ve heard from Yeezy, the instrumentals can be either under or over produced, but taken as a whole, the album is brilliant. At one point in the summer, it was all I played, come fall,  “Fade” was on repeat for days at a time—possibly because of that video.

On the madcap and schizophrenic The Life of Pablo, we have moments of ecclesiastical beauty such as the opener “Ultra Light Beams” and “Low Lights”, moments of bountiful exhilaration like “Famous” and “Highlights”, moments of somber reflection as shown on “FML” and “Real Friends”; moreover there is the bafflingly vulgar “Freestyle 4” and lastly the cheeky and absurd are illustrated by “I Love Kanye” and “Silver Surfer Intermission” respectively.

In all, a wide spectrum of emotions litter this record and they are a perfect snapshot of what the creator was during recording—or what he still is today for that matter. The juxtaposition of the depraved sinner and repented man creates an arresting tension that I found to be irresistible. Throughout this whacked out ride, Kanye  West spits some of his best verses with incredible urgency and tenacity that one can hear him gasping for air. That easily could have been edited out but it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be too presumptuous to believe that Kanye West wanted his palpable energy to affect the listener. Hearing that kind of passion blare through the speakers made me smile and made my 2016 so much brighter; it also made me hope that 2017 will have more of this kind of awesomeness.

10. Whitney—Light Upon the Lake

9. Blood Orange—Freetown Sound

8. Chance the Rapper—Coloring Book

7. Angel Olsen—My Woman

6. Danny Brown—Atrocity Exhibition

5. A Tribe Called Quest—We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service

4. Radiohead—A Moon Shaped Pool

3. Frank Ocean—Blonde

2. David Bowie—Blackstar

1. Kanye West—The Life of Pablo