Hip Hop in 2025

2024 for Hip Hop was, honest to god, one of the best years for the genre ever. The West Coast absolutely dominated the entire year between Vince Staples’s Dark Times, Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia, Ab-Soul’s Soulburger, Kendrick’s ridiculous output of music and diss tracks that slaughtered Drake, ScHoolboy Q’s Blue Lips, my album of the year, and many more. Even outside of the West Coast, Glorilla’s GLORIOUS, Megan’s ACT II, Latto’s Sugar Honey Iced Tea, Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal. Hip Hop is in such a healthy place with such a wide variety of amazing music, artists, and sounds. While West Coast ran Hip Hop last year, all the music that came out was mostly incredible. But what will Hip Hop in 2025 look like?

Now we’re in 2025, and to celebrate the New Year, Joey Bada$$, my favorite rapper, made a HUGE statement with his latest music video: The Ruler’s Back. Firing shots and sparking competition with the West Coast. This makes me so giddy. Competition is what keeps the genre healthy. In Kendrick’s Euphoria, a big thing he said he wanted from that battle was for it to be a friendly fade. It felt like Kendrick’s verse on Control back in 2015. Calling out every big rapper, except this time he wanted direct competition with Drake. This is what we needed in Hip Hop. Joey calling out the entire West Coast, sparking the good ol, classic West Coast vs East Coast conflict again. This, along with the variety of music we’ve been getting, is what’s keeping the genre alive. 

Poster of yasiin bey and The Alchemist’s “FORENSICS”

As much as I have enjoyed 2024’s West Coast resurgence, I hope 2025 is the year of the East Coast. Deep down, that’s my home. Growing up through middle school and high school, the entire Beast Coast movement and A$AP Mob were always in my rotation. Joey Bada$$’s ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$, A$AP Rocky’s AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP, Cozy Tapes Vol 1 and 2, it was a fucking time to be alive. Hip-Hop was in a promising place. To this day, that movement will forever be something that I hold near and dear to my heart. While Rocky still has an album that is TBD, outside of that I hope Joey Bada$$ is gearing up for an album release. I know Yasiin Bey, aka Mos Def, and The Alchemist are releasing an album together soon as well which I am DYING to get. Mos Def is one of my favorite rappers ever and Black on Both Sides is one of my favorite albums ever. I cannot wait for that. The rest will remain to be seen from the East Coast, but I hope this is just the first of many.

Moving away from the East Coast, sort of, even Doechii is teasing a new album this year. After her incredible mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, and the fact that she is a Florida-native, I cannot wait to see how that album shapes up. She is an incredible rapper whose style and lyrical ability subvert each other, and I am super excited for her major debut.

Hip-Hop is in a beautiful place right now. I’m seeing Kendrick and SZA on tour this year, along with Smino. The number of albums I have still in rotation from last year is HUGE, but I cannot get enough of Chromakopia, Blue Lips, and GNX. I love it. Here’s to a wonderful 2025 for Hip-Hop, and to everyone who dropped an album last year, y’all killed it. Keep it going!