Tuned-Up Best Hip-Hop of September

By Alex Dye

September as a whole was a GREAT month for hip-hop. Some heavy hitters not only came out, but they came correct. And there were a number of really interesting projects from some lesser-known artists, including Rhys Langston’s Grapefruit Radio, which can be purchased as an 85-page zine with digital download. This unique packaging immediately piqued my attention, but his poetry and flow are very non-traditional and captivating and worth the listen.

September 30th, 2022 will forever be known as The RAPpening (in my mind). On top of the fact that an immense amount of work dropped that day, the projects that came out were top quality, album of the year contenders. You might get an AOTY possible once a month, but not multiple times on one day. Needless to say, the day was exciting and overwhelming for hip-hop heads and music critics paying attention to these sorts of things. Just to understand the ridiculousness of the day, 9 of the following albums came out on the The RAPpening. And this represents less than half of what actually released that day.

There hasn’t been enough time to digest everything that dropped on the 30th, but some of the cream that rose to the top included billy woods’ Church, the sequel to the already immaculate Aethiopes, proves this emcee cannot be stopped and deserves all the accolades. Rome Streetz partnered with DJ Muggs to create a distinctively hard but head nodding album that explores his story. And Canadian producer Nicholas Craven worked with Detroit emcee Boldy James on Fair Exchange No Robbery, providing a darker, thicker soundscape for the consistent street rapper.

Late to the game, I stumbled across Lukah’s Raw Extraction which dropped mid-September. Raw Extraction has incredibly dense lyricism and bars upon clever bars. His delivery left me speechless and breathless. And the themes reflect the challenges faced in the current world. Lukah is unbelievable and deserves way more exposure from this record.

Obviously, there were way more releases that came out this month than what are listed below. But if you want some good places to start for September’s best hip-hop, you won’t do wrong with any of these. Which were your favorites? What did I miss?