So much rap music comes out all the time, and especially with frequent surprise releases, it can be hard to keep track of it all. So, as a way to help keep up with all of it, here’s a roundup of the 5 rap albums from March 2024 that stood out to us most. We also probably still missed or haven’t spent enough time with some great March rap albums that aren’t on this list. What were some of your favorites of last month? Let us know, and read on for the list (unranked, in no particular order).

ScHoolboy Q – Blue Lips
TDE/Interscope

I like ScHoolboy Q’s 2019 album CrasH Talk, but it felt like he was coasting a little, playing it a little bit safe. It’s good news then, that its followup Blue Lips is one of the most delightfully weird albums that Q has released yet. Across 18 songs, Q covers everything from distorted punk-rap to industrial electronics to jazzy psychedelia to smooth soul to throwback boom bap to modern trap. He sounds totally re-energized, ready to yell about whatever on one song and tone things down and get pensive on the next. Freddie Gibbs, Rico Nasty, and longtime Black Hippy compatriot Ab-Soul are among the guests, and all three of them deliver standout verses. Q’s felt a little more elusive during the rollout for this album than he has in the past, and it makes sense. This one feels meant to get a little darker and weirder.

Roc Marciano – Marciology
Pimpire/Marci Enterprises

There’s something to be said for possessing the type of consistency that Roc Marciano does. You know a new Roc Marciano album is gonna mean a hefty helping of eerie boom bap production and sinister bars that sound straight out of mid ’90s New York City, but just because the style is predictable doesn’t mean the songs won’t surprise you. Over beats from Alchemist, Animoss, Roc Marciano himself, and more, Marci leaves you hanging on every word of Marciology, with punchlines that knock you out on first listen and continue to endure with repeated ones. He gets help from fellow ’90s devotees Flee Lord, Larry June, Jay Worthy, CRIMEAPPLE, Knowledge the Pirate, T.F., and GREA8GAWD, who all sound great here, and probably all of whom have Roc Marciano to thank for keeping this style of rap alive before its recent widespread revival kicked in. At this point, Roc Marciano is just about as much a veteran as Mobb Deep and Nas were when Roc was first starting to break through, and he still raps like he’s trying to win you over. He still makes every syllable count.

Tierra Whack – World Wide Whack
Interscope

At this point, the best way to describe Tierra Whack’s is to admit you can’t. If you’re totally unfamiliar, she makes some version of lively, off-kilter, hip hop-infused pop music, but that combination of words barely scratches the surface of what you actually hear when you listen to World Wide Whack. It follows 2018’s Whack World, a project with 15 one-minute songs, as well as her 2021 EP trilogy Rap?, Pop?, & R&B?, but she considers World Wide Whack her first proper full-length. It’s definitely her longest and most fleshed-out project yet–not that Whack World wasn’t maximalist in its own way–but it also still has the spontaneity, the quickness, and the brevity that made her past work so immediate. The album’s range is wide, but more important than that is how uniquely Tierra approaches each stylistic shift. Nobody does militant rap the way she does on “X,” or smooth and soulful the way she does on “Mood Swings,” or whimsical and bubbly the way she does on “Shower Song.” It walks the line between outsider art and mass appeal, a very difficult task that Tierra Whack pulls off so well.

MIKE & Tony Seltzer – Pinball
10k

Last year, NYC rapper MIKE released his own great new album Burning Desire as well as an Alchemist-produced collaborative album with Wiki, Faith Is A Rock, and Wiki also released his own new album, 14K Figaro, entirely produced by Tony Seltzer. Now, MIKE and Tony Seltzer have released their own collaborative album, Pinball. Tony has a harder, sharper style than we usually hear from MIKE, who tends to favor hazy soundscapes, and Pinball sounds like no other record that MIKE has released. The production ranges from the lush instrumentals of early 2000s NYC rap to trunk-rattling trap beats, and MIKE tailors his style to fit the mood. He bounces between his usual lazy drawl, something a little more fired-up, and even some pop-friendly moments on parts of “Two Door” and “Yin-Yang.” Earl Sweatshirt, Tony Shhnow, Jay Critch, and Niontay add their unique voices to the mix too. At 21 and a half minutes, it’s less than half the length of Burning Desire, and it’s one of MIKE’s most immediate projects yet.

Chuck Strangers – A Forsaken Lover’s Plea
Lex Records

Chuck Strangers has been around, but he’s not usually the type to reach for the spotlight. When he emerged as a member of Pro Era, he was a guy producing tracks on Joey Bada$$ albums and occasionally rapping alongside him, but over time he became a force of his own. Like Joey, he’s long been a boom bap revivalist, but on his new album A Forsaken Lover’s Plea, he reminds me more of another one of his collaborators, Ka. Like his hometown Brooklyn hero often does, Chuck fills this album with eerie, minimal soundscapes and a quietly commanding lyrical style. Sometimes it sounds like the ’90s, other times it sounds like the future. As a producer himself, Chuck handles a handful of his own beats (the psychedelic acoustic guitar loop of “Sunset Park” is a highlight), and he also brings in The Alchemist, Animoss, and more, and Joey Bada$$, Flatbush Zombies’ Erick the Architect, and Remy Banks all provide guest verses.

More rap albums worth checking out from March:
Bizzy Banks – GMTO Vol. 2 (Get Money Take Over)
Bktherula – LVL5 P2
BossMan Dlow – Mr Beat the Road
Cakes Da Killa – Black Sheep
DJ Muggs & Mooch – ROC STAR
Estee Nack & Futurewave – Stone Temple Pyrex
Flo Milli – Fine Ho, Stay
Future & Metro Boomin – We Don’t Trust You
Ransom & Harry Fraud – Lavish Mystery
Real Bad Man & Elcamino – The Game is the Game
Real Bad Man & Lukah – Temple Needs Water. Village Needs Peace.

And not exactly a rap album but:

Kim Gordon – The Collective

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