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 6 rap albums from July 2024 that stood out to us most. We also probably still missed or haven’t spent enough time with some great July 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)

Denzel Curry – King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 (Loma Vista)
Denzel Curry celebrates the South on a long-awaited sequel to a pivotal 2012 underground mixtape

Back in his early days in the early 2010s, when he was just a teenager, Denzel Curry released a string of underground mixtapes that helped usher in a new era of murky, psychedelic rap music and helped establish Denzel as an artist that was very worth paying attention to. In the decade-plus since, he’s become a consistent force in the rap world, and now he’s releasing a sequel to one of those underground mixtapes, King of the Mischievous South, Vol. 1. Making a KOTMS sequel was something Denzel originally wanted to do a long time ago (hence titling the first one “Vol. 1”), but he drifted in other directions and abandoned the idea for a while until finally ending up with a batch of distinctly Southern-tinged rap songs that made him realize the time for the sequel was now. Vol. 1 had an overt Three 6 Mafia influence, along with some others like Soulja Slim, DJ Screw, and UGK, but the Denzel Curry of 2024 is beyond being indebted to his influences; at this point, Denzel himself is a pioneer that younger rappers are already looking up to. So instead of returning to form on Vol. 2, he delivers a love letter to the South with all the skill, style, and perspective that he developed in the 12 years since the first installment. The beat choices honor various Southern rap hotbeds, and the guests come from an array of different regions too. After channelling Three 6 Mafia on Vol. 1, he returns to Memphis to recruit three actual members of the Three 6 Mafia family: Juicy J, Project Pat, and Kingpin Skinny Pimp. He also represents Texas (Maxo Kream, That Mexican OT and Mike Dimes), Atlanta (2 Chainz and Kenny Mason), the Carolinas (TiaCorine), and his native Florida (Ski Mask The Slump God and PlayThatBoiZay), and he brings in some non-Southern guests who pull from similar Southern influences, including fellow former Raider Klan member Key Nyata (from Seattle), A$AP Mobsters Rocky and Ferg from New York, and Philly rapper Armani White, plus a hook from West Coast crooner Ty Dolla $ign. It’s as much a variety of regional homages as it is an effective new Denzel Curry project, and it functions as a great record even if you don’t have all the context. Even if KOTMS2 is technically a long-awaited installment of an underground mixtape series, it sounds just as effortlessly grand as Denzel’s official albums.

We’ve got two exclusive vinyl variants of KOTMS2 available in the BV shop, neon orange and translucent highlighter yellow.

Ice Spice – Y2K! (10K Projects/Capitol)
Ice Spice keeps the momentum going with her quick, no-frills official debut album, featuring Travis Scott, Gunna, and Central Cee

Young rappers with viral, breakthrough songs seem to pop up all the time, but it’s rare that one of them turns into a cultural phenomenon as quickly as Ice Spice did after releasing her 2022 single “Munch (Feelin’ U).” Her magnetic charisma had a lot to do with it, and it was also because she had so much more where “Munch” came from. Almost every song she dropped in its wake became at least as big as “Munch”–at this point, it’s almost hard to remember a time when that was her biggest song. Most of those songs ended up on her excellent 2023 debut EP Like..? (and its deluxe edition), and now she keeps the momentum going just one year later with Y2K!. Y2K! is billed as her official full-length debut album, though at 10 songs in 23 minutes, it’s actually a little bit shorter than the deluxe edition of Like..?, but semantics aside, the brevity suits her. She brings a unique perspective and a widespread appeal to the two-minute Bronx drill songs that have been soundtracking her hometown for the past few years, and she generally keeps the same vibe going from one song to the next. It’s an approach that’s closer to a punk band than to the A-list rap stars and pop stars that have quickly become her peers. Y2K! gets in and gets out without wasting anyone’s time or doing anything fancy. It probably won’t sway anyone who wasn’t a fan of Like..?, but it’s quick, solid, and filler-less enough to keep the buzz going for the many people who were.

Jay Worthy & Dām-Funk – Magic Hour (EMPIRE)
The new collaborative album from Jay Worthy & Dām-Funk is a G-Funk party that’s as West Coast as it gets

Compton-based rapper Jay Worthy is clearly well-versed in his city’s rap history, and he’s embraced the sounds of the G-Funk era on other projects, but his new album with funk torch-carrier Dām-Funk dives fully into that era like Jay never has before. It sounds like a trip back to the days of Dre, Snoop, and DJ Quik with a modern/futuristic twist. DJ Quik actually appears on the album, as do a slew of other West Coasters including G Perico, Channel Tres, Ty Dolla $ign, Polyester the Saint, P-Lo, Tha Dogg Pound family member Soopafly, and others (and a few non-West Coasters), and the whole thing is just about as West Coast as it gets. It brings you back to the days when rap was so regional that an album like this could only come from the West Coast, and even today an album like this just doesn’t sound like any other place on earth. Especially with Kendrick Lamar putting his West Coast pride in the forefront these past few weeks, this purely fun album keeps that California love going.

Action Bronson – Johann Sebastian Bachlava The Doctor (Baklava Industries)
Action Bronson delivers a very Action Bronson-y album that should only re-cement his cult-hero status

Few things captured the new generation of turn-of-the-2010s rappers as perfectly as “1 Train” did, and it’s been endlessly fascinating to spend the past 11 years watching the different paths those seven rappers and their peers have taken. Action Bronson had a brief moment where it seemed like the major label world thought they could turn him into a star, but at this point he might actually be more famous for his televised food series Fuck, That’s Delicious than for music. As a rapper, he’s become a cult fave with a strong, sizable fanbase, and he makes consistently great records and hasn’t sounded concerned with releasing a crossover hit in a very long time. His latest is the amazingly-titled Johann Sebastian Bachlava The Doctor, which picks right up where its 2022 predecessor Cocodrillo Turbo left off. With production from The Alchemist, in-house Griselda producer Daringer, and Bronson himself (plus live instrumentation from guitarist Julian Love and saxophonist Matt Carrillo), the beats stay true to the mid ’90s-style boom bap that Bronson has favored since day one, and he still hasn’t run out of charismatic, delightfully weird bars to top these songs off with. It’s a relatively brief album with 11 songs and three guests: the aforementioned Alchemist, Larry June, and two songs with Bronson’s old friend Meyhem Lauren.

JT – City Cinderella (Quality Control/Motown)
JT of City Girls goes it alone on her first solo full-length

City Girls appear to be no more, but Yung Miami and JT are staying busy on their own and the latter just put out her first solo full-length release, City Cinderella. It’s billed as a “mixtape” but it’s a major label release with the flow, ambition, and expensive production of a proper album, and it finds JT’s solo career getting right off to a very promising start. The project was prefaced by “OKAY,” an instantly-undeniable aughts-style Southern rap anthem (which samples “Trap or Die” by Jeezy, who also appears on the song’s remix), and the album offers up other thrills like that one while also proving that JT’s got range. She begins City Cinderella on a more somber, introspective note, and her serious songs are as head-turning as her pop-rap bangers and raunchy trap anthems. She’s not immune to reboot culture–the Salt-N-Pepa “Push It” melody that powers “Uncle Al” (which also samples DJ Uncle Al’s “Mix It Up,” hence the name) feels more like an obvious attempt to induce nostalgia than a creative rework–but for the most part, City Cinderella avoids the pitfalls that tend to bog down pop-rap records. Outside of tacking on the Jeezy remix of “OKAY” and having DJ Khaled yell on “Oh,” the project only has two real guests, both of whom are rising female rappers (Stunna Girl and CLIP), and otherwise JT uses her first post-City Girls release to show that she is really is capable of holding it down on her own.

Fatboi Sharif & Duncecap – Psychedelics Wrote The Bible (Fused Arrow)
Turn on, tune in, drop out to the new Fatboi Sharif EP

If you thought NJ rapper Fatboi Sharif’s last project sounded out-there and unsettling, strap in. Produced entirely by fellow NJ artist Duncecap, the entire backdrop is an eerie, aural acid trip that sounds more like Silver Apples or Gong than traditional hip hop production, and Sharif’s delivery and lyricism has its third eye open as much as the instrumentals do. This trip only lasts for about 11 minutes, but like any intense psychedelic experience, your sense of time will get totally warped by it anyway.

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Honorable Mentions
42 Dugg – 4eva Us Neva Them
Blu & Evidence – Los Angeles
Common & Pete Rock – The Auditorium Vol. 1
DORIS – Ultimate Love Songs Collection
Grafh & 38 Spesh – God’s Timing
Mustard – Faith Of A Mustard Seed
Nacho Picasso & Televangel – Jesse’s Revenge
DJ Muggs & Raz Fresco – The Eternal Now

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Browse our Best Rap Albums archive for more.

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Top photo: Denzel Curry at the Blue Note in 2023 by P Squared. More here.