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

Tyler, the Creator – CHROMAKOPIA (Columbia)

Tyler, the Creator continues his transformation into art-rap auteur with ‘CHROMAKOPIA,’ which finds him reckoning with growth, aging, and the prospect of parenthood on an album-oriented triumph that uses just about every tool in his toolbox.⁠ Read my full review.

ELUCID – Revelator (Fat Possum)
The Armand Hammer member embraces noise, glitch, and electronics on one of his darkest, strangest solo albums yet

Coming off Armand Hammer’s live-instrumentation-based We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, Armand Hammer member ELUCID teamed up with co-producer Jon Nellen to go in a noisier, glitchier, more electronic direction on his new solo album Revelator, while still embracing live drums. He cites Miles Davis’ 1974 avant-garde piece “Rated X” as a core influence, and it’s not hard to see the connection. It’s some of the jazz legend’s most out-there, unsettling work, and if ELUCID rapped over it, it’d probably fit perfectly on Revelator. Throughout these 15 tracks, ELUCID fuses the deeply experimental, avant-garde sound pieces with his equally ominous rapping, and the result is one of his darkest, strangest albums yet (in the best way). His Armand Hammer partner billy woods joins him on two songs, and the album’s only other appearances come from Creature and Skech185. Otherwise, you’re just sucked into the mind of ELUCID, and what a delightfully odd mind it is.

GloRilla – Glorious (CMG/Interscope)
The Memphis rapper swerves between hard-hitting Southern rap and gospel on her official debut album, with help from Megan Thee Stallion, Sexyy Red, Latto, Kirk Franklin, and more

In the two and a half years since GloRilla’s video for “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” blew up, the Memphis rapper signed to a major; released world-conquering collabs with Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, an EP, and a mixtape; and she spent the summer winning over crowds as an opener on Megan’s arena tour. Now she releases Glorious, her third major label project but her “debut album,” and it seems poised to keep her momentum and energy going. Mega, Sexyy Red, Latto, and others make appearances, and it’s got plenty more where the raw, hard-hitting Southern rap of her biggest singles came from. Being that it’s being presented as her debut album, there was also presumably an attempt to make it feel like a grander project than her last two, and it also has a newfound emphasis on gospel and R&B (with contributions from Kirk Franklin, T-Pain, and others) sprinkled throughout the latter half of the album. Sometimes it feels like it’s trying to be more at once than it needs to be, but the highs are high and they only throw more fuel on Glo’s fire.

BigXthaPlug – Take Care (BigXthaPlug/UnitedMasters)
The rising Texas rapper’s sophomore album delivers one banger after the next

Dallas rapper BigXthaPlug has been a steady, prolific rise these past couple years, he’s got a standout appearance on the new world-conquering Shaboozey album, and today he just released his official sophomore album, Take Care. It’s the followup to last year’s AMAR and also follows this year’s collaborative project with Ro$ama and Yung Hood, Meet the 6ixers. Across 15 songs in 31 minutes, BigX delivers personal tales across one melodic Texas rap banger after the next, while working in nods to gospel, soul, blues, and more (including a sample of The Isley Brothers’ “Contagious” on the slow jam “2AM”). He doesn’t have a single guest on the album and he doesn’t need one.

Lisha G & Trini Viv – Groovy Steppin Sh*t (Open Shift Distribution)
South Carolina rapper Lisha G and Philly producer Trini Viv put their heads together for a swaggering, woozy collaboration that feels damn near effortless

Back in April, The FADER‘s Vivian Medithi proclaimed “it’s starting to feel like Lisha G’s year,” and some more fuel was just thrown on that fire from an 8.3 Best New Music review on Pitchfork by the site’s new head of editorial content, Mano Sundaresan. The project in question is Groovy Steppin Sh*t, the South Carolina rapper’s collaboration with Philly produer Trini Viv, and it deserves the hype. Trini Viv provides a woozy electronic backdrop, and Lisha G glides right over it with a delivery that’s plainspoken and gripping all at once. Groovy Steppin Sh*t fully obscures the line between swaggering Southern rap and hallucinatory beat tape, and Lisha and Trini make it look so damn easy.

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Honorable Mentions
454 – Casts of a Dreamer
7xvethegenius – Death of Deuce
Benny The Butcher & 38 Spesh – Stabbed & Shot 2
Che Noir – The Lotus Child
Megan Thee Stallion – MEGAN: ACT II
Ovrkast & Cardo Got Wings – KAST GOT WINGS
Powers Pleasant – Life Sucks
Rich Homie Quan – Forever Goin In
Rome Streetz & Daringer – Hatton Garden Holdup
Tee Grizzley – Post Traumatic
TisaKorean – In Silly We Trust