Music

After surpassing rock as the most consumed music genre last year, R&B/hip-hop nearly doubled its lead over rock music as of June 2018 in Nielsen Music’s mid-year report. Although there were countless noteworthy projects this year, here are The Daily Texan’s top five hip-hop albums of 2018.

Klyntar uses improvisation to transform ordinary noises into out-of-this-world tracks inspired by the “Venom” comic series, which features a symbiotic alien in the Marvel universe. The Daily Texan spoke with band member JD about Klyntar’s extraterrestrial approach to music.

Building off his easygoing 2016 breakout record Malibu, Anderson .Paak has already established himself as one of the more versatile artists in contemporary R&B. While retaining the charisma and groove of Malibu, .Paak introduces more vocal and instrumental variety on his third studio album, 2018’s Oxnard.

Delivering a proud homage to years of head-turning ingenuity, Chicago rapper CupcakKe solidified her status as an unabashed lyrical powerhouse with Eden — the star’s second album release.