SPIN's 40 Best Rap Albums of 2011

We tried our best to chart 2011's sprawling hip-hop universe in infographic form, we deconstructed the New Underground, we debated "Drizzy: Rap or R&B or Just Plain Annoying?," and we toured with Odd Future, courageously trying not to add to the number of adults saying "swag" in public. What eventually emerged from that journey was this list of 40 albums: Billionaires bragging about Basquiats and Compton kids telling girls not to wear make-up; Afrocentric avant-poets and trap-rap nihilists; stylish teenage buzzbands and white dudes who were bragging about gray hairs 17 years ago. In other words, we planked on a million records and here's the result.

• 40. Trouble

  December 17th (Duct Tape Ent.)

  Trouble is Atlanta rapper Alley Boy's top henchman, but here's an interesting twist: Trouble may be the better rapper. December 17th is titled for the day in 2010 when he returned home from jail, and unsurprisingly, Trouble is one of many nascent street-centric rappers struggling to find a foothold in the confession-heavy Drake era. He just may find it, though, since he possesses a sly, confident wit and an ear for booming, galvanizing Waka-sized hooks. In the year when Lex Luger's gunshot sounds finally took over, it was Trouble and his shell-cocking single "Bussin" that stood out amongst a large group of wave riders. JORDAN SARGENT

• 39. Serengeti

  Family and Friends (Anticon)

  The rogues' gallery in Serengeti's rhymes includes a past-his-prime UFC fighter, a bigamist, and a father/son team who bond by shooting dope together. The Chicago rapper illustrates these broken lives by contrasting fanciful details with a matter-of-fact delivery: For "Dwight," he unfurls a dissolving marriage as a first-person narrator, asking, "What happened to bookstores that would take in a bore? / Beautiful bay windows drawn closed, Eleanor." Backed by the quirky vocals and winsome indie-pop beats of Why?'s Yoni Wolf and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone's Owen Ashcroft, Family and Friends is immersive and poignant, the hip-hop equivalent of a Raymond Carver short-story collection. MOSI REEVES

• 38. Kool G Rap

  Riches, Royalty, Respect (Fat Beats)

  The greatest rapper who ever copped to working at Key Food in rhyme, Queens legend Kool G Rap claimed his best work back in hip-hop's fabled late-'80s Golden Age. His 2011 reintro may be centered around Blaxploitation-era tropes, but at no point does a man who's been cited as an influence by Jay-Z and Biggie sound outdated. Kool G Rap still kicks cinematic street sermons with aplomb and tricky rhyme schemes, but here the intensity of his flow is smartly tempered by production that samples from '70s soul. It's hip-hop embracing nostalgia in the right way. PHILIP MLYNAR

• 37. J Rocc

  Some Cold Rock Stuf (Stones Throw)

  Good thing nobody told J. Rocc that turntablism isn't cool anymore. On his solo debut, the veteran DJ quietly subverts the expectations for a genre of music forever in the shadow of crate-digging masterpiece Endtroducing... and Return of the D.J.'s manic scratching and beat-juggling. Here is an addictive full-length mix of dreamy soundscapes, proggy samples and clever diversions into dance ("Party") and horror-movie mood music ("The Truth"). In a year that found instrumental hip-hop soaking in digital hiss, the glowing vinyl crackle of Some Cold Rock Stuf was a bold, necessary anachronism. BRANDON SODERBERG

• 36. Juicy J and Lex Luger

  Rubba Band Business 2 (Hypnotize Minds)

  Total match made in hell: Three 6 Mafia belter Juicy J's misanthropism sounds like it comes from a man with nothing left to lose, and as a result, no man is left standing after he sprays threats (and occasionally bullets) all over producer Lex Luger's demonic bass sproing (women are entirely absent from this hustler's nightmare). It's the veteran Memphis rapper's signature gangsta nihilism, but pairing him with a similarly assertive producer makes the fecklessness of dudes who sound willing to die in the game all the more real. It's classic bass-and-bazookas music; and apparently Wiz Khalifa thought so too, as he signed Juicy J to his Taylor Gang on the strength. JULIANNE ESCOBEDO SHEPHERD

See our full list of the 40 Best Rap Albums of 2011.