Explore the best hip-hop concept albums of 2012 featuring standout releases with unique themes and narratives. Covering everything from personal stories and fictional worlds to cultural commentary and deeper explorations of society, these are the albums that stood out among the year's conceptual releases.
good kid, m.A.A.d city is a narrative, coming of age story of “K.Dot” – a youthful teen experiences in the drug-infested streets and gang lifestyle of his native Compton – as he transitions into “Kendrick Lamar,” the iteration of the emcee who has come to embody the uplifting voice we know today. Subtitled “A Short Film by Kendrick Lamar,” this concept album depicts a day in the life of a 17-year-old Lamar as he rides around Compton in his Momma’s minivan. The story starts at the end. GKMC’s story isn’t completely chronological, as we’re told stories from K.Dot’s perspective, with a few Kendrick tracks peppering the storyline throughout. The run-in with the gangbangers kicks off the second half of the story. It’s like the bit in every good gangster story where the protagonist realises that they need to break out of the death-ridden community they’re living in, before it eats them alive. Vice did an excellent narrative guide to GKMC.
Aesop Rock delivers another tour-de-force with Skelethon, a concept album about pulling skeletons out of closets and putting them on display for all to see. Skelethon follows Aesop’s growing isolation and the work he does in solitude. The first track appears to the “before” of isolation, whereas the last track on the album, “Gopher Guts”, is the aftermath, dealing with the much darker consequences of this kind of lifestyle. Aes observes how difficult it is to maintain healthy relationships, and how his self-imposed exile has at times driven him insane. He looks “for a way to reconnect with an averted past”, only to realize “it doesn’t always work like that”.
Today’s society is fascinated with Trophies. Not just a shiny cup or figurine atop a wooden platform, but the superficial earnings as a result of one’s recognition. Prestigious awards, fancy cars, nice jewelry, and beautiful women, are all coveted “Trophies” of the present day. They seem to be the preferred end result of our hard work. Everyone NEEDS to be recognized for whatever their achievement may be, in order to feel that he/she made a mark in this world. And in order for our recognition to be proper, we NEED an award, or a material object to help reassure us that we did something. But why? Listen to the album. Enjoy the music. Consider the real Trophies.
The loose concept of 4Eva N A Day is that it takes in a day in K.R.I.T.’s life – we start at “8.04am” with an alarm clock going off, and before K.R.I.T.’s feet have so much as grazed a pair of slippers, he’s already posing himself some seriously lofty questions: “Did I do all I can do, to be my best today?”
The title History Will Absolve Me is a reference to the idea of the movement of time, and history is a big part of the idea that woods focused on the personal level, which the album is a lot about. Looking back on your life, how the past impacts the future and the present, things like that. “And then on a wider level, I talked about a lot of political and historical ideas that underpins a lot of the ideas and even the metaphors that I use on the record.” – billy woods billy woods elaborates on the album: “There are multiple levels in my music and song titles. The top level is that history will absolve me – if this was my last record, I was nice, I had a lot of good music and if people didn’t appreciate it, time will tell. And there’s another aspect to that where I actually don’t really think just because I did something good that will time will tell or that anyone will care or remember, the same way that Fidel Castro said that history will absolve him and at the end of the day it probably will not. “The Cuban revolution, a lot of things didn’t really work out, so I also wanted to convey the sense of, while saying I’m nice and in the future people will see that I’m nice, on the same level I wanted to convey the futility of that idea. Fidel said it, and in a sense he was right and on another sense he was wrong. I wanted to make a reference there and I also wanted to make a reference to the idea of the movement of time and history was going to be a big part of the idea [that I’m focusing] on the personal level, which the album is a lot about. Looking back on your life, how the past impacts the future and the present, things like that. And then on a wider level, I talked about a lot of political and historical ideas that underpins a lot of the ideas and even the metaphors that I use on the record. So I wanted the title to work on a bunch of different levels.”
Duality revolves around Captain Murphy, who is here to teach you how to be the best evil cult leader you can be. The 43-second opener, which is a vocal sample of someone reading in the tone of a self-help book, starts off by asking “Don’t you want devoted followers?” and ends 30 seconds later with “Don’t you want to become a cult leader? Since the death of God, there’s been a vacancy open. You can fill that void. Here’s how.”
Establishing the rapper as the Psychopathic Assassin, The Only Solution tells the story of a contract killer on a mission to avenge the murder of his father who was killed by his uncle over money. By the end of the album we’ve witnessed several murders, while the killer’s personal vendetta remains unsolved. Each song relates an episode in a journey that takes him across the country as he fulfills his obligations towards his employer (simply referred to as the Company). His hits take place in different environments – the church, the mob, and even politics.
ANX is all about anxiety. Onry Ozzborn and Zavala have long suffered from anxiety, carrying the constant weight of fear of these symptoms coming on at a moments notice. Dark Time Sunshine fully encapsulates their respective disorders – and at the same time became an outlet through which they both overcame them. The mood of the album reflects these extremes and is bi-polar at times, from calm to manic. The production set by Zavala is a backdrop that identifies with overcoming anxiety and panic attacks. The creation of music is the essential part of their lives – an escape, a place of serenity – also an outlet to vent their emotions. The most extremes of emotions: panic/patience, happiness/depression, strength/weakness, love/hate & trust/betrayal. ANX is a valiant album about taking control of one’s life and overcoming the fears that restrain us all.
The story centers on Whitter and Barrow’s trials and tribulations as they attempt to rise up from their parents’ basement to become rap stars. It’s similar to Prince Paul’s classic album A Prince among Thieves. First Serve, unlike Paul’s album, isn’t so much a cautionary tale as it is a nostalgic celebration of hip-hop’s golden days.
channel ORANGE is about the twentysomething experience in Los Angeles… a state of mind in Ocean’s world: numb, deceptively luxurious and self-satisfied, where the denizens live disconnected from one another and the world.”
A sequel to Stuck on an Island. With Take Me to Your Leader, though, we’ve finally left the island. We came back home. But the world is not the same as we left it. “This album is gonna have a darker, post-apocalyptic vibe,” ¡MAYDAY! said. “Crash landed in the middle of fucking nowhere,” an unseen narrator explains via voiceover while Bernz flees at top speed across the apocalyptic landscape. “Been stuck on this island, eluded famine, escaped the savages … And now we’re back. We left the island. We got back. And we wanna know who’s in charge of this weird, dead world.”
Like its title and theme, Dice Game lives in the alley beside the club. It’s Someone once said that life’s a gamble. Kinda like shootin dice in an alley. The risk is high but the gain is higher, and when it’s all said and done, you hold your breath and collect your dues. With lyrics that grip like a handful of ones, and beats that hit like ivory on cement, this album is just that, a Dice Game.
Live From the Underground goes even further in deconstructing the term “underground,” beyond just underground hip hop. K.R.I.T. traces the concept of “the underground” through two centuries of black protest and illegal business done to survive.
The beginning of the album is the Mourning In America. It’s the part of the album where Brother Ali airs out all of his grievances with the country. The second half of the album shows the bright side of things, or the Dreaming in Color. Through his song “All You Need”, Brother Ali is speaking to his son, telling him that through all of the hardship and struggle you face in your life, all you need is your faith to keep going.
On XXX, the first half of the album is fun party songs playing on rap cliches, and the second half delving into the ‘after-party’ dealing with depressing, anxiety and drug addiction. The first full-length release from Danny since his acclaimed The Hybrid in 2010, XXX is a concept record about hedonism, growing up, and Detroit, taking listeners on a profane and psychedelic journey through the uncensored mind of rap’s most electric MC. There’s no laundry list of guest appearances or producers-for-hire, keeping the focus squarely on Danny and his rhymes: a triple stack of pop culture references and did-he-really-say-that? provocations atop the heart of a poet.
In this tale of revenge resolved in redemption, we find Danny arrested with seventeen counts of forgery, impersonation, hacking and intent to distribute, all as part of his Payback scheme. The story is one big metaphor for how he’s been treated over the years,
Take a journey into another world with Eff Yoo & Golden Child. Discover the Legend of the Gnome Sword. while immersing the listener in a mystical soundscape filled with mythical creatures, ancient weaponry, and the secrets of a time forgotten. magine the “Lord Of The Rings” trilogy being filmed in the streets of the Rotten Apple
The Mandelbrot Set is a mathematical equation that uses a set of complex numbers that, when graphed, creates an uncanny depth of perception. This set of points, whose boundary creates a distinctive and easily recognized two-dimensional fractal shape, comes to life by assigning colors to these numbers as they approach infinity, with each color representing the speed at which they reach this runaway definition. Benoit Mandelbrot, a French-American astrophysicist and researcher, developed this equation in 1980, and it was further expressed in the entertaining documentary by Arthur C. Clarke, The Mandelbrot Set (M-set), Fractals: Colors of Infinity.
Dedicated to Masta Ace’s departed mother, Yvonne, MA_DOOM: Son of Yvonne follows a short story of Masta Ace’s upbringing. Masta Ace joins forces with the metal faced MF Doom for Son of Yvonne, a highly personal concept album that celebrates the life and legacy of Ace’s recently departed Mother. Like his 2004 landmark Disposable Arts, Son of Yvonne is meticulously constructed with stories, settings, and characters that resonate with flesh and bone humanity. Interstitial vignettes provide a thematic backbone to the experience, and each track complements and completes the previous to form a narrative whole: a sometimes visceral, sometimes nostalgic slice of Ace’s young life in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Entirely underscored by MF Doom’s iconic Special Herbs instrumentals, Son of Yvonne features the Juice Crew general Big Daddy Kane, new comers Pav Bundy (The Bundies), Reggie B and even MF Doom on the mic. It’s Masta Ace’s no frills flow, however, that looms largest above the dusty samples and digger loops that define Doom’s production. Ace’s photo-realistic rhymes about stick-up kids, spraycan artists and wack emcees add extra gravity to his already celebrated reputation as “truly an under-appreciated rap veteran and underground luminary”
Mickey takes on the persona of a 1980s artist named Mickey Mause in this hip hop concept album. Mause is a graffiti writer in the 1980s, slowly working his way up to fame and fortune through art in this interesting, moody mixtape. Factz tried to release Mickey MauSe under his label, but they considered it to be too artistic and did not back it up. Factz went on to release this experimental project himself and in the album, Mickey Mause became his pseudo character, thrown into the 1980s as a graffiti writer who was later kicked out by his parents for being a troubled youth. This project represented what it truly meant to be an artist and much research was done in order to learn about Mickey Mouse and that era of time
The idea is that you take this drug Mystrogen through the ear canal and enjoy this new journey. “I always felt that music was the one thing that could take me away mentally from where I was, more so than any drug. So I wanted to make sure the album went with that concept as it was perfect for that title as well. Mystrogen, it’s like oxygen except you need it a whole lot more.” – MysDiggi
People Hear What They See is about influence, inspiration, perception & reality. Every song was written in an outside environment, so Oddisee could observe the subjects that would his subject matter. All too often in Hip Hop, reality is limited to that of the artists own, actual experiences. “People Hear What They See is my attempt to liberate the MC from those constraints & allow reality to be penned other than my own. My hopes are that the listener will see them through the worlds & melodies of my songs.” – Oddisee
Open Mike Eagle uses a hospital as a metaphor for how various events impact and change us. He’s pretty much saying that every single person has that eye-opening event that’s changed their lives. Then the second half of the album has to do with animals. He talks about how our communication and body language limit our thoughts. All artists intermittently succumb to their own neurosis. An obscure vacuum in between reality and an oppressively reoccurring daydream. A ceiling-staring void where etymology and the visible spectrum are meticulously analyzed and deconstructed. The gulf between vexation and inspiration. A hospital where lithium-drowning metal patients linger on the verge of enlightenment. An animal hospital. A by-product of the creative process – a mental run-off – experienced by sculptors, painters, and rappers alike. This abstraction is where Open Mike Eagle’s new album 4NML HSPTL resides. 4NML HSPTL encapsulates the personal limbo; at all times dichotomous – tense but free-wheeling, unfettered yet restrained
Series Premiere is inspired by the Perfect Strangers TV sitcom from the 1980s, Perfeck Strangers is about two distant cousins coming together to collaborate. They often rap in character as Larry and Balki, the cousins from the TV show.
Named after a 1980s Saturday-afternoon TV show and inspired by Planet Asia’s favorite films, Black Belt Theatre combines the violent precision of classic kung-fu flicks with the calculated cool of blaxploitation movies.
A tribute to one of America’s greatest living artists of any medium, Mark’s Wild Years is a diverse collection of songs from the depths of Tom Waits’ catalog reinterpreted in hip-hop form. Whether re-creating a narrative of death and dancing from Rain Dogs’ “Tango til They’re Sore,” Or tweaking a gut-wrenching homage to “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis,” Mark’s Wild Years offers a glimpse into the mind of one of NYC’s more promising hip-hop artists as seen through the lens of Mr. Waits
Open Minded is a concept album about “the willingness to accept what is new or different than what you may be used to, Being Open Minded is being able to agree that you disagree.”
A Dream Deferred is meant to feel like a dream from the moment you laid down to the moment you wake up, ambition and ‘getting it’, as the whole album is about following your dreams and doing everything that you possibly can to make sure those dreams come true.
The 4th Wall (Part 1) is the third entry, and part one of the finale to The Listener’s Trilogy by Solillaquists of Sound. In The 4th Wall (Part 1), following the death of the heroes/Solillaquists of Sound, the world/listener finds self-sustained strength in the face of what is seemingly hopeless. But rather than mourn the dead, we choose to celebrate life. After destruction, we rebuild.
Boots Riley completed the screenplay for the movie “Sorry to Bother You (2018)” six years earlier in 2012 and this album is inspired by the movie, which is about telemarketing. The phrase “sorry to bother you” is a common refrain in telemarketing. It also serves the purpose of talking about how this album presents certain ideas that are not normally discussed in mainstream culture. The screenplay is about Cassius “Cash” Green lives in his uncle Sergio’s garage with his girlfriend, Detroit, an artist. Struggling to pay rent, Cash gets a job as a telemarketer for RegalView. Cash has trouble with customers until Langston, an older co-worker, teaches him to use his “white voice” and adopt a blithe, affluent persona on calls, at which Cash excels.
Game explained the concept of Jesus Piece does not have a spiritual theme, but it would have a “gangster” theme of enjoying life while also having faith in God, Exploring the coexistence of Game’s faith in God and his fun-loving, sinful lifestyle inspired by his gangster roots.
The Promise (Squair Blaq & Mulatto Patriot) uses The New Deal to tell a story of a man who loses his employment to outsourcing, then while heading to the unemployment office, his car breaks down, and to top it all off, after he finally makes it home, he discovers that his personal belongings were thrown in the dumpster by a former girlfriend.
Dusty Rainbow From The Dark is a concept album that tells the story of a young boy’s discovery of the evocative power of music, the album includes narrative interludes by Don McCorkindale, who participated in the radio version of The Avengers series. The album’s cover depicts the story’s main protagonist.
