There was a brief moment earlier in the year where we were questioning how the pandemic would affect music creation throughout the rest of the year. The answer, retrospectively albeit, was not a lot. This year delivered on its promise of new music, and often times in an amazing way. Music was both a distraction and an avenue for greater commentary all at the same time. And while those two experiences have never been mutually exclusive, this year we were thankful for that.
As the year closes it’s time to start talking best of the year though. At BounceGvng we met to give our takes on this year’s best. The categories were Artist, Album, and Producer of the year.
Artist Of The Year
Megan Thee Stallion
Trez Bell – Megan Thee Stallion is definitely the artist of the year; between her big performances, the charts, Grammy talk, and just impact in general. I don’t see many that have outworked her year in terms of grind and success (even through controversy).
Smart Boy Beatz – Megan Thee Stallion. Period. Even through the messed up situation she had to endure, the music just kept flowing. You can almost keep up with certain points of the year depending on when Meg dropped or a song went viral.
Agent M – Gotta go with Megan Thee Stallion. The world stopped when WAP came out. Her numbers don’t lie and her live performances are on another level, even virtually! She was already on her way to stardom but this year she showed out.
Lil Baby
Latnie – Lil Baby is my artist of the year. Lil Baby put out one of the best albums of 2020 and remained the most consistent artist throughout the year. With a heavy amount of features, Lil Baby dominated every major hip-hop playlist all year. If Lil Baby was able to tour I don’t think this would’ve been close. He’s the artist of the year hands down.
Drum Addick – The Bigger Picture symbolizes Lil Baby’s growth as an artist but also as a person. He details the current state of the world, points out his own faults and vows to improve himself first, which I think we all should do. He was extremely active this year with bangers like Woah, Sum 2 Prove, Emotionally Scarred and even featured on many other songs that were deemed hits like 42 Dugg – We Paid, Rod Wave – Rags 2 Riches, and Lil Durk (also ft Polo G) – 3 Headed Goat plus more.
BTS
Ciz – Come on folks. The Artist of the Year is actually Artists! Who am I talking about? BTS aka Bangtan Boys, The Korean supergroup made the most strides globally and it’s not close. (Shout to Taylor Swift though.) Big Hit Entertainment lived up to their name. Map of the Soul 7 took one of the biggest groups in the world to the top of the American artist charts for 15 straight weeks. My daughter also made sure I went to Target to buy the physical package! They sold 5 variants with posters, lyric and credit books, and more! They became the first Korean group to perform at the Grammys. And they even taught their fans Korean… GOATs.
Double AA – BTS! You’re welcome!
According to data collected from an anonymous, internal poll, Megan Thee Stallion and Lil Baby were tied for Artist Of The Year.
Producer Of The Year
Hit-Boy
Double AA – You wanna know the top five producers of 2020? Hitboy, Hitboy, Hitboy, Hitboy and Hitboy… cause he made hot fire, mon’!
Darren Gooden – We’ve had a lot of good music and production in 2020. I want to highlight Hit-Boy because he went crazy. From Big Sean, Davido, Benny the Butcher, Ty Dolla $ign, to Nas and more, he was unstoppable.
Smart Boy Beatz – Let’s be honest. Hit-Boy definitely put his foot on the neck of 2020. Very diverse catalogs but all hits.
DrumAddick – Hit-Boy. He executive produced albums for Nas (King’s Disease), Big Sean (Detroit 2), and Benny The Butcher (Burden of Proof). He also did production for Jay Electronica, JAY-Z, Tinashe, Conway The Machine, DeJ Loaf, Mick Jenkins, and more. In a tweet, he stated, “I don’t like being controversial and I love all my producer homies but I came wit the most styles, look it up”. He definitely stayed relevant and revitalized his career this year.
Agent M – It has to be Hit-Boy. Dude had his name all up in the credits this year. I don’t think this is even a question. Amazing year!
El-P
Sam Mandell – My first thought is Hit-Boy, and that makes sense. He was really everywhere. But I’d really like to give my vote to El-P. But it feels like the culmination of all the work he’s been putting in up until this point is what gives him my vote. There’s a part in Holy Calamafuck where he says “Every other goddamned year I’m brand new. It’s been twenty plus years, you think that’s a clue? Plenty of these goofs disappeared, poof. He’s still the next big thing gotta hurt, oof” And yeah… that’s pretty much it right there. He hit the nail on the head with that one. And I just think he did something amazing by capturing the “burn it all down” ethos that was a lot of this year, and granted the past few years, in his production. I mean, that’s been his M.O. for a while now but it just felt like it all came to light this year.
According to data collected from an anonymous, internal poll, Hit-Boy was voted Producer Of The Year
Album Of The Year
The Weeknd – After Hours
Darren Gooden – I need to shout out Bad Bunny, Dua Lipa, and Taylor Swift. But I’m going with The Weeknd! Hello! Afterhours is worthy of Album Of The Year. Period.
Smart Boy Beatz – The snub of the year. The Weeknd – Afterhours. There wasn’t another album that dropped this year that received as much attention.
Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
DrumAddick – Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia. This album is easy to listen to all the way through. The hit single Don’t Start Now is a song that most can relate to because the majority of us have experienced our doubters and people who didn’t think we would amount to much (even in relationships). The song is sing-along worthy due to a catchy and honest chorus paired with a smooth and danceable beat. The Levitating remix ft DaBaby is also a feel-good dance track that can be listened to for inspiration, cleaning up, and whatever mood you are in. Dua gives us love songs, dance songs, feel-good tracks, inspiration, and in my opinion, delivered a well put together project that can be enjoyed by listeners of all walks of life.
Big Sean – Detroit 2
Agent M – Big Sean – Detroit 2. This just felt like a classic album for me. These days a lot of albums seem like they are an assortment of pretty cool songs thrown together with a few hit singles. Detroit 2 felt more like a cohesive project with a story to it, which I feel has been less common in music lately. Great production, thoughtful lyrics, dope features, and catchy melodies made this album of the year for me.
Kid Cudi – Man On The Moon III
Sam Mandell – RTJ 4 and Visions of Bodies Being Burned come to mind. But I think I have to go with Man On The Moon III by Kid Cudi. This one just hit all the right spots for me. To call it Man On The Moon III, this wasn’t gonna be just another album of his. There were going to be close to impossible expectations. And for me, he really delivered and then some. So on a subjective level, MOTM III takes the title for me.
According to data collected from an anonymous, internal poll, Detroit 2 by Big Sean was voted Album Of The Year
Look back at 2020 through our articles here.
