What even is a rap album?
As the genre has blown up, becoming the most popular in the world by 2017, the distinction between rap and other genres has become increasingly blurry—especially when essentially they are all borrowing from each other.
Add to that the fact that younger rappers have become broader and more expansive in their tastes, so musical elements once seen as more eclectic are now just seen as rap albums.
These things used to be easier to delineate. Hip-hop has always been a genre of aggregation. And during the '90s, rappers would test out a rock song on their albums, or maybe something that played with melody. And then, eventually, you got the side projects—albums from respected rappers who wanted to spread their creative wings. It usually started with rock albums; later the trend became more pop and R&B-oriented.
The most recent example is Jack Harlow, who just released his new album, the neo-soul-influenced Monica, to mostly mixed reviews. The album, and frankly the reaction, made us want to dive deeper into the topic.
So, let’s start here: what is the difference between a rap album and a non-rap album? This is tricky. Since everyone on this list is a rapper, there is rapping on most of the albums here. But the majority of the music is representative of another genre. We also take into account whether the rapper themselves is presenting the album as a different genre—like how Lil Yachty introduced Let's Start Here to the world. And we left out albums where rappers Frankensteined rapping with another genre, so nothing from Guru’s Jazzmatazz series or BigXthaPlug’s country album is here.
Here are the 20 best non-rap albums from rappers.
Lil Wayne, Rebirth (2010)
Label: Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown
Genre: Rock
Producers: Infamous, Andrew "Drew" Correa, Cool & Dre, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Travis Barker, Streetrunner, Chase N. Cashe, DJ Nasty & LVM, Hit-Boy, Kevin Rudolf
Features: Shanell, Eminem Nicki Minaj, Kevin Rudolf
Over the years, Rebirth has been reclaimed a bit, with a reputation as a cult classic more than an outright disaster.
But it's hard to overstate how much of a momentum killer this was at the time. Released about a month before he was set to turn himself in for a year-long sentence at Rikers Island, the album was effectively the end of prime Weezy. Part of the issue is that one never gets the sense that Wayne understands the utility of rock, with his Auto-Tune vocals clashing with the bland guitars in an off putting way. T
here are some highlights— "Prom Queen" and "Paradise" have their charms—but it's an indictment that the best track on the album is "Drop the World," an actual rap song.
Jack Harlow, Monica (2026)
Label: Atlantic
Genre: R&B
Producers: 2forwOyNE, Aksel Arvid, BabeTruth, Clay Harlow, Frank Rankin, Hollywood Cole, Jermaine Paul, Rogét Chahayed
Features: N/A
A big "what if" for Monica: what if Jack Harlow just didn't explain himself?
In the week of the album's release, he tried to communicate the album’s musical influences while not sharing the more intimate details that might have caused such a drastic artistic shift.
Disaster.
The interview—in the New York Times, of all places— led to embarrassing phrases that got slightly taken out of context ("I got blacker") and cringe-worthy admissions, like him saying he’s purposely dressing like Be-era Common to match the music's vibe.
The interview ultimately damaged what is actually a perfectly fine, largely inoffensive piece of work, carried by the musicianship more than any vocal performance from Harlow.
Lil Uzi Vert, Pink Tape (2023)
Label: Generation Now/Atlantic
Genre: Rock
Producers: 1wakeupp, 206Derek, Arca, Ben Thomas, Bnyx, Bobby Raps, Brandon Finessin, Breezey Muzik, Bring Me the Horizon, Bugz Ronin, Charlie Handsome, Clif Shayne, Cubeatz, Daron Malakian, Deckard3000, Don Cannon, Duce, Evil Twin, Forthenight, Forza, Halfway, Harold Harper, Ike Beatz, ISOBeats, J-Law, Jkari, John Ross, Kado, Ken Carson, Kobametal, KrishnaMusic, Landers, Leqn, Lyle LeDuff, Matty Spats, MCVertt, Oogie Mane, Outtatown, Pitt Tha Kid, Qqqu1ncy, Quincy Riley, Rick Rubin, Sense1god, Serj Tankian, Sixthursdays, Snow Strippers, Star Boy, Swvsh, Synthetic, Tommy Parker, TP13, Wheezy, WondaGurl, Yugen, ZeeGoinXrazy, Zkup
Features: Travis Scott, Nicki Minaj, Snow Strippers, Bring Me the Horizon, Don Toliver, Babymetal
At 26 songs and a 90 minute runtime, the Pink Tape is what I would call an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink album. There are classic Uzi moments here (including the all-time great single "I Just Wanna Rock" and the genuinely touching "Rehab") but a majority of the album is just these wild swings into various subgenres of the rock and world, from the nu-metal-inspired "CS" to the frenetic "Werewolf," both of which pull quite aggressively from older rock songs.
The album, which is worlds apart from Eternal Atake, was not beloved upon its release, but there are elements in its favor, mainly
Mos Def, New Danger (2004)
Label: Rawkus/Geffen
Genre: Rock/Funk
Producers: Mos Def, Easy Mo Bee, Kanye West, 88-Keys, Minnesota, Warryn Campbell, Psycho Les
Features: Shuggie Otis and Paul Oscher
On Black on Both Sides there are three songs on there that function as sidequests: the spacey and beautiful "Climb," the intense "Rock and Roll," and of course the inspiring "Umi Says." The New Danger is almost the reverse, with a small handful of rap songs in the second half—including the underrated Kanye West-produced "Sunshine"—but it's mostly a mishmash of ideas, with most of it being residue from the scrapped Black Jack Johnson rock project Mos was playing with.
Like most detours into rock, the album befuddled fans at the time, especially considering that Black on Both Sides is easily one of the best "real rap” albums of the late ‘90s. But for all the experiments, Mos is still a very good lyricist and an arresting vocalist, and that carries even with his wildest gambles.
WZRD, WZRD (2012)
Label: Wicked Awesome/GOOD/Universal Republic
Genre: Alternative rock
Producers: Dot da Genius and Kid Cudi
Features: John Padgett, Desire, Jack Bruce & Pete Brown
Kid Cudi was always a rapper who was hard to box in, playing with and merging multiple genres. But there are really only two true outliers in his career: WZRD, which is actually pretty good at times, and Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven…which, no.
WZRD was the one-and-done project between Cudi and longtime collaborator Dot da Genius. And while there were signals of the classic Cudi sound—particularly in the fucking banger "Teleport 2 Me, Jamie"—the album has a really cool, lo-fi grunge-band-meets-bedroom-pop sound to it.
It also helps that songs like "The Dream Time Machine," which has splashes of guitars throughout, and the emotionally gutting "Efflictim" feel like Cudi embracing rock in nuanced, natural ways.
Post Malone, Hollywood's Bleeding (2019)
Label: Republic
Genre: Pop
Producers: Andrew Watt, BloodPop, Brian Lee, Carter Lang, DJ Dahi, Emile Haynie, Frank Dukes, Happy Perez, Jahaan Sweet, Louis Bell, Matt Tavares, Nick Mira, Post Malone, & Wallis Lane
Features: DaBaby, Future, Halsey, Meek Mill, Lil Baby, SZA, Ozzy Osbourne, Travis Scott, Young Thug, & Swae Lee
The joke with Post Malone since day one—since those “White Iverson” days— is that he was always going to bounce, drift away from hip-hop once he had no more commercial use for the genre. And…yeah, that's kind of what he did, even though it took a couple of albums.
Led by “Circles,” Hollywood's Bleeding was a smash, but also legit addictive. Like a lot of albums on this list, it has traces of rap but is a full-blown, ballad-based pop album, mixed with big hooks you can hear Taylor Swift singing—see “A Thousand Bad Times” and “I'm Gonna Be.”
The album is the kind of low-stakes, digestible listen you want, and a better fit than the Yellowstone era he's currently in.
Ice-T, Body Count (1992)
Label: Sire/Warner Bros.
Genre: Heavy Metal
Producers: Ice-T & Ernie C
Features: N/A
More infamous than great, Body Count's self-titled debut saw Ice-T become, for a short time at least, the most controversial act in music. Alongside his friends from high school, including guitarist Ernie C, he traded his highly specific street narratives for music that was more horrorcore-based, with a touch of social commentary—heard in bangers like "There Goes the Neighborhood" and "KKK Bitch."
Though rappers had always been fans of rock music, Body Count genuinely opened the door to fusing the two, laying the groundwork for rap-metal. (The band famously made their debut at Lollapalooza, then primarily a rock festival.)
The legacy of the album, of course, rests on "Cop Killer" which is so incendiary and yet so powerful that its removal from the album remains a genuine loss—one that has still yet to be rectified.
Everlast, Whitey Ford Sings the Blues (1998)
Label: Tommy Boy
Genre: Blues
Producers: John Gamble, Divine Styler, Siba-Giba, & E-Swift
Features: Kia Jeffries, Sadat X, Bronx Style Bob, & Casual
In some ways, Eminem forever tainted this album when he fully embodied Everlast's alter ego on the savage diss "I Remember."
But his sophomore release was huge. Released right after House of Pain disbanded and after he had a heart attack that almost killed him, the album, with its blend of bluegrass, rap, and country, really laid out early sketches for the rap and country merging that's happening today.
There's more rap on here than people probably remember—there’s multiple Sadat X appearances and a cheeky remake of a Fat Boys classic—but this was a radical departure. "What It's Like" was the smash, and it's quite moving, a novelistic song telling the story of three different people going through hard times.
Lil Yachty, Let's Start Here (2023)
Label: Motown/Quality Control
Genre: Psychedelic rock
Producers: Lil Yachty, Teo Halm, Jam City, Magdalena Bay, Jacob Portrait, Justin Raisen, SadPony, & Patrick Wimberly
Features: N/A
It was only a matter of time before a rapper made a knockoff Tame Impala album. Who would have guessed it would be Lil Yachty, and that it would be an album so effective that Questlove would write a whole thesis on it on the ‘Gram.
In retrospect, some of it makes sense.
Yachty's strength has always been his malleability—how he's able to absorb sounds around him and sprinkle his own trap sazón on them. And if you think him doing a passable imitation of Flint rappers is impressive, it's something else entirely how he can extend his vocals to the expansive world of psychedelic pop.
Unlike most rock-rap albums, this one was probably a little overpraised upon its release, and the long tail hasn't been impressive—where are all the psychedelic knockoffs trying to be great?—but it's still quality enough to make this list.
Beastie Boys, The In Sound from Way Out! (1996)
Label: Capitol
Genre: Instrumental
Producers: Beastie Boys & Mario Caldato Jr.
Features: N/A
Two years after topping the charts for the first time, the Beastie Boys took a detour.
In the midpoint between dropping two platinum-selling smash albums—Ill Communication in 1994 and Hello Nasty in 1998—they released an all-instrumental, psychedelic jazz album that, in a lot of ways, showed that for all their commercial success, the trio had artistic sensibilities that were deeply experimental and subversive.
The album featured a collection of instruments and b-sides from the past mixed with newer music; driving it all was this dirty, funky, jazzy energy that was the antithesis of most things commercial at the time. A couple of years later they would release a spiritual sequel, The Mix-Up, collecting a Grammy in the process.
Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere (2006)
Label: Motown/Quality Control
Genre: Psychedelic rock
Producers: Downtown/Atlantic/Warner Bros/Lex Records
Features: N/A
In 2002, Cee-Lo Green released his solo debut, Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections, leaving behind the gruff, socially conscious music of Goodie Mob and embracing something more eclectic, funky, and melodic.
The Cee-Lo solo records weren't big hits.
In fact, commercial success didn't come until he linked with Danger Mouse and the two formed Gnarls Barkley, with Lo providing the gospel-tinged, slightly deranged but catchy vocals and Danger Mouse with the cinematic, off-kilter arrangements. "Crazy" is the song everyone remembers but the entire album has a similar formula, uniting themes around the dark side of the human psyche with off-kilter pop accessibility.
Q-Tip, Kamaal the Abstract (2009)
Label: Battery
Genre: Jazz fusion
Producers: Q-Tip
Features: Kurt Rosenwinkel, Gary Thomas, & Kenny Garrett
For years Kamaal the Abstract was merely whispered—an album you could find if you knew your way around Limewire. The record, a follow-up to Q-Tip's clubby, blinged-out but divisive Amplified, saw him come with something jazzy, abstract, analog, and decidedly not commercial. So it got shelved, living for years in a "you know what's a really good album" purgatory.
Then Q-Tip got the album back and released it in 2009. And yeah it’s good—jazzy, but not in the anthemic way classic Tribe Called Quest records were. Kamaal the Abstract is improvisational, free-form and Tip’s lyrics and vocal performance have the same light touch energy.
Childish Gambino, "Awaken, My Love!"
Label: Glassnote
Genre: Funk
Producers: Donald Glover, Ludwig Göransson, & Gary Clark Jr.
Features: N/A
During his creative prime—visually and musically—Childish Gambino had a reputation for high concepts and forward-thinking, slightly mischievous ambition, ones that touched on contemporary social issues.
One can debate how effective those swings were, but you saw the intent. So it's somewhat ironic that his most successful album actually ends up being his most retro effort, crafting a delirious and sweat-drenched funk album in the vein of Funkadelic.
"Awaken, My Love!" is not a perfect album—largely because the line between pastiche and genuine expression can be razor thin—but the music, from Sinners maestro Ludwig Göransson, is gorgeous, complex and weighty in the right ways, and when Gambino is at his best vocally—"Redbone" and "Me and Your Mama"—the album truly soars.
Drake, Honestly, Nevermind (2022)
Label: OVO/Republic
Genre: Dance
Producers: &ME, 40, Alex Lustig, Beau Nox, Black Coffee, Esona Tyolo, Gordo, Govi, Ginton, Johannes, Klahr, Kid Masterpiece, Nyan Lieberthal, Rampa, Richard Zastenker, Sona, Tay Keith, Vinylz, Vlado, Wondra030
Features: 21 Savage
Drake gave us no real warning he was dropping a full-blown house-inspired album. So when Honestly, Nevermind—an album with almost no rapping—was released, the general reaction was…huh.
Commercially, it wasn't the world-conquering smash we're used to seeing from Drake; and Her Loss with 21 Savage, which came later that year, was seen as the better Drake album from that year.
But I'm here to tell you Honestly, Nevermind has some shit on it, and actually addresses a lot of the stuff Drake gets knocked for: it blends being varied but cohesive, honors its musical influences without becoming a slave to them, and there's very little of the Drake melodramatic moodiness that has weighed down albums in the past.
Album producer Gordo once said he believes this album will age like 808s & Heartbreak. And, honestly, I can see it.
Mac Miller, Circles (2020)
Label: REMember/Warner
Genre: Soul
Producers: Mac Miller, Alexander Spit, David x Eli, Eric Dan, Guy Lawrence, Jon Brion, Shea Taylor, Vic Wainstein
Features: N/A
You should know the Mac Miller lore: how he started out as a Big L knockoff, then found some success playing around with frat rap, before coming into his own as an artist in the mid-2010s, finding creative kin with off-kilter rappers and jazz acts in LA, from Thundercat to Flying Lotus.
For all the evolution, Mac was always a spitter—"Mac Miller nice too though," *Hov voice* — so it is a bit jarring, looking at his discography, to find the best of it being the records where rap gets put to the side for something more soul-inspired. There's Swimming, and its spiritual sibling Circles, which came out after he died.
As a rapper, Mac's voice was often a liability—too soft and lacking in texture. But as a singer, especially on Circles, he found a new huskiness and darkness that feels ideal for the album's themes: the particular hell of being stuck in a loop of stagnation.
Young Thug, Beautiful Thugger Girls (2017)
Label: 300/Atlantic
Genre: Pop
Producers: Ben Billions, Billboard Hitmakers, BLSSD, Charlie Handsome, Judge, London, Post Malone, Rex Kudo, Scott Storch, Wheezy, Young Chop
Features: Millie Go Lightly, Gunna, Future, Quavo, Snoop Dogg, Lil Durk, & Jacquees
Days before its release, Young Thug dropped a promo video for Beautiful Thugger Girls showcasing a woman getting beaten up and kidnapped by other women in ski masks. It was a piece of content so jarring that CoverGirl—the company who coined "easy, breezy, beautiful, CoverGirl"—distanced itself from the rapper and his "singing album."
The video might have been a mistake. Because Beautiful Thugger Girls, which is really a mixtape, features some of Thug's most melodic and endearing music. There are signs of the rapping his ass off Thug here, but the gang shit is mostly set aside this album is about the complexities of love. Songs like "She Wanna Party" and "Do You Love Me" find him at his most exuberant and pop-friendly—despite whatever that video was trying to accomplish.
Future, HNDRXX (2017)
Label: 300/Atlantic
Genre: Pop
Producers: Ben Billions, Billboard Hitmakers, BLSSD, Charlie Handsome, Judge, London, Post Malone, Rex Kudo, Scott Storch, Wheezy, Young Chop
Features: Millie Go Lightly, Gunna, Future, Quavo, Snoop Dogg, Lil Durk, & Jacquees
Because it came out within a week of Future's self-titled album, HNDRXX has been labeled as his "R&B album." How true that is can be debated, especially since Future has always been melodic and there's quite a bit of rapping on here. But this album is clearly Future trying to counter the hard, numbing energy of the self-titled album, making an album full of love songs and pop hooks.
It was an interesting gambit, considering the last time Future flew so close to a sun that was this saccharine—2014's Honest—he got burnt for it. That album, at its worst, probably leaned too much into his guest appearances, producing songs that were a little too unabashedly corny ("I Won"). He finds a better range here, and touches on multiple feelings of love, from yearning ("Selfish") to devotion ("Testify") to flat out joy ("Fresh Air").
Tyler, the Creator, IGOR (2019)
Label: Columbia
Genre: Pop
Producers: Tyler, the Creator
Features: Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, Solange, Kanye West, & Jerrod Carmichael
This one might seem strange, when you consider that Tyler won the Best Rap Album Grammy for IGOR. But, oddly enough, his comments afterward make the argument for its inclusion. After winning the award, he called it “backhanded” and took issue with the genre label of "urban" being applied to his work.
Which, fair. If the first era of rap was defined by artists trying to break away from rock, contemporary hip-hop has been dominated by rappers chasing more pop sounds—more emotive, more centered on love. (I call this the Drake Effect.)
IGOR sits squarely in that lineage. It's Tyler's most accessible album, and nowhere near his most experimental—especially when you consider the genuinely unhinged Cherry Bomb. Even the vocal tricks he pulls off here feel playful and inviting rather than abrasive. And it definitely features Tyler at his most joyful and, more importantly, his most emotionally open, using a gorgeous, dreamy pop soundscape to shed some of the cold armor he'd built up throughout his career.
André 3000, Love Below (2003)
Label: Arista
Genre: Funk/R&B
Producers: André 3000, Big Boi, Carl Mo, Cutmaster Swiff, Dojo5, & Mr. DJ
Features: Kelis, Norah Jones, Rosario Dawson, Fonzworth Bentley Toni Hunter, & Qasha Aman
There is a truism that existed for years that OutKast would foreshadow their next album with the last track of the one they just released. And listening to “Stankonia (Stanklove)” you can see the traces of what was coming next from André—a sharp left turn into music that was blending futuristic, cosmic sounds while zeroing in on classical themes like love and heartbreak.
The Love Below picks up those threads, but also sees André stretching his vocals while keeping his trademark whimsical lyrics. And, ultimately songwriting is really what makes the album what it is. No modern album has pushed the genre forward while maintaining pop conventions quite like this—which is why its influence has been so long.
It's hard to hear tracks like “Pink & Blue” and not think of the places Lil Wayne and Kanye West would go with their music in the years that followed. This might seem like a cheap pick, since this is half of a double album and Big Boi's Speakerboxxx is 100 percent a rap album—and a very good one at that—but because of its impact and sheer quality, you simply can't put together a list of non-rap albums from rappers without including The Love Below.
Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak (2008)
Label: Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
Genre: Pop
Producers: Kanye West, Jeff Bhasker, Plain Pat, No I.D., Mr Hudson,
Features: Kid Cudi, Young Jeezy, Mr Hudson, & Lil Wayne
In September 2008, two months before the release of 808s & Heartbreak, Kanye West launched his new era at the VMAs.
Wearing a gray suit and red heart pin, he premiered "Love Lockdown" in one of the more memorable performances from that era. A couple of days later he put the studio version on his blog to a mostly negative reaction.
So…rough start. And understandably, there was skepticism around this new era of Ye, who had just put out one of the most acclaimed rap trilogies of the decade. But Kanye West's heartbreak album was a game-changer—a moody, expertly-produced masterpiece inspired by the epic scope of '80s pop.
The album of course came after a stretch of devastation—from the death of his mother Donda to his relationship with his fiancée deteriorating. For Kanye, the album also marked the moment where the personal and the creative became inseparable—every era since defined as much by what was happening in his life as by the music itself.
And yet none of that context would matter if the music didn't bang. Books could be written about how influential this album was, basically laying out the blueprint for a new subgenre of rap: icy soundscapes and synths, vibrant drums, and introspective, emotionally raw lyrics, with singing driven by vulnerability rather than traditional vocal chops.
For any rapper trying to transcend their roots, 808s & Heartbreak is the benchmark.
