Dylan’s Favorite Independent Rap Projects of 2024

The last few years of rap coverage and conversation have been dominated by numbers. Social media discourse is generally guided by first-week sales, projections, rumors, beef, and controversy—anything but the music that’s supposed to be at its core. I feel similarly sour about lists, which often dredge up more words about rankings and placements than they do about the songs. One of my few favorite things about list season is sidestepping those conversations entirely and putting the emphasis back where it belongs. 

You don’t need me to tell you that rap music had an incredible 2024. There were many quality albums and songs, big and small. But using up any of my end-of-year list to highlight the big ones that every other list has already covered seems bleak and unnecessary. Instead, I wanna highlight what’s happening on the independent side. While there are a few bigger names on this list, every project I’ve chosen is certified indie, meaning they’re not attached in any way to corporate labels like Universal or Atlantic. Many of them were released through boutique labels, crafty distribution deals, or uploaded and distributed solo to platforms like Bandcamp.

I’m most interested in the rap music that flew under the radar this year, by artists who were unafraid to get a little weird and experimental or to dive fully into the sounds and tics of a particular scene. Jersey club, Atlanta trap, Milwaukee low-end, East Coast-indebted lo-fi, Bay Area swag rap, and more are represented here (two of the releases on this list are more akin to dance albums than rap albums, but I included it here because it's that good and because I feel like it). These are my favorite indie rap records of 2024, presented in alphabetical order.