Complex's Best Albums Of 2023

[Low End Derrick]

As our greatest unifier and language, music is once again the real winner here. This year’s albums granted us the gift of saying so much with no words at all—or as many as the track would allow. Its best offering this year was healing and joy. Fun was had in the making of artists’ foundational projects like the carefree energy on Sexyy Red’s Hood Hottest Princess, and we saw a successful, elevated return to one’s roots exemplified by Bad Bunny’s Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana. Freedom—of expression and thought—was sought and found in the Complex-knighted best album of 2023. It was in the aforementioned and more that a year filled with strife found a way to soothe us, move us, and even give us hope. Cleo Sol took us to heaven, Jorja Smith taught us to fly on our own terms, Drake made a case for the admiration of scary hours, and the young and promising Lil Tecca showed us the fruit of a planted dream.

There was a lot of great work to parse through in the hip-hop, R&B, reggaeton and Latin trap spaces this year. But still, something felt lacking. Projects released after our 2022 Best Albums of the Year list (namely SZA’s SOS, Little Simz’s No Thank You and Metro Boomin’s Heroes & villains) were mainstays on the Complex Music Staff’s playlists but didn’t have a home in any of our lists. Their offerings, immediate strong contenders that surpassed a lot of projects released over 10 months after them, were admittedly so good they justified a new approach. In this year and hereafter you’ll see us assess, praise, and rank a few albums from the year prior, too—specifically, those released after December, when our list of that year goes out. We hope this allows for more conversation. And, as a reminder, that EOD deadline on your albums does not mean End of December, dears. Here are the best albums of 2023, passionately and thoughtfully discussed and selected, respectively, by our Complex Music staff.

Link: The Best Albums Of 2023

40. Nas, Magic 2

Label: Mass Appeal

Release Date: July 28

Nas is an endless well of knowledge and stories, and that’s why his fourth album in two years, Magic 2, sounds so invigorated. Whether he’s talking about Tupac introducing him to Hennessy at Howard Homecoming on “Pistols on Your Album Cover” or connecting with the new school of 21 Savage on “One Mic, One Gun,” Nas is living proof that rap greatness has no expiration date. His rhymes are still fresh, his storytelling still colorful, and thanks to revitalized production from Hit-Boy, Nas has somehow found his second wind entering the third decade of his career. These are the reasons why Magic 2 is another notch in his legendary résumé.

Top 10:

Spoiler

10. Lil Yachty, Let's Start Here

9. Ice Spice, Like...? (Deluxe)

8. Metro Boomin, Heroes & Villains

7. Bad Bunny, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana

6. Victoria Monét, Jaguar II

5. Killer Mike, Michael

4. Doja Cat, Scarlet

3. Travis Scott, Utopia

2. SZA, SOS

1. Gunna, A Gift & A Curse

 

[KBtheKey]

Complex needs to go bankrupt for thinking this was worth publishing

 

[Lil Bape the PostGod]

Gunna really did it

 

[Ol’Otis]

I’ll say it again
This was a trash ass year

 

[MikeStamina]

Complex trying to Debo their way into being The Voice

Fk Em

 

[I love Latina women]

Doja cat number 4 but really number 1

Whole album is flawless from start to finish

Antics aside, when it comes to the music she’s top cat

 

[Low End Derrick]

Gunna really did it

I thought everyone hated that album

 

[John Mexico]

Utterly forgettable.

a monumental step down from the other two post COVID years. This hip hop shyt is gonna have to learn how to creatively plateau with some grace.

 

[Sad Bunny]

Sza >> Gunna

People only remember two songs off that Gunna album lol

 

[Ol’Otis]

Sza >> Gunna

People only remember two songs off that Gunna album lol

Funny cause I only hear talk about Snooze and Love Language

 

[maxamusa]

sampha
wayne
yeat
nas
larry June
doja
travis Scott
drake


the only albums I rocked with from that list....they snubbed trippie redd and quavo FR FR

 

[Knucklehead]

Glad they had Glockoma 2 high. Still rocking it at the gym consistently.

 

[Sad Bunny]

Funny cause I only hear talk about Snooze and Love Language

Stop it.

Snooze (always on the radio)
I hate u (always on the radio)
Love language
Kill bill (No 1)
Nobody gets me 🥹🥹🥹
Good days (classic hit song)
Shirt (always on the radio)

 

[Super Cheech]

fukk Complex

 

[skyrunner1]

Gunna really did it

How hard your album gotta be to overcome that shyt?!