Hip Hop Quality & Quantity – Five Most Prolific Artists For Recorded Output – Glide Magazine

The great debate of quality vs quantity has never been more relevant, especially in the current landscape of the music industry. Thanks to the internet and streaming, fans have immediate access to music but people tend to forget that these platforms are a two-way street. It is also easier than ever for artists to release their music to the masses, the middle man has shifted from the labels to streaming services. 

The music industry has never seen such an influx of releases going live every day. Soundcloud hosts over 250 million tracks alone while Bandcamp’s homepage boasts that fans have spent over $917 million on 14.7 million digital albums. The internet is the new home for the genres that thrive in the underground, one of them being hip-hop. 

Back when major labels were running things, the genre of rap was not this densely populated. There were a handful of rap artists from each section of the country that released all the major releases and that was it until the idea of the digital mixtape was introduced. Historically used by independent artists, mixtapes became rap’s demotapes, a short yet in-depth look into the skills of young rappers hoping to become the next star to get released through a major. It wasn’t until the 2010s when websites like Datpiff and Livemixtapes became the new hub for budding rap talent. 

Without the help of a major label, artists were able to upload full albums to these sites and use social media to promote and market all by themselves. This created a shift in the industry and mixtapes became the new way to garner fame and respect in the genre. This opened a floodgate, artists were uploading to Datpiff almost every day. Mixtape streaming platforms were introducing young legends like Mac Miller and Kid Cudi to the masses while veterans of the genre like Lil Wayne and Gucci Mane used these mixtapes to free themselves from the strict release schedules of the industry. 

This direct-to-consumer trend is now at the forefront of the music industry. While getting on streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music might be more of a process compared to Datpiff, digital distribution companies like Distrokid have sprung up to assist artists, so the rate of which albums are released has not slowed down since the Datpiff days. 

Does this mean there is too much music and genres like rap are suffering from oversaturation? The opposite, actually. Rap has not only skyrocketed to the forefront of pop culture, but the underground scene has never been more alive. Artists are blurring the lines between quantity and quality and releasing multiple projects a year without sacrificing any attention to detail. 

Glide has shifted through this sea of modern-day rap releases to find the top five rappers who are known for not only their prolific release schedule but just how high quality these releases are. 

5. Benny The Butcher (eight albums since 2019)

Over the past few years, Buffalo’s own Benny The Butcher has been creeping into everyone’s top 5 rappers list. His breakthrough project Tanna Talk 3 from 2018 was a clinic to prove what everyone around Benny already knew, he was one of the best. That album was just the start of what was to become an incredible string of releases. Since 2019, Benny The Butcher has released a total of 8 projects including the long-awaited follow-up to his opus, Tanna Talk 4. Also included are collaborative albums with fellow New York affiliate 38 Spesh (Trust The Sopranos, 2021) and his own label, The Black Soprano Family (Benny The Butcher & DJ Drama Presents Black Soprano Family, 2020). 

4. Your Old Droog (11 albums since 2019) 

Your Old Droog is one of the wittiest songwriters across any genre. His punchlines are boastful, clever, and never endless. Since debuting in 2014, Droog has been releasing anything from high-end concept albums to autobiographical works all while working with some of Hip-Hop’s best acts (MF DOOM, Danny Brown, Mach-Hommy, etc.). In 2019 alone, Droog released three widely regarded albums (It Wasn’t Even Close, Transportation, and Jewelry). After a landmark year, 2020 only brought us one Droog album, Dump YOD: Krutoy Edition, although some argue that this is the New York rapper’s best work. 2021 brought us another four new Droog projects including two collaborative projects with Tha God Fahim. We are halfway through 2022 and Droog has released two albums, the Nicholas Craven-produced YOD Wave and most recently YOD Stewart. 

3. Larry June (14 albums since 2019) 

Larry June is the personification of the West Coast, his rhymes can grow a palm tree. His laid-back approach to soulful, jazz instrumentals and trap-influenced 808s alike have garnered the attention and love of rap fans across the board. Although he released his first album, Cali Grown in 2010, it wasn’t until 9 years later that June went through somewhat of a creative renaissance. Within that year June released a total of 5 projects including his landmark project Mr. Midnight. This string of albums launched a productive and collaborative couple of years and opened the door for big-name collaborations. In 2020 June recorded albums with some of Rap’s most sought-after producers like Cookin Soul (Orange Season), Harry Fraud (Keep Going), and Cardo (Cruise USA). Following a profound two years of releases, 2021 saw two Larry June releases and his only release of 2022 so far is his joint album with Jay Worthy and LNDN Drugs 2 P’z In A Pod. 

2. Tha God Fahim (17 albums since 2019)

One of Rap’s most mysterious yet prolific artists has been scattering albums across the internet, so many that other blogs have nicknamed him The 100 Tape Legend. Tha God Fahim debuted in 2015 and released two projects that year. The following year he released another four. Fahim has always had a work ethic that would put anyone else to shame, it wasn’t until the past couple of years that this work ethic started getting noticed. In early 2019 Fahim released Soul Dust, his first of 7 releases of that year. This album was a launching pad for Fahim and broadened his already large cult following. 2019 also gave us albums like Dollars “N” Sense (collaboration with producer The Architect) and his beloved collaboration with M. Stacks Live and Let Die. In the next three years, Fahim went on to release another 10 albums including the stand-out Dump Gawd: Shot Clock series which includes three albums, all produced by Nicholas Craven. 

1. Curren$y (21 albums since 2019) 

The king of New Orleans has been dazzling Rap fans with luxurious raps about weed and his cars for two decades. Curren$y has always released music at high volumes, after signing to the famous No Limit records in 2002 he released a dozen mixtapes before his 2009 debut album properly named This Ain’t No Mixtape. The Jet Life captain has an ungodly amount of music released through Datpiff, but it wasn’t until 2012 that his soulful raps gained widespread attention. The Stoned Immaculate was a big hit for Curren$y and actually landed him at number 8 on the Billboard 200. His outpour of albums did not stop but specifically from the years 2019-2022, Curren$y released an astounding 21 projects. The list is too long but some of these albums include 2009 with Wiz Khalifa, Prestige Worldwide with Smoke DZA, and Gran Turismo with Statik Selektah, and that was just in 2019.