The three album covers of the most streamed rap albums this summer, Lil Uzi Vert’s Pink Tape (top left), Gunna’s A Gift and a Curse (bottom middle), and Travis Scott’s Utopia (top right).

This summer, there was a ton of new rap music released. Three albums stood out to the world: Lil Uzi Vert’s Pink Tape, Gunna’s A Gift and a Curse, and Travis Scott’s Utopia.

The highly teased Lil Uzi Vert album Pink Tape was released on June 30, 2023, with a midnight launch on all streaming services. The album consisted of 26 tracks and hit the music world with a bang, selling 167,000 records. The album includes features from prominent artists such as Travis Scott, Nicki Minaj, Don Toliver, BABYMETAL, and Bring Me the Horizon. 

We feel this album was overhyped. One of our favorite artists of all time is old Lil Uzi Vert. Lil Uzi Vert now is hard metal and rock music. He had two terrific songs, “Flooded the Face” and “Aye” with Travis Scott, that had flashes of old Lil Uzi Vert, but the rest of the album was horrible, and it sounded like rock music. 

We also feel the album could have been more consistent due to how Lil Uzi Vert goes from a slow rap style to a heavy metal rock style. Some songs succeed more than others, including “Pluto to Mars” and “Zoom”.

Gunna’s new album “A Gift and a Curse” was released on June 16th. Following his 2022 album, DS4EVER, he got into trouble with the law and went to jail after pleading guilty. He was sentenced to five years but was released after being in prison for a year. He took about four months to make his newly released album when he got out. 

This effort is better than, Pink Tape because it was more consistent and had better hits, such as “backtothemoon” and “rodeo dr.”

Gunna’s album should receive more credit than it has already been given due to Gunna having no features. The album was very consistent with the flow that he uses throughout the album, especially on his song “backtothemoon,” our favorite due to the style of the song.

The long five-year wait for Travis Scott’s highly anticipated album Utopia is finally over. It sold over 496,000 records in the first week. 

The album was released on July 28th, 2023, along with his film called Circus Maximus. The film is about his surreal and psychedelic journey from around the world, allowing the viewers to enter Scott’s visual odyssey. Even though it was not the only thing Scott did in the past five years, Utopia was the woven soundtrack for this film. 

The Houston rapper was supposed to have his elaborate project release concert at the Pyramids of Giza, but it was canceled just days before it was set to take place. He did not let that delay the album. 

The album itself lived up to the hype. It was consistent from the first song, “HYAENA,” until the last song, “TIL FURTHER NOTICE.” We have many favorite songs on the album, such as “MY EYES,” “I KNOW, ”“THANK GOD,” “MELTDOWN,” and “TIL FURTHER NOTICE.” Our least favorite songs were “PARASAIL, “K-POP,” and “LOOOVE.” Overall, the album was a success in my eyes (pun intended!).

We believe the album was worth the five-year wait, and the new style Travis Scott is pursuing caught his attention. A few of his favorite songs are “MELTDOWN,” “I KNOW,”and “TOPIA TWINS.” These songs had a very complex beat that was enjoyable to listen to.

With these three albums’ streams ongoing, the music does not stop there. Towards the end of this year, the world should expect albums from Drake, 21 Savage, ASAP Rocky, and a Metro Boomin+Future collaboration album. 

Although 2023 has been a great year of music so far, it will only get better soon.