Although the temperature this summer has been lower than in the recent past, the figurative heat has been at an all time high, with many high profile rap icons releasing albums throughout the summer months.

As of right now, eight of the top ten albums slots on the Billboard 200 are occupied by rap or RnB albums, with Travis Scott’s Astroworld currently occupying the top spot. For many rap fans, Astroworld has been the total package, well worth the two year wait since his last album released in 2016.

This summer could also be claimed by Kanye West who rolled out five albums he either produced and rapped on in five weeks. These projects, titled G.O.O.D Summer, saw West producing albums for Pusha T, Nas, Kid Cudi and even managing production duties on his own chart topping album, Ye.  

The highly anticipated double sided Drake album, Scorpion, was also released this summer and garnered large amounts of praise. Other artists with notable summer releases included Mac Miller, A$AP Rocky, YG and Juice WRLD.

Senior Scott Grabowski was very impressed by all the albums released this summer noting that Astroworld was his favorite.

“Travis Scott is my favorite artist, so that gave him the one-up; but Scorpion was a close second,” Grabowski said. “[Astroworld] was definitely worth the wait, I liked the album because of the way it was different, the switching of the beats and the really good features.”

Others, such as seniors Leo Williams and junior Peter Storm, were less affected by the Travis Scott end of summer hype.

“[Jay Rock’s] Redemption and [Pusha T’s] Daytona are tied for me,” Williams said.

“I like Nasir by Nas because it tackled political issues and made you think while still having bops,” Storm added.

Regardless of which album the students consider to be the favorite, it seems as if 2018 has been a strong shower for rap music so far.