The 2024 Urban Pitch Year in Review continues with our favorite songs released over the past 12 months.
2024 was a pretty fantastic year for music, regardless of genre. In the pop world, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Charli XCX had the summer popping off, while Billie Eilish released yet another stellar album that has racked up some major Grammy nominees.
Country continued to surge, reaching more audiences across the globe and becoming even more popular than it already was. Breakout star Shaboozey had his moment with the J-Kwon sampling “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” which you couldn’t go 30 minutes without hearing during a night out on the town.
The conversations around the death of rap have become more prevalent, but that didn’t stop it from dominating music headlines in 2024, most notably through the Kendrick Lamar–Drake beef. The “Family Matters” video, which was quickly responded to by “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us” was perhaps the defining music moment of the past 10 years, and I don’t anticipate us having another day like that any time soon.
Let’s dive into our favorite tracks from a wonderful year in music.
“Hey Now” – Kendrick Lamar
This is one of those beats that has crack in it. Its replay value is out of this world, and I can’t believe that it’s actually one of the more divisive songs on Kendrick Lamar’s fantastic GNX. I could really put the entire album on here, but to avoid K.Dot overkill, this has been the track I’ve revisited the most since the project dropped out of nowhere on November 22. “Shit get spooky every day in October” is something I find myself saying throughout the day.
“Not Like Us” – Kendrick Lamar
Can’t say anything about this song that hasn’t been already said. The triumphant diss track kicked off a seven-month victory lap for Kendrick that still hasn’t stopped. Its ubiquity has seen it hit the airwaves in the most unexpected of places, even at a children’s birthday party. It brought the house down in Inglewood when he performed it during his Pop Out show on Juneteenth, and it’ll have the same effect next February when he plays it at the Super Bowl.
“THank god 4 me” – ScHoolboy Q
You’re beginning to sense a pattern here. When ScHoolboy Q dropped Blue Lips in March, it was my favorite album of the year, and it’s been able to hold on to that title since — a not-so-easy task given the amount of quality we’ve seen drop in 2024.
The highlight of the album is undoubtedly “THank god 4 me,” a thunderous, Three 6 Mafia sampling behemoth of a track that has damn near blown out the speakers in my car — it’s physically impossible to play it at lower than max volume. A perfect song on an album that continues to improve with time.
“Black&Blue” – Vince Staples
You always want to start an album off with a bang, and that’s exactly what “Black&Blue” does for Vince Staples’ Dark Times. A Thee Sacred Souls sample sets the mood for Staples’ nonchalant delivery — a trademark characteristic he’s evolved into with his last few stellar projects.
Dark Times is another LP from a West Coast artist that deserves to be in album of the year conversations, and was a major Grammy snub — although we don’t really care about those over here.
“Nvr.rmx,” “DistantSpace,” and “WalkonBy” – NxWorries
This is probably cheating since it’s three songs, but it’s the best three-track run on any album I listened to this year, and at roughly six-and-a-half minutes, you could stretch and say that it could count as one song.
Following up 2016’s incredible Yes Lawd! was always going to be a tough task, but the wait was well worth it as Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge delivered another gem in Why Lawd?
The moodier sequel to its jubilant predecessor had plenty of highlights sprinkled throughout, but none better than these three songs, which when played back-to-back-to-back, puts the listener in a state of euphoria.
“Sticky” – Tyler, the Creator
“Sticky” is full of surprises. On first listen, I had no idea who’d be featured (the featured artists hadn’t been listed on Apple Music yet), so each guest verse, from Glorilla to Sexxy Redd and Lil Wayne, came as a pleasant revelation. It was kind of like the Vince McMahon evolving reaction meme.
And if the first few McMahon faces represented the quaint amusement that washed over me with each new feature, his absurd O-face was when the horns from “Get Buck” entered the fray at the 2:36 mark.
Young Buck’s 2007 anthem is an incredibly important song to me, and it felt like the sample was personal and done just for me. Judging by a few reactions on Twitter X, I wasn’t alone.
Chromakopia is one of my favorite albums of the year, and very few other music moments brought me this kind of joy in 2024.
“Like Him” – Tyler, the Creator
As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to avoid picking songs from the same album on this list, but “Like Him” was simply too good to ignore. The song deals with the complicated feelings that come with having an absentee father, and features a powerful outro from Tyler, the Creator’s mother, who takes the blame for pushing his father out of his life.
Preceding the coda is the highlight of the track, a goosebumps-inducing synth solo that leads into Tyler’s final verse, in which he claims “I would never lie to you/You ain’t ever gotta lie to me/I’m everything I’ve ever strived to be/So do I look like him?/Do I look like him?/I don’t look like him.” Incredibly poignant stuff.
“Wolverine” – Freddie Gibbs
Freddie Gibbs has been one of rap’s most consistent artists over the past decade, working with some of the genre’s top producers like The Alchemist and Madlib, and gaining Grammy nominations along the way.
His 2024 effort You Only Die 1nce is another stellar offering, albeit not as complete as his previous three albums — Bandana, Alfredo, and $oul $old $eparately. The tight, 35-minute project features Gibbs’ intricate flows over menacing production, and “Wolverine” is where it all comes together best. Dropping Harold Miner references showcases his ball knowledge, and his name-drops read like a Tarantino script, shouting out the Jackson 5, Oppenheimer, NFL wide receiver Deebo Samuel, Nelly’s “Tip Drill” music video, and other various elements of pop culture.
“I Do” – Leon Thomas
There’s been too much rappity-rap in this list so far, so let’s break it up with some smooth crooning by Leon Thomas. “I gave you a thousand reasons to leave/But you always found one to stay,” the Brooklyn native and former Broadway prodigy soulfully sings. We have about a thousand reasons to listen to this song.
“Words2LiveBy” – El Cousteau and Earl Sweatshirt
When clips of “Words2LiveBy” hit the internet, certain circles across social media exploded. The clip was mostly Earl Sweatshirt rapping in a slightly off-beat triplet flow over a bouncing trap-esque instrumental — which is like Neymar’s 2011 Puskas-winning goal if it was scored by Paolo Maldini.
It was Earl as we’d never seen him, looking brolic (“Put on some weight now I feel like a lineman”) and having the time of his life. Personal favorite lines include “Chlorophyl water and ashwagandha, some of these feelings is hard to describe,” “I’m not OK but I’m gon’ be alright,” and of course, “Free Gaza we on the corner like Israelites.” Just elite level bars.
“Jammy Jam” – Erick the Architect
The Flatbush Zombies had a fantastic run in the mid-late 2010s, and a big part of that was Erick the Architect. Besides his supreme producing chops, his laid back and silky flows brought balance to the jarring and intense styles of his fellow group mates Juice and Meech.
Erick’s been putting out solo work for quite some time in addition to his work with the Zombies, and his debut LP I’ve Never Been Here Before puts his versatility on display. “Jammy Jam” is among the many highlights, a smooth, jazzy cut that’s dangerously catchy.
“Take What’s Given” – BADBADNOTGOOD
BADBADNOTGOOD is mostly known for their jazzy instrumentals, but every once in a while they’ll link up with vocalists for a single or even a full album. On “Take What’s Given,” the Canadian group enlists reggie for a twangy and catchy ditty. Just good vibes all around here.
“Noche de Desvelo” – Feefa
It’s been a relatively quiet year for Feefa when it comes to releases, but don’t let that fool you — he’s been hard at work. He dropped a handful of bangers throughout 2024, including “Noche de Desvelo” alongside Chris O’Bannon.
It features Feefa’s signature bilingual flows over a bouncy beat, and O’Bannon’s crooning adds a nice finishing touch to a versatile jam that wouldn’t be out of place at the club, in the car, or at the gym.
“Panic in Porto Alegre” – Death at the Derby
Our favorite football-rap trio returned in 2024 with the third season of their eponymous series that focuses on some of the world’s most fierce football rivalries. As Cousin Feo, Lord Juco, and DJ Dubplates get deeper into Death at the Derby, they are putting the spotlight on some of the less celebrated yet still life-or-death stakes derby matches, which is one of the best parts of the series.
“Panic in Porto Alegre” heads to Brazil for the Gremio vs. Internacional rivalry, and gets a beat from Dirty Diggs, a production duo who also laid down the track for “Brazilian Bloodlines” from Death at the Derby season two. The production really shines and takes Feo and Juco’s bars to another level, transporting us to the picturesque (yet still dangerous) streets of Porto Alegre.
“Nissan Altima” – Doechii
I first heard of Doechii in 2021 after her guest verse on Isaiah Rashad’s “Wat U Sed” melted my face off. I’ve been a fan ever since. She’s properly blown up following the release of Alligator Bites Never Heal, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album, which in turn led to a Tiny Desk performance.
“Nissan Altima” shows Doechii at her finest, spitting venomous bars over a effervescent instrumental that instantly puts you in a stank face.
Intro – GloRilla
GloRilla had herself a year. She kicked things off with “Yeah Glo!” in February, the lead single off of her Ehhthang Ehhthang mixtape, which released in March. Her stock continued to rise when she dropped “TGIF,” and the buzz around her debut studio album Glorious was heavy.
But none of that could’ve prepared me for the first track, an unbelievable table setter that recalls soundscapes from the Dirty South which dominated airwaves in the 2000s. On a beat created in the molds for the likes of Three 6 Mafia, UGK, and Big K.R.I.T., Glo manages to leave her own mark on “INTRO,” and while “TGIF” and “WHATCHU KNO ABOUT ME” have (rightfully) garnered plenty of buzz, “INTRO” is an all-too-short sensory experience that clears the two hits.
Bonus Entry: “I Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Boom Boom)” – Dwight Yoakam ft. Post Malone
Urban Pitch contributor Patti Sanchez joins the fun and shares her top track of the year:
Taking a hard left turn from the songs that will probably be on this end-of-the-year music roundup, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a little love to Dwight Yoakam, one of my all time favorite musicians who hasn’t put out an album of original music in over a decade, but whose 2024 project Brighter Days hits a nostalgic chord.
Falling into his familiar vocals and unmistakable modern Bakersfield sound, Yoakam enlists Post Malone to help him belt out one of my favorite singles off the album, “I Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye (Bang Bang Boom Boom).” With both their vocals, and a fun music video featuring the pair riding horses down Sunset Boulevard, the song is a pure country winner with California roots. – Patti Sanchez
