First and foremost, I wanted to write this article because was a great year for music, especially for the ever-growing family of hip-hop/R&B subgenres. My list is dominated by the artists who fearlessly colonize new musical territory – Drake, J. Cole, and Frank Ocean come to mind. The artists who don’t really care how their music is classified, or how they’ll fit in to the pop culture landscape, but still have a clearly defined vision.

These rankings are based on a strict algorithm involving lyrics, melodies, hustle, and swag that exists only in my mind. That is, these rankings are based on my flawless opinions. Drop comments to let me know what you would have added.

Hit the jump to dive in.