6 of 2017's most interesting hip-hop albums so far

We may only have just passed the halfway mark, but 2017 looks like it may well be a vintage year in hip-hop.

In just seven months we have had albums from Drake, Big Sean, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, Raekwon, Migos, DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, David Banner, Two Chains, Vince Staples and a whole bunch more.

Regardless of opinions on the quality of some of the albums that have dropped, it is indisputable that most of your favourite rappers have been busy little bees.

If you've spent the year listening to adult contemporary music and are not sure where to start catching up, try these six albums.

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list nor is it a best of; rather it is just some of the, forbetter or worse, interesting albums that have spilt forth from hip- hop’s vineyard this year.

WARNING! Some of the music videos featured in this article contain explicit lyrics.

MORE LIFE - DRAKE

To hear Drake tell it, More Life is a playlist, not an album, but to casual fans the distinction is meaningless so long as the music is good.

The playlist introduced the British rappers Giggs and Skepta to audiences that had previously heard little to nothing about them.

It felt global, taking sounds and influences from across the world, including our very own Black Coffee.

WATCH the music video for Passionfruit from Drake's More Life playlist

RATHER YOU THAN ME - RICK ROSS

A surefire party-starter, Rick Ross's ninth album showed that the Maybach Music Group chief still has a sharp ear for production.

More importantly, the album taught us that you don't need to follow the crowd to stay relevant, so long as you stick to what you are good at.

WATCH the music video for Trap Trap Trap (ft. Young Thug, Wale) from Ross's album Rather You Then Me

DAMN - KENDRICK LAMAR

Kendrick Lamar is a show-off and this album proved it. He easily rapped circles around everyone who had released music before- hand. DAMN turned out to be a little boring for my tastes, but is objectively some of the best music that has come out this year.

WATCH the music video for DNA from Lamar's album DAMN

EVERYBODY - LOGIC

If you didn't know, Sir Bryson Hall II, known better as Logic, is mixed-race. He looks white and, as the album goes on to show, this seems to have caused him any number of identity issues.

Logic can clearly rap and the album was good, but a lot of people could not relate to the "I know I look white but I'm actually black and that has made me sad" theme of the album. Good effort, though.

WATCH the music video for Black SpiderMan (ft. Damian Lemar Hudson) from Logic's album Everybody

THE WILD - RAEKWON

While it was definitely not one of his master works, The Wild was a refreshing foray into hip-hop's aggressively 1990s New York past.

Raekwon is an icon from a previous generation and this album was made for people who were old enough to enjoy hip-hop when wearing absurdly oversized clothes was the height of cool.

WATCH the music video for Purple Brick Road (ft. G-Eazy) from Raekwon's album The Wild

• This article was originally published in The Times.