10 Best Hip-Hop Albums From The First Half Of 2019

In the midst of label struggles and ambiguous performance art, Brockhampton's frontman Kevin Abstract delivered this cathartic, genre bending project, his first solo release since 2016's American Boyfriend. Brockhampton refers to themselves as a "boyband", and though the sounds on ARIZONA BABY stray far from Kevin's work with Brockhampton, there is a connection considering how Kevin leans into more pop sensibilities throughout the album.

Dealing with queerness in America and his newfound success, ARIZONA BABY is an emotionally raw portrait of someone attempting to assess who he is in the aftermath of an unexpected explosion of popularity.

If you have time for only one song from this album, make it "Baby Boy".

This track perfectly encapsulates Kevin Abstract's feelings of being lost and disillusioned, thinking of someone else. One can imagine this song's chorus being sung around a melancholy campfire.

The track builds to an emotional crescendo, with Kevin stacking harmonies on top of electric guitars, drums, and heavenly strings, before smoothing out into silence, leaving Kevin as reflective as ever.