10 Most Underrated Hip Hop Albums Of The 2010s

One guy whose debut mixtape falls into the character-driven, theatrical side of hip hop - and didn't get nearly the level of exposure it deserved - is Lou the Human.

Lou's debut mixtape was recorded when he was twenty years old, with Lou taking over both writing and production duties. Considering the fact that there are a lot of young hip hop artists these days who take on both tasks, this might not seem as impressive as it once was, but after one listen you'll see that Lou is head and shoulders above many other artists.

The production is grimy, bass-heavy and hallucinatory - which makes sense given the fact that, by his own admission, Lou produced Humaniac whilst taking copious amounts of LSD - and the mixtape clearly takes great inspiration from old school hip hop, particularly J Dilla and Mad Lib - more on him in a moment.

Lyrically, Humaniac is... grim. There really is no other word for it. It's bleak and violent to the point of being ridiculous. But it's easy to focus on the violent or the vile and thereby overlook the raw talent on display. Lou's character is bizarre and over the top, sure, but his flow is reminiscent of early Eminem, MF DOOM and even Quasimoto in its level of skill and use of internal rhyme. If any of them tickle your fancy then do yourself a favour and check this out...give the follow up a miss though.