10 Most Underrated Hip Hop Albums Of The 2010s

For a long while, Your Old Droog was basically the hip hop equivalent of Burial.

YOD burst onto the scene back in 2014 with his track Nutty Bars and, appropriately, people lost their goddamn minds. This wasn't just because the track went harder than one of those maths problems where someone is buying seventy-eight watermelons for some reason, but also because, whoever he was...he really, really sounded like Nas. Eventually, it turned out he was a Ukrainian-American dude living in Brooklyn.

Packs is an astounding album - YOD's second. What's impressive is just how much YOD managed to refine his lyricism and flow in between his previous album and Packs. His vocal delivery is simultaneously smooth and effortless whilst also being gruff, gravelly and sandpaper rough - which is why the Nas comparisons are more than reasonable.

YOD's lyrics are bizarre as well. He often utilises incredibly stupid humour, utterly absurd imagery and a dizzying amount of pop culture references, but often uses them to explore some deceptively deep, existential themes...and sometimes he's legitimately just having a laugh.

YOD's production on Packs compliments his unconventional style perfectly as well. The beats here aren't anywhere near what you'd call your standard hip hop beats - he samples Milli Vanilli and Frank Zappa in the one goddamn song, for Christ's sake! Yet it's still very much worth a boogie. Get on it.