Despite 2020 being a strange year, there was still plenty of quality hip hop that came out of California. Below you will find our year end awards and a playlist celebrating our favorite tracks of the year.

1 D Smoke – Black Habits

2 Nana – Save Yourself

3 Reason – New Beginnings

4 Problem – Coffee & Kush Vol. 1

5 Kamaiyah – Got It Made

After winning Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow in 2019, D Smoke has been on a steady rise. In 2020 he followed up his amazing Inglewood High EP with Black Habits, our Album of the Year. If you are unfamiliar with the Inglewood native, you are missing out.

Yes we know Hit-Boy had an amazing year but so did The Alchemist, delivering our favorite Non-California hip hop album of the year, The Price of Tea in China, which he dropped with Detroit native Boldy James. He also dropped Alfredo with Freddie Gibbs, which was nominated for Best Rap Album at The Grammys, and LULU with Conway The Machine.

DoggyStyleeee seemingly came out of nowhere in 2019 with solid West Coast banger We Different. In 2020 he was incredibly productive, dropping four projects. Keep an eye out for this one.