You could argue that 2021 was perhaps an even stranger than the year before, at least for California hiphop. We saw very few of the big names drop a project, which in return left space for some new and exciting artists to come up. Below you will find our year end awards and a playlist celebrating our favorite tracks of the year.

1 Pacman da Gunman – Less Is More

2 Mozzy – Untreated Trauma

3 D Smoke – War & Wonders

4 Larry June – Orange Print

5 XL Middleton & Delmar Xavier XII – XL Middleton & Delmar Xavier XII

Mozzy has stayed consistent for years and is still showing signs of improvement. The Sacramento emcee teamed up with YG to drop Kommunity Service and Lil Blood to drop Bloody Waters, both solid efforts that he followed up with Untreated Trauma, one of our favorite albums of the year.

We’ve been paying attention to Cardo ever since he dropped Big Bossin’ Vol. 1 with Payroll Giovanni. His style is distinctively g-funk but he can easily play the role of a chameleon and produce radio hits for Drake, which he has been doing for years, including this year. What lands him as our Producer of the Year though is his collaborate project with Larry June, Into The Late Night.

BELLA has been on a steady rise since mid 2020, especially after she dropped her second music video, for the song BREE$E. In 2021 she continued building on that success, dropping song after song, each better than the previous one, ending with the El Lobo produced Downfall, which is one of our favorite tracks of the year.