MY FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2016

It’s been a while since I voted in the Village Voice’s annual Pazz and Jop poll but for whatever reason, I decided to do so this year even though I didn’t have a literal top 10 (just top 8). The way Pazz and Jop works is that your picks are weighted so this is what I turned in:

• Beyonce:

Lemonade

• (20 points)

• Frank Ocean:

Blond/e

• (20)

• A Tribe Called Quest:

We Got It From Here

• (15)

• Noname:

Telefone

• (15)

• Lee Fields:

Special Night

• (10)

• Jamila Woods:

HEAVN

• (10)

• Frankie Reyes:

Boleros Valses y Mas

• (5)

• Kendrick Lamar:

Untitled. Unmastered.

(5)

These were, to be sure, kind of spur of the moment for me and if I had more time, I might have rejiggered some of the point values or what have you but overall, these were the albums that gave me the most pleasure in 2016 and/or the ones I felt that were important to be recognized.