#3 MELLOWHYPE - Blackendwhite (Fat Possum)

Tyler, the Creator made more than a splash this year as the first member of OFWGKTA to release an album that wasn't available for free on the Odd Future website. I'm not about to stoke the fires of an ongoing controversy about that record, except to say that I still think that "Goblin" is the best album of this year regardless of the complaints against it. Instead I want to focus on Hodgy Beats and Left Brain's utterly enjoyable mash up of west-coast east-coast back-packer DIY hip hop that is "Blackendwhite." If you hated Tyler, fine, but this isn't Tyler, this is a less bleak and more diverse album than "Goblin," despite the lead single "64" which sounds like a "Goblin" outtake. I can promise you that even if you don't dig on Tyler's meta psychology, Mellowhype will provide you with one of the most enjoyably offensive quasi-gangster records since Wu-Tang at their height.