It’s been 10 years since 2016, and while everyone is feeling nostalgic about that year, its music is still being played today. 2016 was an era when artists were taking risks, whether creatively or in how they released albums. It was a creative fuse of so many different artists putting out what felt authentic to them, and it feels like we were in a creative surge.
Streaming services like Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal were just getting their footing, so artists could take a risk in releasing their work. These albums did not just succeed in 2016. They captured the nostalgic mood, took risks within it, and many still sound timeless today.
Check out some of the albums that were released a decade ago!
The Life of Pablo: Kanye West
In 2016, Kanye West was at the top of his game, releasing his monumental 2016 release. While there were several delays and changes, the YEEZY show, which launched this album, laid the groundwork for hip-hop fusing samples, new rappers, and lyrics that were anything but safe. The instability was the point.
Kanye’s releasing a constantly changing album mirrored a year where nothing felt fixed. The risk was enormous: unfinished mixes, public meltdowns, gospel next to trap. Yet that chaos defined the era.
Today, Pablo still sounds fresh because modern albums now follow its blueprint: fluid, messy, and honest about contradiction.
Ology: Gallant
While pop R&B chased big hooks, Ology slowed everything down. In a loud year, Gallant chose restraint, emotional precision, and vulnerability. The risk was subtle in an attention economy. Nearly a decade later, its minimalism feels timeless, aligning perfectly with today’s return to stripped-back, emotionally vocal, focused R&B.
Views: Drake
Views defined 2016’s emotional paradox: global success paired with a risky, reflective hip-hop album. With songs like One Dance and Controlla taking over the dance floors, Drake leaned into mood rather than momentum, choosing atmosphere over immediacy.
At the time, critics debated its length and pacing, but culturally it soundtracked an era where everyone was vibing. It’s cool, introspective tone still echoes across modern rap and R&B releases.
TWENTY88: Big Sean & Jhene Aiko
Releasing a collaborative side project instead of chasing solo dominance was the risk. Jhene Aiko and Big Sean were experiencing huge solo success and gave the world a significantly different storyline-based project that fused R&B, poetry, and rap.
TWENTY88 arrived quietly, released through Tidal, and captured the era’s fascination with intimacy, boundaries, and emotional complexity.
Today, its cinematic, nocturnal feel still sounds intentional and refined, especially in a culture where collab albums between couples have become a norm.
Campaign: Ty Dolla $ign
Ty Dolla $ign blurred the line between star and collaborator at a time when branding mattered more than ever. The risk did not fit neatly into a single lane. Campaign aged well because modern R&B now values versatility and musicality, traits Ty quietly championed before they became industry standards.
The album takes an interesting political turn, showing how we got to today’s politics and serving as a time stamp for hip-hop history.
Blonde: Frank Ocean
After faking everyone out with the visual album Endless, Frank Ocean surprise dropped his highly anticipated album Blonde. In a year obsessed with immediacy, Frank Ocean released an album that asked listeners to sit with discomfort, memory, and silence.
The risk was refusing traditional structure entirely. Blonde not only defined 2016’s introspective turn, it predicted today’s preference for emotional depth over radio formulas. It still feels untouchable and still stands as Frank Ocean’s last release to the world.
JEFFERY: Young Thug
2016 was a year of identity disruption, and JEFFERY embraced that fully. From its controversial cover to its sound, Young Thug rejected norms with confidence. The risk was alienation. The reward was influence.
Today’s hip-hop artists owe a debt to the project’s fearless, genre-fluid approach, and it still is.
Freetown Sound: Blood Orange
As conversations around Black identity and diaspora intensified in 2016, Freetown Sound felt like a sonic essay. The risk was subtle political commentary woven into artful production. Its themes of displacement, identity, and inner reflection feel even more relevant now, giving the album lasting cultural weight.
99.9%: Kaytranada
Dance music in 2016 often felt detached from any Black narrative. Enter the new Canadian DJ, Kaytranada, who injected soul, Blackness, and community back into house music. The risk was making a producer-led album that still feels personal and fusing R&B into a new genre where that wasn’t reflected.
Today, its influence is everywhere, from alternative R&B to global house music being the norm. It still sounds fresh because the joy it brings never expires.
Purple Reign: Future
Future captured the emotional numbness that defined much of 2016. Excess, heartbreak, and detachment blurred together. The risk was repetition. The result was atmosphere. Purple Reign remains relevant because modern rap continues to mine the emotional space Future normalized during this period.
Coloring Book: Chance the Rapper
Chance the Rapper releasing a joyful, gospel-infused project at a tense cultural moment was a bold move. While No Problem was the song of the summer, the album took a very different approach, making it a classic. Coloring Book reframed independence, faith, and optimism as radical acts. Its freshness today lies in its sincerity. It reminds us that 2016 was not only heavy, but hopeful.
4 Your Eyez Only: J. Cole
J. Cole slowed the pace as the culture sped up. 4 Your Eyez Only was a narrative-driven album focused on legacy, fatherhood, and consequence. The risk was sacrificing replay value for storytelling. In hindsight, the album feels ahead of its time, as conversations around masculinity and accountability have only grown louder.
Untitled Unmastered.: Kendrick Lamar
Dropping an album of unfinished records during a critically acclaimed run was a bold move. Untitled Unmastered. reflected the unrest of 2016, channeling protest, spirituality, and jazz-inspired chaos. Kendrick leaned into discomfort rather than clarity. Today, the album still feels raw and relevant, mirroring the unresolved tension it captured initially.
Check out The Gentlemen’s Soundtrack below.
