EARMILK's 'Best of 2018' Hip-Hop, Electronic/Dance, Indie/Alt-Rock, Pop, and R&B [Playlists]

It's been quite a year for music with the hard lines that once separated various music genres from one another no longer existing. One could easily get lost going down a rabbit hole of sub-genres, be it Tech-House, Indie-Folk, Electro-R&B, Hick-Hop (this genre really shouldn't exist) and more.

British artists like SG Lewis and Chicago's own Ravyn Lenae are blending traditional House beats with smooth R&B melody's to produce some of the sexiest new music we've heard in quite some time. Let's not forget artists like Billie Eilish and Khalid leading the way for heartfelt lyricism and soul-crushing vocals.

Texas singer-songwriter Jackie Venson and Australian multi-instrumentalist Tash Sultana are bringing back the art of face-melting guitar shredding back to the main stage. Multi-talented electronic producers like London-based Elderbrook and Los Angeles-based Elohim are delivering stunning live vocals with various electronic production to create introspective electro-pop music that's captivating fans worldwide. While on the dancefloor, New York multi-instrumentalists SOFI TUKKER and Colombian duo Salt Cathedral are modernizing the classic late 90's electro-club music by blending multi-cultural tropical sounds, live vocals, and instruments to create an intoxicatingly feel-good dance sound.

We're living in an exciting time for collaboration as well. It's not every day a British Electro-R&B producer like Tom Misch can sync up with an OG hip-hop group like De La Soul to create one of our favorite tracks of the year.

While 2017 brought attention to the young guns rapping their way up the ranks through Soundcloud, 2018 was the year they were put to the real test on the main stage – with artists like Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Peep stepping up to the challenge. While an influx of mumble rap took over most of the hip-hop scene in the previous year, 2018 saw artists like Los Angeles' own G Perico and Portland's Aminé bring back poetic lyricism, cutthroat delivery, and classic 90's hip-hop flow to the scene.

EARMILK's staff, consisting of passionate music lovers from eight different countries around the world, put together a massive playlist of over 450 of our favorite tracks from 2018. To make things a little easier, we broke down our ultimate playlist into five separate categories as well: Hip-Hop (Trap, Grime, Rap, Boom-Bap, etc.), Indie/Alt-Rock (Rock, Punk Rock, Folk, Blues, Alternative, etc.), R&B (R&B, Soul, Jazz, etc.), Pop (Electro-Pop, K-Pop, etc.), Electronic/Dance (House, Techno, Bass, Ambient, Drum and Bass, etc.). No rankings, just some of our favorite music created by hard-working musicians that make us feel lucky to be their fans. Enjoy!

Best of 2018 – Hip-Hop