#209 - The 6th Annual Rap Music Plug Podcast Awards
Listen on: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / YouTube
Around this time last year, the show was continuing to grow… but at a lesser pace than the super strong growth trajectory it had been on a few years prior.
I was more than ok with this. At least the past hadn’t been a fluke. I established myself, and had some modest growth - I was grateful.
But then in 2025, that big year-over-year growth came back, and I was so pleasantly surprised.
I know this niche of experimentally-tinged rap is a small one, so the numbers would never reflect the impact... but 2025 taught me that this little niche may not be so little. Maybe there’s more that can be done with this platform, than I could have ever imagined.
In 2026, my goal is to the accelerator and do even bigger things. That means bigger live events, bigger guests, and more collaborations with the many interesting journalists in this space that do good work.
So now, without further ado... let’s talk about what music defined my 2025. Welcome to the 6th Annual RMPP Awards.
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The Plug (0:21)
Award show structure (5:03).
Beat of the Year (5:39)
Nominees:
California Sober (prod. Blockhead)
Maquiladoras (prod. Saint Abdullah & Eomac)
M.T.B.T.T.F. (prod. Pharrell)
Stenography (prod. DJ Haram)
destroy build destroy (prod. MILLENIUM)
LONE STATURE (prod. pty)
Hook of the Year (7:20)
Nominees:
Benjamin Booker - SLOW DANCE IN A GAY BAR
Nourished by Time - Max Potential
DJ Haram - Fishnets (feat. bbymutha, Sha Ray & August Fanon)
Fielded - Lost Youth
Open Mike Eagle - unlimited skull voices
Live Performance of the Year (9:25)
Nominees:
HUMAN ERROR CLUB in Toronto
Fatboi Sharif, GDP & The Strangers crew in Brooklyn
Kendrick & SZA in Toronto
Nourished by Time in Toronto
NxWorries in Toronto
Best Rap Performance in a Supporting Role (11:37)
Nominees:
Defcee on “emerge “n” see” - off of shemar’s emerge “n” see
ShrapKnel on “Electric Kool-Aid House Band” - off of The Expert’s Vivid Visions
Turich Benjy on “Say Thank You” - off of Fly Anakin’s (The) Forever Dream
billy woods on “Receipts” - off of PremRock’s Did You Enjoy Your Time Here…?
Rap Performance of the Year (13:33)
Nominees:
$ilkMoney on “THE JURY DUTY SEAFOOD BOILBAG FROM THE LYFE JENNINGS PAPERWORK PARTY”
billy woods on “Receipts”
Evidence on “Dutch Angle”
Earl Sweatshirt on “exhaust”
Song of the Year (15:04)
Nominees:
billy woods - A Doll Fulla Pins (feat. Yolanda Watson), off of G*******
Nourished by Time - Tossed Away, off of The Passionate Ones
PremRock - Receipts, off of Did You Enjoy Your Time Here…?
Benjamin Booker - SLOW DANCE IN A GAY BAR, off of LOWER
Producer of the Year (16:11)
Nominees:
Child Actor
pty
Kenny Segal
August Fanon
Preservation
Rapper of the Year (18:39)
Nominees:
billy woods
PremRock
Teller Bank$
Gabe ‘Nandez
The RMPP 25: Top 25 Albums of the Year (20:36).
RMPP Patron Choices for Album of the Year (32:40).
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The RMPP 100: my top 100 albums, inclusive of all genres
The following albums are my favourite 100 albums of 2025, categorized by style / vibe and ordered alphabetically.
Sunglass Emoji: music that makes you feel like the top cheese, cool as a cucumber
Anysia Kym & Tony Seltzer - Purity
Bruiser Wolf - Potluck
FKA twigs - EUSEXUA
Niontay - Fada<3of$
osquinn & FearDorian - Before You Press Play
Pink Siifu - ONYX’!
Papo2oo4 & Subjxct 5 - Papaholic, Vol. 1
Yungwebster - Yungwebster II
Feels: music that gets you in your feels
Benjamin Booker - LOWER
Cleo Reed - Cuntry
deem spencer - Pain & the people around me
Geese - Getting Killed
Grief Club - Good Mourning
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Gift Songs
keiyaA - hooke’s law
Navy Blue - The Sword & The Soaring
Nourished by Time - The Passionate Ones
Open Mike Eagle - Neighborhood Gods Unlimited
ROSALÍA - LUX
yaya bey - do it afraid
For the soul: music that is dripping in soul and wholesome vibes, which can help ground you
andrew - warm weapons in easy reach
Apollo Brown - Elevator Music
Earl Sweatshirt - Live Laugh Love
Fielded - Chuckles Deluxe
Fly Anakin - (The) Forever Dream
Joanne Robertson - Blurrr
McKinley Dixon - Magic, Alive!
MIKE - Showbiz!
Old Grape God & andrew - The News Ain't News to Me
Rich Jones & Good Food - Comemos
Rhys Langston - Pale Black Negative
Saba & No ID - From the Private Collection of Saba and No ID
Shungu - Faith in the Unknown
sleepingdogs - DOGSTOEVSKY
Tony Bontana - Sunday Service
ZekeUltra & Shungu - Babel Tower
Grown person raps: music that really hits those mature themes of adulthood, growing up, growing old
Evidence - Unlearning Vol. 2
Defcee & Parallel Thought - Other Blues
Gabe ‘Nandez & Preservation - Sortilège
Ghais Guevara - Goyard Ibn Said
jesse the Tree - Worm in Heaven
junclassic & Uncommon Nasa - Music to My Eyes
Lukah & Statik Selektah - A LOST LANGUAGE FOUND
Mary Sue and the Clementi Sound Appreciation Club - Porcelain Shield, Paper Sword
Mick Jenkins & EMIL - A MURDER OF CROWS
NAHreally - Secret Pancake
PremRock - Did You Enjoy Your Time Here…?
R.A.P. Ferreira & Kenny Segal - The Night Green Side of It
Sunmundi & Sasco - Contacting
Tomorrow Kings - SALT
YUNGMORPHEUS & Dirty Art Club - A Spyglass to One’s Face
Zilla Rocca & Disco Vietnam - FAST EDDIE
Grimy s***: music that is gritty and hard af
al.divino & BLUEHILLBILL - AVEMATIX
Black Milk & Fat Ray - Food from the Gods
Boldy James & Chuck Strangers - Token of Appreciation
Boldy James & Real Bad Man - Conversational Pieces
Clipse - Let God Sort Em Out
Estee Nack & al.divino - Coldest Combo Ever
FOHDH Matthew & Wino Willy - Matthew gets sick off cheap wine & prefers Gruaud Larose 1945
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Alfredo 2
Mike Shabb - shabbvangogh
Knowledge the Pirate & Roc Marciano - The Round Table
Teller Bank$ - DRUG$$$
Teller Bank$ & Wino Willy - Black Man!
Lyrical wizardry: music that dazzles with its command of the English language, and its ability to paint lyrical pictures
Aesop Rock - Black Hole Superette
AKAI SOLO - No Control, No Glory
doseone & steel tipped dove - All Portrait, No Chorus
ShrapKnel & Mike Ladd - Saisir le Feu
ShrapKnel & ohbliv - Armature
ShrapKnel & Raphy - Lincoln Continental Breakfast
Mind activation: music that melts your mind and pushes lyrical and musical boundaries
ÅGHETTOPHĮLOSØPHER & pty - DIAL#HURTFORHELP
AJ Suede - Grateful Dread
Armand Hammer - Mercy
August Fanon & billy woods - gowillog
Backxwash - Only Dust Remains
billy woods - GOLLIWOG
Danny Brown - Stardust
Deniro Farrar & Child Actor - Raw Materials
DJ Haram - Beside Myself
Everything is Psychedelic - Everything is Psychedelic
The Expert - Vivid Visions
Fatboi Sharif & Driveby - Let Me Out
Fatboi Sharif & Roper Williams - Goth Girl on the Enterprise
GDP & Fatboi Sharif - ENDOCRINE
Hester Valentine - I AM THE FEMALE WEEZY
HUMAN ERROR CLUB - HUMAN ERROR CLUB AT KENNY’S HOUSE
Kincee BabyFace Pearlis - BABY NEED MILK
Los Thuthanaka - Los Thuthanaka
Maruja - Pain to Power
Nacho Picasso & TELEVANGEL - Séance Musique
Nakama. - EVERYTHING BURNS!
Oneothrix Point Never - Tranquilizer
Pink Siifu - BLACK’!ANTIQUE
pty - Superstition
$ilkMoney - WHO WATERS THE WILTING GIVING TREE ONCE THE LEAVES DRY UP AND FRUITS NO LONGER BEAR?
shemar - emerge "n" see
SUMAC & Moor Mother - The Film
Tony Bontana - Tumpit 2
WAVE GENERATORS - RUN AWAY WITH A WILD AND A RARE ONE
Honourable mentions:
Aborted Defecated Whale - Anatomical Feedback Loop EP
Bad Bunny - DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS
BLOODBLIXING - BLOCK HEAVY GANGSTA EDITION
Jay Cinema - A Smile to a Tear
J.U.S & Raphy - Treasures
Kosey ! - Excerpts of Blk Joy, Vol.1
Lagan - Lapgan is Ecstatic
Lt Headtrip & steel tipped dove - Hostile Engineering
MILLENIUM - May We Be Recompensed for the Tremors of the Earth
Pathfinders - Pathfinders
Snotnoze Saleem - A River Dies of Thirst
Teller Bank$ & Ed Glorious - The Wolf & The Walrus
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Video animation by: Big Flowers
Intro/Outro beat by: BLOODBLIXING
