You don't hear popular rappers brag about their mic skills nearly as often as you used to, but make no mistake: More than a few MCs are willing to test their bars off the top at a moment's notice. Today, XXL takes a look at those who've passed with flying colors in 2018.

While there hasn't been a rhyme session on the level of Black Thought's 2017 rhyme clinic for Funkmaster Flex, rappers are definitely putting points on the board. Names like Aminé, Tory Lanez and Nipsey Hussle for instance, have flat out bodied the instrumentals placed in front of them.

For his part, Nip, who's now just a couple weeks removed from the release of his debut album Victory Lap, took us on a perilous adventure through the streets of Compton, using an instrumental from Queensbridge legend as the vehicle.

"Nothing can save us, and we realized it/We knew the outcome, and we still tried it/That South Central state of mind, 'I'm in the field' logic/To be real rider you took the shit to the extreme or you ain't feel honest/Now this blood that's on your hands, you hope these bills wash it," Nip rhymed over Nas' timeless "If I Ruled the World" instrumental.

In his own epic freestyle, Aminé showed once again that he's more than just a hitmaker, tackling Clipse's classic "Momma I'm Sorry" instrumental to do so. And female spitters like Young M.A and Azealia Banks have shown what they've got on the mic as well.

Get your instrumental playlist ready and check out the best free-flowing rhymes this year has heard thus far.

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