The Top 50 Hip-Hop Albums…according to this old man

 

You’ve probably never met me before but I keep a low haircut. However, I’ve ripped out close to 300 hairs thinking about this list over the past 4 months. Travis over at WYDU recently had a post that reminded me to finish my list after a few weeks of procrastinating. Back in 2007, this thought provoking experimental post @ Passion of the Weiss probably had heads spinning. I didn’t read it until January/February 2008 and whether you agree or disagree with that post, it makes you thimk about your own list of great albums. So why was this list so difficult (and possibly incomplete)? Because I battled myself over my favorites versus albums I know are more deserving of the status of greatness (meaning end to end enjoyment, lasting impact that has stood the test of time, overall cohesiveness, lyrics, production, mood, etc.). Mind you, I like every album on my list below but I left out a few favorites that originally were there.

 

For example, MC Shan’s Down By Law, Kool G Rap’s Wanted: Dead or Alive, Boogie Down Production’s Sex & Violence and Edutainment, Redman’s Time 4 Sum Aksion, Main Source’s Breaking Atoms, The D.O.C.’s No One Can Do it Better, Above The Law’s Livin’ Like Hustlers, Jungle Brothers’ Straight Out the Jungle, The Fugees’ The Score, Scarface’s Mr. Scarface is Back, Common Sense’s Resurrection, Souls of Mischief’s ’93 til Infinity, Mobb Deep’s Hell on Earth were all originally on the list but after debating with myself, I didn’t do it. They would make it in the next 50 but not the first 50.

 

I love those albums, especially MC Shan’s, which gets a ton of play to this day, but are they great albums to me? So favorites don’t necessarily equal great but I do think that you have to actually like/love an album a lot (from beginning to end) to even consider it for greatness. And just because something is popular, does that mean it’s great? Most importantly, it’s my list and I’m 95% happy with it. I’m sure some albums will change slightly in position again as they have over the years but the top 4 have remained unchanged since 1994 and #1 has been there since I bought that tape in ’88 (the greatest single year in hip-hop to me). If I were 25 or 26 now, then the greatest years in hip-hop to me would probably be 1996 to 1999. But I’m older, so if this list pegs me as outdated, grumpy, stubborn or crazy, then I’m ok with it and prepared for all the hate. Let me know if you agree/disagree (I’m sure some of you have a T.I. or Too Short album as your #1) and maybe take the time to create your own list for comparison.

 

FYI – My list is below.  I will post Brandan’s (Recognize the Real‘s mixtape king) top 25 list in a day or two.  He’s a little younger than me so you know his list is much different.

 

1. Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back – Rarely has any hip-hop music changed my thinking, awareness and behavior from the inside out. Of all the albums on my list, only #6 and this one did that for me.  At 15 years old, I memorized every album that I purchased but this one mesmerized me as well.  I clearly recall debating with one of my friends over this album and Paid in Full.  I think I told him that this one just means more.  It was the height of the crack era back then and to hear this and that BDP album at that time was just incredible.  Every Nissan Pathfinder, Jeep Cherokee or Ford Bronco in the city equipped with booming speakers was playing this.  And everything clicked for me on this album: the multiple uplifting and/or insightful messages, the sequencing, the production, the lyrics, the mood, the energy, the approach, etc. It has stood head and shoulders above every other hip-hop album I’ve ever heard before and since it was released. In my opinion, no other hip-hop album has been this influential to children, teenagers, college students, the media, musicians, politicians, athletes, etc. Even P.E. wasn’t able to top it with their next album. I mentioned before that we listened to this daily as teenagers and there’s just no comparison today. If I were 14 or 15 today, who would be my musical heroes? Kanye? Lil Wayne? Rick Ross? Kid Cudi? What the heck?!?

 

2. Eric B & Rakim – Paid In Full
3. A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory
4. Nas – Illmatic

5. A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders

6. Boogie Down Productions – By All Means Necessary

7. Ultramagnetic MC’s – Critical Beatdown

8. De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising

9. Boogie Down Productions – Criminal Minded

10. N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton

11. Big Daddy Kane – Long Live the Kane

12. Run-DMC – Raising Hell

13. Slick Rick – The Great Adventures of Slick Rick

14. The Roots – Illadelph Halflife

15. Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx

16. Ice Cube – Amerikkka’s Most Wanted

17. LL Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out

18. Pharcyde – Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde

19. Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

20. Outkast – Atliens

21. Dr. Dre – The Chronic

22. Mobb Deep – The Infamous

23. Masta Ace – Slaughtahouse

24. Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die

25. Gangstarr – Daily Operation

26. Black Moon – Enta Da Stage

27. Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth – Mecca and the Soul Brother

28. O.C. – Word…Life

29. Brand Nubian – One for All

30. Organized Konfusion – Stress: The Extinction Agenda

31. De La Soul – Buhloone Mindstate

32. Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet

33. Run-DMC – Run-DMC

34. Eric B and Rakim – Follow the Leader

35. Ice Cube – Death Certificate

36. N.W.A. – Efilzaggin

37. GZA/Genius – Liquid Swords

38. LL Cool J – Bigger and Deffer

39. EPMD – Strictly Business

40. DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince – He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper

41. A Tribe Called Quest – Peoples Instinctive Travels and The Paths of Rhythm

42. Tupac – Me Against the World

43. Digable Planets – Blowout Comb

44. De La Soul – De La Soul is Dead

45. The Roots – Do You Want More?!!!??!

46. Three Times Dope – Original Stylin’

47. Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill

48. Queen Latifah – All Hail the Queen

49. EPMD – Business As Usual

50. Goodie Mob – Soul Food

 

~Vincent~