20 Best Hip Hop Albums

[sonic1988]

I'm supurised how many older albums were there

[WesSyde]

it's just a list. why do u guys get so butt hurt over it? He's The DJ should be on there, but anytime u pick only 20 hip hop albums ur gonna miss some cuz there's over 100 great hip hop albums out there. i think that list is mostly about what sold the best and their goal is to capture all era's of hip hop, which is why they have Jay-Z and Eminem in there. who cares about a list like this? obviously u guys do or else u wouldn't be dissin it so much.

[JumpinJack AJ]

For those talkin' about LL, i personally don't think The DEFinition isn't as good as 10. 10 has different flavas and i think the lyrics and subject matter are better. The DEFinition seems 2 radio friendly and "average" 2 me most of the time.

[bigted]

There's no way you could sum up 25 years of recorded hip-hop albums with just 20 albums, you need at least 100, a fair 3-4 albums a year would summarise hip-hop history, maybe 5-6 in the golden years and 1-2 from each recent year where the quality's down, I think "G.O.A.T." might be LL's most versatile album ever even though it ain't as popular as the classics "Mama Said Knock You Out" or "Mr. Smith", he held his own with all the best of hip-hop at that time when he outshined all the top notch guest appearances on there and put Cannibus' career to the grave on that album, "The Definition" is like his "Big Willie Style" since it's a club album so I wouldn't use that to define his career but I'd still call it a solid effort better than mostly anything out within the last couple years but it ain't a timeless LL classic, I know he could do better though myself, maybe he needs some guest appearances on his next album like he had on "The G.O.A.T." to make him wanna outshine the comp again, he's done it all though basically, "10" was a lil' dissapointment after "G.O.A.T." for me maybe that's why I'm so hard on it but realistically it's better than any top album at that time and that's why he's the "G.O.A.T." his worst effort is better than most rappers' best effort, I'll put that up against "Blueprint" and "Marshall Mathers LP" production wise and lyrically wise. If this list is based on mostly sales then why ain't "Big Willie Style" on the list, many Pac heads don't consider "All Eyez On Me" his best album either and the most commercial from his as well Outkast's "Speakerboxx/Love Below" sold 10 million too, why ain't it there either? not many mainstream heads heard of "Southernplayalisticadillacmusik", they might as well list "Code Red" 'cause it sold about just as low as that and had as much street cred too, Soul Of Mischief's "'93 Till Infinity" was copied by a lot of today's popular lyricists including Eminem so it deserves to be mentioned too, that's another landmark album every hip-hop head should have. Why is DMX so slept on, maybe it's 'cause he does movies now too? :lolsign: He's had 5 consecutive muliti-platinum albums that hit #1 on the charts, "It's Dark And Hell Is Hot" and "The Great Depression" are hip-hop classics. Nas influenced 50 Cent??!! :rofl: If there wasn't Slick Rick, FP, LL, or KRS, there wouldn't even be no Jay-Z or Nas, I think it's important to list all the pioneers of rap first, if they really wanna educate commercial rap fans, they should list 20 albums from 1980-1990 and 20 albums from 20 albums from 1990-2000 and 10 albums from 2000-2005, that'd make fans of all ages happy! :yeah:

Edited September 11, 2005 by bigted

[rcpbball30]

I don't see any need to get overly concerned with these lists. It is pretty much what I expect from the media these days, they don't have a clue about good music, people like us know better.

[bigted]

Like I said earlier if you take out "Blueprint", "Ready To Die", and "Marshall Mathers LP" and replace them with "Mama Said Knock You Out", "The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick", and "He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper", it'd be a perfect list, of course replacing "Fear Of A Black Planet" with "Criminal Minded" would make the list even more perfect, KRS inspired PE's and everyone elses political side so he deserves more credit, how could you put Common and Nas then ignore KRS? "2Pacalypse Now" replacing "All Eyez On Me" would be the only other possible change I'd make, if I'd put any recent albums on the list it'd probably be from DMX, Wyclef Jean, or Lauryn Hill, I got no beef with Jay-Z but "Volume 2: Hard Knock Life" is way better than "Blueprint", the closest thing to a classic album he's done besides "Reasonable Doubt" so if I'd list any it'd be that one, here's how I'd rank a few albums:

LL "10": 4/5

LL "G.O.A.T.": 5/5

LL "Definition": 4.5/5

Jay-Z "BluePrint": 3.5/5

Jay-Z "Volume 2: Hard Knock Life": 4.5/5

Jay-Z "Reasonable Doubt": 5/5

Eminem "Marshall Mathers LP": 3/5

Eminem "Slim Shady LP": 3.5/5

Eminem "Encore": 1/5

Biggie "Ready To Die": 3.75/5

DMX "It's Dark And Hell Is Hot": 5/5

Wyclef "Carnival": 5/5

Edited September 11, 2005 by bigted

[Da Brakes]

By the way Ted Em didn't get an Oscar for his acting in 8 Mile. He got it for the song 'Lose Yourself'

[bigted]

By the way Ted Em didn't get an Oscar for his acting in 8 Mile.  He got it for the song 'Lose Yourself'

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Of course, tell that to Em too who made fun of Will in an interview by sayin' that he has an Oscar and Will doesn't, well why couldn't the "Men In Black" song win one then? :stickpoke: If the Source only gives "Lost and Found" 3/5, I have no problem giving "Marshall Mathers LP" 3/5, that's actually being lenient 'cause I don't like it much at all but it was one of his most solid efforts, now his albums are disposable, I give LL's "G.O.A.T." 5/5 'cause I musta played that album over 1000 times in the last 5 years since it came out, I still shake my head in disgust that he didn't release "Homicide" or "Can't Think" as singles, that'd got him Grammy status and it'd be his highest sellin' album to date and be ranked right with "Marshall Mathers LP" as the best album of 2000, it was off to a great start by selling 250,000 the 1st week I think when it hit #1 but then it took like 4 months to release "You and Me", like Will he gets crap promotion, they released the worst songs on the album like "Willenium", I hardly ever listen to "Imagine That" or "You and Me", that'd sold 5 million easily with the right promotion, "G.O.A.T."'s probably my all-time favorite album right up there with Boyz II Men's "CooleyHighHarmony" that I musta played over 1000 times too, "Big Willie Style" also musta been played about that much too.

Edited September 11, 2005 by bigted

[Turntable]

By the way Ted Em didn't get an Oscar for his acting in 8 Mile.  He got it for the song 'Lose Yourself'

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Of course, tell that to Em too who made fun of Will in an interview by sayin' that he has an Oscar and Will doesn't, well why couldn't the "Men In Black" song win one then? :stickpoke: If the Source only gives "Lost and Found" 3/5, I have no problem giving "Marshall Mathers LP" 3/5, that's actually being lenient 'cause I don't like it much at all, I give LL's "G.O.A.T." 5/5 'cause I musta played that album over 1000 times in the last 5 years since it came out, that's probably my all-time favorite album right up there with Boyz II Men's "CooleyHighHarmony" that I musta played over 1000 times too.

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I have to say i like The Sorce Review..Even tho Source sucks lol

What they said about Will was just great!They realy respect him and they understand what he did for Hip Hop!

I would give Lost And Found also 3/5 `cau`s it wasn`t a flawles Album in my opinion.Tell Me Why,Lost And Found,Mr.Niceguy,I Wish I Made That,Pump Ya Brakes,Party Starter are great Tracks but the other Tracks are a lil after a while lame in my opionion!

Here He Comes-Good lyrics but bad beat 3/5

Party Starter-Decent beat and good Lyrics 4/5

Switch-Lame beat and lame lyrics 2/5

Mr.Niceguy-Good Lyrics and special beat 4/5

Mrs.Holly Roller-Tight lyrics but realy,realy lame beat 2/5

Lost And Found-Great Lirycs,Great Song,Great Track! 5/5

Tell Me Why-Wow..Great Lyrics,great hook and good beats 5/5

I Wish I Made That/Swagga-Good Lyrics,decent beat but the Swagga part sucks 3/5

Pump Ya Brakes-Ncce,flowles lyrics,smooth beats and a ear friendly hook from Snoop 4/5

If You Can`t Dance-Lame beats,decent lyrics 2/5

Could You Love Me-Decent al the time 3/5

Lorreta-Great Lyircs but another Lame beat 3/5

Wave Em of-Decent Lyrics but a real bad beat 2/5

Scary Story-Funny Storyteling but lame beats and hooks 2/5

Switch R&B Lyrics-Better Than The Original 3/5

I would also come out on 3/5.

I think is mostly because of the beats!On many Songs the lyrics are tight but the beats are lame and that isn`t good..If he would have great beats on al the Song i would give it 4.5/5 or 5/5!He has to work more with Jeff or Timba and them!

So i think the Source is right on this one.But that doesn`t hapen often `caus the source most of the time has lame reviews!

I know they didn`t do it becaus of Will `caus they said great things about him!

Edited September 11, 2005 by Turntable

[bigted]

If "Lost and Found" had "The Definition"'s production it'd be a perfect album but at the same time if "The Definition" had "Lost and Found" type lyrics it'd be a perfect album too, there really ain't no perfect albums now so they're still both good enough to top Kanye, 50, and Eminem, but I wouldn't rank those albums up there with "Mama Said Knock You Out" and "He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper", those 2 are flawless, even though I don't play them as much as "Big Willie Style" and "G.O.A.T.".

Edited September 11, 2005 by bigted

[Turntable]

If "Lost and Found" had "The Definition"'s production it'd be a perfect album but at the same time if "The Definition" had "Lost and Found" type lyrics it'd be a perfect album too, there really ain't no perfect albums now so they're still both good enough to top Kanye, 50, and Eminem

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Yes that`s true!

So here we se again that LL And Will should start a Duo :lolsign: