My 25 favourite hip-hop albums of all-time

Before we proceed, let’s get one thing out of the way: there is no scientific formula for deciding what the twenty-five best hip-hop albums of all-time are. It’s impossible; music is subjective, not objective. When anyone compiles a list of the best albums of all-time, what they are doing is declaring their favourite albums—the LPs that have affected them the most personally. Does someone who writes about music for a living have better taste than defjukebox42 from some random underground rap forum? More often than not, music writers prove this false (hack and cough). My point is, even supposed “experts” on music judge music based on their own preferences and biases. I’m an aspiring music journalist myself, but I don’t fool myself into thinking I “know more” about hip-hop or am any more qualified than the average VIBE scribe to judge the latest in rap music.

When esteemed bloggers Jeff (Passion of the Weiss) and Joey (Straight Bangin’) asked me to be part of their ambitious project to try and come up with a list of the best 25 rap albums of all-time, I realized a) that such a task was more difficult than I ever realized and b) I would never be completely happy with any list I ended up with, whether I spent 40 minutes or 40 years adding and subtracting, revising, and second-guessing. So here are my twenty-five favourite hip-hop albums. Understand that there are easily a hundred albums that could have been included in this list, and nearly were. But I’ve got only got twenty-five spots, and as painful as it was not to include a Doe or Die or a Low End Theory or a De La Soul Is Dead or a Masters of the Universe or an Endtroducing or a Hope or a Great Adventures of Slick Rick or a Critical Beatdown or a Doggystyle or any number of albums I love and hold dear to my heart, these such albums were knocking—no, pounding—on the proverbial door of house of the twenty-five finalists, and it took all my energy to hold the door shut.

25. THE COLLEGE DROPOUT, kanye west

Kanye West will never be hailed as a great rapper, no matter how much he improves over his career. But he’s an example of the underdog working with what he’s got in his arsenal and overachieving when no one thought he’d succeed. He’s not the first producer-turned-rapper—though he argues he’s rapping as long as he’s been producing—nor will he be the last, but The College Dropout is a portrait of a kid (because that’s really what ‘Ye is, even now) from Chicago who just wants to be like his heroes. By pulling pages straight out The Biz Markie Book of Record Making, he proves you don’t have to be a natural rapper to make a classic. Late Registration might be in purely technical terms, but The College Dropout is exceeds its successor in every other way. The intangibles win will every time—which explains why rappers like Canibus might be able to rap, but will never make great music. But don’t tell Kanye that, his head is big enough as it is.


24. A GRAND DON’T COME FOR FREE, the streets

Mike Skinner is an even worse rapper than Kanye West. But I don’t consider Skinner a rapper so much as a poet who just happens to make hip-hop—call it British rap, call it grime, or call it spoken-word-hip-house—but don’t mistake A Grand Don’t Come For Free for anything but a masterpiece. Perhaps partly due to the fact his performance isn’t that of a traditional emcee’s, Skinner embodies the Everyman persona better than nearly any artist has in the history of hip-hop. And unlike A Prince Among Thieves, for instance, Skinner weaves a compelling narrative entirely through the actual songs, with nary a skit to push the plot along. The ultimate storytelling album, you just can’t help but root for The Streets to pull off the biggest upset in rap history.

And the ending. It still affects me as much as it did the first time.

23. ONE WORD EXTINGUISHER, prefuse 73

Logic dictates that Endtroducing should be on this list instead of Scott Herren’s sophomore release as Prefuse 73, but DJ Shadow’s pioneering album feels cold and uninviting compared to the lush, digital strokes and warmth of the music of One Word Extinguisher and its little sister Extinguished.

22. STRESS: THE EXTINCTION AGENDA, organized konfusion

Pharoahe Monch’s school of Verbal Acrobatics + one of the best performances from a duo ever + a partner who didn’t suffer from Phife Syndrome + more memorable songs than their debut held + the best concept song about a gun besides “I Gave You Power” in rap history + an O.C. guest verse + a vintage Q-Tip beat + “Why” = Stress: The Extinction Agenda = a classic.


21. LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, common

A better album than Resurrection, which is more than enough reason for its inclusion.


20. FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET, public enemy

The black CNN.


19. EFIL4ZAGGIN, n.w.a.

The black HBO.


18. MADVILLAINY, madvillain

Had all the hype in the world, but still exceeded everyone’s expectations. One of the few albums on which I’m still trying to catch every pop culture reference and each sample source, even though I knew every word to every single track since before it was released.


17. DO YOU WANT MORE?!!!??!, the roots

The Roots are an interesting group because they have four albums that would be hard to argue over if tauted as one of the best hip-hop albums ever. You’ll see Illadelph Halflife and Things Fall Apart, even Phrenology mentioned among the best of rap’s best. But Do You Want More?!!!??! stands out as The Roots crowning achievement because it is their best collection of songs (from “Distorition to Static” to “Mellow My Man” to “Essaywhuman?!!!??!” to “Silent Treatment”), the album they had progressed beyond being a jam band and before they started making music for the critics and getting too serious for their own good, and the encased the infectious chemistry of Black Thought and Malik B who bounced rhymes off each other like they were separated at birth.

16. MOMENT OF TRUTH, gang starr

There are two distinct phases to DJ Premier’s career: roughly 1989-1995 and 1995-present. His most inventive production (and arguably his best) came in the former period (see: The Sun Rises in the East or any of his 1994 work) but his style’s mold hadn’t hardened until the second half of his career. 1998’s Moment of Truth is the best Gang Starr record for a number of reasons, but one more important than the rest: Premier and Guru never compliment each other better. The by-then trademark lilt of Premo’s beats never sounded as effortless or as natural, and the self-proclaimed King of Monotone Guru delivered the best performance of his career, stepping outside his monotone comfort zone to traverse more animated areas, which to his credit made all his previous work with Gang Starr sound like he was about to fall asleep (or sippin’ that purple stuff).

15. DELTRON 3030, deltron 3030

The best concept album in rap ever, period.


14. MECCA AND THE SOUL BROTHER, pete rock and cl smooth

If my only reason was “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y)”, you still wouldn’t argue.

13. RAISING HELL, run dmc

The best merging of rap and rock ever.

12. PAID IN FULL, eric b. and rakim

Nas lied when he said KRS-One had already made the blueprint for rappers, because Eric B. and Rakim (Rakim, really) had drafted it years before. The most influential album of all-time when it comes to emceeing, and when most records sound dated after four months, Paid in Full still sounds as fresh in ’07 as it did in ’87. Rakim changed the way rappers rap, and to this day few have caught up to him twenty years ago—they don’t call him the God for nothing.


11. BLACK ON BOTH SIDES, mos def

If you posited that Mos Def could be the best rapper of all-time solely based on Black on Both Sides, you’d have a solid case. And with his recent releases, I’m starting to wonder if it was a fluke. A glorious, once-in-a-lifetime, classic beyond reproach, fluke.

10. DEATH CERTIFICATE, ice cube

Let’s just say there were people who actually thought Ice Cube was finished after he left N.W.A..

9. CRIMINAL MINDED, boogie down productions

The reason KRS-One is so annoying these days and why no one can say anything.

8. ATLIENS, outkast

Aquemini might be the better album on paper, but ATLiens belongs in outer space.

7. ONLY BUILT 4 CUBAN LINX, raekwon

Some days I like it more than Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

6. THE CHRONIC, dr. dre

The party album. Sorry Snoop.


5. ENTER THE WU-TANG (36 CHAMBERS), wu-tang clan

The rap equivalent of all the great kung-fu films ever created.

4. THE INFAMOUS, mobb deep

The Infamous is a case of antipodal emotions. Without a question the hardest rap album ever, The Infamous is hopeless yet optimistic; desparate yet disparate; guilt-ridden yet amoral; a large collection of cautionary tales and fatalist protagonists (antagonists?), but Prodigy and Havoc never once look for pity. They tried to repeat their success with the subsequent Hell on Earth, but when comared to The Infamous it sounds like a shoddy G-Unit record, even though Hell on Earth is an excellent album on its own right. That’s how good The Infamous is.


3. REASONABLE DOUBT, jay-z

“Yo, I’m makin short term goals, when the weather folds / Just put away the leathers and put ice on the gold / Chilly with enough bail money to free a big willie / High stakes, I got more at stake than Philly / Shoppin sprees, copin three / Deuce fever IS’s fully loaded, ah ha yes / Bouncin’ in the lex luger, tires smoke like buddha / 50 G’s to the crap shooter, niggaz can’t fade me / Chrome socks beamin’ / Through my peripheral / I see ya schemin’ / Stop dreamin’, I leave your body steamin’ / Niggaz is fiendin’, what's the meanin? / I’m leanin on any nigga intervenin’-with-the-sound-of-my-money-machine-in *Brrrr* / My cup runneth, over with hundreds / I’m one of the best niggas that done it, six digits and runnin’ / Y’all niggas don’t want it, I got the Godfather flow / The Don Juan DeMarco; swear to God, don’t get it fucked up”

And, that’s just the first verse from the first song. And the beats are just as good.

2. READY TO DIE, notorious b.i.g.

What makes Biggie such an incredible emcee is that while he was quite the, er, rotund man, his breath control was that of a rapper eight stone lighter, and it never hindered his effortless flows. Though his life was cut tragically short, it would be hard to imagine Christopher Wallace topping his debut, even if he had a dozen cracks at it (pun hopelessly intended).


1. ILLMATIC, nas

There are albums that will will forever be brought up when lists like these are discussed, but few will appear on almost 100% of lists. Regardless of what list you read by whichever writer, chances are Illmatic will be on the list, and probably ranked pretty high, if not at the number one spot. If a Rap Awards existed and there were individual categories for Best Lyrics, Best Beats, Best Guest Appearance, Best Singles, Best Performance By An Emcee and Best Sequencing, Illmatic and Nas would be a serious contender, if not a shoe-in, for all trophies. The only award it might not win is Best Intro (though it’s classic on its own right) and Best Skit (as it doesn’t have any). There’s nothing in life that’s perfect, but Illmatic is the closest thing rap might ever see.