Aug 11, 2017

Here's the rules of the thread:

• This list will consist of 20 of my favorite hip hop records, starting with least favorite and building up to most favorite.
• I chose a format of one album per artist (besides two necessary exceptions) so I can showcase more of my favorite artists because otherwise a handful would dominate all the top spots.
• I'll write something about every album listed and why I love it. I'll include one of my favorite lines from the album and list a few essential tracks.
• Made the list with a critical mind-state but a small amount of criteria was in regards to listenability, nostalgia, etc.
• I made this list beforehand. Regardless of if I change my mind or remember something I had previously omitted by accident I'll only include the 20 I have right now.
• A lot of these you may consider boring picks. Some may be questionable to some of you. I'm not trying to be outside the box or flashy.
• I haven't listened to everything and I have specific tastes. Feel free to recommend any records that I would like a have never heard of may have looked over.
• The list contains an Eminem album. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Gonna post a few every day

heres a bunch to get it started






20.

Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels 2
It's impossible to listen to that intro track and not be amped out of your mind, it's one of my favorite ever. This album is just balls to the wall 12 tracks of bars and killer beats. I think it was made specifically to bust your speakers.
Essential tracks: Jeopardy, Lie Cheat Steal, Earl, Close Your Eyes And Count to f---

19.

Mobb Deep - The Infamous...
First in what will be a string of classic east coast records on this list...I'm a sucker for grimy NY hip hop and this is some of the smoothest s--- out there. I've had Temperature's Rising stuck in my head way beyond a healthy amount. RIP Prodigy.
Essential tracks: Survival Of The Fittest, Temperature's Rising, Shook Ones Pt. II

18.

Vince Staples - Summertime '06
Incredibly expansive record for such a young artist in the game...this is my go-to modern rap record that I judge new albums against. May be higher one day.
Essential tracks: Lift Me Up, Jump Off the Roof, Might Be Wrong, Like It Is

17.

Eyedea & Abilities - By The Throat
Eyedea is/was one of the most underrated wordsmiths in rap. Crazy depressing record. The production and overall tone of the album makes it my favorite E&A joint.
Essential tracks: Spin Cycle, Burn Fetish, Factory, By The Throat

16.

Nas - Illmatic
Ok, maybe I don't hold this record as high as some people do. This was actually one of the very first records that got me into east coast rap but I've actually fell out of love with it as time has passed. Either way there's no denying how incredible it is front to back.
Essential tracks: Life's a b----, The World is Yours, Memory Lane

15.

GZA - Liquid Swords
This was the first solo Wu-Tang album I ever listened to. The production on this particular record is RZA's finest achievement. Love what he crafted from an instrumental perspective and GZA is one of my favorite emcees ever.
Essential tracks: Shadowboxin', Duel of the Iron Mic, Living in the World Today

 

Aug 12, 2017

14.

Kendrick Lamar - To p---- a Butterfly
Really GKMC, d---., and this album are so close and on any given day I could put any of them in front of the others but looking back on things this is the one where my opinion fluctuates least.
Essential tracks: Wesley's Theory, These Walls, u

13.

Big Pun - Capital Punishment
This album is just dope af all the way through. Pun doesn't get enough credit for being able to blend RnB with mafioso gangster rap better than anyone not named Christopher Wallace. If someone said Big Pun is the most technically gifted of all time, I wouldn't disagree...
Essential tracks: Still Not a Player, The Dream Shatterer, Punish Me, Glamour Life

12.

Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
This was not only Eminem at his most dark and violent but also his most creative. Maybe he went on to become a better musician on his next album but this was when he was his most venomous and entertaining.
Essential tracks: Stan, I'm Back, Marshall Mathers, Criminal

11.

Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
I always thought GFK had the most to benefit from making solo music out of all of the Wu because he simply has so much s--- to say. He's the guy at the party who tells stories that you can't always keep up with but he's entertaining af and he never shuts up. Of course RZA is brilliant on the majority of this records production.
Essential tracks: One, Apollo Kids, Mighty Healthy, We Made It

10.

DJ Shadow - Endtroducing...
Look I don't even know if this should be considered hip hop. It's not an album, it's an instrumental musical journey. This record has some of the most unbelievable instrumentals I've ever heard....Midnight in a Perfect World is the coolest s--- ever. The album probably isn't for everyone though.
Essential tracks: Building Steam with a Grain of Salt, Stem/Long Stem, Midnight in a Perfect World

@Mraczewsky @Ordinary Joel @swr

 

Aug 20, 2017

9.

Madvillain - Madvillainy
This album was actually my first taste of DOOM. The album has some of the most crisp production ever, a real pleasure to listen to. It's just continuous raps broken up by instrumental breaks and skits and probably has the most approachable DOOM verses for people who have never listened to him before. When that Accordion beat drops in The attention to detail w/ some of these lyrics is mind blowing
essential tracks; America's Most Blunted, Accordion, Money Folder, Fancy Clown, All Caps

8.

Outkast - Aquemini
Front to back one of the most consistent and enjoyable listens ever. I think this is Outkast's best work...got so many hip hop classics and some of the production on this is the best ever like SpottieOttieDopaliscious....and Chonkyfire has my favorite hip hop beat of all time. Also Andre's verse on Aquemini is just perfect.
essential tracks; Return of the G, Aquemini, Synthesizer, Da Art of Storytellin' Pt 1, SpottieOttieDopaliscious, Chonkyfire

7.

Jay Z - The Black Album
Prime Jay Z gotta be one of my favorite artists ever...this was a toss up between TBA and Reasonable Doubt depending on my mood it could be both. Most of the time though TBA is the perfect hip hop record to throw on when you wanna hear a guy at the top of the world and the pinnacle of rap.
essential tracks; Dirty Off Your Shoulder, Threat, Moment of Clarity, 99 Problems, Public Service Announcement...the best stretch of songs EVER.

6.

Wu Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
This album was so far ahead of it's time. I don't know how RZA gathered this many sick emcees with a love for martial-arts movies to spit some of the illest s--- ever...it's just unabashed chaos for 12 tracks. This was my favorite album for a long long time.
essential tracks; Brind Da Ruckus, Da Mystery of Chessboxin, Wu Tang Clan Aint Nothin to f--- wit, CREAM, Method Man, Protect Ya Neck, 7th Chamber pt 2

@Ordinary Joel @swr @Mraczewsky

 

Aug 22, 2017

Spoiler: tags

@SLAYAR @Skrt skrt @Stevio @Michael Myers @Zeugma @King V @swr @Mraczewsky @Ordinary Joel

also @TimmyT , @Fire Squad and @BigCountry since u all seem interested

new drop, moving into top 5....this is probably where the list takes the biggest jump. I LOVE all of the remaining albums and have listened to them the most heavy of everything

5.

Makaveli - The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory
I don't know if this will be a popular pick...but Killuminati is my favorite Tupac album for lots of reasons. I like how Pac dumped the worn out 90s west-coast sound for a lot of the album in favor of the dark gloomy instrumentals...I don't know if it's just my own projection because of the hysteria surrounding the album but it sounds so eerie to me and I love the subject matter. There's just something about the album that makes you feel like it's multi-layers thick. I feel like a lot of the best tracks on this album are underappreciated in Tupac's discography. I wrote a speech last semester about Tupac and this album is were I drew the most inspiration.
Essential tracks; Bomb First, Hail Mary, To Live and Die in LA, Blasphemy, Life of an Outlaw, Me and My Girlfriend, Against All Odds

Essential tracks are basically irrelevant at this point because I love these entire albums

4.

J-Dilla - Donuts
This is Dilla's most complex, immaculate magnum opus. The emotion he's able to evoke in me as a listener with this combination of chops and samples is awesome. The majority of these instrumentals are embedded in my mind. This is the ultimate album to listen to while you study or when you just wanna relax and feel some type of way. I don't know what else to say, it's just an album that draws you in.
Essential tracks; my favorites are Waves, Time The Donut of the Heart, Two Can Win, Gobstopper, U-Love, Last Donut of the Night....really though this s--- is so fantastic

LISTEN TO THIS s---


also thanks @TylerWaves for spoiling this one

 

Aug 24, 2017

Spoiler

@SLAYAR @Skrt skrt @Stevio @Michael Myers @Zeugma @King V @swr @Mraczewsky @Ordinary Joel
@RobTheDude @TimmyT , @Fire Squad and @BigCountry

2.
http://www.xxlmag.com/files/2015/03/g----Starr-Moment-Of-Truth.jpg
g--- Starr - Moment of Truth
This is the most underappreciated album ever. First and foremost this record is front to back nothing but flawless vintage beautiful beats produced entirely by DJ Premier. As far as pure hip hop records go I think this is the most masterfully produced album ever... Not only that but the amount of content woven in this record by Guru is insane...racism, poverty, life and death, friendship, crime, love, religion and just so much more...it can be both uplifting and depressing, it's got laid back tracks to chill to, and it's got some of the loudest and hardest posse cuts I've ever heard. Even got a Scarface feature.
every track is essential
I think most of y'all have heard the title track (Moment of Truth, one of the best songs ever-- if you havent you have to check it out) but here is another one of my favorite joints on the album





1.

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

This is the album for me. I don't care how played out it is by this point to praise this record but since it came out, it's been the pinnacle of the game...it's the one album where everything in the genre comes together and meets in the middle perfectly, and out popped an absolute gem. But that analogy sells it short because this was not something that was just thrown together or happened, you can tell it was meticulously crafted and masterfully produced and put together. Since this came out however many years ago there's not another record I've listened to more and yet unlike other albums I've never grew tired of it and I don't think I ever will. Everyone's heard this album by this point and already formed an opinion one way or another so I'm just gonna leave it at that. Runaway and Blame Game are probably my favorite songs ever.

 

Aug 22, 2017

surprise drop

Spoiler: tags

@SLAYAR @Skrt skrt @Stevio @Michael Myers @Zeugma @King V @swr @Mraczewsky @Ordinary Joel

also @TimmyT , @Fire Squad and @BigCountry


3.

The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die

PLOT TWIST. Throwing ya'll a curve ball with this one...Ready to Die is in fact not my favorite rap album. Biggie is the primary reason why I chose to limit the 20 spots to only one artist per album (excluding Wu Tang Clan) because both this album and Life After Death are in my top 5 of all time...it pains me not to include LAD in this spot instead of RTD because honestly it has the higher highs overall and I thought Biggie developed into a better artist and storyteller...but you can't go wrong with this album. This is the most essential rap record ever imo...
Essential tracks; Gimme the Loot, Machine Gun Funk, Juicy, Everyday Struggle, Big Poppa, Unbelievable, Suicidal Thoughts


final post will be my top 2

 

Aug 22, 2017

What the s---

 

Aug 12, 2017

Really rock and punk oriented. Probably the biggest outsider pick on my list

Here's my favorite track on the album



@Sav Stanfield @TimmyT @Ordinary Joel @Mraczewsky @U wana smack to the jaw @Michael Myers and anyone else, like this post or quote me and I'll add you to be tagged whenever this gets updated

 

Aug 12, 2017

Aware I could've Youtubed that...

Wanted Changeling to champion the album to convince me to listen to it tbh

 

Aug 12, 2017

Anticipating Big Fish #1

 

Aug 22, 2017

Lr bottom 2 in kanye discog

 

Aug 20, 2017

n----- thinkin I make a top albums list and aint got no Pac

 

Aug 13, 2017

is eyedea hip-hop? are you serious lol

 

Aug 13, 2017

Absolute classic

 

Aug 12, 2017

yeah it kinda sounds like a Weezer song lmao

 

Aug 12, 2017

that rtj album

 

Aug 12, 2017

nice start to your list. i need to listen to that run the jewels and eyedea album