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Favourite Hip Hop Albums of all Time/Must listen

NKZero

NKZero

Warrior
Just curious as to how big the TYM hip-hop 'community' is. If you guys could come up with a top 10 or maybe just even recommend your favourite albums of all time and must have albums etc. I'd like to get a discussion going and maybe I'll learn about new artists/albums I never knew of.

Anyway it took me the longest time to form a top 10 but I finally have so I thought I'd put it down and see what people think.

1. Liquid Swords - GZA ('95) ----> 3 recommended tracks: Liquid Swords, Shadowboxin', 4th Chamber

2. the Infamous - Mobb Deep ('95) ----> 3 recommended tracks: Shook Ones Pt. 2, Drink Away the Pain, Temperature's Rising

3. 4, 5, 6 - Kool G Rap ('95) ----> 3 recommended tracks: Blowin' Up in the World, Ghetto Knows, Fast Life

4. Death Certificate - Ice Cube ('91) ----> 3 recommended tracks: Givin' Up the Nappy Dug Out, No Vaseline, Steady Mobbin'

5. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx - Raekwon ('95) ----> 3 recommended tracks: Guillotine, Rainy Dayz, Ice Cream

6. Aquemini - Outkast ('98) ----> 3 recommended tracks: Rosa Parks, Skew it on the Bar-B, Chonkyfire

7. Illmatic - Nas ('94) ----> 3 recommended tracks: It Ain't Hard to Tell, the World is Yours, NY State of Mind

8. Me Against the World - Tupac ('95) ----> 3 recommended tracks: So Many Tears, Dear Mama, Me Against the World

9. Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous - Big L ('95) ----> 3 recommended tracks: Street Struck, Danger Zone, Put it On

10. the Master - Rakim ('99) ----> 3 recommended tracks: How I Get Down, It's a Must, When I B on the Mic

---------------

Honourable Mentions

* Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers - Wu-Tang Clan ('93) ----> 3 recommended tracks: C.R.E.A.M, Da Mystery of Chessboxin', Protect Ya Neck

* Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde - the Pharcyde ('92) ----> 3 recommended tracks: Soul Flower (remix), Otha Fish, Passin' Me By

* the Fix - Scarface ('02) ----> 3 recommended tracks: My Block, Sellout, In Between Us

* Doggystyle - Snoop Dogg ('93) ----> 3 recommended tracks: Gin N Juice, Murder was the Case, tha Shiznit

* Operation: Doomsday - MF DOOM ('99) ----> 3 recommended tracks: Dead Bent, Hero vs. Villain, Question Mark

----------------------------------------
On the outside looking in....

*Czarface - Inspectah Deck, 7L, Esoteric ('13)
*Ready to Die - Biggie Smalls ('94)
*Tical - Method Man ('94)
*Heavy Mental - Killah Priest ('98)
*the Sun Rises in the East - Jeru the Damaja ('94)
*Ironman - Ghostface Killah ('96)
*Capital Punishment - Big Pun ('98)
*the Chronic - Dr. Dre ('92)
*Can I Borrow a Dollar? - Common ('92)
*Daddy's Home - Big Daddy Kane ('94)
 
NKZero

NKZero

Warrior
@Zyphox man it's so sad how downhill today's music has gone. I think 1995 was the best year but then again you can't go wrong from mid to late 80's right until the early 2000's.
 
Wemfs

Wemfs

The only morality in a cruel world is chance.
Illmatic is also a legendary album. Nas is one of the greatest.

I think I'd put a KRS-One album up there somewhere. Whichever one had the Step Into a World song. The boogie down Bronx!!!
 
Wemfs

Wemfs

The only morality in a cruel world is chance.
I'd put Check Your Head - The Beastie Boys 1992 up there too. Fucking love that entire album. IMO, their best album.
 
Kyu

Kyu

CHOO CHOO BANE TRAIN
I'm just gonna list the people I listen to that most probably won't know or haven't checked out. Too lazy to put album names
Joey Bada$$
Chance the Rapper
Aesop Rock
Eyedea
Kristoff Krane
K-Rino
Dumbfoundead
Pharoahe Monch
Earl Sweatshirt
 
NKZero

NKZero

Warrior
Kyu said:
I'm just gonna list the people I listen to that most probably won't know or haven't checked out. Too lazy to put album names
Joey Bada$$
Chance the Rapper
Aesop Rock
Eyedea
Kristoff Krane
K-Rino
Dumbfoundead
Pharoahe Monch
Earl Sweatshirt
Click to expand...
Guessing that some of the people in that list are new rappers, so I definitely haven't heard them. Pharoahe Monch is ok to me. I love Simon Says tho...perfect club song man :).

I love K-Rino, one of the best lyricists and storytellers out there. I'm curious as to what you think his best album is.

To me, either Annihilation of the Evil Machine or Book Number 7 (unpopular choice).
 
haketh

haketh

Champion
40 Dayz & 40 Nightz - Xzibit
Wayne - Tha Carter 1 & 2
E-40 - Please don't make me pick
UGK - Underground Kingz
Earl Sweatshirt - Doris
Atmosphere - Overcast

Just a couple off the top of my head. This Hip Hop is dead nonsense needs to die.
 
NKZero

NKZero

Warrior
haketh said:
40 Dayz & 40 Nightz - Xzibit
Wayne - Tha Carter 1 & 2
E-40 - Please don't make me pick
UGK - Underground Kingz
Earl Sweatshirt - Doris
Atmosphere - Overcast

Just a couple off the top of my head. This Hip Hop is dead nonsense needs to die.
Click to expand...
If it's not dead, it almost is lol. It just isn't comparable to the 90's. Subject matter and lyricism has gone out the window. Production may be more futuristic and developed but I find it has downgraded somehow by enveloping the lyrics themselves. The only decent hip hop you find is underground perhaps but the fact that hip hop has dropped out of the overall picture for the most part says a lot about the direction it's heading in.

Imo apart from Czarface which came out last year, the last very good hip-hop album I can think of (off top of my head) is Lupe Fiasco's the Cool in '07.

EDIT: and some K-Rino stuff but he's super underground lol, actively avoiding the fame.
 
eNARV

eNARV

Capital Punishment
Liked that you mentioned capital punishment :) . What about Reasonable Doubt (96') ???
 
NKZero

NKZero

Warrior
eNARV said:
Liked that you mentioned capital punishment :) . What about Reasonable Doubt (96') ???
Click to expand...
Not a fan of Jay-Z unfortunately man. Reasonable Doubt is decent but he doesn't do it for me :/.



A few more albums that I like but didn't make any of the lists above (some of them because I stuck to one album per artist):

  • the Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem ('00)
  • Straight Up Sewaside - Das EFX ('93)
  • Funky Technician - Lord Finesse ('90)
  • Black on Both Sides - Mos Def ('99)
  • ATLiens - Outkast ('96)
  • Long Live the Kane - Big Daddy Kane ('88)
  • It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back - Public Enemy ('88)
  • the Art of Storytelling - Slick Rick ('99)
  • Adrenaline Rush - Twista ('97)
  • AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted - Ice Cube ('90)
Man so many I couldn't put up :(
 
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Johnny Based Cage

Johnny Based Cage

The Shangest of Tsungs
The best of this decade so far are:

Run the Jewels - RTJ2
Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

The best of last decade were:

Madvillain - Madvillainy
Cannibal Ox - Cold Vein
Ghostface - Supreme Clientele

The best of the decade prior were:

Nas - Illmatic
(There are no 2nd & 3rd; Illmatic is life)
 
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