They also were the first rap group to use skits on an album. Released just days after his death. Rappers take notice: Drake put on a step by step clinic on how to withstand a potential career damaging PR nightmare. Michael Hann Read the full review. Jungle Brothers provided Afro 50 best rap albums review music to soundtrack it all. Start Here.

Despite a Grammy snub, it was well received by fans, critics, and peers. A combination of Juvie's melodic flow and Cash Money's high-end production made " Degreez" a Southern rap favorite in This mid-career success for The Roots was a huge step forward from the righteous fury of their first three LPs. While his cousin Ice Cube was busy stirring up the gangsta rap scene, Del was laying the foundation for what would become a healthy alternative-hip-hop landscape.

Xzibit molds his voice into a gruff instrument, overpowering the beats when necessary. It's a brilliant gambit when it works.

Super lyricist Talib Kweli and super producer Hi-Tek join forces on a masterwork that underlined the Rawkus era in hip-hop. Two of the three masterminds behind "Fantastic Volume II" are no longer alive, but this album left an indelible mark on hip-hop.

SV's experimentation with neo-soul and quirky raps flung the door open for groups such as Little Brother and Tanya Morgan. Unlike most hip-hop albums of its era, "Enta Da Stage" eschewed confrontational raps and opted for a brooding, electrifying brand of hip-hop. This is where it all began. Wyclef's debut set the bar high for the rest of the Fugees' solo efforts.

It was a critical and commercial smash. The year is and hip-hop heads aren't so sure about live instrumentation. So The Roots flip the script and sample themselves in a brave artistic endeavor. Busta's second album is arguably his most consistent work. Hip-hop in was a misogynistic place. MC Lyte's debut, "Lyte as a Rock," helped usher in a wave of skilled, confident rappers who just happened to be women. Tupac Shakur was fresh out of jail when he released "All Eyez on Me," and you could hear the raw thoughts of a man grappling with his inner conflict.

On one side were the brazen cuts that showed his tough side; on the other, he was soft as a pillow, immortalizing dead homies on the sentimental "Life Goes On. It also gave us a sneak peek of hip-hop's future, in sound and rhyme. Finding early promotional copies of this album years later is like finding unicorn blood. Kanye's first album, "The College Dropout," was one for the ages. His hunger on this album is unmatched.

Warm, sample-heavy production backs up Mr. West's self-conscious lyrics. At a time when bad boy stars such as Mase and Diddy ruled radio with a pop-friendly sound, X took the dark route. A year-old bleached-blond rapper from Detroit wasn't anyone's image of a hip-hop artist at the turn of the decade. But once Eminem opened his mouth, no one could question his skill. Jungle Brothers provided Afro comfort music to soundtrack it all.

Their debut is one of the most influential of the era. Guru used his monotone voice like an instrument to call attention to inner-city strife, while Premier backed him up with some of the grimiest beats hip-hop has ever heard. It retains vestiges of "Good Kid, m. One of rap's greatest duos , Mobb Deep brought QB dun talk to hip-hop audiences in the '90s.

East Coast hip-hop was a competitive space in the '90s, and Mobb's first album, "Juvenile Hell," flew under the radar. In , Havoc and Prodigy made huge creative leaps with "The Infamous. The Human Beatbox came onto the scene with jokes in his veins and a boogers-out attitude on the mic.

With Marley Marl weaving some of the tightest beats of the Golden Era and Biz dropping lung-cracking rhymes, "Goin' Off" affirmed Biz Markie as a certified master of ceremonies. When everyone wondered if Kanye could re-enact the magic of his stellar debut, his response was a resounding yes. West was rewarded with a Grammy for his effort.

It's hard for those who weren't there to understand, but the Geto Boys were rap heroes to every little ghetto boy and girl on the Gulf Coast who dared dream of counting bars at a time when East Coast and West Coast were vying for rap supremacy. It's a great album full of raw tales every hood can relate to, from Houston to Haiti. Latifah's debut showcased her Grade A rapping chops, with songs such as "Wrath of My Madness" and "Ladies First" announcing the Jersey native as rap's new royalty.

The largely instrumental album sounded like nothing else that was out in Shadow culled samples from obscure places to create a hazy spell of an album. If you're one of those glass-half-full people, you'll note that the only positive side of Scott La Rock's unfortunate murder was in the direction of "By All Means Necessary. La Rock would have approved. The album gets its unique identity from Bun and Pimp's yin and yang connection. Bun is the surgical emcee, while Pimp is the flamboyant philosopher.

It was a pure hip hop moment that will stand out for me, forever. Black On Both Sides is filled with these moments. Internal Affairs originally was rated 4 and a half mics in The Source. But at that time The Source had such high standards for ratings that I think anything that got 4 mics or higher was a classic. Another contender for the greatest set of beats on an album. The Chronic the name Dr. Ghost took a trip to Africa to write many of the tracks from Supreme Clientele. The result was an album with very little criminal content.

But Tony and RZA remixed and reworked every beat so the album flowed as a cohesive unit. Both whimsical. Both tongue-in-cheek. The difference being that Eminem could get frighteningly real sometimes. The Blueprint was released on September 11, , the same day two planes struck the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Memphis Bleek sparked the beef between Jay-Z and Nas. Jay went in on Prodigy at Summer Jam and issued a warning to Nas. There is much debate about which diss track is the greatest.

He was planning for the moment and built an arsenal while he waited. He let the critics down with Nastradamus. An impending classic for the new president of Def Jam South. The most flavorful beats are by Kanye, in my opinion. After his first hit single 50 Cent and G-Unit dominated the game for at least the next couple of years. A number one hit is a big thing in rap. The number one song out of every song in pop music. Few artists actually have them. That is for anyone who is wondering why this album is on the list.

This album was supposed to be his victory lap, but everyone in hip hop knew he would be back, like Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part 3. I have to admit that putting two solo albums on a double disc was a stroke of genius.

It deaded a lot of the debates about Outkast. Who is better: neither side is better. Who is more responsible for the sound of Outkast: Outkast really is just and blend of both rappers sounds, like Yin and Yang. Andre is more experimental. Big Boi is more accessible.

College Dropout explores the central theme of ignoring the expectations of others and living the way you want to. The rest is history. This album almost breaches one of my criteria listed at the top of the page: this album might be difficult for the new listener. This album will be your introduction to the more avant-garde, underground sounds of rap music.

Listen to Madvilliany with an open mind, and the lyrics on your screen. I bought The Documentary without having heard anything by The Game when it first came out. That is the power of a co-sign. Having Dr. Dre, 50 Cent and Eminem in your corner is a force to be reckoned with. Something The Game takes every opportunity to name drop. But in this case it was a recipe for success. The front half of the album is so packed with classics I thought the album would be flawless front-to-back.

The beats Kanye made for this album were so smooth, it made me feel like what Chicago must have been like back then. And the posthumous J. The name came from the Atlanta projects and effected hip hop because the music was allegedly bankrolled by Black Mafia Family leader Big Meech.

The Real Big Meech. A key touchstone of the work of Kanye West is his willingness to do unusual collaborations that work well, and all of hip hop has adopted this idea. The key collaborator on Late Registration is Jon Brion. Weezy may not be the greatest rapper alive, but he did rule hip hop for a time. I liked the previous two installments of Tha Carter series, but Wayne really knocked it out of the park on part 3. I truly believe that Twisted Fantasy deserves the acclaim, because on a song for song basis, not many albums have as many great tracks without filler.

Me and Drake are the same age and I felt like his music reflected the experiences I was having at the time. The best moments on good kid come in the details most might miss.

To Pimp A Butterfly is the greatest album of our times. A dense, literary excursion that travels to the heart of blackness. It weaves a metaphor for black life that starts as a young caterpillar who becomes trapped in a cocoon, institutionalized, and turns to a butterfly damaged by the oppression of the system. Above are the albums that fit all of my criteria. But there are several albums that sound a little dated, or are a little more difficult to listen to, that are essential listening.

These will take you from being a casual fan to an avid listener. Innovative in slang, sampling, production, group-dynamics and aesthetics, as well as rhymes. Run D. The hard-hitting drum machine of Rick Rubin and the back and forth vocal delivery of Run and Darryl Mac, were a sharp departure from the sound of most rap acts of the time.

Not bad for three jewish punks from Manhattan. Snoop Dogg was the star of The Chronic. Ammar Kalia Read the full review. A breakup record that muses on the nature of relationships without romanticising them, All Mirrors sees Olsen drill down into the damaging power-play of past loves, interrogating how they have made her feel less-than, as well as the self-knowledge and peace their endings have occasioned.

Rachel Aroesti Read the full review. Some breakup albums wallow, but this one carries itself with the strength and tenacity of its namesake. Ben Beaumont-Thomas Read the full review. There are spectral strings and synths, bells, electronics, a smattering of piano notes. Kathryn Bromwich Read the full review. By playing the jester, he became the voice of a British generation at the turn of a turbulent decade. Hannah Ewens Read the full review. As slow and stately as a tanker turning, and as waterlogged as its title implies, Titanic Rising was a curio in Unburdened by modish musical trends — no guests, no genre crossovers — it was a feat of immersive beauty, the kind of record you might put on an old-fashioned stereo, dim the lights and sit through in one indulgent sitting, the better to appreciate its three-dimensional production washing over your skin like a gong bath.

Kitty Empire Read the full review. Pang details a rebirth — the end of a marriage, a new start, a new creative partnership with producer Danny L Harle — and its avant-garde mix of airy synthesis Best Rap Albums Of 2010s Ed and human tactility glistens with wonder. Polachek explores and is often overcome by this new reality, reflecting her sense of discovery in choruses that loop like Escher staircases Door and vocal runs so startling Ocean of Tears they seem to suggest the invention of entirely new emotions.

LS Read the full review. The best work yet from the London rapper — she was already one of the most technically accomplished MCs in the country, but broadens and popularises her craft here with affecting song forms. With every twist, Simz is already on top of the beat. BBT Read the full review. In these brawny, meandering folk songs, a butcher spouts anti-immigrant bile, an anxious jogger hears of racial violence, and workers in a warehouse flog themselves half to death; at a more intimate level, there are infidelities and loneliness.

Nevertheless, human decency still feels close at hand — not least from the man singing. After Manchester, the death of ex-boyfriend Mac Miller and a called-off engagement with Pete Davidson, Grande gracefully considers how life could have been and how it turned out, tangling sweet melodies with embattled production. The title, the new age font, the tie-dye colours of the album artwork — they all indicate that Hot Chip are getting in on the very taste for rave culture.

While Hungry Child puts an offbeat spin on the sounds you might have heard pulsing from a motorway underpass 30 years ago, the vibe on A Bath Full of Ecstasy is less about revisiting the hedonism of some lost youth than its tender idealism, creating a bright, tender, often ballady idyll in a wretched age.

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