k voters. The Best Rap Songs of All Time. Originally by Ranker Hip Hop. Updated January 25, k votes k voters k views items. Calling all hip hop heads, we're ranking the greatest rap songs ever. From old school classics and s gangsta throwbacks to hype tracks and some of the most popular rap songs today, this list of good rap songs includes famous chart-topping singles everyone knows and underrated tracks only real fans will know. It's hard to keep track of the names of your favorite rap songs, so this essential hip hop playlist should come in handy. Whet. The 10 Best Rappers of All Time. By Billboard Staff. 11/12/  Greatest Rappers of All Time. Diehard fans, music nerds and critics love lists. But in rap, rankings like this take on a special level of import: aside from moving a crowd (shouts to Rakim), MC means proving you’re the best. In no other genre do artists so blatantly express their desire to outdo competition. That made Billboard's editorial list a more high-stakes undertaking than usual. El-P is really good at rapping and excellent at making beats. Put these two together and nobody could screw it up.  He barked (literally) his way to the top of the charts, thanks to key singles "Get at Me Dog" and "Ruff Ryder's Anthem." And "How's It Goin' Down" with Faith Evans showed this dog wasn't all bark.   "Endtroducing" is one of the most influential hip-hop albums of all time. 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. His remains are melted in vinyl and pressed into best rap eps of all time key dozen LPs that, when played, resurrect him as the Ghostface Killah, a force for revenge incarnate. Ultratop Illmatic is a monumental masterpiece. BBC Music. Oof September 15, On June 28,Spears began her first headlining All The Beauty In Tome Whole Life is another amazing album by Brother Ali — powerful and meaningful grown-up music, a breath of fresh air in a rap-year filled with face-tatted mumblers.

She goes on like this, streaming her consciousness, for nearly four breathless, hookless minutes of pure skill, nerve, and honesty. Not even in Michigan, the current rap capital of darkly funny shit talking, will you find anyone thinking more unholy thoughts than Packman.

Sada Baby]. In New York, personal top-five rapper rankings have led to countless lunchroom and barbershop fights. You could probably describe an old Jadakiss or Juelz or Memphis Bleek record in a similar way. New York tradition is inescapable. On The Price of Tea in China , he re-teams with the Alchemist, a master of atmospherics mafioso rap from Buffalo to the bayou.

Even Vince Staples sounds atypically subdued. Vince Staples]. Hearing a track this haute and juicy in is borderline rude for how much it makes us miss the rush of nightlife, but Cakes has never really been polite about his spotlight.

Of the many words that could describe their duet—dirty, vulgar, nasty, explicit—none come anywhere close to capturing the attitude of the acronym itself. Megan Thee Stallion]. In , the 45th president all but ruined the word, but now with the end of his reign, pussy can spend the rest of the s reclaiming its identity. Doja Cat]. In , Charlotte rapper DaBaby bull-charged rap with frenetic variations on a single song, like a jabbering, grinning, dumb-punchline-dispensing perpetual motion machine.

His yearlong blitzkrieg campaign garnered him a No. Yes, when he opens his mouth it still feels like being trampled by clowns. Roddy Ricch]. Even this stylish opportunist has still got some charisma left.

Lil Durk]. That he would cut a record full of the same kind of lyrics being used against him in a sham court proceeding is more than just chutzpah. Earl Sweatshirt and Maxo have both made their homes in the rain-blurred realm where raps feel like unspoken thoughts, where beats resemble humming machinery a block away—a world of smudged loops, two or three notes long, punctured by diaristic jottings that flash like lightning.

All you can do is bask in the power of Flo Milli shit. Rick Ross]. A decade ago, the New Orleans native Jay Electronica enchanted with a series of cryptic dispatches, then vanished in a cloud of smoke and British tabloids. This year saw the release of not only his long-lost debut—precipitated by a targeted leak—but also a replacement record, a restart of sorts, which paired him with Jay-Z.

The latter, A Written Testimony , often grapples with the pressure that drove Electronica from the spotlight. With the touring industry stalled in , it seemed like every rapper on Earth tried to make up for the loss with their very own digital deluxe reissue, padding out recent albums with extra tracks. For the most part, though, quality lacked.

Only one artist made his album better with its deluxe edition: Lil Baby, who added a number of great songs to My Turn. Baby plays the elder statesman on the quietly menacing track, rapping more ferociously than usual while letting Dugg take the lead. Lil Uzi Vert just beamed down in a pair of Balenciaga jeans that cost more than your biweekly paycheck before taxes , and he is ready to rap. The number of top-quality projects he has put his stamp on in this decade is amazing.

Trophies is 16 tracks of straight to the point Hip Hop; no frills, no gimmicks. There are no guest emcee appearances, no hook singers, no skits, no wasted moments — and despite the album is about one hour long, it never gets boring. In the gangsta theme still had originality and authenticity, which makes Ice T a true O. With this sophomore effort, Freestyle Fellowship really deliver the goods.

Conscious, humorous, clever, versatile: emcees Mikah 9, P. This highly original album is a slept-on lyrical masterpiece. Another Gang Starr album, another classic. After discovering their signature sound on Step In The Arena , Premier and Guru perfected it here, dropping another gem that can be played from beginning to end without having to skip any tracks. He is an incredible producer AND a great lyricist. He is responsible for two near-flawless albums as one-third of the Diamond District trio, and he has released a string of great solo-projects.

Tangible Dream is his best solo-effort of the s, along with The Good Fight This album is full of great songs. Tangible Dream offers smooth and intelligent Hip Hop of the highest quality — this album should be a part of any serious Hip Hop collection.

This album is FUN. The debut album of the Jungle Brothers , and the first album of a group affiliated with The Native Tongues collective. Dope production, dope rhymes — this is one of the many classics, arguably the greatest year in the history of Hip Hop.

Also one of the best-produced albums of It never achieved the same legendary status that the seminal release of the year — Dr. One of the biggest albums of the aughts. The fact he made a bunch of not-so-good albums had more to do with subpar production than his work on the mic. On Rip The Jacker , his fifth studio album, everything finally comes together for Canibus — resulting in what arguably is his best album.

Forget 50 Cent, this is one of the best albums of Enta Da Stage is such an album. The question was if they could do it again — and the answer is a resounding yes.

Bandana is cut from the same cloth as its seminal predecessor and is just about as good. With Pinata they showed that their apparent differences only served to create a result that was bigger than the sum of the two parts; with Bandana they prove it was not a fluke. Because of a string of mediocre later releases and probably also because of his mega-successful business dealings, Jay Z has become a love-him or hate-him kind of figure.

A young, hungry and ambitious Jay Z paints a compelling picture of his life as a hustler. With masterful production, brilliant lyricism, Reasonable Doubt shows us Jay Z at his musical peak. Markedly darker — both sonically and lyrically — than their previous albums, Guru is great and especially DJ Premier is in top form as always, cementing their combined status of one the most consistent acts in Hip Hop ever. Also part of the epic run of classic Wu-Tang solo debuts.

Brokelore is the most surprising album of the year. Excellent rhyming — lyrics and flow — and smooth, infectious beats from beginning to end.

This is a near-perfect album, expertly blending traditional West Coast and East Coast Hip Hop sounds and adding a unique contemporary vibe. The mark of a classic? Endless replay value and no skips — Brokelore is such an album.

Another DITC classic. Diamond D always was a producer first and an emcee second and it shows. The beats on this joint are flawless from start to finish, no need to skip tracks on this album.

This is a fantastic album, one of the best released in After having made a big enough impression with two mixtapes and his excellent debut project Bucket List Project in , year-old Chicago rapper Saba dropped a modern classic with his sophomore album Care For Me. In an interview, Saba spoke about the mental process and how writing the songs on the album were therapeutic saying:. A lot of it had to do with losing my best friend and older cousin, [John] Walt, which is throughout the album.

Care For Me is a subtle and intimate concept album dedicated to the memory of his cousin. The emotion involved can be felt throughout the 10 tracks on Care For Me , and this is one of those albums where the instrumentals and the lyrics complement each other perfectly, the minimalist but tasteful soundscapes Saba cooked up himself serving only to enhance the poignant emotions reflected in his lyrics.

In addition to their monumental debut, the classic Enter The Wu-Tang , there were 5 outstanding solo projects by Wu-Tang Clan members released prior to this sophomore effort. Wu-Tang Forever is a double album, which is always tricky. The risk is that the album loses focus and cohesiveness, that there are some tracks that will be seen as filler material and that the album simply is too long winded.

Not the case here. Sure, it could have done with fewer tracks and certainly with fewer skits , but overall this is an excellent album and great addition to the Wu-Tang catalog. Nothing wrong with the musical backdrops by the way — a lot of dirty, dusty drums and snares, just as can be expected on an MF DOOM record — but the lyrics steal the show here.

The album is filled with crazy creative imagery, humor, and dope punchlines, DOOM once again proves lyrically he is in a lane of his own. So, how to top or even equal a classic like Illmatic? An impossible task, even if It Was Written turned out to be another excellent Nas album.

Going for a more commercial-friendly sound here and there, and trying out the mafioso subgenre on some tracks, It Was Written just feels a little less tight and coherent than Illmatic does. With It Was Written Nas cemented his status as one of the most talented, all-around skilled emcees in the game. Music , forming a duo was nothing but a logical step. Although not even their strongest outing, Run The Jewels still is one of the better projects of the decade, laying the groundwork for even better things to come.

Like RTJ2 and RTJ3 , this project is aging very well, and with three straight near-perfect albums under their belts, there can be little discussion about the fact Run The Jewels is one of the greatest duos in Hip Hop history. Breaking Atoms is an important and hugely influential album and a testament to the brilliance of Large Pro.

In his year career, KRS dropped many classic albums — this is one of his best. Lyrics, flow, delivery, message, beats, diversity — this album has everything. This is Southern Hip Hop at its finest. Real and raw, Soul Food has that genre-bending musicality reminiscent of OutKast with true lyrical depth.

One of those albums that age like fine wine and only get better as time goes by. Where most of his Wu-Tang colleagues struggled and failed… to follow-up their classic solo debuts with worthy follow-ups, Ghostface even surpassed his already awesome debut Ironman with Supreme Clientele.

If not for the little lag — with a few skits too many — in the middle of the album, Supreme Clientele would have been an absolute Hip Hop classic. Simply brilliant. A challenging listen maybe, but ultimately extremely rewarding — a milestone not just for Hip Hop, but for music in general. Sonically creative and diverse and lyrically astute — this album is standing the test of time and will always have a place among the best Hip Hop albums of all-time.

Even though The Listening was much-lauded it went relatively unnoticed. The Rennaissance obliterated all doubters and Q-Tip critics. The album is consistent as hell, 13 tracks with no filler material. Why this album is hardly ever mentioned when discussing best ever Hip Hop albums is a mystery.

Everything about this album is DOPE. Production is great, Paris is a fine emcee with a dark, menacing tone of voice and the subject matter is thought-provoking.

Paak, and Busta Rhymes to spice things up some. City and To Pimp A Butterfly. No sophomore slump for EPMD. One year after their brilliant debut album Strictly Business they turned out another classic.

Danny Brown hit a home run with Atrocity Exhibition. This album feels like a feverish nightmare that gives us a glimpse of the insanity, depression, and hedonism of the Danny Brown psyche. This album is deep and dark and at times over the top, both sonically and lyrically.

Production is superb though, and even those who gravitate towards more traditional styles will find a lot to like here. One of the best album covers front and back in Hip Hop history too. Few groups in Hip Hop, if any, can boast both the longevity and consistency De La Soul has shown over the years. The reason for that probably is that it has less commercial appeal than the others. Artistically it is every bit as strong, though — cohesive and consistent throughout — an artistic peak for both De La Soul and producer Prince Paul.

LL Cool J at the top of his game. Amazingly consistent and entertaining throughout. The album flew well under the mainstream radar but was quickly recognized as a classic by true heads.

And he could spit too. This album would be the one to change the direction of Hip Hop. Going for rock-infused, stripped-down, hard beats, and a new kind of emceeing, it was game-changing in more ways than one.

A great prelude to even greater things to come. The album sounds a bit dated now, but Run DMC set the new standard when it came out. Maybe due to bad promotion by O. This easily is one of the best Hip Hop albums of This album is pure Hip Hop.

With gangsta rap becoming the dominant thing on the West Coast in the early 90s, these guys were a breath of fresh air. Highly original, humorous, fun, and not afraid to show their vulnerable sides — The Pharcyde was never concerned with gangster posing and tough-guy-posturing but was more like a West Coast version of ATCQ or De La Soul.

Not immediately recognized as such upon its release, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik gained more and more recognition over the years and is now universally recognized as a staple of Southern Hip Hop.

On the four CunninLynguists albums preceding this project, Kno already amply proved that he can put a big stamp on an album in terms of production. In the CunninLynguists producer released Death Is Silent : a solo album on which he also accounts for a large part of the lyrics.

The production on this album is nothing short of spectacular, and the beats and the stories blend together like gears on a machine. The whole album has the same feel, without ever sounding monotonous. This is an album to zone out on, to press play and let it run from start to finish — no need to skip anything, there are no fillers tracks and no stupid skits. But even if Kno will always be a producer before he is an emcee, he can carry an album on the microphone as well.

He calls himself the Emo Premo on one of the tracks, providing lyrics that should shame most full-time rappers. Death Is Silent is one of our favorite albums released in , a true musical gem in a world full of fake thugging, bling-bling, dumb-ass b.

From start to finish, this is a masterpiece of music not just Hip Hop. Anyone with an interest in quality music with substance will love this melancholic masterpiece. Brother Ali is one of the heavy-hitters of the fantastic Rhymesayers label. All of his albums are great, but Shadows Of The Sun arguably is his very best. Over some of the most engaging Ant production ever heard, Ali paints honest, poignant, and compelling pictures all over the album.

He has not adopted the all-out thug persona yet and the album is better for it. On this album, he is able to show us all aspects of his tormented being, better than on any of his other albums. We love it when everything we value in Hip Hop comes together in one project. Music Rebellious African People Music is such a project, one that fires on all cylinders. Hard-hitting, kick-ass beats for Killer Mike to spit his uncompromising and thought-provoking lyrics over, this is what Hip Hop is all about.

Music was an instant classic, reminiscent of the fire and fury early Ice Cube and Public Enemy albums brought — this album has that same sense of intensity and urgency. Killer Mike was already able to boast a strong discography before the release of R. Music , but this album is on another level. His synergy with DefJux head-honcho El-P is awesome — something they would continue to prove with the three excellent Run The Jewels albums that would follow this collaboration.

Music was too real to attract big-time mainstream media attention, but it is an important album and a modern classic. He would go on to release a myriad of excellent albums and collaborations — and Operation: Doomsday is up there with the best of his work.

Cannibal Ox really delivered something special with The Cold Vein. With invaluable work on the boards of El-P during the heyday of the unsung DefJux label , this album is nothing less than a masterpiece. The Cold Vein was years ahead of its time and is only getting better as time goes by. Another one of those albums that received widespread critical acclaim, but no radio play — as it was not about guns, money, and bitches but rather about intelligence and upliftment.

This is a timeless classic. Licensed To Ill offers pure energy and great fun. The Beastie Boys were the first white act in Hip Hop to make it big, and maintain credibility and respect in the Hip Hop world throughout their career.

This album is one of the big, early successes of Def Jam — the dominating and most innovating record label at the time, extremely important for the exposure of Hip Hop to larger audiences worldwide. The Roots is one of the most consistent acts in the game. Practically their whole catalog is excellent — but for us, Game Theory is one of their stand-out albums — right up there with the very best Roots albums Illadelph Halflife and Things Fall Apart Their insanely smooth flows and outstanding creativity and originality make for an atypical late nineties NYC Hip Hop album.

It has aged really well though and is deservedly recognized now by many as the masterpiece it is. Consistent quality. Two words that describe the work of EPMD. That is wrong because this one is just about as flawless as its predecessor. This album truly was a game-changer, production- and content-wise. Bum Rush The Show was revolutionary in many ways. Ask four fans about their favorite Gang Starr album and they may all pick a different one.

That says enough about the overall excellence of their work. GKMC is a total experience and not just a collection of songs. A perfect example of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. The album cover and the inside sleeve work in harmony with the narrative of the album, which is a great touch.

KRS One quickly established Best Rap Eps Of All Time 64 himself as the conscious voice of Hip Hop, together with Public Enemy — a role both acts would continue to fill in the decades to follow. Octagonecologyst definitely is our Kool Keith solo favorite. An all-time underground favorite, Dr. Octagonecologyst simply is a near-perfect album.

Production by Dan The Automater is absolutely phenomenal. An album that will forever polarize opinions. Considered an absolute classic and a top 10 album by many, there are also those who find it inaccessible because of the extremely gritty and dark nature of the album.

Wherever you stand, there can be no denying this is a landmark album, both production-wise Best Rap Eps Of All Time 4th and lyrically. Mobb Deep brought their A-game on their second album and The Infamous will always be seen as one of the most important mids East Coast albums. Young, hungry, and angry. Ice Cube hit his peak after leaving N. A with this album. Creatively it is truly outstanding.

Recruiting the Bomb Squad for an East Coast sound on the production resulted in a sonically epic album. Lyrically Cube murders every track on the album. Raw, hard, and unapologetic, Ice Cube dropped a bomb on the Hip Hop nation when it was released. Eminem in his prime, lyrically unbeatable. Marley Marl produced this album at the peak of his powers, and it is a definitive Hip Hop classic.

Another De La Soul masterpiece. All of their first four albums are classics in their own right, this one is the album that was their most mature and confident effort up till then. No gimmicks, just straight-up Hip Hop. This follow-up is more mature and possibly even better J Dilla was involved on the production side, so there you go. How do you follow up on the best Hip Hop album ever made? Fear Of A Black Planet is fiercely political, intelligent, unrelenting, uncompromising, profound, powerful, intense, boundary-pushing — a landmark album in Hip Hop music history.

Perhaps a little less accessible than It Takes A Nation… but equally important. The beats, the lyrics — both are truly excellent, but it is the overall vibe of the album that makes Aquemini so special. Underground Hip Hop at its finest. A hate-or-love-it kind of album for many due to its innovative and experimental nature, but doubtless a classic. Ahead of its time and very influential, Funcrusher Plus paved the way for countless left-field Hip Hop acts, who were and are instrumental in keeping the genre fresh.

In his long career, Jay-Z dropped a bunch of fantastic albums along with a couple of duds as well , but he released the album of his career in with The Blueprint. Due to label problems, it was not before when the album was finally released. J-Live is an incredible emcee, with a great flow and delivery and lyrics worth listening to.

Critically acclaimed by those in the know, but sadly ignored by the larger audiences, The Best Part simply is a must-have for any self-respecting Hip Hop head. Disenchantment with Hip Hop at that time lead Common to drop that strange though not necessarily bad album, many doubted if Common would ever be able to come back from that.

However, what happened was Common got up with Kanye West and J-Dilla to deliver the album of his career. On Be Common found his fire and his love for the game again. Common would go on to drop a whole bunch of other excellent albums but Be will forever be his magnum opus. Hard to pick a favorite in a discography of such outstanding overall quality, but on Illadelph Halflife everything works.

This is a LONG album, but there are few, if any, wasted moments. On the heels of the explosive success of N. Dre turned out another flawlessly produced album.

The D. Liquid Swords is another highlight in the Wu-Tang solo catalog. Classic Wu-Tang. Rakim raised the bar of emceeing to a level few ever approached. Still angry, still hungry. Raw and uncompromising, Death Certificate was highly controversial in its subject matter.

Mos Def is one of the most underrated emcees out there — but he has a unique voice and his flow is tight. The album could have done without some of the skits, but all-in-all this powerhouse of an album truly is a masterpiece.

On their second album, Gang Starr found their sound. This is a long album but there are no filler tracks, you can listen to the whole album without having to skip a song.

The start of a near-flawless 4-album-run. This album truly is sampling heaven. They were never afraid to reinvent themselves and stretch and cross genre boundaries, while at the same time keeping it real. This is one of the greatest and most important debuts in the history of Hip Hop and LL Cool J is one of the all-time greats. Both Mos Def and Talib Kweli planned to release their solo albums around the same time, but they postponed their individual projects and decided instead to collaborate on a full-length LP — and what a collaboration it is.

You can just feel the love and the energy that went into the making of Original Gangster. It is one of those albums that feels as fresh today as it did when it was released, an album you can keep on constant rotation because it never gets old.

This album is pretty much amazing, unlike anything you have ever heard before. At ten songs, Black Up is a tight presentation, but not a second is wasted. To really do justice to this musical treasure you need to listen to it on a quality system or with really good headphones or earbuds — otherwise, you might miss the deepness of the bass and other sonic intricacies. De La Soul more or less invented the rap-skit and to this day, they remain one of the very few acts who know how to use it.

De La Soul Is Dead is a long album, but packed with brilliance, musically and lyrically. Another landmark album and an all-time classic. The Notorious B. Expectations were high for his full-length debut album and boy did he deliver with Ready To Die. One of the most naturally gifted emcees and storytellers in the Hip Hop game ever, everything came together for him on this album.

Few others were ever able to express their thoughts and feelings the way Biggie was. Having made an incredible impression with his unique style on Dr. With mentor Dr. Dre on the boards, Doggystyle managed to meet the crazy high expectations. This album was a game-changer; for better or for worse. It influenced and changed the direction of Hip Hop, producing countless clones for decades to come. A flawless album from start to finish, filled with dope tracks.

The Chronic is one of the most influential Hip Hop albums of all-time. Often imitated, never duplicated. Along with lyrics from a host of other talented rappers and Dr. That record was epic and unstoppable enough, but this one is even better — more layered and even darker.

The out-of-the-box combination of El-P and Killer Mike has proven to be unbeatable — this album is lyrically intelligent and hard-hitting as well as sonically brilliant, RTJ2 easily is one of the best and most important Hip Hop albums of the s. The best Wu-Tang solo album? That makes this album even more of a group effort than most other Wu-Tang solo releases.

After Kool G Rap, Raekwon can be seen as one of the pioneers of the mafioso sub-genre and this album is one of the best, if not the best of its sort. A step up from their already awesome Southerplayalisticadillacmuzik debut album. On ATLiens OutKast shows real growth and newfound maturity, resulting in an album that is simply amazing lyrically as well as musically.

A timeless musical masterpiece, tasteful and irresistible. CL Smooth delivery serves as another instrument to complete the musical feast this album is from start to finish.

Innovative and hugely influential — this cooperation between De La Soul and producer Prince Paul is a landmark album in Hip Hop and music in general. This album introduced the skit to Hip Hop albums; and although skits more often irritate than add value, on this album they work. The whole album is consistent and all the songs are awesome — no filler tracks here. Clever wordplay, deft rhymes, playful production, positivity, and fun: 3 Feet High And Rising represented a new direction for Hip Hop, clearly a reaction to cliches already emerging in Hip Hop, even in its early years.

This Best Rap Eps Of All Time Items album is special, in a once in a generation kind of way. With good kid, M. City , Kendrick Lamar had already released a near-flawless project, but this follow-up turned out to be even bigger and better.

This is not an easy, straight-forward listen, but it is an important one. To Pimp A Butterfly is a timeless genre-blending masterpiece that will forever reside in the highest echelons of the Hip Hop pantheon.

Faced with the impossible task of following up on the flawless masterpiece that is The Low End Theory , Tribe delivered an album that is every bit as awesome as its predecessor. There can be no greater praise. As fresh today as it was on the day it was released: the mark of a true classic. This album is ART, pure and simple.

Madvilliany redefined the underground and is a perfect example of what can happen if two left-field geniuses combine powers. The late MF DOOM and Madlib have both produced many pieces of brilliant music, but this epic album is the crowning achievement of both their careers. The album of the s decade and a top 10 Hip Hop album of all-time.

An album that established Hip Hop as a musical genre that was there to stay. Filled with unforgettable tracks and Hip Hop anthems this album is a must-have. The Low End Theory is the definitive statement about what creativity, innovation, artistry, fun, and raw talent can produce. Building on the quality work of their debut, Tribe perfected the fusion of jazzy influences and bass-heavy Hip Hop beats.

The album is so coherent and consistent, it almost feels like one long song — in this case, a good thing. Phife, who only played a small part on the first album, really increased his skills as an emcee and establishes a perfect interplay with the always exceptional Q-Tip. Clever lyrics and smooth and warm music — this album is nothing short of perfect.

One of the very best Hip Hop albums in history. A young and hungry, insanely talented emcee comes together with some of the finest producers in the game, who all bring their best work. No skits, no fillers — just nine 5-star tracks that combine into a seminal work that will forever be revered as one of the most important releases in Hip Hop.

Illmatic is a monumental masterpiece. The best and one of the most important Hip Hop albums ever. Lots of great Hip Hop albums sometimes barely missed the cut, the albums in this section would have been included in a top That being said, once again I applaud you guys for going to these lengths to document so many classics that have come out over the years.

As with any list, there are differing opinions. Great list even though I disagree at a lot of placements. For example, albums like reasonable doubt top 10 for me not being in the top is harsh. Same goes with college dropout and many others. SSLP and eminem show also. But respectable list. Great list. To say that this overview is comprehensive is an understatement, thank you for your effort!

Even the honorable mentions are worth browsing through. As much as it is appealing to create top lists, and presumably generate clicks, the reactions will always go toward the placement of the personal favorites instead of celebrating the music. Therefore the discussion might be better steered if the list is labeled as essential recordings, then sorting it chronologically or alphabetically. Capping the list at would still give you enough space for all relevant releases yet make it easier to consume.

Finally, there should be a limit for the number of albums per author. Just as an example, despite my love for Beastie Boys and their relevance in the history of contemporary music, having a good part of their discography here is simply too much.

My one major discrepancy. Kool Genius of Rap indeed. There can be no argument with Nation of Millions being Public Enemy 1. The high water mark of a genre hopefully still to surpass it. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Busdriver — Temporary Forever Weird, but wonderful. Clipse — Hell Hath No Fury An album that sometimes goes unnoticed or slept on by many in the genre, this album is truly the greatest thing that Pusha and Malice created. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E. Vince Staples - Summertime '06 After winning acclaim with a series of mixtapes and his Hell Can Wait EP , and gaining some notoriety by being dismissive about 90s Hip Hop in a high profile interview , Compton rapper Vince Staples made a big splash with Summertime 06 , his official full-length debut.

Kanye West — Graduation Completing the trilogy subjecting around a school theme, Kanye dropped another dope album with Graduation. Common - Black America Again Common has dropped quite a few excellent albums in his long career, and this one is up there with the best of them. Kanye West — The College Dropout Whatever you think about later-Kanye, his seminal debut album is a true classic.

Scarface - Mr. Organized Konfusion - Stress: The Extinction Agenda Organized Konfusion was responsible for three excellent albums in the 90s — Prince Po and Pharoahe Monch show some unparalleled lyricism on this dark, dense, complicated and intellectual album.

Open Mike Eagle - Dark Comedy Open Mike Eagle is a Chicago-born, Los Angeles-based artist who dropped some of the most interesting albums in abstract underground Hip Hop in the s — with his soft spoken-word style, poetic lyrics, and experimental production.

Elzhi — The Preface Elzhi is one of the most underrated emcees in the game. Pharoahe Monch — Desire Desire is the second solo album from Pharoahe Monch, released eight years! Percee P — Perseverance Percee P is a criminally underrated emcee.

Ghostface Killah — Fishscale Ghostface Killah is the most prolific and consistent artist out of the Wu-Tang camp. Jurassic 5 - Quality Control Perfectly capturing that throwback Hip Hop vibe, this Californian crew are all about flawless emceeing over dope instrumentals. Immortal Technique — Revolutionary Vol. Dre - The excellent follow-up to Dr. Organized Konfusion - Organized Konfusion This album has it all.

Nas - Stillmatic This comeback album was a career highlight for Nasir Jones. Roc Marciano - Reloaded Reloaded is the second studio album from former U.

Big Pun - Capital Punishment S3. The Roots - Undun Undun is a dark and poetic masterpiece, different but intriguing. PRhyme - PRhyme What can go wrong when one of the top-lyricists of the last two decades hooks up with one of the most important producers ever?

Nas — The Lost Tapes More so a collection of songs than an official album, this flawless project from Nas is too great to NOT include on this list. Masta Ace — Disposable Arts Masta Ace is one of those few artists who are able to keep reinventing themselves while turning out consistent quality.

Big K. Redman - Whut? Thee Album Redman is one of the most underappreciated emcees ever. J Dilla — Donuts Released just three days before his untimely death on Feb. Eric B.

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