Greatest Rap Album of all Time?

What hasn't been mentioned yet? RUN-D.M.C.'s debut?

1. Mos Def - Black On Both Sides - Powerful stuff
2. Latyrx - The Album - Deep, dark disco rock and mind bending linguistics.
3. Black Eyed Peas - Behind The Front - Solid singalong stuff, a lot different to the Elephunky demos we've heard.
4. Roots Manuva - Brand New Second Hand - He's crazy but he's Hip Hop's knight in shining armour.
5. anything by DJ Vadim - as one reviewer recently wrote, he makes it blunted but not boring.

Agreed re: Latryx - classic in my head at least...

Thoughts on Sage Francis please?

Phrenology has leapt onto my all-time greatest list, as has Blazing Arrow. You don't have to agree, this is MY list, cockgoblins! It'll include albums by Latyrx, Tribe, Fugees, B-Boys, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Wu-Tang, Outkast, NWA, Goodie Mob, Spearhead, Disposable Heroes of Hiphopracy, Blackalicious, The Roots, Kool Keith under various monikers, De La, Public Enemy, Pharcyde, Eric B. & Rakim, Del, El-P, Atmosphere, Dre, Dose One, and will NOT include any Jay-Z, P. Diddy, Nelly, MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice...and it's MY list, so SCREW YOU GUYS!

Anyways. Listened to Ill Communication again recently and was startled by how much I liked it. There's so many great little touches the way everyone yawps "we din't start the FIRE!" on "Do It", the weird "underwater megaphone" pseudo-dub effect that shows up on a lot of the tracks (like "The Update"), the whole muddy "rare groove" feel to the majority of the album that feels even more distinct once the ultra-slick "Sabotage" bursts out the gates.

I keep hearing bits and pieces of the Slim Shady LP and I've come to the conclusion that I probably should have bought it when it came out instead of letting my skepticism get the better of me.

Supreme Clientele. DAMN. A lot of the beats on here were already familiar to me the first time I heard this ("Saturday Night"=Pharoahe Monch's "Mayor"; "Cherchez La Ghost" = BDP's "Jack of Spades"; "Buck 50" = er... the Chemical Brothers' "Playground for a Wedgeless Firm") but for once I don't care. I love that insane stream-of-consciousness style and "Nutmeg" is classic x1000.

Oh yeah: Beauty Party. MAJESTICONS TAKIN' OVER IN '03

That album just really really bugs the crap out of me, makes my skin CRAWL...but I'm quite a weirdo; I put the Latyrx album on my greatest-of-all-time, what's that say about me?

;D

illmatic
the infamous
ENTER THE WUTANG : 36 CHAMBERS (hello?)
ready to die
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT (hello?!?)
ironman
blueprint

BTW, I think Run DMC's Raising Hell has been mentioned far too few times in this thread.

But 'Low End Theory' would make my top 5.

_Fear Of A Black Planet_ is the best PE album, although _Nation of Millions..._ is very, very, very, very, very good (if only for "Night Of The Living Baseheads").

Why do you think so? I like 'em both about the same. Only thing is the first Chronic is easier to listen to since it has all its great tracks loaded up for the first half of the album, while 2001 has them scattered about. (more skipping around, see?) But it doesn't really matter since I just listen to a mix-cd of both of them anyway.

Capital Punishment is good, yes.

But rap/hip-hop is not an album genre, so this list is not representative of my taste in Roxannes.