Greatest Rap Album of all Time?

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.

...oh, and LIQUID SWORDS!!!

but also:
master p - ghetto d
gangstarr - daily operations
ugk - riding dirty
black moon enta da stage
big l - lifestyles ov da poor and dangerous
8ball and mjg - in our lifetime
might be on the list, aside from stuff already mentioned.

Death Certificate is mentioned in this thread, but how come no one's said AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted? I hadn't been listening to that record in years (I only had it on tape), but then I spotted and bought the reissue which also adds the Kill at Will ("Dead Homiez"!) EP to the package, and damn what a package! Even though it's produced by the Bomb Squad it's better than anything made PE (this is a highly personal opinion, I know, I just happen to like Ice Cube's flow and delivery a lot more than Chuck D's). I'd completely forgotten how good Cube was before he became a Hollywood star; I guess I should by the the Death Certificate reissue next.

and now that I've said that, let's all salute the genius that is L.L. Cool J's Walking With a Panther, which decimates Frank Kogan's non-argument about hip-hop not being an album genre.

Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Mecca And The Soul Brother. Not one bad track. No instrumental interludes. NO FUCKING SKITS. Just flow, flow, flow for 75 minutes.

Other nominations from me:

New Kingdom, Paradise Don't Come Cheap (Funkadelic circa 1970 meets Godflesh)

Schoolly D, Smoke Some Kill

Genius/GZA, Liquid Swords

Sensational, Loaded With Power

Ol' Dirty Bastard, Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version

Wonderful album. Did they only have the two releases?

1. Outkast - Aquemini (so much better than Stankonia, total definition of an aesthetic)
2. Brand Nubian - One for All (why hasn't anyone mentioned this one? It's so goddam good!)
3. Eminem - Slim Shady LP
4. Ol Dirty Bastard - N****a Please
5. Ghostface - Supreme Clientele

Oh. I guess Cube doesn't make the list after all. Fuck. Never mind. He's like #7 maybe behind the Blueprint.

Um, yes there are.