Greatest Rap Album of all Time?

as we all know, i still do think juvenile's tha g code is better than anything de la soul ever did. enter the wu is also up there.

I've already said elsewhere here that Paid in Full is the most overrated album of the '80s. (it's probably not--Peter Gabriel's So probably is--but there you go)

The remaining 4 in my current top 5 are Paul's Boutique, Fear Of A Black Planet, De La Soul Is Dead,

Rest of the top 5 and why they're not as good:

PE, Nation of Millions: Incredibly influential production, though more outside of hip-hop than in. The skits invented cinematic hip- hop, the vertical sampling brung the noise, Chuck D is a booming hit of authoritarianism. But it's a little patchy, not very funky and Flavor Flav has not worn well.

Tribe, Midnight Marauders: The ultimate in lush jazz beats. Not as pretentious as Low End Theory, they just let it all hang out here, nothing to prove. "Electric Relaxation" sexiest Quest song ever. But gets a little samey, more a collection of dope tracks than an album that flows.

Eric B and Rakim, Paid in Full: Holds up amazingly well. Beats are hard as hell, work on an abstract, almost electronic as well as rhythmic level. Rakim is at his peak, album has at least 5 stone-cold classics. "My Melody"... But hip-hop hadn't quite flowered to its full conceptual grandeur yet.

Ghostface, Supreme Clientele: The sheer rush of Ghost's half-sensical rhymes, the humor, the wit, the gibberish. The no-expense-spared old- school soul samples that most won't pay for anymore. The brilliant track sequencing, beats tumbling on top of each other. "Cherchez La Ghost"! But it's after the fall, more of a look back at past glories than the new new thing.

I couldn't name one but Jay-Z's The Life and Times of Sean Carter would be there simply for having, as far as I can hear, no weak links whatsoever (apart from the track I refuse to mention he tacked on after the outro). Not the best hip-hop album in the last five years, but the best mainstream rap record of that time (however you want to describe it) by far, IMHO.

At the time I thought Company Flow's Funcrusher Plus was awesome but I really need to listen to it again to see whether it was an inspirational one-off that is lasting, or an inspirational one-off that isn't.

Any more recommendations for the Redman/Method Man collabo? It seems like the sort of album I'd enjoy, but I'm too tight these days to take chances.

1. "straight outta compton," NWA
2. "ameriKKKa's most wanted," ice cube
3. "fear of a black planet," public enemy
4. "enter the 36 chambers," wu-tang clan
5. "liquid swords," gza/genius
6. "ready to die," biggie
7. "reasonable doubt," jay-z
8. "strictly business," epmd
9. "the resurrection," geto boys
10. "doggy style," snoop

Outkast - Aquemini is the best rap album ever. How can you argue otherwise?

The Fix, maybe

any albums from the past 2-3 years deserved to be er "canonized"?
i guess most would throw out college dropout.
i would say tha carter II but we've all read enough comments on rap blogs on that front.
madvillany? boy in da corner? black album?

Deserves if it's good enough IMO.

The Fix is a little obscure - haven't heard that before.

College Dropout - no way can any Kanye West album be considered the best, IMO.

Jay-Z albums - I like many of the singles but never found them to be consistent enough to be labeled the greatest rap album ever.

Cannot comment on the other two, I'll have to check that out.

Illmatic

College Dropout - no way can any Kanye West album be considered the best, IMO.

not best ever... merely top 15/20/25 ever.

Nation of Millions, hands down.

-- Rev. PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie 2), Wednesday, 5 July 2006 00:10 (1 year ago) Link

http://row1.info/images/stories/news/dec06/kool-keith-the-commissioner-2.jpg

http://www.threshrecs.com/collect_files/image004.jpg

http://www.threshrecs.com/collect_files/image002.jpg

I honestly believe The Marshall Mathers LP will still be my favourite album ever in 20 odd years time. It's perfect in so many ways.

NO WRONG RECORD ITS SUPPOSED T BE KOOL KEITH - COMMI$$IONER 2

Scarface is obscure!? I saw "My Block" on MTV and everything.

peaked at #4, five mics in the source, etc.

'madvillainy' deserves another mention definitely.

how about 'tricks of the shade' by The Goats ? not really a contender for best ever but unfairly forgotten in my eyes.

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x245/chromski/image004.jpg

I skipped some thread but the thing about "N$$$$$$A PLEASE" is it has "I Can'T Wait" on it, and that's the best song ever recorded, so y'know it tends to make the rest of the rtec look pretty good too

Is this the RONG thread?

If compilations are kosher - and we're talking "favourite" rather than "best", I'd go with a Roxanne Shanté collection. Otherwise, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, I guess.

Ones that come to mind as classics:

Only Built for Cuban Lynx
Deltron 3030
The Low End Theory
Ready to Die
Mississippi: The Album
The Blueprint
The Marshall Mathers LP
Raising Hell
Aquemini
Enter the Wu
The Cold Vein
Black Star
The Digital Underground record from 1990
Bubba Sparxx's Deliverance -- ridiculously underrated.
Supa Dupa Fly
Cypress Hill

Don't make me bless this thread with a personal Top 100.

wtf with that Kool Keith album

jk
http://www.alleyezonme.com/lyrics/makaveli_large.jpg
http://www.alleyezonme.com/lyrics/makaveli_large.jpghttp://www.alleyezonme.com/lyrics/makaveli_large.jpg

No Scarface isn't obscure just never heard that as the best ever, ever.

Do you really think that 'It Takes a Nation' is the best ever? Good, but wouldn't think that.

Jiminy I like that list and Low End Theory yes I think that needs to be considered seriously.

I hate Ice Cube and his retarded rant against Koreans so fuck his record.

STOP DISRESPECTING TUPAC

digital underground - sex packets

luriqa that's not even the best 2pac album!

http://www.thuglife.ic.cz/obaly/All%20Eyez%20On%20Me%20(pred).jpg

I never got the love for Makaveli.

But then, I never really got the love for Pac either.

He had a pretty face.

i never really got people who 'didn't get' pac

even when i was at my most reactionary 'pac is overrated' college-era pretentiousness i still 'got' why he resonated.

i do understand the impulse to say he's 'overrated,' he does inspire some passion in folks that is hard to reconcile with all the time, especially for a music nerd crowd that tends to avoid anything so directly emotional and finds such genuine-ness heavy-handed but it still seems abundantly clear why he resonated w/ so many people

So it's clear why he resonated and yet he's overrated. Check.

I suppose I phrased that wrong, didn't mean to come across anti-Pac on principle. What I was trying to say is that I never really liked him (mainly because of his voice, which I just can't get into and am surprised so many people can, hence 'not getting'), but I can certainly understand why he's got resonance.

this is right up there for me...

http://image.com.com/mp3/images/cover/200/drc400/c433/c433738d7uh.jpg

am0n otm although I've always struggled with how nihilistic All Eyez is - Shock G had a great line on "Fear of a Mixed Planet" that ran "his special special gift was his love side/so many tryin' to be 'Pac, but only copped the thug side" but All Eyez is pretty short on the "love side" - there's "Life Goes On" and "I Ain't Mad Atcha" but these are a long way from the "conscious" stuff he'd done before, that political passion took a back seat to G stuff although it's fair to ask "isn't that where your head might be at if you'd just gotten out of prison?"

It's an uneven record but that's some of its strength for me, it's like this huge uncontrollable avalanche of creative energy. Some days though I think "Ready to Die" is better, but I am emo and R2D even when it's pissed off unhinged is pretty tightly controlled, while "All Eyez" is more raw imo and that's what I favor at the end of the day.

I'll second Tuomas [...]

-- Tom Breihan (Tom Breihan)

never thought i'd see the day

(also the DOC getting in that car accident and losing his voice is one of the great tragedies in rap imo)

i agree. he was great.

there is more than one greatest rap album of all time. there are a bunch.

Just reading about that in Third Coast, shit was fuckin tragic. How is his most recent record? I hear the voice is coming back a little? xxpost

Scott - agreed. Especially since 'rap' covers such a broad spectrum of styles, but I love arguing over this.