Greatest Rap Album of all Time?

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.

Supreme Clientele: Ben encapsulated what I like about it really, and I can only refer you to his words. It wasn't a radical-sounding record or a massively innovative one but every moment works and there are no faults or weaknesses anywhere. A thrilling *experience* to listen to: you can't dip in and out of it. For its own territory of hip-hop circa 2000, I'd say the same thing about it as I said about The Life and Times of Sean Carter for *its* field: the defining moment.

Implying it's suspect thereafter. I've been pondering whether this is true and if so, why that should be. I decided the implication is probably bollocks. But judge for yourselves. Here's an (ex) indieboy's Top 10 rap albums for the period 1992-2001. I tried to get in one for every year, and also more female rapping, but just failed on both counts - sorry Missy Elliot.

Oh, and those Wu-Tang albums are really dating badly, aren't they? That said, I just bought "Supreme Clientele" on the basis of the recommendations upthread, and look forward to playing that tonight.

1. The Roots - Things Fall Apart
2. Jeru - Wrath of The Math
3. Fugees (Tranzlator Crew) - Blunted On Reality
4. Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
5. Common - Like Water For Chocolate
6. Snoop - Doggystyle
7. Saïan Supa Crew - X Raisons
8. Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury
9. Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Blackstar
10. Method Man - Tical

As for your list, though - one I hate (Beasties), one I like (Snoop), two I've never heard (or 3 if I'm thinking of a different Saian album) (Fugees and Roots), two I respect but find a bit hard going (Jeru and Meth) and four I found boring (Black Star, Saian, Disposables, Common). And I think that is a fairly typical indieboy list, yeah.

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?

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.