The Official Top 10 Best Hip-Hop Albums of All-Time

I love lists! For as long as I can remember, I have been part of ongoing debates about who the greatest emcee of all time is. One thing that I have learned for certain is that there is no universal right answer. So I was zero percent shocked when a magazine that does not have a history as being the end all be all of Hip-Hop culture made a list that was pretty universally panned.

They got a lot wrong, and instead of getting into all that, I created my own list. I could create some rubric to rationalize my choices and give me leeway for disagreement, but that is not the point. This is about fun and debate. So, here is my list. Send me your list and we can agree and agree to disagree.

10. Wu-Tang Clan — Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

The hardest part of this decision was actually in picking this or Wu-Tang Forever. Ultimately, I went with 36 Chambers because it is the embodiment of a new sound and I have a story about it. I was in grade 8 and my second cousin was a DJ. He told me and my cousin about this new group called the Wu-Tang Clan that we had to check out. In grade 7 and 8, our Drama class would coordinate trips to the US. In grade 7 it was to Boston, nothing more to report. In grade 8, it was to New York City, lots of stories (for another time). The big purchase on this trip was the cassette of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). I immediately popped it in my walkman and listened to it while walking through New York, maybe one of my favorite music moments ever. On the eventual bus trip back to Toronto, that tape got passed throughout. None of us had heard anything like it. Forever is probably the more polished album and the fact it was a double CD was also impressive. But the rawness of 36 Chambers will always lead me to picking it again and again.

9. Kanye West — My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

I’m off Kanye, have been for a while. I just can’t support someone who clearly has mental health issues and seemingly refuses to access all the resources at his disposal. I am also just not feeling his music anymore. Still, his legacy cannot be taken away. He put out classic after classic and clearly influenced an entire generation. My favorite album is College Dropout, but his best album is MBDTF. College Dropout spoke to me as a backpacker in my first year of College and that is why it is my personal favorite. MBDTF though was like listening to a movie. The sounds were all big. I didn’t relate to the content in the same way and there was no secret about who Kanye was anymore. With College Dropout I felt like I was in early on an IPO. By the time MBDTF came out, he was a bonafide superstar.

8. Notorious B.I.G — Life After Death

Like my Wu-Tang pick, the hardest part of this pick is album 1 or 2. Fun fact, when Life After Death came out, I was a Biggie hater. I was underground Hip-Hop all day and the flash of BIG was just too much for me. I applauded when OGC kicked a fake Biggie off the stage in the No Fear video. It was my buddy John Scarps who told me to give it a chance, to just listen. I listened and put aside my purist beliefs. The drums on Somebody’s Gotta Die immediately grabbed me, then his storytelling and flow kept me. I still skip Hypnotize, but there was no ignoring the talent that was Biggie, even from my hating ass.

7. 50 Cent — Get Rich or Die Trying

Biggie, Jay and others got me to drop the “I only listen to underground rappers” rule that I created for myself. So when 50 dropped this classic album I didn’t need a friend to co-sign. I was in on day one and immediately felt it was an unskippable album. Upon returning to it, there are for sure some skips but even as I write this I had to stop to go put on What up Gangsta. I remember reading about a concert he did in Los Angeles and the description of the crowd when the song was performed gave me serious FOMO. The article made me feel like I was there and it felt like the crowning of a new King.

6. Outkast — ATLiens

Andre 3000 is my favorite emcee, the greatest, and I don’t care that he never had a solo album. I mean, I care because I would have loved to hear that, but it doesn’t impact his status as my #1. Depending on the week, the first three albums put out by Outkast can be interchanged here. Today, it is ATLiens because as I was looking at the tracklist, I was reminded how much I loved the Elevators video. I went back to it recently — and I still love it. A few years ago I was walking in NOHO with my spouse and I saw 3 stacks. I dapped him up and told him he was the greatest, I was pretty proud of that.

5. Kendrick Lamar — good kid, m.A.A.d city

I remember walking around San Francisco listening to this album. I had gone there on a whim, chasing potential love and the album kept me company as I discovered a new world. The chase worked out, that whim is now my partner in life, and this album always gives me good vibes. So many good vibes that my morning alarm is Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe.

4. Black Star — Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star

Respiration is the best song ever made about Urban Planning. Another related take: Robert Moses should be credited as a founder of Hip-Hop. Such a smooth album that embodied what backpacker music could sound like for the masses. I got to enjoy this album release twice. First, in Toronto. Because of the great scene that had been developed there, we got releases at the same time as everyone. Then, in Santiago, Chile. Everything got there late and the digital era was not quite upon us, which sucked for them, but allowed me to share music with my cousin. The scene in Santiago at that point skewed to my older backpacker sensibilities and this album absolutely killed there.

3. Big Pun — Capital Punishment

If I had to do a full album Karaoke, this is the album for me, interludes included. I think I can do most of it without the prompter, but with it, flawless performance. Latino rappers before Pun existed, but none of them were as nice as him. I was drawn to him because he was Latino and Proud. His skill made me proud to be a fan. Previous Latino rappers I loved all came with caveats, not Pun. He was a top 5 emcee out the gate and this was an immediate classic.

2. Snoop Dogg — Doggystyle

There is an unwritten article somewhere in my brain that discusses the negative effects that this album had for an adolescent me and my then beliefs on women and relationships. That is not this. This is me putting this at number 2 and having no regrets about that. Snoop was the coolest. I wanted to be him, or at least be good friends with him. You couldn’t tell middle school me that anyone had better style than Calvin Broadus. It was because of him that I decided that Crips were cooler than Bloods, I think I even went through a no red wearing phase because of him. I’ll add that to the bad influences of this clearly influential album.

Nas — Illmatic

A perfect album. When the biggest critique that people give the album is that it is too short, you know it is good. This is the one album on my list that I am certain about. No matter the day, week, month, year, I am not moving this from #1. A perfect album.