Hip Hop Albums Turning 20 in 2021
Hip Hop classics were made in 2001, 20 years later they’ve stood the test of time
We’ve been over this: yes 2001 was 20 years ago and no it doesn’t feel like that much time has gone by at all. It’s hard to even listen to a hip hop album like Straight Outta Compton and say it’s over 30 years old, the genre just feels timeless. In the early 2000s rap had nearly taken over every facet of pop culture, it was even plaguing heavy metal and despite some impressive moments it’s good that all but faded into obscurity. By this time hip hop had established itself as one of the most prevalent styles of music in the mainstream, established rappers were making movies left and right and there were many newcomers scoring highly on the Billboard and in publications. Despite being a time where the old-school looked at the success of rap with disgust it was finally in the foreground and any curious listener would be sure to find and understand the history of the genre.
There were many hip hop classics that came out twenty years ago, maybe some weren’t as classic as others but they have stood the test of time. Time to fondly look back on some classic hip hop albums that came out two decades ago.
DMX: The Great Depression
DMX still maintained his name as one of the best selling and most entertaining rappers in the game by 2001, on his 4th album however it was kind of clear his grasp was starting to slip. Selling less than his three previous outings, but still debuting at #1 on the charts, the album lacks the major hits DMX had been able to fill his albums with. No one can deny however that the song “Who We Be” is still one of his best songs ever recorded but other than that and “We Right Here” the album lacks the bark and energy his previous albums contained. Despite the middle of the road content it’s worth a revisit to remind us all of the lasting legacy DMX left on hip hop even with one of his lesser efforts.
CunningLynguists: Will Rap For Food
Not the biggest release of the year 2001 but certainly one of the most passionate and intricately meaningful. Kentucky based trio CunningLynguists debuted in the hip hop scene with more hunger and inspiration from their experiences dwelling in the underground and brought about one of the most consistent releases. You can tell the duo were more driven than many of their peers from the title alone but once the needle hits the record there’s no doubting their zeal. Kno’s dynamic production stands out the most with mixes ranging from classic hip hop beats to operatic arrangements making a beautiful backing for his and Deacon the Villain’s intelligent rhymes and flows. There’s no set topic the group won’t tackle from b-boy boasting and roasting to the groups slow climb out of poverty into hip hop stardom they’re trying to achieve.
Cormega: The Realness
Former Nas associate and early member of The Firm Cormega dropped his debut LP twenty years ago and despite the peaks he was expected to live up to he proves himself a truly thoughtful, poetic MC on The Realness. Coming from such a camp as he did you can imagine the lyrical content on here but thankfully Cormega utilizes these backdrops to weave some inspirational and thoughtful narratives of the inner city tribulations he survived. He flexes his wisdom as he tackles other topics as well from his appreciation for hip hop on the track “American Beauty,” to his deceased friends on “Fallen Soldiers.” Certainly not an album any hip hop fan should skip.
Eyedea & Abilities: First Born
One of underground hip hop’s greatest duos has got to be Eyedea & Abilities and their first album is a demonstration of the higher skill level they displayed than most of their peers even in the beginning. Eyedea had already established himself as a devastating battle rapper and a freestyle trailblazer and DJ Abilities had won multiple DJ competitions. As luck would have it the two mixed together well and created some of the most inventive hip hop instrumentals and the most blazing verses on wax. Their first album already displays the groups breakdown and recreation of the classic hip hop blueprint of MCing and DJing and the skill level both display on this particular tape is astounding. Both members work feels so alive and engaging here it’s hard to pick a favorite aspect of the album. This however was only a small taste of the universes the duo would take the genre towards.
Sticky Fingaz: Black Trash: The Autobiography of Kirk Jones
Onyx’s most energetic and enduring characters debut album plays out like a Michael Bay directed hood movie and what less could you expect from Sticky Fingaz, the man who shot live rounds off at the Source Awards? The rapper has never been about subtlty and on this album everything is directly in your face from the sexual intercourse on the intro to the cover of Louis Armstrong’s “Wonderful World.” It’s relentlessly outlandish entertainment and honestly no one else could pull it off besides Sticky Fingaz. His 2 pack-a-day sounding voice would sound grating anywhere else but he utilizes it to establish an inner city character that you hope deep down in your heart doesn’t exist but you know probably does. From this release rap was taken into the cinematic realm and honestly I think it was worthwhile entertainment.
Jadakiss: Kiss Tha Game Goodbye
Being the most recognizable voice from the legendary group The LOX it was only natural that Jadakiss would release a solo album. Continuing his streetwise raps with his gravely voice and syrupy Kool G Rap flow J-to-da-mwah achieved some pretty hefty chart success but not the critical success he maintained with his group. Maybe the production didn’t suit his style here or the market had become so overly saturated with similar rappers but regardless his debut solo outing is a reminder to everyone that Jadakiss always has incredible skill on the mic and his delivery is like no other. It’s not by chance that he’s one of the most recognizable voices in hip hop.
Atmosphere: Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere EP’s
Just before they reinvigorated their careers with the LP God Loves Ugly Atmosphere was already on their way to creating amazingly personal and poetic hip hop with beautiful production values with the Lucy Ford EP’s. This collection of their 3 previously released EP’s could stand proudly alongside any one of their albums from 2002 to 2008 as Slugs raps turned toward his most personal and eloquent topics. Sex, drugs, love, women and validation, the topics were so deep and catered to a different crowd in hip hop other than the mainstream and they remain so touching and endearing in the groups catalog. With tracks like Slug’s boastful “Guns and Cigarettes,” as well as his deeply wistful “Don’t Ever Fucking Question That” and the classic “Woman With the Tattooed Hands” this is essential listening for any Atmosphere fan.
Immortal Technique: Revolutionary, Vol. 1
Every underground rapper has been trying to achieve the same knowledgeable, same streetwise persona as Immortal Technique since this album came out and so many corny rappers have come out since then. Tech however maintained that furrowed brow character with sincerity because this was his worldview, the elites be damned. On his debut he proved himself as a scathing battle rapper, a politically aware individual and a complex storyteller through now classic songs such as “No Mercy,” “The Poverty of Philosophy” and the harrowing tale of “Dance With The Devil.” No doubt becoming the track he is most associated with “Dance With the Devil” has over the decades amassed a mythological status in hip hop. This may not be as great of an album as its follow up but in terms of introducing an MC that would change the game forever, Techniques debut earns its place.
Eve: Scorpion
Eve’s second album did something her fierce rival Foxy Brown couldn’t, it avoided the sophomore slump. With Scorpion Eve cemented her status as one of the top Queen MC’s of the rap game thanks to such hits as “Let Me Blow Ya Mind” and “Who’s That Girl” along with a steady tracklist of street themed cuts that made the album unskippable. Rolling with the Ruff Ryders at this time Eve’s album seemed hungrier than most of her label mates and she demonstrated keen skills on the mic alongside the dense productions handled by Swizz Beatz, Dame Grease and even Dr. Dre. The sound just screams early 2000s bangers and it serves a nostalgic reminder of how much energy and fun hip hop was at the turn of the century.
Aesop Rock: Labor Days
It’s no secret that Def Jux was releasing some of the most otherworldly hip hop albums in the early 2000s, hell 2001 alone, but no one was prepared for the vocabulary and rapping skills of Aesop Rock. Its sound is glitchy, its raps are insanely wordy and it’s all around an enjoyable experience front to back unlike the concept the album tackles: the 9–5 life. Aesop Rock took the mundane lifestyle of a blue-collar worker and made some of the most tightly woven and fantastic raps about it. He created meaning out of a meaningless life with anthems like “Labor,” “Daylight” and “9–5er’s Anthem.” It was fatally rare during this time for rappers not to rap about street life and crime but Aesop knows where he comes from and it just shows that art can be made from any lifestyle, it just depends on how you tell the story.
Masta Ace: Disposable Arts
Hip hop’s answer to Pink Floyd’s The Wall came from an artist who seemed lost in the bygone days of the golden age. Masta Ace reemerged in 2001 with the downright classic Disposable Arts, an ambitiously cinematic album that demonstrated both the MC’s rhyming skills as well as his storytelling skills. The picture is painted so clearly on Ace’s fourth solo outing that many rappers could only dream of achieving his level of narration, there hasn’t been a better story depicted since. Backed by some characteristically New York sounding beats, which assist in forming the narrative of a Brooklyn MC’s life, Ace reminded the world that he knows this game better than most MC’s and he just wants to get out whatever he has left in him. 20 years since this albums release, he’s thankfully still going strong.
Jay-Z: The Blueprint
An example of utilizing the technology around you and looking toward the future while sitting at the top. Jay-Z already exploded into the 2000s with some serious hits but when The Blueprint came out he sought to expand his sound even further. Lyricism can take you pretty damn far in the hip hop game but when you do it with some serious backing tracks it can take you even further and Jay-Z looked for that next plateau, hiring up and coming producers Kanye West and Just Blaze. Kanye’s soul samples, becoming the staple of his own career, elevate The Blueprint above the typical “money, cash, hoes” lyricism spoken from Jay and make tracks like “Heart of The City,” “Takeover,” and “Izzo” stand as some of the most important hip hop anthems ever crafted.
Missy Elliot: Miss E… So Addictive
Already establishing herself as a leading voice in the rap game in the late 90s, Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot burst into the 2000s with not just a great album overall but one that was packed with some serious hits. The album contains the classic “Get Ur Freak On” which alone should cement Missy’s legacy within the genre but there are also plenty of other great cuts off here like the club banger “4 My People” and the hilarious “One Minute Man.” All tracks display not only Missy’s buttery flow and lyrical skills but also her in your face style and sense of humor, no doubt giving her the staying power she holds. This album is another reminder of how great a team Missy and Timbaland always have been and always will be in the hip hop realm, they seemed unstoppable during this time.
NaS: Stillmatic
Nas came back with the streetwise poetry made famous on his perennial debut Illmatic which had been passed over on his last few releases in favor of the glitz and glamor of fame. Finally honing his MCing towards what made him so great Nas revitalized his career with Stillmatic by returning to poetic portraits of street life in NYC as well as attacking his enemies, particularly Jay-Z. To be able to have dissed a rapper so badly that the term becomes named after the track you attacked him on is a skill only Nas can achieve and he did that with the biting track “Ether.” There are plenty other tracks on this album that attack Jay-Z with Nas’ supreme wordplay and flow like “Got Ur Self A Gun” but Nas’ also utilized the realities around him to craft timeless tracks like “Rule.” Without this album it’s possible Nas’ would have faded into relative hip hop obscurity in the 2000s.
Cannibal Ox: The Cold Vein
Possibly the most atmospheric and insanely underrated albums of the early 2000s hip hop landscape. Cannibal Ox’s sole outing in the decade brought hip hop production to an all new plateau that hasn’t been achieved since, not even by the group. I can’t say this all weighs on El-P’s production but he played a major role in this albums lasting influence on the underground and the genre at large. Without towering backing tracks for songs like “Iron Galaxy” and “Scream Phoenix” along with the stuttering blasts of “Vein” and “Raspberry Fields” the album would not have achieved such heights as it did. MC’s Vast Aire and Vordul Mega deliver some of hip hops most intricately philosophical rhymes and stories through the eyes of two youths making their way through the inner city. It’s sounds that we’d expect to hear on an alien space ship in a faraway galaxy and shows the other universes the internet allowed hip hop to travel to.
We hope you enjoyed our list and hope you find time to revisit these albums. Were there any classics from 2001 we missed? What were your favorites from that year? Let us know!
