Must-Have Hip Hop Albums

Only Built 4 Cuban Links personally changed my life.

On some lyrical shit, The Lost Tapes by Nas...Shit he literally THREW away as trash is a phukkin hip hop treasure.

Dr. Dre Chronic 2001, Marshall Mathers LP, Get Rich or Die Trying...in that order

More recently Drake, Kendrick, and Freddie Gibbs and Madlib last projects are good for the collection too. That's my 2cents.
 
Lords of the Underground - Here Come The Lords
Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep
Masta Ace Incorporated - Slaughtahouse
Ice Cube - Amerikkkas Most Wanted
 
McLovin Beatz said:
Only Built 4 Cuban Links personally changed my life.
Click to expand...

Roger that! That album was my first introduction to Nas and embodies everything I was into at the time (hiphop, kung fu movies, anime, John Woo flicks). Its my #1 favorite album of all time and brings back such pleasant memories of highschool. I still say that 1995 was the best year for hiphop, hands down. I even remember buying the purple tape (for those that don't know-the tape was literally a transparent purple shell) on a trip to Atlanta in the summer of '95. I also bought Mack 10's first album, Dj Quik's Safe+Sound, The Show soundtrack, and the Bad Boys soundtrack at the underground mall (Sam Goody's, I think). I also remember buying that issue of The Source with Mike Tyson on the cover the month he was released from prison.
I remember hearing seeing the video for Ice Cream and being like, "oh shlt, this is dope!" I had this whiteboy John from homeroom dub me a copy of that tape and that ODB album and it was a done deal. Wore that tape out until I finally bought it that summer. I recall after this cd dropped, everyone was talking that godbody shit at school and wearing Tommy Hilfiger and shlt. Even the females were on that Wu-shlt, real talk. Good times.

Other great albums from that time period...
2. Mobb Deep -The Infamous
3. Snoop Doggy Dogg -Doggystyle
4. Scarface -The Diary
5. Nas -Illmatic
6. Dj Quik -Safe+Sound
 
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#classic "hip hop" album from the west coast which was rare during the gangsta rap era..




Back in my day I bought this album 'bout foe times...

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The Chronic- Dre
Enter 36 chambers-WU Tang
Only Built for Cuban Linx-Raekwon
Supreme Clintele-Ghostface
Murda Muzik- Mobb Deep
ZRo- Look what you did to me
 
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Bone Thugs In Harmony -E 1999
Onyx-All We got is us
CNN-The War Report
Mobb Deep-Hell on Earth
Kool Kieth as Dr.Octagon
Redman-Muddy Waters
Method Man -Tical
Talib+Mos Def as Black Star
Cappadonna-The Pillage
Rakim-The 18th Letter
Snoop Dogg-The Doggfather
Killaarmy-Silent Weapons for quiet war's
Busta Rhymes-When Disaster Strikes
Dead Prez-Lets Get Free
Canibus-2000 B.C.
The Roots-Illadelph Halflife
C-Murda-Life or Death
RZA as Bobby Digital in Stereo
Outkast-ATLiens
Black Moon-Enta Da Stage
Snoop Dogg and The Eastsidaz
Celly Cel-Killa Kali
Common Sense-Resurrection
GZA-Liquid Swords
Master P-The Ghetto's trying to kill me
E-40-Charlie Hustle The Blueprint of a Self-Made Millionaire
Def Squad-El Nino
Jay-Z-Streets is Watching
Triple Six Mafia:Underground
 
Cosign Bone Thugs E-1999. The first CD I ever bought. Anyone remember trying to decode that sh1t on the inside of the disc case?
 
Nas - ILLmatic
Biggie - Ready To Die
Gang Starr - Moment Of Truth
Big L - Lifestyles Ov Da Poor & Dangerous
Madvillain - Madvillainy
Pete Rock - Soul Survivor
J Dilla - Welcome 2 Detroit
Slum Village - Fantastic 1 & 2
Mobb Deep - The Infamous
Ghostface Killah - Ironman
Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
 
Good times in this thread.

I think I did the same for one of my lil homies when I put him on to MadVillainy. Phukked his whole shit up. Lol We joke about it to this day, cause I was watching him listen to it and he was just stuck, like he smoked some ol ill shit or something. Nah it was just the music. He was done , he never heard nothing like that before.
 
Slum village: fantastic vol. 1&2
Lootpack: soundpieces da antidote
ATCQ: midnight Marauders, low end theory
Qtip: aamplified, renaissance
De LA soul: DE LA soul is dead
Gangstarr: everything!
Pete Rock & cl smooth: mecca and the soup brother
Little brother: the listening, the minstrel show
Wu-Tang :Enter the Wutang
Ghostface Killah: supreme clientele
Jurassic 5: everything
Method man & Redman : blackout
Redman: muddy waters, what de album
Slick Rick: the great Adventures of Slick Rick,
Quasimoto: the Unseen, the further adventures of lord quas
Mos Def: black on both sides, ecstatic
Madvillain: Madvillainy
MF doom: operations doomsday, take me to your leader, mm food
Lupe Fiasco: food and liquor, the cool
Jaylib : champion sound
Kanye west: everything
Freddie gibbs: pinata
 
Not sure if anybody mentioned it but Ice cube - Death Certificate was definitely one of those albums you could listen to all the way thru.
 
Forgot to add:
Common: like water for chocolate, be, finding forever.
And for anyone that produces: Donuts by J Dilla is a must, Beat konducta 1 - 6, petestrumentals.
 
Ridin Dirty By UGK - This is the seminal Southern album. Everything you know about southern hip hop stemmed from this album. Lil Wayne? Chamillionaire? T.I.? Big Krit? J.Cole...... everything outside of maybe outkast and Three 6 Mafia was profoundly affected by this album. There are so many overt references in modern hip hop to this album that there's no time to mention all the subtle ones

Doggystyle by Snoop Dogg - What I love about this album is that it's the quintessential idea of what a Mainstream hip hop album is. Its really the blueprint for making a mass appealing album. And he executed it to perfection. To those outside of the core hip hop fan base this album has everything outsiders LOVE and HATE about hip hop.

Reasonable Doubt - It had all the lyrical perfection of underground rap album but all the melody and deft song writing skill of a major release. You can play it in the background with a group of friends or you can listen to it with headphones brooding in your dorm room alone.

Blueprint - It was the cementing of Jay's legend but it was the launching of Kanye's legend. And while rarely put on the same level it launched Just Blaze's equally legendary status as well. It was dumbed down lyrics when you compare it to reasonable doubt BUT it was MILES upon MILES smarter then the rest of the albums that came out that decade

College Dropout. I can write for a decade about College Dropout. You can't talk about this album without understanding context. This was released in the Golden age of CRACK MUSIC!!! Like Biggie and others talked about moving coke in a mafioso way. They really didnt even talk about all the messy details. This was the age of TI and Jeezy and Game And Lil Wayne and Cassidy and FAB. It was the age of the grungy coke dealer standing on the corner moving rocks. Here comes Kanye in a Tight pink polo and turned the genre back on its feet. This album single handedly spawned artists like Drake, J.cole, Kendrick Lamar, Chance The Rapper, Kid Cudi, Wale, etc. These artists wouldn't even be marketable if it wasn't for this album.

So Far Gone by Drake - I wouldn't even call it his greatest work. However its patient zero for the type of music in rap today. Drake some how walked the tight rope of classic boastful, braggadocio rap about opulent lifestyles while making himself vulnerable and shamelessly talking about relationship failures almost as much as sexual successes. It really is the album for the millennial. Its very materialistic and shallow at times while maintaining the balance of being fun and entertaining. But it hides a sense of self doubt and vanity. It also doesn't touch on the harsh realities of the economy and social ills we were dealing with kind of like the news and TV we have in this age.

Good Kid Maad City - The perfect concept album. It was a concept without hitting you over the head with it. It was diverse yet very on topic. It was a recognizable storyline but it was never predictable. And it was the counter balance to So Far Gone. It was VERY socially aware. And while it was mainly written in a first person perspective. It was written in a way that everyone could identify. It sounded like a classic hip hop album from the golden era but it didn't sound tired or trite. It didn't sound like they purposely made the beats sound "gritty" or even "west coast" It was original production yet it all felt like it belonged in a different era.

Ready To Die by Biggie - It was hip hop poetry. Throughout the album Big raps and even brags and boasts about self destructive habits everyone could identify with, fear, or even aspire too. It was everything the average fan wanted in a rap album. Shameless killing, sex, and spending. Selling crack to pregnant women, revenge killing, and having sex with his main chick's sister.

Here's where he solidified his classic. He made good on the promise of his title. And showed the consequences of his self destructive album. The last song on the album. Arguably one of the best songs, he proved he was Ready To Die. It was also an ominous "Warning" to the path hip hop was really headed.
 
Kanye - Late Registration
Action Bronson - Blue chips
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
Nas - Illmatic
OutKast-ATliens
Scarface- The Diary
Domo Genesis - No Idols

Anything alchemist has touched...lls
 
I must say that I agree with 85% of the albums listed. That 15% percent I don't agree with is just preference, but I have or have had all that were listed.

Slick Rick- The Art of Storytelling

There is also a group it seems like no one else has ever heard of but me. There album (tape lls)was off the hook...H2O = Hard To Obtain. I've been trying to find it again for years. Anyone know of it or find it...hit me up!
 
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