The Hip-Hop Thread, or Dids's Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums

[Yawning Chain]

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Dids:

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De La Soul - De La Soul is Dead

Prince Paul is God. Another album that's just amazingly high on the fun quotient. It never really takes itself seriously, and some of the really virtuoso performances kinda get lost. Even the skits are classic.

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Love this album, Joker also mentioned 3 Feet High... I am probably committing rap heresy or something, but I like Buhloone Mind State more. I think maybe cause it has more jazz hooks? Either way this album doesn't seem to get much love when De La Soul comes up, so wanted to put it out there.

-Al

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I couldn't finish reading this thread without echoing these sentiments about De La Soul is Dead. It contains my favorite line in all of hip hop, "Yo, this is MC Rack O' Ribs and the BBQ Crew..." A good sense of humor in hip hop is vastly underrated.

[NT!]

Some of the opinions in this thread are pretty LOL funny.

Here's my list, there is some overlap with other ones, but that's ok. I tend to be more of an East Coast guy, it's what I heard growing up.

In no particular order:

Nas - Illmatic
Nas - It Was Written

To me these albums are constantly at the top of any list, be it favorites, 'important' records, etc. I go back and forth between which one is better. Illmatic seems to exist perfectly in the time that it came out - it's not self-conscious, it doesn't give the impression of being 'constructed' - it's like it just stepped into existence out of what was going on, and captures a style and essence that existed, but hadn't been articulated in that way before.

It Was Written is more elaborate, more structured, almost like a series of fables, with all the constructs that implies, but it was also hard as [censored], it had some of the best collabos you could ask for, posse tracks that actually kill instead of just getting your people on a record. Nas' flow is as deadly and intricate as anyone, anywhere on this album.

Notorious BIG - Ready to Die

Not really much that I need to say about this album. As years pass, Biggie's flow is still timeless, but what stands out is his whole persona on this record, the little details in the way he narrates that tell you as much about how he sees the world as any of the machismo, bragging, or menace conveyed in his rhymes. He's crude, brutal, violent, but at the same time attuned to detail and description in an almost offhand way - it's a great contradiction.

Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star

I don't agree with the criticisms of Kweli's flow; I think he's a very solid studio MC, although show footage I've seen leads me to believe he's mediocre at best in a live setting. He's so peculiar and idiosynratic that I don't think he's best when he's got to carry an album on his own - I like his tracks but I can't listen to him for 60 or 70 minutes. Trading verses with Mos Def is when he's at his best; they offset each other very well, and share the tracks nicely on this record.

Aquemini - Only putting one Outkast record in my top ten feels almost criminal, because I think they are BY FAR the most fascinating group in popular music of the last fifteen years. I can't comprehend Dids' criticism of their albums - they are one of the VERY few hip-hop groups to make great albums, and I guess I'll take Aquemini as the foremost among these. What I like best is its cohesion and atmosphere, and how hot and filthy these hooks still sound in 07. I have gotten more mileage out of Outkast than possibly any artist other than Nas, and I think they've done a BETTER job than he has of staying on point and dropping consistently great albums. (I could write an epic poem about how painful it was to watch Nas fall off as hard as he did, and I'm definitely glad to hear 'Hip Hop is Dead' which is back on the right track for him).

The Roots - Game Theory
What???? Ahead of Things Fall Apart, Do You Want More, Illadelph Halflife? The Roots have been quietly and consistently killing everything in sight for over a decade, but this is actually my current favorite of all their albums. The production is aggressive, the live band sounds ferocious and soulful at the same time, the subject matter is political in a very timely way, but also based in some very human, very personal subject matter. "Can't Stop This," "Clock With No Hands," and many others just grab me every time - and it's great to see Malik B on this album and sounding good again.

Enter the Wu-Tang
Do I really need to say anything about the Wu? I took this over Cuban Linx (the best of the Wu solo records) because everything the various Wu members have done is sort of visible, in retrospect, from this album. Ghost's schizophrenic, oddly empathic flows, the sharper-than-cleats storytelling of Rae and Deck, the goofy lyricism of Method Man, Gza's unintelligible symbolism, Rza's self-absorbed weird-genius Orientalism. It's like looking back at a family photo.

Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein
I had pretty much abandoned the Def Jux catalog (much of which really deserves to be abandoned ::cough: hrmbb :aesoprocktj :cough: :cough: but I threw this record on a month or so ago and just couldn't get over how distinctive it is, how engrossing it is even with all its foibles. El-P is a genius producer, and while I wanted to include "Fantastic Damage" or "Funcrusher Plus" I think he's not quite the MC that I want to see showcased for entire records, even if I love some of the tracks on those albums, and appreciate them in totality much like I do this one. Some of the non-sequitors and wordplay on this album just make my toes wiggle.

DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
I don't want to go too deep into instrumental hip-hop and use up spaces that are better alotted to MC's, but this album just absolutely blew up what we knew about turntablism and put the pieces back together in a stark, crisp, compelling picture. Shadow's ear for drum pockets and fat instrumental samples is unmatched and it really shines on this record.

A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
I take this one over Midnight Marauders, not really sure why, probably because I heard it first and it really turned me on to the whole Brand Nubian sound. Something about how they can sound so smooth and laid back while reminding you that you can and will get stomped the [censored] out. This is another one of those albums where the humor, the mindset, the overall mood of the album is so distinctive.

Honorable Mention
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Things Fall Apart, Fantastic Damage, Funcrusher Plus, Straight Outta Compton, It Takes a Nation..., Vocal Studies & Uprock Narratives, Deadringer, The Infamous, Internal Affairs, ATLiens, Wu-Tang Forever, Lifestyles of da Poor & Dangerous, Genocide & Juice, 6 Feet Deep.

Dishonorable Mention: Anything by Atmosphere or Aesop Rock. I can't describe how much I have grown to despise these rappers.

[SharkTank43]

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Some of the opinions in this thread are pretty LOL funny.



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This thread would be pretty lame if everbody had the same 15 albums. I like seeing differing opinions, as opposed to everyone listing Illmatic, Cold Vein, 36 Chambers etc.

[snorer]

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Some of the opinions in this thread are pretty LOL funny.



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This thread would be pretty lame if everbody had the same 15 albums. I like seeing differing opinions, as opposed to everyone listing Illmatic, Cold Vein, 36 Chambers etc.

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speechless

[IggyWH]

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Nas - Illmatic
Nas - It Was Written

To me these albums are constantly at the top of any list, be it favorites, 'important' records, etc. I go back and forth between which one is better. Illmatic seems to exist perfectly in the time that it came out - it's not self-conscious, it doesn't give the impression of being 'constructed' - it's like it just stepped into existence out of what was going on, and captures a style and essence that existed, but hadn't been articulated in that way before.

It Was Written is more elaborate, more structured, almost like a series of fables, with all the constructs that implies, but it was also hard as [censored], it had some of the best collabos you could ask for, posse tracks that actually kill instead of just getting your people on a record. Nas' flow is as deadly and intricate as anyone, anywhere on this album.

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Illmatic is definitely an all-time great, but to me, It Was Written is a better album. I might be in the minority on that one.

[NT!]

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Illmatic is definitely an all-time great, but to me, It Was Written is a better album. I might be in the minority on that one.


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like i said, i have a hard time picking. i think someone hearing both for the first time today is more likely to appreciate It Was Written. Illmatic requires a bit more context.

i listen to It Was Written more often.

[NT!]

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Some of the opinions in this thread are pretty LOL funny.



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This thread would be pretty lame if everbody had the same 15 albums. I like seeing differing opinions, as opposed to everyone listing Illmatic, Cold Vein, 36 Chambers etc.

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Don't get me wrong, I like hearing about other albums, especially because I'm pretty ignorant of older West Coast stuff other than NWA. I'm not saying everyone has to like the same albums as me. However statements like "Outkast have never learned how to build a whole album" or "Cam'ron and Dipset are the best rappers out there today" are NOTHING if not LOL funny.

[ThaSaltCracka]

I like It Was Written more as well.

[Dids]

NT,

The later halves of Outkast's albums have dragged violently. I think Stankonia is a great example. In general, they need an editor to remove about 30% of Andre's ideas and then the albums will be much, much nicer.

Also, pleae elaborate as to what you hate about Atmosphere and Aesop Rock so much.

[NajdorfDefense]

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An album that I neglected to mention, that might just push EPMD off the list, is Goodie Mob's Soul Food.

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Wow, I haven't heard that album in so long.

Most people don't know that Cee-Lo from Goodie Mob is the MC for Gnarls Barkley.

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What, like people don't know Cee-Lo from C-Murder or something? What other Cee-Lo would it be?