The 100 Greatest Hip Hop Albums (50-46)by Henry Adaso, About.com 100-96|95-91|90-86|85-81|80-76|75-71|70-66|65-61|60-56|55-51 |
50. Big Punisher
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"Pun's rhyme deluge continues on his highly entertaining inaugural album, Capital Punishment. He expands his palette with guest turns from Wyclef Jean (on the reggae-tinged "Caribbean Connection"), Black Thought from the Roots (the tongue-twisting "Super Lyrical") and Wu-Tang's Inspectah Deck (with Prodigy from Mobb Deep, on the sublime, RZA-produced "Tres Leches")... Slipping comfortably into the lovable-street-tough niche popularized by the late, great Biggie Smalls, Big Punisher has delivered a debut remarkably devoid of fat." ~ Chairman Mao, Rolling Stone |
49. Black Star
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"Even in hip-hop--a genre famous for auspicious debuts--Black Star, the first album from the team of Mos Def and Talib Kweli, stands out. It's not just because these guys know their history (an update of Slick Rick's classic "Children's Story," a fine jack of BDP's "The P Is Free" on "Definition," and shout-outs to 2Pac, Biggie, and the Rock Steady Crew) and have paid their dues. Mos Def had been bouncing around the Native Tongues family for years, and both he and Kweli are featured on the Soundbombing and Lyricist Lounge albums. No, Black Star stands out simply because it's a great album, an intelligent, progressive, and funky piece of work that showcases two great MCs, both of whom have internalized the best parts of Guru, Rakim, and Q-Tip." ~ Randy Silver, Amazon |
48. Outkast
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"ATLiens, like its platinum predecessor, Southernplay-alisticadillacmuzik, is a gritty document of what's happening here and now, an up-to-the-minute briefing on Southern black ghetto life... What distinguishes this record from the materialistic hedonism of much East Coast rap, and the gunplay and pimpism of its West Coast counterpart, is more than OutKast's Southern roots. On ATLiens – produced by the duo and Organized Noize (the crew responsible for TLC's chart-topping "Waterfalls") – Andre and Big Boi display a unique ability to describe ghetto life while offering up life-affirming possibilities, something all too rare in today's hip-hop nation." ~ Kevin Powell, Rolling Stone |
47. The Roots
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"The Roots' Philadelphia-based groove collective build slick acid jazz playing around the smooth East Coast rhyming of A Tribe Called Quest and wild West Coast freestyling to create sounds as formless and fluid as jazz, but never unrecognizable as hip-hop. The music picks up where the mad scatting and melodic trills of L.A.'s defunct Freestyle Fellowship left off, and wakes up the tired hype of jazz/rap cross-polination to new possibilities. The roots of this kind of fusion have long been around, though perhaps these Roots are hope for a new dawning." |
46. Organized Konfusion
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"Before Pharoahe Monch started playing party games, he was working with partner Prince Poetry to put together three of the best albums in hip-hop history. Stress: The Extinction Agenda is the best of this musical triple crown. Every song has an ace beat that mixes loose, jazzy samples and tightly coiled snares. And every song features two of hip-hop's all-time greatest MCs doing their best work, using their voices like instruments to create performances that are intellectually stimulating and rhythmically bangin'. Pharoahe's verse on "Bring It On" is raw enough to force even the hardest MCs to consider careers as accountants." ~ Joe Schloss, Amazon |
100-96|95-91|90-86|85-81|80-76|75-71|70-66|65-61|60-56|55-51 |
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