The 100 Greatest Hip Hop Albums (75-71)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 |
75. DMX
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"Watching DMX--baldheaded and shirtless, tattooed and musclebound--as he simultaneously goes platinum and gets arrested on rape charges (both of which occurred within weeks of this album's release), one can easily see the Yonkers, New York, rapper as a Tupac in training. And he's certainly no stranger to dumb thuggery on his much-anticipated debut. But unlike Tupac, who tempered hard-core beatdowns with party pick-me-ups, DMX is strictly business, part of a street reaction against the Puff Daddy-fueled, late-1990s slew of lightweight pop-rap crossovers... both DMX's forceful voice and solid production have moments of greatness. At times DMX even manages to squeeze memorable hooks out of this otherwise claustrophobic release." ~ Roni Sarig , Amazon |
74. Mobb Deep
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"One of the cornerstones of the New York hardcore movement, The Infamous is Mobb Deep's masterpiece, a relentlessly bleak song cycle that's been hailed by hardcore rap fans as one of the most realistic gangsta albums ever recorded. Given Mobb Deep's youthful age and art-school background, it's highly unlikely that The Infamous is drawn strictly from real-life experience, yet it's utterly convincing, because it has all the foreboding atmosphere and thematic sweep of an epic crime drama... The product of an uncommon artistic vision, The Infamous stands as an all-time gangsta/hardcore classic. " ~ Steve Huey , All Music |
73. Pharcyde
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"Like De La Soul's Three Feet High & Rising, the Pharcyde's 1992 debut came at a time when hip-hop was headed in one direction, but the group was going somewhere else entirely. A crew of spunky b-boys armed with a self-deprecating sense of humor, the Pharcyde made an album that was fresh and profoundly honest... With animated beats from J-Swift (the West Coast version of Prince Paul) and four distinct rhyming styles, particularly Slim Kid Tre's melodiousness and Fat Lip's nerdiness, this album captures an innocence rarely seen in the music's posturing ways. It's something that this album captures forever." ~ Joseph Patel, Amazon |
72. Geto Boys
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"The cover of the Geto Boys' We Can't Be Stopped shows a member with his eye poked out. It's grotesque, but realistic -- a realistic cover for an album whose violent, profane lyrics paint a vivid and accurate picture of life as the Geto Boys knew it growing up in Houston's tough ghetto known as the 5th Ward... an engaging, disturbing effort that comes across as much more heartfelt than the numerous gangsta rap albums by the N.W.A and Cube clones and wannabes who jumped on the gangsta bandwagon in the early '90s. We Can't Be Stopped serves as an unsettling reminder of the type of ugly social conditions that were allowed to fester in poor inner-city neighborhoods." |
71. Biz Markie
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"The Cold Chillin' class clown, Biz Markie debuted with Goin' Off, one of the most unrelentingly amusing sets of productions and performances of anyone during hip-hop's golden age. Markie was an oversized teenager with lyrical talents (if not finesse) far beyond his years, and material opposed to most every rapper around -- trading in nightclubs for the mall and striking a pose for picking your nose... The rangy Marley Marl cued up some classic backing tracks for these songs, with any hint of braggadocio counteracted by his carnival-esque production sense." ~ John Bush, All Music |
100-96|95-91|90-86|85-81|80-76|75-71|70-66|65-61|60-56|55-51 |
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