The 100 Greatest Hip Hop Albums (100-96)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 |
100. MF Doom
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"Simultaneously hailed as an underground classic and cast aside as poorly produced backpack rap, Operation: Doomsday inaugurated the reign of MF Doom in underground rap from the early to mid-2000s... On his subsequent material, he developed a more steady and refined delivery, but on this debut, Doom was at his rawest and, lyrically, most dexterous. The out-of-left-field edge of Doom's production -- which features '80s soul and smooth jazz mixed with classic drum breaks -- is indeed abstract at times, but his off-kilter rhymes are palatable and absent any pretentiousness. In fact, the album arguably contains some of the freshest rhymes one might have heard around the time of its release." ~ Cyril Cordor, All Music |
99. Salt-N-Pepa
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"One of the first albums to challenge hip-hop's machocratic sovereignty, Salt-N-Pepa's Hot, Cool & Vicious takes as its musical model Run-D.M.C.'s potent distillation of streetwise repartee, hard-ass bluster and beatbox rhythms. Determined to say it loud and say it proud, r-r-r-rappers Cheryl "Salt" James and Sandy "Pepa" Denton wield their womanhood like an urban-jungle machete, busting unfaithful lovers in "Chick on the Side," threatening female competitors "just for spite" in "I'll Take Your Man," dishing distaff disses at Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick in "The Showstopper," and condemning mindless male promiscuity in "Tramp." With its aerobic BPMs and synth-pop hook, the Top 20 hit "Push It" is the album's most obvious--and most effective--bid for dancefloor immortality." ~ Greg Siegel, Amazon |
98. Kanye West
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"Late Registration is an undeniable triumph, packed front to back, so expansive it makes the debut sound like a rough draft. West has turned into a real MC, earning the right to boast about opening a store for aspiring Kanye wanna-be's: "But if they ever flip sides like Anakin/ You will sell everything, including the mannequin/They got a new bitch, now you're Jennifer Aniston."... The beat kicks back in and West proudly talks his shit, still going strong as the groove rolls on past the seven-minute mark. After the triumph of Late Registration, he can talk all he wants." ~ Rob Sheffield , Rolling Stone |
97. Freestyle Fellowship
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96. Eminem
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"It's hard to know what to make of Eminem, even if you know that half of what he says is sincere and half is a put-on; the trick is realizing that there's truth in the joke, and vice versa. Many dismissed his considerable skills as a rapper and social satirist because the vulgarity and gross-out humor on The Slim Shady LP were too detailed for some to believe that it was anything but real... Eminem's writing is so sharp and clever that the jokes cut as deeply as the explorations of his ruptured psyche. The production is nearly as evocative as the raps, with liquid basslines, stuttering rhythms, slight sound effects, and spacious soundscapes... It may be a world that is as infuriating as it is intriguing, but it is without question his own, which is far more than most of his peers are able to accomplish at the dawn of a new millennium." ~ Stephen Erlewine, 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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