The 100 Greatest Hip Hop Albums (35-31)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 |
35. Public Enemy
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"PE's third album is dense, heavy, and urgent as a bullet. Fear of a Black Planet single-handedly added half a dozen phrases to the language, and not just from Chuck D.'s troop-rallying bellow--Flavor Flav's "911 Is a Joke" is as catchy an indictment of urban policy as anyone has ever come up with. The Bomb Squad's music is complicated, challenging, terse, and totally funky, and Chuck matches it with one impassioned pronouncement after another: on Hollywood's racism, on miscegenation, on "real history / Not his story." The album ends with "Fight the Power," the group's ultimate statement of purpose, from its pounding, atonal sound collage to its furious politics. Put Black Planet on, and it's always a long, hot summer." |
34. Ghostface Killah
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"Every Wu-Tang Clan solo project has a different flavor, and Ghostface Killah's Ironman is no exception. Though it boasts cameos from nearly every other Wu-Tang member — notably Raekwon and Cappadonna — Ironman is unlike any other record in RZA's catalog of productions, particularly because it's significantly lighter in tone. There are still touches of the Wu's signature urban claustrophobia throughout the record, but the music is largely built on samples of early-'70s soul, from Al Green to the Delfonics... the record is filled with inventive production and rhymes, and ranks as another solid entry in the Wu-Tang legacy. " ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music |
33. Ice Cube
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"When Ice Cube split from N.W.A after the group's seminal Straight Outta Compton album changed the world forever, expectations were high, too high to ever be met by anyone but the most talented of artists, and at his most inspired. At the time Cube was just that. With AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted the rapper expanded upon Compton, making a more full-bodied album that helped boost the role of the individual in hip-hop... AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted is a timeless, riveting exercise in anger, honesty, and the sociopolitical possibilities of hip-hop." ~ David Jeffries, All Music |
32. Redman
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"The last of hip-hop's great party albums, Whut? never had to take itself too seriously and Redman made sure you didn't either. His weed-fueled rhyme-flow sizzled on the album's many P-Funk inspired tracks (courtesy of EPMD's Erick Sermon), and many songs ("Time 4 Sum Aksion," "Rated R"), jumped with an energy that tore the roof off and burned the house down. But more than just churn out bouncy club anthems, Redman showcased a wit ("How to Roll a Blunt") and laid-back flair ("Tonight's the Night") that helped plant his foot as one of hip-hop's most vibrant MCs." ~ Oliver Wang, Amazon |
31. Beastie Boys
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"Ad-Rock, Mike D. and MCA hunkered down in the hills of Los Angeles, played dress-up in a lot of Seventies clothes and emerged with their greatest album — a high-water mark of hip-hop's golden age of sampling. With the Dust Brothers production team serving as the Beasties' George Martin, Paul's Boutique became a dense, dizzying collision of lyrical references... spliced with snippets from across the music spectrum: Afrika Bambaataa, Funkadelic, Johnny Cash and the Eagles... What anybody can appreciate: the long shadow this hip-hop masterpiece casts, from Beck to Girl Talk to mash-up culture and beyond." ~ Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone |
100-96|95-91|90-86|85-81|80-76|75-71|70-66|65-61|60-56|55-51 |
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