2023 was the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and in honor of this anniversary, the idea bloomed in my mind last year that I should review the top 50 albums of that 50 years. As I crunched together a list from various sources, 50 proved to be too restrictive- many of the classics were getting squeezed out. So, to make a little more room, I opted for 100 albums, two for each of hip hop’s 50 years. Due to some medical situations, I took a three+ month hiatus from blogging last year, so I didn’t finish the series. But I’m back at it, and I don’t mind extending into 2025 if you don’t!

For its formative years, hip hop was a live entertainment form, with the first recorded singles not emerging until 1979, and the first albums in 1980. So my review covers 1980-2023, with 50 posts of two albums each. The only ground rule I made for myself (besides looking for 2×50, aka 100, albums that were widely well-regarded) was that I had to have at least one from each year. As you’ll see by and by, some years get multiple albums, but since we have 100 spots for 43 years, it tends to all work out.

And with that, let’s embark on our next installment!

Snoop Doggy Dogg, Doggystyle (1993)– The two albums in this post are so well-paired, being the respective apotheoses of West Coast and East Coast hip hop just as that was becoming a vital distinction. Some might make the case, reasonably, that The Chronic is the signal album of the West Coast scene. But I would say this album is really a continuation of The Chronic, where Snoop had originally been introduced, and an even fiercer distillation of producer Dr. Dre’s G-funk sound. It also broke through to mass culture, both in musical influence and controversy, at an even higher level than its predecessor. In terms of production, performance, and structure, the album is well nigh flawless- connecting skits that tell vivid stories, sharp and surprising lyrical turns, Snoop’s distinctive lackadaisical flow, metallic beats, laid-back funky grooves, and distinctive squelchy synthesizers, cleverly deployed samples and interpolations. There isn’t a second of it that isn’t a great listen. And it is, just as often, appalling. The general critical question of gangster rap might be summarized as: Is it reflecting and even criticizing a certain urban reality, or is it glorifying and amplifying the worst parts of that reality? That question becomes super-salient with this album because the sexual braggadocio, the misogyny, drug culture, and gang violence are all turned up to the max. Sometimes with a humor that feels tongue in cheek, sometimes with a genuine sense of menace, but in a way that never leaves one comfortable. Which is, in a way, another mark of a great album.

Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)- From the West to the East… There are certainly those who would make the case for Jay-Z, Nas, or the Notorious B.I.G. having made the quintessential East Coast hip hop album. Not a ridiculous case, and all of them will appear later in our list. But this, much like The Chronic/Doggystle for the West, is the album that established the 90s renaissance of East Coast hip hop artistically and commercially, and served as an inspiration for those to come. Coming from the same Long Island neighborhood, cousins RZA and GZA had seen their childhood trio with another cousin, the future Ol’ Dirty Bastard, fall through. They’d then been signed separately, but had their solo careers similarly falter. This soured them on the industry, but not on their music, and they became determined to do their own project with other rising stars from their neighborhood. Mix together nine members with distinctive voices in both senses of the word, alternating wacky humor and menace, a crunchy sound that is in part an artifact of their limited budget, and a melange of influences that include classic soul samples, Five Percent Nation philosophy, kung fu movies, and comics, and you get a debut album that is, against the odds, a masterpiece. It was a sensation at the time, remains influential, and, most tellingly, still sounds like a fresh and amazing surprise today.

If you’re curious about the sources I used to compile my list, you can check them out here:

• Beats, Rhymes & Lists- The 50 Best Hip Hop Albums of the 1980s
• Beats, Rhymes & Lists- 250 Best Rap Albums of All Time
• Complex- The Best Rap Albums of the 80s
• GQ UK- The 28 best hip-hop albums that you should listen to immediately 
• Hip Hop Golden Age- Top 100 Hip Hop Albums of the 1980s
• Music Grotto- 51 Best Hip Hop Albums of All Time
• ONE37pm- The 62 Best Hip Hop Albums of All Time
• Pitchfork- Highest Rated Hip Hop Albums of All Time
• Rolling Stone- The 200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time
• The Source- Hip Hop Albums Rated 5 Mics Out of 5 (as of January 2011)
  

And if you want to catch up on the previous installments, here they are…

1. Sugarhill Gang- Sugarhill Gang (1980)/Kurtis Blow- Kurtis Blow (1980)
2. Sugarhill Gang- 8th Wonder (1981)/Grandmaster Flash- The Message (1982)
3. Wild Style Original Soundtrack (1983)/Fat Boys- Fat Boys (1984)
4. Kurtis Blow- Ego Trip (1984)/Run-D.M.C.- Run-D.M.C. (1984)
5. Whodini- Escape (1985)/The Treacherous Three- The Treacherous Three (1985)
6. Run-D.M.C.- King of Rock (1985)/LL Cool J- Radio (1985)
7. Beastie Boys- Licensed to Ill (1986)/Run-D.M.C.- Raising Hell (1986)
8. Boogie Down Productions- Criminal Minded (1987)/Eric B. & Rakim- Paid in Full (1987)
9. LL Cool J- Bigger and Deffer (1987)/Big Daddy Kane- Long Live the Kane (1988)
10. Boogie Down Productions- By All Means Necessary (1988)/EPMD- Strictly Business (1988)
11. Eric B. & Rakim- Follow the Leader (1988)/Jungle Brothers- Straight Out the Jungle (1988)
12. N.W.A- Straight Outta Compton (1988)/Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back (1988)
13. Slick Rick- The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988)/Ultramagnetic MCs- Critical Beatdown (1988)
14. Beastie Boys- Paul’s Boutique (1989)/Big Daddy Kane- It’s a Big Daddy Thing (1989)
15. De La Soul- 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)/EPMD- Unfinished Business (1989)
16. Geto Boys- Grip It! On That Other Level (1989)/Kool G Rap & DJ Polo- Road To The Riches (1989)
17. The D.O.C.- No One Can Do It Better (1989)/Ice Cube- AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted (1990)
18. A Tribe Called Quest- The Low End Theory (1991)/Ice Cube- Death Certificate (1991)
19. Dr. Dre- The Chronic (1992)/Pete Rock and CL Smooth- Mecca and the Soul Brother (1992)
20. The Pharcyde- Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde (1992)/A Tribe Called Quest- Midnight Marauders (1993)

Finally, if you’d like a playlist for the entire list, you can find that here. Listen to it sequentially for the historical development of the genre, or play on shuffle for maximum historical scramble!