Tag Archives: album-review

50 Years of Hip Hop Album Review: The Score, Reasonable Doubt

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2023 was the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and in honor of this anniversary, in 2024 the idea bloomed in my 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 several months long hiatus from blogging that year, so I didn’t finish the series. It’s now 2026, whole new medical situation and still proceeding fitfully, but I won’t stop 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!

Fugees, The Score (1996)– First of all, I was shocked when I read up on this album to realize that the Fugees only made two albums. They’re definitely an example of a group whose quality and legacy of work exceeds its output! Listening to it, I appreciated how much is coming together here. There’s the sophistication East Cast hip hop production had reached at that time, the feeling for street-level reality of gangster rap, the social and political critique and vision of something better of conscious hip hop, the cinematic flair of the Wu-Tang clan, and the smooth groove of neo-soul. Which is not to say the Fugees, or this album, are in way following or derivative. Instead, they reached out and grasped multiple threads that were in the air, and tied them together in a free and flowing way while making central points of view that had often been overlooked- refugees, women. The album that resulted deserves every bit of the critical and popular acclaim it received at the time and retains to this day.

Jay-Z, Reasonable Doubt (1996)- I’m a big fan of Jay-Z’s later work, he is, in my opinion, a unique talent who created some of the best music of the 00s. So I was looking forward to listening to this, his first album, with curiosity. It feels a little rough to me, in the sense that it takes a few tracks to get going, and is loaded with guests who don’t always seem to support the artist and the album. But when it does hit, the swagger, the vulnerability, the musical and vocal flow, the wordplay all shows that his talent was there from the very first. And in fact, it’s a bit of a peculiar “first”, in the sense that he’d been part of the New York City hip hop scene for several years up to the point at which he decided that he wasn’t going to wait anymore to get signed and promoted, instead founding Roc-A-Fella records and recording and releasing his debut himself. It performed well but not amazingly, but it was his foot in the door, and here he is a whole billionaire music mogul later. I can’t quite get behind the many who consider it his best album (we’ll get there later in this list), but you can definitely feel the drive and hear the promise right from this start.

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

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)
  21. Snoop Doggy Dogg- Doggystyle (1993)/Wu-Tang Clan- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
  22. Nas- Illmatic (1994)/Scarface- The Diary (1994)
  23. The Notorious B.I.G.- Ready to Die (1994)/2Pac- Me Against the World (1995)
  24. Bone Thugs-n-Narmony–E. Eternal 1999 (1995)/GZA-Liquid Swords (1995)
  25. Mobb Deep- The Infamous (1995)/Raekwon- Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995)
  26. 2Pac- All Eyez on Me (1996)/DJ Shadow- Endtroducing… (1996)

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!

What Were the Best Albums of the Twenty-Teens? V2! (Part 6 of 6)

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Wait, didn’t I already review the 2010s? Indeed I did! See here for my picks for the best albums of the 2010s from that first review. But we’re not quite done, and the reason why involves 2024…

It turns out that 2024 was the 25th year of the millennium. And that is just too rich a symbolic target for me to forgo- the chance to discover the 25 best albums of the first quarter century of a new millennium! I have all the source material I’ll need: I’ve reviewed the 2000s in several venues, did the above-mentioned 2010s review, and have top 20-23 lists for 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023, with the search for 24 for 2024 now underway.

But my 2010s list is a little light comparatively. While my 2000s list from various sources sports around 60 entries, my 2010s review of 52 of the the critic’s top-ranked albums resulted in 34 picks. In order to balance that out a bit decade by decade, I’ve decided to go ahead and review the next tier down of 2010s albums per my original source lists. That will give us 36 more albums to review, which I’ll do in 6 blocks of 6. And hopefully thereby have a few more picks for my aspired Grand Review of 2000-2024!

So far we’ve had: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 And with that, let’s get on with part 5!

Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (Sturgill Simpson, 2014)– Simpson’s 2021 album The Ballad of Dood and Juanita made my top 21 list that year, so I came into this listen well-disposed. That would have been awkward if this album let me down, but in fact it’s knocked my socks off! Everything I’ve come to expect of him from his later projects is on display here- both a reverence for traditional country music, and a playful subversion of it. Picture an album that musically puts you in mind of achingly authentic honky-tonk, bluegrass, outlaw country, and the 80s neo-traditionalists. Now picture that album opening with an ode to psychedelics, including a cover of an 80s synth pop song, and being shot through with a very modern take on mental health and addiction issues and throwing in some psych rock distortion for good measure.

Red (Taylor Swift, 2012)– Damn can the girl write a song! And perform it, by which I don’t mean the extravaganza stage shows (though she does do that), but the phrasing, the delivery, knowing just when to let something out, pull back, get serious, or silly. One of the other things I look for in historical reviews is ongoing influence, and there’s no missing how a whole school of female singer/songwriters of the teens and twenties owe their approach to her. For this album in particular, I appreciate how the sound is grounded in the kind of pop country she started out with, but it goes from there to incorporate rock pop, and the techniques of electronic dance music. And every single song hits when it fires. I do find myself wondering toward the end if it’s gone on just a hair too long, but there’s no denying this album delivers.

House of Balloons (The Weeknd, 2011)– I just don’t know what to think of The Weeknd. He’s clearly artistically serious and talented. And there are times I find his songs to be so damn catchy! Then there are others when the extremely processed vocals and music gets to me and feels alienating. On the other hand, that alienation in the midst of poppy overdrive is kind of the point and many of his songs harness this contradiction and ride it. I was caught in that cycle throughout this album- feeling like I was in the midst of greatness, but then flickering to wondering if it was getting a little tiresome. So I guess, maybe?

The Monitor (Titus Andronicus, 2010)– I was a little familiar with Titus Andronicus, their 2022 album The Will to Live made my honorable mention list that year. But this, their second album, was a revelation! It’s a kind of trip-tych of New Jersey, and concept album based on the Civil War combined. Which could be way too heady a mix, but imagine all of that in the hands of a punky Bruce Springsteen. At times it’s unhinged, at times tongue in cheek, and others total in earnest, and rocking the whole way through!

Astroworld (Travis Scott, 2018)– I appreciate the minimalism of the mix, and the artistry and intent of the rhymes. But, this is an exemplar of the autotuned monotone mumble rap school of 21st century hip hop that I just cannot abide by. I’ve tried, and I just can’t!

Titanic Rising (Weyes Blood, 2019)– I was pulling for this, and it does have a lot going for it. Intelligent and emotionally sophisticated lyrics. A sometimes wickedly on target vocal phrasing. And harmonies and melodies that combine with crashing chords to make something truly grand. But, at the end of the day, there’s just too much all one energy level and tone musically and vocally for it to really come together for me.

And with that we have made it through group six of six! Of this batch, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, The Monitor and Red seem to be yeses, and House of Balloons is a maybe. So we’re done with this re-reevaluation, right?

Well, stay tuned…

50 Years of Hip Hop Album Review: All Eyez on Me, Endtroducing…

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2023 was the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and in honor of this anniversary, in 2024 the idea bloomed in my 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 several months long hiatus from blogging that year, so I didn’t finish the series. It’s now 2026, whole new medical situation and still proceeding fitfully, but I won’t stop 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!

2Pac, All Eyez on Me (1996)– I won’t lie, my first reaction on seeing this was a double album with over a two-hour run time was, “There can’t possibly be any call for that.” Between that and my impression from a few reviews ago that Me Against the World was a little scattered, I definitely came in skeptical. The energy, flow and rich production of the first track immediately began to disabuse me of that notion, and it built from there track by track. When I read up on the album’s production, the factors that make it so focused and powerful became apparent- unlike his previous albums, Tupac executive produced this himself, on individual tracks he pulled in an all star team of producers, and West Coast hip hop powerhouse DJ Quik mixed the final product. On top of that, Death Row records bailed Tupac out of prison specifically to make it, and he poured every inch of his talent and feelings into it as if it were his last chance to say something. Which in a way it was, as he was killed seven months after it came out. It dives deep into gangster themes and personas, and is punctuated throughout by his nihilistic laugh and a dark angry edge, but it never feels caricatured, and the squelchy synth-laden production is peerless. All in all it adds up to a strong and unsettling de facto last will and testament.

DJ Shadow, Endtroducing (1996)- This edition may have the most mismatched album pairing we’ve done yet. Then again, there may be a connection, as these two albums represent two entirely different school of hip hop, both of which were tremendously influential on the rest of the decade. The Entroducing version hearkens back to the early days of vinyl mixmasters, and reaches out to the electronic music genres of the nineties. DJ Shadow isn’t necessarily my favorite from the Bay Area turntabulism scene of that era, that would probably be Mixmaster Mike, who was the de-facto DJ for the Beastie Boys for several albums, or Lyrics Born, who was in one of my top album lists as recently as 2022 (and who, by the way, appears on the cover of this album, flipping through the vinyl). That being said, there is no denying his excellence, or this album’s. He produced it on next to nothing and with almost everything- only using a turntable, MPC sampler, and multi-track recorder, but composing it entirely out of dozens of vinyl-record samples from a dizzying array of genres. And if you’ve listened to entire subgenres of hip hop and electronic music, and/or attended certain formats of DJ night over the thirty (!) years since this came out, you’ve heard the ongoing influence of what he does here.

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

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)
  21. Snoop Doggy Dogg- Doggystyle (1993)/Wu-Tang Clan- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
  22. Nas- Illmatic (1994)/Scarface- The Diary (1994)
  23. The Notorious B.I.G.- Ready to Die (1994)/2Pac- Me Against the World (1995)
  24. Bone Thugs-n-Narmony–E. Eternal 1999 (1995)/GZA-Liquid Swords (1995)
  25. Mobb Deep- The Infamous (1995)/Raekwon- Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995)

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!

What Were the Best Albums of the Twenty-Teens? V2! (Part 5 of 6)

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Wait, didn’t I already review the 2010s? Indeed I did! See here for my picks for the best albums of the 2010s from that first review. But we’re not quite done, and the reason why involves 2024…

It turns out that 2024 was the 25th year of the millennium. And that is just too rich a symbolic target for me to forgo- the chance to discover the 25 best albums of the first quarter century of a new millennium! I have all the source material I’ll need: I’ve reviewed the 2000s in several venues, did the above-mentioned 2010s review, and have top 20-23 lists for 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023, with the search for 24 for 2024 now underway.

But my 2010s list is a little light comparatively. While my 2000s list from various sources sports around 60 entries, my 2010s review of 52 of the the critic’s top-ranked albums resulted in 34 picks. In order to balance that out a bit decade by decade, I’ve decided to go ahead and review the next tier down of 2010s albums per my original source lists. That will give us 36 more albums to review, which I’ll do in 6 blocks of 6. And hopefully thereby have a few more picks for my aspired Grand Review of 2000-2024!

So far we’ve had: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 And with that, let’s get on with part 5!

Light Up Gold (Parquet Courts, 2013)– Well slap me silly and call me Susie, it’s Rock n’ Roll! More specifically, it’s an indie left of center rock that feels familiar, in a timeless way. Bits of Modern Lovers, a dash of the Voidoids, a fair sprinkle of Wire, more than a pinch of the more madcap side of Southern California hardcore, a dribble of the Replacements, etc. I could picture this band, in a certain version, in any of the 70s, 80s, or 90s. But here they are, from Texas by way of New York City, all the way in the Twenty-Teens! It may not really cover any new ground, but darned if it doesn’t do what it does well nigh perfectly!

Let England Shake (PJ Harvey, 2011)– Well that was ridiculously great. How this darkly inflected exploration of what England is and what England means didn’t make it higher on the aggregated critic’s list is honestly beyond me! It feels richly poetic. Which it turns out is not just my imagination, per Wikipedia: “Harvey began writing lyrics for the album before setting the words to music. She has cited the poetry of Harold Pinter and T.S. Eliot as influences, as well as the artwork of Salvador Dalí and Francisco de Goya, the music of The Doors, The Pogues, and The Velvet Underground and the films of Stanley Kubrick, Ken Loach and Ari Folman.” Given the subject matter, and compared to the harsh edges her music is capable of, it often feels surprisingly delicately arranged and melodically light as well. This turns out to be true as well, with early composition done on the autoharp, which she was becoming enamored of at the time. The sometime spritely beauty, though, just enhances the disquiet of this pretty, powerful album.

El Mal Querer (Rosalia, 2018)– I had been enjoying Spanish singer/songwriter Rosalia’s more recent albums in my yearly reviews, so I was favorably disposed toward this. And, indeed, there is a lot to like here in terms of combining arty song craft with catchy electronic production. It never feels totally together to me though, as an album. I’m not mad at it though!

Silence Yourself (Savages 2013)– My teenage self would have loved this album by English post-punk band the Savages! It perfectly hits a post-punk/goth early eighties feeling. My adult self also likes it a lot, but is not sure if that feeling adds up to epochal album for the twenty-teens. If you’re looking for something that’s got vibes somewhere in the neighborhood of Bauhaus, Gang of Four, Magazine, and Siouxsie though, you won’t be disappointed.

Are We There (Sharon Van Etten, 2014)– These songs are beautiful, moody, and emotionally literate. They’re also all in such a similar musical and vocal range track to track that it has trouble working for me as an album. Alas!

Soccer Mommy, Clean

Clean (Soccer Mommy, 2018)– The teens certainly had a crop of earnest young things with emotionally complex lyrics and a music that is part lo-fi bedroom pop, part grunge, and part edm effects. That influence has continued strong into the twenties, and I feel like Soccer Mommy is one of the progenitors of the sound. She got her start on MySpace, and released two indie albums, but this was her proper studio album debut, and it crystalizes a sound and an era. While languid, it has more than enough heart, wit, and musical flourish to make it work.

And with that we have made it through group five of six! Of this batch, Let England Shake and Light Up Gold are yeses, and I would say Clean is a maybe. What awaits us in the final bracket?!?!?

50 Years of Hip Hop Album Review: The Infamous, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx

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2023 was the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and in honor of this anniversary, in 2024 the idea bloomed in my 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 several months long hiatus from blogging that year, so I didn’t finish the series. It’s now 2026 and still proceeding fitfully, but I won’t stop 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!

Mobb Deep, The Infamous (1995)– I’d definitely heard the name of this Queens duo before, but wasn’t at all familiar with the album name. Which apparently is a significant hole in my hip hop education, because it earned critical acclaim at the time, and is still widely regarded today as one of the cornerstones of the nineties East Coast hip hop scene along with Enter the Wu-Tang, Illmatic, and Ready to Die. I can certainly hear the things it’s regarded for- dark spare production, gritty beats, and a stripped-down no-nonsense flow and lyrical narration. Having read up on the production, I can also really appreciate how it came together- they knew the guidance they were getting from producers wasn’t right for the album, so they ended up producing it themselves (with some innovative sound engineering support for friend/supporter A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip). It’s powerful musically and lyrically, I can hear where it fits into the East Coast sound of the time, but somehow it’s not entirely up my alley. However, even if it doesn’t immediately end up on my personal “best of the best” list, the acclaim isn’t undeserved!

Raekwon, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995)- I think one of the problems The Infamous may have run into is that, as of this very review, we are halfway through the list! So, anything I’m listening to now is being compared to 50 or so of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. That being said, Raekwon is making it through the crowd! Maybe it’s because of the hot streak RZA and his basement studio were on at the time- this was being recorded at the same time as GZA’s Liquid Swords from our previous review posting, and shortly after RZA had put out another two Wu-Tang Clan member solo albums. Maybe it’s the synergy Raekwon and Ghostface Killah have here (it’s not far from being a collaboration between them). Maybe it’s the mix of inspirations- Isaac Hayes’s gritty street tales from the 70s, Five Percenter beliefs, John Woo and Sergio Leone gangster films. Maybe I’m just a sucker for the greater Wu-Tangverse. Whatever it is, this album, which was very influential on subsequent productions and remains well-regarded today, charmed the socks off of me!

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

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)
  21. Snoop Doggy Dogg- Doggystyle (1993)/Wu-Tang Clan- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
  22. Nas- Illmatic (1994)/Scarface- The Diary (1994)
  23. The Notorious B.I.G.- Ready to Die (1994)/2Pac- Me Against the World (1995)
  24. Bone Thugs-n-Narmony–E. Eternal 1999 (1995)/GZA-Liquid Swords (1995)

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!

What Were the Best Albums of the Twenty-Teens? V2! (Part 4 of 6)

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Wait, didn’t I already review the 2010s? Indeed I did! See here for my picks for the best albums of the 2010s from that first review. But we’re not quite done, and the reason why involves 2024…

It turns out that 2024 was the 25th year of the millennium. And that is just too rich a symbolic target for me to forgo- the chance to discover the 25 best albums of the first quarter century of a new millennium! I have all the source material I’ll need: I’ve reviewed the 2000s in several venues, did the above-mentioned 2010s review, and have top 20-23 lists for 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023, with the search for 24 for 2024 now underway.

But my 2010s list is a little light comparatively. While my 2000s list from various sources sports around 60 entries, my 2010s review of 52 of the the critic’s top-ranked albums resulted in 34 picks. In order to balance that out a bit decade by decade, I’ve decided to go ahead and review the next tier down of 2010s albums per my original source lists. That will give us 36 more albums to review, which I’ll do in 6 blocks of 6. And hopefully thereby have a few more picks for my aspired Grand Review of 2000-2024!

So far we’ve had: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Got it? Okay, let’s go with part 4!

Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (Lin Manuel Miranda, 2015)– Without question, Hamilton is a stupendous achievement. It brought a body of contemporary music to theater that had previously been ignored there, and recast both theater and a chunk of American history from the point of view of people of color. As an album, though, the soundtrack is probably less influential. That is to say, it brought hip hop and contemporary soul to theater, but they were already dominating pop music in the teens, and while the musical looms large, this album as such wasn’t musically influential. At least that’s how it seems to me, looking back from almost ten years on…

Pure Heroine (Lorde, 2013)– I had heard “Royals” of course, in 2014 you were actually required by law to listen to that song at least once a week. But I wasn’t otherwise familiar with this album. It turns out that the melodic synths and glitch beats that pervade the rest of the album are pretty pleasing. But the real star, by far, is Lorde’s voice, in both senses of the word. She manages to sound passionate and richly lackadaisical at the same time, and paints vivid pictures of love and life among youth on the outside- due to age, class, values, etc. So it’s a pleasure to listen to, it has depth, and it has cohesion, which is pretty darn good for a debut album from someone who was then in her teens!

Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (M83, 2011)– After a lifetime of skepticism, over the past two plus years, I have been developing some considerable affection for electronic music. More old school house and techno and their immediate offshoots than the more contemporary continental Euro-version, though there are definitely exceptions to that! But French electronic group M83, or at least this album by them, does not seem to be one of those exceptions. It’s just a little too dreamy synthy bleary all-one-tone for my tastes.

Puberty 2 (Mitski, 2013)– The weirdly off metallic beats, double-entente lyrics and vocal melody of the opener had me hooked right off! And then again on track two, which felt like nineties alternative come again. In general, she seems to be on a path that several other female song-writers of the teens were tuned in to- a kind of fusion of nineties guitar rock and electronic music production in a lush pop setting, with complex confessional emotional lyrics. Generally achingly pretty, but very not afraid to get rough and ugly, in fact relishing it. On this album, she makes that mix work from beginning to end.

The Pinkprint (Nicki Minaj, 2014)– I’m more than a little ashamed to say that I wasn’t really familiar with Nicki Minaj beyond the fact of her major cultural footprint, and part of me wanted to find something to dislike here due to her recent embrace of the Magaverse. However, if there’s one thing I’m never dishonest about, it’s what I think of music, and I have to report- I utterly failed! The versatility and verve of the production is amazing, blenderizing multiple aspects of twenty-teens hip-hope, soul, and dance music in a way that feels both effortless and very skillful. No less impressive, though, is her lyrical and vocal range and the variety of personas she writes from. Heartfelt ballads of disappointed love, soul-baring meditations on loss, and sheer bawdy raunch all co-exist here in a way where none of it feels false or out of place. Sorry part of me that wanted her to misstep, but she’s amazing! I can totally see how this album ended up on this list. In fact, I’m insulted on its behalf that it didn’t rank high enough with critics to get on the original batch of 2010s albums I reviewed.

After Laughter (Paramore, 2017)– I can hear a lot of roots here- both the pop and the more quirky new wave side of eighties electro-pop, frequent appearances of polyrhythms that bring the Talking Heads to mind, and some of the confessional rawness of alt nineties female singer songwriters. It’s never less than well-done, fun, and very agreeable. Can you smell the but coming? (Sorry about that, I swear I showered!) But… I’m not sure it adds up to more than that. I don’t hear the sound of this album descending to anything after the teens, being better than the best albums of that decade in a similar vein, or being as great as their (seeming, to my ear) inspirations. Sorry Paramore, I know that’s an insanely high standard, but we’re 24 albums into this review now, and the competition is fierce!

So there we are with batch four of six of the 36 overflow albums for the 2010s that I’m reviewing! From this batch, I would say Pure Heroine, Puberty 2 and The Pinkprint are definite “yeses”. That’s a 50% success rate according to my calculations! Stay tuned to see what awaits us in albums 25-30…

50 Years of Hip Hop Album Review: E. 1999 Eternal, Liquid Swords

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2023 was the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and in honor of this anniversary, in 2024 the idea bloomed in my 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 several months long hiatus from blogging that year, so I didn’t finish the series. It’s now 2026 and still proceeding fitfully, but I won’t stop 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!

Bone Thugs-n-Narmony, E. Eternal 1999 (1995)– Bone-Thugs-n-Harmony, formed in Cleveland in 1991, are maybe the first Midwestern hip hop entry on our list. I wasn’t familiar with them beyond “The Crossroads” (more on that below), but the name turns out to tell you a lot- they have a kind of perfect fusion of 90s gangster rap and 90s boy band harmonies, courtesy of the rapid flow “chopper” style of rapping. And although they’re Midwestern, their flavor of gangster rap is heavily redolent of West Coast hip hop, for good reason- they went on a months-long cross country quest to audition with Eazy-E (ironically finally catching up with him in Cleveland after months of searching L.A.) that resulted in their eventual signing with Ruthless Records, and work with Eazy-E and L.A. producer DJ U-Neek. This is their second album with Ruthless, and was their major breakthrough, eventually selling 4 million copies. Post-release they re-worked a song on the album, “The Crossroads” to serve as a tribute to Eazy-E, who had died shortly before the album came out, and their memorial to those who have passed was the first rap single to reach #2 nationwide. My impression after a good two listens is that, between the unique vocal style, the exquisite song production by DJ U-Neek, and the variety of ways they bring depth to the standard gangster rap themes, this album truly deserves its place in the list.

GZA, Liquid Swords (1995)- It’s a great thing to have a plan, and aiming high certainly gets you better results on average than not aiming anywhere. But the way some plans come together is a mystery of synergy, timing, and magic that’s beyond the everyday. Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA’s vision had always been that the group would serve as a launching pad for the individual members as well, with the group’s success expanding in all directions. Having already made an album for the ages with 1993’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), RZA headed back to his basement studio and wasted no time putting out successful albums for Method Man and Ol’ Dirty Bastard. He followed that up by simultaneously working on Raekwon’s album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… (which we’ll get to shortly in this series) and this album for co-founding member GZA/The Genius. GZA was considered Wu-Tang’s spiritual core and its most skilled lyricist, and that is in view here with his dense storytelling that looks for the reasons beneath (and above) the street scenes it represents. (For extra story-telling credit, GZA even directed the four videos for the album.) Match that with RZA’s darkly textured production and gritty beats, and the spell this album weaves is still powerful thirty years later.

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

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)
  21. Snoop Doggy Dogg- Doggystyle (1993)/Wu-Tang Clan- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
  22. Nas- Illmatic (1994)/Scarface- The Diary (1994)
  23. The Notorious B.I.G.- Ready to Die (1994)/2Pac- Me Against the World (1995)

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!

50 Years of Hip Hop Album Review: Ready to Die, Me Against the World

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2023 was the 50th anniversary of hip hop, and in honor of this anniversary, in 2024 the idea bloomed in my 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 several months long hiatus from blogging that year, so I didn’t finish the series. It’s now 2026 and still proceeding fitfully, but I won’t stop 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!

The Notorious B.I.G., Ready to Die (1994)– Remember a few posts back when we had Doggystyle paired with Enter the Wu-Tang and it was like an apotheosis of West Coast and East Coast hip hop? Well this edition is a redux of that, only darker, marking where the musical rivalry turned deadly. Or at least it’s hard not to think of it that way. But, listening to this debut album from The Notorious B.I.G. now, I’m most struck by how masterful it is. Musically sophisticated, full of dynamic lyrical wit, equal parts ambition, raunch, fun, and deadly serious. And so damn catchy! Along the way, there’s an honest to goodness album structure that follows the stand-in character for the artist from birth to youthful hustle to success to depression and considering (maybe even committing?) suicide. It’s weird how perfectly together it feels when one learns that it was recorded partially under one label in 1993, shelved when producer Sean “Puffy” Combs was fired from that label, and then taken up anew a year later when Combs was starting Bad Boy records. And even more remarkable when you consider that Biggie was 22 when it came out and Puffy was 24, and they’d started doing work on it two years before that. Some of this no doubt comes from the general level of sophistication the milieu of East Coast hip hop had achieved at the time, and from hip hop’s own 15 years depth of recording history (which the both through samples and references the album makes frequent reference to). But surely the majority of the artistic ambition here comes from comes from Biggie himself. He said in interviews that the “ready to die” wasn’t about seeking death itself (though you have to wonder, with his subsequent end, and the album’s thematic struggle with depression), but rather about putting it all in to the music and going all out in pursuit of the vision. He does that here.

2Pac, Me Against the World (1995)- It seems relevant to mention here that Biggie and Tupac started out as friends. When they first met in 1993, they bonded on mutual creative respect, and visited each other (and even played together) on both coasts whenever one or the other was in town. That was what was going on before a falling out and the artistic rivalries of East and West Coast scenes, the business rivalry of Death Row and Bad Boy, and affiliated gang rivalries made it all take a turn. And this album, in fact, has a lot in common with Biggie’s- it’s informed by respect for hip hop’s history to that point, heavily autobiographical, and full of weighty struggles with issues of life, death, and creative aspiration struggling against the damage from a troubled life. 2Pac in fact intended the album to specifically tackle all of this, feeling in a way it was his last testament before an impending jail sentence. I would say for me personally that it doesn’t seem nearly as coherent as an album or as musically complex and compelling as Ready to Die. When it succeeds, it’s on the strength of 2Pac’s presence and a driving forcefulness more than mix or production. And, like the artist himself, it’s riven by genuinely visionary aspiration versus the violence of where it’s coming from. But the strongest tracks here are as strong as anything anyone in that era was putting out.

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

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)
  21. Snoop Doggy Dogg- Doggystyle (1993)/Wu-Tang Clan- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
  22. Nas- Illmatic (1994)/Scarface- The Diary (1994)

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!

50 Years of Hip Hop Album Review: Illmatic, The Diary

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Version 1.0.0

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!

Nas, Illmatic (1994)– I have to admit I really knew next to nothing about either Nas or this album besides that it was considered a 90s classic, and the artist had an 00s beef with Jay-Z. Turns out there is a lot to know! The son of a jazz musician, Nas came up in the Long Island hip-hop scene after his family moved from Queens, and along the way got the attention of Rakim, Kool G Rap, and 3rd Bass. Serch of 3rd Bass became his manager and got him the record deal that led to this debut album. And he puts it all into this debut- songs he had been writing since he was 16, vivid recollections of his youth in the Queensbridge housing project, a reverence for and references to hip hop’s entire musical history to this point, and a really engaging lyrical delivery. I can’t say I picked up on all of this while listening, but I am subsequently informed that his lyrical style here included layered rhythms, multisyllabic rhymes, internal half rhymes, assonance, and enjambment. Take that, poets! All in all, it felt catchy, musical, and weighty and real while still being a fun listen. The album was apparently released to a lot of hype that its sales didn’t quite live up to, but great critical acclaim. Sales caught up long term, and the critical reputation and influence on the genre has remained. Upon finally hearing it, I’m down with that!

Scarface, The Diary (1994)- As I started listening, before catching up on reading on it, I thought for sure this was a West Coast album. It has the synthy squlech, funk samples, mix of humorous and horrific situations, and laid back pacing that reminded me of the West Coast scene, and the vocal flow carried a kind of heaviness that put me in mind of Tupac. I still stand by those impressions, but it turns out Scarface is a Houston rapper, and one of the members of the Geto Boys on Grip It! On That Other Level. Which makes more sense to me, given how much that album reminded me in parts of N.W.A.. On Scarface’s part, the album is an explicit statement of being one of the founders of gangsta rap, disputing SoCal’s claim on the throne. Well, regardless of where it comes from, it’s grooving, slightly sinister, tells an actual story, and is delivered with earned authority.

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

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)
  21. Snoop Doggy Dogg- Doggystyle (1993)/Wu-Tang Clan- Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (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!

50 Years of Hip Hop Album Review: Doggystyle, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

6 Replies
Version 1.0.0

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:

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!