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!

Dr. Dre, The Chronic (1992)– For his debut solo album, N.W.A. co-founder and producer extraordinaire Dr. Dre pulled out all the stops. There is no denying this album’s quality and influence- it almost single-handedly introduced the G-funk musical style of minimal (and retro funk) sampling, laid back grooves, live bass and guitar, and squelchy synths that would dominate a good chunk of 90s hip hop. It commercially established Death Row Records when it went triple platinum, and launched the careers of Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, and Warren G. And it remains a consistent pick among both artists and critics as one of the best (and best produced) hip hop albums ever. There’s also no denying that the album is thick with misogyny and glorification of violence. It’s true that this isn’t the only mode- there’s also a lot of humor, and post-L.A. riots tracks that rival anything Public Enemy did in terms of sharp and furious social/political critique. But it can still be hard to listen to without getting a little morally queasy. After all the hue and cry though, and despite my qualms, as an album it’s masterful. It has a narrative frame holding the whole thing together, musically it grooves, swings, and surprises, it’s alternately menacing and hilarious, and there isn’t a track that sounds out of place or lets you down.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Mecca and the Soul Brother (1992)- Whatever I listened to after The Chronic was going to have a tough act to follow, and I wasn’t familiar with this album at all beyond the track “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”. But, with the quiet spiritual incantation that opens the first track, and the hard metallic beats and jazz samples it slides into from there, I was immediately in. The debut album from New York duo Pete Rock and CL Smooth is definitely working in a recognizable groove- sophisticated East Coast conscious hip hop circa early 90s- and perhaps doesn’t do a lot new or different with it. But it’s a favorite groove of mine! And, if one could often wonder if G-funk is furious at, or in love with, the problems of the neighborhoods it rose from, this album is unambiguous about (as one track puts it) escaping from “The Ghetto of the Mind”.

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)

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!