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Top 20 Hip-Hop Albums of All Time: No. 1

Posted by BoomBox Staff
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'Illmatic,' by Nas
Let's not act like we're surprised this tops the list. 'Illmatic' lands at No. 1 for the same reason people still do the electric slide at weddings: It's classic! A 15-year-old Nasir Jones hooked up with Large Professor, who later introduced him to MC Serch and DJ Premier, and a few years later the underground MC's debut was finally ready for the masses. Nas took a cue from Rakim -- with a faster flow -- and wrote what could be summed up as a journal from the streets.

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remixman775

No Tech N9ne at all on this list? ******* whack... SMFH biased industry minds.

Friday at 8:35 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

LuckyLefty

solid list though was typing pretty fast so please excuse my spelling

January 21 2012 at 6:42 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

LuckyLefty

i completely agree with the TOP 2 ALBUMS,but scarface the world is yours is no where near the UNAPPRECIATED gangsta changing album Mr.Scarface is back and The Fix, and please people dont argue with the top i mean has there ever really been a gift and a curse like illmatic???? biggie releases a commercialized, mafioso classic(life after death ) people love it but nas does the same and people panned it say he fell off, ras kass releases a album with a the worst beats ever and people call it a classic???(its good but not classic), nas releases untitled and critics and fans say its too political and the beats suck, nas standard is illmatic so of course his album will be wack if people compare it to it the greatest album ever, how many of these albums have a full book by college professor??? mixtape tributes ?? when someone wants to claim how good a album is they always say its better than illmatic, i have never heard its better than its takes a nation or nobody ever held public enemy to the standard of its takes a nation

January 21 2012 at 6:40 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Vandellish

Where da hell is Brand Nubian's 'All 4 One'? D.O.C's 'No One Can Do it Better'? Slick Rick's 'Great Adventures...'????

January 19 2012 at 11:25 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

osvie01

Oh no, crappy list, 'It takes a Nation', should be number 1. That is hip-hop's Sergeant Peppers. I like Pac, (Please don't hate), I don't think All Eyez is top five, maybe The Don Killuminati, but not All Eyez. You should also trade in De La Soul is dead in favor of 3 feet high and rising. One can also make a strong case to put in The Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique in your top ten, and Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP in your top twenty. Straight outta Compton is deserving of a top five spot. Illmatic is a good album, but it is definetly not number one or even top ten. I don't know if I saw EPMD Strictly business in there, or Criminal Minded. I saw A tribe called quest in there, but I don't think it was The Low End theory, there masterpiece. This list is very flawed.

December 17 2011 at 1:00 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to osvie01's comment

GRhyme

I ALMOST agree with you. Straight Outta Compton deserves a top 5... Not a Beastie "fan", but deserves a top 20... Scarface deserves to be on the list, but under Geto Boys "We Can't Be Stopped", because that was the album that opened the doors.... and where is Naughty By Nature??? No Eminem??
Definately a flawed list.

December 24 2011 at 12:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

truthaupont

the list was o.k and basically predictable, just like all the hip hop mags have presented for years. where's the underrated unclassified true classics such as prodigy's h.n.i.c? noriega's n.o.r.e., wu tang 's 4eva,blackmoon's enta da stage, tupac's debut 2pacalypse,smif n wessun's dah shining,ghostface's supreme clientele is recognized but not his debut,shyheim's debut and 3rd album, redman's debut whut thee album.i can go on and on.krs one's 1995's self titled album krs one, cnn's war report is recognized but not the 2nd album, mobb deeps murder muzic,nas' it was written,shyne's debut,and joey crack's jealous one's envy.sucks to say,"hip hop kinda died when the new millennium hit!"

November 27 2011 at 11:38 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Cife Man

I thought y'all was gonna play y'all selves and not put "Illmatic" on here. That is not the best hip hop album of all time, but the list is all jumbled up anyway. So, let me get this straight, no Eminem albums made this list. He has @ least two albums that could have rocked on this list...not to mention he is TOP 5 dead or alive, so that tells you a lot about this list. Cute list, but totally inaccurate.

September 28 2011 at 9:18 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply