Top Ten Rap/ Hip Hop Albums (7-10)

10) All Eyez on Me : When deciding on a top ten, its always hard to select the #1 spot. But it's also really hard to decide on the #10 slot as well. Most people think that the #10 slot isn't really that good, which is a very obscene misconception. Tupac's All Eyez on Me is in my opinion, the most awaited and criticized album of all time. Most critics consider it one of the, if not the best, album of the 1990s. Released right after Tupac was bailed out of jail, there was a lot of media hype behind this album. It remains one of the top selling rap albums of all time, going NINE TIMES platinum, that's crazy.


9) Straight Outta Compton: The Godfather of all of gangsta rap albums. NWA showed just exactly what they were made of when this mind- blowing, controversy sparking, media attracting piece of art was dropped. With classic Hip Hop tracks like "Straight Outta Compton", "%*$@ the Police", and "Gangsta Gangsta", they basically took a sledgehammer to the brittle glass window that was separating the negative stereotypes thugs from Hip Hop artists. And they loved it. Every rapper gives thanks to God every night before they sleep that this album was released. Only a few artists could have the balls to do what NWA did on this album, and their work has produced one of the most respected, often replayed albums of all time.


8) The Chronic: Dr. Dre's debut album, its hard not to place this album much, MUCH higher than what I have it. Dr. Dre is easily one of the most respected men in the entire game as a producer, but many people don't realize the outstanding rap performance on this artifact of the golden age of Hip Hop. With funky, "G- Funk" beats and a really tough gangsta style tone, Dr. Dre shoved aside the hodgepodge that was known as East Coast rap and elevated the West Coast to a peak it would never reach again. "Ain't Nothing But a G Thang", a single featuring Snoop Dogg was easily the most important, pivotal song in this album, making its mark in history and still remains one of the best music videos ever produced.


7) The Diary: Scarface, King of the South. This album was released right in the midst of the rise of Nas, Biggie, Tupac, Dre, all of them. Underrated as it was, The Diary is nothing short of a masterpiece. With stunning, eye opening tracks like "Hand of the Dead Body" which really articulated the prejudice and racism in this country, Scarface was someone who wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty so to speak on this album. Everything that he saw in the United States that he didn't like, he explictly stated that in this album. Recognized as a classic, it recieved top ratings from both The Source and XXL magazines. Very, very few albums achieve either one of these awards, let alone both. Its most famous for the featuring of its song "No Tears" in the hit movie, Office Space.

Top Ten Rap/ Hip Hop Albums (4-6)

6) Get Rich or Die Tryin': 50 Cent's debut album, no doubt a top five choice. 50 Cent is reminiscent of Tupac when he first came out; with a BANG. His famous single "In Da Club" topped charts and easily showed what kind of potential this man had. Other hit singles including "Many Men" showed how diverse he was on the mic, and his extremely thuggish, gangster style of life. He was a no fooling around person, and he made sure that was clear on this album. Other singles like "If I Can't" and "P.I.M.P." showed how light- hearted he actually could be any his extremely humorous personality. The second best selling rap album of the decade following The Marshall Mathers LP, its no doubt that this album is a classic.


5) Reasonable Doubt: This is one of the hardest decisions when it came to deciding between two of one artist's albums. I did not know whether to choose this one, his debut, or The Blueprint, a work he did a bit later, both are considered top ten material, I just don't have room, and one had to stay. I chose Reasonable Doubt because it had contained the ingredients for a classic. One of the first people to take the "mafioso" approach to gangsta rap, Jay Z showed he had a lot of balls by releasing his DEBUT album, the one where first impressions are made and where many, many artists' careers end, by rapping about a seldom discussed concept. It's amazing how he managed to feature Biggie, and get most of his songs produced by DJ Premier, a true icon on the DJ scene. Most of the work Premier has done is now considered a classic, by working with Jay, he brought so much more anticipation and close scrutiny on the album, which jay Z handled very professionally. Always known for his style, this album had lots of slow, funky beats and simple choruses, which is exactly what rap was turning its head away from by 1996, which is when this was released. Its like he was the last person to jump onto the moving train before it took off past the platform, barely able to sneak in a true old- school classic.


4) The Marshall Mathers LP: Eminem's second studio album, The Marshall Mathers LP holds the record for the fastest selling rap album of all time. It sold 1.7 MILLION copies in its FIRST WEEK. Almost TWO MILLION copies were sold over a seven day period, its no wonder as to why this happened, with the outstanding lyricism found on his debut, what else could you expect? A much darker- themed album than most, this album showed us a side of Slim Shady that not many people knew. He really expressed the rawness that he contained, and crafted it into an exquisite album.

Top Ten Rap/ Hip Hop Albums (3-1)

3) Ready to Die: Biggie's debut album, no doubt this HAD to be on my top ten. Time magazine included it in its list of top 100 albums of all time, and its the highest ranking rap album on the top 500 list. No rap album that came after this one wasn't influenced by it. That simple. This album contained my radio friendly singles like "Big Poppa", "Juicy", and "Warning", plus it included some more explicit, hardcore rap hits such as "Ready to Die", and "Who Shot Ya?" Cold lyrics, funky beats and a light- hearted tone much different than that of this latter album, this one was a very, very big commercial success, dwarfing all other rap albums in the 1990s buy A LOT.


2) Illmatic: The most influential album of all time, really. It may not have been quite good enough to land itself the number one slot, but it helped rewrite modern day rap. It wasn't expected to be that great, even with promotions that the producers made for the album. But when it dropped, it was pretty evident that Nas was going to be a really big name in Hip Hop. It contained easily the best beats of any rap album, ever. His lyricism was unmatched, clever word play and hilarious anecdotes and subliminal messages made his songs very interesting, and still remain so. Like so many other classics though, it was only until much after its release did people realize its true value; it was dubbed a platinum record in 2001.


1) Life After Death: I didn't even need to think about this one, its automatic, the best rap album of all time. Its common practice to regard Ready to Die as Biggie's best album, but I disagree. While it was his debut album, and had quite an impact, as a rap album, Life After Death was better. Good artist, like Biggie, tend to get better as time goes on, which is exactly what happened. In the time between both albums, he gained LOTS of skill as a rapper. If you weren't too fond of the deeper, mafia- like style he adopted, then you had to give in to the lyrics. He blew up with the release of Ready to Die, but he perfected himself as a rapper in Life After Death. All of the minor mistakes that were found in his first album were gone: his beat varieties increased, his delivery became a lot better, and he had a much bigger variety of genre within the album. Comedy, dance, gangsta, stories, everything. No Comparison IMO...

Top Ten Rap/ Hip Hop artists (5-1)

5) Scarface: The King of the South. Coined the term "the Dirty South" before people like Rick Ross and T. I. learned to go potty by themselves. Deep, deep lyrics, he touched on many social aspects in America, the mistreatment of blacks, gender discrimination, racial stereotypes, etc. He made a lot of people really, really uncomfortable with the way he rapped. Questioned society's perception on the typical black man living in the ghetto, asking them if they really knew what life was like. This man was an intellectual, a deep thinker, and he expressed his thoughts with such an aggressive tone and delivery, it sends shivers down people's spines.
"I've got this killer up inside of me,
I can't talk to my mother so I talk to my diary,
I'm going off in the deep end,
I find myself face to face with myself when I'm sleepin'"
- No Tears, The Diary


4) Eminem: Maybe the most underrated mainstream rapper there ever was. He has done in his small career what many have failed to do in their lives. He remains the holder of the top selling album: The Marshal Mathers LP, his flow rivaled that of Biggie's. His freestyle skill was unmatched, he was so good, at one point he was losing respect from critics because they thought that he had rehearsed all of his freestyles. He never once sugar coated his rhymes, never once did he try and make subtle remarks because he was too scared to say something, if he felt it, he rapped it.
"Sure I got a few screws up in my head loose,
but no different from whats going on in your parents' bedrooms."
- My Name is, The Slim Shady LP


3) Tupac: Biggie's counterpart. This man contained the very short list of items that Biggie did not: themes and messages of lyrics. He was truly a deep man, way ahead of his time. You could tell he rapped from the heart, his songs often horribly true instances of past life experiences that he raps with unbelievable delivery. The West Coast King, shared Hip Hop in the ninety's with Biggie Smalls.
"I see no changes wake up in the morning and ask myself,
is life worth living or should I just blast myself?
I'm tired of being poor and even worse, I'm black,
my stomach hurts so I'm looking for a purse to snatch."
- Changes, Greatest Hits


2) Jay- Z: Many people don't understand who this guy really is. He's been around for a VERY long time, his debut album being released back in '96. Many, many critics have dubbed him the Greatest of all time because of what he has done to Hip Hop. His style is unique, his intelligence allows him to craft lyrics and put verses together that blend together seamlessly. He has swagger, style, he owns the rap market, in the literal sense and in the theoretical sense.
"I sell ice in the winter, I sell fire in Hell,
I am a hustler baby, I sell water to a well."
- You Don't Know, The Blueprint


1) The Notorious B.I.G.: Biggie Smalls, the King of New York, I've mentioned the plethora of names he has before, there is no need to delve into that again. But seriously, what he has done for the game is beyond words. Two albums was all it took to earn himself the "most quoted MC" award. He could make your hair stand up with his cold, ferocious flows, make your eyes water from his deep story telling ability, cause you to lose your voice from laughing so hard at some of the punchlines he throws into his rhymes, all in one verse.
"Silly Cat, wore suede in the rain, swear he put the "G" in game,
had the Gucci frame before Dana Dane, thought he ran with Kane,
I can't recall his name,
you mean that kid that nearly lost half his brain over two bricks of cocaine?"
- You're Nobody Till Somebody Kills You, Life After Death

Biggie's Legacy

Biggie's untimely death did not at all stop his supreme reign over the rap game. He is celebrated as one of the best MCs of all time. He reached #3 on MTV's list of top ten rappers, both of his albums have earned a spot on the 500 Best Albums of All Time. Many influential hip- hop magazines have dubbed him the Greatest of All Time. His name appears on lists of best rappers more times than any other rapper dead or alive, including Tupac, Jay z, and Lil' Wayne (if you consider this guy a rapper). Its not uncommon for speakers to be blasting Biggie's lyrics before a big concert or award show. Biggie is also famous for having his lines quoted by many, many artists. Primarily Jay z, 50 Cent, and Lil' Wayne.


There is ten parts to this video, all of them containing samples of Biggie's lyrics, and then the same lyrics rapped by other artists.

Biggie's style of rapping will always be remembered and it will always remain original. He had a husky, powerful tone that he would use alongside his ability to overlap many rhymes in one verse to stun his listeners. He rapped in many styles, he would sometimes even sing in a falsetto tone like in his songs, "Playa Hater", and "Come On." He was featured with the group "Bone- Thugs and Harmony" who are famous for their extremely rapid style of rapping, and Biggie rapped to that style better than they did, according to most people. Biggie's beats were mostly simple repetitive beats that really captured the mood of the content of the song. Sometimes he would have a few seconds at the beginning of a song in order to get the listeners in the mood.

Biggie was also respected greatly for his diversity in the themes of his rap. In Ready to Die, he portrayed himself as a common hustler, doing whatever it took to get to the top and how he finally reached the top. In Life After Death, Biggie portrayed himself as a ferocious drug lord, a mafia leader. He wrote romance, comedy, drug dealings, autobiographical stories, everything. But perhaps the area where he was most renowned, was his story telling ability. A very large portion of his songs were stories of his past, back when he dealt drugs, and would commit petty crimes to get money. Famous titles include, "Warning", "Somebody's Gotta Die", and "Niggas Bleed." He could put a story into rap better than any other MC could ever come close to, and everyone knows it.

This guy was a beast.

King of New York

Christopher George Latore Wallace, AKA Biggie Smalls, the Notorious B.I.G., Big Poppa, Frank White, the King of New York.

If you don't know who this is, you should get your life reassessed. He was only the greatest rapper of all time. Greatest lyricist, best flow, best rhymes, best delivery, just the greatest of all time, or GOAT as you might see him referred to as.

Biggie was born in 1972, right in the heart of Brooklyn, NY. He had the stereotypical childhood and early years of every rapper, his dad left him to be raised by his mom, dropped out of school at an early age even though he excelled at school, he was a natural at poetry and public speaking. Well maybe not the stereotypical life of EVERY rapper, I doubt some of them these days even know how to read... After he dropped out of school, he joined the crack game and would rap with all of his friends on street corners. Eventually he got caught by the cops and sent to a penitentiary, all the money he collected from dealing drugs, was used for bail.

A few years later, he got discovered by the infamous P. Diddy, who signed him to Bad Boy Records, where Biggie started working on his debut album, Ready to Die.. This album was released in 1994, and it was a HIT. It went 4x Platinum, which is a very, very big deal if you don't know. It featured many classics including, "Big Poppa", "Juicy", and "Warning." This album was received extremely positively by the rest of the world, and it instantly set new scales for rappers. Immediately, rappers started quoting his genius lines in their own songs, featuring him in songs, and lots more got jealous and started feuds with him.

Which brings us to the next important event in Biggie's life, his ridiculous, pointless beef with none other than his lifelong friend, Tupac Shakur. Supposedly the beef (this is just another word for feud)started when Tupac accused Biggie of being involved in the robbery of 'Pac's jewelry, if you don't know, rappers really value their "bling". Tupac then started to make really insane, outrageous diss songs toward Biggie, and the notorious East vs. West beef started, that ultimately led to the death of both of these legends. Biggie did not openly say anything about Tupac, instead he would use his metaphorical, subliminal style of rap to attack Tupac. Many say this was "cowardly" on his part, but in many interviews Biggie stated that he didn't want to increase this beef between the east and west coasts. Which was sincere, because he had enough lyrical skill to grind Tupac into dust if he wanted to, and everyone knows it.

In 1997, Biggie released his second, and last, studio album, Life After Death. This album was a lot different than his first one, which had a more light hearted, funny theme to it. Life After Death was darker, more serious, and dealt with much more serious topics. He rapped about many things that dealt with mafioso stories of his past, robberies he's committed, and he also released several titles that were all subliminal diss songs toward other rappers that quite frankly, shut them up. A good example of a song like this is "Kick in the Door." Biggie had a paranoia problem, by the time he released Life After Death, he pretty much thought that the world was out to get him. He released very dark titles such as, "You're Nobody 'Till Somebody Kills You", and "My Downfall." But even though these songs showed that he was suffering from lots of problems in his life, they failed to do anything else but show this man's lyrical ability and profound rapping skill that remains unmatched.