TOSJ Hip Hop 100: A List of the Very Best Hip Hop Albums Ever Recorded

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TOSJ Hip Hop 100: A List of the Very Best Hip Hop Albums Ever Recorded

Parent Category: Sports & Entertainment Category: Music

Published Date Written by A C Powell

ID-100453 When TOSJ started this project, I asked several friends of mine to rank the 10 absolute best hip hop albums they have ever heard. One of my friends wrote back saying, “This is like asking which kid is your favorite … .” He is absolutely right! Ranking hip hop albums creates a moral conundrum for true “hip hop heads”. Saying one album is better than another one feels almost like dissing the other. Each album speaks to us in a different way and means something different at certain stages throughout our lives. It is tough, but this is what bloggers do. Notwithstanding, however, as the publisher, I did pull rank (no pun intended) and decided not to attempt to rank these albums from 1 - 100; therefore, the best 100 hip hop albums ever recorded are not ranked in any particular order other than alphabetical. Next year, we will do the unthinkable and rank them from 1 - 100. This year, we only ranked the Top 25, the very “best of the best”. So, off we go “and let the trumpets blow!” I am proud to present the inaugural edition of the annual countdown by The Old School Journal™ of hip hop’s greatest plates:

TOSJ

HIP HOP 100

Album	Artist	Year Released
2Pacalypse Now	2Pac	1991
5 Sparrows for 2 Cents	The Procussions	2006
2001	Dr. Dre	1999
3 Feet High and Rising	De La Soul	1989
All Eyez on Me	2Pac	1996
All for One	Brand Nubian	1990
AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted	Ice Cube	1990
Aquemini	Outkast	1998
ATLiens	Outkast	1996
Audio Visuals	Verso	2008
Be	Common	2005
The Big Picture	Big L	2000
The Black Album	Jay-Z	2003
Black on Both Sides	Mos Def	1999
Black Reign	Queen Latifah	1993
Black Sunday	Cypress Hill	1993
The Blueprint	Jay-Z	2001
Breaking Atoms	Main Source	1991
By All Means Necessary	Boogie Down Productions	1988
The Cactus Album	3^rd Bass	1989
Capital Punishment	Big Pun	1998
The Chronic	Dr. Dre	1992
The College Dropout	Kanye West	2004
Criminal Minded	Boogie Down Productions	1987
The Diary	Scarface	1994
Death Certificate	Ice Cube	1991
De La Soul is Dead	De La Soul	1991
Detroit Deli (A Taste of Detroit)	Slum Village	2004
Distant Relatives	Nas & Damian Marley	2010
Doggystyle	Snoop Doggy Dogg	1993
Do You Want More?!!!??!	The Roots	1995
Enta da Stage	Black Moon	1993
Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)	Wu-Tang Clan	1993
E.L.E. (Extinction Level Event): The Final World Front	Busta Rhymes	1998
Fantastic, Vol. 2	Slum Village	2000
Fear of a Black Planet	Public Enemy	1990
Get Rich or Die Tryin’	50 Cent	2003
The Great Adventures of Slick Rick	Slick Rick	1988
The Grind Date	De La Soul	2004
Hard to Earn	Gang Starr	1994
Hip Hop Is Dead	Nas	2006
I Am …	Nas	1999
Illadelph Halflife	The Roots	1996
Illmatic	Nas	1994
The Infamous	Mobb Deep	1995
Ironman	Ghostface Killah	1996
It’s a Big Daddy Thing	Big Daddy Kane	1989
It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot	DMX	1998
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back	Public Enemy	1988
I Wish My Brother George Was Here	Del the Funky Homosapien	1991
KRS-One	KRS-One	1995
Lasers	Lupe Fiasco	2011
Let’s Get Free	dead prez	2000
License to Ill	Beastie Boys	1986
Like Water for Chocolate	Common	2000
Life After Death	The Notorious B.I.G.	1997
Life Story	Black Rob	2000
Liquid Swords	Gza	1995
Long Live the Kane	Big Daddy Kane	1988
The Low End Theory	A Tribe Called Quest	1991
Lyte as a Rock	MC Lyte	1988
The Marshall Mathers LP	Eminem	2000
Me Against the World	2Pac	1995
Mecca and the Soul Brother	Pete Rock & C L Smooth	1992
Midnight Marauders	A Tribe Called Quest	1993
The Minstrel Show	Litter Brother	2005
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill	Lauryn Hill	1998
Momma Said Knock You Out	LL Cool J	1990
Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star	Black Star	1998
No One Can Do It Better	The D.O.C.	1989
Nuttin’ But Love	Heavy D & the Boyz	1994
Only Built for Cuban Linx	Raekwon	1995
Paid in Full	Eric B & Rakim	1987
Paper Trail	T.I.	2008
Paul’s Boutique	Beastie Boys	1989
People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm	A Tribe Called Quest	1990
Power	Ice-T	1988
Raising Hell	Run-D.M.C.	1986
Ready to Die	The Notorious B.I.G.	1994
Reasonable Doubt	Jay-Z	1996
Resurrection	Common	1994
Return of the Boom Bap	KRS-One	1993
Road to the Riches	Kool G Rap & DJ Polo	1989
Run-D.M.C.	Run-D.M.C.	1984
The Score	Fugees	1996
Soul on Ice	Ras Kass	1996
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik	Outkast	1994
Stakes Is High	De La Soul	1996
Step in the Arena	Gang Starr	1991
Stillmatic	Nas	2001
Straight Outta Compton	NWA	1988
Stress: The Extinction Agenda	Organized Konfusion	1994
Strictly Business	EPMD	1988
The Sun Rises in the East	Jeru the Damaja	1994
Supreme Clientele	Ghostface Killah	2000
Things Fall Apart	The Roots	1999
Tical	Method Man	1994
Train of Thought	Reflection Eternal	2000
The W	Wu-Tang Clan	2000
Whut? Thee Album	Redman	1992

The 25 “Best of the Best” Hip Hop Albums

Ever Recorded

Ranking	Album	Artist
1	Illmatic	Nas
2	The Chronic	Dr. Dre
3	Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)	Wu-Tang Clan
4	Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star	Black Star
5	The Score	Fugees
6	Ready to Die	The Notorious B.I.G.
7	It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back	Public Enemy
8	The Low End Theory	A Tribe Called Quest
9	Midnight Marauders	A Tribe Called Quest
10	The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill	Lauryn Hill
11	Reasonable Doubt	Jay-Z
12	Paid in Full	Eric B & Rakim
13	Only Built for Cuban Linx	Raekwon
14	Resurrection	Common
15	Doggystyle	Snoop Dogg
16	The Great Adventures of Slick Rick	Slick Rick
17	Let’s Get Free	dead prez
18	Straight Outta Compton	NWA
19	ATLiens	Outkast
20	Criminal Minded	Boogie Down Productions
21	By All Means Necessary	Boogie Down Productions
22	Things Fall Apart	The Roots
23	Fear of a Black Planet	Public Enemy
24	Death Certificate	Ice Cube
25	The College Dropout	Kanye West

Just to show that I would not ask anyone to do something that I would not do myself, here is my list of the 10 best hip hop albums I have ever heard:

A C’s Top 10

Ranking	Album	Artist
1	Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star	Black Star
2	Black on Both Sides	Mos Def
3	The Score	Fugees
4	Enter the Wu-Tang	Wu-Tang Clan
5	Ready to Die	The Notorious B.I.G.
6	I Am …	Nas
7	Straight Outta Compton	NWA
8	Be	Common
9	Audio Visuals	Verso
10	2Pacalypse Now	2Pac

Amir Clayton Powell is an advocate, author, entrepreneur, father, husband, servant of God, and warrior. By the by, he also happens to be the Publisher of The Old School Journal™ (TOSJ) as well as the Founder & Chairman of A C Powell & Co. LLC. Find A C on Twitter: @AClaytonPowell. Follow TOSJ on Facebook & Twitter. Find books and other essays written by Amir Clayton Powell by following this link.

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TOSJ All-Time GR8EST MCs

No. 1: KRS-One

The Blastmaster, The Teacha, takes top honors as we break down the GR8EST MCs of All Time!
No. 2: LL Cool J

Uncle L lands at No. 2 on our list of All-Time GR8EST MCs.
No. 3: Rakim
No. 4 (Tied): Nas

God's Son shares the No. 4 spot with Biggie on our 50 GR8EST MCs of All-Time list.
No. 4 (Tied): The Notorious B.I.G.

Biggie Smalls continues to dominate hip hop in his "Life After Death" ... .
No. 6 (Tied): Guru

The Guru (Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal) shares the No. 6 slot with Jigga.
No. 6 (Tied): Jay-Z

Jigga slides in at No. 6 on The Old School Journal™ 50 GR8EST MCs of All Time list.
No. 8: Dr. Dre
No. 9: Scarface
No. 10 (Tied): Black Thought

"The Talented Mr. Trotter", in a tie with Heavy D, rounds out the Top 10 in our GR8EST MCs of All Time.
No. 10 (Tied): Heavy D

The Overweight Lover snatches No. 10 along with Black Thought.
No. 12: 2Pac
No. 13: Biz Markie
No. 14: Ice Cube

"You can't fade the Cube!" Especially not as Ice Cube captures the No. 14 slot on our list of the All-Time GR8EST MCs.
No. 15: Ice-T
No. 16: Kool G Rap
No. 17: Common Sense

Common, that "boney homie from Stoney", slides in at No. 17.
No. 18 (Tied): Snoop Dogg
No. 18 (Tied): Will Smith

Big Willie may be making movies, now, but he will always be a hip hop legend as far as we are concerned.
No. 20: GZA
No. 21: Chuck D

Public Enemy No. 1 himself.
No. 22 (Tied): Busta Rhymes
No. 22 (Tied): Queen Latifah
No. 22 (Tied): Erick Sermon

The Green-Eyed Bandit shares spotlight at No. 22 with Busta Rhymes and "Queen L-a-t-i-f-a-h in command" ... .
No. 25: DJ Quick
No. 26 (Tied): Ghostface Killah
No. 26 (Tied): Sadat X

The Great Sada X shares No. 26 with Pretty Tony, himself, Tony Starks aka Ghostface Killah. TOSJ 50 GR8EST MCs of All Time, Baby!
No. 28: Grand Puba
No. 29 (Tied): Bun B

UGK Forever, Baby! R.I.P. Pimp C! Bun B shares the No. 29 slot with Master P.
No. 29 (Tied): Master P

Everybody say, "Uhhhnnnnnn"!
No. 31: Large Professor
No. 32: E-40

"40 makes it happen" at No. 32.
No. 33 (Tied): Posdnuos / Plug One

De La Soul ain't dead! Pos shines at the No. 33 as we count down the All-Time GR8EST MCs.
No. 33 (Tied): Jeru tha Damaja
No. 35: Redman
No. 36: MC Ren
No. 37 (Tied): Masta Ace
No. 37 (Tied): Trugoy / Plug Two
No. 39: Mellow Man Ace
No. 40: Big Daddy Kane

"Ain't no half steppin'" as Kane takes No. 40. TOSJ 50 GR8EST MCs of All Time.
No. 41 (Tied): Q-Tip

Tip is on point as he shares the No. 41 spot with Del the Funky Homosapien.
No. 41 (Tied): Del the Funky Homosapien
No. 43: Chubb Rock
No. 44 (Tied): DMX
No. 44 (Tied): Fat Joe

Yonkers and the Bronx connect as Fat Joe the Don shares the No. 44 slot with DMX. TOSJ 50 GR8EST MCs of All Time.
No. 46: Missy Elliot
No. 47 (Tied): Too Short

The Veteran from the Bay.
No. 47 (Tied): Method Man

"You know about these Staten kids, they smashin' | everything, huh? | in any shape form or fashion ... ."
No. 47 (Tied): RZA
No. 50 (Tied): Andre 3000
No. 50 (Tied): Big Boi
No. 59 (Tied): Talib Kweli

Kweli, No. 59 on our All-Time GR8EST list, comes in at No. 3 on our list of the Top 10 Lyricists of All Time.
No. 119: Verso

Verso aka "Mr. Everything-Right-with-the-Game" ties Common for No. 6 on our list of the most lyrically gifted MCs of all time.
No. 65 (Tied): Mos Def

"The M-O-S-D-E-F-initely" lands at No. 8 on our list of the Top 10 Lyricists.
No. 135: Lauryn Hill

Ms. Hill rounds out our Top 10 Lyricists list along with T.I.
No. 111 (Tied): T.I.

T.I. shares the No. 10 spot in our rankings of the most lyrically gifted emcees in hop hop history.