Top 10 Hip Hop / Rap Albums

I never really got into hip hop until one song changed it all. I stumbled upon "Mellow my Man" off of The Roots' Do You Want More?!!!??! in high school. From there, I went onwards to Mos Def's "Mathematics", which helped to sell me even more on what the genre had to offer. Perhaps I was always skeptical growing up, because I hadn't dug past the surface level rap that's played on the radio. Once I began to dig and make my own explorations, the genre opened up immensely. It helped to turn me onto timeless music that will stick with me forever.

Honorable Mention: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back - Public Enemy (1988)

"Militant poetry" that set the stage for the decades to come, Public Enemy's 2nd studio release delivers straight from the underground. The sound on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back feels like a mini Black Panther movement with references to real issues that the black community was dealing (and still is unfortunately) in larger cities. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back also assisted producer Rick Rubin to platform his career on the Def Jam label. James Brown samples are found throughout, especially on songs like "Don't Believe the Hype". I really enjoy "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" and "Night of the Living Baseheads". There's even a damn Slayer sample on "She Watch Channel Zero?!".

10. 4:44 - JAY-Z (2017)

The man ages well. This is perhaps not Jay-Z's most acclaimed album, but the more I think about it, I really do enjoy everything found on 4:44. It's the definitive modern Jay-Z album to have; I bought it on CD shortly after it came out (Jay-Z's always been tight about having his music released electronically). Subsequently at one point I remember being addicted to the song "Smile" - I think I played it for two weeks straight after I had first heard it. There's simply a lot on 4:44 that's hard to put down: see "The Story of OJ" and Damian Marley collab on "Bam". Don't forget about the title track "4:44", the nostalgic "Marcy Me", and when the snare drums fittingly come through on "Family Feud". The biggest thing knocking 4:44 is the length, but it's an album that older/younger Jay-Z fans can come together to appreciate.

9. Faces - Mac Miller (2014)

I was torn between which Mac Miller release would make this list; I'm really a fan of Mac Miller's Watching Movies, Faces, and Swimming. These projects definitely brought Mac Miller out from being just a schoolboy rapper. During this time period, Mac's lazy and comedical flow began to develop - while also touching on some more serious subject matter. But I ultimetely chose Faces to make this list based on how many songs it had to offer.

"New Faces v2" puts you in a dizzy, the beat feels like you're in a stretcher coming out of the emergency room. It's a really creative sample with all the organ work and Earl Sweatshirt does a real good job on the feature. I'm not so much a fan of Earl's solo work, but on features like this he can really kill it. "Rain" feels like an influence from Chance the Rapper's "Acid Rain" and tracks like "Apparition" come through nicely. "Colors and Shapes" is a great introspective, one of Mac Miller's best tracks. Through the album artwork you can notice the psychedelic imagery, which is a nod to some of the substances Mac was partaking in during his remaining years. Faces is kind of like the Beatles' White Album, there's more of a emphasis on quantity (obviously not every song is gonna hit). Am I big on tracks like "What Do You Do", or "San Francisco"? No. "Malibu" isn't much to remember either; but "Funeral" is nice and "Diablo" samples Duke Ellington's "In A Sentimental Mood". Faces falls off a little here and there, but overall its effort to explore the unknown does not go unnoticed.

8. Illmatic - Nas (1994)

I was a little bit of a late bloomer when it comes to recognizing the greatness of Illmatic. I knew the album was quinesstial to the development of hip-hop in the '90s, but I didn't know how much I would enjoy it. And man, does it go hard. Like, the shit is heavy, as in it has a certain weight to its bounce. You can feel the authentic east coast stamp on "N.Y. State of Mind" and "The World Is Yours" - which I think is actually an incredibly empowering song. I love how the ending connects all of the rival New York neighborhoods:

To everybody in Queens, the foundation (it's yours)

The world is yours

To everybody uptown, yo, the world is yours (it's yours)

The world is yours

To everybody in Brooklyn

Y'all know the world is yours (it's yours)

The world is yours

Everybody in Mount Vernon, the world is yours (it's yours)

Long Island, yo, the world is yours (it's yours)

Staten Island, yeah, the world is yours (it's yours)

South Bronx, the world is yours (it's yours)

Aight

I'm generally a pretty cynical person but I do think this song this uplifting.

7. 2014 Forest Hills Drive - J. Cole (2014)

Everything about 2014 Forest Hills Drive (lyrical content, production, sampling) is unrivaled. There's really not a bad song on found the album. The sappiest moment comes through on "Hello", but I can honestly say that I really enjoy every single song. Hits come through on tracks like "Apparently" and "No Role Models", but I prefer the sleeper songs of "January 28th", and '03 Adolescence". I also can't get enough of the string section on "St. Tropez", which has such an awesome thumping beat. "Wet Dreamz" also is known for becoming somewhat of a teenage boy "growing up" anthem while propelling J. Cole into the spotlight. Other songs on Forest Hills like "G.O.M.D" and "A Tale of 2 Citiez" display Cole's lyrical proficiency (they go hard). A personal favorite comes through on "Love Yourz"; some may find this song slow, but not every song needs to be a burner. "Love Yourz" spits some real genuine shit - go check it out while you're here.

6. Late Registration - Kanye West (2005)

You could make the argument that Late Registration is Kanye's best work, and I wouldn't disagree with you. Mr. West's sophomore debut helped to solidify his status as one of the best in the game. "Heard Em Say" featuring Adam Levine is a great one, and the Curtis Mayfield sample on "Touch the Sky" comes in as one of my favorite Kanye songs ever. Immediately followed by "Gold Digger", Late Registration appears as if it can matchup with any other hip-hop album you can name. The greatness continues on "Drive Slow", perhaps a nod to Kanye's past automobile accident. But the albums dips down a bit here around. It eventually picks back up with "Crack Music" and "Diamonds from Sierra Leone". Yet the true capstone on the project comes through on "We Major", a breakthrough / defining moment for a young Kanye. The song is simply otherworldly; in a way, the sounds feel like they're coming from Mario Kart's Rainbow Road (I don't know another way to describe it, that's just simply how I've always imagined it). Hip hop doesn't get much better than "We Major", especially with a feature from Nas. Late Registration winds down with "Hey Mama", a genuine song that would be somewhat appropriate to play on Mother's Day.

5. Blank Face LP - ScHoolboy Q (2016)

It's hard to talk about Blank Face LP while keeping my diction within the realms of PG-13. But let's dive in and give it a try. I must admit there's not a lot going on in the opening song "TorcH". But "Lord Have Mercy" eventually turns into "THat Part", a well produced burner (also check out the Black Hippy remix because it goes hard). "Groovy Tony / Eddie Kane" starts off extremely well, but drops off during the "Eddie Kane" part of the medley (there's a lot of trimming that could've been done here). "Kno Ya Wrong" delivers with good trippy textures and "WHateva U Want" has a catchy house type of feel. I could see a remix of this (or even the song alone) being played in a club. I've always liked "By Any Means" and "Dope Dealer", which gives a feature from the eccentric E-40. But there's no song better on Blank Face than "John Muir". Everything about "John Muir" reeks of low down and dirty West Coast gansta shit. The chorus is incredibly catchy and the horn section / sampling choices come through perfectly: everything about it is awesome. Don't forget about songs like "Neva CHange", (a song I slept on for awhile) which features SZA on the chorus (also incredibly catchy). Blank Face finishes with "Tookie Knows II", a dizzy reflection that picks up where Habits & Contradictions left off. To this day, I still view Blank Face as one of Top Dawg's (the record label) best albums.

4. good kid, m.A.A.d city - Kendrick Lamar (2012)

There's definitely a lot of hits on good kid, m.A.A.d city - whether it be "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe", "m.A.A.d city", or "Poetic Justice". But let's talk about the songs people aren't giving enough credit. "The Art of Peer Pressure" gives a descriptive experience detailing adolescent L.A. street life. All the running, ducking, and swerving out of dimly lit alleys while avoiding the police in the song feels very surreal. I think "The Art of Peer Pressure" is such a great example of Kendrick's ability to display vivid imagery. The west coast '90s influence continues on "good kid" - which has a memorable chorus with lyrics that fit with the theme of the album. good kid, m.A.A.d city touches on L.A. inner city street politics; and how the politics connect the youth with drugs and violence. I've always gravitated towards songs like "Money Trees" and "The Recipe" (showing how Dr. Dre was an influence / mentor in Kendrick's early career). Probably the standout from the album is "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst": it's such a beautiful song. Even at such an early point in Kendrick's career, I would say it goes down as one of his best. "Collect Calls" has a nice 3am type of "delirious" vibe. I say this because (for whatever reason) my first impressions of the song always came during the late after hours. In good kid, m.A.A.d city, Kendrick Lamar balanced the tightrope of being commercially successful while also talking about some real / authentic shit that would set him apart from his peers.

3. Acid Rap - Chance the Rapper (2013)

A Kanye West protégé, Chancellor Bennett's presence really emerged through Acid Rap -showcasing his unique vocal style and distinctive goofy flow. "Pusha Man" commences the acidic festivities off with some funky riffing which leads into the trippy "Paranoia". "Paranoia" is one of the better songs on Acid Rap which also touches on the stark reality of Chicago crime. "Cocoa Butter Kisses" follows as a coming of age adolescent song. "Lost" is a personal favorite which happened to turn me onto the rapper Noname - especially her album Telefone which takes some influence from Acid Rap's aesthetic (I highly recommend it).

"Favorite Song" is one any high schooler (growing up in the 2010's) knew growing up (featuring a nice verse from Childish Gambino). Acid Rap was a lot of what I listened to in the summer of 2016 - which still brings back feelings of hazy summer nostalgia. There's nothing too serious on Acid Rap, but that's what makes it fun. But there's no better song that sums up the mixtape than "Acid Rain". This is by far the best song on the album and I wish Chance would stick to more of this formula in his work. You can't hate on a line like: "I miss my diagonal grilled cheeses, And back when Mike Jackson was still Jesus". Looking ahead, Coloring Book was a somewhat disappointing release - I thought only about half of it was good. Chance the Rapper's career unfortunately would go somewhat downhill as his popularity grew. Check out singles like "The Man Who Has Everything", "Sunday Candy", and "I Might Need Security" before you waste your time with The Big Day.

2. The College Dropout - Kanye West (2004)

Packed with skits and playful humor, Kanye's exuberant College Dropout is a breakthrough which anyone can appreciate. It starts with the affable "We Don't Care", which has such a youthful bounce to it. The feel good music continues on "All Falls Down", and Kanye's gospel roots come out on "I'll Fly Away", a familiar church hymn / traditional you've probably heard. "Spaceship" subsequently details Kanye's medium of departure to "fly away" in. Overall, The College Dropout touches on relatable themes such as family and the "mama, we've made it!" kinda thing.

"Jesus Walks" comes out as a big hit but it's even more awesome to see Kanye's "Big Brother", Jay-Z, (an incredible influence on early Kanye) to be featured on this album. Kanye would later write a aforementioned song on Graduation talking about Jay-Z's prowess. "Get em High" and "Slow Jamz" (a Luther Vandross sample) come out as personal favorites, but in the midst of all the skits and humor that follow, two songs really shine brightly. "Family Business" is a song I find myself coming back to periodically when I'm feeling nostalgic or sad. It just never seems to get old when the moment is right. "Through the Wire" is a truly remarkable track that tells the story of Kanye undergoing limiting reconstructive surgery due to a car accident. Ultimetely it led Kanye's jaw to be wired to his face for six weeks; but what's crazy is that he recorded "Through the Wire" during this six week period. If you listen closely, you can hear it all in the lyrics for yourself. I love retrospective songs like "Last Call" that put the finishing touch great albums such as The College Dropout. It's simply just messing around on a beat - reminiscing about the album process and the work behind one of the greatest albums of all time. Sampling elements of funk, soul, and pitch-shifted high flying r&b madness, to The College Dropout I raise my glass.

1. To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar (2015)

To Pimp a Butterfly contains a different listening experience than most – it’s not very accessible at certain points, and hard to grasp on the first listen. The album is meant to be listened to as a whole - so if you're coming for a quick fix, then it's simply time to turn around. You can't pick your top 5 songs and come away with the meaning / jist of the album. Unfortunely there's a lot of stark (but yet real) subject matter found within - which is geared towards more of a mature and serious audience.

This is my take: it’s neither right or wrong, it's just simply the way I have experienced the album over the past five years (somewhere around 100+ listens). I’ve spent times just focusing solely on the music and rhythms, and other times just grasping the subject matter in the lyrics. It's hard to fully understand. To Pimp a Butterfly is an introspective which deals with Kendrick Lamar's personal struggles, as well as struggles within the black community as a whole.

The track order especially matters in this album. In the first few tracks, TPAB deals with themes of money / temptations. Through this, we can see a young adolescent Kendrick Lamar who once desired all the fame and glory that he'd seen portrayed through the definition of a "rap image". However, once the budding star finally arrives at this destination, he begins to deal with depression and a self-identity crisis of sorts (chronologically in his life this is most likely after the release of good kid, m.A.A.d. city). Kendrick must hit a low in order to come out stronger in the long run - which is what we see towards the middle of the album. “These Walls” details certain temptations which help to portray Kendrick's struggles. In this time period in his life, there's a mix of him hitting exuberant highs while still managing to feel empty / hollow on the inside with the crashing lows. You might hear the term "Lucy" being thrown a lot here. Lucy represents all the perils of becoming a rap famous star. But if we continue on with this even more, perhaps "Lucy" is actually short for "Lucifer". Think about it. Kendrick sleeps with Lucy in “”For Sale? – Interlude”: which ultimetely allows Kendrick to become “sold out” to the music industry that corrupts.

As the album progresses, Mr. Lamar doesn’t discover his true identity (as a young black man) until he comes home within the song “Momma”. Very little mention of Kendrick's African-American heritage is explored until this. Kendrick begins to acknowledge his past, and begins to grasp with the present-day struggles of the black community (especially in the inner cities). This leaves him with an eye opening experience - which transitions into a frantic free jazz hysteria. Listen for the key words at the end of "Momma": “this is a world premiere”. This world premiere allows Kendrick to see more of the light for the first time: as TPAB begins to encapsulate more of a world (community) view. From here on out, the singular Compton / LA viewpoint that we saw in good kid, m.A.A.d city starts to dwindle.

But this is just surface digging for identity. It’s a quick fix, and Kendrick begins to realize what he’s witnessing lies deeper than simple domestic LA issues. To get a worldwide view, Kendrick must travel to Africa: “While my loved ones was fighting a continuous war back in the city, I was entering a new one".

Detailing his supposed visit / experiences within Africa, “How Much a Dollar Cost” brings out a new sense of pain, anger, and urgency in Kendrick's voice. This is where the album starts to get even better, sonically and lyrically. I'll just put this out here - an angry and passionate Kendrick Lamar yields some of the best rapping that the past twenty years have seen. In "How Much a Dollar Cost", a homeless man in Africa requests a dollar from Kendrick in order to feed his urges / potential addiction. With the boom bap intensity building throughout, Kendrick ultimetely decides (after sparring with the man) that he doesn’t want to give in and help, as "every penny is his to keep". It is later revealed in the song that this homeless man was a form of God in disguise. This internal “judgement day” of sorts allows Kendrick to reflect on his past life decisions throughout the rest of the album.

"Complexion (A Zulu Love)" fittingly follows suite and keeps the momentum rolling with a great feature from the feisty Rapsody. In a world where light skinned people can still see dark skins differently, the song calls on everyone to come together and work towards more unified progress. Just listen to the concluding verse: "Call your brothers magnificent, call all the sisters queens, we all on the same team, blues and pirus, no colors ain't a thing". At this point, Kendrick Lamar is simply not who he was at the beginning of To Pimp a Butterfly.

But this is all so easy to say. In theory it sounds simple, yet (unfortunately) making widespread progress on racial equality is extremely difficult. And it can’t come without trials and tribulation. The transition into Kendrick’s best song on the album (and potentially his career) does nothing more than detail the truth: there is still an ongoing racial problem in America. This is Kendrick Lamar’s return journey, his coming of age moment. Now that he is more grown, he must deal with the heavy pain of the African-American people in modern day America. Through a viewpoint much more like that of his parents or grandparents, he begins to witness “the land of the landmines, the hell that’s so earth”.

Setting the tone, “The Blacker the Berry” comes off unabashedly angry, with thumping bass drums and piercing synthesizers. I don't think I can find a more powerful song that’s been written in the past 10 years. It’s truly just so authentic and real. Finally accepting his identity and pointing his finger at the problem, Kendrick calls out the generational hatred that has surrounded the African American people for years - while referencing early civil rights leaders such as Marcus Garvey.

Songs like “The Blacker the Berry” can't be topped. And from a chronological viewpoint, this couldn’t fit near the beginning of the album, it just wouldn’t make sense. All the emotions conveyed are emotions that Kendrick has developed through the course of To Pimp a Butterfly. What a song.

Moving forward, let's just take a musical moment to appreciate the stutter stop on the third verse of "You Ain’t Gotta Lie" (coming in on the “and” of beat 4 instead of beat one) that goes in so smooth. At this point, Kendrick has come through a long way. He starts to embrace the man that he has become through this journey. In the funky song “i”, there’s a great anecdote of sorts - which has a mature Kendrick breaking up a fight which occurred within the middle of the crowd during one of his concerts. It also has some awesome high energy and guitar riffs. But at some point, To Pimp a Butterfly has to conclude. It finishes with perhaps Kendrick’s most well thought out track “Mortal Man”. The beloved MC asks you to take a call to action - to look around and identify the people around who are best for you going forward.

Do you believe in me? How much you believe in her?

You think she gon' stick around if them 25 years occur?

You think he can hold you down when you down behind bars hurt?

You think y'all on common ground if you promise to be the

First? Can you be immortalised without your life being expired?

Even though you share the same blood is it worth the time?

Like who got your best interest?

Like how much are you dependent?

How clutch are the people that say they love you?

And who pretending?

This is Kendrick’s come back to earth moment. It’s Kendrick showing that even throughout all of his experiences/strife found within TPAB, he still has a way to go. He (and we) must keep a look on the horizon in order to make the people around us are in it for the long haul. “Mortal Man” comes through as a personal favorite on the album. It’s not necessarily a hit, but it’s nothing less than some of the most real ass rapping I’ve ever heard.

If you’ve been listening, you’ll hear in between each track snippets of a recurring theme. At first, the sentences can seem confusing, but you can see they come in a repetitive/recursive sequence. The poem finishes here after Mortal Man, and effectively the circle has turned. In context, the short motif snippets make sense when read out loud by Kendrick in one sitting. The last half of the song gets interesting and personal. Kendrick has a clever “interview” with his influence Tupac Shakur. Kendrick asks Tupac all the dialectic questions that he dealt with throughout the album (with a frantic jazz setting in the background). It is here that the title of the album is revealed.

"Mortal Man" might be one of the greatest songs I've ever heard. Let that sink in.

It's funny (but also fitting) that the beginning of To Pimp a Butterfly is focused on drugs, money, and women. But the end of album has lines likes "You wanna love like Nelson, you wanna be like Nelson", and "That's not Nelson-like, want you to love me like Nelson". Not shying away from anything but being himself, Kendrick's To Pimp a Butterfly is a very black album; an album that is very in your face - and it's not trying to be anything else than black. There's little commercial viability here outside of "Alright" and "King Kunta".

Never before have I heard such an engrossing album with so much lyrical subject matter. There's so much subject matter that can be explored for years to come. The album was released in 2015, yet it still holds up true today (especially with everything that happened in 2020). A commentary on life itself, To Pimp a Butterfly goes down as one of the greatest albums ever.

While I spoke a lot here, I still believe To Pimp a Butterfly to be a bit overrated at times from certain critics. I wouldn't hail it as the greatest album of all time, and I'm not gonna bow down to it at every instance. But I honestly felt just writing one paragraph about this album wouldn't be fitting.