Askia: Neo-soul is great, but isn’t there a soul thread coming up? Soul doesn’t have to end in the '70s.
Anyway, I like all that backpacker shit, but I’m going to try to drag us away from it a bit. Also, I think I’ll add some important singles, because hip hop can be a very singles-driven genre.
Albums:
Run-DMC - Raising Hell
Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill
Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique (Much better than LtoIll, but really, the former has so much history that it can’t be denied).
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation of Mill
De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
Erik B and Rakim - Paid In Full
Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
Ice Cube - Amerikkka’s Most Wanted
Nas - Illmatic (One hot album every ten year average)
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt (Classic, should have gone triple)
Jay-Z - Blueprint (I don’t really like Jig any better than Nas, but he does have two totally undeniable, classic records)
Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die
2Pac - All Eyez On Me
NWA - Straight Outta Compton (“You are now about to witness the strength of street knoweldge”).
Outkast - Aquemini
Outkast - Stankonia (I know the true heads think Aquemini is the better record, but you can’t deny the singles on this, nor the experimentation).
Dr. Dre - The Chronic
Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle (Undeniable, but I’m going to say this anyway: listen to the singles. Isn’t this just some of the best shit ever?)
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Dr Dre - 2001
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing (Why instrumental hip-hop is good)
Kanye West - The College Dropout (“When you talk about classics does my name get brought up?” Damn right it does.)
Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner (There’s a whole lot of great grime, but this is the most cohesive statement)
Missy Elliott - Miss E… So Addictive (Timbo and Missy’s finest)
Talib Kweli - Quality (The best compromise between his commercial stuff and his Rawkus stuff)
Mos Def - Black On Both Sides
The Roots - Phrenology (yeah, it’s too long, and there’s some stupid shit on there, but it’s still a great record).
Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein
Mos Def & Kweli - Black Star
David Banner - Mississippi
Some Singles:
(not meant to be completist, rather, to plug some gaps. Also, this isn’t to imply that these artists are necessarily lesser than those listed above)
Sugarhill Gang - Rapper’s Delight
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - Rapper’s Delight
Afrika Bambaata - Planet Rock
Sir Mix-A-Lot (I’ll bow to the novelty. Everyone, no matter what you’re into, recognizes this track.)
Warren G - Regulate (Mmm… G-funk)
Busta Rhymes - Gimme Some Mo’
The Clipse - Grindin’ (Clipse should be huge, but they’ve been fucked with distribution. Neverhtless, this is one of their best, and of the best neptunes beats ever, as well)
Diplomats - Dipset Anthem (Dipset, bitch! The movement, sadly, can’t be summated with an album, because their best stuff is spread across dozens of mixtapes - pick up a Cam record or one of the Diplomatic Immunitys if you require a full length release. Still, this track is all their strengths packed into four minutes. Ay!)
Li’l Jon and the Eastside Boyz ft. The Ying Yang Twinz - Get Low (You can’t ignore the south, and although this is by no means the first crunk song, it was the one that put it up in the stratosphere)
Ludacris - What’s Your Fantasy (Luda doesn’t really make great albums, but he sure can do singles)
Mike Jones ft Slim Thug and Paul Wall - Still Tippin (The culmination of years of rappers working in the Texas underground. To be fair, this list should be discussing DJ Screw, UGK and Chamillionaire, too, but just use this track as a starting point to introduce you to H-Town.)
50 Cent - In Da Club (Think what you will about the man, this is the sort of thing he does best, and it’s a Dre banger, so it’s pretty much perfect. But then again, for street cred, you can pick up “How To Rob an Industry Nigga” instead.)
Well, that’s all for now, but this list is seriously lacking some Slick Rick, KRS-One, Master-P, Cash Money and LL, so if anyone wants to fill those gaps, that would be good. Also, maybe a general overview of the Def-Jux and Anticon camps (cLOUDEAD, maybe?). Hmm, and maybe some Jurassic 5 for all the people who don’t like proper hip-hop (yeah, I like their stuff, and they’re probably significant enough to be mentioned, but, really, the only people who think they’re the best out just haven’t been listening to enough hip hop).
)