7 Must-Listen Hip Hop Albums Of All Time

Hip hop is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The genre of music started as a niche movement in The Bronx, New York, in the early 1970s. Now, hip hop is the world’s biggest genre of music and is greatly impactful on pop culture. The volume and history of hip hop as a culture and genre can be overwhelming for anyone who would like to learn more about it. Today, we’ve compiled a list of seven of the best hip hop albums that one must listen to. 

It must be emphasized that this list is not exhaustive and does not even begin to encompass the full scope of hip hop music. These selections attempt to display a wide variety of albums that were important for the development of the genre. Each album on the list has no skippable tracks and is considered iconic in most cultural discussions. Take a look at the list of seven of the best hip hop albums of all time that are essential listens. 

An East Coast bias is often understood as hip hop was born in New York, and many of its greatest lyricists come from the area. Even if one favors the traditional hip hop sounds of New York, one cannot deny that Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle is one of the best hip hop albums of all time. Dr. Dre produced Snoop's debut album in 1993, establishing the G-Funk sound and paving the way for the entire West Coast. The two established their chemistry on Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, but Doggystyle combined calm and aggressive to completely redefine gangsta rap. Many of hip hop’s greatest artists from all regions cite Doggystyle as an inspiration.

Many classic hip hop albums helped shape the New York sound before 1994, but Nas reset the standard for lyricism with Illmatic. The album contains timeless boom-bap production that transports the listener to New York in the 1990s. Nas’s impeccable rhyme style and his storytelling ability raised the bar for the art of rapping. Illmatic’s concise tracklist also set the standard for what qualifies as a timeless piece of art. Nas was only 20 years old at its release, making Illmatic even more impressive.

Ready to Die is one of hip hop’s most iconic albums and is arguably perfect. The Notorious B.I.G. cemented his legacy with his debut album before his untimely passing. Ready to Die solidified Biggie as an all-time great, blending his tough persona with deep thinking and vivid imagery. Ready to Die showcases Biggie's unique and irreplicable flow and delivery. The album helped shape what a commercially successful hip hop should look like, creating a formula for rappers with crossover appeal. While Ready to Die is distinctly New York, Biggie’s lyrical ability and the album’s appeal transcended location.

Mobb Deep’s The Infamous set the benchmark for rough, rugged, and gritty hip hop music. The dusty yet beautiful production from Havoc and the violent rapping from Prodigy defined a sound of hip hop. While an album like Illmatic helped define the sound of New York, The Infamous created a lane of New York hip hop with its hardcore beats and rhymes. The Infamous was a landmark release for ‘90s rap and remains influential today as its sound permeates the underground scene.

JAY-Z’s name comes up in almost every discussion of the greatest rappers of all time. Many, including Jay himself, consider Reasonable Doubt, his debut album in 1996, his best. However, The Blueprint is an undeniable masterpiece. JAY-Z’s five previous albums showed that he could adapt to the current sound of hip hop and surpass others while doing so. The Blueprint saw Jay leading the charge instead. The album’s chopped and looped samples and JAY-Z’s skillful charisma made The Blueprint such a monumental album.

Almost every album on this list was a critical and commercial success that took hip hop to new heights. MF DOOM and Madlib’s 2004 collaborative album as Madvillain defined the essence of underground hip hop. Madlib’s experimental sampling and MF DOOM’s lyrically dense and clever bars were unprecedented. The album’s rapping and production were innovative and influenced a lane of artistry that encourages creativity. Diehard rap fans still celebrate Madvillainy as a classic album, representing the ultimate collaboration between two of the underground's greatest talents.

Kanye West’s fifth studio album is one of the most critically acclaimed albums of modern music. While Ye's four previous albums are classics in their own right, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is his magnum opus. It encompassed the soul, arrangement, musicality, and experimentation of Kanye’s previous albums, skillfully blending genres to create an entirely new sound. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was arguably the peak of Kanye West’s lyrical skill, displaying effortless braggadocio and vulnerability. Released in 2010, the album set the bar high for modern music and has influenced contemporary hip hop and beyond. 

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