Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums
Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums Of The Millennium
I remember being told a while ago that the millennium did not actually start in 2000, but technically in 2001.
So, with that said, I figured I’d commemorate the end of the first decade of the millennium with a list of the top 10 albums of hip-hop albums from 2001-10. In no real order:
1. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
This 2006 effort from the Wu Tang Clan veteran is his most coherent and accessible yet of his extensive catalogue. This album has damn nigh everything one could want from a hip-hop album: vivid storytelling, witty rhymes, songs for the ladies, battle raps and incredible beats from the best in the game. All this done in his unique, frenetic style make it one of the best releases of the decade.
2. Slaughterhouse - Slaughterhouse
This self-titled album from the hip-hop supergroup is very much for those who love the lyrical side of hip-hop: the punch lines, the wordplay, ridiculous rhyme schemes, etc. To be frank, the subject matter of this album is limited. 80% is directed at 'whack MCs' and how they’re better than everyone out there, but they do it so well and with so much skill that you won’t care. It has so many great lines that no matter how many times you hear it, you’ll discover something new.
3. Cage - Hell’s Winter
This cathartic release from one time Eminem rival (they both had a penchant for the horrorcore aspect of rap) is not for the faint of heart, revealing in vivid detail his mental hospital incarceration, his traumatic childhood, and his recovery from PCP and drug addiction. Admittedly this all sounds very doom and gloom, but it’s not. Each of his tales are peppered with dark humour and it ends on a somewhat triumphant note in the title track. Production is handled by the underground’s finest RJD2, El-P, DJ Shadow and Blockhead.
4. Kanye West - The College Dropout
Kanye’s first album is maybe not his best album, but it’s probably his most enjoyable. Over some of the finest production to grace hip-hop, Kanye has crafted an album where every track feels like a single that’d be at home in the top 10 (except the last track that’s, erm, 13 minutes long). This is Kanye as the everyman, not the millionaire artist, and that’s partially what makes this album so great, it’s so personal and relatable.
5. Damian Marley & Nas - Distant Relatives
This was probably the nicest surprise of last year. Collaborations between legends, especially those of different genres, often end up being terrible or at best a crushing disappointment. This wasn’t. A great record combining elements of hip-hop, reggae and African culture seamlessly. It managed to talk about
6. Little Brother - The Minstrel Show
This concept album from duo Phonte and rapper Big Pooh (and featuring soulful production from 9th Wonder) is a deft satire of black cultural stereotypes and the more ridiculous aspects of hip-hop and R'n'B. The album can be quite adequately summarised by a line from Phonte in the song Not Enough: “Dope beats, dope rhymes, what more do y’all want?”
7. El-P - I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead
This album, in all honesty, sounds like nothing else out there. It sounds like something brought back from the future, but not a bright future, this sounds like the soundtrack to the apocalypse. Epic dense production combined with El-p’s powerful, provocative abstract rhymes make it a one of a kind listening experience.
8. Jay-Z - American Gangster
Easily Jay’s most underrated release, this album inspired by the film of the same name was a massive return to form after the fairly disappointing Kingdom Come. This has Jay-Z back in his element: showing us the life of a hustler, whether it’s the stratospheric heights shown on Roc Boys or the thudding lows on Fallin. This is Jay-Z at his most lyrical since his first album Reasonable Doubt and for once there’s none of the mainstream pandering which pollute his other albums.
9. Quality - Talib Kweli
Now a lot of the complaints one hears about rap (most of the time from people that haven’t listened to it and are generally ignorant as hell) is that’s it’s all “money, drugs, guns and hoes”. They haven’t listened to Talib Kweli. This was part of the unfortunately named “conscious-rap” movement, focusing on positivity and political, social issues. In the hands of lesser MCs it could be very boring, but it contains incredible rhyming and production.
10. Apathy - Eastern Philosophy
After being stuck in label purgatory on Atlantic records for multiple years, Apathy, seeing no release date in sight, took the independent route and crafted a near-classic album. Inspired by
