50 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums Of All Time (acc. google)

I like music lists. So I google search stuff like "greatest hip hop albums all time." Google itself will respond with its own list of sorts; a ribbon of hip-hop albums it considers the best. Interesting list, but no actual commentary. 
This is where I come in. 
You can google the same thing twice and could look a little different, but generally the same idea. Their picks are pretty predictable to music nerds like myself. 6 artists have 3 albums each. 7 artists have 2 albums each. There's 32/50 for ya right there. 10 albums produced by Dr. Dre. 9 albums are hosted by members of either Wu-Tang Clan or N.W.A. I mean honestly, I haven't heard all these albums all the way through. Yet somehow, I know at least 1 track from each of them. So I'm gonna pretend like I've heard all of them hundreds of times and provide a kinda snarky comment about each of them. Let's just get this over with. 

50 DMX It's Dark And Hell Is Hot 
DMX swears a lot.
49 Kendrick Lamar DAMN. 
Yeah, um, spoiler, Kendrick's on here a lot.
48 The Pharcyde Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde
YA MAMA, YA MAMA, YA MAMA
47 Eminem The Eminem Show 
*token white guy
46 Black Star Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star 
Appropriately placed.
45 Ice Cube Death Certificate

Arguably my favorite album cover on this list. 

44 Dr. Octagon Dr. Octagonecologist
Kool Keith starts his career as a member of the at least somewhat accessible member 80's rap group Ultramagnetic MC's only to grow weirder with age to the point that he makes a 1996 concept album about a violent time-traveling gynecologist from Jupiter BECAUSE WHY NOT? 
43 Nas It Was Written 
I always assumed this was obviously Nas's 2nd best album, but lo and behold, there are 2 ranked higher than this. 
42 Boogie Down Productions Criminal Minded
I don't how people can look at these guys and say crap like "Golly gee, hip-hop used to be fun!"











41 Kanye West Late Registration
Somehow, over time, this has become Kanye's most underrated album.

40 Public Enemy Fear Of A Black Planet
1990 AOTY?
39 Dre. Dre Compton
Nah.
38 Ice Cube AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
I'm pretty sure nobody who's ever watched Are We There Yet? has ever heard this album.

37 Lauryn Hill The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill
Shout out to the girl I dated from Chicago whom never gets on facebook; this album still reminds me of you.
36 De La Soul 3 Feet High And Rising
Daaaaang this is ranked super low. 
35 Run-DMC Raising Hell 
Sorry to keep sounding like an "old-head," but daaaaang this is ranked super low. 
34 Mos Def Black On Both Sides 
Anyone else kinda enjoy that Be Kind Rewind movie Mos Def did with Jack Black? 

33 50 Cent Get Rich Or Die Tryin'
SO OVERRATED [drops mic]. 
32 GZA Liquid Swords 
Of course this deserves a spot on this list, I'm just surprised there's no Ghostface on here as well. 
31 Mobb Deep The Infamous 
Gotta love Mobb Deep. 
30 2Pac Me Against The World

"Dear Mama" will always be a personal favorite.
29 OutKast ATLiens
Um, yeah, Outkast, kinda good.
28 Beastie Boys Licensed To Ill
"Can you think of a stupider name than the Beastie Boys? If you could think of a stupider name, I'd probably be pretty impressed." -MCA
27 Fugees The Score
Fun fact: I was introduced to Fugees via the Sesame Street special Elmopalooza. 

26 Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly
Love the video where Kendrick dresses up like Uncle Sam and makes funny faces. 

25 OutKast Stankonia

"Ppht, yeah right Andre, like our country's actually gonna be bombing Baghdad any time soon," said the music critic giving a first listen to Stankonia's "B.O.B" 2 days before George W. Bush would be elected president. 

24 Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique 
I believe that everyone should listen to this album amidst contemplating the meaning of life. 
23 Nas Stillmatic
Okay, so "Ether" is the ultimate dis track, but this shouldn't be here. 
22 Eminem The Slim Shady LP 
I'll never fully understand the rap scene in 1999, but I remember hearing Eminem songs when I was a kid in the back of Atlee Zipf's van driving through Oakland at night and it seemed pretty fitting. 
21 Dr. Dre 2001
It bangs, but too high. 
20 A Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders

We on award tour, with Muhammad my man!
19 Madvillain Madvillainy
You can't see me, but I'm applauding.
18 Kanye West The College Dropout
As a guy with a Bachelor's Degree working some random local menial job, this album just sounds better every year.
17 Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Fun fact: Released on my 20th birthday.
16 The Notorious B.I.G. Life After Death
If you haven't seen the video of Dinosaurs' Earl Sinclair lip-syncing to "Hypnotize," here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VzZi-YrkRY  

15 2Pac All Eyez On Me

I just want you all to know that some of Pac's richest friends paid the bail money to get Pac out of jail for his sexual abuse charges just so Dr. Dre could save the guy's career with "California Love" and I always sound like a terrible person when I put it that way but that's kinda exactly what happened. 
14 A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory 
As much as I praise these other albums, I'd straight-up put this in my top 10. 
13 Kendrick Lamar good kid. m.A.A.d city 
Brought to you by Domino's! 
12 OutKast Aquemini
Only ripens with age. 
11 Jay-Z The Blueprint
If Ray Lewis can have an amazing Super Bowl season after tiptoeing past murder charges, Jay-Z can make an amazing 2X Platinum album after pleading guilty to stabbing a guy, because this is 2001.

10 N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton
[sighs] No, I haven't seen the movie yet.
9 Eric B. & Rakim Paid In Full
THIS IS SOME OF THE DOPEST STUFF YOU'LL EVER HEAR
8 Public Enemy It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
This is google's highest ranking 80s album on the list, and I gotta agree with 'em.
7 Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
Long before there was Chef Curry, there was Chef Raekwon.
6 Jay-Z Reasonable Doubt
Beyonce was only 14 years old when Jay made this aaaaand things just got awkward...

5 Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP 
So wait, does everybody from Detroit have an annoying voice? Or is it just Eminem and Jack White and Danny Brown and Iggy Pop and Madonna and Xzibit and the guy from MC5 and Ted Nugent and Kid Rock and... 
4 The Notorious B.I.G. Ready To Die 
Fun fact: First rap album I ever owned, as stolen from a buddy of mine at Redfish in 2009. 
3 Wu-Tang Clan Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

One of my older brothers used to think Wu-Tang Clan was a jokey rap group that hipsters only enjoyed ironically, and despite his being totally incorrect, it's not like ya can't see where he's coming from. 

2 Dr. Dre The Chronic 
I also think this is the 2nd greatest hip-hop album of all time. 
1 Nas Illmatic 
I also think this is the greatest hip-hop album of all time.

The Miseducation Of Scott E Hall

Unbeknownst to most, I've lived in Stockton, California zip code longer than anywhere else. It's the location of my childhood. Summer 1996-Summer 2006. My family moved out of California when I was 15 years old, having just wrapped up my freshman year at Linden High School. I haven't visited the area since I was 16. I'm 27 now, and I basically can't remember anything! My childhood, Stockton, nothing.
For the record, this has had 0 effect on my life. It's just that... well, I'm facebook friends with my 7th Grade teacher... and she recently posted pictures of her classroom door... and it's been giving me chills. First time I've seen a glimpse of Glenwood Elementary in years. Just the tiny bit you can see in the photos looks exactly like it did when I was in middle school. It's insane.
So here's an ode to my middle school days. Hindsight, don't fail me now.

The Miseducation Of Scott E Hall

So, for starters, we practically lived on the border of Stockton and Linden. Linden is a small farming town. Stockton is the straight-up hood. Glenwood Elementary was in walking distance of my house. All my neighbors smoked. Even some of the kids my age were already into it. While most students also lived nearby, we had kids all the way from the inner-city and kids from beyond the vineyards.
I never really considered my school all that racially diverse. A lot of white kids + a lot of Hipanics. That was it. But we definitely all came from different backgrounds. My dad was a math teacher (and still is). Some of my friends lived in trailer parks, some of them lived in mansions. It's been a shame growing up and seeing those worlds further divide before my eyes. I witness a lot of adults simply clinging to those with a similar socioeconomic status. I guess that's where we people find a lot of commonalities, but dang... I'd feel super guilty if I ever went on a cruise or something. We used to all play soccer with each other at school and now some high education and a fat paycheck makes you more deserving or something. Sheesh.
Here's some background music, by the way.

There were a few Mormons in the school; I was the only one in my grade. I remember our ward driving all the way to the Oakland Temple to do baptisms for the dead. My oldest brother Keith left for his mission in 2004, and I wasn't sure how to react. By the time I reached middle school, Mormonism was simply my shtick. I was the butt-end of a lot of jokes... and I made up most of those jokes myself. I was "the little Mormon boy." Had some fun with it. I didn't swear or anything. Didn't listen to rap (IRONIC, I know). I was a weird, quiet jokester... I think this part of my personality has stuck around. But gotta admit, Mormon childhood sounds like it was an extremely different experience for kids in Idaho + Utah. There are a lot of Mormons here. Which is cool and all, it's just bizarre to hear their different dialect + point of view when discussing spiritual issues. I think some kids actually thought about marriage back when they were in middle school. There's also a lot of gospel terms that get tossed around in regular conversation. Still getting used to that. And the low-key underlying tones of Trump justification have just become humorous to me.
For some reason, I was super good friends with my teachers Mrs. Baker + Ms. Matto. A few friends and I had lunch with them every day when we were in 8th Grade. I'd talk with them about my classic rock and joke about George W. Bush + John Kerry. Ah, the 2000's (sigh), It was a different time. 9/11 was fresh on our minds. Barry Bonds was my childhood hero. I hated Kobe Bryant. I was an encyclopedia of classic knowledge. I hated modern pop music + would always play tricks on the DJ at school dances. The poor guy.

I don't recall ever having a crush on anyone. But lemme tell ya, those mid-teen years are a hormonal train wreck. I always wondered how kids "dated" back then. Like, did their moms drive them to Burger King or something? Anyways... everybody talked about sex semi-ironically. They were all joking about it, only not. A lot of my buddies just wanted to get laid or whatever, yet the thought of someone so much as going on a date with me scared me crapless. Anything hormonal was just a fragile issue for me. Yeah, everything was a sex joke until things got real. I still remember this one time a 6th grade girl got pregnant and the reality of it all was insane. For all of us. While I feel like Glenwood gave a good informative sex-ed discourse, it's a shame that we never got to learn about actual relationships and human compatibility. I definitely feel like lots of adults (heck, myself included) are still learning about that for ourselves.
I remember our family visited Logan UT once when I was in middle school. I thought it was pretty legit, so I randomly decided I'd go to college there years later. Huh. I'm still here. It is pretty legit.
While my music taste has changed a ton over the years, I still vividly remember listening to Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run on a charter bus riding alongside the Pacific Ocean on the way back from our big 8th Grade field trip to Monterey. I also recall my buddy in the backseat peeing in a Gatorade bottle.
Here's some generic conclusive statements: To sum things up, I used to be a weird kid and now I've grown into a weird adult. Have I become a product of my past surroundings? Kinda. I think I've always had a case of looking at my current environment and purposely trying to be the opposite. I'm the goody-2-shoes among my liberal friends + I'm the rebel among my hardcore Christian friends. Whatever. I still make stupid life choices + get scared of dating + smell like B.O. sometimes. I guess that's just the kid inside all of us.
Here's a picture of my 7th Grade self dressed up as John Denver.