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.