Paid in Full did pretty much the same thing back when it was released. Rakim's whole style changed hip hop forever as one writer put it:

"... Before Rakim, all rap was like listening to a jazz saxophonist playing everything strictly within the structure of "Mary Had a Little Lamb"; after Rakim, rap sounded more like John Coltrane's "Giant Steps." With an elasticity that was completely new to the form, Rakim could expand a rhyme to a dizzying length in one line and then compress it into a microsphere in the next. The essence of his accomplishment was to transform rapping into an instrument..."

If this is on the list, then I'll be ok with 808 being on it.