Reasonable Doubt
American Gangster
Blueprint
Black Album (or Vol 1...whatever)

Those first 3 albums are easily better than anything Kanye has even put out IMO. Where Kanye is really hurt is that even on his best MC performances he just isn't touching Jay Z at his peak...not even close

vs

College Dropout
Late Registration
MBDTF

I only put three for Ye, because despite the fact that I really really like the albums listed, I don't like the rest of his albums..I think 808s/Graduation/Yeezus suck pretty much.