For favorites, I listed only one album per artist and kept them relatively from back in the day...

1 Pete Rock & CL Smooth - The Main Ingredient
2 OutKast - ATLiens
3 Nas - Illmatic
4 OC - Word...Life
5 GZA - Liquid Swords
6 Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
7 Mobb Deep - The Infamous
8 Gang Starr - Moment Of Truth
9 The Roots - Illadelph Halflife
10 Mos Def - Black On Both Sides
11 Scarface - The Fix
12 A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
13 Common - Like Water For Chocolate
14 M.O.P. - Firing Squad
15 The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die
16 AZ - Doe Or Die
17 De La Soul - Stakes Is High
18 Xzibit - 40 Dayz & 40 Nightz
19 iNi - Center Of Attention
20 Smif-N-Wessun - Dah Shinin’
21 Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt
22 Camp Lo - Uptown Saturday Night
23 Pete Rock - Soul Survivor
24 2Pac - Me Against The World
25 Artifacts - That’s Them