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01. Kanye West - The College Dropout 02. Jay-Z - The Blueprint 03. Nas - Illmatic 04. The Roots - Game Theory 05. A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory 06. Mos Def - Black on Both Sides 07. The Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death 08. Blu & Exile - Below The Heavens 09. Dr. Dre - 2001 10. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city 11. Reflection Eternal - Train of Thought 12. Madvillain - Madvillainy 13. Kanye West - Graduation 14. Common - Like Water For Chocolate 15. J Dilla - Donuts 16. Edan - Beauty & The Beat 17. Lupe Fiasco - Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor 18. OutKast - Aquemini 19. Brother Ali - The Undisputed Truth 20. The Roots - Things Fall Apart 21. Jay-Z - The Black Album 22. Big Boi - Speakerboxxx (technically an OutKast record, but I specifically love SB and treat it as its own unique album) 23. Nas - It Was Written 24. Big K.R.I.T. - K.R.I.T. Wuz Here 25. Little Brother - The Minstrel Show
A not-so-quick note on my favorite album, The College Dropout... This album checks all the boxes for me personally. It oozes nostalgia (probably more than all but maybe one other album), is still a super enjoyable listen front-to-back 16 years and countless spins later, and most importantly, this album really kickstarted my search into conscious/non-mainstream hip hop and I probably wouldn't have dug into the catalogs of Talib, Mos, or Common (3 artists featured in this very list) as soon as I did without Kanye/this album. Because of what music I would end up discovering because of it, this is definitely the most impactful album on my life as a hip hop fan. Plus, while I'd consider albums like Illmatic and The Low End Theory as objectively "better", I was 3 and 6 when those albums dropped and I didn't experience them in the moment like I did with this album. MBDTF is probably Ye's "best", and yeah this album has the gall to put two skits back-to-back, but man do I miss the old Kanye. Hilariously confident opposed to annoyingly conceited and in an obviously more fun, optimistic and hungry mood. Kanye is still learning how to rap, it's obvious where he's punching in and out throughout the entire album, but that's part of its charm. It's dated in a good way, I love the time period it represents and highlights. Sped-up-soul-sample Kanye production was always my favorite, and every single he produced/was featured on from this period was a hit to me.
I contemplated doing the whole "one album per artist" rule, but I just couldn't see myself leaving off albums like Graduation, It Was Written, or Things Fall Apart. I did however decided to keep it to two albums per artist, so I did had to cut off MBDTF.
A huge chunk of my list are albums that either dropped between 2004-2007, or that I discovered during that time period, which was my last few years of high school and first few years of college. This was definitely my "prime" as far as music discovery, and also coincides with some of the most impactful years/moments of my life as far as changes, growth, etc. An album like Game Theory brings me back to freshmen orientation of college whenever I listen to it, especially the start of "Baby".
Dre's 2001 is, in my opinion, the best engineered/mastered album. That shit sounds so god damn perfect. It's the ultimate headphones album, and it's the first thing I play when I get a new set. In a sense, it's my favorite album to *listen* to. Life After Death is another album that I love listening too just because it's *sounds* so good. Cinematic, crisp, etc. Shit, there is a lot I don't care for on LAD, and I'd prob consider Ready to Die as a whole a superior album, but LAD really demonstrates Biggie's ability to make a mainstream song legit with real lyricism, and a street song accessible with enjoyable flows and hooks.
OKP had such an impact on my list. Both the late 90s/early 2000s by OKP artists (Roots, Mos, Talib, Common) and albums/artists I pretty much found because of this board. The Minstrel Show was really on the cusp, and definitely benefited from me cutting out a 3rd Kanye album, but because this is The Lesson I needed to include it because that album and Little Brother/Phonte in general really represent exactly why this board was so important in HS/college as far as music discovery and helping shape my taste. The Minstrel Show in particular was the first album where I took part on the hype on The Lesson in the months leading up to it and lived up to every bit of hype everyone on here had for it. I tried desperately to put my friend on it back in HS. Years later he'd become a big Drake fan, and when it became obvious that Drake was biting off of Phonte early in his career I messaged him an article explaining such and told him that I knew I'd eventually get him to listen to Phonte, even if he wasn't technically listen to him/LB.
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