Two of my favorite albums that 100% need to be in any collection are Sticky Fingaz "Black Trash: the Autobiography of Kirk Jones" and Masta Ace "Disposible Arts". those are the best concept albums hip hop has to offer. And concept is everything when it comes to an album imo.

Another one of my favorites is Three Six Mafia "The End" and "World Domination".

Any one of the 7 albums k-rino dropped last year.

Canibus "Melatonin Magic"

ofc all the classic 90s albums...ill speak on those not mentioned such as Jeru tha Damaja "the sun rises in the east"

Theres too many..i maybe expand later

808's

Blister says

Comparing this album to most of the poll choices is pretty embarrassing.

either stankonia or illmatic. i also would've said straight outta compton but i don't like the rampant violent misogyny on it =)

Sims says

kanye's got more top 40s than Michael Jackson, doesn't mean he's a better artist. unless it does

That is a really sad statistic.

kanye's got more top 40s than Michael Jackson, doesn't mean he's a better artist. unless it does

JessePinkman says

Devante you can't seriously be arguing that driz out raps Kendrick... Views wasn't really even a rap album.

Do you know what "in no particular order" means? And it was a hip hop album lmao

a tribe called quest and the roots. dont avoid kendricks album section 80, its also really good.

Listen to the one Eminem did with Rihanna

Eminem

and I also forgot De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising

looking back, I realized I missed some more modern "hip-hop essentials"

Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
Ab-Soul - Control System
Danny Brown - Old

and some more experimental ones

Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
Clipping. - CLPPNG
Death Grips - The Money Store

kendrick is great lyrically and flowwise though i don't care for most of his beats. levitate is toptier tho

Devante you can't seriously be arguing that driz out raps Kendrick... Views wasn't really even a rap album.

Chance's tape probably the best LP this year so far. Best verse is definitely Kendrick on DJ Khaled Holy Key

I won't bother repeating the things already mentioned in this thread because a lot of them are really amazing. So here's my own dump of albums to check out. Not really the classics, but some good albums that you should probably branch out to.

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouI9BSAx1ro
More of an experimental electronic beat tape than anything. But with Captain Murphy mentioned I think its a nice evolution of hip-hop.

The Alchemist - Israeli Salad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8jJXwO8IxE
Similar to Flying Lotus, another contemporary producer with some great production.

Joey Badass - 1999
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJOujsrIgOc
Great rapper with influences from DOOM and J Dilla.

Deltron 3030 - s/t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6YJjkO7F5A
Rap space opera. I shouldn't need to say more.

Also, if you are actually interested in learning about hip hop, I don't mind giving you a course on Hip Hop 101, starting with the Native Tongues movement. Look it up whilst I'm out.

sure I'll message you later today

If you want, I'll give you a more refined list and discussion when I get home later.

If you want something a bit more old school, go with K.M.D - Black B*stards, or Lewis Parker - Masquerades and Silhouettes.

Sims says

j cole and drake both make me fall asleep but cole at least has talent

debaser says

there are plenty of current rappers out there that are better than drake and Cole, and Kendrick is one of them

First rapper to go platinum without a feature
Album held Billboard number 1 spot for 12 weeks
If any of those artists have similar or better accolades we can actually have a conversation about this lol

Out of that list, I'd probably go with Black Star - Black Star, Dr. Dre - 2001, or A Tribe Called Quest - Beats, Rhymes And Life first.

Also, if you want 2pac, then Me Against The World is the go-to album 100%.

noted, I'll check out the ones I haven't checked out yet

I've been waiting for you to post, actually