Complex Top 90 Rap Albums of the 90's.

[King Lance]

http://www.complex.com/music/2014/04/th ... f-the-90s/


SSLP is 39 btw

[DetroitSkills]

compLex

[cement]

xzibits restless and man against the machine are awesome

[EminemBase]

No Internal Affairs? C'Mon sons.

Also, Illmatic is a classic but the hyperbole praise reaches levels of absurdity with it. It's a classic for Nas' street poetry, consistent sound and atmosphere but 'greatest hip-hop album of all-time'? = PLEASE, lmao.

Even Pharchyde's shit has more of a valid shot at that title.

All of Em's first three shits are infinitely more creative and inventive and better in hip-hop terms too...

It's just one of the great albums, but there's so many greater. On all levels.

[King Lance]

No Internal Affairs? C'Mon sons.

Also, Illmatic is a classic but the hyperbole praise reaches levels of absurdity with it. It's a classic for Nas' street poetry, consistent sound and atmosphere but 'greatest hip-hop album of all-time'? = PLEASE, lmao.

Even Pharchyde's shit has more of a valid shot at that title.

All of Em's first three shits are infinitely more creative and inventive and better in hip-hop terms too...

It's just one of the great albums, but there's so many greater. On all levels.

Illmatic is timeless and is one of the most influential hip hop albums of all time. Illmatic didn't just impacted the culture, it also changed the way most rappers started to spit...It ENDED that 80's ABC flow and that Rakim type flow (which you can tell is from the 80's)...Even Rakim had to change his flow after Illmatic...


Illmatic isn't just a great album, it's the bible of hip hop. It is full of songs where the lyrics are the most sampled in rap history and it's your favorite rapper's favorite album

How can you say it's just a great album when new school rappers are still trying to replicate it ?

[EminemBase]

No Internal Affairs? C'Mon sons.

Also, Illmatic is a classic but the hyperbole praise reaches levels of absurdity with it. It's a classic for Nas' street poetry, consistent sound and atmosphere but 'greatest hip-hop album of all-time'? = PLEASE, lmao.

Even Pharchyde's shit has more of a valid shot at that title.

All of Em's first three shits are infinitely more creative and inventive and better in hip-hop terms too...

It's just one of the great albums, but there's so many greater. On all levels.

Illmatic is timeless and is one of the most influential hip hop albums of all time. Illmatic didn't just impacted the culture, it also changed the way most rappers started to spit...It ENDED that 80's ABC flow and that Rakim type flow (which you can tell is from the 80's)...Even Rakim had to change his flow after Illmatic...


Illmatic isn't just a great album, it's the bible of hip hop. It is full of songs where the lyrics are the most sampled in rap history and it's your favorite rapper's favorite album

How can you say it's just a great album when new school rappers are still trying to replicate it ?

But I don't care how many people it influenced...

Illmatic is not that creative or thrilling of an album. It was a departure and groundbreaking in its STYLE - no question about that at all. But I don't automatically call things the greatest just if they influenced the most or came at a great time to influence... I judge everything and all art by its individual merit. Illmatic is a great album and a classic album; but GREATEST EVER - in terms of creativity, flows, ideas, lyrics, concepts etc. etc. just because it came at a time where it influenced people toward a more complex flow and has some really good tracks? Not even close.

What's the best tracks from the album? NY State of Mind... Halftime... those tracks are more creative or brilliant than anything else in hip-hop, ever, are they?

There's loads of shit things which influence more than Illmatic ever influenced the genre too; influence is neither here nor there - sometimes an indicator of great quality (like in the case of Illmatic), sometimes not. But it's not the be-all-and-end-all of quality or artistic merit. In fact it's barely even a starting point in my book.

The greatest album ever could have sold 12 copies and influence nobody. Let's judge the art, not sales; how many people latched on, who it influenced and why, the timing... all these things are not as important as the content and the artistic merit of the work. Illmatic has great artistic merit. But just GREAT artistic merit - to say that the rhymes and ideas on Illmatic are the best ever in hip-hop I think is just absurd.

I'm not talking about most influential, most valued, most adored, most anything other than most: creative, inventive, brilliant, original... and Nas' work is none of those things, even at the time. He just created a fresh style which people adored and which was a stark departure from relative simplistic work in comparison at the time, in structure and style. But it's not that creative or brilliant, it was just a very new style.

[Slim Fiasco]

This is probably their worst list ever tbh

Btw, EmBase, wouldn't you say that "greatest" also includes all those other criteria? Because, I usually have best and greatest as separate, the latter including impact/influence and all that ish. Just curious.

[EminemBase]

This is probably their worst list ever tbh

Btw, EmBase, wouldn't you say that "greatest" also includes all those other criteria? Because, I usually have best and greatest as separate, the latter including impact/influence and all that ish. Just curious.

Hmm... I guess so.

But as you say... I think it should include all.

The only thing Illmatic is the greatest at I think is influence. It influenced a lot of rappers on to that style but I don't believe it's the best in pretty much any category, certainly not the most creative or original even for its time. So I can't rate an album the greatest EVER just because it influenced a lot of rappers at an ideal time.

[Chazi]

Where BlackStar at? Don't want to check the whole list...

It isnt on the list

http://www.complex.com/music/2014/04/vote-for-the-best-rap-albums-of-the-90s