[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

(1) Dr Dre "The Chronic"

I think this album had the biggest impact on music, culture, and two entire generations of Americans, its almost like the Beatles of rap music. The 1990s might not have existed with The Chronic and Nirvana's Nevermind, its the Hendrix and Beatles of the 1990s.

(2) Run DMC "Sugar Hill Gang"

There might not be rap music with out this, its only ranking bellow The Chronic in terms of over-all impact.

(3) Tupac "Me Against the World"

Not necessarily Tupac's greatest album, neither one of the greatest albums on its own merits musically, but this is Tupac's first popular album, it solidified his impact as perhaps the most widely known rapper, I'm talking worldwide. You could ask BILLIONS of people and they will all unanimously know these three artists: (1) Michael Jackson (2) Bob Marley and (3) Tupac.

(4) LL Kool J "Bigger and Deffer"

I don't particularly dig LL, but this record put him into the mainstream American narrative. Rap music was elevated out of a street scene to the night club scene. This is critical evolution of rap music, it puts rap music on the radio in a way much different than Run DMC did. Run DMC put street music on the radio, LL Cool J put out pop-rap music. The "hearthrob" rapper originated with him, and his career had surprisingly longevity for what seems to be such a shallow artist.

(5)Tribe Called Quest "Midnight Marauders"

Tribe invented their own genre of rap music, they made it fresh, and there have been dozens of inspired groups after the fact, but these were the first, and this is their most widely recognized albums (my favorite is still The Love Movement)

(6) Geto Boys "The Geto Boys"

These guys were more notorious than renowned, but they are the pioneers of what would become 1990s gangsta rap.

(7) Nelly "Country Grammar"

I'm giving late 1990s Nelly the credit for making the Down South sound become the dominant sound in rap music for the past 15 years running. Where ever rappers come from, the beats and the flow reflect that Down South. Geto Boys usually get this credit, but I don't think Down South rap took off until the late 1990s early 2000s..

(8) Fugees "The Score"

This might be the most substantive and intellectual of rap groups to dominate the mainstream radio. This album is noticeably subversive, and yet it spawned top-40 radio hits? Lauren Hill paved the way for the Beyonce era, and she did without having to shake her ass, rather by speaking her mind. Too bad it got to her head. I think Fugees paved the way for Roots/Hieroglyhics/Outkast/Black Eyed Peas era in the early 2000s when for a brief window, actual HIP-HOP rather than rap took over the radio. I think that was actually a better era than the 80s or 90s, even if those aren't my favorite groups. Intelligent and well-crafted hip-hop had heavy rotation and radio airplay. It ain't been revived either..

(9) NWA "Str8 Outta Compton"

Eazy-E had lunch at the White House with George Bush just a few short years after the Reagan White House tried to shut N.W.A down, for this record alone. Seriously, can you think of a more subversive, obscene, and not-give-a-fuck superstar groups of any kind of music ever? N.W.A. was like the sports team that has a new technique nobody knows about yet, and nobody is prepared to compete against yet, so they catch everybody slipping way off the radar. That record changed the world, even though it is essentially NOT for the mainstream, never for the radio.

(10) Wu-Tang "Thirty-Six Chambers"

East-coast rap almost died until the Wu revived it. Further, these guys spawned a hundred rappers just in their OWN FUCKING GROUP, let alone the magnitude of their cultural and social impact. Plus, they are actually hip hop with a rap tinted flavor. Just gritty enough for low-lifes, just intelligent and substantive for art-rap freaks, just mainstream enough for everybody else, all at the same time?

(11) Beastie Boys "Licensed to Ill"

Turns out this was the biggest selling rap album of the entire 1980s. That stands on its own to make this list, let alone the multi-genre impact of these guys. They changed rap, pop, AND rock music in epic ways.

(12) Outkasts "Aquemini"

Outkast have evolved into becoming part of the fabric of America, for better or worse. They were honestly way to ecclectic, almost esoteric, for the mainstream, but America was charmed. This album had the radio singles which first introduced America to Outkast, its the honeymoon.

(13) Kanye West "The College Drop Out"

Jesus Walks was pimping so many elements it was like a perfect poker hand. It persuaded the conscious hip hop people. It had the Christians interested. It had the party crowd dancing. It was all over the radio, so peoples' mama was digging it. This is how Kanye became the dominant name of the 2000s

(14) Jay Z "Vol 2.. Hard Knock Life"

Same with Kanye, this record introduced Jay-Z to the mainstream American audience, and they embraced him in a pendulum swing from the whole Tupac/West Coast era of the 1990s. Between Jay-Z and Nelly, the rap world completely reoriented its radar from polar west to polar east.

(15) Nas "Illmatic"

This is essentially the Run DMC record of the 1990s. Just about EVERYBODY in rap music was inspired by this album, just about everybody who listens to rap music has this album in rotation. Makes the top-15 easily, though just underground to stay at the bottom of America's radar.
explanations forth-coming..[/quote]