In 1994, Notorious BIG lifted up the East Coast, put it on his back and changed hip hop forever. Ready To Die, his true gift to music, is stacked with radio hits and gets better as the album goes on. Mostly produced by Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs and Eazy Mo Bee, the beats go through old funk records and 80s hip hop samples.

Almost 15 years later, you can put the first single, “Juicy”, on in any club in America and everyone will know the words. Many of the great rappers of the past decade bite lines from this song on the regular. “Juicy” was the lead single but the true BIG introduction was in his 2^nd single “Big Poppa”. Still one of the smoothest songs in Hip Hop history, it took BIG to the next level of national awareness. From there, the album is filled with classics from “Warning” to “The What” to “Unbelievable”. It’s rare to skip around tracks on this gem.

This album spawned “aka’s” in hip hop among other things. You would be hard pressed to find a hip hop album that had such an impact and created as many trends as Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Raekwon’s detailed crime narratives became standard fare for any rapper after this album came out.  Released on Loud Records in 1995 this album not only featured one of the best guest verses ever, Nas on “Incarcerated Scarfaces”, but it also launched the solo career of Ghostface Killah.

Jay-Z’s debut album, Reasonable Doubt, still remains his most popular among fans and critics despite being released 12 years ago. At the time is was released on his personal upstart label, Roc-A-Fella Records with cohorts Damon Dash and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, Jay was the only artist. The album didn’t fare well commercially until the b side “Ain’t No N***a” featuring a then unknown Foxy Brown took off at Hot 97.  The label slowly grew into one of the biggest hip hop album of the ‘90s.

Lyrically, Jay-Z touches on the hustle and grind of the streets of New York and his time as a drug dealer.  DJ Premier, Ski Beats, and Loud.com’s own Sean C provided the sonic landscape for Jay to rap his most personal album until The Blueprint.  Reasonable Doubt is also a unique album because Jay didn’t reach his mainstream commercial success until two albums laster so Reasonable Doubt was discovered by his millions of fans years after its release.

Havoc and Prodigy dropped this classic in 1995.  Blasting from Queensbridge, the group’s second album was highlighed by the hit single “Shook Ones Pt. II”.  The album featured raw beats and straight-to-the-point lyrics that touched a nerve in the streets of the early 90s.   The duo pulled in guest spots from New York’s finest including Nas, Raekwon, Ghostface, and Q Tip.

Now there’s finally a rep from the East Coast on the Top 10 list!  Arguably, Jay’s most soulful album, The Blueprint, catches him at the peak of his game.  With R &B samples all over the place, Jay takes shots at Nas, proclaims his innocence and trades verses with Eminem.

This album was where Jay figured out his comfort zone as an artist. He had reached the pinnacle of commercial success on Vol. 2 but was missing the artistry displayed on Reasonable Doubt.  Jay took a risk on The Blueprint going with two unknown producers, Kanye West and Just Blaze, and they delivered not only his two hit singles, “Izzo (H.O.V.A)” and “Girls, Girls, Girls”, but also redefined the sound of the genre.  Jay took a risk which was unheard of for a rapper of his stature and it paid off big time.