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#1 – Nas – Illmatic

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At 18 years of age Nas took a picture of early 90s NYC and placed it over 10 tracks, collectively called Illmatic. One of the most honest, straightforward albums of all time, is also LOUD.com’s Top Hip Hop Album of All Time.  This timeless classic introduced, Nasir Jones, to the world in 1993 and he has been a steady force in Hip Hop ever since.  With production from Hip Hop legends Peter Rock, Premiere Q-Tip and others, the album samples everything from Michael Jackson to The Gap Band. Nas’ career has been plagued since Illmatic becuase everyone has been waiting for him to “return to form”.  This is a testament to how good this album is because very rarely in any art form does one create a body of work and instantly be considered one of if not the best to have ever done it.

If it weren’t for Wu-Tang’s Enter the 36 Chambers, this website might not even exist!  As the story goes, Funk Flex received one of the roughest sounding demos ever for “Protect Ya Neck” and started playing it on Hot 97. This is around the time Funk Flex and Hot 97 were starting to make a name for themselves. Flex placed a call to Steve Rifkind, who, upon hearing the demo, signed Wu-Tang as the fourth act on Loud Records.

“Enter The Wu-Tang” didn’t sound like anything else out there. The dirty drums and soul samples RZA cooked up in his basement in Staten Island would, in years ahead, be copied many times over. The 9 MC’s all had their own style and none of them came wack. Imagine finding a rap crew where each member could hold their own on a solo project and actually release a solo project. But to get back on track, this whole album is a hip hop quotable. One of our favorites: “I’m not pumping up, I’m airing out.” Not only could these guys technically out-rap most other emcees at the time, their style was totally original.

Wu-Tang and this album are the pinnacle of what it means to be a credible rap artist.

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.