The Best '90s Hip-Hop Albums
34 albums · Updated
The 1990s are where most rap canons start. New York and Los Angeles fought over the sound of the genre, and by 1999 the South and the underground had built their own lanes.
This list collects every '90s album reviewed on the site that holds up today, from Ice Cube's 1990 solo debut to MF DOOM's 1999 return. It is ranked by each review's scorecard, so the order reflects the same weighting of writing and production we apply to new releases.
How this list works: Albums first released 1990–1999 and reviewed on the site, ranked by current score. Scores come from each review's six-part scorecard; see the methodology.
- 19.6
Illmatic
Nas · 1994
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Ten tracks, about forty minutes, and beats from DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, Large Professor and L.E.S. behind a twenty-year-old Queensbridge writer.
- 29.3
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…
Raekwon · 1995
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RZA's cinematic beats and Ghostface Killah on most of the tracks turned Raekwon's solo debut into the blueprint for mafioso rap.
- 39.2
Enter the Wu‐Tang (36 Chambers)
Wu-Tang Clan · 1993
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RZA's murky, kung-fu-sampling beats and nine distinct MCs from a Staten Island crew rewrote what a rap group and a rap album could sound like.
- 49.1
Liquid Swords
GZA · 1995
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RZA's coldest Wu-Tang production and GZA's chess-like writing, framed by dialogue from the film Shogun Assassin.
- 59.1
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill · 1998
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Lauryn Hill's only solo studio album moves between rap, soul and reggae, and won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
- 69.0
The Low End Theory
A Tribe Called Quest · 1991
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Ron Carter's upright bass, sparse drums and Q-Tip and Phife's back-and-forth defined jazz rap in forty-eight minutes.
- 78.9
The Diary
Scarface · 1994
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The Houston veteran's darkest solo record pairs paranoid street narratives with real grief, and features Ice Cube and Devin the Dude.
- 88.9
Ready to Die
The Notorious B.I.G. · 1994
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Biggie's debut moves from birth to suicide across one long arc, mixing grim Brooklyn storytelling with Puff Daddy's radio singles.
- 98.9
The Infamous…
Mobb Deep · 1995
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Havoc's bleak piano and string loops and Prodigy's cold verses made Queensbridge sound like a warzone; "Shook Ones Pt. II" anchors it.
- 108.9
Aquemini
OutKast · 1998
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Big Boi and André 3000 split the difference between street rap and psychedelic soul, with live harmonica, guitars and the eight-minute "Liberation".
- 118.8
Midnight Marauders
A Tribe Called Quest · 1993
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Tribe's third album is warmer and punchier than Low End, and stacked with "Award Tour" and "Electric Relaxation".
- 128.8
Ridin’ Dirty
UGK · 1996
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Pimp C's slow, soul-heavy production and Bun B's dense verses made the Port Arthur duo's third album a Southern rap landmark.
- 138.7
Doggystyle
Snoop Dogg · 1993
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Produced by Dr. Dre, Snoop's debut entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1 and made his slow, unbothered drawl the defining voice of G-funk.
- 148.7
Reasonable Doubt
Jay-Z · 1996
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Jay-Z's independent debut on Roc-A-Fella set hustler narratives over jazzy, expensive-sounding loops from DJ Premier, Ski and Clark Kent.
- 158.6
AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted
Ice Cube · 1990
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Cube's first record after leaving N.W.A was made in New York with the Bomb Squad, fusing Compton storytelling with Public Enemy's density.
- 168.6
The Score
Fugees · 1996
The Fugees' second album, with "Killing Me Softly" and "Ready or Not", became one of the best-selling rap albums ever made.
- 178.4
Death Certificate
Ice Cube · 1991
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Split into a Death Side and a Life Side, it is Cube's angriest and most structured album, a portrait of Los Angeles just before the 1992 uprising.
- 188.4
The Chronic
Dr. Dre · 1992
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Dre's solo debut built G-funk from Parliament-Funkadelic interpolations and live synth lines, and introduced Snoop Doggy Dogg to the world.
- 198.4
Me Against the World
2Pac · 1995
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Released while Tupac was in prison, it is his most reflective album, with "Dear Mama" and "So Many Tears" at its core.
- 208.4
Life After Death
The Notorious B.I.G. · 1997
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Released sixteen days after Biggie's murder, this double album ranges from "Hypnotize" to the storytelling of "I Got a Story to Tell".
- 218.4
Things Fall Apart
The Roots · 1999
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Sharing its title with Chinua Achebe's novel, the live band's breakthrough includes "You Got Me" with Erykah Badu and some of Black Thought's best writing.
- 228.3
Mecca and the Soul Brother
Pete Rock & CL Smooth · 1992
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Pete Rock's soul and jazz loops set a production standard; "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" is its best-known song.
- 238.3
Hell on Earth
Mobb Deep · 1996
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The follow-up to The Infamous narrows the sound to colder, sparser loops and keeps the tension high from start to finish.
- 248.3
Black on Both Sides
Mos Def · 1999
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Mos Def's solo debut on Rawkus leans on live instrumentation, moving from the DJ Premier-produced "Mathematics" to "Umi Says".
- 258.3
The Slim Shady LP
Eminem · 1999
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Eminem's major-label debut, made with Dr. Dre, introduced the Slim Shady alter ego with "My Name Is" and "Guilty Conscience".
- 268.0
Wu‐Tang Forever
Wu-Tang Clan · 1997
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The group's sprawling double-album sequel, more orchestrated than 36 Chambers and built around "Triumph", its verse-only centerpiece.
- 278.0
Operation: Doomsday
MF DOOM · 1999
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Daniel Dumile's return as a masked supervillain, self-produced from cartoon samples and dusty soul and jazz loops, set the template for his entire career.
- 287.9
Resurrection
Common · 1994
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No I.D.'s jazz-soul production backs Common's sharpest early writing, including "I Used to Love H.E.R.", hip-hop told as a love story.
- 297.8
All Eyez on Me
2Pac · 1996
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A double album made after Death Row paid Tupac's bail in October 1995, with much of the label's roster on it.
- 307.8
It Was Written
Nas · 1996
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Nas's second album traded Illmatic's raw loops for Trackmasters gloss and mafioso themes; "If I Ruled the World" was the hit.
- 317.7
2001
Dr. Dre · 1999
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Dre's return replaced G-funk's synth whine with crisp piano, strings and heavy drums, and put Eminem and Snoop next to Xzibit and Hittman.
- 327.6
Enta da Stage
Black Moon · 1993
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Da Beatminerz's dusty, bass-heavy loops and Buckshot's low-key menace became the blueprint for Brooklyn's Boot Camp Clik.
- 337.5
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
OutKast · 1994
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Organized Noize's live-band funk and two Atlanta teenagers announced that the South had its own sound, not a copy of the coasts.
- 347.5
Dah Shinin’
Smif‐n‐Wessun · 1995
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Tek and Steele's debut extended Black Moon's Beatminerz sound with hardcore Brooklyn street rap.