The 25 Best Hip-Hop Albums of All Time
25 albums · Updated
Every all-time list is an argument. This one at least shows its working: each album below has a full review on this site, and the order comes from the same six-part scorecard (writing, production, delivery, cohesion, originality and replay value) that every review uses. When a review is rewritten and rescored, this list re-sorts itself.
The 25 albums span 1988 to 2019 and four regions. We left out records we have not reviewed yet, so you will notice gaps; they get added when their reviews are published, not before.
How this list works: Albums reviewed on RapAlbumReviews, chosen for lasting influence and quality, ranked by current score. Scores come from each review's six-part scorecard; see the methodology.
- 1
Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
Score: 10.0 · Read the review · Public Enemy albums ranked
The Bomb Squad stacked dozens of samples into sirens and noise while Chuck D delivered political sermons and Flavor Flav cut through them.
- 2
A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory (1991)
Score: 10.0 · Read the review · A Tribe Called Quest albums ranked
Ron Carter's upright bass, sparse drums and Q-Tip and Phife's back-and-forth defined jazz rap in forty-eight minutes.
- 3
Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu‐Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
Score: 10.0 · Read the review · Wu-Tang Clan albums ranked
RZA's murky, kung-fu-sampling beats and nine distinct MCs from Staten Island rewrote what a rap group and a rap album could sound like.
- 4
Nas – Illmatic (1994)
Score: 10.0 · Read the review · Nas albums ranked
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.
- 5
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
Score: 10.0 · Read the review · Kendrick Lamar albums ranked
Jazz, funk and spoken word with Thundercat, Kamasi Washington and Flying Lotus, held together by a poem revealed line by line.
- 6
The Notorious B.I.G. – Life After Death (1997)
Score: 9.8 · Read the review · The Notorious B.I.G. albums ranked
Released sixteen days after Biggie's murder, this double album ranges from "Hypnotize" to the storytelling of "I Got a Story to Tell".
- 7
Ice Cube – AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted (1990)
Score: 9.7 · Read the review · Ice Cube albums ranked
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.
- 8
Dr. Dre – The Chronic (1992)
Score: 9.7 · Read the review · Dr. Dre albums ranked
Dre's solo debut built G-funk from Parliament-Funkadelic interpolations and live synth lines, and introduced Snoop Doggy Dogg to the world.
- 9
Mobb Deep – The Infamous… (1995)
Score: 9.7 · Read the review · Mobb Deep albums ranked
Havoc's bleak piano and string loops and Prodigy's cold verses made Queensbridge sound like a warzone; "Shook Ones Pt. II" anchors it.
- 10
OutKast – Aquemini (1998)
Score: 9.7 · Read the review · OutKast albums ranked
Big Boi and André 3000 split the difference between street rap and psychedelic soul, with live harmonica, guitars and the nearly nine-minute "Liberation".
- 11
Madvillain – Madvillainy (2004)
Score: 9.7 · Read the review · Madvillain albums ranked
MF DOOM and Madlib's 22 short tracks, most under three minutes, with almost no hooks and loops that end mid-thought.
- 12
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
Score: 9.7 · Read the review · Kanye West albums ranked
Recorded largely in Hawaii with a large cast of collaborators, it turns maximalism into a study of fame and self-destruction.
- 13
Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012)
Score: 9.7 · Read the review · Kendrick Lamar albums ranked
Subtitled "a short film", it follows one day in teenage Kendrick's Compton through skits, voicemails and shifting perspectives.
- 14
Pete Rock & CL Smooth – Mecca and the Soul Brother (1992)
Score: 9.4 · Read the review · Pete Rock & CL Smooth albums ranked
Pete Rock's horn-heavy soul loops and filtered basslines set a production standard; "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" is its centerpiece.
- 15
The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die (1994)
Score: 9.3 · Read the review · The Notorious B.I.G. albums ranked
Biggie's debut moves from birth to suicide across one long arc, mixing grim Brooklyn storytelling with Puff Daddy's radio singles.
- 16
Scarface – The Diary (1994)
Score: 9.3 · Read the review · Scarface albums ranked
The Houston veteran's darkest solo record pairs paranoid street narratives with real grief, and features Ice Cube and Devin the Dude.
- 17
2Pac – Me Against the World (1995)
Score: 9.3 · Read the review · 2Pac albums ranked
Released while Tupac was in prison, it is his most reflective album, with "Dear Mama" and "So Many Tears" at its core.
- 18
The Roots – Things Fall Apart (1999)
Score: 9.3 · Read the review · The Roots albums ranked
Named after Chinua Achebe's novel, the live band's breakthrough includes "You Got Me" with Erykah Badu and some of Black Thought's best writing.
- 19
Jay-Z – The Blueprint (2001)
Score: 9.3 · Read the review · Jay-Z albums ranked
Kanye West and Just Blaze's sped-up soul samples define it; released on September 11, 2001, it includes "Takeover" and "Izzo".
- 20
Tyler, The Creator – IGOR (2019)
Score: 9.3 · Read the review · Tyler, The Creator albums ranked
Written, produced and arranged by Tyler, it tells a love-triangle story through distorted synths and soul; it won the Grammy for Best Rap Album.
- 21
Mos Def – Black on Both Sides (1999)
Score: 9.2 · Read the review · Mos Def albums ranked
Mos Def's solo debut on Rawkus plays bass and sings as well as raps, moving from "Mathematics" to rock and soul.
- 22
Jay-Z – Reasonable Doubt (1996)
Score: 9.0 · Read the review · Jay-Z albums ranked
Jay-Z's independent debut on Roc-A-Fella set hustler narratives over jazzy, expensive-sounding loops from DJ Premier, Ski and Clark Kent.
- 23
Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
Score: 9.0 · Read the review · Eminem albums ranked
Eminem's darkest and fastest-selling record answers his sudden fame with "Stan", "The Way I Am" and "Kim".
- 24
Kanye West – The College Dropout (2004)
Score: 9.0 · Read the review · Kanye West albums ranked
Kanye's debut mixed chipmunk-soul production with jokes, faith and class anxiety; "Jesus Walks" and "Through the Wire" broke the backpack-versus-street divide.
- 25
OutKast – Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994)
Score: 6.5 · Read the review · OutKast albums ranked
Organized Noize's live-band funk and two Atlanta teenagers announced that the South had its own sound, not a copy of the coasts.