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The Best Underground Hip-Hop Albums

12 albums · Updated

"Underground" has meant different things: Brooklyn crews on small labels in the 1990s, the Rawkus, Rhymesayers and Definitive Jux scenes of the early 2000s, and today's Backwoodz Studioz and Griselda circles. What ties them together is independence and an audience that found the music rather than being sold it.

These are the underground records reviewed on the site, ranked by scorecard.

How this list works: Albums released independently or outside the commercial mainstream of their time, reviewed on the site, ranked by current score. Scores come from each review's six-part scorecard; see the methodology.

  1. 1
    Madvillainy by Madvillain album cover

    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.

  2. 2
    Operation: Doomsday by MF DOOM album cover

    MF DOOM – Operation: Doomsday (1999)

    Score: 9.3 · Read the review · MF DOOM albums ranked

    Daniel Dumile's return as a masked supervillain, largely self-produced from cartoon samples and dusty soul, set the template for his entire career.

  3. 3
    Aethiopes by billy woods album cover

    billy woods – Aethiopes (2022)

    Score: 9.3 · Read the review · billy woods albums ranked

    Produced entirely by Preservation, billy woods' album moves between Africa, America and memory in dense, cinematic fragments.

  4. 4
    Enta da Stage by Black Moon album cover

    Black Moon – Enta da Stage (1993)

    Score: 9.2 · Read the review · Black Moon albums ranked

    Da Beatminerz's dusty, bass-heavy loops and Buckshot's low-key menace became the blueprint for Brooklyn's Boot Camp Clik.

  5. 5
    Dah Shinin’ by Smif‐n‐Wessun album cover

    Smif‐n‐Wessun – Dah Shinin’ (1995)

    Score: 9.2 · Read the review · Smif‐n‐Wessun albums ranked

    Tek and Steele's debut extended Black Moon's Beatminerz sound with patois-flecked Brooklyn street rap.

  6. 6
    Black on Both Sides by Mos Def album cover

    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.

  7. 7
    Labor Days by Aesop Rock album cover

    Aesop Rock – Labor Days (2001)

    Score: 9.2 · Read the review · Aesop Rock albums ranked

    A dense concept record about work and the working week, built from Aesop's own beats, a few by Blockhead, and his thesaurus-heavy writing.

  8. 8
    A Piece of Strange by CunninLynguists album cover

    CunninLynguists – A Piece of Strange (2006)

    Score: 9.2 · Read the review · CunninLynguists albums ranked

    Kno's Southern-gothic production carries a concept album about sin, faith and redemption.

  9. 9
    Haram by Armand Hammer album cover

    Armand Hammer – Haram (2021)

    Score: 9.2 · Read the review · Armand Hammer albums ranked

    billy woods and ELUCID over beats produced entirely by The Alchemist: dense, abstract and unusually musical.

  10. 10
    Shadows on the Sun by Brother Ali album cover

    Brother Ali – Shadows on the Sun (2003)

    Score: 8.7 · Read the review · Brother Ali albums ranked

    The Minneapolis rapper's breakthrough on Rhymesayers, produced by Ant, is frank about albinism, poverty and faith.

  11. 11
    Burden of Proof by Benny the Butcher album cover

    Benny the Butcher – Burden of Proof (2020)

    Score: 8.7 · Read the review · Benny the Butcher albums ranked

    Produced entirely by Hit-Boy, it gave Griselda's grimy street rap a cleaner, more expensive sound.

  12. 12
    God Loves Ugly by Atmosphere album cover

    Atmosphere – God Loves Ugly (2002)

    Score: 7.7 · Read the review · Atmosphere albums ranked

    Slug's confessional writing over Ant's warm, sample-built beats made Atmosphere the face of Minneapolis's Rhymesayers scene.

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