Annnnnnnyyyyyyywaaayyyysssss.... This question is NOT to be mistaken for who is the best rapper of all time, that requires a completely DIFFERENT set of criteria and thus shall not be mentioned henceforth (we alll know it's NaS but shhhh)
The artist with the best hiphop discography, is the artist that over his/her career as an emcee was able to create and construct a catalog of albums that collectively were not only excellent, but stood the test of time and impacted the culture in a way that they are still remembered to this day. With all that BS being cleared up, i'll dive right into this!
THE CRITERIA
- At least TWO (2) Classics
- Great Impact
- Influence
- Present Relevance
THE CANDIDATES
NaS
- Illmatic (Classic)
- It Was Written (Classic)
- I AM
- Nastadamus
- Stillmatic (Classic)
- The Lost Tapes (Classic)
- God's Son
- Street's Disciple
- Hip Hop Is Dead
- Untitled
- Distant Relatives
- Life Is Good
- Ready To Die (Classic)
- Life After Death (Classic)
- 2pacolypse Now
- Strictly For My N.I.G.G.A.Z.
- Me Against The World (Classic)
- All Eyez On Me (Classic)
- The Don Killuminati: The Seven Day Theory
- College Dropout (Classic)
- Late Registration
- Graduation
- 808's N Heartbreaks
- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Classic)
- Watch The Throne
- Yeezus
- Can I Borrow A Dollar
- Ressurection (Classic)
- One Day It'll All Make Sense
- Like Water For Chocolate
- Electric Circus
- Be (Classic)
- Finding Forever (Classic)
- Universal Mind Control
- The Dreamer/The Believer
- Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
- ATLiens (Classic)
- Aquemini (Classic)
- Stankonia (Classic)
- Big Boi and Dre Present... Outkast
- Speakerboxx/The Love Below (Classic)
- Idlewild
- The Chronic (Classic)
- The Chronic 2001 (Classic)
- Reasonable Doubt (Classic)
- In My Lifetime Vol. 1
- Hard Knock Life Vol. 2
- The Life and Times of Sean Carter Vol. 3
- The Dynasty: Roc La Famila
- The Blueprint (Classic)
- The Blueprint 2
- The Black Album (Classic)
- Kingdom Come
- American Gangster
- The Blueprint 3
- Magna Carta... Holy Grail
- People's Instinctive Travels and The Paths of Rythms
- The Low End Theory (Classic)
- Midnight Marauders (Classic)
- Beats, Rhymes and Life
- The Love Movement
THE VERDICT
Without getting to fucking deep and boring for you, i narrowed my list to a final THREE (3,) with TWO(2) notable mentions which i will now break down BREIFLY(for you lazy non-reading folks) and choose my winner.
First up is that nigga from the Chi city... Mr. Kardashian, Mr. I'll smash your camera.... Yeezus, Yeezi.... Kanye West. Let's be clear... Kanye Got at leastt 2 classics(no matter how you chop it up), which is fuckin stellar and the rest are EXCELLENT albums at worst... so right there he is first candidate. Impact-wise there has been NONE like him. Ye pushes the bar with every single release, where it be the music, the concept, the presentation, no one Kanye project sounds like the other and nothing ever in hip hop sounds like any of it, so naturally that impacted on the culture immensely. College Dropout was his debut album, a classic at that and for the entire album to be so relevant still is super commendable. The sampling used by kanye on that album and the messages about success and school, and the true importance of each was eye opening. MBDTF his other classic, shoook the world... literally (my fuckin house was trembling at the sounds of Dark Fantasy opening the album). It was the most iconic non-hip hop, hip hop album of our time receiving OVERWHELMING critical acclaim for how daring and different Ye was able to make the genre sound.
I wouldn't be fuckin real if Nas was not mentioned here.... despite the obvious fact that he is my favourite rapper of ALL TIME and THE GAWD EMCEEE, THE GOAT, THE FUCKIN KING, excetera excetera..... I'm being COMPLETELY un-biased here. It's impossible to have four classics and not be mentioned in the list (grow up haters!) Anywaysss Illmatic is the greatest rap album of all time, and it's barely arguable ( like you would have to realllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy fuckin try to deny that). Its impact on rap is STILL being talked about today. All great albums are compared to it as if it is THE yardstick of what a perfect hiphop album should be. Furthermore i cannot begin to list the amount of lines and flows this album influenced over the years... It Was Written, NaS' first concept album is heralded as another classic, many even consider it to be better that Illmatic. The storytelling on that album is matched only by Slick rick The Ruler (go and listen to I Gave You Power... shoot yourself if u disagree) and the mainstream success of songs like If I ruled The World goes without questioning. Stillmatic was NaS' comeback froma terrrible slump and his destruction of the other hiphop king at the time, Jay Z(no hyphen son). Classic tracks like One Mic(NaS' ode to hip hop) and Got Yourself A Gun and Rewind(whooo the fuck ever or will ever write a song tellin a story backwards... gotdamnit!) make this modern day classic a must listen.
Last but not least, THE TWO COOLEST MUPHACKAZ to ever team up, Andre 3tacks and Big Boi. From that late 90's to early 2000's outkast was tossing classic our way, so much so by the time you got into your guaranteed 1000th spin(everybody who ever listened to and outkast album ever listen to it one thousand times mimimum) they flung another one at you. 3 stacks is hailed as one of the greatest rappers of all time(he aint on my top 10 but still) and as a result he brought Southern hip hop into relevance and was tussling with New York rappers bar for bar(the birthplace of this great genre). Honestly, some tracks on Aquemini are NOT to be fucked with g, ever. Da Art Of Storytellin pt. 1 n 2...... i'll leave it at that. The Speakerboxx/The Love Below won the GRAMMY for ALBUM OF THE YEAR it sold 10 Million copies b... WHAT?! It was the second hiphop album ever to win the award(OBVIOUSLY MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL WAS THE FIRST) and no one has since... that is stellar. Outkast's albums brought that coool sound and are arguably one of the most unique sounding records you will here.
NOTABLE MENTIONS
Tupac Shakur OBVIOUSLY. Impact-wise he as a rapper is unmatched. "Pac was like jesus..." Said J. Cole (75% of you readin this favourite rapper right now). Why he didn't make the final three... his debut album was very under the radar and unimpactful... also all eyez on me, although hailed as a classic, didn't move me like Me Against the World or 7 Day Theory. I think Tupac the artist and person impacted the culture more than his actual discography. Seldom is Pac's albums mentioned as something that changed the game or influenced a different sound etc. More so his flow and individualism and some great records... but not discography as a whole, which is clearly the title of my post b.
Jay Z mayne, i mean... i ain't the biggest Jay Z fan...i literally forced him into my Top 5... with his simple flowing ass. But give jacket his jacket. The Blueprint is second to illmatic when it comes to impact on the culture. Though reasonable doubt is clearly Hov's best work, The Blueprint si the one that changed shit for rap. It wa responsible for the artist we know today as Kanye West, it was the iconic resume Hov threw in teh epic battle with NaS. It dropped Sept 11th 2001 and was played IN ITS ENTIRETY THROUGHOUT NEW YORK ON RADIO... on 9/11 b. come on... The Black Album was Hov'sa supposed retirement and it was the perfect way to bow out. EPIC. I hear that album and when i close my eyes i see fireworks and parades and lights, with trumpets n shit playin just something a fuckin king would expect if he was to walk through the streets of a one of his coloniess unno... Hov had his Queen Elisabeth swag on full 100. Why didn't Hov make my top 3? Dem Vol. 1+2+3 was weakkk and forgettable, not to mention The BP 2 (pukeeeee) Hov dumped some giant turd on his catalog, but the high points deserve some astounding praise.
IN MY MUTHAFUCKIN OPINION, The undisputed winner of the Best Discography in Hip Hop award goes too....
KANYE WEST.
Fin
Peace Bruh!
No comments:
Post a Comment