The Top 100 Rap Albums of All Time

Rap: The Top 100 Albums

More than 25 lists were aggregated to determine the best rap albums of all time. All albums which made at least 2 lists and/or won at least one “album of the year” award were than ranked according to their overall points in Dave’s Music Database (which factors in all-genre best-of lists, chart figures, sales, awards, and album ratings). Check out other best-of-genre/category lists here. 1. Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988) 2. Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) 3. Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998) 4. Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) 5. Eminem The Eminem Show (2002) 6. Kendrick Lamar Damn. (2017) 7. OutKast OutKast Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003) 8. Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill (1986) 9. N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton (1989) 10. Kanye West The College Dropout (2004) 11. Kendrick Lamar Good Kid m.A.A.d. City (2012) 12. M.C. Hammer Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em (1990) 13. Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) 14. OutKast Stankonia (2000) 15. Dr. Dre The Chronic (1992) 16. Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique (1989) 17. Jay-Z The Blueprint (2001) 18. De La Soul 3 Feet High and Rising (1989) 19. 50 Cent Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ (2003) 20. Eminem Recovery (2010) 21. Drake Views (2016) 22. Fugees The Score (1996) 23. Eminem Curtain Call: The Hits (compilation: 1999-2005, charted 2005) 24. Kanye West Late Registration (2005) 25. DJ Shadow Endtroducing… (1996) 26. Drake Take Care (2011) 27. Run-D.M.C. Raising Hell (1986) 28. Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang Clan (36 Chambers) (1993) 29. Public Enemy Fear of a Black Planet (1990) 30. Eric B. & Rakim Paid in Full (1987) 31. A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory (1991) 32. Nas Illmatic (1994) 33. Eminem/various artists 8 Mile (soundtrack, 2002) 34. Snoop Doggy Dogg Doggystyle (1993) 35. The Notorious B.I.G. Ready to Die (1994) 36. Eminem The Slim Shady LP (1999) 37. Kanye West Graduation (2007) 38. Drake Scorpion (2018) 39. Eminem Encore (2004) 40. Vanilla Ice To the Extreme (1990) 41. Kanye West Yeezus (2013) 42. Madvillain Madvillainy (2004) 43. Lil Wayne Tha Carter III (2008) 44. 50 Cent The Massacre (2005) 45. Beastie Boys Ill Communication (1994) 46. Nelly Nellyville (2002) 47. Jay-Z The Black Album (2003) 48. Nelly Country Grammar (2000) 49. Tupac Shakur (2pac) All Eyez on Me (1996) 50. Cardi B Invasion of Privacy (2018) 51. The Notorious B.I.G. Life after Death (1997) 52. Post Malone Hollywood’s Bleeding (2019) 53. Black Eyed Peas Monkey Business (2005) 54. Drake If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late (2015) 55. Run the Jewels Run the Jewels 2 (2014) 56. Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013) 57. OutKast Aquemini (1998) 58. Nicki Minaj Pink Friday (2010) 59. Post Malone Beerbongs & Bentleys (2018) 60. Jay-Z & Kanye West Watch the Throne (2011) 61. DMDB: J. Dilla Donuts (2006) 62. Run-D.M.C. Run-D.M.C. (1984) 63. Arrested Development 3 Years, 5 Months, & 2 Days in the Life of… (1992) 64. Will Smith Big Willie Style (1997) 65. Eminem Relapse (2009) 66. Tupac (2pac) Shakur Me Against the World (1995) 67. Lil Nas X Montero (2021) 68. A Tribe Called Quest People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (1990) 69. Beastie Boys Check Your Head (1992) 70. The Game The Documentary (2005) 71. Tyler, the Creator Call Me if You Get Lost (2021) 72. Dr. Dre 2001 (1999) 73. Beastie Boys Hello Nasty (1998) 74. Boogie Down Productions Criminal Minded (1987) 75. Pop Smoke Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon (2020) 76. Jay-Z The Blueprint 3 (2009) 77. Nicki Minaj Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012) 78. Puff Daddy & the Family No Way Out (1997) 79. Tyler, the Creator Igor (2019) 80. Chance the Rapper Coloring Book (2016) 81. Cypress Hill Cypress Hill (1991) 82. Common Be (2005) 83. T.I. Paper Trail (2008) 84. Jay-Z Reasonable Doubt (1996) 85. Jay-Z Vol. 2…Hard Knock Life (1998) 86. Nelly Suit (2004) 87. LL Cool J Radio (1985) 88. A Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders (1993) 89. T.I. King (2006) 90. Kanye West 808’s and Heartbreak (2008) 91. Cypress Hill Black Sunday (1993) 92. J. Cole 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014) 93. Kris Kross Totally Krossed Out (1992) 94. Ice Cube AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted (1999) 95. D12 D12 World (2004) 96. OutKast ATLiens (1996) 97. DMX It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot (1998) 98. Tupac Shakur (as Makaveli) The Don illuminati – The 7 Day Theory (1996) 99. Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Forever (1997) 100. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis The Heist (2012) Resources and Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “Rap Albums of the Year” Dave’s Music Database: other best-of-genre lists Dave’s Music Database: “Top 100 Rap/Hip-Hop Songs of All Time” First posted 7/17/2011; last updated 4/19/2022.

N.W.A. released Straight Outta Compton

Straight Outta Compton N.W.A.

Released: January 10, 1989 Peak: 6 US, 9 RB, 35 UK, 8 AU Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.3 UK, 3.3 world (includes US and UK) Genre: rap

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Straight Outta Compton Fuck tha Police Gangsta Gangsta (3/25/89, 91 RB, 70 UK) If It Ain’t Ruff Parental Sicretion Iz Advised 8 ball Something Like That Express Yourself (8/5/89, 45 RB, 26 UK) Compton’s in the House I Ain’t tha 1 Dopeman Quiet on tha Set Something 2 Dance 2 Total Running Time: 60:16

Rating: 4.053 out of 5.00 (average of 16 ratings) Quotable: “Virtually all gangsta rap remains a response to or an elaboration of this one album” – Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light, Time Magazine Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Straight Outta Compton “is one of the most seminal albums in the history of rap and greatly influenced countless gangsta rappers.” AMG “N.W.A didn’t invent gangsta rap – Ice-T and Schooly D had already embraced first-person narratives focusing on the harsh realities of ghetto life – but the L.A. group made it even more violent.” AMG As a result, N.W.A’s “unapologetically frightening” AMG Straight Outta Compton “was the hip-hop shot heard ‘round the world.” TL “N.W.A’s name – that’s short for ‘Niggaz with Attitude,’ in case you forgot – was the first sign that this was no ordinary group.” TL They “took listeners on an arresting journey through L.A.’s tough Compton ghetto. Critics of this highly controversial album contended that N.W.A was glamorizing Black-on-Black crime – the rappers countered that they weren’t encouraging violence, but rather were presenting an audio documentary of life as they knew it growing up in Compton.” AMG The album is awash with “wicked rhymes by Ice Cube” AZ with his “unflinching ghetto reportage.” TL There’s also the “jittery, cinematic production” TL “courtesy Dr. Dre,” AZ “group founder Eazy-E’s oddly menacing high-pitched snarl, and support from MC Ren and DJ Yella.” TL “It made for a true gang-bangin’ all-star team.” TL It all comes “barreling into your face, just daring you to ignore the streets of Compton (or any American city) even one day longer.” AZ “From Fuck tha Police (which earned them a warning letter from the FBI),” TL “to the angry, unflinching realism of Gangsta Gangsta, to the pro-free speech Express Yourself, this is slammin’ and ruthless.” AZ “Almost twenty years later, virtually all gangsta rap remains a response to or an elaboration of this one album.” TL Unfortunately, the genre would “subsequently…be plagued by numerous soundalike MCs who lacked even a fraction of N.W.A or Ice-T’s originality. But in the innovative hands of N.W.A., it was bold, inspired and arresting.” AMG Notes: “Straight Outta Compton was released in an edited version with all of the profanity removed, and instead changed around so that the album became a parody of edited albums by using hilariously silly replacements for swears and graphic descriptions.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for N.W.A. AMG All Music Guide review by Alex Henderson AZ Amazon.com review by David Cantwell TL Time magazine (11/13/2006). “All-TIME 100 Albums” by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light Last updated 4/19/2022.