My 20 Favorite Rap Records (w/links)

Yes, it's list time. Just to warn those who dislike rap; you will hate this note. Also, if you dislike Flavor Flav, Lil Wayne, or Snoop Dogg, you will also want to leave. My #1 pick may anger you - but I'll be damned if it isn't the best choice there is, a decision I'm sticking with.

(Note-note: This was randomly tagged, for the most part. If you don't want to be included, then you may opt out of your tag.)

The First Ten:

20. EPMD 'Strictly Business'

19. Lil Wayne 'Tha Carter II'

18. Dr. Dre 'The Chronic'

17. Public Enemy 'Yo Bum Rush The Show'

16. The Beastie Boys 'Licensed To Ill'

15. Jay-z 'The Blueprint'

14. Eminem 'The Slim Shady LP'

13. Nas 'Illmatic'

12. The Geto Boys 'We Can't Be Stopped'

11. Public Enemy 'It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back'

The Top Ten:

10. Company Flow 'Funcrusher Plus' - Crazy, crazy shit. It's hard to express just how different and amazing this album is without mentioning just what it accomplished. It MADE underground rap back in 1995, and lyrically, the texture is so deep you could swim in it. Absolute classic. And yes, that is one spot above Public Enemy's most overrated (but still excellent) record.

9. Run-DMC 'Raising Hell' - A very obvious choice, but that's only because it's brilliant on each level, from the lyrics to the melodies to Rick Rubin's sterling production. It's hard to find fault with a record this amazing and fresh, and I won't even try. A genuine hip hop classic.

8. DMX '...And Then There Was X' - I expect a lashing for putting DMX so high, but it is the skeptics who deserve the throttling. Even with filler aside, give me a handful of albums with more 'Uuuumph!' and cojones than this classic, and I'll call you the better man. The hardcore crown was handed from on high to X after this record, and it's not difficult to see what all the hubbub and chart success was about.

7. Eminem 'The Marshall Mather LP' - A masterpiece front-to-back, Eminem's 'Marshall Mathers LP' does what many great hip hop records do; it takes a quality debut and improves upon it in every way, taking the brilliant rawness of the original and replacing it with finesse, better songcraft, and even darker subject matter. If 'Kim' doesn't keep you up nights, you need a head check.

6. Eric B. and Rakhim 'Paid In Full' - A classic, and maybe a stereotypical choice for a top ten, but that's only testament to how accomplished this record is and how justified the hype was. It's difficult to imagine a smoother mic-artist than Rakhim, and the production is both lush and as real and immediate as a punch to the gut.

5. The Wu-Tang Clan 'Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)' - Maybe the best debut in all of rap, Wu-Tang's first - and undeniably best - record is a masterpiece that brings disparate styles and samples together and blends them on 'puree'; the effect is truly mind-blowing. It is hard to dismiss tracks like 'C.R.E.AM.' or 'Shame On A Ni**a' for sheer visceral impact, and the album never skips a beat.

4. Public Enemy 'Fear Of A Black Planet' - The finest record the boys ever put together, without question, and a call to arms for hip hop that has never been equaled in it's direct cerebral blast - the album provides food for thought and great production suites to go along with the expected rigtheous anger and aggression. It is capped with the group's best track, 'Fight The Power', which brings their finest moment to a rightfully momentous end.

3. A Tribe Called Quest 'The Low End Theory' - Probably the smoothest record ever made, Tribe's 1991 opus is one of the best rap records ever released, no question. It is also one of the finest albums of the 90's. The deft blend of beats, jagged but inspired bass lines, and effortless MC flow (especially from Q-Tip) is a difficult combo to beat - one which the group, despite being a class act for their entire existence, never approached again.

2. Dr. Octagon 'Dr. Octagonecologyst' - The BIZARRE record to top them all, and the number one Sci-fi rap record ever made with nary a doubt, Kool Keith's alter-ego Dr. Octagon made a legitimate name for rap in the rock underground with this release. Other than Public Enemy's releases, no hip hop album had really pleased the rock critics so fully, and their instincts were not in error. This is great music, no matter what side of the wax-tracks you live on.

1. The Beastie Boys 'Paul's Boutique' - Attack me, acid-wash my glasses, stomp on my liver if you need to, but the group who decided to plunge rap into parody in 86' came back in 89' with a record twice as fast, miles deeper, and with a production crew (the justly famous Dust Brothers) that, no offense to Mr. Rubin, gelled with the Boys like no other. This is the funniest, most complex, eclectic and endearing record the genre has ever produced, and repeat listens only deepen the impact of the already-excellent material. This album is, quite literally, perfect. If you doubt me, pick it out of your collection (or snatch it from the local store) and test it out. You won't be disappointed.