ILM Best Rap Albums Up Till 2011 Poll Part 1 - 100 - 76

If you don't vote Run DMC, LL or BDP in this, get your head checked.

My three votes go to Enta Da Stage, Mecca and the Soul Brother and Graduation
If you don't like it, check your soul and your ass

DJ Quik - Rhythm-Al-Ism 5 (1) 139

sympathetic to whiney's post but i'm voting for this

Voted Mecca, now I'm off to psychiatrist, ta ta

Not a boomer therefore going with Mos Def.

That Heltah Skeltah is one of the most underrated albums of the '90s and pretty much my favourite rap album of that decade, so I gotta go for that. Especially with the lyrics Ruck and Rock are just straight on fire: too witty and sarcastic to be hardcore, too aggro to be backpacker, too idiosyncratic to fit into any pigeonhole.

I’ve been listening to this list for a bit before I posted it, think I’m going for Gang Starr

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5R69r75IJBK1fV9MWlkIT8?si=bkvBqRCMTwWBq0WBUwGhTw

Only the few usual suspects not available

Almost all of these records aren’t perfect, and a couple have aged really badly. It’s a case of what you find in the collective whole LP (the Black Sheep record for example) or forgetting about the filler/lows (the second half of that MF Doom record being an obvious one).

first instinct is rhythm-al-ism but thinking about throwing a vote to the mighty mos. black on both sides' highs are crazy high (umi says, habitat), lows can be pretty low (rhcp interpolation, rock interlude on rock n roll) but i played the hell out of that record

18-year-old me would vote graduation, but that boy is dead

Step In The Arena for me, it blew my 17 yr old mind at the time. I actually have fond memories of that 3rd Bass album but haven't listened to it in decades. I think I had a green vinyl 12 inch REMIX of the Gas Face and recall thinking it looked quite magic while I was stoned. KRS One was good, but he always sounded like a complete wanker when he did that fake ragga Yard accent nonsense, but that was more on his Edutainment album!

That Edutainment album is trash iirc.

other 80's/90's US rappers that did appalling mock ragga that i sort of liked more than KRS1's version of it even though it was still shite: Just Ice, Grand Daddy I.U. .. erm I'm stuck now sure there was more!

There is one killer KRS/Just Ice fake ragga record

https://youtu.be/xNhIQMs1HyY

also famously sampled in 1-800 suicide, fantastic track!

he did a killer tune called Welfare Recipients on The Desolate One album with Krs1 production as well, lol that would go down well with pro-Trumpist rap these days!

Eurgh yeah I listened to Big Daddy Kane track about people on welfare the other day and lost my shit.

big pun is way too low

the Black Sheep is one of those ingrained in my dna due to overplaying so not sure how to respond here

this was a hard choice, but i went with the underdog uptown saturday night because it's such a feel good album. one of the best produced albums of its era, for sure. and the slight de la connection has certainly always worked in its favor.

Weezy slightly over Graduation and Vik Vaughn.

oops i didnt see carter 2 here that should have been my vote

rhythmalism always

Black Sunday

Mecca and the Soul Brother, closely followed by Black Sunday

Yeah, rhythmalism my personal fav here. Hard choice, obviously.

Listened to Rhythm-Al-Ism yesterday. The slick funk beats are cool and the prod glorious, but the second half is not consistent compared to the first. Then again, I've never been crazy for West Coast or pussy-smanging music.

Mos Def over Gang Starr and 'Late Registration' for me.

devin

The album drags but voting for this just for the single which was one of the best Bomb Squad obscurities. When Ice Cube heard the beats, he wanted it but they'd already promised it to Son of Bazerk. I think Ice Cube did the Kill at Will EP right around then and used a very similar loop in one of the songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5l2gS_q4l4

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ayyyyyyy

Black Sunday has associated memories that I will always like to recall

will listen to Rhythmalism again