1) Aquemni- Outkast
This album changed my perception on hip hop and music overall. I think for me, it will always be a tie between this album and Supreme Clientele as my favorites of all time because the two were like a 1-2 punch. And its ironic whenever I think about it that I like this album so much. In all realness, when I bought this album, I wasn't a huge fan of Outkast-- now they're one of my favorites- -and it all started with this album. I bought this album just off the strength of just buying rap music. I remember in fact when I bought it-- a midnight sale-- it came out the same day Jay Z's Hard Knock Life and Tribe Called Quest's final album, The Love Movement. Out of the 3 albums, this album was the one I expected to listen to the least, and yet, the moment I put it in, out of the 3 and over the next year, and years to come, its received more spins in my players than the others-- and will continue to. It was just something about it, this "I didn't know folks could do that in hip hop" feel to it. Even to this day, its light years ahead of 98% of the music being released. Usually when someone comes out with a successful album (and this one was), you usually find a number of copycats released, just with their own spin (how many producers started sounding like Timbaland after he changed the game??), however, no one ever tried to mimick the sound/quality of this album (at least to my knowledge). And it was after this album that made me a huge fan of theirs, and raised my expectations for every album to come afterwards to bring something different that no one else can. And I can't front-- they've done a very good job delivering on that (Idlewild was a little disappointing, but lets be real, that was a soundtrack, not an official Outkast album-- and yet it was still damn good). As a result, it still holds its crown.
2) Supreme Clientele- Ghostface Killah
Okay-- so the story goes like this. By the time this album dropped, I was a certifed Wu Tang fanatic. Anything they dropped, affiliates and all, I bought. I was one of those fans who even if the album quality wasn't all that, I would tell/convince myself otherwise, something I don't do for anyone these days. But this album...this album was just this awakening. Coupled with Aquemni-- if you want to know what basically is the basis of my personal foundation for quality in hiphop-- it can be found with these 2 albums first and foremost-- with the Midnight Marauders, Reasonable Doubt, and ELE to immediately follow. But back to Supreme Clientle. What made this album so good-- well-- where do I start. Ok, first off, this was one of those albums that just looked misleading-- just look at the cover. Where his first album, and even the majority of the first round of Wu Tang album covers, they usually had this sense of activity, movement, be it because of the photo itself, the variety of colors, or a combination of both. But this cover looks so mellow compared to those. Plus it kept getting pushed back! I remember hearing Might Healthy a good 2 years before the album came out, and anticipating this album just for that song (and there's a story behind that too that also made this the best album tracklisting mistake known to man) and everytime the album was suppose to come out-- DELAY. It got to a point where I didn't even think it was going to come out. So the album finally drops-- I buy it off the strength of the Wu, and Might Healthy because I wanted that track despite my skepticism due to the cover-- and was preparing myself for making myself like it. Truth is though- -as a result of the album cover-- I wasn't feeling it. I had this feeling from looking at it that it was going to be real mellow or just something that I didn't want. Then I popped it in...and that changed from the first track on. When Nutmeg started-- you know when you hear a song it has this beat/flow going with it, and you're feeling it-- and you're saying to the track (though they can't hear you, lol) 'dont mess it up, don't mess it up'-- meaning putting some extra instrument, having some really bad hook or verse/delivery that just takes you out of the zone instead of bringing you deeper in? Well-- I was saying that when I first heard the beat after it dropped and they didn't disappoint at all-- and instead just delivered well beyond any expectation I had. And that goes for the entire album. The album, for me, overall is a prime example of never to judge a book from its cover. But the misconception I got as a result of my initial impressions made the album that much better. I didn't get to the real one that made this album one of my favorites of all time immediately-- the tracklisting error. I got the album the day it came out. The initial tracklisting on the back of the album, and inside the cover, were wrong. It didn't list all of the tracks, and the tracks they listed were not listed in order. This album, including interludes, is either 19 or 21 tracks long. On the back of the album/inside cover, it numbered 13 tracks. To say the least, I was disappointed when I saw that-- I couldn't help but think, dag, waited all this time for the album and it's only 13 tracks!!??? Then Mighty Healthy was listed-- but it was listed in the wrong number-- so when I skipped to that track so I could hear it, I heard something I didn't expect at all-- and while I didn't think the song was bad, it just wasn't what i wanted. But I kept listening, and by the time they hit track 13- Stroke of Death- (which ended up being my favorite track on there for years), I was sold, and was ultimately disappointed it was going to end so soon. But something told me to listen on-- and so I did. Long and behold-- a bonus track! But then-- there was another! And another! Next thing I know, it's on track 20-- 7 extra songs!! And they were all tight!! Yeah, I was done after that. This album didn't leave my player for months, if not for a good year. It never clicked in my head at the time that those weren't bonus tracks, -- but it didn't matter. That was probably the best mistake ever-- and it helped make this album so memorable for me.
3) Midnight Marauders- Tribe Called Quest
The significance of this album-- I credit LL Cool J as being the artist that got me into hip hop along with Tribe Called Quest. Onyx, Busta Rhymes, and Method Man would officially make me a hiphop fanatic, but LL and Tribe set the foundation. Tribe ultimately made this list because even to this day, I've never heard anything like this album. Its flawless. Ironically, the song I like the least on here is "Oh My God"-- and that's because I originally heard this song's remix version which was more laid back and with no Busta Rhymes-- but I didn't know it was the remix-- so I got this album (probably about 1-2 years after it came out) expecting that to be the song I heard and when it wasn't, I felt like it messed up the flow of my experience. I still prefer the remix version over the original-- but that original is definitely tight in its own right. You noticed I stated I bought this album 1-2 years after it released, so obviously the question is how could I say this album helped introduce me into hiphop. Very simple-- because I had heard a good third of this album over the radio if not more and knew it came from this album at the time. I didn't get it earlier because my parents were not keen on me buying rap, and particularly anything with a parental advisory sign on it was a definite no in my household. This one I dont think had one depending on where you bought it-- but it should've had one. Man, I would've loved to have played "sucka n***a" in my house, blasting it, not realizing what they were saying off hand and see if I survived to the next day. Whatever the case, this was one of those albums I just knew I was going to like completely, years before I even heard it. And I was 100% correct. I've only gotten that feeling about certain albums, rare and few, and I can't think of a time when I got that feeling on an album that I was wrong. That also includes....
4) Reasonable Doubt- Jay Z
When I think about when this album dropped, the first thing I remember is seeing Jay Z sitting down facing the camera in the "Dead Presidents" music video. And it was like, all he was doing was talking/flowing-- but it was so tight. The second memory I have is the "Can't Knock the Hustle" music video where he's running down the street at the beginning of the video. This album is, like the ones above-- flawless. Its one of those albums you heard and it was like, man, if they groom this guy right and don't mess up his career, he's going to be big. And you know what-- he is. And this album set that up. I got this album years after it was released for the same reason I mentioned about the Tribe situation. But even before I got it-- I knew it was a classic. Now mind you, the friends I grew up with primarily listened to alternative, so my instinct on this album wasn't a result of hearing others say that-- no, I just knew. And like the others above, what makes this album so good, or at least one aspect, is that it has everything-- lyricism, delivery, production, atmosphere, creativity, substance, diversity. The album doesn't get old. I can still listen to this album now and hear new things I didn't catch before. And I'm a huge fan of wordplay. Nothing brings a bigger smile to my face than when I'm hearing an artist spit and he/she says so much in the course of just one verse, that I have to pause the track and go back and listen to that verse again b/c they went so far over my head that I'm still trying to catch up. And this album is full of moments like this. If he dropped another album like this one, it would be over.
5) Extinction Level Event- Busta Rhymes
Busta Rhymes-- his first album, The Coming, was the album that made me start secretly buying parental advised music and hiding the cds. I fought doing that for years because I respected my parents wishes, and truth be told, I had not heard anything that really made me feel the need to change that. Sure, by then, I had Tical, Doggystyle, and All We Got Is Us, but those were all recorded onto cassette tapes- copied from the originals that I borrowed from friends. But The Coming-- I had no choice but to buy that in the store. Don't blame me-- blame Woo Ha-- that was my song!!! The music literally made me do it-- and I can't say I regret it either. ELE though--- wow. ELE is just nothing but fire. Just thinking about the album gets me hype. You couldn't skip a track. Even the worst track on the album, wasnt bad-- just a little different. Gimmie Some More though-- yea-- that song--had me waiting for this album-- literally counting the days. I don't know what I expected to be honest. Definitely not the perfection that I heard-- not to that level. The Coming was my joint. When Disaster Strikes-- I didn't like as much and wouldn't appreciate really until years later. When I heard Gimme Some More, it was like 'he's back!!" I was back on the bandwagon (not that I had ever left). This album-- can't remember the details as to when I bought it like Aquemni, but I do remember listening to it for the first time(s). Times because I couldn't take it out my player. Any album I had before this album, I forgot about (except Aquemni because they came out the same year)-- and it was only beaten in play time for me by Aquemni-- but that was it. And this album-- I can listen to it today, and it still sounds as fresh as it did back then. Timeless-- definitely.
7) The Velvet Rope- Janet Jackson
I'll say it-- I hated this album when I first got it. I was a huge fan of hers at the time. Her previous 2 albums got so much airplay in my players it wasn't even funny. In fact Janet was the first album I bought twice (ulimately 3 times because I got the cd version after I stopped listening to cassettes) because I had played the first out so much that it broke on me. But Velvet Rope-- desptie great reviews, and a classmate who like myself was a huge fan of her (but he was on another level with that-- singing her songs and doing some of her dance moves in the halls of an all guy high school.....ummm yeah, my point extactly-- no words needed, lol) saying that it was a classic and superior to anything she dropped before-- I wasn't convinced. There were only 3 songs I remember initailly liking off this album-- Got Til Its Gone, All I Need, and Everytime. That was it. The rest of the album, to me, was trash. After giving it 2-3 listens, I tossed it to the side and gave up on it. But my classmate-- he pleaded with me to listen to it again- give it one more shot. So one day I did soon after I told him I would. And I don't remember exactly when the album started to click. And once one song clicked, then the next one did...then the next..and it was done from that point. Before I knew it, I was on the same bandwagon as my classmate-- not singing or dancing and all (honestly, I wasn't....lol) -- but this was her best album. To this day, I stand by it. To me, this album raised the bar for Pop albums and what the level of substance they can contain, as well as how innovative they can be. I mean, this album-- talked about being abused, internet dating/love before dial up was even in a third of the USA's households, she had a song dedicated to friends of her who died from AIDS-- this album was way beyond its years. It's the reason I've had a hard time enjoying most of her albums since because they haven't had the level of substance and daring this one did. Her latest, Discipline, definitely had that edge, but again, it came down to substance, and ultimately still, in my opinion is in a league of its own no pop artist has been able to touch since its release.
8) Once Again- John Legend
I was late on this album. His first album-- I thought was good-- but not as phenomenal as everyone kept hyping it up to be. I bought this one just because I was curious I guess. Then I heard it. wtf came to mind-- over and over again. It was too mellow, too simplistic. Made his first album sound that much better-- at first. I gave this album a shot for about 2 weeks, then kicked it to the side and moved on. Then a few months later, I heard the song Show Me one night being used as mood music on Grey's Anatomy-- and all of a sudden, the song clicked. I actually understood where he was coming from with that song and the song was suddenly beautiful. So I put the album back in-- and the Velvet Rope effect went down. This album-- up until this summer-- I listened to at least- at least once a week in its entirety. His first album-- I can't even listen to it now. This album is so superior to almost anything else that's been released in recent years. The album is pure genuius to me to the point I can't help but wonder where my head was at when I first heard it. I still listen to a couple tracks from this album regularly-- with Where Did My Baby Go being my favorite.
9) Baduizm- Erykah Badu
This album...this is THE album that opened me to neo-soul and got me to really start appreciating classics. This album-- ok-- I'm going to start repeating myself if I keep up with that. Lets just put it like this-- when she hit the scene, she was a breath of fresh air. She was on some other stuff, but the quality of her music transcended beyond just folks my age. This was one of the first and only albums that me and my dad both enjoyed listening to. I've been waiting for her to drop something on the same level as this album. Anybody to. I went on a neo-soul hunt for music that had a similar sound and quality as her to no success for years. The closest I came to it was India.arie when she first came out years later.
10) Voodoo- D'Angelo
Aiight-- here we go-- lets talk about being late bloomers. I liked Untitled-- thought it was a great song. The music video-- I didn't care to watch it for obvious reasons (I preferred 'Hitz' from BET version of it if anyone remembers the parody he did of it-- off the hook), but I definitely wasn't mad at him for it-- I did think it was creative-- and besides, it was about time females got some eye candy to enjoy since we (guys) got loads more in music videos on a regular basis. But even with all the props said-- I couldn't get into him. Brown Sugar-- I didn't like. It sounded too typical to me (Don't worry, I grew out of that). I couldn't see what the big deal was. So it wouldn't be for at least 1-2 years after this album dropped that I would receive a copy of it and Brown Sugar. This album, I heard before I listened to Brown Sugar in its entirety, and I felt like the whole album sounded mundane. Everything sounded the same, and he sung too low for me to hear what he was saying. And the production was'--blah. I couldn't understand what people were talking about when it came to this album. It took me 3 months to get it-- and that was after repeated listens. It was the Velvet Rope effect. And I can remember when it finally started to connect. I was interning at my dad's job at Westinghouse in Springville. It was like a 45 minute drive everyday to get there. It was b/w my 2nd and 3rd year of college during the summer. An old high school classmate who was 1-2 years ahead of me turned out to be in doing the same intern-- and it was him who kept pushing me not give up on this album-- his name was Aaron (can't remember the last name). So I usually slept on that drive to the internship, and usually had a cd or two with me that I would listen to to help put me to sleep-- guess who I was using at that time. And at some point, I was in that half wake/half sleep mode during one of the rides, and track 9 was playing. And I don't know what it was about that song at that moment, but it suddenly sounded mad tight-- then the next song sounded real good-- then the next. 3 months it took-- 3!!!! But now, like Aaron stated, I see this album as a certified classic. track 8 is my joint! The Velvet Rope effect is no joke!
11) American Idiot- Greenday
Again, a late bloomer. Not for any reason other than by the time this had come out, I had stopped listening to any alternative with the exception of Coldplay. I bought this though because I was attending UB at the time, and the one building where most of my classes took place had a radio station that was always playing the lead single to this album whenever I walked in it seemed. It became really catchy, and one day, I went to the store, saw the album and all of its awards posted on the cover (yeah I didn't get it until I think a year after it had been released), and bought it (I was also a little tired of hiphop/rap at the time-- nothing was really impressing me and I felt the need for something completely different). What I got is not what I could have ever anticipated. I like alternative music, but i'm extremely picky when it comes to it. And while I know of Greenday and liked them back in their Dookie days, I hadn't followed them since. This album is perfect. Perfect in every sense of the word. It, to me, transcends genres-- I don't care what you listen to music wise-- if you hear this album, I'm almost certain you're going to like it-- might even convert you to alternative to some degree. I knew they were good, but dag, I couldn't recommend this album enough. It deserved every award it received. I just wonder if they can actually top it but something as good as this-- I find it hard to believe that can be done.
12) Nevermind- Nirvana
This is why I got into alternative music, particularly grunge music. This album-- from beginning to end-- this is not an album you skip around through. No bad songs. You listen to this album and In Utero, and it makes you that much more upset this group is no more. When they left the game for obvious reasons, that's when I stopped listening to alternative-- until I stumbled upon Coldplay. Like American Idiot, it's one of those albums that after you hear it, you can't help but say albums are not suppose to be this good because its unbelievable how top notch everything about this album is.
13) Illadelph Halflife- The Roots
This was my first introduction to The Roots. Do I remember when it happened-- why yes I do. Remember, I said I was a Wu fanatic right? Well-- Junior year in high school, me and one of my classmates (not the Janet guy-- but another named Omar) went to a mall (City Centre) after school one week-- the week both this album and Shyheim (a Wu affiliate) dropped their albums-- Illadelph Halflife and The Lost Generation repsectively. My boy bought both-- I bought Shyheim. I could've bought them both, but it was like why? At the time, I knew two songs by them, and one was the lead single for this album-- Clones. And I couldn't stand it (see- this is how much I've changed since those days b/c I love that song now). Shyheim's lead song featureed Method Man --one of my favorite rappers at the time-- Shaolin Style I believe was the name of the song. And it didn't hurt that the song was mad tight too. So anyhow, one thing led to another-- I bought Illadelph Halflife. I liked it-- but preferred Shyheim. What They Do though-- that song was my joint. This Roots album is like fine wine-- it gets better with time. It took gradual maturity on my end to really understand how serious this album is, and how monumental it was for for the group, the time, and etc. For me, this is still their best work.
14) Back to Black- Amy Winehouse
This album caught me by such a surprise. I bought this album off the strength Ghostface Killah's More Fish album. How do they go hand-in-hand? Well, there's a song on there that features a loop from "You Know I'm No Good"-- and it was one of my favorite songs on the album. I'm sure I was not alone in thinking that the loop Ghostface used was something from an old school album, however I had never heard it before. Then I saw a press release for the Back to Black album a few months later and mentioned that the loop on his album was something she had done recently. Never hearing of Amy Winehouse prior to, I was curious, but the Ghostface connection intrigued me, so when I saw it in the store for $10 the week it was released-- I was in a good mood, so I said, hey, why not. Let me say this-- I was not prepared for the shock that lied within the cd case. This album hit me like Erykah Badu's Baduizm did the first time I heard it. In both cases, they had me racing to find more music like them of similar quality (but to no avail ultimately). And I just didn't see it coming. And surprises like this I wish happened more often, but nevertheless, the fact that it doesn't, made me so appreciative of it.
Favorite Hip Hop Albums1) Onyx- All We Got Iz Us
2) Ridin' Dirty- UGK
3) The Notorious B.I.G- Ready to Die
4) Nas- It Was Written
5) The Fix- Scarface
6) The Roots- Game Theory
7) Raekwon- Only Built for Cuban Linx
8) Method Man- Tical
9) Wu Tang Clan- Enter the 36 Chambers
10) Wu Tang Clan- Wu Tang Forever
11) Gza/Genius- Liquid Swords
12) Ghostface Killah- Iron Man
13) Ghostface Killah- Hidden Darts Mixtape (original)
14) Ghostface Killah- The Big Doe Rehab
15) Jay Z- American Gangster
16) Ghostface Killah- More Fish
17) The Roots- Things Fall Apart
18) 2Pac- All Eyez On Me
19) Snoop Doggy Dogg- Doggystyle
20) The Coming- Busta Rhymes
21) Last of a Dying Breed- Scarface
22) TI- Urban Legend
23) Stankonia- Outkast
24) ATLiens- Outkast
25) Even in Darkness- Dungeon Family
26) Captial Punishment- Big Punisher
11) The Doctor's Advocate- The Game
28) Streets Iz A Mutha- Kurupt
29) The Eastsidaz
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Favorite R&B Albums1) Hard- Jagged Edge
2) Part III- 112
3) Pleasure and Pain- 112
4) Brown Sugar- D'Angelo
5) 1st Born Second- Bilal
6) Emancipation of Mimi- Mariah Carey
7) Instant Vintage- Raphael Saadiq
8) Kalidescope- Kelis
9) Never Say Never- Brandy 10) Full Moon- Brandy
11) All I Have- Amerie
12) Metropolis Suite I- Janelle Monae
13) Janet- Janet Jackson
14) Off the Wall- Michael Jackson
15) Me Cherie Amour- Stevie Wonder
16) Because of You- Ne-Yo
17) Joe- My Name Is Joe
18) TP3: Reloaded- R. Kelly
19) Kci & Jojo- Love Always
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Favorite Alternative Albums1) Rush of Blood to the Head- Coldplay
2) X&Y- Coldplay
3) Viva La Video- Coldplay
4) In Utero- Nirvana
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Favorite Orchestration Soundtracks1) Gladiator Soundtrack
2) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
3) Hero
4) Mozart Requiem
5) Batman Sdtk
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Favorite Music Artists1) TI
2) Little Brother
3) Outkast
4) Wu Tang Clan
5) Jay Z
6) Coldplay
7) Janet Jackson
8) Bel Biv Devoe
9) Nirvana
10) Clipse
11) The Roots
12) Joe Budden
13) Scarface
14) UGK
15) Eminem
16) Stevie Wonder
17) Tribe Called Quest
18) Al Green
19) Ne-Yo
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My Draft Picks(Most Slept on that Need some serious attention) 1) Killer Mike
2) Joe Budden
3) Janelle Monae
4) Raphael Saddiq
5) Murs
6) Little Brother
7) Saigon
8) Hot Rod
9) Noe
10) Camp Lo
11) Clipse
12) Royce Da 5'9
13) Bubba Sparxxx
14) Amerie
15) Da Brat
16) Killah Sin
17) Street Life
18) Ali Vegas
19) Trife Da God
20) Kardinal Offishall
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