25. Cunninlynguists- Southernunderground
There were a number of albums I was debating for this 25th spot, but I ultimately chose the Cunninlynguists album because it was particularly fresh and creative. "Will Rap For Food" was also pretty entertaining, but I'm partial to this album because of that Masta Ace song and some other shit.
24. De La Soul- The Grind Date
This album was sort of spotty, but the five or so good songs on this are better than most albums. This is especially true when we're dealing with post-2000 albums. Features from Common, MF Doom, and the classic Ghostface collab "He Comes" are enough to put this in the top 25.
23. Supastition- The Deadline EP
As I mentioned in my description of Supa in the artists ranking, this is one of the under-appreciated albums of the new millennium. The solid production from the likes of M-Phazes and Illmind compliment Supastition's rapping ability and subject matter for what I would consider a perfectly executed underground album.
22. Masta Killa- No Said Date
I'm not sure why it took so long for Masta Killa to put an album out. He obviously wasn't on RZA's short list of priorities in the mid '90's, but even U-God had a few albums out before 2004. Regardless, this turned out to be one of the best Wu solo albums of this decade. I guess that an album eleven years coming should have a certain amount of focus and quality that other albums don't.
21. Scarface- The Fix
This album proved that Scarface, old as he was, could still make shit that people wanted to hear. "My Block" was the hit off this album, but the terrific Jay-Z ("Guess Who's Back") and Nas ("In Between Us") collabs stood out to me.
20. Ludacris- Word of Mouf
This was, in my opinion, the height of Ludacris' genius. I had to put "Roll Out" on repeat when it came out, way the fuck back when mp3 players only held like 12 and a half songs. I also remember the album cover being the background on my desktop for a while.
19. Cormega- The True Meaning
Just an incredibly solid album. Every song is good, and some of them like "The Come Up" and "The Legacy" are fucking great. Even "Love In Love Out", a diss track of sorts, was well produced and whatnot.
18. Hi-Tek- Hi-Teknology
There have been a shit load of producer albums since 2000, when this came out, but this still stands as one of the best. The Reflection Eternal tracks are great, there are sleepers like "Breakin' Bread", and Common's "The Sun God" stands as one of the classic, defining songs of the Rawkus Records era.
17. Murs- Murs 3:16
This brief, incredibly enjoyable album has some of 9th Wonder's best work, which matches perfectly with Murs' rapping. Murs' charisma and storytelling keeps your interest while 9th Wonder provides the soulful background.
16. Little Brother- The Minstrel Show
This album's lack of commercial success got Little Brother dropped from Atlantic and basically fucked up their career, but this shit is like crack to me. The songs individually are good, mostly because of 9th Wonder's work on the boards, but this is an album best listened to all the way through. The concept and hilarious skits string the album together and make it one of the best of the millennium.
15. Sean Price- Monkey Barz
Ruck was overshadowed in his own duo, Heltah Skeltah, but when he dropped this album under his own name, Sean P emerged as the new face of the Boot Camp Clik. I've mentioned how a lot of these albums had a comedic element to them, perhaps none more than this one. Sean Price's signature, ignorant raps actually made me laugh out loud a few times and his "brokest rapper you know" persona make for some additional entertainment value.
14. Cormega- The Realness
A lot of rappers stress being "real", but no one does it better and with more authenticity than Cormega. On his aptly titled debut, Mega brings some of the hardest, East Coast street shit this side of 2000.
13. Non Phixion- The Future Is Now
I'm not usually a proponent for white people rapping, but this is a pretty great album. Ill Bill, Goretex, and Sabac Red do their part on the mic, but the obvious highlight of this this album is the production, which is some of the millennium's best. Pete Rock's "If You Got Love" and Premier's "Rock Stars" are bangers and Large Professor contributes a few gems including the unbelievable "We Are The Future".
12. Clipse- Lord Willin'
The internets will probably put this somewhere in the top 5, but it only makes #12 on my list. This album did have some of the best singles in recent memory with "Grindin'", "Cot Damn", and "When The Last Time", but the rest of the album doesn't blow you away.
11. Ghostface Killah- The Pretty Toney Album
The graphic skits; the songs where he raps over soul tracks, vocals and all; the wallabee references. This was a Def Jam album but is still fucking classic classic Ghostface.
10. Jay-Z- The Black Album
Sure Jay-Z's retirement hoax had a hand in bolstering the popularity of this album, but most of the attention was deserved. This album had questionable moments and requisite club singles, but also boasted classics such as "99 Problems", "Allure", and "P.S.A.". It's starting to look clear that this is the last great Jay-Z album.
9. Kanye West- College Dropout
Like I mentioned in my last piece, this album was huge. What I didn't mention was, outside of the five (!) hit singles, there were only more good songs. "Spaceship", "Never Let Me Down", and "School Spirit", just to name a few, were better songs than most of the singles.
8. Nas- The Lost Tapes
I don't even know if this should be considered an album, since it was probably put together by some A&R or something. Whatever it is, it's better than most anything dropped in the 2000's. The Kanye ghost-produced "Poppa Was a Playa", "Purple", and "Fetus" stand out from a collection of what are not only some of Nas' best songs this millennium, but since Illmatic.
7. Masta Ace- Disposable Arts
In my opinion, this is the best of Masta Ace's story albums. The way the songs fit the storyline, not to mention how great they are, make this a masterpeice. Or mastapeice. See what I did there?
6. Reflection Eternal- Train of Thought
It's not often that there are albums that are are excellent both lyrically and musically but this is definitely one of them. Hi-Tek's smooth, boom bap production perfectly matches Talib Kweli's gritty, east coast delivery for what is the millennium's best producer/rapper duo.
5. The Game- The Documentary
This is like (cringe) this millennium's Illmatic; with some of the games best producers backing an up and coming rapper. Except instead of Nas' impeccable street poetry, this album is a collage of dead rapper, chuck taylors, and Chevy Impala references. Still, given the unheard of quality of production and Game's talents (riding the beat, maybe a good line or two), this album shits on most post-2000 releases.
4. 50 Cent- Get Rich or Die Tryin'
If The Documentary was this generation's Illmatic then this is this generation's Doggystyle, with Dr. Dre unleashing his new artist on the hip hop world and changing the game. Unlike the Game/Nas analogy, this album may have actually matched Doggystyle in terms of influence. It went diamond for fuck's sake. 50 Cent will never be confused for a great rapper, but his charisma and ability to write songs that people like made this album the most popular and one of the best of the new millennium.
3. Nas- Stillmatic
This album may be more notable for its impact than for the music itself. The feud with Jay-Z, the classic diss track "Ether", and then the release of this album made Nas relevant again and brought life to New York hip hop. This album has plenty of weak spots but also has some classics. "You're The Man" and "2nd Childhood" are two of the best Nas songs evar, and the "Intro" has to be one of the best album intros of all-time.
2. Ghostface Killah- Supreme Clientele
This is the pinnacle of Ghostface's career and his genius as a rapper. His lyricism on this album is just mind blowing shit and is a prime example of what makes him one of the best ever. Aside from Ghost, all of the beats knock, and of course there is the classic Wu-Tang posse appearence "Wu Banga 101" to cap off the album.
1. Jay-Z- The Blueprint
Before Jay-Z made albums for hipsters and Kanye West made a douche of himself at award shows, they created the modern day hip hop masterpiece. In '01 Jay-Z was on top of his game and Kanye, along with another up and comer, Just Blaze, backed him with incredible, groundbreaking production. The result was "The Blueprint"; an album with ubiquitous radio hits (Izzo (H.O.V.A.), "Girls, Girls, Girls"), street anthems ("The Takeover", "Heart of the City"), heartfelt tracks ("Song Cry", "Never Change"), and lyrical genius ("Renegade", "Breathe Easy"). In many ways, this album was truly a hip hop blueprint, one that's easily followed but is damn near impossible to match.
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